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Orb pondering not going so great these days

This is a two-panel comparative meme. The top panel, labeled 'HOW IT STARTED', depicts a serious, bearded hooded wizard sitting behind a large glowing blue crystal scrying orb, prepared to ponder or scry using the orb. The bottom panel, labeled 'HOW IT'S GOING', shows the same wizard looking frustrated at his now empty table, with only a tiny marble-sized blue orb sitting at the very edge of the table, highlighting that the wizard's orb pondering activity has failed catastrophically, with the once-grand orb reduced to a uselessly small size.
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Overview

This is a two-panel comparative meme. The top panel, labeled 'HOW IT STARTED', depicts a serious, bearded hooded wizard sitting behind a large glowing blue crystal scrying orb, prepared to ponder or scry using the orb. The bottom panel, labeled 'HOW IT'S GOING', shows the same wizard looking frustrated at his now empty table, with only a tiny marble-sized blue orb sitting at the very edge of the table, highlighting that the wizard's orb pondering activity has failed catastrophically, with the once-grand orb reduced to a uselessly small size.

Origin notes

This meme originates from the r/Meme subreddit on Reddit, shared under the title 'Orb pondering not going so great these days'. It combines the widely popular 'How it started vs How it's going' meme format with vintage fantasy illustration art of a wizard, edited to shrink the scrying orb in the second panel for comedic effect to joke about plans or activities failing badly over time.

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