Pepsiman

"PEPSIMAAN!"

- Pepsi

Pepsiman (ペプシマン Pepushiman) is a superhero mascot for Pepsi and he first appeared in his eponymous video game for Playstation. He has been shown to be somewhat clumsy (usually after any given adventure) but is extremely dedicated to providing people with delicious Pepsi. He seems to be well-known and popular with the people he saves, who view him as a hero for bringing them refreshment.

He was created in the early '90s as an official mascot for Pepsi in Japan. Since then, Pepsi Man has appeared in various commercials in which he comes to the aid of heavily parched people by offering them a Pepsi for quenching. After servicing the thirsty citizens, Pepsi Man always endures some sort of pain, which signaled the end of the commercial. The series of events that occur in the commercials also found their way into the Pepsi Man game.

Why He Rocks

 * 1) Pepsiman is known for his name being shouted so randomly to the point that it's funny.
 * 2) His design is both cool and goofy at the same time.
 * 3) Pepsiman had a hilarious 'so-bad-its-good video game centered around him that spawned many memes.
 * 4) His iconic pose where he put his hand to the screen looks pretty neat.
 * 5) The way he screws up before and after delivering Pepsi is downright hilarious.
 * 6) His status as a clumsy schlemiel is always done hilariously.
 * 7) * Pepsiman will always get through all sorts of humorous pratfalls and physical comedy, not even playing perfectly will save him. It's still hilarious as Pepsiman takes it all as if it's nothing like a cartoon character, except for a few grunts.
 * 8) Despite his status as a schlemiel is done for comedic purposes, his clownish status has shown that whenever Pepsiman does make mistakes, he serves as a constant reminder for all of us to be brave, keep searching, hold family close, and never give up no matter how great the odds are against you; in which shows when trying to do his best in many commercials where he is quite incident-prone with just about everything.
 * 9) He may be a bumbling idiot and a (quite literal) punching bag at times, but he is thoroughly good at delivering Pepsi to anyone, no matter what.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Despite his comedic characteristics being done hilariously, he was intended to be a hip mascot in the same lead as Chester Cheetah and Spot of 7-Up. The problem with this is being portrayed as a continually bumbling buffoon doesn't really fit the "radical" approach he was originally given. This prolly explains why Pepsiman is often spoofed to be either a complete goofball or an absurdly capable character nowadays.
 * 2) Aside from being accident-prone and showing dedication to his heroic efforts, he doesn't really have that much personality aside from providing anyone Pepsi.
 * 3) * In the game, Pepsiman is often tasked with saving people from situations such as burning buildings or crashed planes, yet all he can actually do is give them Pepsi cans and not actually stop any form of danger at all.

Trivia

 * Believe it or not, there was actually another Pepsiman who first appeared in 1993, much earlier than the one we're familiar with. He was played by comedian Paul Rodriguez and the commercial was only aired in Mexico as seen in this video.
 * Pepsiman was an unlockable character in the import version of Fighting Vipers (1995) for the Sega Saturn in the Japanese version. He was removed from the US and PAL releases, believed to be due to legal issues which would have arisen out of the importation of the character into other territories.

Comments
