If you’ve been on the internet at all in the past year, you’ve probably seen the meme featuring a random LEGO® piece with the number 98989 emblazoned on it. But what does it mean? Where did this meme come from, and why is it so popular? Let’s investigate.
Lego Piece 98989 origin
The first recorded instance of the LEGO® piece 98989 meme was on a Reddit thread in August 2019. In that thread, Reddit user u/throwawaylegomeme posted an image of the piece with the caption “when you’re about to do something that will get you banned from r/lego.”
The post was met with confusion and skepticism by other users, but it nevertheless spawned a number of derivative memes.
Variations of the LEGO® Piece 98989 Meme
The most popular variation of the LEGO® piece 98989 meme features a picture of Shrek with the caption “when you’re about to do something that will get you banned from r/funkopop.” This version of the meme is popular because it playfully subverts expectations; in contrast to the wholesome image of Shrek, the caption suggests that the character is up to no good.
Other variations of the meme feature different Legos pieces or different characters altogether, but they all share one common theme: they use innocent-looking images to make humorous or subversive statements.
LEGO Piece 98989 Variations
LEGO piece 32557, if you want to know more about LEGO Piece 32557
LEGO Piece 53586
Conclusion
The LEGO® piece 98989 meme has been circulating on the internet for over a year now, and its popularity shows no signs of waning anytime soon. Whether you find it funny or just plain confusing, there’s no denying that this meme has taken on a life of its own. Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll even figure out what that mysterious number means. Until then, we can all just enjoy these silly memes for what they are: harmless fun.
/* Auto generated, hash = 5dceu9kevqjdyuy2uw1atqrsu */
//TODO: Break this file down so that we can actually unit test it.
(function(window) {
/**
* Renders all unrendred LinkedIn Badges on the page
*/
window.LIRenderAll = function () {
var CALLBACK_NAME = 'LIBadgeCallback', //Must match callback on helpers.js
BADGE_NAMES = '.LI-profile-badge, .LI-entity-badge',
// TODO -- tracking param for other badge types
TRACKING_PARAM = 'profile-badge',
responsesReceived = 0, //Keeps track of number of responses recieved for proper cleanup when finished
expectedResponses = 0, //Keeps track of number of responses to expect
scripts = [ ], //Keeps track of scripts added for proper cleanup when finished
childScripts = {}, //Keeps track of child scripts to render
badges = Array.prototype.slice.call(document.querySelectorAll(BADGE_NAMES));
var i, len, badge, rendered;
for (i = 0, len = badges.length; i < len; i++) {
badge = badges[i];
rendered = badge.getAttribute('data-rendered');
if (!rendered) {
expectedResponses++;
badge.setAttribute('data-rendered', true);
renderBadge(badge);
}
}
function isCNDomain() {
if (typeof window !== "undefined") {
var hostName = window.location && window.location.hostname || '';
return (/linkedin(-ei)?.cn$/).test(hostName);
}
return false;
}
function generateUrl(isEI) {
var domainPrefix = isEI ? 'https://badges.linkedin-ei' : 'https://badges.linkedin';
if (isCNDomain()) {
return domainPrefix + ".cn/";
}
return domainPrefix + ".com/";
}
function getBadgeKeyQueryParams(badge) {
return Array.prototype.slice.call(badge.attributes).filter(function (attr) {
return attr.name.lastIndexOf('data-key-', 0) !== -1;
}).map(function (attr) {
// Most browsers automatically lowercase the attribute name when its being read
// We are calling lowercase on it again to ensure consistency for any browsers that are lagging behind.
return encodeURIComponent(attr.name.replace('data-', '').toLowerCase()) + '=' + encodeURIComponent(attr.value);
});
}
/*
* Renders a single badge on the page
* @param badge: div element of badge to render
*/
function renderBadge(badge) {
var size = badge.getAttribute('data-size'),
locale = badge.getAttribute('data-locale'),
type = badge.getAttribute('data-type'),
theme = badge.getAttribute('data-theme'),
vanity = badge.getAttribute('data-vanity'),
version = badge.getAttribute('data-version'),
isEI = badge.hasAttribute('data-ei'),
entity = badge.getAttribute('data-entity'),
isCreatePage = badge.hasAttribute('data-iscreate'),
uid = Math.round(1000000 * Math.random()),
baseUrl = generateUrl(isEI),
queryParams = [
'locale=' + encodeURIComponent(locale),
'badgetype=' + encodeURIComponent(type),
'badgetheme=' + encodeURIComponent(theme),
'uid=' + encodeURIComponent(uid),
'version=' + encodeURIComponent(version)
],
url;
if (version === 'v2') {
baseUrl += 'view';
queryParams.push('badgesize=' + encodeURIComponent(size));
queryParams.push('entity=' + encodeURIComponent(entity));
queryParams = queryParams.concat(getBadgeKeyQueryParams(badge));
} else {
baseUrl += 'profile';
queryParams.push('maxsize=' + encodeURIComponent(size));
queryParams.push('trk=' + encodeURIComponent(TRACKING_PARAM));
queryParams.push('vanityname=' + encodeURIComponent(vanity));
}
if (isCreatePage) {
queryParams.push('fromCreate=true');
}
url = baseUrl + '?' + queryParams.join('&');
badge.setAttribute('data-uid' , uid);
jsonp(url); //Calls responseHandler when done
}
/**
* Handles a response from the server. Finds badge matching badgeUid and inserts badgeHtml there
* @param badgeHtml: String representing contents of the badge
* @param badgeUid: UID of the badge to target
**/
function responseHandler(badgeHtml, badgeUid) {
responsesReceived ++;
var i, badge, uid, isCreate;
var defaultWidth = 330 // max possible width
var defaultHeight = 300 // max possible height
for (i = 0, len = badges.length; i < len; i++) {
badge = badges[i];
// isCreate needed to prevent reloading artdeco script tag
isCreate = badge.getAttribute('data-iscreate');
uid = parseInt(badge.getAttribute('data-uid'), 10);
if (uid === badgeUid) {
var badgeMarkup = `<body>${badgeHtml}</body>`
var iframe = document.createElement('iframe');
iframe.onload = function() {
var iframeBody = iframe.contentWindow.document.body;
// 5 px buffer to avoid the badge border being cut off.
iframe.setAttribute('height', (iframeBody.scrollHeight || defaultHeight) + 5);
iframe.setAttribute('width', (iframeBody.scrollWidth || defaultWidth) + 5);
};
iframe.setAttribute('frameBorder', '0');
iframe.style.display = 'block';
badge.appendChild(iframe);
iframe.contentWindow.document.open();
iframe.contentWindow.document.write(badgeMarkup);
iframe.contentWindow.document.close();
replaceScriptTags(badge, isCreate);
}
}
tryClean();
}
// These functions are needed because badge markup is added via innerHtml property which does not run script tags
function replaceScriptTags(node, isCreate) {
if (shouldReplaceNode(node, isCreate)) {
node.parentNode.replaceChild(cloneScriptNode(node), node);
childScripts[node.src] = true;
} else {
var i = 0,
children = node.childNodes;
while (i < children.length) {
replaceScriptTags(children[i++], isCreate);
}
}
return node;
}
function shouldReplaceNode(node, isCreate) {
return isScriptNode(node) && !childScripts[node.src] && (!isCreate || (isCreate && !node.getAttribute('data-isartdeco')));
}
function isScriptNode(node) {
return node.tagName === 'SCRIPT';
}
function cloneScriptNode(node){
var script = document.createElement("script");
for( var i = node.attributes.length-1; i >= 0; i-- ) {
script.setAttribute( node.attributes[i].name, node.attributes[i].value );
}
return script;
}
// Gets all incoming responses
window[CALLBACK_NAME] = responseHandler;
/**
* Tries to clean added tags
**/
function tryClean() {
//Clean up after all requests are done..
//Accounts for people including script more than once
var done = (responsesReceived >= expectedResponses && expectedResponses > 0) || responsesReceived >= badges.length;
if (done) {
delete window[CALLBACK_NAME];
// remove all script tags
scripts.map(function(script){
document.body.removeChild(script);
});
}
}
/*
* Makes Jsonp request, responses handles by CALLBACK_NAME
* @param url String: url of server to make request to
*/
function jsonp(url) {
var script = document.createElement('script');
script.src = url;
scripts.push(script);
document.body.appendChild(script);
}
};
if (document.readyState === 'complete') {
window.LIRenderAll();
} else {
window.addEventListener('load', window.LIRenderAll, false);
}
})(window);