The -tan in "Wikipe-tan" is an affectionate suffix, in the form of a Japanese honorific. 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 her cosplay during functions and promotions. Wikipe-tan has occasionally been treated as a mascot for Wikipedia or its community in news reports. Wikipe-tan is a short, fair-skinned girl. Her light blue hair is in twintails with two puzzle pieces acting as a hook. Her most common outfit is a dark blue maid dress, with a collar and a white apron tied at the waist.
She also wears tights the same color as her dress. Sometimes she wears dark brown slip-on shoes. The general idea for a "Wikipe-tan" mascot was posted on January 5, , by the anonymous Taiwanese IP address 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 comic book artists gave each character symbolic color charts.
The puzzle pieces worn by the character are from an earlier version of the Wikipedia puzzle globe logo. On March 29, , Wikipe-tan was joined by the moe anthropomorphisms for Wikipedia's sister projects, Commons-tan and Quote-tan. Kasuga has stated " However, Kasuga also stated that "there was no page that needed other sisters' images up to now. I might draw their images if there are pages which need them.
Although Wikipede received more support in the mascot vote, new Wikipe-tan images were made and saw continued use. Jimbo Wales described Wikipe-tan as a community mascot in , [ 5 ] though he has since noted that he personally dislikes the character.
