Thumbnail Gallery of Horrors: The Best of the Worst of Chatroulette

Chatroulette‘s rise through the various layers of Internet culture has been illustrative — illustrative, that is, of how online phenomena bubble up first in the strangest and most arcane of places before finally dribbling down to the “mainstream” outlets that make up the sprawling majority of media. From the horrific cultural smelters of 4chan and SomethingAwful, out through the sprawling network of topical forums, and finally, onto sites like BlackBook, Buzzfeed, and NYMag, the site — which, in case you’ve been speedrunning Dragon Age or something, randomly connects users through their webcams — has evolved to the verge of Internet behemoth-dom.

Ah, Chatroulette — now that you’re about to go mainstream, let us savor the last lingering moments of your cultural relevance, before your meme-riddled concupiscence goes the way of all flesh. And what better way to do that than with a gallery of The Best of the Worst of Chatroulette!In Chatroulette’s early days, it was easy for trolls to startle unsuspecting users with images ranging from disturbing to horrifying, as seen below:

Next page: attack of the trolls.