Spider from La Bestiole, produced by Son'Icone Danse

Cozy socks from Old Navy advertising

Mice from The Fir Tree at The Globe, 2021

The Dog-Thing from The Thing (1982)

Pirate Captain from advertisement for Rattle Me Bones

boober & sidebottom fraggle and their canon disassociative identity disorder. i dont even have anything to say about it i just feel like more people should be aware.

Petete from El Libro Gordo de Petete

Really interesting regional history of Sesame Street co-productions. Shalom Sesame is an English language version of Rechov Sumsum, Israel’s Sesame Street, made with the intention to bring Jewish culture to international (/American) audiences and pretty openly to propagandize Israel.

One season of a Palestinian and Israeli joint co-production was created in 1998, but was dominated by internal conflicts. Writers didn’t want to show any national or cultural symbols and struggled to agree on places where their different characters could realistically interact. Further struggles included the question of realism - how could they depict a situation children would recognize and identify with without being, frankly, depressing? Not to mention that Israeli staff refused to enter Palestine, and many Palestinian staff couldn’t enter Israel.

Production split entirely. Rechov Sumsum, Israel’s show, continues to this day, but Shara’a Simsim continued to struggle. The realism issue kept popping up. Staff struggled to cross Israeli checkpoints for meetings. Most of the writers worked other jobs. Sesame Street is renowned for its ability to elegantly handle tough situations that kids deal with, but they have funding and access to experts. Shara’a Simsim never did, and had no clue how to help children struggling with their violent surroundings.

During one staff meeting, a writer proposed a plot where a character found a missing friend, and another writer objected. “You can’t lie to children … Most people in Gaza who are missing will not be found.” - New York Times, 2009

In 2012, their meager United States funding ended, and the show was forced to shut down. Palestinian children’s entertainment has struggled ever since.

Kippi from Shalom Sesame

Kippi from Shalom Sesame

Charlie Dompler from Smiling Friends (Puppet Version)

Uza from Parpar Nechmad

False Cat, created by @ Madmeredx on Twitter

Mary Broomfellow from The Creatures of Yes

Mini Squidward from SpongeBob SquarePants

Glep from Smiling Friends (Puppet Version)

Gill Beast from Blood

The Little Sea Captain, created by @ starmansart on Twitter