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Wikipedia:Wikipe-tan

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For encyclopedic coverage of the mascot, see Moe anthropomorphism § Computers.
"WP:TAN" redirects here. For the Tanzanian WikiProject, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Tanzania.
"WP:MOE" redirects here. For the WikiProject about Missouri, see WP:MO.

Wikipe-tan
BERJAYA
First appearanceFutaba Channel (January 8, 2006)
Created byKasuga[a]
Based onMoe anthropomorphism of Wikipedia
In-universe information
SpeciesHuman
GenderFemale
FamilyCommons-tan (sister)
Wikiquote-tan (sister)

Wikipe-tan (Japanese: ウィキペたん) is a personification of Wikipedia created in January 2006 by Japanese editor Kasuga.[a] She is an unofficial mascot of Wikipedia and is used at several WikiProjects. 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. Wikimedia Malaysia has also used art of the character in their social media posts on Instagram.[1] Wikipe-tan has occasionally been treated as a mascot for Wikipedia or its community in news reports.

Appearance

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Wikipe-tan is a usually fair-skinned girl or woman of a variable height and apparent age depending on the particular image. She is distinguished by iconic teal hair, of different shades (but rarely as dark as Wikimedia blue).

Garb

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Although her wardrobe is extensive, her most common outfit is a dark blue maid dress, with a collar and a white apron tied at the waist. She typically wears her hair in twintails, held with two jigsaw puzzle piece-shaped hair ties, and a pin on her apron bib is similarly shaped. She wears tights that are the same color as her dress. Sometimes she wears dark brown slip-on shoes.

The puzzle pieces worn by the character are similar to some of the pieces in the Wikipedia logo:

  • she wears a puzzle piece on her collar with the symbol "ワィ", which is a misspelling of the katakana "ウィ", the first syllable of the Japanese katakana transliteration of "Wikipedia" present in the Wikipedia logo's previous version).
  • 祖 is a kanji character apparently changed from the logo's 袓, the latter being a Chinese character not used in Japanese.

The most up-to-date picture by Kasuga shows her 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.

Background

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The general idea for a "Wikipe-tan" mascot was posted on January 5, 2006, by the anonymous Taiwanese IP address 192.192.170.2, who suggested a mascot "just like OS-tan" on the Wikipedia mascot vote.[2] 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,[3] and two of the images were uploaded to Commons and added directly to the discussion on January 18.[4]

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.[5]

On March 29, 2007, Wikipe-tan was joined by the moe anthropomorphisms for Wikipedia's sister projects, Commons-tan and Quote-tan. Kasuga has stated "...new Wiki-sisters will be designed in the future". 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 2007,[6] though he has since noted that he personally dislikes the character.[7]

Use and mentions

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Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects

[edit]
BERJAYA
The three current Wikimedia sisters (from left to right): Commons-tan, Wikipe-tan, and Quote-tan.
  • June 2006 — Wikipe-tan was made the mascot for the Anime and manga WikiProject after the previous mascot, a fan-art image of the title character from Midori Days, was removed from Commons due to copyright problems. Since her first appearance, many users across the entire Wikimedia project have placed images of her on their userpages (see Commons usage for each image).
  • August 9, 2006 — an image of Wikipe-tan was promoted as a featured picture, and it appeared on the main page as the October 2 Picture of the day.
    October 9, 2007 — the image was delisted and is no longer a featured picture.
  • September 2006[8] — Wikipe-tan also acted as the mascot of the Counter-Vandalism Unit since their previous logo had been removed[9] in February 2006 due to trademark and copyright-related complications.
    August 2008 — a new image replaced[10] Wikipe-tan, though the old logo with Wikipe-tan was still used on the Project template until[11] March 2011.
  • February 21, 2007 — WikiProject Military history began using a Wikipe-tan image, requested to be created with her in a navy uniform for featured articles, to decorate one of their userboxes.
  • July 2007 — a suggestive image of Wikipe-tan (not drawn by Kasuga) was proposed for use in the article on lolicon. The image was removed[12] from Commons by Jimbo Wales, who called Wikipe-tan a "community mascot" who should not be subject to such "pedophilic sexualization".[12] Kasuga later drew a new image for the article which did not use Wikipe-tan. The image was later undeleted in November 2025 on the basis that there was no community consensus to delete and Wales is not an “absolute monarch”.[13]
  • December 21, 2007 — an image of Wikipe-tan wearing baro't saya was added to Wikipedia:Tambayan Philippines.
    That same image was used on the front page of the Chavacano-language Wikipedia at cbk-zam: from June 2008 to March 2026.
  • November 13, 2023 — Wikipe-tan became a viable redirect to moe anthropomorphism.[14]
  • May 3, 2026 — Shipping ethics controversy in fanfiction, an article that uses Wikipe-tan and Commons-tan in the example photo, became a featured article.[15] Its featuring went viral on Twitter, with some seeing it as an inappropriate inclusion to the main page.[16]

Outside of Wikipedia and Wikimedia

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2025 LOVEWEB episode
External videos
YouTube logo
cartoon animations by sadi1v
video icon JUST BE COMPETENT
video icon the shorts version too half her head kinda got cut off we don’t mention it
  • May 31, 2006 — a userChrome.css, written by Kylu, is available for Firefox users to add Wikipe-tan in their browsers.
  • June 2006 — issue 48 of games™, a United Kingdom gaming magazine, used an image of Wikipe-tan on page 30 as an illustration of maid cafés.[17]
  • August 2006 — Two Wikipe-tan cosplayers have been spotted in a cosplay activity at the University of Hong Kong. One of them was later interviewed by the Hong Kong magazine Easy Finder, which erroneously reported that she had been invited by Kasuga and Norwegian "administrator" GunnarRene to become the real-life personification of Wikipe-tan.[18][19]
    December 18, 2006 — The Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily compounded that error, reporting that she had become a representative for Wikipedia.[20]
  • October 12, 2006 — Hong Kong's Apple Daily ran a short article discussing Wikipe-tan, and how the GFDL helped her spread across Wikimedia.
  • March 2007 — the Swedish foreign ministry published a promemoria[21] about Japanese anime and manga, using text and Kasuga's Wikipe-tan image from the Swedish Wikipedia without acknowledgement as required by the GFDL. The Swedish media reported this violation in April,[22] and the Chancellor of Justice ruled that the act was a copyright infringement in November.[23]
  • June 15, 2007 — the German newspaper Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten (circulation ca. 31,000) used Wikipe-tan on the front page as well as next to an article on the variety of manga.
  • June 1, 2008 — British newspaper The Observer featured on page 35 in the 'World' section a picture of the cropped sailor fuku version of Wikipe-tan in the article "Girl geeks find manga haven", byline Justin McCurry. The article makes no mention of Wikipedia, Wikipe-tan, or the GFDL.
  • December 17, 2008 — An article in The Guardian mostly about Internet Watch Foundation and Wikipedia mentioned another controversy involving an image of Wikipe-tan as a point of comparison.[24]
  • 2014 — A modified version of the adult Wikipe-tan picture without her signature puzzle pieces hair accessories is used on the cover of the book Anime and the Visual Novel: Narrative Structure, Design and Play at the Crossroads of Animation and Computer Games by Dani Cavallaro. Kasuga is credited for the cover art in the colophon.
  • September 15, 2015 — Wikipe-tan was mentioned alongside various other mascot characters in a Hopes and Fears article.[25]
  • 2017 — Wikipe-tan is used as an example of a character with a super-deformed version in a textbook.[26]
  • April 1, 2021 — Adult Wikipe-tan was added as an opponent in the free browser-based strip poker game SPNATI (Strip Poker Night at the Inventory) as part of their yearly April Fools' Day event. After the event ended, she was removed before being added again due to several requests from the player base.[27]
  • April 18, 2022 — An article in Futurism used Wikipe-tan to illustrate the concept of catgirls.[28]
  • June 29, 2022 — Experimental hip-hop artist ilysm released the album no matter how i look at it.., which uses art of Wikipe-tan holding up two glocks at the camera as the album cover. The character also saw continued use in other albums by the artist.[29]
  • February 1, 2025 — Wikipe-tan made an appearance in an episode of the informational animated web series LOVEWEB.[30]
  • September 23, 2025 — American animator sadi1v [Wikidata] who specializes in object show gijinkas posted an animation (see 'external videos') of a half-frame-glasses-wearing Wikipe-tan holding a book and grooving to the song "Impostor Syndrome" by Sidney Gish from her 2017 New Year's Eve album No Dogs Allowed, with this page as a scrolling background.

Kasuga's art

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Wikipe-tan

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Wikimedia sisters

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Commons-tan

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She is the sister of Wikipe-tan and Wikiquote-tan. She is a short girl with fair skin, her hair is red with a blue arrow beret, she wears a dark blue maid dress with white sections and also wears socks the same color as her dress, she also wears orange slip-on shoes.

  • Commons-tan
    Commons-tan
  • Adult Commons-tan
    Adult Commons-tan
  • Taking a picture
    Taking a picture

Wikiquote-tan

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She is the sister of Wikipe-tan and Commons-tan, she is a short girl with light skin, her hair is dark blue with a hook of the ” symbol in blue, she wears a dark blue maid dress with white sections, she wears socks of the same color as her dress, she also wears blue shoes.

  • Quote-tan
    Quote-tan
  • Adult Quote-tan
    Adult Quote-tan

Cropped versions

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Derived from Kasuga's art

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BERJAYA
This page is part of Wikipedia's repository of public domain and freely usable images, such as photographs, videos, maps, diagrams, drawings, screenshots, and equations. Please do not list images which are only usable under the doctrine of fair use, images whose license restricts copying or distribution to non-commercial use only, or otherwise non-free images here. Please also consider uploading new free images and transferring images in this category to the Wikimedia Commons so that they may be more widely used.


Barnstars

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  • Barnstar for WikiProject Anime and manga
    Barnstar for WikiProject Anime and manga
  • WikiProject Anime and manga Barnstar 2.0
    WikiProject Anime and manga Barnstar 2.0
  • Proposed nekomimi Barnstar
    Proposed nekomimi Barnstar
  • Proposed cleanup Barnstar
    Proposed cleanup Barnstar
  • Proposed nekomimi cleanup Barnstar
    Proposed nekomimi cleanup Barnstar
  • Proposed Barnstar
    Proposed Barnstar
  • Proposed Barnstar
    Proposed Barnstar
  • Italian Wikipedia Barnstar
    Italian Wikipedia Barnstar
  • Early version of the Barnstar 2.0
    Early version of the Barnstar 2.0

Miscellaneous

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The following are images which have been used on the English and International Wiki. These include displays on Wikipedia articles, displays on Wikipedia project pages, and displays on Humorous and/or user pages.

Stubs

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Userboxes

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Code Result
{{User:Running/wikipe-tan}}
BERJAYAThis user loves Wikipe-tan, the cutest personification of Wikipedia.
 Usage
Supports several images
{{Template:User Wikipe-tan creepy}}
BERJAYAThis user finds Wikipe-tan just a little bit creepy and disturbing.
 Usage
{{User:Σ/UBX/AntiWikipetan}}
BERJAYAThis user believes Wikipe-tan established a cult of personality and is now destroying Wikipedia.
 Usage
{{User:Cloud668/UBX/Waifu|adult Wikipe-tan}}
BERJAYAThis user's waifu is adult Wikipe-tan.
 Usage

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ a b In the aftermath of the unified login finalization, the user now going by Kasuga on Commons and on English Wikipedia is a different person. The accounts of the creator of Wikipe-tan were renamed Kasuga~enwiki, Kasuga~jawiki and Kasuga~commonswiki.

References

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  1. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2026-05-19.
  2. ^ 192.192.170.2 (January 5, 2006). "How about Wikipe-tan just like OS-tan". Meta. Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  3. ^ 72.137.173.201 (January 13, 2006). "something like the one here?". Meta. Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
  4. ^ Shii (January 18, 2006). "Um... it seems those images are GFDL ... let's put them here, then". Meta. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
  5. ^ Kasuga (October 23, 2007). "Adult Wikipe-tan by ~Kasuga39". deviantArt. Archived from the original on August 10, 2011. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
  6. ^ Wales, Jimbo (June 8, 2007). "Community mascot". Wikimedia Commons. Archived from the original on April 5, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  7. ^ Wales, Jimbo (February 7, 2011). "I am not a fan". Wikipedia. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
  8. ^ "Wikipedia:Counter Vandalism Unit/Nav". Archived from the original on 31 October 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  9. ^ "Wikipedia:Counter Vandalism Unit/Nav". Archived from the original on 27 November 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  10. ^ "Wikipedia:Counter-Vandalism Unit: Difference between revisions". Archived from the original on 5 January 2023. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  11. ^ "Template:Counter-Vandalism Unit: Difference between revisions". Archived from the original on 2 November 2023. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  12. ^ a b "Deletion log". Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
  13. ^ https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?page=File%3ALoliWikipetan.jpg&title=Special:Log
  14. ^ "Wikipe-tan", Wikipedia, 2023-11-13, retrieved 2026-05-14
  15. ^ "Wikipedia:Today's featured article/May 3, 2026", Wikipedia, 2026-05-03, retrieved 2026-05-14
  16. ^ Lise. "dude open the wikipedia home page it doesn't matter what browser". X.
  17. ^ "Magazine Issues | Videogames Magazine - gamesTM - Part 3". www.gamestm.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2010-07-13. Retrieved Feb 20, 2023.
  18. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-01-14. Retrieved 2006-12-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)[bare URL image file]
  19. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-01-14. Retrieved 2006-12-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)[bare URL image file]
  20. ^ "维基娘代言人出展游戏展" [Wikigirl Spokesperson Appears at Game Expo]. 21CN Game Channel (in Chinese). 18 December 2006. Archived from the original on 16 March 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  21. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. ^ Helander, Magnus (2007-04-30). "UD plankade Wikipedia" (in Swedish). resume.se. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
  23. ^ "Filecrunch.com homepage". filecrunch.com. 22 November 2010. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  24. ^ Finkelstein, Seth (17 December 2008). "Sting in the Scorpions tale is the exposure of Wiki's weakness". The Guardian.
  25. ^ Howard, Dorothy (15 September 2015). "Meet the manga avatars of your favorite tech platforms". Hopes&Fears. Archived from the original on 16 September 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  26. ^ Neto, Ernane Alves Guimarães; de Lima, Leonardo Souza (7 June 2018). Narrativas e Personagens para Jogos (in Portuguese). Editora Érica. p. figure 4.6. ISBN 9788536525716.
  27. ^ "Wikipe-tan SPNATI Wiki". Miraheze. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  28. ^ Tangermann, Victor (18 April 2022). "Elon Musk Says He Could Make "Catgirl" Sex Robots If He Wanted To". The Byte. Archived from the original on 17 September 2024. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  29. ^ "no matter how i look at it ." Rate Your Music.
  30. ^ Wikipedia: The Internet's Masterpiece - LOVEWEB (video). youtube.com. Shadok. February 1, 2025.
[edit]
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