Locked In Ninja memes, also known as Locked In Alien x Low Taper Fade memes are a series of memes depicting the popular Twitch streamer Ninja as the Locked In Alien with a Low Taper Fade. The combination of an absurdist meme with a playful joke about the gamer has gone viral, carving out its own niche as more than just a variation of two other popular memes.
Meme basics:
- Meme Creator: @hepatitusba4/TikTok
- Meme Type: Exploitable, “Weirdcore”
- First Appearance: Dec. 2024
- Origin Source: TikTok
- Peak Popularity: January 2025
Who is Ninja?
Ninja, born Richard Tyler Blevins, is a YouTube and Twitch streamer known for streaming his gameplay in competitive games. He began his career as a professional gamer in 2009 and began streaming his efforts in 2011. He’s become known for streaming games, including Call of Duty, Fortnite, Halo, and League of Legends.
What is the Locked In Alien Meme?
The Locked In Alien videos feature an AI alien character who raps to “Scissorhands” by Trekkrrholymountain, Weeping Wi11ow, and Pieruun. The videos have a futuristic vibe. Throughout the videos, which were first posted Dec. 12, 2024, the men speaking to the Locked In Alien talk about “the operation,” the contents of which have yet to be revealed.
What is the Low Taper Fade Meme?
A Low Taper Fade is a popular style of haircut inserted into a meme about Ninja. When Twitch’s @ericdoa was freestyling on a live stream, he got emotional due to his lyrical content. To get himself back into the moment and regroup, he went off on a tangent that included the hypothetical, “Imagine if Ninja got a Low Taper Fade.”
Ninja is no stranger to the Low Taper Fade discourse. He weighed in on the concept in early 2024.
Low taper faade. Dude you know what’s crazy? Is that that low taper fade, like meme, dude it is still massive. Yeah. MASSIVE. I mean I’m seeing new ones that I’ve never seen before that have millions of likes and views, still, that are popping up all over the place. You know what else is crazy?
Like how, all the other videos he’s made since, I’ve seen a couple others show up on my for your page, you would think they would all be doing better than they are.
You said there have been a couple that have been doing great. No they’re all doing massive. It’s just- no, there’s a few that aren’t and you’re just like how, how can a guy get that viral for this many weeks, and not just be famous forever. You know what I mean?
I mean he’s already a good artist, I love his music and he’s dropping a new album, I think actually it’s already out, gotta check it out. So at the end of 2023 there was a bunch of memes going around that were the memes of the month throughout the year, right, and I think that for the memes of 2024 the low taper fade is 100% going to be the meme of January this year.
Locked In Ninja meme origin and spread
TikToker @hepatitusba4 brought the two memes together on Dec. 28, 2024, when he began his meme imitating Locked In Alien but then sang, “Low Taper Fade yeahhh… the meme is massive.”
The video took off, amassing over 11 million views. The next day, @locked._.in_alien shared a mashup of the Locked In Alien meme visuals with the Locked In Ninja sound, photoshopping a low taper fade on the alien.
Other combinations of the two memes started to come to light, with the sound picking up traction in its own right. Through the last hours of 2024 into 2025, the meme has continued to enjoy succcess.
Meme examples
More TikTok memes:
- The mysterious origins of the Locked In Alien Meme
- TikTok meme freeze-frames those awkward moments
- ‘This cat meme will never end’: TikTok’s new meme is a zoned-out cat
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