Strike a pose! Virtually, that is.
If you’re not familiar with “pose 28,” chances are you’re not under the age of 16, the average user age of online video game hub Roblox.
Pose 28 comes from the Roblox minigame “Dress to Impress,” a popular internet game that pits users against each other in a runway contest, creating virtual outfits and striking poses to win votes from other users.
Players have a variety of poses to choose from while walking the catwalk, but fans of the game have given pose 28 a life beyond the virtual world. Many TikTok videos about it have surfaced since the game’s initial popularity in the summer of 2024 as fans have re-created the pose in real life.
Here’s what to know about pose 28 that has captured the attention of Gen Alpha and beyond.
Where did pose 28 come from?
With an average of 88.9 million daily users and 58% of users under 16, Roblox is a massive online gaming platform that allows players to create their own minigames and share their creations with others.
One of its most popular minigames is “Dress to Impress,” a dress-up competition between virtual users racing against time to pick out their best runway outfits to make the bronze, silver or gold positions on the podium.
After picking out a variety of virtual garments and accessories, users walk the catwalk with their avatars, making various poses of their choosing to sway voters.
According to the game’s wiki page, there are 35 “starter poses” that users get for free while strutting the catwalk with their avatar.
Why is pose 28 so popular?
The game received attention from older internet streamers who discovered this unique pose during the peak of its internet buzz. As Urban Dictionary explains, the pose “involves the character leaning back with their hands clasped behind their back.”
The new players included Twitch’s most subscribed streamer, Kai Cenat, who re-created the game in real life in a YouTube video with his group, AMP.
Streamers were quick to find out about the silly and awkward nature of pose 28.
A sound mashup of the game’s theme song and Lana Del Ray’s “Say Yes to Heaven” became widely used on TikTok in September 2024, with some videos getting tens of millions of views.
One fan of the game pointed out than an Olympic athlete in the 2024 Paris Olympics accidentally struck pose 28 after throwing a javelin.
How do you do pose 28?
The pose itself is pretty simple, as Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hagar found out on TODAY with Hoda & Jenna after a visit from Mr. Lindsay on Nov. 21.
The middle school teacher and TikTok personality, who is known for decoding teen slang, demonstrated the pose to the co-hosts by putting his hands behind his back while jumping in the air.
“And so now they do it in the classroom, you hear it in the hallways, and somebody goes ‘pose 28!’” shared Mr. Lindsay, who has seen this firsthand.
Mr. Lindsay added that there are other popular poses from the game, such as poses 14 and 22, that parents might see their kids striking. Pose 14 involves the avatar crossing one leg in front of the other with both arms stretched out at their full wingspan, while pose 22 has the avatar put both hands behind their head and bend their knees.
