Any iconic Irish-made animated characters?

TheDudeMcDude · 14-05-2014 9:31pm #1

Hey guys, I started to wonder today about iconic cartoon characters and I noticed that a lot of countries have characters that are very associated with their lands of origin. America have of course, Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny Popeye etc. Japan have a lot of characters ranging for Astro Boy to Goku, even France have Asterix. So this introduced an thought to me, is there any cartoon character closely associated with Ireland? A character (while not being a cartoon) that comes to mind is Dustin the Turkey, but who honestly has even thought about Dustin after his entry in Eurovision 2008. A second character that comes to mind is Mr. Tayto, but he is more of a mascot for a snack company, than a character that is closely associated with Ireland. So I ask are there any characters that are iconic to the country that are instantly recognisable?

Links234 · 14-05-2014 10:07pm

Bosco immediately pops to mind, but he's not a cartoon either, hmm

TheDudeMcDude · 14-05-2014 10:19pm

Links234 wrote: »

Bosco immediately pops to mind, but he's not a cartoon either, hmm

Oh yes, Bosco. Although as you said, he's not a cartoon.

Butterscotch · 23-05-2014 12:23pm

Any iconic Irish character in pop culture that is globally recognised that comes to mind is Father Ted. I can't think of any animated ones that would be known around the the world. There was the Don Bluth studios who done works such as An American Tale and All Dogs Go To Heaven but there were Irish-American owned. There is also Jimmy Murakami Japanese-American animation artist based in Dublin who done the "Snowman".

Interesting enough there are a few Irish reference in anime so it is not like Ireland is not interesting to people. :P

Numina · 24-05-2014 7:03pm

Butterscotch wrote: »

Interesting enough there are a few Irish reference in anime so it is not like Ireland is not interesting to people. :P

Can we divert here for a moment and list them out? I know there's Fractale and Durarara!!, and Hellsing does use Northern Ireland. Any others that you know of?

(There was also an episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where they go to Dublin and it was hilarious, skip to a minute in)

sniper_samurai · 25-05-2014 10:34pm

Numina wrote: »

Can we divert here for a moment and list them out? I know there's Fractale and Durarara!!, and Hellsing does use Northern Ireland. Any others that you know of?

(There was also an episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where they go to Dublin and it was hilarious, skip to a minute in)

Don't forget that TMNT was also produced here.

In Mobile Suit Gundam, White Base visits Belfast. Then in ZZ Gundam the entire country gets leveled in a colony drop.

Art_Wolf · 27-05-2014 10:12pm

I think the nearest for me is the Give Up Yer Aul Sins short film

TheDudeMcDude · 29-10-2014 9:44pm

Thanks guys. This reply is INCREDIBLY late. I am aware of Don Bluth's work and how most of it was made in Ireland. I was always an American Tail fan growing up. I am also aware of TMNT being animated here, I managed to actually see one of the animation cells.

Taajsgpm · 30-10-2014 3:51am

Snowman is brilliant

TheDudeMcDude · 31-10-2014 12:02am

Taajsgpm wrote: »

Snowman is brilliant

True. Such a great short, with absolutely NO dialogue. Blew my mind when I was younger.

Angel Knightess · 05-11-2014 11:17pm

In the cartoon Gargoyles, there was an episode where I think they visited Northern Ireland and there was a depiction of Cuchulainn.

Morag · 06-11-2014 12:29am

The secret of Kells.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFhd8RfCqVg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartoon_Saloon

TheDudeMcDude · 08-11-2014 10:48pm

Angel Knightess wrote: »

In the cartoon Gargoyles, there was an episode where I think they visited Northern Ireland and there was a depiction of Cuchulainn.

I'm kinda talking about characters that were created by Irish people and are closely associated with Ireland and can be easily recognised throughout the country. Haven't checked out Gargoyles, though, but I shall some time in the future.

TheDudeMcDude · 08-11-2014 10:51pm

Morag wrote: »

The secret of Kells.

I'm aware of Secret of Kells, but I'm talking about cartoon characters that are easily recognisable and are closely associated with Ireland. If I had to choose a character from Kells though, it would probably be Aisling. She was so cool in that film. Cartoon Saloon do awesome work, can't wait for Song of the Sea.

ozmo · 09-11-2014 1:21am

TheDudeMcDude wrote: »

I'm aware of Secret of Kells, but I'm talking about cartoon characters that are easily recognisable and are closely associated with Ireland.

What about this from 2000AD? Possibly based on Cúchulainn.

There were plenty Irish characters in 2000AD- like this character who vists the Green Dolphin in future Raheny (Dublin) in this comic...

(that pub closed by the way)