The Brief: The popularity of the "make up a guy" Twitter account has inspired a number of other gimmick accounts where people tweet made-up versions of different characters, things, and archetypes.

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Created in October 2020, the Twitter account @makeupaguy posts user-submitted examples of different made-up guys to over 111,000 followers. This account is a model for spinoff “make up a” Twitter accounts that post about traits of various made-up people and things.

According to a pinned “guy lore” thread on the @makeupaguy account, “every time I make up a guy that guy appears somewhere random in the world. its always a secluded place near a populated area. the guy appears in the world with all the necessities to survive in modern society.” This lore suggests that an omniscient creator materializes every “guy” that the account posts about. Examples of “guy” traits are often hyperspecific like “guy who calls their zumba instructor sensei” or “guy who became an astronaut to piss on the moon.”

The original “make up a guy” Twitter account inspired dozens of copycats, some of which make up other types of guys like “make up a trans guy” or “make up an Irish politics guy.” There are also accounts that make up specific types of people like “make up a bi,”  “make up a teacher,” or “make up a leftist.” Other accounts make up things like “make up a potion,” or  broader concepts like “make up a religion,” “make up an entity,” or “make up a ‘make up a’ topic.”

Tweets usually follow the format of “guy who…” or “thing that…” and much of the humor in these posts comes from how the traits or characteristics are simultaneously ordinary and random. These accounts often delve into meta-jokes and memes, riffing off the original “make up a guy” account by using variations of the same stock photo avatar and copying the original style.