Animated characters from Europe
Animated characters from Europe
Hey. I know, a bit special interest and maybe not the right place for this but i was thinking about animated characters from europe as part of its cultural DNA and then startet to research them for all the countries including where to buy merch (to also support that industry). I will hopefully be able to comlete the list over time but i would be happy about help and feedback. So here is what i got so far:
European animation characters (sometimes with merch) in no particular order:
Finland - Moomins, Angry Birds adaptations: https://shop.moomin.com/collections/all
France - Asterix, TinTin, edit: + les Shadoks, OuiOui, W.i.t.c.h., Barbapapas, Yugo https://boutique.asterix.com/de/ https://thetintinshop.uk.com/
Belgium - lucky luke, edit: also TinTin, Spirou & Fantasio, The Smurfs, Marsupilami
Poland - Lolek and Bolek, edit: +Reksio, Koziołek matołek, Plastuś, Miś uszatek
Netherlands - Alfred j. Kwak, nijntje, edit: + Miffy: https://www.dewinkelvannijntje.nl/en/
Czech republic - krtek, edit: + Pat and Mat, Rumcajs: https://czechmovie.com/collections/little-mole-krtek?page=2 https://www.czech-stuff.com/krtek-little-mole/
Spain - Mortadelo and Filemón, Superlópez, Pocoyó, The Telerín Family
Switzerland - globi, pingu, edit: + Titeuf: https://globi.ch/ https://www.pingu-store.jp/ (can't find a european one)
Portugal - tic tac tales
Italy - calimero, edit: + Corto Maltese, mio mao, La Linea, The Seagul and the Cat/Lucky and Zorbq (La Gabbianella e il Cato), Dylan Dog, Winx
Greece - Pandora and Plato
Sweden - Bamse, petterson and findus, the little ghost laban, editv + Lippi Longstocking, Arne Anka
Norway - Elias the little rescue boat, Ella Bella Bingo
Iceland - some lazy town characters
Denmark - Rita & Crocodile, Valiant Prince Ivandoe, edit: + The Child Who Wanted to Be a Bear (Drengen der ville gøre det umulige), John Dillermand
Germany - the mouse, bernd the bread, cptn. Blaubär, edit: + the sandman, Werner, the little Asshole: https://www.logoshirt-shop.de/en/COLLECTION/The-Show-with-the-Mouse/ https://mausundmehr.com/ https://www.spreadshirt.de/shop/bernd+das+brot/
UK - wallace and gromit, paddington bear, danger mouse edit: + postman pat, rupert bear, family ness, bananaman, bob the builder, the hurricanes, thomas the tank engine, captain pugwash, Dennis the Menace (the superior one): https://wallaceandgromitvmf.shop/ https://store.paddington.com/ https://www.truffleshuffle.co.uk/cartoons/dangermouse
Ireland - puffin rock, Kiva can do, edit: + the book of kells, song of the sea, and wolfwalkers
Luxembourg - ?
Malta - ?
Cyprus - ?
Lithuania - ?
Latvia - Flow
Estonia - ?
Slovakia - ?
Slovenia - Medved Bojan
Croatia - Profesor Baltazar, Little Flying Bears (Leteći Medvjedići)
Bulgaria - The Three Fools, The Blue Eyed Moon, The Little Girl, The Cat and the Clock, Anna Blume
Serbia - ?
North macedonia - ?
Montenegro - ?
Bosnia Herzegowina - ?
Albania - Nine Years, Nine Days
Romania - ?
Moldova - The Stairway (Letnistsa)
Austria - ?
Hungary - The rabbit with checkered ears, Frakk, pom pom, Mézga family, Szaffi, King Matthias, Magyar Népmesék, Ludas Matyi
Also nice read: animationineurope.eu
Ha this is cool! Please add Pippi Longstocking/Pippi Långstrump to swedish ones :)
I feel Sweden's Arne Anka shouldn't be missing...
Did not know about Arne Anka, cool!
Belgium has also Tintin. I would argue its better overall and represents better Belgium than the cowboy.
Tintin is listed under France for some reason. Definitely should be swapped imo because the author was Belgian.
Are you looking for animations only or are comics and childrens' book characters also welcome?
Belgium - Spirou & Fantasio, The Smurfs
Italy - Corto Maltese
Germany - The Little Sandman (Unsere Sandmännchen)
Sweden - Peter-No-Tail
I think all kinds of art work would be nice but started at animations.
The list is missing Pat and Mat for Czechia. Which is a terrible overlook, because that cartoon is hilarious.
For Poland Reksio and probably a lot of others, but that's not a big deal.
Thanks i will check them out
Croatia - Profesor Baltazar (eng. Professor Balthazar)
It aired from 1967 until 1978.
Thanks, i will look it up
Germany also has Werner and das kleine Arschloch.
Not really a character focus on these, but the book of kells, song of the sea, and wolfwalkers are Irish made movies, based on Celtic myth, with fantastic animation.
Thats also fine. I will check them out :)
Also this for France https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catégorie:Personnage_d'animation_français
The Marsupilami should probably be on the list for Belgium too.
Also, not sure if you just want animated ones or comics too but Franka and Yoko Tsuno are some comic book characters of European origin too.
UK- postman pat, rupert bear, family ness, bananaman, bob the builder, the hurricanes, thomas the tank engine, captain pugwash
Wow. I missed a lot here. Thanks!
Poland: Rumcajs (actually Czech but still popular here), Miś uszatek, Pszczółka maja (Maya the bee), Koziołek matołek, Plastuś
If you use a VPN to Poland you can probably watch https://vod.tvp.pl/dla-dzieci (see the "retro kraina" section)
I will add some of them. Thanks :)
I can only think of oldies for Hungary: The rabbit with checkered ears, Frakk, Pom pom, etc.
Thanks so much :)
If you want to include CGI Latvia is going through a Flow-mania after winning the Oscars. I would be surprised if they don't have merchandise for it already.
Slovenia has Medved Bojan. Cannot really think of any others
Thanks, i ill look it up
It should be noted that in the UK we have the superior Dennis the Menace
I can't say for certain, but the US one is probably a Christo-fascist.
Allright, thanks :)
France: les Shadoks. I don't know if it has been published outside of France but that's an amazing piece of animation from the 60's.
France: OuiOui, Barbapapas
Netherlands: Miffy
Switzerland: Titeuf
Thanks, added. Will check them out later
Isn't Xilam french? If that's the case, there is a lot to add there.
Also for italy there is mio mao,if you count claymation as animation.
Italy also has Dylan Dog
I will check it out. Thanks :)
Croatia: Little Flying Bears (Leteći Medvjedići) which is a combined effort of Croatian and Canadian animators.
Thats cool. Canada is almost europe. Thanks i will check it out
For Hungary there is also the Mézga family, Szaffi, the King Matthias series and Magyar Népmesék, also Ludas Matyi
Wow seems like Hungary has a lot to explore
A Mézga család / The Mézga Family is actually three separate series, the original one is about an ordinary 80s Hungarian family with a genius son who invents a time-telephone that they use to talk to their great-great-great-son. They ask him to send things back in time to help with their problems, but they inevitably use them wrong, and chaos ensues.
There are two spinoffs, one which is about the same genius son making an inflatable spaceship and going on adventures in space with the family dog, and one where the whole family goes on a trip around the world.
Szaffi / The Treasure of Swamp Castle is an animated movie set in 18th century Hungary, the story based on a novel The Gypsy Baron. It's a cute and charming romance story. There is an English dub since it was made as a Canadian collab.
Mesék Mátyás királyról / Tales of King Matthias is a series about King Matthias (1458-1490), revered in Hungary as the "just king", going incognito in his kingdom and righting wrongs.
Magyar népmesék / Hungarian Folk Tales is another series, with each episode being an adaptation of a Hungarian folk tale. Fun fact, the series does not shy away from animated female full frontal nudity despite being from the 80s.
Ludas Matyi - the title being the name of the protagonist - is the adaptation of a popular story about a young shepherd vowing revenge being caned by the local landlord for insubordination - the landlord stole his geese. He says he will return the favour threefold, and accomplishes his goal with guile, beating up the landlord three times.
W.I.T.C.H is French and Winx is Italian I believe!
I know France already has a lot, but maybe Yugo from Wakfu, just to also have something a bit more recent ?
For Italy, there's also La Linea , a good old classic. Also, La Gabbianella e il Cato ("The Seagul and the Cat", or "Lucky and Zorba" in tbe English version) was a great Italian animated movie.
Then there's also "L'enfant qui Voulait Être in Ours"/"Drengen der ville gøre det umulige", a great Franco-Danish animated movie. But as a French, I think we can let the Dans take this w, we already have a lot. It wasn't distributed in any country but these two as far as I know, but in English the name would be " The Child Who Wanted to Be a Bear".
[Edit: I remembered I had a book about the history of animation somewhere and figured it might have something to fill the blanks. Bulgaria had a few influenial animation artists like Donio Donev with "The Three Fools" PenchoKoutchnevv witg "The Blue Eyed Moon" and "The Little Girl, The Cat and the Clock".Vesselaa Dancheva with " Anna Blume" Moldovahads Natalia Bodiul with "Letnistsa" ("The Stairway")
Belarus had "Posledny" ("The Last") by Alexandre Cheoetov
Albania had "Nine Years, Nine Days" by Artur Dauti. I haven't seen any of these movies yet tho, I might whenever I get the time. ]
Awesome. Thanks so much for the input.
Belgium is an exceptionally big country in terms of comics, ranging all ages and a lot of styles
True. Belgium and France really stand out.
