Cheems

Cheemsburmger. Bormk. Wimth great power comes great respomnsibilimty.

On September 4, 2017, the Hong Kong-based Instagram account @balltze posted a photo of a round-faced Shiba Inu named Balltze sitting with an enigmatic smile. By June 2019, Reddit's r/dogelore community had transformed him into Cheems—a new character in the expanding Doge cinematic universe, distinguished by his habit of adding unnecessary "m"s to wordms.

Where Doge spoke in Comic Sans enthusiasm, Cheems mumbled in phonetic chaos. He became the pathetic counterpart to Swole Doge—the "then vs. now" format that dominated 2020, depicting the decline of civilization through the contrast of a muscular Doge ancestor and his wimpy modern descendant. Cheems was all of us: a little sad, a little confused, wanting nothing more than a cheemsburger.

His most famous role came in March 2020, when he appeared in Go To Horny Jail—cast as the hapless victim being bonked by Doge for crimes against decency. The image became the pandemic's go-to response to any hint of online thirst.

On August 18, 2023, the real Balltze passed away following a battle with cancer. He was reportedly 12 years old. The internet mourned—not just for a dog, but for an era of ironic sincerity that Cheems had come to represent.

He couldn't spell. He couldn't fight. But he understood us better than we understood ourselves.

Rest in peamce, king.