2010 Vancouver Olympics mascots revealed

[InflatableBuddha]

The stuffed animal mascots for the 2010 Olympic Winter games were revealed this morning.

Link

Miga the Sea Bear - A hybrid orca/bear. Hybrids are the rage these days, after all.

Quatchi the Sasquatch - I was expecting to see Ogopogo as well?

Sumi the Thunderbird - it looks more like a bear than a bird .

Opinions?

 

[WobbleWobble]

It's bad enough just knowing that these are the official mascots. But why do you have to spread the word of these mascots even more, let alone to ATOT. They'll eat us Vancouvites up

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Originally posted by: WobbleWobble
It's bad enough just knowing that these are the official mascots. But why do you have to spread the word of these mascots even more, let alone to ATOT. They'll eat us Vancouvites up

Just spreading the fail with our American neighbours!

 

[buck]

Bah, still won't stop me from driving up to check out the festivities. However, lodging will be a GIANT pain in the ass.

 

[Dacalo]

How forgettable...

 

[Gooberlx2]

Meh. Anything's better than the Izzy/Whatzit from the '96 Atlanta games.

 

[sandorski]

Another week of "controversy" and "complaints" is about to ensue. They look alright to me. What I hate is all the kerfuffle that will be raised, just like when the Inukshuk was announced as the Logo. That's what they are folks, no need for opinions about it.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Originally posted by: buck
Bah, still won't stop me from driving up to check out the festivities. However, lodging will be a GIANT pain in the ass.

Clever Vancouver reference there .

 

[K1052]

Someone did happen to mention that the 2010 Winter Olympics weren't being held in Japan again right?

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: sandorski
Another week of "controversy" and "complaints" is about to ensue. They look alright to me. What I hate is all the kerfuffle that will be raised, just like when the Inukshuk was announced as the Logo. That's what they are folks, no need for opinions about it.

Olympics are funding by public money and are largely about promotion and tourism. These characters do not in my opinion represent, Vancouver, British Columbia or Canada.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Originally posted by: WobbleWobble

Originally posted by: sandorski
Another week of "controversy" and "complaints" is about to ensue. They look alright to me. What I hate is all the kerfuffle that will be raised, just like when the Inukshuk was announced as the Logo. That's what they are folks, no need for opinions about it.

Olympics are funding by public money and are largely about promotion and tourism. These characters do not in my opinion represent, Vancouver, British Columbia or Canada.

Nope...they're all about pandering to Aboriginal interests. Just as the Inukshuk was. (Seriously, the closest Inukshuk is about a 24 hour drive north of Vancouver in the friggin NWT!) There would be a massive uproar if VANOC didn't include any Native references, even though they are a minority population in Vancouver.

I'm guessing the committee wanted an orca, but of course the Canucks/Orca Bay own that mascot. Lumberjacks are too similar to the Giants' mascot.

A sea otter, dolphin, or loon would have been better choices. Or a beaver maybe?

 

[Sphexi]

Welcome to Western Canada, where everybody has to kiss First Nation ass. Everytime something is built, or demolished, or changed, they have to name or rename it with the First Nations in mind, so as to not offend them more than they already are on a daily basis.

 

[mobobuff]

So the Olympics will be shown between 9 and 12 o'clock on Saturday morning on PBS?

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: InflatableBuddha

Originally posted by: WobbleWobble

Originally posted by: sandorski
Another week of "controversy" and "complaints" is about to ensue. They look alright to me. What I hate is all the kerfuffle that will be raised, just like when the Inukshuk was announced as the Logo. That's what they are folks, no need for opinions about it.

Olympics are funding by public money and are largely about promotion and tourism. These characters do not in my opinion represent, Vancouver, British Columbia or Canada.

Nope...they're all about pandering to Aboriginal interests. Just as the Inukshuk was. (Seriously, the closest Inukshuk is about a 24 hour drive north of Vancouver in the friggin NWT!) There would be a massive uproar if VANOC didn't include any Native references, even though they are a minority population in Vancouver.

I'm guessing the committee wanted an orca, but of course the Canucks/Orca Bay own that mascot. Lumberjacks are too similar to the Giants' mascot.

A sea otter, dolphin, or loon would have been better choices. Or a beaver maybe?

Not true. There's a few on English Bay in Vancouver. But they're not native made I'm pretty sure. And they have nothing to do with the natives who live here (Musqueam etc). It was a stupid idea. These mascots are also terrible.

 

[Mr Incognito]

It looks like the designers got really high and created these, fell asleep with their hand in a bag cheetos and then rushed the designs just in time for the deadline. the only time that marijuana decriminalization is bad.

 

[sandorski]

It's not pandering to Natives to use the Inukshuk. The Inukshuk has been in existence on Canadian land(albeit far north) centuries, if not millenia, before the first European landed. One could make the argument that a Totem Pole would have been more regionally appropriate, but these Olympics are primarily hosted by Canada and not Vancouver.

 

[jagec]

WTF is a "sea bear"?

BEARS LIVE ON LAND, RETARDS!:|

 

[Auric]

Miga: did any aboriginals of the area (or anywhere) even have a notion of an orca-bear chimera? Or did the designer just pull that out of her arse?

Quatchi: WTF is the fleshy protuberance on his chin; cock and balls? Well that would make sense for obvious reasons.

Sumi: not very bird like and indeed has bear legs and wears an orca hat. I guess it had to top the other two for craziness. Oh wait, it's meant to promote the Paralympic Games for those with physical, mental and sensorial disabilities. So, again, kind of makes sense if you know what I mean.

But what it really comes down to folks is marketing trinkets to children, for a projected $43 millions in royalties (linkypoo). Sad.

-
Reportedly, there were stories of orca transforming into bears (but not chimeras, as such).

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: sandorski
It's not pandering to Natives to use the Inukshuk. The Inukshuk has been in existence on Canadian land(albeit far north) centuries, if not millenia, before the first European landed. One could make the argument that a Totem Pole would have been more regionally appropriate, but these Olympics are primarily hosted by Canada and not Vancouver.

But it should be something regional. Plains indians' teepees are much closer to Vancouver than the Inukshuk. Why not have a bunch of bison on a Saskatchewan plain be the logo? That would have been equally as good. They should have picked the best logo, one which incorporated something Canadian with something regional.

Orcas have been swimming in the waters around Vancouver for millennia before the Inukshuk was first built thousands of kilometers away.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: sandorski
It's not pandering to Natives to use the Inukshuk. The Inukshuk has been in existence on Canadian land(albeit far north) centuries, if not millenia, before the first European landed. One could make the argument that a Totem Pole would have been more regionally appropriate, but these Olympics are primarily hosted by Canada and not Vancouver.

Yes, but those people have since been conquered.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: sandorski
It's not pandering to Natives to use the Inukshuk. The Inukshuk has been in existence on Canadian land(albeit far north) centuries, if not millenia, before the first European landed. One could make the argument that a Totem Pole would have been more regionally appropriate, but these Olympics are primarily hosted by Canada and not Vancouver.

But it should be something regional. Plains indians' teepees are much closer to Vancouver than the Inukshuk. Why not have a bunch of bison on a Saskatchewan plain be the logo? That would have been equally as good. They should have picked the best logo, one which incorporated something Canadian with something regional.

Orcas have been swimming in the waters around Vancouver for millennia before the Inukshuk was first built thousands of kilometers away.

Orcas exist elsewhere though. Bison, Teepees, and even Totem Poles exist elsewhere as well. The Inukshuk is uniquely Canadian(although I suppose they may have also been part of Alaskan heritage. At any rate, something had to be chosen and many other things had to be not chosen. Whatever those things may have been, people would have complained. That's why I hate the "controversy".

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: sandorski
It's not pandering to Natives to use the Inukshuk. The Inukshuk has been in existence on Canadian land(albeit far north) centuries, if not millenia, before the first European landed. One could make the argument that a Totem Pole would have been more regionally appropriate, but these Olympics are primarily hosted by Canada and not Vancouver.

Yes, but those people have since been conquered.

moot, and untrue.

 

[InflatableBuddha]

Originally posted by: sandorski

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: sandorski
It's not pandering to Natives to use the Inukshuk. The Inukshuk has been in existence on Canadian land(albeit far north) centuries, if not millenia, before the first European landed. One could make the argument that a Totem Pole would have been more regionally appropriate, but these Olympics are primarily hosted by Canada and not Vancouver.

But it should be something regional. Plains indians' teepees are much closer to Vancouver than the Inukshuk. Why not have a bunch of bison on a Saskatchewan plain be the logo? That would have been equally as good. They should have picked the best logo, one which incorporated something Canadian with something regional.

Orcas have been swimming in the waters around Vancouver for millennia before the Inukshuk was first built thousands of kilometers away.

Orcas exist elsewhere though. Bison, Teepees, and even Totem Poles exist elsewhere as well. The Inukshuk is uniquely Canadian(although I suppose they may have also been part of Alaskan heritage. At any rate, something had to be chosen and many other things had to be not chosen. Whatever those things may have been, people would have complained. That's why I hate the "controversy".

Just about any symbol you could choose exists elsewhere (beaver, Canada Goose, other birds). A salmon of some type would work, or a moose.

I agree the Inukshuk has been around for millenia, but the fact that it's not regionally appropriate to these Olympics annoys me. At least the mascots have local native influences (Haida among others).

I think the mascots generally try to be too many things at once. There are three plus a sidekick - which is a lot to begin with. There is a mix of animals (bear, bird, marmot, sasquatch) and ethnic influences (Native and Asian - look at the style of eyes and mouths). In the end, it's a melting pot of cultural influences which is the very antithesis of what Canadians are.

Some ideas needed to be excluded, necessarily, but I think there should have been a more focused theme or idea, and only one or two mascots, not four.

 

[Nitemare]

<furry response>Hawt!

 

[Auric]

Originally posted by: sandorski
The Inukshuk is uniquely Canadian(although I suppose they may have also been part of Alaskan heritage.

Pre-Canadian. Previous nations or last nations or whatever you want to call it. They were there before the current people and perhaps themselves supplanted others before them. Canada is rather desperate for an identity since it has no history or unique culture (especially in the West) so glorifies that of the previous occupants. It's saleable to auslanders, at least.