If you clicked on this article, you likely know who the Moomins are. But just in case, let us introduce them, if there are some folks who wandered here without barely knowing anything about them.

The Moomins are a family of white, round fairy-tale characters, whose appearance resembles the hippopotamus, but are their own species of trolls, who live in Moominvalley. They are the central characters in a series that was created by the Swedish-speaking Finnish writer and illustrator Tove Jansson and were originally published in Swedish in Finland. The first book was published in 1945, but in some of the illustrations the creator included an early form of Moomintroll, created as early as 1935.

The original series consists of novels, short stories, picture books, and a comic strip, but also has inspired many television series, films, stage productions, theme parks, and many more things.

While the original series is Finish, the Moomins have managed to gather fans all around the world. Bored Panda talked with one of them, Gerda. She's a dedicated Moomin fan, who has a growing collection related to the series - from cups and candlesticks to clothes and toys.

Well, the Moomin fans are lucky in terms of merchandise. Besides the official merch store, there are plenty of people selling series-related stuff; just take a look at Etsy or anywhere similar.

Yet, the broad options of merchandise aren’t the main thing that attracts people to these cute creatures and their stories.

For instance, the Moomin universe has countless characters wandering through it, some appearing more commonly than others. Here, on the official Moomin site, anyone can familiarize themselves with the main characters, including such famous names as Snufkin, Little My, Sniff, and, of course, the Moomin family. 

Such an interesting and broad list of characters gives everyone a choice to pick one that resonates with them the most. Our interviewee Gerda revealed that her favorite character is probably Sniff: “He is so cute and I like how friendly he is. Also, it’s really funny when he gets scared of the smallest things.”

On the other hand, when asked what character she would like to have a conversation with, she answered that it would be either Snufkin or Mr. Hemulen. The latter would be an interesting choice because of his collections: “It would be interesting to hear how long he has collected post stamps and also flowers.” Then, Snufkin probably can tell many stories from his travels, which makes him another great conversation companion. 

If you look online, you can see that various people resonate with different characters for various reasons - some say Moominmamma is the best, while others praise characters such as Too-Ticky. Well, to each their own. After all, every character in the series is interesting in their own way. 

A broad list of characters isn’t the only thing that captivates audiences, either. The Moomin series carries deep values of inclusion, community, and acceptance. It also teaches people to not be afraid to be themselves, to have courage, and to embrace simple things in life.

The fan we talked with revealed that she learned a lot about friendship from the series: “Everyone needs to have friends. Real friends that don’t judge you and support you in every way.”

Well, all these themes are for sure resonating with people enough to become dedicated fans. In fact, some are so devoted that they create whole pages for the series' moments and memes, which we are looking at in this list. Just don't forget to upvote those that you like the best!