The "Pics that ACTUALLY go hard" group is fairly new. Not in its concept, but in the date it was created. The group's bio explains that this is a new group because the other 'Pics That Go Hard' became "more of a general meme page and not actually pics that go hard."
Still, even now, the members often disagree about whether the pictures that the moderators approve are actually hard pics. The group's admins have tried setting some rules about what constitutes a hard pic. "If I have to read it, it's not a hard pic," one of the admins wrote in a post.
Perhaps, then, it's easier to define hard pics by what they are not. According to this group, at least, hard pics are not memes, text strings, comics, also images that are political or sexual in nature. "Some memes are hard but most are not," another admin wrote in a post.
The "Pics that ACTUALLY go hard" group is not the only community dedicated to hard images. There are similar pages on Instagram and X (Twitter), and, of course, Reddit. Moderators from one of those groups on Reddit have more clearly defined guidelines about what hard images are.
The r/hardimages2 community, for example, describes hard images as rebellious and silly at the same time. It's the juxtaposition of something cool with a thing that's either childish or just generally ridiculous. "Like Deadpool wearing a propeller hat or gangsta Spongebob," the subreddit's bio reads.
"Remember that hard images should make you laugh too," they add. "This isn't for posting a cool thing you saw, it should be for posting a cool but funny thing you saw. Batman fighting crime in pajamas would be a hard image."
According to Know Your Meme, the "pics that go hard" gimmick started with an image of a monkey smoking a cigar, posted on iFunny by @FloorMeat. The user captioned it with the text "This pic goes hard. Feel free to screenshot." The meme became viral as it spread to Instagram.
In October 2021, someone created the Pics That Go Hard X (Twitter) Account. The page featured such wonderful internet nonsense such as Snoop Dogg edited into a scene of Spongebob or a mini version of the Moyai head placed on a couch at somebody's house.
