Pingu (character)

***Pingu*** is the main character of the TV show of the same name and Pingu in the City. He was created by Swiss filmmaker Otmar Gutmann in 1986.

## Bio

Pingu has caught some attention of a female penguin named Pingi. When Pingi was first introduced at South Pole Public School, Mr. Peng-Chips greets her, and he finds a place for her to sit. Unlike his friends, Pingu did not wanted anything to do with her. He spreads out his things all over his desk and puts his legs wide apart to make it seem as though there is no room at his desk. He is infuriated when Mr. Peng-Chips picks his seat anyway. Pingo offers Pingi a lollipop, which she takes and offers to Pingu, but he refuses, so she gives it back to Pingo. She then draws a heart shape and offers that to Pingu, and he snaps at her, earning himself a reprimand from the schoolmaster, who firmly orders him to be nice to her. Pingu lives in South Pole with his parents and younger sister Pinga. He also has two grandfathers, several aunts and two cousins.

On their way home after school, Pingi follows Pingu and wants a hug, however, when Pingu lets her have a piece of his mind, she cries. Pingu walks away, and Pingi throws a snowball at him. He throws one back in retaliation, but it goes through the window of a nearby igloo. Pingu and Pingi both hide in a barrel to escape the wrath of the igloo's irate owner, and they end up falling in love and they eventually start a relationship.

Pingu eventually moved to the city, when or how this happened has never been explained, it's possible that Pingu's family decided to move somewhere different.

## Personality

Pingu is a cheery fun-loving penguin who lives with his family in the South Pole. He sometimes helps his mother and father out with chores, and he often takes care of Pinga when Mother and Father are busy.

Like any child, he's constantly pushing boundaries so even the most routine activities transform into the unexpected when Pingu gets involved. Luckily, Pingu is as good at getting out of trouble as he is good at getting into it and he usually manages to win everyone over with his playful nature.

Despite a genuine caring nature, Pingu can be very troublesome and mischevious as most children are. There is a recurring gag in the series where Pingu refuses to eat or misbehaves at the dinner table. It was part of the plot in Pingu Runs Away. When Pinga is born in The New Arrival, Pingu becomes upset that he couldn't see the birth, and tries as much as he could to get to Pinga. In the episode Jealousy, Mother wants Pingu to stop behaving badly while she looks after Pinga and Pingu becomes upset and hides in a toy box.

As the series progressed, Pingu became a much more mature and responsible penguin. He later has a crush on Pingi. He hangs out with his friends more and takes responsibility, as seen in Pingu and Pinga at the Kindergarten. This new trait carried over to Pingu in the City, where he took on several jobs in the show.

## Appearance

Pingu is a black and white round penguin with orange/yellow feet and a red beak. Although he can change his appearance by changing his size or turning into a ball for many purposes. Very rarely, he can detach his head as seen in Pingu Looks After the Egg.

## Cameos

### Thomas & Friends

* Thomas! - The Truth About Thomas
* Teletubbies! - Snowball Mania

### Movies

* 2019 - Huge Galaxy! Huge Adventure! The Movie and Thomas and the Magic Railroad

As the title character, Pingu cameos in every episode of Pingu and Pingu in the City.

## Catchphrase

Pingu's catchphrase is "Nug, Nug!", most commonly known as "Noot Noot!". In doing this, his beak becomes a sort of trumpet shape. He uses this to show affection, anger, happiness and other emotions or even to attract attention. It has become characteristic with Pingu and is recognized by people all around the globe.

## Trivia

* His name comes from the German word for penguin (Pinguin).
* Pingu was originally going to be called Hugo.
* When Pingu walks, the sound he makes when his flippers slap against the ground is really the sound artist slapping the top of his other hand during the recording session.
* It's unknown what type of penguin he is, though the Cartoon Network Japan website says that Pingu is an emperor penguin. This is probably true as his sister Pinga's appearance shows a similar resemblence to an emperor penguin chick. A documentary on the show however claims he is a King Penguin as evidenced by the yellow lining on his stomach.
* In the pilot episode and early episodes of Season 1, he has a slightly different head.
* In 2009, Pingu appeared in Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band music video on "Children in Need".
* He also appeared in the 1998 Perth ABC Concert, speaking english.
* In 2016, two models of Pingu from the TV series were displayed at the "Plot in Plastilin" exhibition in Gewerbemuseum, Winterthur.
* Pingu is able to roll into a ball, as can his sister. No other penguins seem to show this ability for some reason.