Cossacks (Ukrainian: Козаки) are animated characters that were created in the Ukrainian SSR at the Kyivnaukfilm film studio by Volodymyr Dakhno.
The characters are three Zaporozhian Cossacks named Burmylo, Korotun and Sylach, though they are always portrayed nameless. They get caught into various adventures, meeting people from different countries and eras, from Tatars all the way to gods and aliens.
Their first short was released in 1967 and was titled "How the Cossacks cooked kulesh", and eight more would follow until 1995. The cartoon gained immediate popularity and its heroes became Ukrainian cartoon classics.
There was a Revival in 2016, when the studio Baraban released a new set of 26 episodes called Cossacks. Football (Козаки. Футбол) and when Ukranimafilm (the successor of Kyivnaukfilm) released a renewed series of "How Cossacks…".
Tropes:
- Adaptational Wimp: Mars, the god of war from Ancient Grome. He's eager to provoke conflicts, but when it comes to fighting, all three cossacks put him to shame at fencing, wrestling and boxing. Not to mention how Mars breaks his sword by accidentally hitting cossacks' cauldron.
- Art Evolution: Compare how the characters look in the page's image to how they looked in their 1967 debut
◊. - Badass in Distress: Korotun gets kidnapped by Ottomans in "How the Cossacks cooked kulesh".
- Big, Thin, Short Trio: Burmilo is the thin one and is known for his cleverness; Korotun is short and bold; Sylach is big, strong and sentimental.
- Can't Bathe Without a Weapon: When Korotun is given a bath by his wife, he's shown wearing his sword.
- Censor Suds: The bathing scenes in How the Cossacks Enjoyed the Wedding have these.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The first episode is by far the darkest, and poor Mooks in it actually get killed - namely, blown up with gunpowder barrels so that only smoking weapons remain. Subsequent episodes are much Lighter and Softer, no-one gets explicitly killed, and all violence is purely comedic.
- Firing in the Air a Lot: In "How the Cossacks cooked kulesh", the three characters fire their pistol in the air several times.
- Gargle Blaster: How the Cossacks Enjoyed the Wedding has a demonic tavern with drinks mixed from all kinds of ingridients like on Looney Tunes shorts.
- Home Base: When they're not on adventures elsewhere, the three Cossacks hang around on a grassy hill with a standing stone and cook kulesh in a pot.
- It Was with You All Along: In one short, the protagonists have to help their Similar Squad alien counterparts with their Flying Saucer. The aliens tell they need "oil". The short is about them getting into a few adventures to get some exotic types of oil, but none work. Then one of the wheels on their cart starts squeaking, and they pull out a bucket of tar to grease it...
- Mime and Music-Only Cartoon: There are no dialogues in the cartoons or any text, except for the introductory or concluding word "from the author", which makes them universally understandable. The action takes place in the form of intuitive scenes.
- Mooks: there are multiple groups of nameless, identical-looking antagonists in different episodes.
- Tatar troops from the first episode.
- Landlord's enforcers.
- Pirates.
- Invading troops (presumably Genoese) and Spanish guards from the episode with aliens.
- With a stretch, rival football teams from Germany, France and England can be considered those.
- Nice Guy: The three Cossacks are always nice to the people they meet.
- One-Man Army: Sylach takes on a whole group of Ottomans alone in "How the Cossacks cooked kulesh".
- Public Domain Canon Welding: There's an episode where the three heroes cross over with The Three Musketeers. They befriend the Musketeers and help them delivering an important shipment to the Duke of Buckingham while being chased by the Cardinal and his men.
- Top-Heavy Guy: Sylach has a big torso and big, muscled arms, and short legs.
