Three-headed Dragon
Where it came from
This specific image format gained popularity around 2016-2018 on Reddit and Twitter, featuring three dragons with increasingly derpy expressions to show a progression or comparison.
The meme uses three side-by-side dragon heads to represent a spectrum or progression of something, usually going from serious/evil on the left to increasingly goofy/silly on the right. The rightmost dragon with the tongue sticking out and derpy eyes is the key punchline—it's the comedic payoff after the first two look menacing. People use it to show how something escalates from normal to absurd, or to contrast expectations versus reality, or just to show three different moods/responses to the same situation. It's basically a visual joke format where the third option is always the stupidest one.
Search interest, over time
↳ data courtesy of google trends
