November 28, 2007
Don't be Izzy
The new mascots for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver have been announced.
Miga is a young sea bear who lives in the ocean with her family pod, out past Vancouver Island near Tofino. Quatchi is a young sasquatch who comes from the mysterious forests of Canada. Sumi is an animal spirit who lives in the mountains of British Columbia.
Wow, we think they look awesome times 2. They're cute, well designed, and actually represent aspects of Vancouver. While our personal favorite is currently Quatchi, we've found a reason to like all of them.
You can take a quiz to see which mascot you are most like. The mascots were designed by a couple of artists who call themselves Meomi. We live in Atlanta. That means we had to put up with this as our mascot for the 96 Summer Olympics:
Izzy. There are so many things wrong with this mascot, it's hard to know where to begin. So we'll start with the most obvious: His total lack of quality on any level, including but not limited to: Design, Intent, or Philosophy. It also looks like he was the very first idea the design committee had. Although, you can be sure this is not true. Originally named Whatizit, Izzy went through many changes after he was announced and before the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. They took a marginal design and watered it down even more. The result was spectacularly unpopular.
Which is what makes the Vancouver mascots so great. They seem to be everything that Izzy wasn't. That's not a bad rule of thumb for all character and logo design:
Don't be Izzy.
But... Izzy was hip! He was X-treeem! He has been there, and done that! Just look at the evidence:
A) He wore sneakers, just like all the cool kids. I wore sneakers in 1996 too!
2) He had lightning bolts for eyebrows, which is obviously the mark of someone I want to hang out with and/or be like.
d) He resembled a poo after eating too much "blue"-flavored Italian ices from the Good Humor truck. Awesome, obviously.
This has all got me wondering what the mascots would be like if New York City had won its half-assed bid to host the Olympics. My money's on a pigeon with upsetting facial growths.
Posted by: Rob at November 28, 2007 2:20 PMIzzy reminds of me of "Poochie" the character introduced on The Itchy & Scratchy Show and voiced by Homer J. Simpson, only with less market research and a third of the execution.
Posted by: Seth at November 28, 2007 3:29 PMKeep in mind this is the same city that thought the "Every Day is an Opening Day" campaign and this song was a good idea.
Posted by: adrianna at November 28, 2007 6:37 PMRemember that Izzy cartoon movie that came out? Me neither... it's just sad that I actually remember there WAS one. x_x
They also used to have a balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
