The Olympic Mascots

[Michael Wallace]

In case you missed it, they've revealed the London 2012 mascots.

Unsurprisingly, it's raised rather strong opinions, mostly from those on the 'anti' side. Personally I reckon they're alright; certainly more interesting than what you usually end up with. Plus apparently they only cost "a few thousand" pounds to produce, which strikes me as a bit of a bargain given that the logo cost £400k.

[Matt Morrison]

the "few thousand pounds" bit is good. I also quite like them, in that whole "I don't really give a shit about Olympics mascots, but as Olympics mascots go, I quite like them" kind of way.

[Howard Somerset]

I've gone for indifferent. So indifferent in fact, that I've not even bothered to click the link to see what they are. I find such mascots a total irrelevance.

I'm not indifferent about polls about such matters, just so long as there's always an option which says "indifferent".

[Ben Hunter]

I'd like them if they weren't so insanely detailed. The animations are cel-shaded with a small but very varied colour palette, which makes it pretty much impossible to tell what's even on the screen half the time. And 'Wenlock' and 'Mandeville' are shit names.

[John Bosley]

Mildly positive, I like 'mildly positive', but I wonder if serious polls would get very far if they had it as one of the options.

[Karen Pearson]

Mildly positive, I like 'mildly positive', but I wonder if serious polls would get very far if they had it as one of the options.

Actually, they use it a lot (although not necessarily with those exact words). It's known as the likert scale. Essentially, the options go along the lines of..

Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree or disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree

But the wording can be varied, as was so ably demonstrated by Michael.

[Marc Meakin]

A one eyed figure of fun.............. Hmm, anyone else thinking Gordon Brown would have been perfect.

[Jon Corby]

They remind of those little plastic "GoGos" figures (my son used to collect them).

Why is there no poll option for that?

[Kirk Bevins]

A one eyed figure of fun.............. Hmm, anyone else thinking Gordon Brown would have been perfect.

Or a giant penis?

[Marc Meakin]

A one eyed figure of fun.............. Hmm, anyone else thinking Gordon Brown would have been perfect.

Or a giant penis?

One eyed trouser snake, very good.

[Martin Bishop]

A one eyed figure of fun.............. Hmm, anyone else thinking Gordon Brown would have been perfect.

Or a giant penis?

One eyed trouser snake, very good.

That's my main problem with them. I like the animated characters: they look cool and can transform into different things and make fun pixar-like cartoons. I also like the fact they are named after the places where the modern Olympics and paralympics were invented. When they are translated into men in suits, however, they look like a pair of giant condoms.

[Michael Wallace]

When they are translated into men in suits, however, they look like a pair of giant condoms.

This is true, although I'm struggling to think of a mascot which, when turned into men in suits, didn't look utterly retarded. For instance, Zakumi is a bit terrifying in suit form (although I suppose he's kinda scary as a cartoon too - dudes, why give a leopard human teeth? Looks so wrong). The Vancouver mascots are maybe a better example; quite cool characters, but as people in suits they looked retarded/scary.

Also, "Why do Olympic mascots always suck?". Poor Roni

[Ben Hunter]

Also, "Why do Olympic mascots always suck?". Poor Roni

I wonder how many focus group hours it took to come up with this guy:

[JackHurst]

I'm gonna be brutally honest. They are fucking shite. I dont feel the need to back this opinion up, because you really just have to look at them for half a second to see this.

[Peter Mabey]

I'm gonna be brutally honest. They are fucking shite. I dont feel the need to back this opinion up, because you really just have to look at them for half a second to see this.

IAWTP

[Lesley Hines]

I think this says it all, really

[Liam Tiernan]

I like them. Some of the other mascots in Michaels link, Turin, Barcelona, Athens and oh dear God, Atlanta, truly sucked. Assuming they had to have mascots (and lets face it, they'll need all the marketing gimmicks they can get, if they don't want another Montreal on their hands), they could have done a lot worse. True, putting men in suits as cartoon characters never works, but the cartoons looked good. (crappy backstory though)