to her home. The Catbus, along with many of Miyazaki's characters, was parodied on the "Married to the Blob" episode of The Simpsons. One of the art cars at Burning Man was a Catbus. In the video game Persona 5, Morgana has the ability to turn himself into a bus. He explains that the Japanese public has a widespread cognition of cats transforming into buses "for some reason", as a reference to Catbus, which is the reason he can do this in the Metaverse. An unofficial gravity racer version of the Catbus featured in the London 2019 edition of the Red Bull Soapbox Race. The 'Team Totoro' vehicle negotiated jumps and other obstacles at speeds in excess of 30 mph to complete the Alexandra Palace course. A car resembling Catbus briefly appears in the Cars Toons short "Tokyo Mater". Catbus was used as a design base for the six-legged sky bison Appa on Avatar: The Last Airbender. Merchandise The Catbus has been produced as a popular plush toy and as a con-vehicle. Many chain fashion stores, like Hot Topic, sell merchandise with designs of Catbus and other well-known characters from Studio Ghibli films. Other references A species of velvet worm Eoperipatus totoro described in June 2013 was named by the scientists because of its somewhat resemblance to the Totoro Catbus. In the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Japan, there is an exhibit of a large plush catbus, which can be played with and entered by children 12 years and under. The Catbus has been referenced by Anthrocon staff when mentioning its hotel shuttle service from remote hotels in Pittsburgh. Commenters have suggested that in this instance, "CATbus" would be for "Circulating Anthropomorphic Transit bus". See also List of fictional cats Appa, the flying bison companion of Aang in Avatar: The Last Airbender References Further reading External links My Neighbor Totoro at Nausicaa.net Mei and the Kittenbus at Nausicaa.net Gallery of Bake Neko art Ghibli museum about Catbus exhibit Fantasy anime and manga characters Fictional cats Film characters introduced in 1988 Fictional vehicles Works by Hayao Miyazaki Studio Ghibli