Elon Musk with a Flamethrower

What is visible in the photo

The photo shows a man in a black sweater holding a heavy device in front of him, with two metal barrels and a round mechanism. He looks at the camera seriously, almost warily. Behind him, in the doorway of a corridor with metal panels, the blurred figure of a second person is visible.

The lighting is harsh and the photo is slightly blurred, as if taken on a phone. From a single frame it cannot be determined what the hero is actually holding: that the object is called a flamethrower is supported only by that name, not by the image itself. The photo's origin is better checked separately from the story about the messages.

The flamethrower as a product

In early 2018 The Boring Company, linked to Musk, sold a device called “Not-a-Flamethrower” for $500. He himself posted videos with it, and the story was widely covered. The product was marketed as a joke, and it was exactly this duality, serious engineering combined with self-irony, that later passed into the meme.

The link of this specific photo to the flamethrower sales and to the named device is not confirmed, so this remains an assumption based on the meme's common name.

Meme review

In February 2019 Musk wrote on social media that he wanted to appear on “Meme Review,” the segment on PewDiePie's channel where the host goes through memes. PewDiePie replied with a joke and suggested Musk host the episode himself. Musk later said the recording was already made and featured Justin Roiland, co-creator of “Rick and Morty.”

At first many doubted the conversation was real, and that uncertainty became the source of jokes: the meme played on a promise of an episode that might have existed only in the feed. The episode did eventually air, so “meme review” captions on this photo became an established reference.

Caption examples

Example 1: “Came to a meeting to discuss ideas, and someone already brought a flamethrower, just in case the arguments fall short.” An abstract discussion runs into an object that looks too serious for an office, and that is the whole joke.

Example 2: “We agreed to calmly discuss the plan, and ended up recording a meme review.” The caption directly references the Meme Review story: a conversation that should have stayed in messages suddenly turns out to be a real episode.

Example 3: “Wanted to shoot a short video about coffee, and it turned into a fire safety lecture.” A serious object in the frame pulls attention and changes the topic more than planned.

In all the examples the heavy object and the unflappable face take the conversation into their own hands, just as happens in the photo itself.

How to read the photo edits

The value of the frame lies in the contrast: a calm face and an object that looks too dangerous for an office. A caption works best when it explains why the person is so serious but is about something minor.

The photo relates to the hero's public role and to events that were widely covered. Jokes about objects, statements, and promises are appropriate here, while speculation about the personal life of the person in the photo goes beyond the meme.

If the photo becomes the basis for edits, what changes around the hero (the setting or the task) is what matters. The change of scenery rests on the same contrast, so the meme transfers easily to an office, a kitchen, or a queue.