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Flat What / Web Original

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  • Pick an image hosting site or image forum, any you can think of, that allows people to tag the images. Search for any images labelled wat or what, and that's exactly what it'll get out of you. Expect the results to cross over with Nightmare Fuel and/or Nausea Fuel.
  • Cinnamon Bunzuh!: Ifi's reaction after reading The Capture.
  • The "LOL WUT" meme.
  • The unofficial Aetolia: The Midnight Age wiki has an entire page devoted to this trope here.
  • Pretty much the primary catchphrase of the Goosebumps series Review Blog Blogger Beware.
  • The RPGNet Hive Mind is fond of "man what" (no punctuation) as a response to any completely brain-spraining statement.
    • Notably inspired by and associated with (by those in the know) a certain photograph of Bob Marley in a state of absolute man what
    • The hive mind seems to have determined it actually came as a response to someone discussing the Inferi from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince... to the tune of "The Happy Wanderer" (the "Valderie, Valdera" song). "In-fer-iiiii... in-fer-aaaaaaa..." The first post after that was a prematurely-launched post consisting entirely of "man what"
      • NOTE: The absence of a period at the end of the previous entry is entirely deliberate and proper. The phrase expresses such a profound and utter state of confusion that it eradicates any and all punctuation and grammar within a radius of one post.
  • Inventing Swear Words 4 has a good example, right after Stag complains to the GM that every other class is more powerful with him, to which the GM responds with a "What." Made funnier by how Stag then demands that every class be nerfed except his, which is, without even a beat, followed by the GM teleporting him away.
  • Very good one in The Fine Bros.' Kids React to Nyan Cat, at 3:01.
  • Vixen used this to describe a scene from Revolutionary Girl Utena. The scene in question has Utena jump down from a balcony, tear off her own dress to reveal her uniform, take a table cloth from a nearby table, then form a dress to cover her heterosexual life partner Anthy's Wardrobe Malfunction.
  • A staple in the commentaries at The Classic Doctor Who Twitter Blog. Frequently goes hand-in-hand with "Wait." Lots of them.
  • Freeman's Mind:
    • Freeman says this when he is confronted with an elevator that finally goes up, but is blocked by boxes of explosives.
    • Adrian Shephard in Shephard's Mind does this twelve times in response to unleashing a swarm of snarks.And again:
      Jon: I'd be down with a cool black star like that.
      Emile: Actually, it's official name is Ztar.
      Jon: ... What.
  • The page quote is from Mark Reads Twilight, a truly insightful blog not for Twilight fans.
  • On various image-sharing sites, "what" is used as a tag for bizarre, shocking, or absurd images, usually involving physical or anatomical impossibilities. Most Nearly all examples will be NSFW at the least, so seek them out at your own risk.
  • Don't tell my dad!
  • A very popular subject of Image Macros.
  • Survival of the Fittest: There was an infamous death in v2 involving Spontaneous Human Combustion. Said character's post-game evaluation on the wiki is, of course, one of these.
  • Juno Steel is the queen of this trope.
  • During the production of A Super Mario Thing on the talkhaus forums, this was raocow's reaction upon discovering that Rule 34 had been made of Demo (the main character of ASMT and Raocow's own creation; a female demon alien minion with no arms, blue hair, and a face composed of a single giant eye).
  • The Biting Pear of Salamanca (otherwise known as the "LOL WUT" pear), which probably deserves its own page.
  • Smart Bitches, Trashy Books sometimes resorts to this, such as in a review of a (thankfully short) e-book called ''Ravished By the Triceratops'' (NSFW, obviously}.
  • The Nostalgia Critic's review of Alone in the Dark (2005):
    N.C. (Through Speakonia): How did you get in here?
    Spoony: I'm from the future.
    N.C. (Through Speakonia): What.
    • The same site's Bum Reviews give us this, from the review of Burn After Reading:
      Chester A. Bum: And at the end, something happens, but at the same time, nothing happens! What.
    • "You, your mate, and your Johnson."
      • A particularly good example is when he figures out the evil plan in Future 5.
    • The Nostalgia Critic also does this in his review of The Room (2003).
      NC: Where are we?
      NC of the future: The future!
      NC: Okay, but... why are we downstairs in the basement?
      NC of the future: Oh, it's the only place we can hide to stay away from the seahorses.
      NC: Oh, okay.
      (Beat)
      NC: What.
    • Then there's the Critic's reaction to the plot twist of The Secret of NIMH 2...
  • The Nostalgia Chick made good use of this too when she reviewed Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, letting out three in quick succession:
    Tim Curry: They can't fall in love...if they're DEAD!
    Nostalgia Chick: What.
    [cue noise and running around as the Tim Curry tries to kill Belle and the Beast through the power of dramatic organ music]
    Nostalgia Chick: What.
    [The Beast throws a piano at organ!Tim Curry]
    Nostalgia Chick: What... EVER, please, for the love of God, END!
  • The Cinema Snob got one in Kickassia when The Nostalgia Critic revealed that yes, he really did order twenty tons of dynamite.
  • Allison Pregler gave one in her review of "Fatal Deviation", when out of nowhere, with no bearing to the plot, there's a naked man in a cowboy hat taking a bath outside.
  • Nash uses it so often, it ought to be classified as one of his catchphrases. But then, considering the nature of his show's content, it seems natural.
  • Used as a tag on the image site Danbooru for those images that make no sense whatsoever. A user was quoted as saying, "Does it make your brain shut down for a second when you see it? Then it's a 'what' picture."
    • On some "booru" image sites there's also a "no seriously what" tag, for when "what" is not enough.
  • In this review of Eversion one reviewer has already written the game off as a generic Super Mario Bros. clone, when the second reviewer casually mentions 'and then there's your power to warp reality to your whims'. The first reviewer's response is of course 'What.'
  • In Nakar's Ultima VI Let's Play, during the parodic "cannon"ical ending, Draxinusom utters the Gargish version of this upon seeing something truly bizarre:
    Draxinusom: To be saying what.
  • On LoadingReadyRun's Daily Drop feature at The Escapist, the utter indestructibility of one object lead the captions to declare, "DOES NOT COMPUTE", "SERIOUSLY?" and finally the Flat What.
  • This video collects hundreds of these scenes from various webcomics.
  • Let's Drown Out:
  • This video, simply named Wat, discusses creative Javascript typing. Wat ensues. (Peppered with pictures of Internet Wat Memes.)
  • In the Staying Alive episode of How Did This Get Made?, Paul Scheer is taking audience comments and has a Flat "What." reaction upon hearing that there was actually a Staying Alive Choose Your Own Adventure book.
  • Cinematic Excrement's response to the final battle in Breaking Dawn Part 2 turning out to be the vision Alice shows Aro.
  • JonTron has this reaction in the episode "Anti Drug Games":
    Drug dealer: Take one hit and you'll do anything to cop more. Steal from your mama...
    JonTron: (concerned) H-Hey, man, did you get bit by a mosquito or somethin'...?
    Drug dealer: (now transformed into a snake man) Do I look like the kind of guy who do that to a child like you?
    JonTron: YOU LOOK LIKE A SNAKE!
    Drug dealer: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
    JonTron : WHAT? WHAT THE FUCK?
  • In The Booth at the End The Man, normally unflappable, has this reaction to learning that Willem kidnapped and is keeping prisoner the girl he agreed to protect so he could "be the hero."
  • Joel lets out a series of them in episode 9 of Meme House when a member of the chat points out that, according to his moodlet bar, Dio is pregnant. Thankfully, it was only a glitch.
  • Campfire Stories: Brief but beautiful example in this video where Mike and Zach exchange amusing stories about gross incompetence in the military, when Mike brings the conversation to a screeching halt by mentioning what happens when a Marine runs out of toilet paper.
    Mike: Um, there wasn't enough toilet paper so what they used was... fiberglass cloth.Explanation
    Zach: What.
  • Max0r's An Incorrect Summary of Metal Gear Rising has Raiden react this at several points, particularly to Armstrong's motive rant:
    Armstrong: Imagine a world, Raiden, free of cancel culture! Where no one can call me out for my outlandish claims! A WORLD WHERE I CAN SAY THE N-WORD!
    (Beat)
    Raiden: What.
    • And then Raiden turns the tables later on.
    Raiden: Typical politician. All cock, but no cum.
    Armstrong: What
    Raiden: Jumpstart the economy? It's all bullshit! The success of a country is determined by materialistic and socioeconomic factors! Read a fucking book.
  • In Turnt Red, a YouTube Poop based on Turning Red, this is Mei's reaction to a random shot of Buzz and Woody dancing.

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