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Know your GTA 6 memes

GTA 6 meme glossary

The GTA 6 meme glossary explains 30 memes, jokes and phrases fans use while waiting for Grand Theft Auto VI, from “We got X before GTA 6” to Wasted and Big Smoke's order. Each entry says what it means, when it first appeared and where it came from, with sources.

The wait

  • Me and the boys when GTA 6 comes out

    First seen February 5, 2021

    "Me and the boys when GTA 6 comes out" is a family of aging jokes: a photo of very old people captioned as the gamers who will finally get to play GTA 6. It turns the long wait into a joke about growing old, and it comes back after every delay.

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  • We got X before GTA 6

    First seen June 12, 2020

    "We got X before GTA 6" is a fill-in-the-blank joke that names something real and unlikely that happened before Grand Theft Auto VI came out. It measures the 13-year wait after GTA V: aliens, a new Pope and a crewed Moon flight all arrived before the game.

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  • What I looked like when GTA V came out vs now

    First seen November 8, 2023

    "What I looked like when GTA V came out vs now" is a side-by-side photo meme: people post a picture of themselves from 2013 next to a recent one. It started on 8 November 2023, the day Rockstar announced the first GTA VI trailer, and shows how long the wait has been.

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Delays

  • GTA 6 delay memes

    First seen May 2, 2025

    GTA 6 delay memes are the jokes posted within minutes of Rockstar moving the release date. The game was delayed twice: on 2 May 2025 from fall 2025 to 26 May 2026, and on 6 November 2025 to 19 November 2026. Each delay became a meme event.

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  • GTA 6 in 2030 (another delay jokes)

    First seen around May 2025

    "GTA 6 in 2030" is shorthand for jokes that the release will slip to some absurd future year: 2028 for PC, 2030 for consoles, 2070 for the rest of us. They spike after every delay and laugh at the idea that any date is final.

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Trailers

  • Florida Man and GTA 6

    First seen May 16, 2021

    Florida Man and GTA 6 is the running comparison between the game's fictional Florida and real viral Florida news. Fans asked for a Florida setting years before it was confirmed, and the first trailer recreated scenes that look like famous local videos, from alligators to parties on car roofs.

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  • GTA 6 Trailer 1 (the record and the leak)

    First seen December 4, 2023

    GTA 6 Trailer 1 is Rockstar's first official look at Grand Theft Auto VI, premiered on 4 December 2023, a day early, after the video leaked online. It set a Guinness record of 90,421,491 YouTube views in 24 hours and launched the first wave of GTA 6 memes.

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  • GTA 6 Trailer 2 memes

    First seen May 6, 2025

    GTA 6 Trailer 2 is the second official trailer, released on 6 May 2025, four days after the first delay. Rockstar said it drew 475 million views across platforms in 24 hours, and it gave the internet new memes about Jason's physique, fan theories and a Pointer Sisters song.

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Leaks

  • 2022 GTA 6 leak

    First seen September 18, 2022

    The 2022 GTA 6 leak was the unauthorized release of about 90 clips from an early build of Grand Theft Auto VI on GTAForums on 18 September 2022. It was one of the biggest leaks in gaming history, and the reactions to it, not the footage, became memes.

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  • August 2026 GTA 6 leaks

    First seen August 18, 2026

    The August 2026 GTA 6 leaks were a run of unauthorized clips and a map image from Grand Theft Auto VI posted by an anonymous account called CyberLeek, starting on 18 August 2026. Rockstar issued takedowns, Take-Two sought the leaker's identity in court, and the reactions became a meme cycle.

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Price

  • GTA 6 price memes ($70, $80, $100)

    First seen around September 2023

    GTA 6 price memes are jokes about how much Grand Theft Auto VI would cost, from a $150 rumor in 2023 to analyst talk of $100 in 2025. Rockstar settled it on 24 June 2026: $79.99 for the standard edition and $99.99 for the Ultimate Edition.

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Platforms

  • PC players waiting for GTA 6

    First seen around December 2023

    PC players waiting for GTA 6 is the meme about PC gamers left behind: Rockstar announced Grand Theft Auto VI only for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. GTA V reached PC 574 days after its console launch, so PC players joke that their wait has barely started.

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Characters

  • Jason is an undercover cop (fan theory)

    First seen December 8, 2023

    The Jason undercover cop theory is the fan theory that Jason Duval, a lead of Grand Theft Auto VI, secretly works for the police or the feds. It began with a post on 8 December 2023 and exploded after Trailer 2 in May 2025, with clue montages and counter-arguments.

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  • Lucia (GTA 6) memes

    First seen December 4, 2023

    Lucia memes are fan posts about Lucia Caminos, who shares the lead role in Grand Theft Auto VI with Jason. She is the series' first female protagonist since the original 1997 game. She appeared in Trailer 1 on 4 December 2023 and instantly became the face of the hype.

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  • Shirtless Jason

    First seen May 6, 2025

    Shirtless Jason is the meme about Jason Duval, the male lead of Grand Theft Auto VI, fixing a roof without a shirt in Trailer 2 on 6 May 2025. His gym-level physique set off a wave of thirst posts, fan edits and fitness jokes across X, TikTok and Reddit.

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Fan culture

  • Grove Street World (GTA filter)

    First seen around May 2021

    Grove Street World is a Snapchat AR filter that puts four Grove Street gang members from GTA: San Andreas into your camera view, arguing as if they were standing in your room. Released around 5 May 2021, it went viral on TikTok together with the game's theme song.

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  • GTA 6 cover parodies (2026)

    First seen June 18, 2026

    GTA 6 cover parodies are the wave of fan and brand remakes that followed Rockstar's reveal of the official Grand Theft Auto VI cover on 18 June 2026. Within two days even official US government accounts posted their own versions, including the White House line "We saved America before GTA6".

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  • GTA loading screen parodies

    First seen October 30, 2023

    GTA loading screen parodies are videos and images that put new characters into the art style of Grand Theft Auto loading screens. The best-known TikTok version, captioned "when the loading screen takes so long you start seeing characters you've never seen before", started on 30 October 2023.

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  • "Leaked GTA 6 gameplay"

    First seen May 22, 2020

    "Leaked GTA 6 gameplay" is a joke caption put on real-life chaos, such as a wild police chase or a storm, as if it were secret footage of Grand Theft Auto VI. It laughs at the endless fake leaks and at the promise that the game will look like real life.

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  • Polymarket "before GTA VI" markets

    First seen May 2, 2025

    The Polymarket "before GTA VI" markets are joke prediction markets asking what will happen before Grand Theft Auto VI comes out, such as Jesus Christ returning or a new Rihanna album. The list opened on 2 May 2025, the day of the first delay, and became a meme of its own.

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GTA classics

  • Ah shit, here we go again

    First seen October 26, 2004

    "Ah shit, here we go again" is the line CJ says at the start of GTA: San Andreas when he returns home and trouble starts right away. It became one of the internet's biggest reaction memes for anything that repeats, from Monday mornings to yet another GTA 6 rumor.

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  • Big Smoke's order

    First seen October 26, 2004

    Big Smoke's order is the absurdly long drive-through order Big Smoke places at Cluckin' Bell in the GTA: San Andreas mission "Drive-Thru": "two number 9s, a number 9 large, a number 6 with extra dip...". Fans recite it from memory, remix it and argue about what it actually contained.

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  • All we had to do was follow the damn train, CJ

    First seen October 26, 2004

    "All we had to do was follow the damn train, CJ!" is Big Smoke's angry line when players fail the GTA: San Andreas mission "Wrong Side of the Tracks". The mission is famous for being hard, so the quote became shorthand for a simple task that somehow went completely wrong.

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  • GTA cover parodies

    First seen June 12, 2005

    GTA cover parodies are remakes of the Grand Theft Auto box art, the collage of tilted panels with characters, cars and places that the series has used since GTA III in 2001. People put friends, cartoons or politicians into the panels, and the format dates back to 2005.

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  • Lamar roasts Franklin

    First seen September 17, 2013

    Lamar roasts Franklin is a GTA V cutscene in which Lamar mocks Franklin's haircut, remembered for the phrase "yee yee ass haircut". In 2020 it became a remix template: creators swap in other characters, from SpongeBob to Darth Vader, and redub the roast with new voices.

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  • Let's go bowling

    First seen April 29, 2008

    "Let's go bowling" is the invitation Roman Bellic keeps phoning in to his cousin Niko in GTA IV, often at the worst possible moment. Players heard it so often that the line became a meme for an overly persistent friend and a classic sound for remix videos.

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  • Mission passed! Respect +

    First seen October 26, 2004

    "Mission passed! Respect +" is the success screen from GTA: San Andreas, shown with a short jingle when a mission is done and CJ's Respect stat goes up. As a meme it marks any small victory, from perfect parking to finished homework, and became a staple of Vine and YouTube.

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  • Potracheno («Потрачено»)

    First seen around June 2005

    Potracheno («Потрачено», literally "spent") is the Russian version of the WASTED meme. It comes from a clumsy pirate translation of GTA: San Andreas from the mid-2000s, which rendered the death screen word as if CJ were money that had been spent. Russian speakers use it for any fail.

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  • Wasted

    First seen November 28, 1997

    Wasted is the message Grand Theft Auto shows when the player dies, and the meme that puts it on real-life fails. Since GTA IV the screen slows down, turns grey and shows the word in red; online, that look became a punchline for any fall, crash or embarrassing moment.

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