Vancouver 2010 Olympic Mascot Revealed in Surrey
I already blogged about past mascots and some possibilities, although I hadn’t yet heard about “Tokey”, the herbal leaf. The mascot’s purpose will be to personify the “spirit” of the games, say PR folks, however I’m more inclined to believe it’s for the purpose of making more money selling trinkets and souvenirs.
Stay tuned/check back to find out what they unveil this morning.
Update: Apparently there was someone in a skunk costume outside city hall this morning, however on morning radio shows “Tammy the Syringe” was an early favourite.
Update: The “ceremony” will take place from 10:30am to 11:05am so I’m anticipating the mascot won’t be unveiled until… 11:04…?
Update: There are THREE mascots as John reports to me over chat… and one appears to be a “happy looking sasquatch that plays hockey”.
Updates: The one source for video and photos of the reveal, Vancouver2010.com, is apparently down for “scheduled maintenance”… nice timing eh?
From The Province: The mascots are a Spirit Bear, a Sasquatch and a thunderbird, plus a sidekick that’s a marmot. “The Spirit Bear is somewhat like one of three mascots for the 2010 Winter Olympics, which organizers are calling a sea bear based on native legend.”
From CKNW: The animal creatures are a sea bear named Miga, a Sasquatch named Quatchi and Sumi, and a mythical thunderbird spirit. They also have a sidekick named Muk-Muk who’s a marmot.
From CTV:
From CBC: Live-action shots of the mascots in person and a few more descriptions.
“The three creatures’ sidekick is Mukmuk, a rare Vancouver Island marmot. While not officially a mascot, Mukmuk enjoys surprising his friends by popping up on occasion. Mukmuk’s name comes from the Squamish word for food — muckamuck — because he loves to eat.”
From Vancouver2010: “Meet the Mascots” video is now up. Aww, Quatchi and Miga meet up at the Hollow Tree in Stanley Park.
Some reactions from the blogosphere:
From Now Public: “I’ve been talking to a few friends and their reactions have been mixed. Some of the comments I’ve heard are: * Sumi sounds like “Sue Me!” * They look like Japanase cartoon characters * Quatchi reminds me of the Kokanee Sasquatch * A fat sasquatch, a one-eyed teddy and a green alien looking thing! * looks like they were designed by a big committee and crammed all the ideas in, and rejected none.”
And I’ll probably be commanded to take the following video down soon… but enjoy for now (I’m still waiting for the “web linking policy” page to appear on the official site.
Update: November 28, 2007 - Merchandise goes on sale this morning at The Bay.
Loading ...To view and vote on past polls, visit the Miss604.com poll page.
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November 27th, 2007 at 10:46 am
[...] ample coverage of all comings and goings in our city. Head on over to her site to stay in tune with what’s happening on that [...]
November 27th, 2007 at 10:52 am
What’s wrong with *just* a Sasquatch! Who doesn’t love those mythical hairy beasts which roam the Cascadia corridor? What will they call him? How about something really Canadian like Gord(on) or maybe Lorne?
November 27th, 2007 at 10:54 am
well, i don’t have a problem with more attention being brought to the kermode(s)…
November 27th, 2007 at 10:59 am
Dave: lol @ Gord(on)
I think the “sidekick” part is pretty funny.
November 27th, 2007 at 11:39 am
I voted “no..too much”, there’s too many characters (4 of them) and the design style reminds me too much of “hello kitty”. But at least they have mouths - which hello kitty does not
And it looks like Sumi has a colander on his head…whoa?
November 27th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
I can dig it. It’s better than the spermy looking thing from the Atlanta games.
November 27th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Yeah Miga is orca/whale turned bear… seems like they just got lazy and mixed every possible choice together. I dunno, I think they’re kinda cute and I gotta say… Mukmuk is my fave so far, maybe it’s cause he’s just the lowly sidekick… maybe it’s because his name is fun to say over and over again… I dunno.
November 27th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
[...] More opinions: Darren, Miss604 [...]
November 27th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
wow, I had no idea traditional First Nations creatures looked so much like bad manga…
Beijing called, they want their cartoons back.
November 27th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
Not too bad….
Sumi is kind of cute but a little freaky when you think of what he is: orca headgear (that reminds me of a samurai), thunderbird wings, and bear legs.
Quatchi reminds me of a big oaf of a toker… so maybe they squeezed in that Vancouver image, too!
Agreed that Mukmuk is really adorable and liking the fact he’s a real critter. The others may have taken some liberties with First Nations’ folklore.
November 27th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
These are cute. They are just about the only thing I like about these Olympics. I may even buy the amigurumi versions. I say yay for the Japanese look. It’s in right now and for once I agree with the masses, so it’s a win-win situation for everyone.
November 27th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Sasquatches shouldn’t need boots or earmuffs. They can handle the weather around here.
November 27th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
I hate it. It makes me angry for some reason.
November 27th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
I’m satisfied. I like that they aren’t just typical BC animals. Could they have done better? Sure, but they could have been far worse. I’m happier with these than I am with the inukshuk logo.
November 27th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
I like Miga…she? is cute…My favourite is Quatchi…. I think Sumi looks like a Martian but overall they make me smile.
November 27th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
The more I look at it, the more I don’t like it. It reminds of what George Lucas did with the Ewoks. He introduced a random cute character just to sell more toys. I think they’ve purposefully made this thing look kind of cute so that it will increase merchandise with the kids.
November 27th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
I thought for sure the Kokanee dude would be the Sasquatch’s sidekick.
November 27th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
While I do agree that it seems they tried to cram too many themes into the characters, on the whole I’d have to say that I like them. In part, because the bar has been set so low for past Olympic mascots, and partly because they are representative of a lot of local themes (which I realize is a contradiction). Vancouver is diverse and multicultural, so somehow manga characters based on first nations legends and endangered species are fitting, imo.
November 27th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
I kinda wished that they stick with 1 mascot instead of 4…
November 27th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Wait, wait, wait…where did the Sasquatch get a camera? And I have to admit, I want a Miga.
November 27th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
@ J.J. - The kokanee dude would’ve been an awesome sidekick…hahaha
@ Duane Storey - Same here, still hate it too. I believe you’re right about gearing it towards kids/parents (cute factor) to sell more merch.
I’m from the mindset of “less is more” and this is definitely not it.
November 27th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
What’s up with the Pokemon/Hello Kitty looking mascots? Did Vancouver use the same animation designers as Beijing???
November 27th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
That’s it, I’m gonna buy all four and set them on fire.
November 27th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Noooo not Mukmuk!
November 27th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
just too many! the ’squatch woulda done fine…
November 27th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
After watching the video again (and being creeped out by the smiling faces of Yaletown buildings) I find these images SUPER easy for kiddie to draw. A couple circles and some squiggles and you’ve got Quatchi. Hm.. “you’ve got Quatchi” doesn’t sound so good…
November 28th, 2007 at 11:14 am
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Are we in Canada? And what’s with the names? I can’t even tell what they’re supposed to be. Although I guess it does represent Canada - try to please everyone, so don’t have a real identity at all.
November 28th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
I’m not really sure what the big deal here is. They are just mascots. Have people not seen what previous olympic mascots have looked like?
November 28th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Let’s start a petition to elevate Muk Muk from sidekick to mascot. He’s so cute and adorable. The others look like they were designed by committee. They are so cluttered with detail that it’s distracting
November 28th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
The trackback didn’t work… AGAIN!
http://hummingbird604.blogspot.com/2007/11/upcoming-event-christmas-on-cambie.html
December 4th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
[...] 2010 Olympics have a couple mascots, three to be precise. They’re all warm, fuzzy little creatures that are starting annoy the [...]
January 8th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Muk Muk is the BEST of them all. The others look like some rejects from the Hello Kitty factory. Muk Muk BEST represents Vancouver and the 2010 games…and he isn’t even official! I wouldn’t in a million years spend money on any of the other 3 but I hiope someone gets wise and brings out Muk Muk plush toys for next Xmas. My Vote is DUMP THE MAIN THREE, AND HAVE MUK MUK AS THE MASCOT FOR THE GAMES!
January 16th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
man I’m so dissappointed at these mascots, that don’t look like no sasquatch I ever saw. And why did we give them Japanese names exactly? Next time our mascots should be about BC, not about Nunavut (the olympics mascot) or Japan (these ones) ugh, maybe Vanoc should look at a map and have the geography of British Columbia explained to them, we are not Nunavut, or Japan. UGH.
March 16th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
[...] until today, that my friend was able to get us Quatchi. It seems that these 2010 mascots aren’t very well accepted among Vancouverites. I can understand why, but at the same time, I can understand why they were chosen too. The [...]
September 5th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
It’s pretty obvious that people are mixed about the overall effect of the 2010 mascots. Like clowns, you either hate them, or don’t care. With these mascots, for me it’s both. I can’t imagine where they got they’re visual ideas. Maybe a weekend acid binge, or a bad fever-dream…most likely too much t.v. and executive blandness involved. Like most Olympic mascots, these too will be forgoten. Remember the three mascots from the Salt Lake City games? Deja Vu. Only those were clearly a rabbit, a bear, and coyote (and attractive). But that Japanese graphic influence was there, so what’s so original about the Vanoc mascots? Oh, they’re ugly.