Vancouver 2010 - What's Up With the Mascots?

Check out the crazy new Winter Olympics mascots. Can you guess which one used to be named after sex? Well, can you? My money's on the green one.

Remember the good old days when choosing a mascot was a simple matter of saying, "Hey, we're in Africa, why don't we just use a giraffe?" Well apparently that was a long time ago. The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics have gone and made the whole thing complicated and awkward.

Firstly, fuck that idea of having just one mascot let's have a whole army. Yes Vancouver 2010 has 3 official mascots and wait for it... they in turn have their own mascot (or sidekick), leaving a grand total of four mascots. Here they are, Quatchi, Miga and Sumi (who has "special powers") Note - Mukmuk not picture:

Secondly, these mascots aren't just cute cuddly images but they also have elaborate back stories. For instance:

Quatchi, a shy and gentle giant, is a sasquatch - a popular figure in local Aboriginal legends of the Pacific West Coast. Quatchi reminds us of the mystery and wonder associated with the great Canadian wilderness. Although Quatchi loves all winter sports, he's especially fond of hockey and dreams of becoming a world-famous goalie.

You wouldn't want to have an event without exploiting the environment so one of the mascots is also "environmentally conscious".

In addition, screw whatever Canadian heritage the country has, the designers opted to go with an Asian influence because Pokemon is what the kids love these days. Corporate greed is pretty. You can find more information about the mascots at their own minisite, where you will also find a rather addictive game about recycling (don't mock it I was going to post this yesterday but got distracted).

Oh and before I forget one of the mascots was originally named after an offensive word (apparently something to do with sex). If anyone finds out what the original name is I am willing to give you a back rub.