From 'things I thought were huge problems when I was a kid' to 'me cooking anything', the amount of themes you can see on r/StarterPacks is amazing. However, niche posts usually don't get that many upvotes. "More relatable topics tend to get more likes as people can say 'Hey! That's me!'" the moderators of the subreddit told Bored Panda in a previous interview.
2020 has been a really good year for the community—the subreddit has grown by about 500k new members, and the moderators hoped it would reach 2 million in 2021 but it has surpassed that mark by an additional 500k!
"The Covid-19 Pandemic had a lot of people stuck at home and on Reddit. People wanting to look at memes about their current situation could be a major contributor [to r/StarterPacks popularity]," the moderators explained.
The starter pack meme really took off in 2014 when Twitter user ItsLadinaPlis posted the 'I date black guys' version of it.
According to one moderator of the sub, WaddlesJP13, that single post spawned a bunch of other starter packs, basically turning it into a household meme instantly, and leading to the creation of many forums and pages dedicated to the format, just like r/StarterPacks. "Somehow, the format [and the subreddit are] still really popular," they wrote. Pretty good for a meme!
