Quatchi, The Vancouver 2010 Olympics Mascot: Off On The Wrong Foot

So I saw a Twitter post the other day where someone mentioned Bigfoot was the new Olympics mascot – I thought it was a joke. Browsing through my RSS I stumbled on an entry over at Cryptomundo where I learned that indeed, the Yeti – or precisely Sasquatch – is (one of) the mascots for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Pretty cool.

So I head on over to Google to do a search for some images, and what do I find? A Sasquatch character with boots on. What? That would be like putting wheels on a UFO, or a snorkeling mask on the Loch Ness Monster. They’ll probably make a crop circle of the Olympics logo — using a lawnmower.

OK, so it’s Sasquatch, not Bigfoot, but we all know it’s the same dude. Sure, the etymology of Sasquatch is “hairy man”, but what a fun feature to work into the character – big feet. Instead, he gets Moon Boots™ from the 1980’s. “Hairy Man” – gross; “Big Feet” – fun! (”Hairy Feet” – gross and fun?).

Overall the character is kinda cool I guess – simple, Web-2.0-y vector art character. Typical coloring-book kid-friendly approach. But I really think they could have had some fun with the feet being bare – think of the marketing and branding gimmicks they could have with footprints going everywhere and such.

I suppose the furry guy could take his boots off, but then it all just kind of gets too complicated. I guess because I am a Bigfoot fan, this hits a bit closer to home. I shouldn’t complain – it’s pretty neat that a Cryptid is getting such prominent placement in such an international event.

by George Coghill -
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