With Chinese New Year (CNY) just around the corner, a specific decorative dragon in Chinatown has caught the eyes of Internet users in Singapore for its uncanny resemblance to Pikotaro, the Japanese comedian known for the ‘PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen)’ hit a few years ago.
Since the launch of this year’s CNY light-up, many have taken to social media to posit their humorous takes on what—or who—the lantern of the legendary creature looks like.
Comparisons range from Pikotaro to late actor Richard Ng, and even Shrek.
Students from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) who designed the lantern have since defended their creation. Aware of the comments, they stated that this is a learning experience to improve on future designs.
On Thursday (18 Jan), a post containing a photo of the CNY dragon lantern emerged on the Complaint Singapore Facebook page, along with a rather resigned caption.
“The Chinatown Dragon is up. I don’t want to comment. You all see for yourself,” the caption stated.
In the comments, the one that caught the most reactions from Facebook users was a remark that said: “Seems like many people saw the same resemblance,” with an accompanying image of Pikotaro.
Source: Facebook
The Japanese comedian, who has been active since the 1990s, gained much notoriety after his single ‘PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen)’ went viral in 2016.
Some users also saw similarities between the lantern and the late Hong Kong actor Richard Ng.
Source: Facebook
Others even went as far as to say that the lantern looks more like the animated movie character Shrek with a dragon’s mouth.
Source: Facebook
However, some who spoke in defence of the lantern, saying that it could be an issue with the angle from which the picture was taken.
Source: Facebook
According to The Straits Times (ST), the dragon lantern is the creation of a group of 13 students from SUTD.
They confirmed to the paper that they are aware of the comments, and see them as feedback for improvement.
“With every bad comment, we take it as a learning point and move on from them to improve our next design,” SUTD student Gan Bei Ru told ST.
Also read: Majestic Dragons Descend Upon Chinatown For CNY 2024 Light-Up, An Auspicious Start To The New Year
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Featured image adapted from Facebook and PIKOTAROピコ太郎OFFICIAL CHANNEL on YouTube.
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