Wikipe-Tan

Wikipe-tan (Japanese: ウィキペたん) is a personification and unofficial mascot of Wikipedia created in January 2006 by the editor then known as Kasuga, used at several WikiProjects. The -tan in "Wikipe-tan" is a Japanese honorific and affectionate suffix. Like the OS-tans, she is a product of moe anthropomorphism. Wikipe-tan is the mascot character for WikiProject Anime and Manga, and WikiProject Holidays' Christmas task force; she was also the mascot for Admin coaching, the Counter-Vandalism Unit, and a contender for an official Wikipedia mascot. In addition, Wikimedia Hong Kong uses Wikipe-tan images and cosplay during functions and promotions. Wikipe-tan has occasionally been treated as a mascot for Wikipedia or its community in news reports.

Background
The general idea for a "Wikipe-tan" mascot was posted on January 5, 2006, by an anonymous Taiwanese, who suggested a mascot "just like OS-tan" on theWikipedia mascot vote. Japanese Wikipedia user Kasuga drew at least two images of a "Wikipe-tan" character and posted them on the Futaba Channel on January 8; the thread was linked from the mascot discussion on January 13, and two of the images were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons and added directly to the discussion on January 18. Kasuga has stated that when designing Wikipe-tan and, later, her sisters, he kept two things in mind: Fujiko F. Fujio's advice that a good character design should have a distinctive silhouette, and an observation by Scott McCloud in his Understanding Comics that Golden Age of Comic Books|golden age comic book artists]] gave each character symbolic color charts. The puzzle pieces worn by the character are from the Wikipedia puzzle-ball logo. Currently, she is wearing the characters 維 (being the first character of Wikipedia's Chinese name) and the correct Japanese katakana ウィ from the current Wikipedia logo. On March 29, 2007, Wikipe-tan was joined by the moe anthropomorphisms for Wikipedia's sister projects, Commons-tan and Wikiquo-tan. Kasuga has stated, "New Wiki-sisters will be designed in the future. ... There was no page that needed other sisters' images up to now. I might draw their images if there are pages which need them."