Pedobear

Pedobear is an internet meme which became popular through the imageboard [[4chan.com ]]. As its name suggests, it is a pedophile bear that is used to create humorous image macros about topics such as pedophiles, child pornography or lolicon. It originates from Kuma, a Japanese internet meme character that had no connotations with pedophilia.

Kuma

The first incarnations of what came to be Pedobear first appeared on 2channel, a popular Japanese internet forum, in the form of Shift_JIS art, and was then known as Kuma (クマー), which is simply an exclamation composed by the word bear (クマ) followed by a chōonpu (ー).

The thread where it appeared started depicting the character as

くまくま━━━━━━ヽ（ ・(ｪ)・ ）ノ━━━━━━ !!!

which then evolved through several iterations until reaching the form recognizable as the current version, in post #590 of that thread:

　　 　∩＿＿＿∩
　　 |ノ　　　　ヽ
　　/　　●　　　● |　クマ──！！
　 |　　　(_●_)　 ミ
　彡､　　　|∪|　　､｀＼
/　＿＿　 ヽノ　/´>　 )
(＿＿＿）　　　/　(_／
　|　　　　　　 /
　|　　／＼　＼
　|　/　　　 )　 )
　∪　　　 （　 ＼
　　　　　　 ＼＿)

Eventually, posting Kuma Shift_JIS art evolved into a response to "fishing" posts submitted as "bait" to attract people (fishing for attention). This is why the bear is depicted as literally running into the forum to get the bait.

4chan

The Kuma character was adopted by 4chan and quickly became a meme there, especially on the /b/ board. On 2ch, Kuma was often depicted in images sleeping with children, and this was promptly exploited to create the Pedobear persona. It afterwards became popular across the Internet, having been used in several YTMND animations and referred to in various blogs and websites.

Now used as an image rather than text art, it is employed in various ways, usually superimposed in pictures depicting children (especially if these pictures may be interpreted as sexually suggestive, such as when involving swimsuits, underwear or beauty contests). The phrase "Pedobear approves" is commonly used for such images, and a "Pedobear seal of approval" has evolved from it.

Another common use of the character is to mock pedophiles, sometimes with references to FBI or Chris Hansen, the host of the TV show To Catch a Predator. When child erotica is posted onto 4chan, users will often mock the posters with Pedobear. In the same spirit, Pedobear has been associated with the pedophilia scandals involving priests. Examples of such satire include a video by College Humor, an enemy in the popular Japanese freeware game Syobon Action, and graffiti on a Catholic billboard that was interpreted as a panda.

On 3 July 2009, blogger Michael Barrick created a composite image depicting Pedobear grouped together with fanart of the cartoon mascots of the Vancouver Winter Olympics originally created by Angela Melick. This image was then mistakenly used by the Polish newspaper Gazeta Olsztyńska for a 4 February 2010 front page story about the Olympics in Vancouver.

External links

• The (True?) Origins of Pedobear
• Mirror of the original 2chan thread where Kuma appeared
• A Beginner's Guide to Pedobear, the Internet's Favorite Pervert