The 2012 Olympics so far have not failed to entertain with each announced design choice/uber-Britishy production number, and things over in England have just gotten a whole lot crazier. Meet the mascots, Wenlock and Mandeville:
This video explains the characters’ origins…I guess?
The press have been particularly unkind to this newest Olympic development. Barry Petchesy, of the Deadspin blog, describes them thusly: “Wenlock and Mandeville, their cyclopean eyes representing England’s Big Brother police state, were unveiled today. You might as well just sacrifice your firstborn now and get it over with.” Both the Telegraph and The Independent have ridiculed the choice as well.
Waldi
Mascots were originally introduced during the 1972 Munich Summer Games with Waldi the Dachshund. Subsequent mascots have seen the full spectrum of acceptance, from the much-reviled Izzy (Atlanta 1996) to the recent superprecious Vancouver mascots. Olympic mascots are important for two reasons: the more altruistic Getting Kids Interested In Sports, and the more practical Merchandising Bucks (Wenlock and Mandeville will be sold as cyclopean digital cameras, among many other things).
Izzy and the Vancouver 2010 mascots
It will be interesting to see how the new 2012 mascots fit into the overall Olympic plan, till then my only question is, Why so angry-looking, Wenlock?