One of these things is not like the others

February 7, 2010 1:57 PM

A Polish newspaper ran a picture of what they thought were the cartoon mascots of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. One of the five is decidedly odd.
posted by Chocolate Pickle (66 comments total)

It looks like the clueless newspaper found that graphic here.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:58 PM on February 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

You know, I have this theory. My theory holds that things like this (and, while we're on the subject, this) are the result of a cult of Situationist Anarachists embedded in important gatekeeper positions. They've wedged themselves right between the lower (development) and upper (management) tiers of groupthink and weasel weirdness in through the works just to make the world a little bit odder.

I came up with this theory after I decided that the world I want to live in isn't dumb enough for these events to be accidents.
posted by griphus at 2:06 PM on February 7, 2010 [51 favorites]

HE'S LOOSE! RUN!
posted by The Whelk at 2:07 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

OMG. T-shirt. Now.
posted by prinado at 2:08 PM on February 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

Yikes!
posted by futureisunwritten at 2:09 PM on February 7, 2010

 ▲
▲▲
posted by Damienmce at 2:11 PM on February 7, 2010 [16 favorites]

This is eerily like the "Bert is Evil" case.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:11 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

So they made cortex into their mascot?
posted by cjorgensen at 2:14 PM on February 7, 2010

MetaFilter: Pedobear Olympics.
posted by loquacious at 2:14 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

That almost makes up for the helicopter parade last night.
posted by jokeefe at 2:16 PM on February 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

fnord
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:19 PM on February 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

I like your theory, griphus, but I believe a more accurate one is that newspapers employ lots of lazy people who don't bother to factcheck shit.
posted by graventy at 2:19 PM on February 7, 2010

Goatse at the BBC
posted by permafrost at 2:24 PM on February 7, 2010

Me and my lawn are going to need you to explain this particular meme, because I would really rather not have to Google it.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 2:31 PM on February 7, 2010 [3 favorites]

Here's another one.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:31 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

Goatse on the cover of Time Magazine
posted by ryanrs at 2:31 PM on February 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

Is there a name for the style of art the Vancouver mascots are done in? It is very distinct and recent, sort of like anime-meets-Illustrator and is very flat. It is definitely distinct and recent, Twitter uses it as do a lot of other Web 2.0ish sites.
posted by geoff. at 2:36 PM on February 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

I guess I'm getting old at 29 when I have to google this stuff.
posted by Durin's Bane at 2:41 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

Horace, I think the best answer to your question lies with Yahoo Answers.

I hate that I know who pedobear is. *sigh*
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 2:42 PM on February 7, 2010

I believe the Encyclopedia Dramatica article is authoritative.
posted by ryanrs at 2:46 PM on February 7, 2010

Know your meme: Pedobear
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:46 PM on February 7, 2010

that Encyclopedia Dramatica link makes popups and contains NSFW pictures.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:50 PM on February 7, 2010

Of course!
posted by ryanrs at 2:52 PM on February 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

Yeah, never visit E.D. if you use Internet Explorer.

Ever.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 2:53 PM on February 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

One of the five is decidedly odd.

The smaller one, with the cowlick, looks scared and is walking funny?

/one ticket, please
posted by orthogonality at 2:58 PM on February 7, 2010 [3 favorites]

Horace, I think the best answer to your question lies with Yahoo Answers.

Well that's something you don't hear every day.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 3:00 PM on February 7, 2010 [24 favorites]

an hero
posted by jquinby at 3:00 PM on February 7, 2010

I love pedobear. It's such a simple, subversive criticism.

▲
▲▲
Crap.
posted by Nelson at 3:08 PM on February 7, 2010 [4 favorites]

Today is February over 9000, and "Milhouse is not a meme" is stiil not a meme.
posted by infinitewindow at 3:11 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

                __
     __/~~\-''- _ |
__- - {            \
     /             \
    /       ;o    o }
    |              ;
                   '
       \_       (..)
         ''-_ _ _ /
           /
          /

I AM EVERYWHERE
posted by The Whelk at 3:18 PM on February 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

Horace, I think the best answer to your question lies with Yahoo Answers.

For the record, those answers are complete shit.
posted by ryanrs at 3:29 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

For the record, those answers are complete shit.

Really? I thought they were kind of amazing. Just like every other YA answer.
Besides, I was really hoping that the juxtaposition of Yahoo Answers and Pedobear would have caused a rift in the spacetime continuum, swallowing the Earth, saving the universe from everlasting insanity and torment.. Alas, I have failed in my mission.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 3:43 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

Olympic mascots are generally such shit that pedobear is actually an improvement.
posted by Justinian at 3:55 PM on February 7, 2010 [6 favorites]

Holy shit, that's the best thing I've seen all month!
posted by MaryDellamorte at 3:58 PM on February 7, 2010

What's polish for "Do a barrel roll"?
posted by codswallop at 4:01 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh good, something else I'm ashamed to know about.

I can't tell my friends about this! What if some of them don't know what Pedobear is? I'll have to reveal that not only that I know what he is, but I'll probably also mention that it's from 4chan. THEN I'll have to describe what Pedobear does and then explain what 4chan is!

Luckily, they will not ask why I know this.
posted by cmoj at 4:13 PM on February 7, 2010

Really? I thought they were kind of amazing.

I'm afraid I can't mark it Best Answer if it doesn't contain actual CP. It's like thousand island dressing and Big Macs: that's what makes it Pedobear.
posted by ryanrs at 4:27 PM on February 7, 2010

But where is Chris Hansen?
posted by sallybrown at 4:48 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

Chris Hansen with Pedobear
posted by ryanrs at 4:59 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

Hey, don't neglect the rest of the PedoPals family tree.
posted by Rhomboid at 5:05 PM on February 7, 2010 [3 favorites]

PEDOBEAR DOES NOT APPROVE
posted by P.o.B. at 5:20 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

[tig]
posted by sciurus at 5:24 PM on February 7, 2010

Needs a shoe on his head.


Seaking.
posted by paisley henosis at 5:26 PM on February 7, 2010

THEN I'll have to describe what Pedobear does and then explain what 4chan is!

try this
(SFW)
posted by stifford at 5:53 PM on February 7, 2010 [8 favorites]

When did this nonsense of having cutesy animals represent your Olympic nation begin? And pardon my Godwin, but what adorable mascot(s) happened to represent Germany in the Berlin 1936 games?
posted by mccarty.tim at 6:09 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

The inernets will do that to you, lots of knowledge you're too ashamed to share with your friends!
posted by Iosephus at 6:09 PM on February 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

Hey, don't neglect the rest of the PedoPals family tree.

Never have I had to consult the urbandictionary so much in my life.
posted by drezdn at 6:13 PM on February 7, 2010

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posted by Stylus Happenstance at 6:14 PM on February 7, 2010 [15 favorites]

What really sucks is having to explain to someone who doesn't get Pedobear why he's funny.

It always starts off like "This is making light of pedophilia. Kids getting molested isn't funny."

Then you make your case (IE pedobear makes fun of the paranoia, not the actual act), but you're still pretty sure the other guy thinks you're either an empty-headed idiot and/or a pedophile.
posted by mccarty.tim at 6:15 PM on February 7, 2010 [10 favorites]

HE IS COME


ew
posted by The Whelk at 6:22 PM on February 7, 2010 [5 favorites]

A coworker noted the other day that he'd been down to Comic Store X, a local establishment I'm not that fond of, to pick something up the other day.

I'm really glad he's a fellow geek, because I immediately blurted out "Oh, Pedobear Comics," and didn't have to explain myself. I'm pretty sure the other 90% of our officemates would've had problems with that.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 7:19 PM on February 7, 2010

Hey, don't neglect the rest of the PedoPals family tree.

Seems felines are really into Shota for some reason.
posted by qvantamon at 7:28 PM on February 7, 2010

I actually expected some Latin American media to adopt the image, thinking he was named PedroBear. (Hmmm... put a Frito Bandito mustache on him...)
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:48 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

oh, of course, somebody beat me to it years ago... no, I won't link...
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:49 PM on February 7, 2010

PedroBear sounds all sorts of awesome;
but he would have to look more like one
of those donkey piñatas :)
posted by liza at 9:37 PM on February 7, 2010

Okay everyone. It is funny that they included Pedobear.

But \begin{comicbookguyrant} I want to point out to you a greater crime against humanity: One of the mascots is a sasquatch, which is awesome, but he is a sasquatch named Quatchi.

It offends me at a cellular level that they named their mascot a sound that should be reserved for euphemisms for defecation.

Perhaps even worse, I cannot hear the name of that infernal creature without thinking immediately of Joanie Loves Quatchi, or its more realistic cousin Quatchi Violates Joanie.\end{comicbookguyrant}
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:47 PM on February 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

Pedobear reminds me that someone really ought to come up with a new name for pedometers.
posted by bwg at 9:56 PM on February 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

Goddamit, now you people went and made me spend a while seeing through google the extent of the Pedrobear meme, Twitter and Facebook and all. Yet another thing to fill the secret jokes brainslice and never share at work. Bah.
posted by Iosephus at 10:07 PM on February 7, 2010

When did this nonsense of having cutesy animals represent your Olympic nation begin?

Waldi was designed to represent the attributes described as required for athletes — resistance, tenacity and agility.

Spoiler: it's a daschhund.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 10:19 PM on February 7, 2010

ROU_Xenophobe- Defecation?

I was thinking micturition. I've always heard it as "crotchy."
posted by evidenceofabsence at 11:10 PM on February 7, 2010

One of the mascots is a sasquatch, which is awesome, but he is a sasquatch named Quatchi. It offends me at a cellular level that they named their mascot a sound that should be reserved for euphemisms for defecation.

You need more fiber in your diet.
posted by roger ackroyd at 11:21 PM on February 7, 2010

You could probably put together a decent-sized college thesis about /b/'s influence on modern culture...

...which is kind of an alarming thought.
posted by The Shiny Thing at 4:43 AM on February 8, 2010

You could probably put together a decent-sized college thesis about /b/'s influence on modern culture...

Something like this?
posted by cimbrog at 6:55 AM on February 8, 2010 [1 favorite]

One of the five is decidedly odd.

It's the bear with the wings, amirite?
posted by sour cream at 2:44 PM on February 8, 2010

griphus: "My theory holds that things like this"

NO SALESPERSON
MAY LEAVE THE FLOOR
OR GO TO THE DOOR
WITHOUT THE AUTHORIZATION
OF A SUPERIOR.
THE MGT.
posted by boo_radley at 3:30 PM on February 8, 2010 [3 favorites]

Oh crap I lost the game.
posted by The Whelk at 3:32 PM on February 8, 2010