What is this running green thing?

February 24, 2005 8:41 PM

Can anyone identify this animated character?
posted by arielmeadow to Computers & Internet (19 answers total)

I looks like it might be a Hayao Miyazake character, but I can't be for sure.
posted by zardoz at 8:44 PM on February 24, 2005

I want to say it's from Princess Mononoke, but I'm not sure
posted by falconred at 8:44 PM on February 24, 2005

wow, falconred, almost in synch!
posted by zardoz at 8:45 PM on February 24, 2005

It's a Kelet.
posted by sciatica at 8:48 PM on February 24, 2005

Best answer: Actually, it is a bunchie, but the kelet story is funnier. And I just realized the kelet link above may be NSFW. Sorry about that.
posted by sciatica at 8:51 PM on February 24, 2005

I first saw it at eatpoo.com (dont worry its nothing sick, just an art forum) a loong time ago. Someone posted a larger image as a standalone character. Another member made the halarious animated gif.

here you go-
http://www.eatpoo.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14772&highlight=bunchie
posted by phyle at 9:41 PM on February 24, 2005

although the image links are broken on my link...
posted by phyle at 9:43 PM on February 24, 2005

also, see this previous ask.mefi thread.
posted by fishfucker at 9:54 PM on February 24, 2005

I knew this question had come up before!
posted by jazon at 9:56 PM on February 24, 2005

I couldn't find it either, 'till just now: it's the happy green thing merrily trotting forth!
posted by fionab at 10:07 PM on February 24, 2005

Heh, wow, this thread is just full of synchronicities.
posted by abcde at 1:10 AM on February 25, 2005

is this a joke? isn't this the third or fourth time this has been asked? (not being snarky, but suspicious there's some kind of orchestrated campaign going on to get this thing noticed...)
posted by andrew cooke at 5:16 AM on February 25, 2005

andrew, how would you phrase the question such that it is easily searchable? I'm not criticizing your statement, I'm honestly asking, it's a visual identification thing.
posted by Capn at 8:05 AM on February 25, 2005

Response by poster: Yeah: sorry that this is ultimately a double post ... but Capn's point is well taken: I tried googling it and searching the archives for "Green running thing" and came up empty handed. Not quite sure how else I would have found it...

I hate double posts as much as the next mefite, but in this case ... it's a hard one to search for in the archives.
posted by arielmeadow at 8:10 AM on February 25, 2005

i didn't ask because i thought it was difficult to find (i didn't think of that), but because i'm amazed that people keep asking about the same picture. i'm sure it's more than double (well, as sure as i am of anything that involves my memory, which isn't that great) and it seems odd that the same little aniimated doodah keeps coming up. isn't it? i mean there must be an awful lot of cartoony animals in animated gifs on the 'net...
really it wasn't a snark, just an honest suspicion that it was more than coincidence (so i'm calling you a crook, not an idiot ;o)
posted by andrew cooke at 8:23 AM on February 25, 2005

(maybe it's just me, but i guessed what the image was before even clicking on the link. that's how strongly it comes across as a predictable thing, to me).
posted by andrew cooke at 8:25 AM on February 25, 2005

Response by poster: Perhaps this gets into a larger issue, then: what is it about this little running green thing that's so provocative? Why, when I saw it as someone's icon on audioscrobbler, did I immediately click "view image" so I could sit and stare at it? Why, when my husband saw it from across the room, did he immediately ask me what it was? What is it about the running Bunchie that inspires so much curiosity? I have no idea.

Perhaps a larger issue: how is it possible that someone who spends 60 hours/week or more on the web (ie, me) hadn't seen this before? It's so ubiquitous that andrew knew what it was before even viewing it, and yet I'd never seen it before last night.

THE MYSTERIES NEVER END!
posted by arielmeadow at 9:45 AM on February 25, 2005

arielmeadow: I've often pondered that. Why is this the funniest gif in existence? Why does it make me stifle hearty guffaws every time I see it? Is it his pace? His facial expression? The fact that my first exposure to it was as an immaculately well-placed, absurd non sequitur in a devolved thread somewhere?

Hmm.
posted by gramschmidt at 10:18 AM on February 25, 2005

From the website:

If you've ever wondered to yourself about the origin of Bunchies, this should clear up all the mystery:

Bunchies is the incarnation of pure citrus joy; a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in a glossy green skin.

nuff said.
posted by xammerboy at 1:53 PM on February 25, 2005