Cheburashka Чебурашка​

A few years ago, I saw a cute little character in a magazine (maybe petit glam, which was being featured in Inside Magazines...I'm not sure) with massive furry ears. As the text around him was only Japanese and Russian, it was difficult to tell what his name was and find out more. The Russian Olympic team (which was recently in Vancouver, sporting his image) has solved the mystery. He is a Cheburashka, and will be the official mascot of the Sochi 2014 games.Cheburashka originally appeared in a 1966 children's book by Edouard Uspensky. In 1969, a stop-motion animated series based on the book came out. We love Eastern European stop-motion animation, some of which has been a source of inspiration for our dioramas and hopefully for some stop-motion animation of our own.