This is apparently called “Skywhale” and the title is accurate (although it’s worth clarifying that “this year” refers to 2013, which is when the original Imgur post was made.)

A quote from the Wikipedia page:

Wings didn’t make sense to Patricia; the creature was too big and the technical limitations of balloon design wouldn’t allow them anyway. So she took a cue from the balloon itself, and imagined that the creature might somehow secrete a lighter than air gas. In the place of wings she imagined huge udders that might contain the gas, as well as a huge bulbous body. She imagined the creature with a slightly more human face, with a calm benign expression that would inspire empathy rather than fear. Her aim was to create a being that was massive and wondrous and that exists somewhere between the impossible and the unlikely.

You had me at turtle nipples 👍

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Is that supposed to be the creature from star wars that Luke milked?

There were so many things they could’ve done instead of Titwhale.

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I’m hoping it’s just not fully inflated yet??

(sighs)… Never change, Canberra. Never change.

There’s also SkywhalePapa. (Skywhaledaddy?)

And yes these things are as ugly as the images suggest. People really shouldn’t turn their fetishes into public art.