Miga, Quatchi, Sumi And Mukmuk

Miga and Quatchi are the official mascots of the 2010 Winter Olympics, Sumi is the official mascot of the 2010 Winter Paralympics, and Mukmuk is their designated "sidekick" for both games, held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The four mascots were introduced on November 27, 2007. They were designed by the Canadian and American design studio, Meomi Design. It was the first time (since Cobi and Petra) that the Olympic and Paralympic mascots were introduced at the same time.

Development

The emblem of 2010 Winter Olympics, "Ilanaaq the Inukshuk", was picked through an open contest. However, it met criticism from some aboriginal groups over its design, so the mascot artist was selected through a competition.

Through a process where 177 professionals around the world submitted their ideas, five were made final. In December 2006, VANOC eventually selected concepts from Meomi Design. Formed in 2002, Meomi is a group comprising Vicki Wong, a Vancouver-born Canadian of Chinese descent who worked in graphic and web design, and Michael Murphy, born in Milford, Michigan, who worked in design and motion graphics. Writing for ''Sports Illustrated'', experts Michael Erdmann and John Ryan, while making comments on the mascots of the Olympic Games held in Canada, pointed out that the Meomi character drawing styles "are more closely related to Urban Vinyl ...

After the selection, Meomi provided more than 20 different concepts to VANOC, and three concepts were selected. The conception of the mascots was based on the local wildlife, as well as First Nations legends, mythologies and legendary creatures. During the design process, an early name for Quatchi was dismissed when the undisclosed word was found to have a rude connotation in another language. An animated video by Buck, a design studio based in New York and Los Angeles, with music provided by Kid Koala, was screened at the first public presentation of the mascots. Details about the mascots were kept secret until November 27, 2007, when they were unveiled to the public.

Mascots

The first public presentation of the mascots took place before 800 schoolchildren at the Bell Centre for Performing Arts in Surrey, British Columbia. This represented the first time (since 1992) that the Olympic and Paralympic mascots were introduced at the same time. Miga and Quatchi were mascots for the 2010 Winter Olympics, while Sumi was the mascot for the 2010 Winter Paralympics. Mukmuk was their designated "sidekick". They made a cameo appearance in '' Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games''.

Reception

Popularity

Mukmuk, although a designated "sidekick", was a run-away success, "capturing the hearts of Games-goers everywhere", including an impromptu "protest" at the Vancouver Art Gallery to make him a full-fledged mascot and making the "Top 5" for the Olympic games in the Vancouver edition of '' 24 Hours''.

Criticism and image confusion

When the mascots were unveiled, there were initial concerns over whether they were effective at representing British Columbia and Canada.

On July 3, 2009, Canadian artist Michael R. Barrick created two composite images—one based on the official art, and the other based on a fan art created by Angela Melick—depicting the official mascots alongside Pedobear, an internet meme popularized by the imageboard 4chan. The images were created to make "a visual critique of how the style of the mascots resembles the style of Pedobear." As a result of the images receiving high rankings on Google Images, this image was mistakenly used by other media. The Polish newspaper ''Gazeta Olsztyńska'' used one of the images for a front-page story about the then-upcoming Olympics, published on February 4, 2010. Similarly, the Dutch television guide Avrobode used one of the images.

After the games

After the games, 48 of the 61 life-sized mascot costumes were destroyed. Three full sets of costumes are kept in Canada, one full set has gone to the IOC in Switzerland, and one Sumi costume has gone to the International Paralympic Committee in Germany.

See also

* Bigfoot in popular culture
* Olympic mascots
* Paralympic mascots

References

External links

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Official Mascots page

Official Mascots Merchandise


(November 26, 2007)
Meomi Design - Designers of mascotszinc Roe Design microsite of the mascots

{{Olympic mascots

2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Paralympics
Olympic mascots
Paralympic mascots
Fictional hybrids
Bear mascots
Anthropomorphic bears
Bigfoot in popular culture
Totem poles
Canadian mascots
Fictional characters with air or wind abilities
Fictional characters with water abilities
Fictional characters with superhuman strength
Fictional characters from British Columbia
Mascots introduced in 2007