He’s a chubby toddler staring straight at the camera. With a fist clenched and lips pursed in determination, his perceived go get ‘em attitude earned him a singular name with image macro-enthusiasts: Success Kid.
His meme is an upbeat macro, meaning his image is paired with text representing an unexpected gain or accomplishment.
As with the Internet Tough Guy before him, this iconic snapshop has inspired a clamor for a “Where are they now” update. Now, Reddit has found the latest.
“Do you recognize him?” asked the original poster, redditor newsmagnet.
While Success Kid’s image macros never age, the subject himself is all grownup at the venerable age of four. He also has a name—Sammy. The original photo has 129 comments and 36,000 views.
Redditors traced his photo back to Laney Griner’s Flickr account. On her Flickr profile, Griner calls herself, “Mom to the coolest kid on the planet.”
While Griner did not respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment by publication time, one of her Flickr comments indicates that she is not pleased with Sammy’s meme status.
“Yeah [the photo is] used so much and never, ever with my permission. I haven’t even been asked once, but people steal it constantly. Completely unacceptable,” she wrote 29 months ago.
When Griner’s comment was posted in the Reddit thread, redditors responded to say that if she was truly upset, she would have set Flickr settings to private for the photo in question.
“That he’s a meme she seems not to mind so much… or it’s at least the half-hearted anger of a protective parent who also rejoices when their child is singled out to be special,” wrote redditor mooonshoes.
Photo by Laney G
