The Brief: A meme with images from the film Despicable Me illustrates the experience of realizing that there's a major flaw in your plan.

Bluesquiggle
DEEP DIVE

In the 2010 film Despicable Me, the character Gru – an aspiring supervillain voiced by Steve Carrell –presents his plan to steal the moon. To his surprise, one of the illustrations for his presentation has been swapped out by a child with a drawing of him on the toilet. When he realizes this, Gru’s enthusiasm for his plan quickly changes to confusion and embarrassment.

This scene has been turned into a four-panel meme. It shows someone passionately presenting a plan until they realize that it has a major flaw. Versions of the meme swap out Gru’s drawing with text, and sometimes Photoshop someone else’s face onto Gru’s. The format is often used to show historical figures becoming aware of their upcoming downfall or demise.

When describing this plan, Gru says:

“I fly to the moon

I shrink the moon

I grab the moon

I sit on the toilet…what?”

It be like that sometimes from r/memes

I’m out but that’s ok from r/teenagers

On an open field, Gru! from r/freefolk

Pretty much the entire movie. from r/dankmemes

what button do i press from r/dankmemes

Gru’s Plan from r/dankjewishmemes

Apparently this is “the best use of that [Gru’s plan] meme I’ve ever seen” from r/HistoryMemes