These part breakfast/part cat characters have been around since 2011, but why have they resurfaced in 2025, and how are memers using this iconic image?
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00:00Sometimes a meme is so good that it gets recycled back into popularity over a decade after its
00:04origin, hence why Nyan Cat in 2025 is still being chased by his nemesis Tak Nain, just as he was
00:10in 2011. But where did this image originate and why has it popped back up into meme relevance?
00:15For those who don't know, Nyan Cat is an 8-bit animation of a cat with a Pop-Tart body flying
00:19through space and leaving behind a trail of rainbows. After it dropped in April of 2011,
00:24Nyan Cat quickly became one of the biggest memes of all time. Just 16 days after the original Nyan
00:29Cat video was uploaded to YouTube, Cheeseburger CEO Ben He conceived of the idea for an opposite
00:34or evil version of Nyan Cat, and it was created by Senior GIF blogger Frankie Crescioni. He chose the
00:39name Tak Nain for the evil Waffle Cat, which is Nyan Cat backwards. In the GIF, he appears to be flying
00:44through a red background with floating skulls. In August of 2011, after both characters had garnered
00:49some viral spread, DeviantArt user J.R. Barker posted a piece of artwork that depicts realistic
00:54versions of the two cats, where evil Waffle Cat Tak Nain is seen chasing the beloved Nyan Cat.
00:58So why are we seeing this art being used in memes in 2025? The image would largely live in obscurity
01:03after its short viral stint in 2011. That is until March 2025, when TikToker IamayunicornXO posted a
01:10version of it set to Hero by Skyper. The user captioned it,
01:13How It Feels Having Friends Who Are Low-Key Haters.
01:22The post garnered over 3.3 million views in just two weeks. The meme was further popularized on TikTok
01:27and Instagram later in March 2025. As this iteration spread, other users would employ the image in object
01:33labeling memes as well. These memes would usually be set to the same hero track as the original,
01:37and often they label Tak Nain to represent an intrusive thought or bad urge. For example,
01:42on March 25th, TikToker Verlaine posted a version of the meme labeling Tak Nain as the
01:47sudden urge to pee, which garnered over 4 million views in under a week. How would you label this
01:51image? Let us know in the comments and make sure to like and subscribe for the latest in internet culture.
01:55So
01:58you
02:00you