Line #26 YMMV/TheMoomins


1	* AdaptationDisplacement: Nineties anime in Scandinavia and Japan. Late-'70-'80s series in the rest of Europe.
2	* {{Adorkable}}:
3	** Sniff, though not so much in the comics.
4	** Moomintroll himself, espicially when he wonders about things.
5	* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
6	** Whether Moomintroll's and Snufkin's relationship is meant to have HomoeroticSubtext has been hotly debated by academia for decades, in part because the latter is based on a former lover of Tove's. To this day they are still used to symbolize Finland's LGBT culture (when not pressing on the Jansson family estate, that is).
7	** Mrs. Fillyjonk: Prudish, uptight StopHavingFunGuy, or well-meaning parent who's just doing what comes naturally for her species and wants her children to be successful in life? She is definitely former in the 90's anime but in ''Moominvalley in November,'' Snufkin acknowledges in his head that it's probably the latter, but in his heart he can't stop thinking of her as the former:
8	--->Snufkin had met many fillyjonks in his time and knew that they had to do things in their own way and according to their own silly rules. But he was never so quiet as when he went past the house of a fillyjonk.
9	** Snorkmaiden is often seen both in-and-out-of-universe as a shallow girl who is only interested in her appearance above all else, though others see her as a character with a good self-image, proud of displaying and enjoying her femininity, written in a period where these attributes were not taken seriously.
10	* BrokenBase:
11	** It's not volatile, unlike 99% of the internet, but Moomin fans can't seem to decide which foreign dub of the series is best. English? Finnish? Polish? French?
12	** Whether the heavily Bowdlerized anime series is an acceptable adaptation at all. Especially older fans (i.e. the parents of the generation who saw the series in the '90s) seems to be more hostile towards it.
13	* CreepyAwesome: The Groke may be NightmareFuel, but she's also one of the most popular characters, being the subject of countless memes and getting fanart that plays up her TragicMonster traits.
14	* DiagnosedByTheAudience:
15	** Although Snufkin cares a lot for his friends, he still needs to spend lots of time alone, often leaving for months to wander the wilderness on his own. In ''Moominvalley'', he even abandons Moomin at a party because it becomes too stressful for him. Fans may interpret this as some form of social anxiety.
16	--->'''Snufkin:''' Its not that I don't like people. I just feel caged in sometimes.
17	** Snork is commonly headcanoned as autistic. He is described as "particular" in ''Comet in Moominland'', and enjoys jotting down details and keeping things organised. In the '90s anime, he often forgets to do basic tasks like eat when he becomes engrossed in his work, and in the 2019 series he's extremely LiteralMinded, direct with his words to the degree of bluntness, uncomfortable feigning cheerfulness and excessive politeness and is hinted to suffer from sensory overload if things get too chaotic. [[https://twitter.com/MoominvalleyTV/status/1518922779659284480?lang=en A tweet]] from the official ''Moominvalley'' account strongly implies that this has become canon, as it pairs a Snork-centric GIF with the [=#autismacceptancemonth=] tag and a message about accepting differences in others.
18	** Hemulens can be described as having some autistic traits. They have a very particular dress sense, can sometimes be absent-minded but are generally very knowledgeable, and dedicate their lives to one or two specific hobbies.
19	* EnsembleDarkHorse: The Joxter is one of the most popular characters, nearly getting as much fanart as Snufkin, even though he only appears in one book and very few adaptations.
20	* FanCommunityNickname: Moomanity, from the [=YouTuber=] Mushroom Soup.
21	* FandomEnragingMisconception: Refer to the Moomins as "hippos" and find yourself instantly marked for death by the Finnish government.
22	* FandomSpecificPlot: Fanworks about characters becoming invisible like Ninny due to abuse, neglect or otherwise being troubled, and needing to be made visible again, are common.
23	* FanficFuel: Due to the nature of the many species shown in the books being somewhat unexplained and the presence of background characters whose species are unconfirmed, a lot of the details are made {{Fanon}}, such as Mumriks resembling cats.
24	* FanNickname:
25	** Officially, the 1977 StopMotion series is just called ''The Moomins'', but most fans call it "Fuzzy Felt Moomins" instead for clarity's sake.
26	** The elder Mymble is often called Mymblemamma to distinguish her from her daughter.
27	* {{Fanon}}:
28	** A lot of fan art depicts Snufkin (as well as his father, the Joxter) with a tail, paws, and/or other animal features, which aren't confirmed to be canon. However, [[LittleBitBeastly Joxter is described in the books to have paws and whiskers.]]
29	** Fans often call Snufkin and the Joxter's species "Mumriks", due to Snufkin's Swedish name, "Snusmumriken". Canonically, their species is never mentioned aside from a mention of "Snufkins" in the first book, ''Moomins and the Great Flood'', but a lot of fans don't consider said book canon due to its large amount of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness.
30	** In canon, Mymble's daughter is only ever called that or just Mymble. A lot of fanworks refer to her as "Mymble Jr." to distinguish her from her mother.
31	** A lot of fanworks interpret the Joxter saying that he "doesn't understand signs" as him being illiterate.
32	** Due to Snufkin and Joxter apparently never meeting before ''Moominpappa's Memoirs'', it's a common theory/headcanon that the Joxter didn't know he had a son.
33	** In the books, Moomins and Snorks look pretty much identical, and their only mentioned difference, Snorks changing their color according to their mood, only comes up in ''Comet in Moominland'', and many adaptations treat them as the same species. Fanworks, however, tend to agree that Snorks have longer fur than Moomins, due to Snorkmaiden's fringe and Snork having hair in some adaptations.
34	* FanPreferredCouple: While Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden are by no means an unpopular pairing, it is eclipsed by Moomintroll/Snufkin due to the huge amounts of HoYay they receive. If stories that go for the OneTrueThreesome (itself a very popular choice) are excluded, Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn has over a dozen times more stories for the latter pairing than the former.
35	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff:
36	** The Moomins are ''extremely'' popular in Japan. There are two different Moomin anime that were created primarily for Japan, they're known to visit Finland explicitly to buy rare Moomin merchandise, Moomin attractions in Finland often include Japanese translations to cater to the high number of Japanese tourists, and a Moomin theme park, Moominvalley Park, opened in 2019 about 40km outside of Tokyo.
37	** The nineties anime series was popular in Hawaii, airing on the local UPN affiliate.
38	** It's also popular in Poland (got a rerun in 2006) and in Israel (basically everyone who was born between the mid-[[TheEighties eighties]] to the early [[TheNineties nineties]] grew up watching it), but it was no doubt most popular in Finland, where it reruns regularly. Heck, you KNOW a series is popular in another country when they manage to dub most of EVERY SINGLE EPISODE and the [[BigDamnMovie Big Damn Movie]] on top of it!
39	** The series' popularity extends to other Nordic countries such as Sweden (since Tove Jansson was Fennoswedish) and Norway (to the point of being on NRK Super (which, otherwise, mostly airs modern shows) for a time), as well as rather odd choices of popularity places, those being Nepal (due to, among other things, the music and songs' styles resonating with Nepali), along with Bosnia and Herzegovina (where the show is a generally light escape, given the show debuted right after the Soviet Union fell (similarly to Poland and, in the novel's case, in Russia) as well as the higly unusual form of the series giving a sense of exoticism, despite what is generally considered a poor dub (with its noisy microphone qualities, highly fake-sounding performances and so forth).
40	** It also maintains a small but faithful fanbase in the United Kingdom, where the '90s anime got its English dub and ''Moominvalley'' was co-produced. The Southbank Centre in London hosted a Moomin exhibit in 2016 and there's even a Moomin shop in Covent Garden, which sells all kinds of merchandise!
41	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuXTMTWBO0k Based on this video]], they have noticed that customers from the Asian countries are in favor to the character Snufkin because of the working culture they had.
42	* HollywoodHomely: When Snorkmaiden asks the Hobgoblin for eyes like the figurehead Moomintroll was obsessed with, everyone reacts with horror at the result, and Snork or Moomintroll (depending on the version) is forced to use his wish to change her face back to normal. Although she does have distractingly oversized eyelashes and huge pupils in [[https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4dD8UDFq2ps/VL4KkCNBzRI/AAAAAAAAG1I/xZBkSYR7Hx8/s1600/moomin_woodenqueen.jpg the book's illustration]], justifying the reaction, [[https://i.imgur.com/R9k7ONI.png the 90's anime]] just gives her eyelashes that, while quite pronounced, actually don't look THAT bad, especially if you're used to the whole "[[TertiarySexualCharacteristics cartoon girls have noticeable eyelashes]]" thing.
43	* HoYay: The relationship between Moomintroll and Snufkin is very often read as this. It doesn't hurt that the creator of the series had relationships with men and women, and that Snufkin is based off her first fiancé, Atos Wirtanen, while Moomintroll is interpreted as her {{Author Avatar}}.
44	* IdiosyncraticShipNaming:
45	** While Moomin x Snufkin is often referred to by the PortmanteauCoupleName of "Snufmin", it's also sometimes called "Springdove".
46	** "Springtime Trio" for the OneTrueThreesome of Moomin x Snorkmaiden x Snufkin.
47	* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: While there are characters who present a fantastical threat such as the Groke and Hattifatteners, next to them Stinky easily comes across as the most despicable character in the franchise for being an everyday bully with few redeeming characteristics.
48	* LGBTFanbase: The series is hugely popular among the LGBT crowd, mostly brought about by the HoYay between Moomin and Snufkin, as mentioned above. It also helps that Tove Jansson herself was bisexual and likely would've embraced the franchise's popularity with the LGBT community.
49	* {{Moe}}: Ninny, at least in the nineties anime; an adorable (especially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h8cW1b3rMU&12m15s in the Norwegian version]] of [[Anime/Moomin1990 Moomin (1990)]]), innocent (with her being sarcastically mocked for every single fucking mistake or accident of hers by her aunt), vulnerable invisible little girl. [[spoiler: Even when she's fully revealed, she's even more adorable, the novel even remarks, "And she is cute!"]].
50	* OneTrueThreesome: Moomintroll/Snufkin/Snorkmaiden is gaining speed as a ship, as Snorkmaiden is Moomintroll's love interest, but Moomintroll also has lots of HoYay with Snufkin. There's also moments in the 90s anime where Snorkmaiden shows either attraction to Snufkin (such as when she [[EasyAmnesia thought she was a princess]]) or Snufkin seems to be playfully flirting with or act like quite a gentleman towards her.
51	* PopularWithFurries: There is a noticeable overlap between furries and the ''Moomin'' fandom, thanks to many of the characters looking like animals. While Moomins and Snorks aren't hippos, they're close enough, and Sniff, Fillyjonk, and other creatures also have animal-like traits. A popular bit of {{Fanon}} makes the AmbiguouslyHuman Snufkin and the Joxter ALittleBitBeastly with paws and a tail.
52	* PortmanteauCoupleName:
53	** [=SnufMin=] for Moomintroll/Snufkin.
54	** Snorkmyden or [=LittleMaiden=] for Snorkmaiden/Little My.
55	** Mymbleticky for Mymble's daughter/Too-ticky.
56	* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: The 1995 game ''Muumit piilosilla'' has been consistently described by people who have played it as pretty damn trippy. Various objects can appear out of thin air or change into something completely unexpected upon clicking. For example: Moominmamma's handbag has a ''bowling ball'' fall off (yes, "off" and not "from") it on the porch; a chair in the living room ''yawns'' with a visible mouth and tongue; and in Snork's workshop a tiny Earth rises from a bucket of green paint, picking up a blackboard eraser as its Moon before disappearing.
57	* RetroactiveRecognition: One of the people who worked on the 1969 anime was a little-known animator named {{Creator/Hayao Miyazaki}}.
58	* RonTheDeathEater: In the early days of the ''Moominvalley'' fandom, a lot of new fans interpreted the Joxter as an abusive or neglectful father to Snufkin. This portrayal has since became less common, since more people have pointed out that he's not like that at all in the book.
59	* SacredCow: Certain characters (Snufkin in particular) are almost universally liked by fans, even the ones that don’t have a lot of appearances (see EnsembleDarkHorse).
60	* ShipsThatPassInTheNight: Shipping Mymble's daughter with Too-Ticky is very popular, despite them canonically only interacting in one painting. In fact, they have never even appeared in the same book together.
61	* SignatureScene:
62	** In general, Moomintroll and Snufkin sitting on a bridge.
63	** For the 60s live-action series, the actors taking off their costume heads in the second episode.
64	** For the 60s anime, Snufkin singing "Osabishiyama no Uta".
65	** For the 90s anime, the scene in "Tiny Guests" where the Groke appears on the Moominhouse's porch, scaring Sniff and many viewers.
66	** For the movie ''Comet in Moominland'':
67	*** Moomintroll, Sniff and Little My first meeting Snufkin. Especially in the English dub, where he introduces himself as "Snoofkin".
68	*** Moomintroll fighting the Angostura bush.
69	*** The Muskrat's ramblings, which are the funniest scenes in the movie for many.
70	** For ''Moominvalley'', the "Love Me With All Your Heart" scene in "The Last Dragon in the World".
71	* SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel: Much of the franchise, but especially the 1990 cartoon version. For the most part, everyone lives a calm idyllic life and are friendly with each other. The biggest conflicts are resolved by ThePowerOfFriendship, talking things out and coming to understand each other. Even the most frightening characters, the Groke and Hattifatteners, are shown to not be actively malevolent; the Groke is more like a wandering force of nature that never communicates with anything, and the Hattifatteners are really just animals that may look scary but are harmless if you just act calmly and leave them be.
72	* ValuesDissonance: The way smoking is handled is clearly a product of the 50's. Moominpappa often smokes his pipe, and in ''The Exploits of Moominpappa'', the Hemulen Aunt's objection to his smoking is treated as one more reason why she's an annoying, uptight [[TheKilljoy Killjoy]] who deserved to get ditched to the Niblings, while Moominmamma dismisses the claims that it's bad for his health. Snufkin, who has a VagueAge but is around Moomintroll's age and therefore likely a teenager, also smokes casually.
73	* ViewerGenderConfusion:
74	** [[http://syko.typepad.com/.a/6a010536bfff2d970c012875f7273a970c-pi Too-Ticky]] and the Groke. You wouldn't know they were female simply by looking at them.
75	*** Subsequently, multiple countries have an male voicing either of them in their dubs, the most obvious cases being Poland, who used an blatant male voice (Andrzej Bogusz, who also played the Hobgoblin's panther), albeit [[RuleOfCool a really cool one]], for the Groke and the first 'season' of the Norwegian version, where Too-ticky is voiced by Magnus Nielsen, but the latter's actor was replaced by women (Kari-Ann Grønnsund and Unn Vibeke Hol) from the winter episodes and on.
76	*** Averted in some dubs which made the Groke male.
77	** Not to mention Thingumy and Bob. You might presume they're female like their real life counterparts but the English names are rather confusing, especially "Bob". And the original names, Tofslan & Vifslan, give even less of a hint of their genders. The original Swedish novel never mentions their genders. But it does it so skilfully that you won't notice until you start wondering what their genders are.
78	** For the readers of the Finnish translation this goes up to eleven. Unlike Swedish (and English) Finnish doesn't distinguish gender grammatically, not even in pronouns. Thus there's no he/she distinction. One can read all the books and all the comics and watch all the adaptations in Finnish and never find out the genders of the more ambiguous characters. Hence the confusion of many Finns when they find out the Groke was female all along (not helped by the voice given to her in the Finnish dub of the animated series). Thingumy and Bob are similarly difficult to figure out. Too-Ticky is slightly easier since her name sounds a lot like her real life counterpart's Tuulikki, which is a Finnish woman's name. (And even then people can be confused; while the -kki ending is more common in feminine names, it's by no means a strict rule.)
79	* ViewerSpeciesConfusion:
80	** Snorkmaiden and Snork are often mistaken for Moomins, because their species (Snorks) and their difference compared to Moomins (They can change color according to their mood) are rarely brought up after ''Comet in Moominland''.
81	** Snufkin and Little My are often mistaken for humans. It's not mentioned very often, but they're much smaller than humans: Snufkin is around the size of Moomins, who are said to have lived behind people's masonry heaters, and Little My was so small she needed to be seen through a magnifying glass when she was born. Their mother is also a HornedHumanoid in the book illustrations, and Mymbles and Snufkins (at least in the first book) are mentioned to be a species.
82	* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The 90s animated series should not be written off as "kid friendly" at first impression. While always heartfelt, some episodes can be rather dark, or deal with mature real-world issues. This also applies equally, if not more so, to the books.
83	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic: There's a book that uses the characters to illustrate concepts from existentialist philosophy. It works surprisingly well.
84	* TheWoobie:
85	** Moomin, whenever Snufkin is about to leave for warmer climates.
86	** The Groke especially gets this treatment in the last books and in the 2019 Moominvalley series.
87	** Sniff, especially in the books. Completely averted in the comic strip, where he's more a KarmaHoudini -- and so, in the animated series, which takes cues from both books and comic strip, he's a JerkassWoobie.
88	** Sorry-Oo was basically designed to be this.
89	** Ninny, the invisible girl who was abused by her aunt
90	** Fillyjonk's children. They are not allowed to have fun!
91	** The Fillyjonk herself, for that matter. she's petrified of practically everything, and spends most of "Moominvalley In November" suffering a full-blown nervous breakdown after a near-fatal accident. Add the fact that the paranoia and obsessive-compulsive behavior everyone hates her for are likely just part of her species' natural behavior, and she might also be a victim of FantasticRacism on top of that!

Context YMMV / TheMoomins