Vancouver 2010 Olympic Mascot Revealed
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007I don’t think any Olympic organizers can ever reveal the mascots without a ton of backlash.
And so it goes for the Vancouver Olympics team, who presented their mascots Miga the Sea Bear (?), Quatchi the Sasquatch and Sumi the Thunderbird.
In more detail:
- Miga the Sea Bear - is a combination of an orca and a sea otter. it is “inspired by legends of the Pacific Northwest First Nations, tales of orca whales that transform into bears when they first arrive on land”
- Quatchi the Sasquatcj - based on the legend of the ever-elusive Sasquatch, most often seen in Kokanee beer commercials.
- Sumi the Thunderbird - Sumi is from a Salish word meanung “guardian angel”
It has to be pointed out that none of these animals exist in nature.
Comments have not been kind, ranging from “they don’t look very Canadian” to “Pokemon modern”.
Of course, kids are taking to them right away, which would be organizers’ main objective. Hello merchandising sales!
They’re not awful. They’re not fun like the upcoming Beijing mascots, but you can’t get any cooler than a panda bear holding a gun.
And I can’t say much — my local Olympic mascots were two polar bears wearing cowboy outfits. Hey, it was a different era.
What does this have to do with hockey? Aside from the fact NHL players will be there, nothing. But it keeps me from ranting about Toronto.
