The Surprised Pikachu meme is derived from a screen capture of the Pokémon anime episode 'Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village,' where Pikachu makes a wide-mouthed, shocked expression. While the original version was a low-resolution capture from the 1990s, this high-quality remaster became the gold standard for representing a person's feigned surprise at a predictable outcome. It first gained massive traction on Tumblr and Reddit in late 2018, evolving into a versatile reaction image used to mock hypocrisy or the inevitable consequences of one's own actions.