The 2012 Olympic Mascots

[lupestripe]

They have just been unveiled and it's another disappointment I'm afraid. They are amorphous blobs of steel, which is highly ironic considering that we hardly have any steel industry left any more. Anyway, there is little exciting from a furry aspect - I was hoping for a cuddly lion myself - but I guess pushing the boundaries is the order of the day.

Wenlock and Mandeville are their names, which at least is quintessentially British I suppose. Apparently, they are set to feature in animated form so there could be a cute factor going on. They are also set to have their own Facebook and Twitter pages which would give them a stronger identity and they already have a back story so clearly the creators are trying to foster a strong sense of characterisation. I don't think this has been done to this extent before in this field of mascotting.

So perhaps they will grow on me like the 2012 Olympic logo has. I see parallels with Monsters Inc so perhaps it could work out well in the end. I guess we will wait and see.

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/london_2012/8690467.stm

Comments

[marston.livejournal.com]

Disappointing. They're not terrible, just bland. They look really cheap and unprofessional too - that metallic texture render might have impressed people fifteen years ago but most home computers can produce better effects now.

Poor guys - I want to like them as characters but all I can see are amorphous blobs.

[alexf0x.livejournal.com]

Home computers could do that level of graphics 11 years ago. I recall seeing and getting excited by the test demo's for the SEGA Dreamcast which did the same render effect.

God the Dreamcast! Now that's saying something!