In recent months, the alphas have emerged as TikTok's newest supervillain, a designation that has followed them into mainstream media. If zoomers are delicate snowflakes, alphas are the opposite — a horde of marauders chasing Drunk Elephant beauty products.

But where did this reputation come from? And why is it ascendant now, when the last alphas are still in utero?

"There's more children today than ever before, [and] more than there will be in the future," said Mark McCrindle, the demographer who coined the name "Generation Alpha" in 2008. "We've hit peak children."

'I need to ask millennials — why are your kids so awful?'

Alphas are overwhelmingly the offspring of millennials (those born 1981-1996), who have famously been accused of destroying such beloved American establishments as the department store, the housing market and the institution of marriage.

Now, according to wide swaths of the internet, millennials are ruining childhood for the next generation.

"I need to ask millennials — why are your kids so awful, and more importantly, why do you think it's so funny?" TikToker Alanna Dinh said in a viral video in November.

Many Gen X and Gen Z families also have alphas — the oldest zoomers just hit the median age of first birth in the US, while the youngest Xers are still several years from menopause — but millennial parents have defined the genre.

It begins with the sad beige baby.

This aggressively oatmeal aesthetic has dominated infant care since around Gen Alpha's midpoint in 2017, desaturating high chairs, play gyms and diaper pails from electric green to subtle sage. Even Fisher Price has toned down its color pallet in response to the market demand for more muted, less-gendered clothes, toys and gear.

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