This list appeared first in the Daily Dot’s newsletter web_crawlr. Every week, our Trending team will tell you what has been driving the discourse online in their “Main Character of the Week” column. If you want to see more content like this before everyone else, sign up for the newsletter here.
Think about 2024 in terms of its macro themes: Rejecting the status quo, realizing the United States is a waning superpower, trying-on viral dupes, reevaluating your vape habit and running back to pre-rolls, guys under 30 using the word “respect” as a catch-all to control what their girlfriend wears, stealing the tablet at Olive Garden. These movements were top of mind as faces emerged to seize the narrative.
But there was also an ocean of content to scroll in 2024. I mean we got nostalgic for 2024 during 2024. Did you even remember that six months before “bundlerooski,” Travis Kelce yelled at Andy Reid during the Super Bowl? Swifties were concerned.
With that brain fog in mind, I’m going to quickly blog my instant reaction to these main characters of the year. Let’s see what I can even recall.
Here are the Trending team’s 10 main characters of the year.
⮩ 🍋 10) The lemon tree woman
OK, I think I remember this one.
She didn’t know that lemons from her lemon tree were edible.
⮩ 🍣 9) The woman who ate viral sushi and fell deathly ill
This one was wormgate.
A food reviewer ate at a sushi place. And viewers noticed a worm or parasite moving on his chopstick. The restaurant denied fault but then shuttered after a woman inspired by the reviewer ate sushi and got E. coli. We learned that you must freeze sushi before selling it per U.S. regulations.
⮩ 🥖 8) Olive Garden breadsticks
The recipe changed.
This disrupted the fabric of our very personhood, and so we got upset on the internet.
⮩ 💨 7) Your air filter from Home Depot
Don’t buy the premium air filters unless you want to change them monthly. It’s not that they’re faulty, it’s that they work so well that the airflow in your home is stifled and your electric bill goes up.
⮩ 🏫 6) The teacher who let his students braid his hair, paint his nails
A Black teacher in Maryland sparked debate for being nurturing and caring on camera, in school. He was suspended for breaking a policy; as viewers expressed discomfort at a grown man getting close to middle-schoolers. I know I’m shooting from the hip here but we need a post-script: Marquis White returned to the classroom amid widespread support after a 5-day suspension.
⮩ 🍹 5) The woman who had her Bacardi Bucket confiscated at Applebee’s
I think the moral of this story was don’t assume you can just keep the 3D glasses after Wicked.
⮩ 🤌 4) Luigi Mangione
I don’t remember this one. Something about drones.
⮩ 🤑 3) Scratch-off guy
Everyone was charmed by the savvy gas station clerk who showed us which scratch-off tickets to purchase. Someone Uber me to a Chevron, post-haste!
⮩🥤 2) The special edition Stanleys that Target sold in the leadup to Valentine’s Day
Goodness. This was the Tickle-me Elmo frenzy of ‘96 meets Beatlemania at area Targets. Punches were thrown. Emotions ran high. In the end, we all got a very special aluminum cup that makes your water taste like coffee residue.
⮩ 🛠️ 1) Fixing your own stuff
This was my favorite main character of 2024.
We talked to the CEO of iFixit during New York City Climate week. He detailed just how wasteful the internet of things is and served as a stand-in for what was happening across social media.
Americans were being thrifty out of necessity and returning to a more communal main street where they seek repair specialists to extend the lives of washing machines and phones. We make our own teriyaki sauce now. We like dancing and we look divine.
Editor’s Note: Web_Crawlr readers voted Fixing Your Own Stuff into the Daily Dot Hall of Fame this year!
The Daily Dot looks back at the year that was in our 2024 Year in Review.
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