Where's Waldo/Wally?

I really must know: who the fuck is Waldo and what's his obsession with going to exotic tourist spots in those ridiculous sweaters?

And for that matter, who actually remembers this and actually found that sneaky asshole.

I used to have a Where's Waldo book. Taking after it's protagonist, it is now forever hidden among my other numerous forgotten things.

You don't wanna know.

His proper name's Wally and he's an international sartorial disaster who's trying to stay a step ahead of the fashionista.

Patrick said:

who the fuck is Waldo and what's his obsession with going to exotic tourist spots in those ridiculous sweaters?

Wally/Waldo/whatever other localized variant is used is nothing more than a children's book designed to make kids exercise their attention to detail and capacity to notice elements. The ridiculous attire is designed to be distinctive so that he can be identified for sure once found, removes ambiguity with other characters or details. The exotic spots are for variety and also teach the young readers about the diversity of places in the world.

Why do you care?

Gez said:

Wally/Waldo/whatever other localized variant is used

A Finnish weekly family magazine has recurring competition where you need to find a Wally-variant Jallu who's hidden somewhere in the magazine.

Too bad that Jallu is also a name of a Finnish porn magazine, and the way that the guy looks, it can't be a complete coincidence.

Jodwin said:

A Finnish weekly family magazine has recurring competition where you need to find a Wally-variant Jallu who's hidden somewhere in the magazine.

Looks like Killroy.

He's Carmen Sandiego's retarded cousin. All he can do is stand around in big crowds hoping people can't find him.

Poor bastard, his only crime is his unfortunate taste in clothes. He's trying to have a life, make friends and go to interesting events but all we can do is teach our children how to stalk people by searching for him in discreetly-taken photographs. I wonder if he even knows his entire life is on display for our amusement.

Hello, I like rusty spoons.

Jodwin said:

A Finnish weekly family magazine has recurring competition where you need to find a Wally-variant Jallu who's hidden somewhere in the magazine.

Looks like a Mr. Saturn from Earthbound/Mother 2 to me. Kinda.

He has a bitch named Wilma and a stalker called Odlaw who wants his stick.

You'd usually think it would be the other way around.

Gez said:

The ridiculous attire is designed to be distinctive so that he can be identified for sure once found, removes ambiguity with other characters or details.

I guess you haven't seen the one where every person and various objects have red and white stripes everywhere. THAT one is hard

Patrick said:

And for that matter, who actually remembers this and actually found that sneaky asshole.

Yeah, absolutely. Circa 1990.

Yes. I also remember a cheap ripoff that was really easy and had such amazing, inspiring locations as "the garden" and "the mall".

Anybody remember the cartoon? And did they, when first seeing it, go "well that's easy, he's in the clock!"

Where's Waldo books made me the man I am today.

Where's the ending?

Wasn't there a TV show?

DeumReaper said:

Where's the ending?

Oh my god that ranks up there with Color-a-dinosaur with absolute shittiness. :D

According to that youtube clip there was. I found Where's Wally to be highly entertaining when I was young and the rather chaotic scenes with all the little humourous events and situations still holds a limited appeal to me today (or at least, nostalgia tells me it does).

The one with all the Wally, Odlaw, Wendy, Woof and Whitebeard impersonators does stand out in my mind as being one of the most impossible (although they were there and I did find them all once, complete with the key, bone and other items of theirs in that book). Most memorable for me? Either the Battle for Troy or The Olympics. They were all quite well done though. Was amazing how many white-and-red-striped things they had in those pictures though...

Yeah, I remember one book where there was a puzzle that was just full of people wearing white-and-red striped clothes. It was pretty much nightmare mode.

Hah I loved these books, great fun

The last one in The Great Waldo Search is a bunch of variations of Waldo - you have to find the one missing a cane and right shoe or something equally absurd.

EDIT:

ARGH
Also there is a Waldo wiki. Kinda scary.

Bucket said:

Poor bastard, his only crime is his unfortunate taste in clothes. He's trying to have a life, make friends and go to interesting events but all we can do is teach our children how to stalk people by searching for him in discreetly-taken photographs. I wonder if he even knows his entire life is on display for our amusement.

rf` said:

He's Carmen Sandiego's retarded cousin. All he can do is stand around in big crowds hoping people can't find him.

a

Maes said:

Hello, I like rusty spoons.

Six said:

He has a bitch named Wilma and a stalker called Odlaw who wants his stick.

You'd usually think it would be the other way around.

These quotes made me laugh hard. :)

It's funny: I had those books for years and never really remember actually trying to search for anything, just marvel at the pictures for hours, looking at all the amazing patterns, jokes, color schemes, etc. I guess I've just never really liked following rules. :/ I still remember to this day a lot of the things I saw in The Great Waldo Search and Where's Waldo In Hollywood?. I'm not much into art, but I truly do think that Martin Hanford is a talented, diligent, and innovative artist.

I always liked finding all the humourous stuff in the crowd rather than find the main guys.

I bought the GFWL PC game during christmas as it was half price, and it reminded me of so much.

I had a version of this called Find Dan Quayle. I think it was something my parents got for Christmas or something back in the day when such a book would still be relevant, and I looked in as a kid despite having no knowledge at the time of who Dan Quayle was. I'll have to find it once I'm at home again...

I bet we all had some book in our childhoods that was based around a joke that completely flew over our heads. Mine was "Pat the Yuppie."

Patrick said:

and actually found that sneaky asshole.

found him several times in Batman Doom. :)

Those books (Waldo variant, for us American kids), were pretty neat and I liked them, they taught you to pay attention.

Naked Snake said:

they taught you to pay attention.

...and give us massive headaches if you keep looking closely at those pictures long enough O_o