Where's Wally?

File:WheresWaldo.jpg

Wally, as depicted in the Where's Wally? book and media franchise

Where's Wally? (titled Where's Waldo? in the USA) is a series of children's books created by the British illustrator Martin Handford. The goal is to find a certain man, Wally, in a busy picture full of people. Wally dresses in a red and white striped shirt and bobble hat, carries a wooden walking stick, and wears glasses. He is always losing things, including books, camping equipment and even his shoes, and readers are invited to spot these items in the illustrations as well.

The name `Wally' was most likely borrowed from an early seventies pop festival in-joke, when the call `Wally!' and `Where's Wally?' would go round at nightfall. It may have been the name of a lost sound engineer at the first Glastonbury festival, or a missing person at the 1969 Isle of Wight festival. This was a regular shout at almost any British festival event during the 1970s.

The books consist of a series of complex full-page illustrated pictures of hundreds of tiny people doing various amusing things. The purpose is to find Wally among the group, which could be difficult as he is always well hidden. In one particularly difficult image from Where's Wally 3: The Fantastic Journey, for instance, the page is full of hundreds of different Wallys and the reader is asked to tell which is the true figure, identifiable only by his missing shoe.

Some readers pointed out that the basic concept was not new. It had been used by author Anthony Tallarico in his Where Are They? series in the late 1970s, although Handford's treatment of the theme differs strongly from Tallarico's. Handford uses many visual gags. The Where Are They? books rely heavily on speech bubbles to convey jokes, and the drawing style is deliberately rough and ready. The Where's Wally? series contains much more complex and "busy" illustrations, and there are no speech bubbles. Larry Alcala's Slice of Life cartoons, however, preceded Where's Wally?, using the concept seven years before the first Wally book was published.

International variants of Wally and Waldo

Main article: List of international variations of Where's Wally?

For the initial UK release of Martin Handford's book in 1987, he titled the character "Wally". The "Where's Wally" trademark was adapted for 28 countries. In addition to language translation, each franchise gave a new name and personality to the character. He became Charlie in France, Walter in Germany, Holger in Denmark and Willy in Norway. Waldo can also be found in Japan. In Israel, Waldo got renamed as Effy, and was a huge success at the time of its release. However the most successful of the franchises, even surpassing the original "Wally" brand, was the North American adaptation, "Where's Waldo?"

Whereas the early Waldo books were identical to the simultaneous Wally releases - except for the character's name - merchandising and spin-off productions expanded the Waldo franchise and character. Although Waldo and Wally are identical in appearance, their characters and personalities developed differently - Waldo became a hip and tech-savvy American world traveler, while Wally became intellectual and somewhat goofy.

Waldo became a huge pop-culture sensation in the early 1990s. The US was swept with "Waldo-mania". Aside from the adaptations of Handford's books, the US franchise grew to include licensing of Waldo for video games, spin-off books, magazines, dolls, toys and a Waldo television series. Many of the Waldo products were later reworked and translated for other national markets - including turning "Waldo"-created productions into "Wally".

Although Wally is the name used in Handford's home country, and was the first title used, Handford and his publisher refer to the character and franchise in many press releases and interviews as "Waldo". In the publishing world the "Wally" brand has become inferior, dwarfed by merchandising and huge success of "Waldo". And although the wordplay was lost on audiences outside North America, the name of the intrepid traveller's nemesis was even derived by Handford from spelling "Waldo" backwards to create Odlaw.

On January 22, 2007, the "Where's Wally" franchise - and thus "Where's Waldo" as well - was bought by the UK-based children's company Entertainment Rights.

Characters

In the first two books, Wally wandered alone. However, over time more characters were added to find in each scene:

• Wanda or Wenda, Wally's friend, first appeared in Where's Wally: The Magnificent Poster Book.
• Odlaw, Wally's arch-nemesis, made his print debut in Where's Wally: The Magnificent Poster Book. His name, "Waldo" spelt backwards, loses its significance in the UK version where "Wally" is used. He appears nearly the same as Wally, except that his clothes are yellow and black striped instead of red and white; his glasses have a blue tint to them; and he has a moustache.
• Woof, Wally's dog, who first appeared in The Ultimate Fun Book, where he was identified as Wilma's dog. In most pictures only his tail is seen.
• Wizard Whitebeard, first seen in The Fantastic Journey. On his first appearance, he was responsible for sending Wally on a quest to discover the truth about himself, and he has tagged along on Wally's travels ever since.
• The Waldo Watchers are Wally's devoted fan-club. There are lots of them (25 appear in most books, though there are 99 of them in the Ultimate Fun Book), and they turn up wherever Wally goes. They first appeared in The Ultimate Fun Book.
• Wilma appears in two of the Where's Waldo book series The Ultimate Fun Book and The Magnificent Poster Book), and is Waldo's ex-girlfriend and the twin sister of Wenda.

Publication history

• Where's Wally? (US title: "Where's Waldo?") (1987)
• Where's Wally Now? (US title: "Find Waldo Now") (1988)
• Where's Wally? 3: The Fantastic Journey (US title: "The Great Waldo Search") (1989)
• Where's Wally? The Ultimate Fun Book (1990)
• Where's Wally? The Magnificent Poster Book (1991, mainly large-size reprints of scenes from previous books)
• Where's Wally? In Hollywood (1993)
• Where's Wally? The Wonder Book (1997)
• Where's Wally?? (Special Edition) (1997)
• Where's Wally? Now? (Special Edition) (1997)
• Where's Wally?? The Fantastic Journey (Special Edition) (1997)
• Where's Wally?? In Hollywood (Special Edition) (1997)
• Where's Wally? The Great Picture Hunt (2006)

The Ultimate Fun Book was a smaller-format book, containing a variety of puzzles (of varying difficulty) along with a press-out circus scene and a sheet of stickers. As of 2006, it appears to be out of print in most countries, though it is still available in Australia. The Magnificent Poster Book is also out of print, though a separate poster of "Wally in the Land of Sport" remains available.

There were two rounds of revised editions. In 1993, to coincide with the publication of In Hollywood, the first three books were reprinted with Wenda, Woof and the Wally Watchers added in to the original illustrations. A "pocket edition" of the first book was also published, in a tiny A6 format. Wally is even harder to spot when shrunk to this degree, and later printings included a free magnifying lens.

Then in 1997, to coincide with the publication of The Wonder Book, special "Tenth Anniversary Editions" of Where's Wally, Where's Wally Now?, The Fantastic Journey and In Hollywood were published. These are easily distinguished from the earlier editions by the silver border on their front covers. These promised "eye-boggling extras", and involved the addition of various extra things to look for in all the pictures. Wenda, Woof, Odlaw, Whitebeard and the Wally Watchers now appeared in all of the books and, most controversially, Wally now appeared in a different place in each picture. Various other puzzles were also added or reworked.

These new editions also censored certain illustrations from the original edition, such as a partial exposed breast and implied public-nudity in the original Where's Wally, in the beach scene. The censorship involved drawing a bikini top over the original image. These new editions appeared in both standard and "pocket" formats.

There was also a very popular series of historical magazines made available for children called Wally's World, each issue Wally would travel to a different country or region of the world telling the reader interesting facts. This was published for 52 issues from January 1997 to January 1998, when Wally's History of the World began, focusing more on history than geography. The first issue was given away free with the last issue of Wally's World.

Several other "activity books" has also been published featuring art from the US based "Where's Waldo" comic strip:

• Where's Wally? The Truly Terrific Activity Book (1993)
• Where's Wally? The Absolutely Amazing Activity Book (1993)
• Where's Wally? The Dazzling Deep-sea Divers Sticker Book (1994)
• Where's Wally? The Fabulous Flying Carpets Sticker Book (1994)
• Where's Wally? The Wildly Wonderful Activity Book (1994)
• Where's Wally? Simply Sensational Activity Book (1994)
• Where's Wally? The Really Remarkable Activity Book (1995)
• Where's Wally? The Completely Crazy Activity Book (1995)
• Where's Wally? Bumper Activity Book (2666, previous four books in one volume)

In addition, a boxed set appeared in 2000. It contained Where's Wally, Where's Wally Now, The Ultimate Fun Book, The Truly Terrific Activity Book and The Absolutely Amazing Activity Book.

A four-book collection titled The Completely Cool Collection and containing Where's Wally?, Where's Wally Now?, The Fantastic Journey and In Hollywood was released in Autumn 2004.

Books

Where's Wally?

Wally sets off on a hike, carrying his walking stick, kettle, mallet, cup, rucksack, sleeping bag, binoculars, camera, snorkel, belt, bag and shovel. He visits various locations and gradually loses his equipment. He travels to:

• In Town
• On The Beach
• Ski Slopes
• Camp Site
• Railway Station
• Airport
• Sports Stadium
• Museum
• At Sea
• Safari Park
• Department Store
• Fairground

Where's Wally Now?

Wally journeys through history, dropping his books in the different locations. He travels to:

• The Stone Age
• The Riddle Of The Pyramids
• Fun And Games In Ancient Rome
• On Tour With The Vikings
• The End Of The Crusades
• Once Upon A Saturday Morning
• The Last Days Of The Aztecs
• Trouble In Old Japan
• Being A Pirate
• Having A Ball In Gay Paree
• The Gold Rush
• The Future

Where's Wally? 3: The Fantastic Journey

Wally's fantastic journey leads him to various weird and wonderful locations to find the Wizard Whitebeard's scrolls. He visits:

• The Gobbling Gluttons
• The Battling Monks
• The Carpet Flyers
• The Great Ball-Game Players
• The Ferocious Red Dwarves
• The Nasty Nasties
• The Fighting Foresters
• The Deep-Sea Divers
• The Knights Of The Magic Flag
• The Unfriendly Giants
• The Underground Hunters
• The Land Of Wallies

Where's Wally? In Hollywood

Wally takes a tour of various film sets in Hollywood. Each scene is inspired by a popular film genre:

• A Dream Come True
• Shhh! This Is A Silent Movie
• Horseplay In Troy
• Fun In The Foreign Legion
• A Tremendous Song And Dance
• Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves
• The Wild, Wild West
• The Swashbuckling Musketeers
• Dinosaurs, Spacemen And Ghouls
• Robin Hood's Merry Mess-Up
• When The Stars Come Out
• Where's Wally? The Musical

Where's Wally? The Wonder Book

Similar to "The Fantastic Journey", Wally journeys to a range of bizarre locations:

• Once Upon A Page
• The Mighty Fruit Fight
• The Game Of Games
• Toys! Toys! Toys!
• Bright Lights And Night Frights
• The Cake Factory
• The Battles Of The Bands
• The Odlaw Swamp
• Clown Town
• The Fantastic Flower Garden
• The Corridors Of Time
• The Land Of Woofs

Television Show

Where's Waldo? title card

Main article: Where's Waldo? (TV series)

A 13-episode animated series , with Townsend Coleman as the voice of Wally, was produced by DiC and CBS in 1991. The show was originally made for the American market and later translated for the rest of the world- renaming the character to fit the name used in the books of that country. . The distribution rights to "Where's Waldo?", and its international dubs, are currently held by HIT Entertainment

Internet pranks

In the same vein as the "What's Wrong With This Picture?" prank flash, an Adobe Flash movie shows a scene from the computer game "Where's Waldo? At The Circus" purportedly for looking for Wally, but after one minute the picture changes to a harlequin fetus or the white face from The Exorcist (depending on the version) accompanied by a loud scream. Wally isn't actually in the picture, though Odlaw does appear. This particular prank has been criticized for its deceptive nature, especially as it's seemingly child-friendly at first.

Banned/Censored

According to the American Library Association Where's Waldo has ranked 88 out of a 100 of the most banned and objected to books in the USA. The most common reason this book has been banned because in one picture, there are tiny cartoon breasts being wantonly flashed. The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000

Parodies

Pastiche

• Where's Elvis, written and illustrated by John Holladay, was published in 1992. The reader must look for Elvis Presley in several locations, including a concert, the airport, and finally a graveyard.

• Find Asterix was published in 1998. Essentially a replacement of Wally with French (and international) comic character Asterix in scenes consistent with the Asterix stories (set in the time of ancient Rome).

• Seeking Sammy, a book series by Baker Books that parodies the Wally/Waldo franchise, with books about a hooded sheep that hides himself inside busy interpretations of various Bible stories.

• Hunt with Hooroo, a series of books from Australia in the same manner as Where's Wally, featuring an orange kangaroo named Hooroo along with his family & friends.

• Where's Bin Laden: And Many Others, a parody published in 2006 where the reader must find Osama Bin Laden and other characters in a number of locations around the world

• Look and Find Books and Sega of America created Look and Find Sonic The Hedgehog, based on the Saturday Morning incarnation of Sonic.

In popular culture

• In the adventure game Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love for Sail!, the player can find an anthropomorphic dildo dressed like Waldo that is hidden in several areas, in some sort of minigame called "Where's Dildo?"

• "Where's Dildo?" also appears on a greeting card sold at Spencer's Gifts.

File:ClarWaldo2.jpg

Clara dresses as Wally on Drawn Together.

• In the Drawn Together episode "Spelling Applebee's", Princess Clara says to Captain Hero at one point that if he wants her, he knows where to find her. She then puts on a striped shirt, a hat, and glasses, and disappears into the crowd. Immediately after this, the camera pulls out and an image of a screaming alien appears, referencing the internet prank. If paused, Clara can actually be found in the right part of the screen.

• A Pokémon episode has the parody title, "Where's Armaldo?"

in The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, In the episode Time is Money, The announcer on a commercial for "The Complete Set of Infinite Knowledge", asks various questions so the viewer knows that the set has the answer to all of them. One of the questions is "Where is Waldo?".

• In the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode "The Big Picture", Mac and Bloo search for a similar-in-appearance imaginary friend named Wally in a series of photographs. The search is similar to one looking for Wally in a Where's Wally? book. Bloo even repeats to himself, "Where's Wally? Where's Wally? Where's Wally?", as he searches for Wally.

• Wally was in attendance at the Academy Awards in Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult. Wally also appeared in Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra.

• Wally can be seen standing in Ned Flanders' bomb shelter in The Simpsons episode "Bart's Comet".

• A T-Shirt by Mambo Graphics features a Wally-like character in profile with the word 'Missing' above it

• In the episode Treehouse of Horror III of The Simpsons, Bart attempts to do a book report on a Where's Waldo book (Find Waldo Yet Again) and says "Man, he's just not trying anymore" after opening to the first page, with Waldo standing on a beach in the foreground with two barely visible people in the background.

• In the episode Get Outta Dodge of Married... with Children Kelly tries to find Waldo and is even successful, that is to say he appears in person at the end of the episode.

• In an episode of Frasier, the character of Bulldog responds to Frasier's question of which literary character he will be dressing as to Niles' party by noting that he will be Waldo of Where's Waldo? Fame.

• There is an Simpsons episode, where homer searched waldo on a cornflakes box, while waldo appears outside the window behind him.

• In the Maxis game Simcopter, there is one window in the background that is colored red inside the helicopter base. If the player mouses over this window, the words 'You found Waldo!' appear.

• In the episode Sibling Rivalry of Family Guy Stewie states that finding good help is as hard as finding diversity in an Ambercrombie & Fitch catalog, cutting to a scene with Brian and Stewie looking through an Ambercrombie & Fitch catalog, showing mostly muscle-bound shirtless white men, before finding a small black man dressed like Waldo of Where’s Waldo.

External links

• Waldo Wiki - A Where's Waldo? wiki project