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Pedobear
A cute cartoon bear, associated with pedophilia on 4chan
Summary
Pedobear is one of the most (in)famous 4chan memes. He is depicted as a cute bear on two legs, his front legs used as arms. Pedobear is almost always depicted when someone makes a 4chan image collage, and he is the subject of many photoshoppings, some more impressive than others. Before learning of Pedobear's connotations, many unfamiliar consider him to be cute. This often leads to a surprise when said unfamiliar learn of Pedobear's usual purpose.
Pedobear's two most notable real life occurrences were when a Polish newspaper carried an image that was photoshopped by a Canadian man. This image added Pedobear to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics mascots. The other occurrence was perhaps even more dramatic. A prankster stenciled in two pedobears onto a billboard in Malta advertising the upcoming visit by the Pope. Media sources that first covered the story referred to these as "pandas". The graffiti was likely a reference to the Catholic molestation scandals of the previous ten years.
Origins
Pedobear comes from the 2ch character "Kuma", which is Japanese for bear. On 2ch, Kuma had no pedophilic associations, he was merely ASCII art. A mirror of the first Kuma post is at this 2ch archive mirror, suggesting Kuma was first "drawn" in July of 2003. Kuma was often used in what is referred to as "fishing" threads, meaning threads fishing for attention and/or replies. The ASCII was used to suggest the replier was not going to take the bait, or to point out how obvious the thread was.
In the early days of 4chan and /b/ especially, there was some overlap from 2ch. One such member took the bear over, and it is on 4chan where he got his new name and persona.
Current status
Pedobear continues to be one of the best known 4chan memes. He is usually posted on 4chan when someone asks for or posts a child related picture. In the near decade since Kuma's original creation, there has been some confusion as to his origin. Pedobear did not originate as "Safety Bear" or "Pedestrian Bear", the first being stickers sold using the meme, the latter being a joke to make pedobear merchandise seem more family friendly.
Banned
Pedobear is banned from Gaia Online, Gamespot, Tinypic, Imageshack, and Photobucket among other sites.
| —Photobucket, An example notice regarding Pedobear images |
Facts
- Posting Pedobear usually means either "you're being creepy about a child" "I'm being creepy about a child" or "I am posting memes for the sake of posting memes"
- The Japanese anime One Piece has a bear named "Kuma". While he looks similar, he is probably not related. This is just how the Japanese draw bears and name characters.
- A Finnish designer and clothing store owner Kari Seppälä held an contest for a new children design and somehow a pedobear themed shirt claimed the first place in the contest. This caused massive drama and butthurt among moms across the country, thus Seppälä was forced to withdraw their new hit product before it even saw the light of day.
- Threads in which Pedobear appears inevitably also feature Pedobears arch-enemies: Chris Hansen and Party Van. Pedobear usually runs away if either of these two show up
- The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department issued a warning that Pedobear was a sign of the presence of pedophiles and other people with inappropriate sexual behavior, and suggested that Pedobear was a kind of mascot among pedophiles.
Images
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 meme combining: Pedobear war room |
 Exploitable! |
 RUN!!! |
 Busted by Chris Hansen. |
 Pedochair |
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 Hmm. Suspicious. |
 A brand new flavor... |
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 This actually happened. LOL! |
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Videos
Related Pages
External Links
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