Mainzelmaennchen

The Mainzelmännchen are Western Animation from Germany. They appear in the ZDF (see German TV Stations) between commercial spots since 1963.

Their name is a punny contraction of the city of Mainz, location of the ZDF's headquarters, with Heinzelmännchen, helpful gnomes or brownies from a popular Cologne folk legend.

Since 2003, they also have their own series with 5-minute episodes, called Die Mainzels.


 * Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Only in The Series, two girls of the same species appeared.
 * German Dialects: They speak Hessian dialect, since they come from Mainz. "Guunaaahmd!"
 * Super-Deformed: All the time.
 * Theme Naming: Anton, Berti, Conny, Det, Edi, Fritzchen.
 * The Series: They were so popular that they got their own series, The Mainzels.
 * The Smart Guy: Det. With glasses, of course.
 * The Speechless: All of them, mostly. (Not in The Series.)