【Watch The Running Mates: Human Rights Online】

Joe Biden is Watch The Running Mates: Human Rights Onlineleaving office, and with him go the Biden memes.

The internet, predictably, is already mourning. Even President Obama acknowledged the end of an era as he presented Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom last week. "This ... gives the internet one last chance to talk about our bromance," he said. (It took that chance, heartily.)

SEE ALSO: #TBT: Young Joe Biden was a dapper man indeed

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

It's not difficult to guess why the internet will take this loss so hard. First, and perhaps most depressingly, there's no clear replacement: policy aside, it's nearly impossible to imagine vice president-elect Mike Pence eating ice cream, laughing or enjoying anything.

Therein lies Biden's appeal as a public figure: he is a serious, veteran leader who also enjoys life. Eats a sh*t-ton of ice cream. Does not eat that ice cream delicately.

And that means he's highly meme-able.

Biden became perfect foil for President Obama, a man so poised he often seems unflappable. Meme Biden was weird Uncle Joe, the prankster -- the perfect goofball "brother" to Obama's straight man.

Mashable Trend Report Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Better yet, the two really seemed to care for each other: a united front who were also united friends.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

After Trump's victory, Meme Biden's role became more pointed. He assumed the role of the internet's slightly petty ally, plotting elaborate pranks and schemes not for any real reason -- just to push the president-elect's buttons.

To progressives feeling crushed and helpless in the wake of the election, Meme Biden's antics became a reason to finally laugh a little, a silver lining where none could really ever exist.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Of course, there's also The Onion's Biden: a muscle car-loving, Icehouse-swilling nostalgia hound who hitch-hiked to the DNC and spent his last day in the White House searching for his missing pet snake. But even "Diamond Joe" is strangely earnest.

"Gotta get her looking good so I can impress the chicks when I'm cruising down Pennsylvania [Avenue]," he says of his hypothetical Trans-Am.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

In fact, there's a unmistakable sincerity in most Biden memes, an emotional transparency that dovetails with Biden's warm public personality. That warmth isn't just limited to pranks and finger guns, either: Biden, one of the most powerful people in the world, can't help but express himself. He has no poker face -- he hasn't thought that far.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

And as a big Jumbotron pops up in front of the Lincoln Memorial, that sincerity -- that trademark Biden joy -- is something the internet wants, just before the Trump era kicks in, to celebrate.

Credit: Chip Somodeville/Getty Images

So long, VP Biden. And thanks for all the memes.

---

Featured Video For You

---

Watch Joe Biden get snubbed by a baby

---

• Science
• Shopping
• Tech
• Entertainment
• Digital Culture
• Games
• Deals
• Life

• Waymo data shows humans are terrible drivers compared to AI
• Why can't Colin Kaepernick get a job?
• Police want to know about literally anyone who googled this guy
• Japan opens cafe with beds for naps, basically a dream come true
• The best day to book your flight, according to Google
• The scents in your body wash, chicken stock and canned drink all come from one company
• Donald Trump finally provided a clue about NASA's future
• Guess launches a real smartwatch this time
• Waymo data shows humans are terrible drivers compared to AI
• What's coming to Hulu in April 2017

• Staff Picks: Peasants, Postpartum, and Palestine by The Paris Review
• Staff Picks: Passion, Portals, and Premature Presents by The Paris Review
• What We Saw When We First Saw the Wu
• Redux: Lovers Surprised by Love by The Paris Review
• Every iPhone 16 model may get a new and improved 'Action' button
• ‘The Left Hand of Darkness’ at Fifty
• Foot fetishes explained: everything you need to know
• Best speaker deal: Get the JBL Partybox Encore Essential speaker for $179
• Poetry Rx: There Are Enough Ballrooms in You by Sarah Kay
• The Beauty of Invisibility by Jennifer Wilson

• How to Settle Down with Dystopia
• Apple replaces the iPad Air with a new 9.7
• Facebook updates its mobile comment format to look more like Messenger
• Attention, world: Chrissy Teigen and John Legend's daughter has uttered her first word
• Astronomers saw one galaxy impale another. The damage was an eye
• Calvin Harris breaks down exactly how he made 'Slide' with Frank Ocean and Migos
• Why people are painting their faces green in Russia
• UK bans laptops and big smartphones on airlines from 6 countries
• Astronomers saw one galaxy impale another. The damage was an eye
• The scents in your body wash, chicken stock and canned drink all come from one company

• Virtual Reality: The True Cost of Admission (and Why It Doesn't Matter)
• New fitness app offers accessible workouts for people of all abilities
• Ellen DeGeneres was hospitalized for the most Ellen DeGeneres reason ever
• The Trump kids are in Aspen and it's ruining everyone else's hygge
• The fat bears are already extremely fat
• UK bans laptops and big smartphones on airlines from 6 countries
• Emoji are currently either male or female — but that could be about to change
• Apple finally gives India a 9.7
• Keeping Hope Alive
• 'Alexa, bring me a beer from Prime Now' is now possible, and life is beautiful