Western Animation / The Unstoppable Yellow Yeti

Rule 1: Monsters are strictly forbidden.

The Unstoppable Yellow Yeti is a Finnish/French animated series created by Finnish animators Joonas Utti and Anttu Harlin (also known for Best and Bester and 101 Dalmatian Street). It was produced by their own studio Gigglebug Entertainment and France's Marathon Media with the participation of Disney Channel Europe and Finland's public broadcasting service YLE.

The series follows 12-year-old Osmo, a laidback and optimistic Surfer Dude who moves with his plumber father Ned to the Quirky Town of Winterton, a tiny alpine village in the European Arctic that, as the name implies, is under an Endless Winter. Ned has been appointed "executive plumber" of Winterton by the town's rules-obsessed mayor Chrome, who also happens to be Osmo's uncle through marriage to Ned's cousin Lydia. Chrome and Lydia have a daughter named Rita, a brave and adventurous girl of Osmo's age who dreams of becoming a monster researcher. Rita is convinced that man-eating monsters live on the slopes of nearby Monster Mountain, even despite her father's adamant belief that there is no such thing as monsters and how greatly the Eccentric Townsfolk of Winterton fear monsters (whom they drive off by singing).

Sure enough, Osmo discovers his surfboard has been stolen, and when he goes off to search for it, he discovers it to have been taken by a real, live monster! The beast in question is a towering, yellow-furred abominable snowman named Gustav, who contrary to what Osmo and Rita initially assume of him, is a joyful and energetic Gentle Giant who prefers having fun instead of eating people as his fellow monsters do. The three become fast friends, and together they have adventures all over Winterton and Monster Mountain, while also learning quite a bit about the world around them. However, Osmo and Rita must keep Gustav's existence a secret from Winterton's superstitious populace (thankfully for them, Gustav's also a Master of Disguise), and in turn, Gustav has to keep his new human friends safe from the appetites of his more dangerous fellow monsters.

The series debuted in 2022 on Disney Channel in France, but has also aired on YLE Arena in its home country of Finland and appeared on Disney+ in the UK (with an English dub done by British voice actors).

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The Unstoppable Yellow Yeti provides examples of:

• Affectionate Nickname: Osmo often calls Gustav "Gus" for short.
• Agent Scully: Mayor Chrome is extremely convinced that monsters don't exist, even if he has anti-monster measures for the town. Justified by him being originally an outsider to Winterton, meaning the Wintertonians' fear of monsters predates him being mayor, so he has to play along with their superstitions to stay in their favor, even if he personally does not agree with them.
• Apathetic Teacher: Osmo and Rita's schoolteacher Mr. Fogg is extremely lazy and uncaring. He'll find any excuse to not have to teach his students, often letting Rita take his place or disguising meaningless activities as lessons.
• Benevolent Monsters: Gustav, the titular Yellow Yeti is a friendly, excitable, and soft-hearted individual who loves playing around.
• Bighearted Bigfoot: Gustav's technically a yeti, but he definitely qualifies as a sensitive, fun-loving Gentle Giant who prefers to befriend children rather than eat them as his fellow monsters are wont to do.
• Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Gustav himself, of course! Unlike most yetis, he's got yellow fur, but he's a very nice guy.
• Bizarre Taste in Food:
  • Being a monster, Gustav tends to enjoy rather... unusual dishes. The smellier and more disgusting, the better. In particular, he loves rotten fish, and he often uses his own toe jam in his recipes. Special shout-out however goes to his mo-dough, which is so rancid and vile, that it's very smell gives amnesia to everyone in Winterton.
  • Mayor Chrome normally isn't this, but when he's stressed, he starts eating this way. The results are not pretty.
• Bland-Name Product: Winterton has its own version of Eurovision called Wintervision (although coincidentally, in 2021, Eurovision did actually announce a 2022 Wintervision for April Fool's).
• Body Sled: Gustav often lets Osmo and Rita use him this way. It's perfectly normal for yetis to travel like this, according to him.
• Bottle Episode: "Gondola With The Wind" has Osmo, Rita and Gustav trapped in a broken skiing gondola and trying to pass the time while waiting to be freed.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: In "Secrets, Lies, and Monster Ties", Gustav pauses the episode thrice to recap the events of "Momster", "Monster Swap", and "The Thingy" directly to the audience (although the last one is interrupted by an annoyed Rita telling him to knock it off).
• The Bully: Anders is the neighborhood "bad kid", an obnoxious and arrogant jerk who lives to cause trouble for Osmo and Rita. Always by his side are his minions, twins Tommy and Tina.
• Bumbling Dad: Ned is a very laidback and friendly guy, which sometimes leads to trouble. In particular, his efforts to fix anything usually go awry due to him being a plumber (he even somehow converted Mayor Chrome's dining room chair into a toilet!).
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: But even despite his goofy, laidback personality, Ned is incredibly skilled with Winterton's pipes, and has even saved the town a few times with his skills with a wrench.
• Cats Are Mean: Winterton's mail-delivering cats are an unfriendly lot, especially their leader Katz, who has antagonized Osmo, Gustav, and Rita on several occasions.
• Chained Heat: The plot of "Pine Saps". Osmo and Anders get their hands stuck together on a bucket while trying to tap trees for sap and subsequently get lost, forcing them to cooperate.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: As Eccentric Townsfolk, most of the citizens of Winterton fall under this to a certain degree (Miss Atomic Pie talks to her own pies, for instance), but the excitable and childlike Gustav also qualifies.
• Cock-a-Doodle Dawn: Winterton's goats fulfill the role of roosters.
• Dumb Muscle: Rufus, the town's resident police officer, is a hulking but dimwitted woman with a childlike demeanor who helps enforce Mayor Chrome's many laws.
• Eccentric Townsfolk: The people of Winterton. They live in constant fear of monsters that they drive off by yodeling, take skiing so seriously that it's a requirement to live in Winterton, drink pinesap from boots, and have cats deliver their mail, among other quirks.
• Elemental Shapeshifter: Osmo befriends such a monster in "Two Osmos Too Many", a living mass of water that assumes his form (and dubs itself Cosmo) when he bathes in it.
• Endless Winter: In Winterton, it snows all year.
• Fictional Currency: The people of Winterton use Chromes.
• Fictional Holiday: As a Quirky Town, Winterton naturally has a couple of these, such as Pinesap Flood Day and Herring Day.
• Fish out of Water: Surfer Dude Osmo often has trouble fitting in with the Quirky Town of Winterton, which forms the driving plot behind several episodes, such as "Pinesap Flood Day".
• Fish People: In "Lady of the Lake", Gustav falls in love with one named Octavia who lives under a frozen lake.
• Foil: Mayor Chrome to Osmo. Both are outsiders who moved to Winterton, but whereas Mayor Chrome is an uptight Rules Lawyer who takes order in his town extremely seriously and has managed to become its leader as a result, Osmo is a laidback Surfer Dude whose Forbidden Friendship with Gustav is a key part of the series and is often a Fish out of Water as a result.
• For Halloween Im Going As Myself: In "Gotta Get Goosey", Gustav makes himself the mascot for Chrome's planned Winterton Winter Games by simply stepping out of his usual disguises and going around without any clothes, counting on Winterton to assume him to be a man in a realistic yeti costume.
• Forbidden Friendship: Osmo and Rita's friendship with Gustav is forbidden by the societal norms of their respective worlds (Winterton and Monster Mountain), as the people of Winterton hate and fear monsters, while the inhabitants of Monster Mountain love to eat humans. For this reason, the kids and Gustav must keep their friendship secret from the rest of the world, knowing 100% that they're breaking the rules by doing so.
• Friend to All Children: Gustav may be a giant yellow-furred abominable snowman, but he's great with kids and adores them. One episode even establishes that seeing people acting mean towards children causes him to became uncontrollably angry.
• Gag Nose: Mayor Chrome has an extraordinarily long and pointy schnoz that stands out from the more regular-sized noses of the other characters.
• Gentle Giant: Gustav is a hulking abominable snowman, but also just a sweet-natured, fun-loving guy. As seen in "Yeti as Yeti", it actually upsets him that humans view yetis as savage monsters.
• Grand Finale: "Musical Monster Mayhem". Let's see, Osmo celebrates his one-year anniversary of arriving in Winterton, Rita cures Gustav of his fear of singing, Gustav is exposed as a yeti to all of Winterton, Chrome declares war on the monsters and unleashes a giant robot to attack them, Osmo and Rita discover why monsters are afraid of singing, Lydia helps them cure the monsters of their fear of singing, everybody (citizens of Winterton included) joins forces to stop Chrome's robot, and Chrome declares human-monster friendship after being defeated. And with that, the series ends on the citizens of Winterton and the inhabitants of Monster Mountain finally being able to live together in peace and harmony as they did long ago... only for the Sequel Hook to set up a Big Bad for a potential Season 2.
• Grumpy Old Man: Old Man Ukko, Winterton's oldest resident and generally kind of a jerk.
• Hammerspace Hair: A variation. Gsutav frequently stores stuff in his fur, particularly his big, bushy beard,
• Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist: Osmo wears a Hawaiian t-shirt to emphasize his status as an outsider in the snowy town of Winterton.
• Honest John's Dealership: Winterton's general store owner Mr. Cavity is typically characterized as slick and dishonest, often overcharging for his merchandise and tricking people into buying things they don't need (or didn't even want in the first place!).
• Humongous Mecha: In the Grand Finale "Musical Monster Mayhem", Mayor Chrome unleashes a giant robot called the Chromatron to attack Monster Mountain... with supersonic yodeling, of course.
• Identity Amnesia: The entire town experiences this in "Forget Me Yeti" thanks to one of Gustav's recipes. As a result, Gustav now believes he is married to Rufus and Osmo and Rita are his kids, and everyone else in Winterton believes them to be the royal family. Chaos quickly ensues as everybody tries to take on new jobs and lives, only to all prove astoundingly bad at them.
• Idiosyncratic Wipes: Transitions consist of a quick scene of one of Winterton's ice cubed birds or some other animal engaging in some humorous antics.
• Interspecies Romance: A one-sided example. Due to the events of "Forget Me Yeti", Rufus ends up developing a crush on Gustav (although the circumstances of the episode mean she doesn't know he's a yeti and remembers very little beyond having feelings for a big guy with lots of yellow hair). Averted in the Grand Finale though when she remembers she's actually a lesbian!
• Loony Laws: Mayor Chrome is constantly writing new laws for the citizens of Winterton, and many of these fall under them. To give you a taste, you MUST know how to ski if you want to live in Winterton, it is forbidden to sing while building a snowman, licking icicles on Tuesdays is illegal, animals are allowed to have snowmobile licenses, and if you fail 17 times at something, you have to give it up forever.
• Macguffin: That amulet Lydia claimed was given to her by "an old flame" in "Momster"? It's actually a heirloom from her adoptive monster parents that guides its wielder to what's important to them. When she gives it to to her daughter Rita, it guides the aspiring young monster researcher deep into Monster Mountain, revealing to her the secret history of monsters and humans in Winterton.
• Master of Disguise: Gustav frequently puts on disguises to get around Winterton without being spotted by anyone, with each costume having its own particular identity (such as Costa Rican exchange student Rodrigo or eccentric billionaire Rich Wealthington III). While they're far from convincing (given Gustav is over 6 feet tall and covered in thick yellow fur), they seem to work well enough.
• Meaningful Name: Winterton is subject to an Endless Winter (on account of being located in the Arctic and all that). Averted in-universe however, as the episode "Stink-erton" reveals it's actually named for town founders Wallace Wint and Emma Erton.
• Metal Muncher: In the episode "Pipey", Osmo gets a monster called an ore-a-vore as a pet, a vicious little critter that eats metal, including many of his dad's plumbing pipes.
• Monster in the Ice:
  • A giant reptilian monster can be seen frozen in the glacier chasm that leads to Monster Mountain, with only his arm exposed. According to Gustav, his name is Bill. He usually appears in the show's Idiosyncratic Wipes, but in the Grand Finale, he's partly freed from the glacier by the main trio and reveals to them why monsters are afraid of singing.
  • A more spoilery example. The final scene of the Grand Finale shows a huge monster arm accompanied by a menacing voice burst from the ice deep inside Monster Mountain, establishing the Sequel Hook for a potential Season 2.
• Monster-Shaped Mountain: Monster Mountain, where the monsters live and the citizens of Winterton fear to tread, resembles the head of a monster.
• Multi-Part Episode: The first episode of the series "Winterton is Coming" immediately leads into the plot of the second episode "The First Supper". On the other hand, the Grand Finale "Musical Monster Mania" is divided into a Part 1 and a Part 2.
• My Future Self and Me: In "Timey Wimey Yeti", Gustav encounters an older, identical yeti with white fur whom he believes to be his future self from a timeline where he is no longer friends with Rita and Osmo. It ultimately turns out said yeti was not actually his future self, just a slightly scatterbrained yeti who happens to look like him.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Unlike his fellow monsters, Gustav doesn't believe in eating people, proudly stating he lives by his own rules.
• Norse by Norsewest: Averted. The series is implied to be set somewhere in Lapland (the Arctic regions of Finland), but other than being depicted as perpetually snowy and set in an alpine landscape with skiing and yodelers, the people of Winterton are pretty non-stereotypical (if rather quirky). The show even goes out of its way to feature Finnish culture, including such traditions as ice-swimming, May Day celebrations, crayfish parties, kantele instruments, bucket queues, and of course, saunas
• Obnoxious In-Laws: Mayor Chrome views Ned and Osmo as this, due to their casual and bumbling natures often causing problems for him. That said, Chrome could arguably be seen as one to Ned and Osmo, due to his strict and humorless personality.
• The Olympics: Mayor Chrome's biggest dream is to one day host the Winter Games at Winterton. He's still in the process of setting things up, and the construction yard with all the stuff he wants to erect is a common hangout spot for Osmo, Rita, and Gustav.
• Only Sane Woman: Rita is this for Winterton more generally. While she's not at all weirded out by the quirkiness of her hometown, she was also the only person in Winterton completely aware of just how eccentric the place and its inhabitants are before Osmo and Gustav showed up.
• The Pigpen: Gustav is a pretty messy guy. Osmo and Rita frequently remark on how badly he smells, and he's very proud of it.
• Plucky Girl: Rita is the courageous and determined daughter of Mayor Chrome and Osmo's cousin, acting partly as a guide for Osmo and Gustav in their adventures around Winterton.
• Quarter Hour Short: Production-wise, the series was originally produced this way, with the final episode featuring the "part 1" and "part 2" title cards. In fact, IMDB lists the series by its production order rather than broadcast. However, it aired as a Two Shorts program in France.
• Quirky Town: Winterton, an isolated village deep in the Arctic Circle whose locals are obsessed with skiing, yodeling, and pinesap. They firmly believe monsters to be 100% real (much to the frustration of their mayor) and endlessly worry about a possible monster attack.
• Raised by Wolves: As revealed in "Secrets, Lies, and Monster Ties", Rita's mother Lydia was raised by monsters. More specifically, she's the adoptive sister of Emmer's mother!
• Recurring Extra: Winterton has a small set of regularly appearing citizenry who are never really the focus of an episode, but always get a few lines and minor roles in any episode. Among the more prominent of them are general store owner Mr. Cavity, police officer Rufus, senior citizen Old Man Ukko, and Osmo and Rita's teacher Mr. Fogg, but we also regularly see Anders' unnamed socialite mother, the owner of the town's snack pie shack Miss Atomic Pie, and brly woodcutter Lucas Lumberjack.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning:
  • In "Full Monster", Osmo and Rita go under the effect of a red gas that makes them act like monsters, and you know it's in full effect when their eyes are red.
  • Lydia does this in "Momster", though here it's actually just contacts to scare Rita into giving her back her amulet.
• Rules Lawyer: Mayor Chrome takes rules extremely seriously and is constantly coming up with new ones for Winterton. He does everything he can to enforce his rules and ensure everyone is following them, himself included.
• Scaling the Summit: Osmo, Rita, and Gustav make regular trips up Monster Mountain, but in the early episode, "Stink-erton", Rita leads the other two on an expedition up Mount Winterton to trace the footsteps of the town founders Wallace Wint and Emma Erton.
• Secret-Keeper: Osmo and Rita have to keep Gustav's existence a secret from the rest of Winterton, knowing that it could cause a mass panic and endanger their friend (the citizens of Winterton often mention the idea of yetiburgers!). Likewise, Gustav keeps his friendship a secret from most of the other monsters of Monster Mountain, especially his family, as they would be quite happy to eat the children if they knew of them.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: "Secrets, Lies, and Monster Ties" reveals that Lydia knew Gustav was a yeti the entire time! And that she knew about Rita and Emmer's friendship in "Monster Swap".
• Sequel Episode: "Secrets, Lies, and Monster Ties" acts as a continuation to the events of "Momster". Also picks up on elements of the episode "Monster Swap", "Tree-ta", and "The Thingy". "Wild Things" and the Grand Finale also follow up on this episode, although the latter also follows up on some plot hooks from "Forget Me Yeti".
• Sequel Hook: In the Grand Finale "Musical Monster Mayhem", the Spirit of the Aurora Borealis comments that the newly rekindled peace and friendship between monsters and Wintertonians might be short-lived. Cut to inside Monster Mountain, where a massive monster arm bursts from the ice accompanied by a menacing voice that announces "Just wait until you get a load of moi".
• Serious Business: Skiing. Not only does everyone in Winterton know how to ski, but it's a requirement for living in Winterton.
• Sticky Fingers: In the episode "Arm-a-Geddin", we are introduced to one of Gustav's monster pals, Geddin, a multi-armed monster with a bad habit of stealing anything she can and slipping it into her pouch. Osmo recruits her to steal back his confiscated surfboard from Mayor Chrome, but when she ends up looting the whole mansion, Osmo and Rita have to convince her to give everything back.
• Surfer Dude: Osmo. He and his dad used to live in a tropical island paradise until they moved for his new job, and he spent his time surfing. He's also generally a pretty chill and friendly guy, like all surfer dudes.
• Swapped Roles: The plot of "Monster Swap". Rita encounters a young monster named Emmer, who is an aspiring human researcher in the same way Rita wants to study monsters, so the two agree to swap roles for a day so they can go undercover in each other's respective homes (despite Gustav and Osmo's concerns about bringing another monster to Winterton). While Emmer greatly enjoys living among humans, Rita finds monster life isn't really for her. Unfortunately, Emmer likes living among the humans so much, she decides to extend her stay as much as she can.
• Tiny Tyrannical Girl: Anders' little sister, whom we meet in "Yeti Bear", is a shrill, bossy brat who even terrorizes her bully of an older brother.
• To Serve Man: The monsters of Monster Mountain like to eat people, with Gustav being the sole exception among them.
• Tongue on the Flagpole: One of the show's recurring Idiosyncratic Wipes has this happen to an unfortunate reindeer.
• Trademark Favorite Food: The people of Winterton love their beets, and they usually wash it down with a mug of pinesap. Most shots of the cellar in Rita's home show it to be absolutely packed with beets that her family eats at every opportunity, and she, Osmo, and Gustav can sometimes be seen hanging around and drinking pinesap in the way kids might sodas in another show.
• Two Guys and a Girl: Osmo and the titular yeti Gustav are the two guys, while Osmo's cousin Rita is the girl.
• Ultimate Authority Mayor: Mayor Chrome basically runs the town as as its highest authority. While this is somewhat justified by how isolated Winterton is from the rest of the world, it's established in "Chromocracy" that he made himself the mayor of Winterton when he first arrived and has been unopposed for over 20 years as the town has never had an election (the town didn't even have a mayor before he showed up!).
• Unfazed Everyman: Rita has lived her whole life in Winterton, meaning its many eccentricities are perfectly normal to her for the most part. She's also quite familiar with Winterton's monster legends and sometimes explains them to Osmo if Gustav can't.
• Wham Episode: "Secrets, Lies, and Monster Ties". After some 20-odd half-hours of episodic shenanigans, the show hits viewers with multiple major reveals in the span of 11 minutes. Not only does it turn out Rita's mom Lydia was raised by monsters (specifically she's the adopted sister of Emmer's mother!), but Lydia knew the entire time that Gustav was a yeti. And then, it's revealed the amulet from "Momster" is actually a gift from her monster parents, which guides Rita to a cave deep within Monster Mountain, where it shows the main characters a carving that reveals the monsters of Monster Mountain used to live peacefully alongside the humans of Winterton! And to top all that off, Mayor Chrome is revealed to be working on the ultimate in anti-monster defense to keep monsters out of Winterton once and for all.
• Wham Line:
  • "Momster" plays out as a regular episode, with the main trio finding an amulet belonging to Lydia they take and soon believe to be cursed after experiencing bad luck before ultimately learning Lydia was simply teaching them a lesson for stealing a special gift from an old flame. But once all that is resolved and the three leave, Rita hears ominous whispers from the amulet and says to it "Now's not the time, little one."
  • In "Secrets, Lies, and Monster Ties", when Rita calls out her mother Lydia for not telling her she was raised by monsters, Lydia hits her back with a major reveal: "But you've been keeping your own yeti friend a secret too!"
• When Trees Attack: Monster Mountain is home to sapient monster trees. They often show up in the Idiosyncratic Wipes, but the episode "Tree-ta" sees a pine planted by Rita in the town square grow into one as a result of Osmo and Gustav giving it special monster fertilizer (implying this is how the ones on Monster Mountain come to be).
• Whole-Plot Reference: The episode "The Thingy" plays out as a parody of The Thing.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: The monsters of Monster Mountain are terrified of singing, even believing it is harmful to them. The citizens of Winterton actually employ this as a defense against possible monster attack. In the Grand Finale however, Rita and Osmo are able to cure Gustav of his fear through exposure therapy and make him realize he isn't actually harmed by singing. As it turns out, town co-founder Wallace Wint was simply such a bad singer that he the monsters came to believe singing could hurt them and subsequently fled to Monster Mountain, thus ending the previous peaceful coexistence between monsters and Wintertonians.
• Wicked Weasel:
  • In the episode "A Necessary Weasel", Osmo accidentally incurs the wrath of Winterton's weasel population, leading the weasels to declare war on the humans and subsequently ruin Winterton's Herring Day holiday.
  • On the subject of mustelids, wolverines also regularly menace, Osmo, Rita, and Gustav. Not always in the typically animalistic way though - the trio have a little tradition of playing hockey against them! The episode "Wolverina" also features one as the antagonist.
• Wintry Auroral Sky: The Aurora Borealis can often be seen in nighttime backgrounds. The Spirit of the Northern Lights herself also appears from time to time to help the main characters.
• Women Are Wiser: Rita is generally characterized as being more intelligent and mature than Osmo and Gustav, as well as tending to take things more seriously than them due to her plucky spirit contrasting with Osmo's more relaxed personality and the goofier Gustav.

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