Shailushai is a Smurf cat who has recently become extremely popular. In this article we will tell you who came up with this image and why millions of users around the world learned about it in 2023.
Who are the Smurfs
The Smurfs are small humanoid creatures with blue skin. They were created by the French cartoonist Pierre Culliford, known under the pseudonym Peyo. The first comic book to feature them was published in 1958. Furthermore, graphic novels about the Smurfs continue to be published to this day. In addition, we saw three animated series and several feature films, as well as many video games about these blue dwarfs. The series is popular even today, so we’ll likely see more Smurfs-related titles in the future.
Have you seen cartoons about the Smurfs?
Who invented the Smurf Cat?
The image of the Smurf Cat was created by American artist Nate Hallinan, who worked on films based on Marvel comics. In September 2014, he not only drew a hairy one with blue skin, but also came up with its origins. According to the author’s idea, we have before us an example of the symbiosis of two organisms. As a result, we got a creature with powerful protective properties and camouflage, like a mushroom, but at the same time mobile and able to independently obtain food like a smurf. It is difficult to detect such creatures, because they are shy and hide at the slightest danger. However, from time to time they must leave their hiding places to hunt snails and other small animals. At the same time they spread spores, from which new mushrooms can later grow. Nate called his work ‘Smurf Sighting’.
Articles about memes
How Shailushai became popular
From our articles about memes you can learn that funny images or photos sometimes become popular many years after they are first published. This is what happened to the Smurf Cat. The animal only “became viral” in August 2023, when a video with his participation appeared on TikTok. It is noteworthy that it was posted by the Russian-speaking blogger ghojam1. Users mistakenly decided that they were looking at the work of a neural network. However, in 2014 they were not yet as developed as they are today.
The video was viewed over a million times and ghojam1 posted another video with the Smurf, this time set to the Alan Walker song called We live, we love, we lie. There he first named the cat Shailushai. There is no such word in any dictionary in the world. It is believed to come from ‘sholopaya’, i.e. ‘diaper’ or ‘scoundrel’.
The Smurf has become popular not only in Russia, but also abroad. The English-speaking public has not translated or changed his name in any way, but calls him Shailushai or Smurf Cat.
Memes with Shailushai
Most often, the blue cat is used to show serenity and unwillingness to think about problems.
There are also more extravagant options.
Some people have gone further and drawn other animals in Shailushai’s style.
Later, short fan cartoons featuring the Smurf Cat appeared online.
And musician Ernest Merkel dedicated one of his songs to Shailushai.
What memes with Shailushai do you remember? Share photos in the comments! Just choose decent options, please.
Have you seen memes about Shalushai before?
Source: VG Times
Christina Moncayo is a contributing writer for “Social Bites”. Her focus is on the gaming industry and she provides in-depth coverage of the latest news and trends in the world of gaming.