About
What’s All This Racket? (a.k.a “Fat Son”) is a series of multi-pane comics depicting various dialogues between an Otaku-type character and his scornful father. The comic typically begins with the father entering his son’s room to ask what he’s doing and ends with the father reacting disappointedly to his son’s response. Although it remains speculative, “What’s All This Racket, Son” is most likely a spin-off series inspired by the Son, I am disappoint comics.
Origin
The 4pane comic series was most likely conceived on 4chan1 and spread throughout various forums and imageboards circa early 2009, with the earliest known thread on Grand Holy Empire of Batta forum2 dating back to April 18th, 2009. One of the most widespread instances illustrate a rather entertaining conversation about Japanese animes between the father and the son:
Spread
The comic has since appeared on 4chan’s topical imageboards like /v/ (video game board) 2 and /a/ (anime board) 3, videogame-related forums4, anime communities5 and other Otaku strongholds on the web. The blank template has spawned dozens of derivative artworks exploring a wide range of subject matters through father-and-son dialogue. The phrase “what’s all this racket, son?” has been also used in forum discussions as a standalone expression to indicate one’s annoyance against another member in the thread.
Usage
The face has been also widely used as a reaction face in comment threads, oftentimes to express concerns or displeasure towards another user’s behaviors or remarks. For example in Reddit’s AdviceAnimals section, typing the code [stare] into the text field generates the dad’s reaction face. Its usage can be comparable to Stare Dad or Son, I am disappoint reaction faces.
Notable Examples
Blank Exploitable
External References
1 [researching]
2 Grand Holy Empire of Batta – “What’s all this racket going down here, dad? I’m trying to watch my moe”
3 Squisso – /g/ – technology
4 Sankaku – What’s all this racket going on up here, son?
5 HolyFuckingShit40000 – Koenjihyakkei – Angherr Shisspa
6 Monorail.net – You Listenin’ To Yer Chinese Girl Songs Again?