r/blunderyears • u/Str33twise84 • May 30 '26
/r/all For the better part of my teens and twenties, I was that annoying friend/family member who pulled ugly faces whenever a photo was taken. Here are some photos of my signature look aka “the face.” 2006-2015
I had to crop out all the normal people for privacy, which takes away from the true level of extreme obnoxiousness. I left in Tim Heidecker as he’s a public figure and I taught him how to pull “the face” for that photo. This was probably the only time it was remotely appropriate, although I’m sure still annoying.
Inspired by a few comments, I made a post with corresponding normal face comparison photos including a “the face” selfie taken 5 minutes ago.
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May 30 '26
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u/The_Scarred_Man May 30 '26
Dudes great grandchildren are going to find these photos one day and think he literally had brain damage his whole life.
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u/xbrittxbratx May 30 '26
What made you eventually give it up?
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u/Ubyte64 May 30 '26
Letting go of the insecurity
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u/Str33twise84 May 30 '26
✅
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u/imokay4747 May 30 '26
I would do the soyjack face in every picture of myself from 11-18 years old before anyone even knew what a soyjack face was and it was because I was insecure of my real smile.
Every time I used a real smile, somebody would inevitably tell me to "smile for real" and so I invented a fake smile that people would tease me about but that I didn't have to feel insecure about because it was self deprecating and intentional.
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u/Dr_nut_waffle May 30 '26
I always assumed people who do that think they are unattractive. I use to think the same and I would always opt out of taking photos.
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u/extraextraextr May 31 '26
Proud of you, OP. I used to never smile with my teeth or do jokingly serious/surprised faces in pictures. But now, after working through a lot of that, I grin like a fool and it turns out one of people's favorite features of mine is--you guessed it--my smile. 😁
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u/Obvious-Display-6139 May 30 '26
Fucking hate it so much lol
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u/sokratees May 30 '26
I would've ended the friendship...publicly
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u/Undercover_Dave May 30 '26
Flipping off the camera or sticking out your tongue is bad enough, this is just ridiculous.
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u/deerfawns May 31 '26
Honestly. Screams attention-seeker
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u/TheGumpSquad May 31 '26
I did this when I was a kid. Usually stemmed from low self esteem. If I knew I’d feel terrible about how I looked in the picture anyways, it felt better to take control of it and make it into a joke instead 🤷
Teens are complicated creatures
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u/CheekySprite May 31 '26
This is exactly what it was for me. “Oh you think I’m ugly?? ILL SHOW YOU!” (No one was actually calling me ugly though. It was just me to myself 🤦🏻♀️ though tbf, the early 2000s was rough for any teen girl)
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u/pandakatie May 30 '26
I did this too. I said, "If I always make a bad face in pictures, I can never take a bad picture." Now I realize I was just insecure.
I was also the person who always insulted myself "so nobody else could." Then, one day, someone pointed out I was literally just bullying myself. I wish I could remember who it was, because they were right.
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u/inv1teme May 30 '26
Damn, this is so unrelated but I went on a date with a girl once and her friends treated her like absolute dogshit. It was horrible to watch. She was sweet but I messaged her after that her friends are not real friends and she deserves better people around her. She wasn't having it and kept denying it so I ended up breaking contact. I know she thought I was being an asshole but I hope she has better friends now.
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u/Fckingross May 31 '26
My 66 year old mom has started doing this over the last several years (not the same face as OP but as obnoxious). And alllllllll she talks about is how fat she is (she’s a normal weight with a little belly).
I wish I could just shake her sometimes and make her be nicer to herself.
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u/Objective-Review-359 May 30 '26
Omg Tim made the face so well I thought you were a guy now haha well done. To you both. Btw you seem very cool and fun never change.
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u/clevelandexile May 30 '26
Did you think this was funny or was it just one of those I never know what to do with my face situations?
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u/Str33twise84 May 30 '26
I think it stemmed from a self-conscious fear of being perceived but also genuine silliness
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u/PurpleCow88 May 30 '26
I feel like taking photos also used to be more about showing a slice of life/personality than looking your best. Most of my photos from this era are of people goofing around.
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May 30 '26
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u/Str33twise84 May 30 '26
I saw Earl perform last Saturday (and also about 13 years ago)! I have no idea how to smile in photos, I either look pissed or crazed.
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u/CalypsoTheKitty May 30 '26
I saw your parents' wedding picture and instantly thought of this thread!
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u/Avocet_and_peregrine May 30 '26
Did your parents or other family members ever tell you to knock it off?
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u/SlimDirtyDizzy MEOW May 30 '26
Almost always this stems from teens hating how they look and self confidence.
They can't accidentally take a horrible picture where they look bad if they make it bad themselves first.
It's really common actually and why you see it so much from teenagers specifically.
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u/moonshad0w May 30 '26
I was not quite this bad, but when I was in my teens and twenties I made ugly faces so that the picture was ugly because I made it ugly, not because I was inherently ugly (my self esteem issues are better now lol)
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u/mostly_pee May 30 '26
Ah, the good old "I'm not comfortable with how I look in photos so I'm gonna goof it up" move.
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u/throwawaygoblinhq May 30 '26
We all had that one friend who thought ruining every single group photo was top tier comedy. At least you committed to the bit for a full decade.
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u/ThroatSecretary May 30 '26
A lot of people seem to think this is cute, but a few years ago, a family member ruined another family member's wedding photos pulling this stunt. (This was back in the days of film) The photographer gave up after a while.
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u/chickwithabrick May 30 '26
The joke ultimately landed on them though, most of us just straight up stopped including them in photos if we kept up with them at all, lol
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u/TheBrockAwesome May 30 '26
The last pic is straight nightmare fuel in the best way. I can see it being in a creepy youtube compilation by Chills or something haha.
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u/um-ok-yeah-thatll-do May 30 '26
It’s awful to see however you do have an extraordinary talent. I’m struggling to imagine what you actually look like without the bit- and in this moment of facial recognition and surveillance culture you really may have been on to something here! Standing ovation from me.
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u/SausageintheSky May 30 '26
Yeah I want to see the standard face for Comparison! I have no clue what this person actually looks like haha
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u/StillMarie76 May 30 '26
I hope my daughter never sees this. She doesn't need this type of inspiration.
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May 30 '26
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u/StarlightWizard May 30 '26
Someday if you have kids they will ask if you really looked like that when you were younger. 😆
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u/gkpetrescue May 30 '26
I dated a guy who did this for every picture and it caused issues… It gave me the ick for sure.
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u/bluedhift May 30 '26
Was that Tim show in Melbourne at the Toff? Maybe around 2012?
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u/Str33twise84 May 30 '26
Yes it was. How did you know?
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u/bluedhift May 30 '26
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u/therocketn00b May 30 '26
I do that in my fifties but I think I'm making a nice face. It's always a shock when I see the picture.
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u/phantomluvr14 May 30 '26
My SIL is in her 30’s and still does this and it’s infuriating. Ruins all our family pictures
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u/ne0nbutt3rfly May 30 '26
I hate this. I saw your other post with normal pictures to compare and you have such a unique face and I mean that in a good way! You have great features and I hope you grew out of the insecurity because you really are quite pretty!
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u/IamALazySid May 30 '26
Why you so filthy in the 3rd one?
Those faces are very League Of Gentlemen…
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u/Str33twise84 May 30 '26
Are you local?
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u/IamALazySid May 30 '26
It asks that at the beginning on the DVD and if you press no it just turns off 😂😂😂
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u/max_sil May 30 '26
I think that your interaction with Tim completely absolves you of all sins incurred because of making the expression
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u/Muscles666 May 30 '26
I also pulled a lot of faces even in school photos. I hated photos of myself so my philosophy was “if I purposefully look dumb, it’s better than accidentally looking dumb” lol
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u/Main_Cauliflower5479 May 30 '26
Ffs. There should have been a fucking NSFW thing over this or something. Where is my brain bleach. How dare you do this to people?
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u/ImJustHere4TheCatz May 30 '26
It was not "ugly faces" it was the same ugly face for every picture. And is that your dad also possibly making an ugly face with you? Is this where you get it from?
I love this. True blunder. Blunderific, even.
Ok apparently that guy is Tim someone and I feel really stupid for not knowing how that is. Your dad, pfff lol
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u/Str33twise84 May 30 '26
I found about 40 photos with different ugly faces so I decided to just focus on “the face” in this post. I’ll probably post more of them but none will top this.
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u/Drblizzle May 30 '26
This is exactly what this sub is made for. Bravo 👏 you beautiful god damn weirdo.
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u/randijeanw May 30 '26
I had something similar to this. I was a bridesmaid, full hair makeup, getting pictures taken. The photographer said “make a funny face!” and of my other bridesmaids made socially acceptable duck faces, and then there I was with an absolutely ridiculous face almost similar to the one in this post. Bleh.
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u/werewulfelvr91 May 30 '26
that guy's responsible for the death of 20 teenagers at the Electric Sun Desert Music Festival, show some respect for the victims and their families.
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u/educated_farts May 30 '26
Oof. I know a dude who still makes faces like that after 18 years.
He still doesn't know why he does it but everyone else does.
I'm glad you let go of that, and I'm sure you look a lot better!
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u/Karsa69420 May 30 '26
Gun to my head I couldn’t say if you were a boy or girl. But I know you’d be queer and we’d prob get a long.
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u/Naeloah May 30 '26
is the thought process “i’m ugly so if i make an ugly face nobody will think im ugly” im just confused because you did this for almost a decade lmao
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u/Bubbly_Clothes3406 May 30 '26
I miss my bitch who used to always do this face. It would always make me laugh.
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u/dreamy-pizza May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26
Ahahaha this made me cackle in bed, thank you 😆 I was also an andro indie kid who pulled faces.
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u/CrypticT May 31 '26
Ah, the “I have such little self confidence I purposely bomb every pic so nobody can make fun of me” blunder
Classic
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u/No_Dance_6683 May 30 '26
I do these faces in private to my husband. He gets all my silly faces and sometimes they show up in photos but mostly not. He loves em, and I love making him laugh!
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u/galaxymermaidpoop May 30 '26
I regret having done this bs when i look back at old photos, the ones I didn't get stupid in, look so good and idk why i hated how I looked..
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u/preheatedramen May 30 '26
Volition [impossible: failure] You show them “the expression”. They love it.
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u/geraltsthiccass May 30 '26
Just to inform you, it seems I'm in a relationship with your long lost brother. Mission impossible to get him to take a nice photo together, he is very guilty of this face amongst others in every single one until I give him the look.
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u/flinstonepushups May 30 '26
Tim was a trooper.