Is Baby Groot The New Cat of The Internet?

Something very thunderous happened this week. A brand new figure made waves on the Internet, defying what we know about Internet tropes. That figure is Dancing Baby Groot from Guardians of The Galaxy . Dare I say it, but.. .Baby Groot might be the new cat of the Internet.

Remember when cats first became popular? Well, people who like cats have known forever that cats belonged on the Internet, but somewhere, sometime around the 2000s, the LOL-cat changed things forever. To this day, many of us frequently fall down the rabbit — er, kitty — hole of cat videos and cat GIFs. Cats are quirky, cute characters who you can watch over and over again when they're eating bread, getting stuck in boxes, chasing their tails, eating ham, etc. There goes my day. Goodbye.

Until now.

Baby Groot — the adorable sapling turned into a dancing tiny plant — has managed to usurp cats this week. In only one GIF — not millions — the itty bitty plant has proven that plants are adorable, too. Baby Groot doesn't need to eat ham or to chase its own branch to make you fall down a GIF plant hole. All it needs to do is dance. But if Baby Groot did chase its own branch... well... the Internet might spontaneously combust.

So now, I give you a cat:

And Baby Groot:

A cat:

Baby Groot:

A cat:

Baby Groot:

A cat:

Baby Groot:

A cat:

Baby Groot:

YOU BE THE JUDGE. Seriously. Once people start getting actual Baby Groot toys and putting hats on them and making the little baby plantlings dance... the Internet world will go mad, I tell you. Mad.

Images: Marvel, variablecosplay/Tumblr; Giphy (5)