In a new TikTok trend, people are celebrating their fictional crushes

People on the internet are admitting to their unconventional childhood crushes, and I for one am happier for it. A new TikTok trend has people creating videos about their early love interests – like Diego from the “Ice Age” films or “The Man in the Yellow Hat” from “Curious George” – with the top videos garnering around 9 million views.

The trend really took off in late September when user d3spond3lara created a viral TikTok about the Man in the Yellow Hat. The videos work more or less like this: A person draws a childhood caricature of themselves in a simple comic book-like art style. In each video, the childhood version of the person meets themselves as an adult when they are married or dating someone. The child meets his future partner, but then expresses dismay that he is not dealing with a specific fictional character. All videos use a TikTok audio clip in which the adult version tells her childhood self to “be nice” to her partner.

As with most memes, it’s better to just look at one than to explain it. Created by TikTok user Graphicsbygab, this video has more than 291,000 views. In it you see a child confronting the fact that he didn’t marry Beast Boy Teen Titans – sad!

You can keep scrolling to see many other adorable videos that are part of the trend. The following is about Diego, the anthropomorphized saber-toothed tiger from the Ice Age films.

An innocent crush is an everyday joy that can arise from love for a particular movie, series or game. Fanfic, art, and trends like these allow people to connect with others over shared interests. So when people make cute videos like this, it makes me giggle at how silly – and relatable – the posts can be.