Vancouver 2010 Olympic mascots include a Sasquatch

Drawn! ran Meomi's fabulous designs for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic mascots. They just need to add a 'frop pipe in that Yeti's mouth and all will be good. WordPress Wp-Content Uploads 2007 11 2010

WordPress Wp-Content Uploads 2007 11 2010

Leave it to Canada to have a cryptozoological beastie like a sasquatch as its Olympic mascot. Earlier today Vancouver 2010 unveiled their Olympic and Paralympic mascots: Quatchi the Sasquatch, Miga the Sea Bear, and Sumi the Thunderbird.

Link (Thanks, Scott!)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Qozmiq

Is it just me, or does Sumi’s Hat look slightly Katamari inspired?
Anthony

I assure you that I’m not just saying this to be contrary, but when I saw these critters in my morning paper, I just gritted my teeth at how incredibly lame I thought they looked. No accouting for taste, I guess …
Mitch

These mascots are great. It’s hard to be
cute without being cloyingly cute.

It’s hard to believe that some people
are complaining about them.
Takhys

I think the hat itself is the orca. There’s the dorsal fin, side-fins, and the grid-thing at the front is a mouth.

If you google ‘orca haida’ you can see just how stylized the animal gets in Native Art.
Kaden

3 mascots, 3 x the merch sales. Anyone who’s followed the ‘nucks countless uniform redesigns will feel a familiar tug on their wallet. In Van, sports is all about the merch. It’s the only way to make a profit when the rest of the endeavour is invariably substandard, I suppose.

I’m actually surprised there wasn’t a little RAVi character included, as the official rapid transit mascot.

(Full disclosure: I live in Vancouver, and it is in no way similar to the tourism advertising)
flickersticks

@ BUD ORACLE

you know, I really can’t decide how the ancient greeks would feel about the olympics today…I think their only contention would be that women are now allowed to compete/attend.

what happens in delphi should stay in delphi (albeit totally awesome)…man i felt drunk just walking around those volcanic fumes.

i love the idea of using these mythical creatures!
Halloween Jack

Qozmiq@23: it’s not just you–I had visions of the entire Olympic village getting rolled up…
Anonymous

Sumi is a really cute animal. did somebody say that he was a bird? okay, cute bird, then!!!
erindipity

Lover it! Props for the ‘frops.
jim.cowling

The first thing I thought when I saw the mascots was “Wow — those look just like the little vegetable characters in Harvest Mania.” (I’m a compulsive casual game player on pogo.com).

Sure enough, the same design company worked on both projects. They’ve got some real geek cred.
EricT

Since when does a Thunderbird have a cute little button nose.
Gloria

Earmuffed Sasquatch FTW!
shikatsu

I absolutely love the quatchi’s inuksuk tattoo!
Bonnie

That’s no Sasquatch! That’s a Wookiee! ;-)
figital

This merchandise excites me.
npinguy

Sasquatch is cool but how come nobody is paying attention to the SEA BEAR?

There’s no such thing -they mixed a whale with a bear! How awesome is that? Stephen Colbert is going to have a field day with that one.
agents4

Miga’s got one heck of a faux hawk. He’s gonna be so embarrassed in 10 years.
dbsboy

I’m Chinese but I like these three much better than the five from China… Maybe that’s because I understand more about the Chinese culture?

China should’ve made 12 mascots, one for each zodiac sign. They’d sell a lot more merchandises that way.
Mim

Sumi is also a mythological creature (the all are). He has thunderbird arms and bear legs. Cute button noses are the least of his physiological issues! How are his wings supposed to lift heavy bear legs?
Anonymous

they’re way cute. This link helped me with a report on the olymics!
android

someone please enlighten me. What was left out, as indicated by the apostrophe, in the word ‘frop?
trikitixa

These creatures are based on Vancouver Island first nations epistemology.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2007/11/27/bc-mascot.html

Most likely without consultation of those tribes concerning appropriateness. Cute, though.
mkultra

I actually really like the look/feel of these characters, although I also feel Sumi the thunderbird is a bit of a weak-tea take on that particular myth. No beak?

I am also the teensiest bit sad that instead of a more home-grown aesthetic, Canada seems to be appropriating a Sanrio-style kawaii-culture, although I suppose there’s some relevance given Vancouver’s strong Pacific-rim demographic.
Anonymous

Android:

It’s short for “habafropzipulops”.
David Pescovitz

A Sasquatch is not the same as a Yeti.
mick4recycle

Miga reminds me of Clark Gable.. for some reason
pingpongpanda

lol leave it to canada to make a cool mascot…damn you america!
mdhatter

A refreshing choice after London’s razzle-dazzle
Mindpowered

For all those people remarking about how people are complaining about them, a couple points.
VanOc’s (the organizing committee) mandate was to engage the local population and “bring back the spirit of the olympics” in contrast to Torino (which was a huge marketing exercise).

These mascots show up the hypocrisy of their goals. Like our asinine and unrepresentative logo, they are designed to sell in their millions to children. They are totally misrepresentative of who we are and what we stand for as place. The entire adult population has been given a big EF U to our taste and intelligence.

I initially supported the Olympics, but as evermore becomes a gross and crass cash grab I find myself marginalized and hostile to the whole mess.
rollerskater

holy shyte, it’s PEDOBEAR!!! keep your children away!!
Stefan Jones

“Sumi, an animal guardian spirit, has the hat of the orca whale, the wings of the Thunderbird and the legs of the black bear.”

Orca whales have hats?
Clifton

Android @11: The sacred herb habafropzipulops. You know, ‘frop. It’s a SubGenius thang.
Id0

As Rollerskater noted, I smell a 4chan meme coming.
Mim

Stefan @18 – If sasquatch can have giant boots, of course orcas can have hats… and it clearly has to be an orca hat, it’s much too big for Sumi.
standard_grey

These creatures are based on Vancouver Island first nations epistemology.

Most likely without consultation of those tribes concerning appropriateness. Cute, though.
*
I initially supported the Olympics, but as evermore becomes a gross and crass cash grab I find myself marginalized and hostile to the whole mess.
*
Ok, I know we’re not on Fark, but THIS THIS THIS.

I think you need to live in Vancouver and make less than $100,000 a year to wonder why people have complaints about anything Olympics-related. Don’t get me started.

I offer you this though:
http://onlymagazine.ca/City/the-2010-olympic-mascots-initial-thoughts
yurei

Miga the Sea Bear is as cute as it gets.
standard_grey

Choice quote form above link:

“Hereâ€™s the thing: Weâ€™re of the group of people that thinks using native symbols/icons is blatant pandering and unrepresentative of BC. In fact, we find it kind of offensive. Maybe weâ€™re just soft, but the idea of taking someoneâ€™s land, destroying their culture and then paying respect to what may remain of it by using it as a promotional tool for a sporting event is ridiculous.”

Biff bang ka-pow!