Pedobear

Pedobear is an Internet meme that became popular through the imageboard 4chan. As the name suggests ("pedo" being short for "pedophile"), it is portrayed as a pedophilic cartoon bear. It is a concept used to mock child sex offenders or people who have any sexual interest in children or "jailbait". The bear image has been likened to bait used to lure children or as a mascot for pedophiles. Origin The bear character originates from the popular textboard website 2channel in Japan, where it was introduced, in the form of Shift_JIS art, as クマー (Kumā), an interjection of the word 熊 (Kuma) meaning bear in Japanese. Unlike Pedobear, Kumā has no sexual connotations, pedophilic or otherwise. Although initially appearing as a single line: various posts modified it until reaching the final form as multi-line art: ∩＿＿＿∩ |ノ ヽ / ● ● | クマ──！！ | (_●_) ミ 彡､ |∪| ､｀＼ / ＿＿ ヽノ /´> ) (＿＿＿） / (_／ | / | ／＼ ＼ | / ) ) ∪ （ ＼ ＼＿) Eventually, posting Kuma Shift_JIS art evolved into a response to "fishing" posts submitted as "bait" to attract people (fishing for attention), which is why the bear is depicted as literally running into the forum to get the bait.