azurefaire

Same, yes, I agree that Fido Dido especially in the other material like the CBS Saturday Morning bumpers are so much more charming than the 7Up commercials, like...

Firstly, some of the characters seem to be based in lived experiences and people that Sue and Joanna knew in real life which makes them so real. Dribble Dido herself seems to be based on Sue Rose's real life, to which there is a lot of evidence that she influenced Pepper Ann- who was meant to be a relatable character. There's also the "young adult" sort of vibe where the characters are implied to be adults, but still have a youthful vibe.

Fido Dido himself, manages to be unique and distinct, but still appealing. The fact that there is a Fido Creedo that mentions everything Fido stands for really shows why he is such an interesting character:

"Fido is for Fido. Fido is against no one. Fido is Youth. Fido has no age. Fido sees everything. Fido judges nothing. Fido is Innocent. Fido is Powerful. Fido comes from the past. Fido is the future."

The writing in LITL/101 is so distinct as it manages to have a very unique sense of humor, it is satirical in some aspects but not super edgy which most adult focused cartoons/comics are. Reading it feels like viewing into like an exaggerated reality. I feel like it actually fills a niche in terms of cartoons/comics especially the fact that many cartoons are sort of afraid of alienating people, which is probably why Fido Dido wasn't as successful when Sue lessened her involvement, it always seemed to me like Joanna wanted to sort of focus on merchandising it when Sue was focused more on the art portion.

I feel like one of the best things about Fido Dido is that it is very distinct but also very relatable. It has so much little media produced for it (especially if you do not count the 7UP era/the ads), but it manages to stand out, especially with the friend group. FD manages to relate to the workaholics, Dribble and Doodles to anyone who is self conscious, Lido to anyone laidback/lazy, even overly private people can relate to the minor Unknown Dido. Then there are joke characters like Boy (who honestly feels like a parody of "cool mascots") and Fido Doody who is honestly so interesting to me as a clown character, he's like the "class clown"

I feel like a big part of the appeal of Fido is his extended cast of friends, so it is a shame that they are mostly unknown... as for the popularity of Fido, I honestly think the meme is super cool in terms of seeing people actually dive deep into Fido Dido, but really not that cool or interesting and I think somehow it just became a popular trend to post a Fido Dido ad with a caption that people will only understand it in 2026... maybe there was some truth to that?

I also wish there was more avaliable Fido Dido media because what exists is currently lost or super inaccessible (like the SNES game or maybe even lost YM Magazine strips? it's hard to say...)

Another thing I sort of have as a peeve is that Cool Spot and Fido Dido are often associated together, when Cool Spot wasn't even from the same region Fido was advertised in (which wasn't America, Fido Dido was only in other regions but did exist in the US first so I guess this is where the confusion comes from?)

your friend from walnut