Doli Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 When the official logo of the 2012 London Olympics was released three years ago, the odd puzzle-piece design was the object of so much scorn that organizers were desperate to avoid similar criticism when they unveiled the mascots for the Games on Wednesday. With the introduction of Wenlock and Mandeville (above), London 2012 organizers realized their goal. The criticism of the mascots won't be similar to the complaints about the logo. No, they'll be much, much worse. Look, I don't know what to say. Olympic mascots have always been the object of scorn (remember Izzy?), but these two, uh, things take the absurdity to a whole new level. There's a complicated backstory to the characters which was written by a children's author. It explains why the mascots have one eye (it's a camera lens to see the world) and yellow lights on tops of their heads (an homage to London taxicabs), but fails to tell the tale of why they look like early rejects from a Pixar movie. Plus, the fact that some details are explained only makes me wonder about the things that aren't. Why does the one on the left look like it's wearing an oven mitt? Where are their feet? What, are both those design features a metaphor for how we can't run away from global warming? Officials boasted that focus groups of children helped form the designs of the mascots, which makes total sense because this looks exactly like something a bunch of second-graders would create as a class project. It's like Wenlock and Mandeville were pieced together from every child's suggestion. "They should have one eye!" "It'd be cool if they did karate!" "Make them fly!" There was no filter. Instead of simple (like the only good Olympic mascot in history, Barcelona's Cobi) London went for a design as complicated as can be. The natural defense of the mascots is that they're not designed for adults, but for the children who will convince adults to buy them a bunch of merchandise with said mascots. That's a cop-out. Pandering to children isn't an excuse for an uninspired design. The aforementioned Pixar caters to kids, yet its films still resonate with the older set. Wenlock is named after Much Wenlock, a village in Shropshire which held an event in the 19th century which inspired the modern Games. Mandeville is named after the hospital at which the Paralympic Games were founded. Though both sound like Tolkein characters, the names are quite good and are the only thing that makes the mascots distinctly British. London 2012 released a video explaining the pair's orgins as well. Somehow, it makes them look even weirder than before: (sorry for the format of the text, copy and paste job from yahoo) Yahoo .... AHHH HAHAHAHAHA...AHHHHH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.... wait there is a video also .... AAHHHHHHHHH HAHAHAHHA cant breathe (gasp) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA IT'S SO SAD HAHAHAHAHA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2687 Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 My first impression. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas-c Veteran Posted May 19, 2010 Veteran Share Posted May 19, 2010 *facepalm* Can we not have anything that looks good for the olympics? The logo is ugly, The mascots are horrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Freeman Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 (edited) We're screwed! 2012 will be the end of the world indeed. Edited May 20, 2010 by GreyWolf Removed embedded image Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisp Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 Does it have crab claws? I would rather a toy "The Stig" TBH. Can officially say who ever made that video was stoned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razorwing Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 Does it have large talons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macrosslover Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 *facepalm* Can we not have anything that looks good for the olympics? The logo is ugly, The mascots are horrible. don't worry it's universal. the same thing happened here in atlanta. Our Izzit, wtf the name was, mascot for the olympics was :blink: however the special olympics mascot Blaze I think, a phoenix, was epic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jos Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 WTF?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 Psh, my one-eyed monster is bigger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan- Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 Reminded me of the thumb from "Spy Kids" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ObiWanToby Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 What.The.F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Growled Member Posted May 20, 2010 Member Share Posted May 20, 2010 Those are some weird logos. Who come up with that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rajputwarrior Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 i thought ours were dumb, but props london for one upping vancouver! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrossCheck Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 What.The.F Exactly!!!!! dubbya.teee.effff What.The.F Exactly!!!!! dubbya.teee.effff What.The.F Exactly!!!!! dubbya.teee.effff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoL Veteran Posted May 20, 2010 Veteran Share Posted May 20, 2010 ok... :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Derf Veteran Posted May 20, 2010 Veteran Share Posted May 20, 2010 i thought ours were dumb, but props london for one upping vancouver! The Vancouver ones weren't completely dumb. At least they were designed to sell merchandise to Japanese tourists and it tied into the whole indigenous theme. Who would want to buy merchandise with these mascots on them? For those that missed the 2010 Winter Olympics: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scarecrow Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 Wow that is the best they could come up with. Hate to see the ones they rejected. geez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duality Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 What the hell? Thats just embarassing... :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkymunky Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 A one eyed monster :( lol We need PedoBear!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klownicle Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 A one eyed monster :( lol We need PedoBear!!!!!!! lmao, was thinkin the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewism Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 A one eyed monster :( lol We need PedoBear!!!!!!! PedoBear was a mascot at Vancouver: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n301 Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 So, there mascot is a freaking penis, brilliant!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick H. Supervisor Posted May 20, 2010 Supervisor Share Posted May 20, 2010 I was sitting here, looking at the picture and thinking, "great, we'll be the laughing stock again" and then I thought of something: Why do we need mascots? Aren't they just "living" logos for something that is already represented by a logo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoffrey B. Veteran Posted May 20, 2010 Veteran Share Posted May 20, 2010 My first thought was that the rift from Torchwood had opened up again and released these tragic monsters upon us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 20, 2010 Share Posted May 20, 2010 looks like the blue guy just p***ed himself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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