Gaijin 4Koma

Gaijin 4Koma (4-frame foreigners) or 'Reaction Guys' to many who started lurking 4chan after 2006 or thereabouts.

A series of four-paned comics based on two photographs of IGN employees reacting to Nintendo’s announcement of new titles at the E3 conference in 2003/04. The multi-pane set up is typically used to express one’s disappointment and excitement over two separate things.

The original four-paned template sparked the imaginations of many 4chan/IGN forumite and soon enough, the meme was exploited to include all manner of variations e.g. extra panes, excitement before disinterest, photo-shopping the employees heads, inverted colours to denote a division by zeo etc. Thousands of these images exist today.

To those in the know, Gaijin 4Koma is still widely regarded as one of the best memes ever.

Gaijin 4Koma example...

Frame 1: The World Trade Centre.

Frame 2: Employees showing disinterest and blank expressions.

Frame 3: Plane flying into the second tower and exploding on impact.

Frame 4: Employees showing excitement and absolute euphoria.