Tyler Robinson Allegedly Engraved "*Notices Bulges* OwO What's This?" on Bullet — Why?

The culture of memes has become an omnipresent entity in the world of Gen Z, younger Millennials, and Gen Alpha as they start to grow into the world of internet communication.

Usually, they're harmless. Inside jokes or cultural references that only the young can appreciate which sweep the internet like wildfire and fade again within a week.

But every now and then, a meme becomes inextricably tied to a tragedy. This is what happened to a particular meme, which police say was engraved on a bullet found near the assassination of far-right commentator and political activist Charlie Kirk. The inscription reads; "*notices bulges* what's this?"

Here's what it means and how it was tied to Kirk's killing.

The meme itself dates back to 2013, according to Know Your Meme. The phrase originated on the content site DeviantArt from a reference to a "furry" exchange online. But it remained relatively unremarkable until 2015, when the meme phrase took off.

The site notes, "Imgur user MinotaurusPro posted a meme depicting two furries roleplaying online. In the art, one of the furries writes to the other, 'nuzzles u back and pounces on u and notices your bulge 'OwO what's this…?' ' In the case of the meme, 'bulge' refers to noticing the outline of a man's crotch."

In meme culture, "OwO" is supposed to represent a surprised face, and is often used in the same circles as the cute face, "UwU" or "uWu."

In memes, the "notices bulges" meme is often used to mock the furry community or make fun of people for being "chronically online." But the furry community has also been known to own it and flip the narrative, taking it for their own.

The phrase started trending on Sept. 12, 2025, after it was revealed that the unusual phrase had a surprising tie to the man who allegedly killed Charlie Kirk: Tyler Robinson.

Robinson, a 22-year-old Southern Utah man, was arrested on September 12 after his father reportedly recognized his son in FBI wanted notices and encouraged him to turn himself in.

At the scene of the shooting, police were able to recover some evidence which included the rifle used to murder him, as well as several bullet casings with inscriptions on them.

Among the inscriptions was: “If you read this, you are gay LMAO" and "Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao."

Inexplicably, the alleged shooter also inscribed, "Notices bulges what's this?" on one of the bullets.

It's unclear exactly what Robinson allegedly meant, but he is rumored to have ties to the far alt-right "groyper" community, which embraces meme culture to promote their culture war values.

The juxtaposition of the shooter's careless and casual jokes in the setting of Kirk's brutal murder has shaken the internet, drawing some to call the revelation of the inscriptions "utterly unserious" while others call it "dystopian and jarring."

Either way, there are many questions to be answered about the role of meme culture in acts of violence, and whether this is a growing trend or an isolated oddity.