Miga, Quatchi, Sumi and Mukmuk

From left to right: Sumi, Quatchi, and Miga.

2010 Winter Olympics
Bid process Venues Mascots Concerns and controversies Torch relay (route) Opening ceremony (flag bearers) Medal table (medalists) Event calendar Chronological summary Closing ceremony Dave Pierce (music director) Paralympics (medal table)
IOC · COC · VANOC

2010 Winter Paralympics
Bid process Venues Mascot Torch relay Opening ceremony (flag bearers) Medal table (medalists) Event calendar Closing ceremony Olympics (medal table)
IPC · CPC · VANOC

The mascots for the 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2010 Winter Paralympics were Miga and Quatchi, and Sumi respectively, who had a "sidekick", Mukmuk. The four mascots were introduced on November 27, 2007.^[1] They were designed by the Canadian and American duo, Meomi Design. It was the first time 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.^[2] So the mascot artist was selected through a competition.^[3][4][5]

Through the process where 177 professionals around the world were submitted their ideas, five were made final. In December 2006, VANOC eventually selected concepts from Meomi Design.^[6][7] Formed in 2002, Meomi is a group of Vicki Wong, a Vancouver-born Canadian of Chinese descent who worked in graphic and web design, and Michael Murphy, now lives in Los Angeles, who worked in design and motion graphics.^[8] 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 Meomi's character drawing styles "are more closely related to Urban Vinyl [...]".^[9]

After the selection, Meomi provided more than 20 different concepts to VANOC, and three concepts were selected.^[10] The conception of the mascots were 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.^[10] An animated video by Buck, a design studio based in New York and Los Angeles, with music provided by Kid Koala was screened on the first public presentation of the mascots.^[11][12] Details about mascots were kept secret until November 27, 2007 when they were unveiled to the public.^[13]

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 represents the first time that the Olympic and Paralympic mascots were introduced at the same time. The mascots are:

• Miga - A mythical sea bear, part orca and part kermode bear living off the coast of Vancouver Island. She loves to surf in the summer, especially in Tofino, and snowboard in the winter. Her green scarf was given to her by Mukmuk.
• Quatchi - A sasquatch. He comes from the mysterious forests of Canada, wears blue earmuffs, and dreams of being a hockey goalie. He loves to travel and learn about the regional dances and cuisines of every place he visits. He carries his camera around his neck wherever he goes.
• Sumi - An animal guardian spirit with the wings of the Thunderbird and legs of a black bear who wears an orca-like hat in an artistic style of Haida people. He lives in the mountains of British Columbia and is a passionate environmentalist. His name comes from the Salish word "sumesh," meaning "guardian spirit."
• Mukmuk - A Vancouver Island marmot described as "small and friendly", Mukmuk is not an official mascot but acts as their sidekick. As of December 2008 he has joined the other mascots as a plush toy, but not yet a life-size mascot costume. His name comes from the Chinuk Wawa word "muckamuck," meaning "food" or "to eat", because of his large appetite.

Miga and Quatchi are mascots for the Olympic Games, while Sumi is the mascot for the Paralympic Games.^[14] Aside of three mascots, Mukmuk is their designated "sidekick". Thus, there are two Olympic mascots and one Paralympic mascot as well as one "sidekick". They made a cameo appearance in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.

• 

  Miga

• 

  Life-sized Miga

• 

  Life-sized Quatchi

• 

  Sumi

• 

  Life-sized Sumi

• 

  Mukmuk

• 

  Life-sized Quatchi, Miga and Sumi all together

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 24 Hours' "Top 5" for the Olympic games.^[15]

Criticism and image confusion

When the mascots were unveiled, there were initial concerns over whether they were effective at representing British Columbia and Canada.^[10]

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^[16] – 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."^[17] 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 the images for a front page story about the then-upcoming Olympics, published on February 4, 2010.^[18] Similarly, the Dutch television guide Avrobode^[19] used one of the images.

After the games

In compliance with the strict orders of the International Olympic Committee, 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.^[20]

See also

• Chimera
• Orca
• Thunderbird (mythology)
• Black bear
• Bigfoot
• Bigfoot in popular culture
• Vancouver Island Marmot
• Olympic mascots
• Paralympic mascots

References

1. ^ "2010 Vancouver Olympics' mascots inspired by First Nations creatures". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. November 27, 2007. http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2007/11/27/bc-mascot.html. Retrieved 2007-11-27. 
2. ^ "Vancouver Olympic emblem comes under fire". CBC News. April 27, 2005. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2005/04/26/Olympiclogo0426.html. 
3. ^ http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-news/n/news/mascot-mystery-%E2%80%93-who-will-design-the-2010-games-mascot-_36558Vi.html
4. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20061016192507/http://www.vancouver2010.com/resources/mascot/index.html
5. ^ http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-news/n/news/designers-from-around-the-world-seek-to-create-official-2010-olympic-and-paralympic-games-mascot(s)_36438vD.html
6. ^ http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-news/n/news/feature-stories/the-adventures-of-quatchi--miga-and-sumi-begin-in-earnest_39288Ne.html
7. ^ http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20071128_101039_8012
8. ^ http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3753023
9. ^ "Recent Posts". CNN. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2010/blog/2010/02/24/olympic-design-canadas-mascots/. 
10. ^ ^{a b c} http://www.canada.com/globaltv/national/story.html?id=e667e27b-924a-47e0-83e4-c2fd90a557b3&k=10951
11. ^ http://ae.tutsplus.com/articles/inspiration/interview-with-buck-art-director-christopher-lee/
12. ^ http://buck.tv/library/vanoc-2010
13. ^ "Mascots unveiled for Vancouver Olympic Games". CTV. November 27, 2007. http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20071127/vancouver_mascot_071127/. 
14. ^ Lee, Jeff (November 27, 2007), "2010 Olympic mascots unveiled" (^{[dead link]}), The Vancouver Sun, http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=e667e27b-924a-47e0-83e4-c2fd90a557b3&k=10951 
15. ^ "Top 5" (^{[dead link]}), 24 Hours, February 25, 2010, http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/PDF/2008/05/01/022510.pdf 
16. ^ "Gallery". SpikeComix.com. http://www.spikecomix.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=3&pos=2. Retrieved 2010-08-03. 
17. ^ Michael R. Barrick (February 10, 2010). "A "Press Kit" of Sorts". LiveJournal. http://mbarrick.livejournal.com/897958.html. Retrieved October 18, 2010. 
18. ^ Matthew Moore (8 February 2010). "Polish newspaper claims 'Pedobear' is 2010 Vancouver Olympic mascot". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7187027/Polish-newspaper-claims-Pedobear-is-2010-Vancouver-Olympic-mascot.html. Retrieved October 18, 2010. 
19. ^ Ook AVRO in de fout met Pedobear on Geenstijl, published February 11, 2010
20. ^ http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/Mascots+Quatchi+Sumi+Miga+will+never+animated+again/3002101/story.html

External links

• Official Mascots page
• Official Mascots Merchandise
• 2010 Winter Olympics Press Release on the Mascots (November 26, 2007)
• Meomi Design - Designers of mascots
• zinc Roe Design microsite of the mascots

Preceded by The Fuwa	Olympic mascot Miga, Quatchi and Mukmuk Vancouver 2010	Succeeded by Wenlock
Preceded by Fu Niu LeLe	Paralympic mascot Sumi and Mukmuk Vancouver 2010	Succeeded by Mandeville