What do you think of London's 2012 Olympic Mascots?

Presenting....London's 2012 Official Olympic Mascots.
View more pictures here.
There's a complicated backstory to the characters which was written by a children's author. It explains why the mascots have one eye (it's a camera lens to see the world) and yellow lights on tops of their heads (an homage to London taxicabs). Officials boasted that focus groups of children helped form the designs of the mascots. Meaning-->The natural defense of the mascots: they're not designed for adults, but for the children who will convince adults to buy them a bunch of merchandise with said mascots. [via]

I'm a little confused and disturbed. This is London's attempt at creativity? Reminds me of that red shisha tower Alice posted the other day. :S

Tags: 2012, london, mascot, olympics

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Permalink Reply by Martin on May 20, 2010 at 12:16am

They certainly look like they were designed by a focus group - that is, they look like nothing at all.

British authors and artists have created some of the most iconic children's characters over the last century - Peter Pan, Paddington Bear, Thunderbirds, Clangers, Wallace & Gromit, and so on - and yet, when put under pressure, we come up with this contrived crap which will mean nothing to anyone.

I mean, 'a homage to London taxi cabs' - WTF?! That will mean a lot to the 50 million UK citizens who don't live in London, won't it?

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Permalink Reply by sAm on May 20, 2010 at 1:31pm

That's exactly what I thought! Telletubbies, British sytle! A wee bit scary if you ask me!

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Permalink Reply by Kristine Allen on May 21, 2010 at 6:16am

I thought the same thing as well, but it didn't surprise me because Teletubbies are from England anyways.

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Permalink Reply by lauralove on May 20, 2010 at 2:08pm

Wow these are CRAZY! Too strange for me but it begs the question - When was the last time anyone really like an Olympics mascot, though?

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Permalink Reply by Amy Wong on May 23, 2010 at 5:47pm

Well, I kind of like the Beijing mascots. I thought they were cute. :P

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Permalink Reply by Johnny Blue on May 20, 2010 at 6:57pm

Fail. They should have created something warm and welcoming, not scary and alien-like.

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Permalink Reply by Ellius Grace on May 23, 2010 at 7:54am

OK so maybe the mascots arent great but if they ruin the olympics for people, i think they have lost whats important, the sports

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Permalink Reply by stephanie on May 24, 2010 at 1:48am

I kinda like them and think they are warm and welcoming !I enjoyed London taxi cab too .London and british thinking anyway are a sort of rainbow in my life.