Here are your 2012 Olympic Mascots. Learn to know fear.

[Shawn Hopkins]

Every few years another designed by committee Olympic horror is unleashed up on us. The plan for 2012?

Wenlock and Mandeville.



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/sp.../20mascot.html

Not quite as dull and lifeless as some of the previous mascots like the 1996 Atlanta game's Izzy, but that's mainly because they happen to be childhood scarring Cylcopes* with flipper hands and elephantine legs. In spandex.

* I didn't misspell it, that's the plural form.

And in honor of these guys, here's a retrospective of some of the trailblazers that have made them possible.

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2010/...ough-the-ages/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/gallery...ture=362828696

The aforementioned Izzy:





Whatever the hell these things are from the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano (okay, they're called Snowlets):



Scary feet people Athena and Phevos from the 2004 Athens games:

http://nationalpostsports.files.word...pg?w=620&h=711



And Neve and Gleve out making children cry in 2006 in Turin:

http://nationalpostsports.files.word...pg?w=620&h=472



Also, I remember Bob Costas making fun of this one on television. Cobi the dog-type thing from the 1992 Barcelona Oympics :

[Mesousa]

So, they're that desperate to make such unique mascots, they brought ciclop aliens.

[GWOtaku]

So basically, I can blame British kids for inspiring this. WHIPPERSNAPPERS!

In all seriousness.....I don't get it. I know I'm an adult now, but I really don't think I would have connected with this when I was a kid. They also seem pretty close to admitting that they basically created a blank slate for a mascot. That's certainly different, but sometimes subverting tradition isn't a good idea. This comes off as being different for the sake of being different.

Edit: Here's a nice article about criticism of the mascots. This design critic has undiplomatic words that I find myself agreeing with:

Stephen Bayley, the prominent design critic, said: “What is it about these Games which seems to drive the organisers into the embrace of this kind of patronising, cretinous infantilism? Why can’t we have something that makes us sing with pride, instead of these appalling computerised Smurfs for the iPhone generation?

Ouch. But yeah, this man has a point.

[Aquadementia]

Those things are frightening.
I’m expecting a beam to come shooting out of that eye, wreaking havoc and causing mayhem.

They always go to a lot of trouble coming up with these mascots; make a big deal about them; every one makes fun of them; and that that’s about all the traction they get.

I wonder how a live mascot would play out.
They should have made Wayne Gretzky the mascot for the Vancouver games. I think people would have loved it.

[ShadowGUN]

Couldn't they just ask Nintendo and Sega for permission to use Mario and Sonic as mascots instead of these ugly things?

[Shawn Hopkins]

Couldn't they just ask Nintendo and Sega for permission to use Mario and Sonic as mascots instead of these ugly things?

I don't see what Mario and Sonic have to do with London.

One of the most basic rules of art is that people respond most to faces. These things don't even have faces, so how they expect children to respond to them is beyond me.

They're also kind of creepily fascist and authoritarian and hard-edged. Not only are they made of metal, the eye they do have is meant to be a camera, putting a "friendly face" on the UK's ever present CCTV surveillance of its citizens. And the flippers have the unfortunate effect of making them look like they're Sieg Heiling in many of the photos.

[The Huntsman]

One of the most basic rules of art is that people respond most to faces. These things don't even have faces, so how they expect children to respond to them is beyond me.

I like what Tony Kornheiser said on Pardon The Interruption. He said their heads are toilet seats and there is only a 5% chance that kids will like them simply because of the freak factor.

[Matt Hazuda]

When I first saw them I honestly thought it was London's way of embracing their massive CCTV system and these things were just like living cameras, watching you all the time.

Moffat could probably make a good monster concept with it

[Dudley]

People really seem to hate Izzy. I thought he was pretty cool, since I got a toy of him for free, and I watched his animated special.


See he looks much better here.

[MonkeyFunk]

Anyone see their animated short yet? To be fair, they don't look too bad in motion.

Mind you, considering the grilling that Jamie Hewlett's 2008 promo got, this thing'll be savaged.

[mumbo]

They look angry. If I met one of them in those costumes they'd scare the hell out of me.

They remind me of that eastern European cartoon that replaced Itchy and Scratchy on that one Simpsons episode for some reason.

But they're only one in a long line of terrible mascots, as everyone can see. Makes me feel good about the Vancouver ones, even though they ripped off the Beijing mascots a little. At least they weren't frightening.

Anyone see their animated short yet? To be fair, they don't look too bad in motion.

Mind you, considering the grilling that Jamie Hewlett's 2008 promo got, this thing'll be savaged.

That...didn't really help. I expected their eyes to start glowing red and for them to turn on the children at any minute.

[Matt Hazuda]

They look angry. If I met one of them in those costumes they'd scare the hell out of me.

Yeah, they look like they'd go on some horrible murder-spree only the Doctor could save us from

They remind me of that eastern European cartoon that replaced Itchy and Scratchy on that one Simpsons episode for some reason

You mean eastern Europe's favorite cat and mouse team, Worker and Parasite?

[Rick Jones]

Personally they look like evil pregnancy tests come to life.

[Ackar]

The mascots are tame compared to what the big headed girl in the logo is doing...

[TheGunheart]

...Extvia's gonna be ticked. How's he supposed to turn those ugly things into something like these?

[ShadowGUN]

I don't see what Mario and Sonic have to do with London.

A hello? Mario and Sonic at Olympic Games ? Which I am pretty sure there going to be London version of it. Anyway it was just a joke.

I like the one from China's Olympics. They were pretty adorable.

[Marvin Tikvah]

Nice use of a brick wall with a rainbow to further drive the point home.

I expect to see this things using laservision to create some distracting bug on-screen to promote the games.

[DisneyBoy]

Wow. Pretty garish.

[Shawn Hopkins]

A hello? Mario and Sonic at Olympic Games ? Which I am pretty sure there going to be London version of it. Anyway it was just a joke.

I got that part, but the mascots are supposed to represent their home city. These two have provided us a vision of London. A vision of London as cold and industrialized, surveillance obsessed and slightly penis-shaped, but they have provided us a vision of London nonetheless.

[Aquadementia]

Look Out! That rainbow's headed straight for us!

Anyone see their animated short yet? To be fair, they don't look too bad in motion.

Mind you, considering the grilling that Jamie Hewlett's 2008 promo got, this thing'll be savaged.

Seeing them in metal makes their hands look sharp and menacing.

But the moment I saw eye-monsters ready to enslave the Olympic village I thought "this must be a good day for MonkeyFunk."

Yeah, they look like they'd go on some horrible murder-spree only the Doctor could save us from

Some times they turn out to be good guys.