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Crazy Frog is a Swedish CGI-animated character and musician created by Erik Wernquist in 2003. Originally named The Annoying Thing, he was created to accompany Daniel Malmedahl's sound effect of him imitating a two-stroke engine in a short animation for TurboForce3D. After the original animation had become a viral sensation, the character was picked up and marketed by Jamba!. He was renamed to Crazy Frog, and started his music career afterward.
Creation
In 2003, Erik Wernquist created a post on CGI forum cgsociety.org titled "WIP - annoying thing."[1] Information from this post shows that parts of Crazy Frog's design were based on feedback from other forum members, such as having different sized eyes and a missing tooth. Furthermore, The Annoying Thing was originally created looking "insane" and like a "frog" from beginning, despite his comments later on:
"If I had known that this was going to be such a big thing I would not have allowed them to use that stupid name. It has nothing to do with the character. It's not a frog and it's not particularly crazy either."[2]
In his initial forum post, Erik explained that "It has ended up looking somewhat like a frog I think." He also noted that his eyes were "way too 'sane'" when they were symmetrical. After making them different sizes, Erik noted that it "made him look a little more 'crazed.'"
User Triple_G noticed that "he’s definitely got that wide-eyed, crazy look to him". User takkun said that "he needs a cheesy grin and a mischevious look in his eyes". Erik answered that takkun "has a point" and eyes "are way too 'sane'". He added that he thought about making them "different from each other", then user kretin suggested that "the pupils/irises would be great a little asymmetrical". This changed Crazy Frog design forever. Erik: "This was a success I think… made him look a little more “crazed” Thanks for that Kretin". After that Erik "shinked the left iris, and even scaled the right one up a bit". User Nemoid added that "for the eyes i agree that different colors would be fine, expecially if they are different from the general blue-white looking of the creature." And then Crazy Frog started to have green different eyes.
User leigh said "perhaps you could give him some sharp teeth though - they might give him more of a gremlin edge." After a few messages, Erik said that he "thaught about that but went with these (blocks) when thinking sharp would make him too scary/agressive. It would without doubt put him in the gremlin-family." After choosing between flat and sharp teeth Erik went back to simple flat teeth, but "With one new modification; my girfriend came with the obvious suggestion he should have one missing tooth. It suited him just perfect I think."
Erik added a penis mainly because he wanted to test physics. When debating whether or not to give him pants, user takkun stated, "don’t give him pants! Let it all hang out!.. But that does mean you’ve got another appendage to animate though."
Appearance
Crazy Frog is a spotted light blue anthropomorphic frog-like creature. Like a frog, his fingers and toes are webbed.The iris of his left eye is significantly larger than that of the right. An upper right front tooth is missing. He is short and has a pot-belly, with a belly button. He also has a visible penis and scrotum, which was erased in censored versions of each media. Without his helmet, the top of his head dips in slightly. Originally, his head did not have this dip.
Following Crazy Frog's comeback around 2020, his model was slightly modified to use higher-resolution textures and be slightly shinier than before. Furthermore, he appears slightly thinner around the stomach. His spots also became darker, and appear to bump out more from his skin.
Outfits
Depending on the situation he is in, Crazy Frog wears different sets of clothing. According a 2022 brand style guide by Kaktus Film, while he can wear anything and use any props, "he doesn't choose what he wears and doesn't know what meaning his clothing may have." While it might look like Crazy Frog intentionally puts on an outfit, in actuality, he's only wearing something "because someone has managed to put it on him." Furthermore, for any props he might have, he wouldn't understand how to use it. This is contradictory to the older music videos however. Crazy Frog has used a fishing pole in Popcorn, played soccer in We Are The Champions, and used a DJ's turntable in the DJ Video.
Helmet and Leather Vest
His "default" and most recognizable outfit is his leather vest and white helmet with goggles, typically with the leather strap unbuckled. This was first featured in the original animation by Wernquist, as well as the Axel F music video. In the original animation, the back of the vest has the TurboForce3D logo, and official merchandise typically has the "The Annoying Thing" logo on the back.
Hawaiian Shirt
In the Popcorn video, Crazy Frog wears orange floral shirt. Throughout the video, he changes his head wear from a brown panama hat to a yellow snorkeling mask. This is the first time we see the top of his head in a music video. In the video games, he appears in this look (with brown panama) as a different character, The Holiday Thing. For the Crazy Hits album cover, Crazy Frog wears same shirt as in Popcorn, but with DJ headphones.
DJ
In some short videos like "DJ" and video clips like 'Daddy DJ', 'Safety Dance' and 'Everyone', Crazy Frog wears DJ headphones, sometimes with his leather vest.
Biker
In 'Knight Rider,' Crazy Frog wears sunglasses and a black biker vest. In Daddy DJ and Safety Dance, he wears his vest, black trousers with a belt, police hat and a fake black mustache.
Goalkeeper
In We Are The Champions, Crazy Frog wears a white jersey with black stripes with "1" written on the front and "Annoying" written on the back, a pair of black and white goalkeeper gloves and cleates.
Winter
In 'Jingle Bells' and 'Last Christmas', Crazy Frog wears a bobble hat, scarf and mittens in red, white and green.
Naked
Crazy Frog was completely naked only in the beginning of We Are The Champions.
"Boy"
During the dance scene of the Tricky music video, Crazy Frog wears a red shirt with white stripes, a white and black snap-back cap with "CF" written in gold on the front, and white sneakers resembling Adidas.
Astronaut
At the end of the Tricky music video, when Crazy Frog enters the Space-Y rocket ship, he sports an astronaut's suit and helmet.
Personality
Crazy Frog typically acts dumb, childlike and mischievous. He is described to be "grain-brained," hyperactive, and a "trouble-maker" in the 2022 Kaktus Film brand style guide. Because of how dumb Crazy Frog is, he tends to interpret what is happening around him in his own way, often giving the "wrong" emotion, such as being joyful facing a threat, or getting scared if someone does something funny. If he appears to be sad, he's actually more confused than anything.
Mimicking
Crazy Frog has the ability to "mimic" actions and behaviors. His signature "riding an invisible motorcycle" is actually him just mimicking what it's like to ride a motorcycle. He can also mimic others' emotions as well. While Crazy Frog can use this power, he does not understand the meaning behind it. The brand style guide posits that "the only reasonable explanation for this 'power' is that he is too stupid to understand that whatever he is doing can't actually be done."
In Crazy Frog Racer 2, Crazy Frog's helmet is shown to be his "vehicle," suggesting that it is responsible for his power to mimic a motorcycle.
Music
Crazy Frog has released three main albums:
- Crazy Hits, July 25, 2005
- More Crazy Hits, June 26, 2006
- Everybody Dance Now, August 19, 2009
Video Games
There has been many video games created about Crazy Frog. The most notable series of video games about Crazy Frog is Crazy Frog Racer, a kart-racing series similar to Mario Kart. There has been other various Java and Flash games created about him as well.
For a list of video games about Crazy Frog, see the wiki's Games Portal.
In Crazy Frog Racer
Despite the name of the series, Crazy Frog is known as Annoying Thing in game, except in Crazy Frog Racer GBA. While he does not ride on a vehicle like the other racers do, his "vehicle" is technically his helmet, as shown in Crazy Frog Racer 2. In the first game, He can use the Laser Mine and Bored Sphere like Jack and Ellie.
In Crazy Frog Racer 2, The Holiday Thing was introduced as a clone character.
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Trivia
- In almost all official merchandise, Crazy Frog is referred to as "The Annoying Thing, A.K.A. Crazy Frog."
- Crazy Frog is known in-game as The Annoying Thing in all Crazy Frog Racer games except for Crazy Frog Racer GBA.
Gallery
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Crazy Frog in Crazy Frog Racer -
Pre-rendered Crazy Frog with blue eyes T-posing -
More renders of Crazy Frog, with blue eyes -
More Crazy Hits -
Crazy Frog Merch -
Crazy Hits cover collage -
The Annoying Thing's helmet -
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