London 2012 Mascot Design Contest

[nykfan845]

Fixed it again myself.

Look, I get that London is trying to be edgy and hip, but there are better ways than these designs. London, as far as I'm concerned has continued to drop the ball design-wise.

[Mr Tickle]

Im so hoping that the organisers will now emboss, Georges signature onto the steel frame of the stadium somewhere so kids can find it and make the story more real, just like the Harry Potter platform at Kings Cross.

[ard72]

Memo: London 2012

[The Tower Bridge Fox]

Fixed it again myself.

Look, I get that London is trying to be edgy and hip, but there are better ways than these designs. London, as far as I'm concerned has continued to drop the ball design-wise.

I Like it for the purposes of a mascot, I don’t think any other Olympics has had a better one,

Its not an animal but the costumes give it identifiable character,

I wouldn’t want the branding to look like that though.

[Hobart]

I like them very cute and should sell lots of soft toys pin and anything else they can get there heads on. Nice to be back to just the 1 mascot think Sydney was pushing it at 3 but 5 was just to much.

[olympian]

first the logo, then the mascots? i wonder how their look of the games will look like? good thing their pictograms turned out well. and good thing summer olympic medals are much traditional than winter medals, who knows what they might've done with it as well. its ok to be out of the box but this is taking it too extreme that its no longer good.

[aluz]

It feels to me that the people behind the London branding are designing for the designers and not for the consumers who are actually going to buy the products.

[mr.x]

Im also pretty glad they didnt go for the obvious, the Vancouver mascots were cute but didnt move the concept on really. Londons doing things differently and people dont like it, they like to feel safe and cosy with their dancing figure logos and their cuddly animal mascots. Get over it people, the Olympics need to move on and London is doing that.

Sounds like the mascots are getting big media coverage around the world though, brilliant.

Marketing is giving what the people want, not forcing what you want on the people....Vancouver's merchandise, including the mascots, have far exceeded VANOC's original merchandise sales target (it's estimated that US$500-million in merchandise was sold). Good luck on that with London.

[mr.x]

Reaction on the Internet was predictably dour, with a tidal wave of tweets twittering away about the mouthless pair's many faults:

- "Make your own Olympic mascots by simply scrunching silver foil into two completely random shapes." — VizTopTips

- "Worst Olympic mascots ever. I may have to skip those games just to avoid those creepy blobs. New Olympic Record for ugly!" — Crayonbeam London 2012

- "Olympic mascots: Chuckle Brothers as drawn by Dali when on acid after not sleeping for 4 days." — Robinbogg

-"I, for one welcome our new Olympic mascot overlords." — Jonnypage

- "What the ...? The London Olympic mascots look like alien lobsters." — docdez

- "London hoping to raise $21M by selling one-eyed Olympic mascots to children. What am I missing here?" — darrenrovell1

- "Olympic Mascots exceed all unexpectations. Designed by a weird big-headed grandpa in a shed." — wonkyshop

- "Hey London! Your Olympic mascots are like shiny pee-stained robots with asparagus hands." — thisisnation

- "Olympic mascots .... Nothing says Dynamic World City like aliens with poor depth perception." — Tigerstolly

- "Further evidence that London's Olympic organizers are heavy recreational drug users." — electricmeat

- "Just seen the new Olympic mascots. I love them for all the wrong reasons. They look like murderous cycloptic Teletubbies." — BenBo92

Comments added to stories about the mascots were just as negative:

- My eight year old looked at them and pulled a face. Having followed the Winter Olympics in Vancouver we expected so much better."

- God have some mercy! Is there anything uglier than those two things? Who in their right mind created these?!

- These are so embarrassingly cringeworthy — they look like they are wetting themselves.

- My god, what on Earth were they thinking when designing the 2012 Olympic mascots! really that is bad!

- These embarrassing, humourless, banal and ultimately sinister characters, with their all-seeing single camera eye, have no spark, no imagination and no heart.

- And you took the piss with our Olympics? — Todd From Vancouver

[adrianme17]

Reaction on the Internet was predictably dour, with a tidal wave of tweets twittering away about the mouthless pair's many faults:

- "Make your own Olympic mascots by simply scrunching silver foil into two completely random shapes." — VizTopTips

- "Worst Olympic mascots ever. I may have to skip those games just to avoid those creepy blobs. New Olympic Record for ugly!" — Crayonbeam London 2012

- "Olympic mascots: Chuckle Brothers as drawn by Dali when on acid after not sleeping for 4 days." — Robinbogg

-"I, for one welcome our new Olympic mascot overlords." — Jonnypage

- "What the ...? The London Olympic mascots look like alien lobsters." — docdez

- "London hoping to raise $21M by selling one-eyed Olympic mascots to children. What am I missing here?" — darrenrovell1

- "Olympic Mascots exceed all unexpectations. Designed by a weird big-headed grandpa in a shed." — wonkyshop

- "Hey London! Your Olympic mascots are like shiny pee-stained robots with asparagus hands." — thisisnation

- "Olympic mascots .... Nothing says Dynamic World City like aliens with poor depth perception." — Tigerstolly

- "Further evidence that London's Olympic organizers are heavy recreational drug users." — electricmeat

- "Just seen the new Olympic mascots. I love them for all the wrong reasons. They look like murderous cycloptic Teletubbies." — BenBo92

Comments added to stories about the mascots were just as negative:

- My eight year old looked at them and pulled a face. Having followed the Winter Olympics in Vancouver we expected so much better."

- God have some mercy! Is there anything uglier than those two things? Who in their right mind created these?!

- These are so embarrassingly cringeworthy — they look like they are wetting themselves.

- My god, what on Earth were they thinking when designing the 2012 Olympic mascots! really that is bad!

- These embarrassing, humourless, banal and ultimately sinister characters, with their all-seeing single camera eye, have no spark, no imagination and no heart.

- And you took the piss with our Olympics? — Todd From Vancouver

yeah yeah yeah - we get the drift you don't like thenm - now move on!

Marketing is giving what the people want, not forcing what you want on the people....Vancouver's merchandise, including the mascots, have far exceeded VANOC's original merchandise sales target (it's estimated that US$500-million in merchandise was sold). Good luck on that with London.

btw - they have done 2 year of focus groups with kids in the UK - these are the end users and these kids chose these. wenlock and mandeville are not aimed at adults remember and of course are not going to be every kids fave thing.

mr X - you still peeved about the gutter british press' reaction to Vancouver 2010?

[baron-pierreIV]

- "Olympic mascots: Chuckle Brothers as drawn by Dali when on acid after not sleeping for 4 days." Robinbogg

I like that one. But except for the 1-eye & no mouths, I like them. In the evolution of the genre, they're where Olympic mascots ought to be. And compare them to those ghouls of Korea-Japan '02

Actually, w/ their 1-eyed faces, why don't they just make them into cellphones?

[krow]

I like that one. But except for the 1-eye & no mouths, I like them. In the evolution of the genre, they're where Olympic mascots ought to be. And compare them to those ghouls of Germany '06..

you know i don't think a second eye would help any. but some british teeth might help complete the picture.

[Mr Tickle]

Marketing is giving what the people want, not forcing what you want on the people....Vancouver's merchandise, including the mascots, have far exceeded VANOC's original merchandise sales target (it's estimated that US$500-million in merchandise was sold). Good luck on that with London.

I didnt say Vancouvers were bad, I liked them to be honest especially the Yeti one. My point was they didnt do anything new, they were cute cuddly mascots. Im glad Vancouver made shed loads of cash with them, good on them. My point was London again are doing something a bit different.

[Rob2012]

I like that one. But except for the 1-eye & no mouths, I like them. In the evolution of the genre, they're where Olympic mascots ought to be. And compare them to those ghouls of Germany '06...

Germany 2006's wouldn't have been too bad, but that senile old lion never remembered to dress himself properly.

Have to see how they merchandise this. Keep one eye on the mascot section of the shop (d'ya see what I did there)

[Mr Tickle]

He he, I like that they should use it. Keep an eye on the shop, very good

[OneTimeOnly]

Im also pretty glad they didnt go for the obvious, the Vancouver mascots were cute but didnt move the concept on really. Londons doing things differently and people dont like it, they like to feel safe and cosy with their dancing figure logos and their cuddly animal mascots. Get over it people, the Olympics need to move on and London is doing that.

The Olympics "need" to move on from what, exactly?

[Mainad]

They're a bit strange-looking but kinda cute especially in that video.Nothing to get too worked up about!

Of course if they'd introduced a couple of furry little animals dressed up as beefeaters,people would have moaned on and on about who old-fashioned and conservative they were and how London 2012 missed an opportunity to be a bit more innovative and challenging bla bla bla!

It used to be said that there are only two certain things in life; death and taxes.I would add a third; hating the new Olympic mascot/logo!

BTW.I posted an article on the pioneering Olympics at Much Wenlock 3 years ago (see below) so I'm thrilled that London 2012 picked up on it by giving the name to one of their mascots! Maybe Baron will now believe me??

[Bezzi]

People here are complaining that they have no mouth. They do not need, they shoot a laser from the center of their eye toward the children and suck their energy until the victim's body disappears. I'm not kidding, look closely at your eye, it seems harmless to you? The story they came from a piece of iron is to mislead us. They were sent from another planet to watch our abilities with they huge eye during the Olympics. When they discover our physical limitations during the games, the Cyclops will invade the earth and this will be the real end of the world in 2012.

[baron-pierreIV]

Maybe Baron will now believe me??

I guess so...but then again, Mr. Brookes was preceded by the ancient Greeks and Sumerians (who had their All-Hittite and Hoplite Games)!

Question to the designers though: why is Mandible the Paralympic mascot? Oher than missing another eye (which is the same as his sister, Lockjaw), what makes him handicapped? The club-hands? Is one claw shorter than the other?

[Athan]

I have a pair of questions to ask:

Will there be plush toys of the mascots? With their design it seems unlikely to me, and that would be a pity.

And have they launched the typical mascot pictograms yet?

The more I see them, the more I like them.

[krow]

what makes him handicapped? The club-hands?

well actually, i think the performance enhancing drugs may be responsible for that. another embodiment of the olympic spirit.

[Rob2012]

I have a pair of questions to ask:

Will there be plush toys of the mascots? With their design it seems unlikely to me, and that would be a pity.

And have they launched the typical mascot pictograms yet?

The more I see them, the more I like them.

Of course there'll be soft toys. Why do you think that seems unlikely? I think the design lends itself very much to that kind of thing; it's very PIXAR, Monsters Inc, Wall-E and you see soft toys of those characters around.

Don't know about mascot pictograms. I don't think they've done anything like that yet.

[Rob2012]

One blue, one orange.....at least the coaltion will be pleased...

[Athan]

Of course there'll be soft toys. Why do you think that seems unlikely? I think the design lends itself very much to that kind of thing; it's very PIXAR, Monsters Inc, Wall-E and you see soft toys of those characters around.

That's good. It seemed unlikely because they're supposed to be metal-like and we have all seen how strange they look in "real life". However, I remember thinking the same about Beijing mascots the day they were launched (those costumes were much worse than Wenlock and Mandeville) but they looked much better during the Games.

OK, thanks

[Rob2012]

It'd be a first if there were no soft toys I would have thought. Not to mention a big dent in LOCOG's budget