Country Feels is a series of illustrations showing the That Feel Guy sitting at a computer desk in a room stuffed with visual stereotypes of a specific country or region. It started on Reddit in December 2012 with a Canadian version, then spread across subreddits and imageboards as users made their own national variants.
Origin
The first widely shared Country Feels image was CanadianFeels.jpg, posted by Redditor legit4u to the /r/4chan subreddit on December 13th, 2012[2]. It showed the Feel Guy at his desk inside a log cabin, a Canadian flag hanging on the wall behind him. Before the thread was archived, the post pulled in more than 2,600 votes at a 92% upvote rate[2].
An earlier /r/4chan submission by Redditor ionataan on August 19th, 2012 collected several country-themed Feel Guy images into an Imgur gallery titled "Guess the country," which gathered over 330 votes at 91% upvoted[4]. That gallery is often treated as a precursor, but the format took off in earnest with the Canadian version later that year.
- Platform: Reddit (/r/4chan)
- Creator: legit4u (Reddit)
- Date: 2012
Overview
Country Feels is a template built around the That Feel Guy, the bald, teary-eyed rage-comic character, drawn sitting at a computer desk in a room packed with visual clichés of a specific country or region[1]. A Canadian version might place him in a log cabin with a maple leaf flag on the wall, while an American version might swap in bald eagles, guns, or fast food. The joke is a mix of nationalist pride, self-deprecation, and the loneliness the Feel Guy always carries around.
The series sits close to the older "How People View Me" two-pane cartoons in tone and structure, using shorthand stereotypes to sum up a whole national identity in one crowded frame[3]. Each image is essentially a visual checklist of what outsiders (and locals) associate with a place, wrapped around the same sad protagonist.
How It Spread
On January 14th, 2013, Redditor ImminentFate reposted CanadianFeels.jpg to /r/pics, where it climbed past 2,000 votes at an 84% upvote rate before being archived[5]. Less than a month later, on February 6th, 2013, an America-themed version showed up in a thread on the /warc/ wildcard archive board on the imageboard Uboa Chan[1].
The images found a second life inside the "tfw no gf" ecosystem. On January 14th, 2014, BodyBuilding Forums user RonPaul2012 posted a batch of Country Feels images inside a "TFW No GF" thread, tying the format to the wider Feel Guy loneliness canon[6]. On February 11th, forum member Gookzilla reposted many of the same images in a thread hunting for "the rarest feel guy"[6].
Between these Reddit reposts, imageboard threads, and forum revivals, Country Feels settled in as a long-running Feel Guy sub-format that users kept extending with new national and regional variants[3].
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Country Feels?
Country Feels is a set of illustrations showing the That Feel Guy at a computer desk in a room filled with stereotypes tied to a specific country or region[3].
Where did Country Feels come from?
The first widely shared entry was CanadianFeels.jpg, posted by Redditor legit4u to /r/4chan on December 13th, 2012[2].
What does Country Feels mean?
Each image sums up a country through visual clichés while keeping the Feel Guy's lonely, self-pitying mood, mixing patriotism with the character's usual sadness[1].
How do you use Country Feels?
People typically draw the Feel Guy at his desk and stuff the surrounding room with flags, foods, animals, and other icons associated with a chosen country or region[3].
Is Country Feels still popular?
It is a classic Feel Guy sub-format from the early 2010s that saw major reposts through 2013 and 2014 on Reddit and forums like BodyBuilding Forums[5][6].
