Show HN: Pelican-bicycle alternatives (updated for 2026)

Recorded: Sept. 14, 2026, 3:09 p.m.

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Pelican-bicycle alternatives

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Pelican-bicycle alternatives
Thirty SVG drawing prompts in the style of Simon Willison’s pelican-riding-a-bicycle test, given to language models in 2025 and 2026. The images are shown exactly as the models returned them. So far the 2026 run covers prompts 1 to 10. About this site.
This site was created by Claude Fable 5.1 and paid for by Tom Gally. All of the text was written by the AI, apart from the prompts quoted on the About page.

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About

By prompt
By model

Both runs
2026 only
2025 only

Jump to a prompt

Jump to prompt…

1. An octopus operating a pipe organ
2. A giraffe assembling a grandfather clock
3. A starfish driving a bulldozer
4. A moose conducting a carousel
5. A flamingo repairing a telescope
6. A hedgehog playing an accordion
7. A jellyfish piloting a Ferris wheel
8. An elephant typing on a typewriter
9. A chameleon tuning a grand piano
10. A penguin juggling chainsaws
11. A sloth steering an excavator
12. A dragonfly balancing a chandelier
13. A rhinoceros painting a lighthouse
14. A seahorse examining a microscope
15. A peacock spinning a pottery wheel
16. A kangaroo climbing a radio tower
17. A lobster polishing a harp
18. A porcupine pushing a lawnmower
19. A gecko installing a satellite dish
20. An iguana carving a totem pole
21. An armadillo lifting a drawbridge
22. A mantis studying a sextant
23. An ostrich pulling a rickshaw
24. A squid disassembling a printing press
25. A butterfly inspecting a steam engine
26. A crab descending a fire escape
27. A venus flytrap swallowing a street lamp
28. Coral cleaning a ship's wheel
29. A sea anemone threading a loom
30. An orchid supporting a pergola

1. An octopus operating a pipe organ
“Generate an SVG of an octopus operating a pipe organ”

2026 run6 models

GPT-6 AstraOpenAI2 min 19 s, $0.37
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic3 min 22 s, $0.79
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle4 min 40 s, $0.12
DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek1 min 36 s, $0.10
Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba12 min 37 s, $0.20
Fugu Ultra v2Sakana AI4 min 21 s, $0.65

2025 run10 models

Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.5Anthropic
GPT-5.1OpenAI
GPT-5.2 ProOpenAI
Gemini 2.5 ProGoogle
Gemini 3.0 Pro PreviewGoogle
Grok Code Fast 1xAI
DeepSeek V3.2-ExpDeepSeek
GLM-4.6Z.ai (Zhipu)
Qwen3-VL-235B-A22B-ThinkingAlibaba

2. A giraffe assembling a grandfather clock
“Generate an SVG of a giraffe assembling a grandfather clock”

2026 run6 models

GPT-6 AstraOpenAI2 min 26 s, $0.36
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic1 min 58 s, $0.46
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle2 min 16 s, $0.07
DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek4 min 44 s, $0.05
Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba11 min 47 s, $0.19
Fugu Ultra v2Sakana AI6 min 0 s, $1.02

2025 run10 models

3. A starfish driving a bulldozer
“Generate an SVG of a starfish driving a bulldozer”

2026 run6 models

GPT-6 AstraOpenAI82 s, $0.20
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic66 s, $0.30
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle2 min 31 s, $0.09
DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek3 min 48 s, $0.06
Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba9 min 45 s, $0.15
Fugu Ultra v2Sakana AI5 min 30 s, $0.96

2025 run10 models

4. A moose conducting a carousel
“Generate an SVG of a moose conducting a carousel”

2026 run6 models

GPT-6 AstraOpenAI2 min 22 s, $0.32
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic2 min 44 s, $0.65
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle2 min 9 s, $0.08
DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek5 min 59 s, $0.08
Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba14 min 56 s, $0.25
Fugu Ultra v2Sakana AI13 min 13 s, $1.86

2025 run9 models

Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.5Anthropic
GPT-5.1OpenAI
Gemini 2.5 ProGoogle
Gemini 3.0 Pro PreviewGoogle
Grok Code Fast 1xAI
DeepSeek V3.2-ExpDeepSeek
GLM-4.6Z.ai (Zhipu)
Qwen3-VL-235B-A22B-ThinkingAlibaba

5. A flamingo repairing a telescope
“Generate an SVG of a flamingo repairing a telescope”

2026 run6 models

GPT-6 AstraOpenAI2 min 2 s, $0.28
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic2 min 7 s, $0.48
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle3 min 36 s, $0.11
DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek3 min 24 s, $0.04
Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba10 min 26 s, $0.18
Fugu Ultra v2Sakana AI14 min 4 s, $2.05

2025 run9 models

6. A hedgehog playing an accordion
“Generate an SVG of a hedgehog playing an accordion”

2026 run6 models

GPT-6 AstraOpenAI86 s, $0.19
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic79 s, $0.35
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle1 min 52 s, $0.07
DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek4 min 5 s, $0.05
Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba8 min 44 s, $0.15
Fugu Ultra v2Sakana AI2 min 30 s, $0.35

2025 run9 models

7. A jellyfish piloting a Ferris wheel
“Generate an SVG of a jellyfish piloting a Ferris wheel”

2026 run6 models

GPT-6 AstraOpenAI2 min 6 s, $0.32
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic74 s, $0.33
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle2 min 32 s, $0.09
DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek4 min 5 s, $0.08
Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba9 min 3 s, $0.15
Fugu Ultra v2Sakana AI3 min 36 s, $0.69

2025 run9 models

8. An elephant typing on a typewriter
“Generate an SVG of an elephant typing on a typewriter”

2026 run6 models

GPT-6 AstraOpenAI1 min 42 s, $0.21
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic66 s, $0.26
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle2 min 14 s, $0.08
DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek3 min 5 s, $0.05
Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba2 min 40 s, $0.05
Fugu Ultra v2Sakana AI3 min 14 s, $0.41

2025 run9 models

9. A chameleon tuning a grand piano
“Generate an SVG of a chameleon tuning a grand piano”

2026 run6 models

GPT-6 AstraOpenAI2 min 40 s, $0.37
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic2 min 56 s, $0.63
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle3 min 13 s, $0.11
DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek6 min 48 s, $0.08
Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba17 min 24 s, $0.27
Fugu Ultra v2Sakana AI8 min 22 s, $1.05

2025 run9 models

10. A penguin juggling chainsaws
“Generate an SVG of a penguin juggling chainsaws”

2026 run6 models

GPT-6 AstraOpenAI1 min 37 s, $0.22
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic46 s, $0.20
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle1 min 36 s, $0.06
DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek3 min 2 s, $0.05
Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba9 min 53 s, $0.17
Fugu Ultra v2Sakana AI5 min 38 s, $0.89

2025 run9 models

11. A sloth steering an excavator
“Generate an SVG of a sloth steering an excavator”