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Besides being an anthropomorphic nearly full pitcher of cherry kool-aid, has there ever been any detailed description of how this pitcher of cherry kool-aid came to be so large, given appendages and the power to bust through walls, and yell “Oh Yeah!”

He’s got countless advertisements spanning nearly a half-century of quenching thirst, at least two video games, and about 12 issues of comics published by General Mills, Marvel Comics, and Archie Comics.

Within his lore, what is he — how did he come to be? Was he just born this way?

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    characters.fandom.com/wiki/Kool-Aid_Man
    – Valorum
    Commented Oct 12, 2021 at 13:40
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    There's no help in the Marvel comicbooks. He has lots of adventures (and we meet the Kool-Aid "Punch Bunch" (other anthropomorphic Kool-aid flavours) but there's no back-story explaining his genesis.
    – Valorum
    Commented Oct 12, 2021 at 13:48
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    The Atari game manual doesn't have any back-story
    – Valorum
    Commented Oct 12, 2021 at 13:53
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    In peanut fantasy genre. Mr. Peanut has a relatively rich fictional history that was rebooted at least once with his Baby Nut rebranding. He was grown from an odd peanut tree, and Wilkes-Barre, PA lays claim as his birthplace, some dispute that it’s Suffolk, VA where his real-world origin occurred.
    – Silly but True
    Commented Oct 13, 2021 at 12:36
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    @ToddWilcox Is this on topic? The Kool-Aid man would say “Oh yeah!”
    – SethMMorton
    Commented Oct 13, 2021 at 15:13

2 Answers 2

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In 1998, Hate #30 published a 4-page comic written by Alan Moore (yes, that Alan Moore) titled, "The Hasty Smear of my Smile" which provided a fictional back-story to the Kool-Aid Man. Warning: the comic itself contains references to suicide, drug abuse, and other potentially triggering topics in a not at all subtle way.

I don't have a full version of the comic, but Mark Sobel (who worked for Fantagraphics, the publisher of Hate) provides a review of the four-page spread here:

the Kool-Aid man is not only a real person living in the real world, he is acutely aware of the absurdity of his existence. He knows he’s just a pitcher of Kool-Aid with a face ‘hastily smeared’ on it, yet he has the same human desires to be loved and accepted as anyone else.

The comic presents Kool-Aid Man's young life (he was born as a pitcher without a face, but his father drew a face with the condensation on his mug). He appears as a kind of pastiche of 60's beat poets, himself writing free verse poetry alongside Ginsberg, Kesey, and even spends some time at Jonestown.

Panel 1 of Peter Bagge's Hate #30 story of the Kool-Aid Man's origin story

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    There is a Kool Aid Museum in Hastings, NE. I have a call out to them for more information, but I think this stands alone as a reasonable answer.
    – indigochild
    Commented Oct 14, 2021 at 0:15
  • Holy wow... I think I actually have that issue of Hate.
    – Lexible
    Commented Oct 14, 2021 at 1:24
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    @Lexible If you do, please feel free to edit in some panels!
    – indigochild
    Commented Oct 14, 2021 at 1:27
  • I have tried calling the Kool Aid Museum for an office ill answer several times. Each time they direct me to the marketing department, which doesn't return my call. Sorry!
    – indigochild
    Commented Jan 10, 2022 at 20:46
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    There you go, indigochild. :)
    – Lexible
    Commented Jan 14, 2022 at 22:21
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From Wikipedia:

Marvin Potts, an art director for a New York advertising agency, was hired by General Foods to create an image that would accompany the slogan "A 5-cent package makes two quarts." Inspired by watching his young son draw smiley faces on a frosted window, Potts created the Pitcher Man, a glass pitcher with a wide smile emblazoned on its side and filled with Kool-Aid.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kool-Aid_Man

The Kool-Aid Man was born in 1974.

But then there is an another article:

Kool-Aid, the popular powdered drink mix, was developed by Edwin Perkins (1889-1961) in Hastings, Nebraska. As a boy working in his family's general store in Hendley, Perkins became interested in a new powdered dessert mix named Jell-O and persuaded his father to carry it in the store.https://history.nebraska.gov/publications/kool-aid

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    This question seems to be enquiring about the character's in-universe origin, rather than the real world backdrop to his conception.
    – LogicDictates
    Commented Oct 13, 2021 at 15:21
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    Also, I see that the bottom half of your answer is mostly a quote from a page you linked to. Is the top half mostly a quote as well? If so, which other page did it come from?
    – LogicDictates
    Commented Oct 13, 2021 at 15:23
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    @Eaglepup thank you, but LogicDictates is right: I’m interested in the character’s fiction origin.
    – Silly but True
    Commented Oct 13, 2021 at 15:33
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    Okay sorry but at least I tried
    – Eaglepup12
    Commented Oct 13, 2021 at 16:32
  • When you click another article, it will take you to a Nebraska history.
    – Eaglepup12
    Commented Oct 14, 2021 at 18:23

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