Buff Doge vs. Cheems

Buff Doge vs. Cheems is a two-panel comparison: a towering, muscular Doge stands for an idealized past, while small, uneasy Cheems represents the supposedly weaker present. It can compare generations, products, countries, fandoms or two versions of the same person; the visual hierarchy delivers the verdict before the reader reaches the captions.

The two figures came from different branches of Shiba Inu meme culture. Buff Doge, also called Swole Doge, grafts the face of Kabosu—the dog behind the original Doge meme—onto an exaggerated bodybuilder torso. It carries the self-assured energy of Chad comparison memes.

Cheems was based on Balltze, a real Shiba Inu from Hong Kong. His owner posted the familiar seated photograph on Instagram on September 4, 2017. Dogelore users later named the character after “cheemsburger” and gave him speech with stray m sounds. In this format, his tucked posture and wary expression signal vulnerability, awkwardness or decline.

The earliest available pairing was published by the Facebook page Doges artesanales on February 5, 2020. Its Spanish captions compared “my boss at 16” with “me at 23.” The post reportedly reached more than 10,000 shares, 3,300 reactions and 510 comments over four months. February 5 is the supported first-use date; the much larger wave came in May.

On May 13, @olvidam_ese posted a football version on Twitter comparing Boca Juniors in 2000 and 2019; it received more than 12,300 likes and 1,300 retweets. Posts by @therealbuni and @unhilo showed that the structure could carry politics, sports and regional jokes without changing the two characters.

The format then hit Reddit. On May 16, DiegoGamer25 compared “my dad at 17” with “me at 17,” giving Buff Doge an adult returning to his family and Cheems a wish to become a cute anime girl. Versions of the post collected about 13,900 upvotes on r/Animemes and 38,400 on r/dankmemes in one week.

Users quickly extended the timeline to three generations and applied it to priests, phones, games and anime. A May 19 priest comparison gained roughly 83,900 Reddit upvotes in a week; on May 23, @PrinceT0xic's compilation of four examples received about 69,600 likes and 25,800 retweets. The meme had become a reusable grammar rather than one joke.

That grammar is intentionally biased. Buff Doge turns the past into an impossible body, while Cheems shrinks the present into a nervous pet. The exaggeration can mock modern fragility, but it can also parody nostalgia itself: many captions make the “strong” past obviously dangerous, miserable or ridiculous.

The characters continued to mutate outside the original layout. Cheems joined the “bonk” and “go to horny jail” family of jokes, while Buff Doge appeared as a mentor, protector and overpowered game character. Their contrast remains legible even when captions and panels disappear.

Balltze's identity also became more visible. His family maintained the @balltze account and described him as a gentle Hong Kong pet rather than only a character. He died on August 18, 2023 after complications during treatment for cancer. Tributes preserved both names: Cheems for the meme and Balltze for the dog behind it.

Buff Doge vs. Cheems endures because it compresses a full argument into scale and posture. It can praise the past, criticize the present, or make fun of anyone who does either too confidently. The format's simplicity also made localization effortless, helping a Spanish-language post become a global template.