The Brief: These creepy smile memes take a clip from the video game Team Fortress 2 where the character The Soldier looks straightforward and slowly smiles.

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DEEP DIVE

Creepy smile memes are an image macro and GIF format from the video game Team Fortress 2. These memes show the character The Solider looking directly forward and smiling with exaggerated, unrealistic animation. Some variations of the meme reverse his expression so he appears to go from smiling to frowning. Particularly popular on Reddit, The Soldier smiling memes are being used to represent devilish grins, forced smiles, and sudden frowns.

Say cheese:

Why is it so hard to smile on purpose? from dankmemes

TFW it wasn’t an April Fools prank:

They must have forgotten….right? from dankmemes

Bruh moment from dankmemes

A Coronavirus travel meme:

A red biohazard bubble appears in the sky. from dankmemes

A literal interpretation of the term metrosexual:

this gif has 52 frames, each being their own template, therefore it will never die from dankmemes

Why him from dankmemes

Beware of rule 34:

Evil planning from dankmemes

Guys fr though im sick from dankmemes

Template

This GIF can be found on Tenor.com under the name “Team Fortress 2 Creepy GIF.”