Yeti Year in Review

Last year on this date I wrote a post about how popular yeti was at the time by showcasing the number of products (all totally unrelated to yeti) which were endowed with the name "Yeti" in order to sell them more easily. There were coolers, bikes, cars, microphones, etc. Last year was also the year the fashion house Chanel launched a line of fur clothing which they described as "Yeti".

So now it's a year later and I thought it might be fun to take a quick snapshot to see what the Himalayan Hominid has been up to...



Well, unlike last year, there aren't so many random things being given his name, but yeti's still standing strong! For one thing, you can tell by this blog that he remains King of All Holidays. I devoted the entire month of December to nothing but holiday-themed yetis, and cupid-yeti pierced many a romantic's heart on Valentine's Day. I think we're going to continue to see yeti joining the pantheon of Halloween monsters (alongside the likes of Dracula and Frankenstein) as if he'd been there all along.



He's always popping up in video games (the most famous appearance of recent memory is probably as sidekick to Nunu the Yeti Rider who has generated a lot of fan art on the Web). His video game dominance is so strong that at some point this year I'd like to do a post about the ubiquitous "Ice Level" of so many games and how a lot of them contain yeti enemies.




Yeti took a little bit of a break from Hollywood this year. He was featured briefly as a summoned musical spirit in Scott Pilgrim, but blink and you might have missed him. His cinematic future looks bright, however... it was announced this year that a Disney Matterhorn movie is in development. And on television, there is always the possibility they'll bring his classic brown, abloblinable look back as a rebooted monster for the new Doctor Who.



The biggest news about the Yeti, and I mean the actual possible creature named the Yeti, not just the silly fantasy depictions of it in the popular culture) happened quite recently. People are all abuzz about some documents exhibited by U.S. News that reveal that officials in the State Department, Foreign Service, and U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu, Nepal believed that the Yeti was real in the 1950's. (See also Cryptomundo's post about it).

This will contribute to yeti being at the forefront of people's minds (and not, as a wise Sherpa allegedly said, lurking at the back of it). Regarding the silly fantasy depictions (which is what this blog is about), what were the other events this year that were signs of the Abominable Snowman's popularity?

I've compiled a Top Ten List of his biggest moments of the year!



Raise the roof!

10 -- Wynonna Earp: Yeti Wars



A new comic book series called the Yeti Wars was published.

9 -- "Three Wolf Moon"-style T-shirt



Freely available in retail shops, the shirt's evocative of the popular Internet meme (even made by the same company).

8 -- Jon Hamm Blue Hitchhiker video



Jon Hamm + Funny or Die + a puppet... So yeah, it was seen by a bunch of people, I'm sure.

7 -- Scooby Doo Happy Meal for British children



If you were a British kid this year, your happy meal came with a yeti toy.

6 -- Abbey Bominable doll



For the fashion/monster-loving youth, of which there are millions, a new doll of yeti's daughter was produced. Lots of fan art out there for this one.

5 -- Froot Loops commercial



The kids still watch the Saturday morning cartoons, right? And that means a lot of cereal commercials (one of them featuring Toucan Sam and a dread-locked yeti) getting played in front of their eyeballs.

4 -- Cameo on Futurama



Turns out he's the reason two of the main characters actually met. Pretty big part of the mythos, if you'll pardon the use of the term.

3 -- Beastie Boys video



It's a hugely famous band, and they're depicted teaming up with yeti to fight zombies.

2 -- Super Bowl Coke Commercial


Sure, they wear clothing, but they're white-furred and live in an ice world. Yetis. In a Super Bowl commercial. Watched by Fifty Gazillion people.

1 -- Pictoplasma Missing Link Project



An organization dedicated to the art of character design decided this year to pick yeti as their theme. In their own words:

"Suddenly they seem to be everywhere: white, hairy, friendly creatures, just feature-less enough to serve as the perfect empty screen, yet exactly the right amount of hairiness, to make you want to get into physical cuddle-mode." ... "Even though no one, nowhere knows what Mr Yeti and co truly look like, by condensing all of those globally existent imaginary portraits down to their platonic ideal, we hope to get a better understanding of one of our time’s last secret characters."

Pictoplasma is the organization, and for their Missing Link Project, they sent a call out to illustrators to create and submit yeti depictions for a show.

Thanks, Pictoplasma, for being the catalyst for a whole lotta yeti love! And for helping to generate so much content for my blog!

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Some events may not have had the biggest impact on the popular culture, but I just happen to personally really like them:

- One of my favorite artists Travis Louie did a painting entitled The Family Yeti:



- My favorite plush this year is the Baby Yeti (only $35) by Vuduberi (blogged about here and here). It's been sold at the last two San Diego Comic Cons. Somehow I gotta get my hands on one:



- I'm fond of what occured at Ian Daniel Stewart's Son's Birthday Party:



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The following didn't happen this year, but I found out about these things and made a post about them this year, so I figure they're worth mentioning now:

- Beatles vs. Yeti



- George Méliès' "Yeti"



- Abominable Snowman Food Pyramid



- Harlem Globetrotters vs. Yeti



And in the world of Kiwa Hirsuta...

- FIVE Yeti Crab Plushes: Best Christmas Gift Ever?



- Durley-Boot Yeti Crab print:



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So that was the Yeti Year that was!

Many thanks to all you submitters. Without your scoops, I wouldn't know about many of the above.

Speaking of which, did I miss any? Disagree with my estimations? Let me know in the comments!