The format uses Bob Parr, also known as Mr Incredible from Pixar's The Incredibles, in a series of edited portraits that grow more uncanny with each phase. It spread online in 2021 through YouTube compilations and social posts that paired the images with increasingly distorted music. Phase 12 sits deep in the sequence, well past the cheerful early stages, which is why it signals serious unease rather than mild awkwardness. The numbered phases let creators reuse the same progression for many topics while viewers instantly recognise how far the situation has escalated.