Twipsy was the official

Mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

of the

EXPO 2000 Expo 2000 was a World Expo held in Hanover, Germany from 1 June to 31 October 2000. It was located on the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover), which is the largest exhibition ground in the world. Initially some 40 million people were expe ...

World's Fair held in

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...

. The character was created by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

designer

Javier Mariscal Francisco Javier Errando Mariscal (born 9 February 1950) better known as Javier Mariscal is a Spanish artist and designer whose work has spanned a wide range of mediums, ranging from painting and sculpture to interior design and landscaping. H ...

. His draft was selected in 1995 by an international jury out of 17 proposals in total. During the course of the Expo, Twipsy could be acquired on the EXPO area on forms of merchandise, ranging from a stuffed plush toy, to apparel such as on

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...

mug A mug is a type of cup typically used for drinking hot drinks, such as coffee, hot chocolate, or tea. Mugs usually have handles and hold a larger amount of fluid than other types of cup. Typically, a mug holds approximately of liquid. A mug i ...

watch A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...

es and other souvenirs, in addition to those with the EXPO logo. Apart from that,

stamp Stamp or Stamps or Stamping may refer to: Official documents and related impressions * Postage stamp, used to indicate prepayment of fees for public mail * Ration stamp, indicating the right to rationed goods * Revenue stamp, used on documents to ...

s showing Twipsy were released, and full-sized versions of Twipsy were running around on the EXPO area and advertising for the EXPO in other countries.

Appearance

Twipsy has a drop-shaped, colourfully striped body and a demilune yellow head with a large turquoise-colored nose. The area around the eyes, the extension at the back of the head and the chin are black. He's wearing a pointed, high-heeled shoe as well as a rounded flat one. He also has a "normal" thin and an oversized orange arm (which resembles a wing). The colour scheme may vary depending on the version.

Selection

During a design contest in 1995 to elect the ideal official mascot for the Expo 2000 in Hannover, Twipsy was chosen out of 17 proposals in total by an international jury, despite receiving only 1% of the public vote. According to Mariscal, Twipsy is a burst of energy who came "...from a distant past such as is the Big Bang, a spark in expansion that became a star, a cell, an invertebrate, a reptile, a bird, a mammal..." and into his present form. Additionally, Mariscal stated that it was his intention to "...embody the triangular aspects of the key theme "Humankind - Nature - Technology" in one figure... therefore wipsyresembles a new type of being, a new human-animal-technological species." Additionally, Twipsy "...harmonise with the corporate design of

he EXPO He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

", and was also "...adaptable in terms of shape and colour, and hereforea suitable playful and informative partner for the EXPO logo."EXPO 2000, 1997. The Colourful Mascot Now has a Name: Twipsy, the EXPO 2000 Ambassador NLINEAvailable at: https://web.archive.org/web/19970725190325/http://www.expo2000.de/englisch/aktuell/pmarchiv/pm97_mai13b.html ccessed 30 May 2015/ref> File:Twipsy Emmerthal.jpg, Twipsy at an EXPO project in

Emmerthal Emmerthal is a municipality in the Hameln-Pyrmont district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Weser, approximatively 6 km south of Hameln. Its seat is in the village Kirchohsen. In 1973, the Emmerthal was formed by mer ...

Image:Twipsy2.jpg, Twipsy as a

Cuddly toy A stuffed toy is a toy doll with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, stuffed animals, and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be cal ...

TV series

On November 1, 1999, the animated series ''Twipsy'' aired on the German TV channel

KI.KA KiKA (contraction of ''Der KinderKAnal von ARD und ZDF'' ARD and ZDF">ARD_(broadcaster).html" ;"title="he Children's Channel of ARD (broadcaster)">ARD and ZDF]) is a German free-to-air television channel based in Erfurt, Germany. It is man ...

with 52 short episodes, 13 minutes each. They were often paired to make 26 episodes, having a total length of 25 minutes per pair. Seven months prior to the start of the EXPO 2000, the series premiere was used to get children accustomed to the upcoming World Exposition, however it focused only on character backstory, and had no connection to the Expo. In the first episode, 13-year-old Nick is pulled by accident into

Cyberspace Cyberspace is a concept describing a widespread interconnected digital technology. "The expression dates back from the first decade of the diffusion of the internet. It refers to the online world as a world 'apart', as distinct from everyday rea ...

. He then meets the colourful and feisty cybermessenger Twipsy, who introduces Nick to the virtual realm. Nick gets homesick and Twipsy sends him back to the real world, while inadvertently ending up there too. A modified scanner is then used as a transporter into the universe of the internet. Along the way many other children, including Nick's 8-year-old sister Lissie and his friend Albert, experience many adventures and get to know the cyberspace realm. Twipsy also gets to know aspects of the real world, such as weather, or his newfound love (and gluttony) of food. The characters are displayed using

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...

when they're residing in Cyberspace, and in the "real world" using conventional comic style. Apart from that, all people are nearly the same size and appearance as Twipsy himself.

In popular culture

On December 11, 2020, Twipsy appeared on the

heute-show The ''heute-show'' ("(the) today show"; stylized in its logo as ''heute SHOW'') is a German Late night television, late-night news satire, satirical television program airing every Friday evening on public broadcasting channel ZDF. A conceptual ...

. On September 10, 2021, Twipsy appeared in the ZDF Magazin Royale. On October 31, 2021, Twispy appeared in the podcast Fest & Flauschig.

External links

References