Every Olympic & Paralympic Mascot

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  • Опубліковано 22 гру 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 3 тис.

  • @AmaranthWitch
    @AmaranthWitch Рік тому +1442

    i am delighted that "here he is with a gun" is an important part of every mascot, it tickles me, thank you

    • @Laurabeck329
      @Laurabeck329 Рік тому +52

      Except Vučko, he is a good boy and he wouldn't shoot anybody

    • @emimonsterlicious
      @emimonsterlicious Рік тому +16

      "And here's Desert Bus with a gun!"

    • @TheTobeyGaming
      @TheTobeyGaming Рік тому +12

      This was such a good running gag, because of course they have guns, but like... yeah 😅

    • @klondikefive
      @klondikefive Рік тому +6

      This has been popping into mind at random times since watching this video and makes me laugh every time.

    • @fearanarchy
      @fearanarchy Рік тому +4

      I mean, if it was a cannon...
      No, it's just a marksman's rifle

  • @jeffreydenenberg7101
    @jeffreydenenberg7101 Рік тому +1261

    funniest parts of the whole video is graham just saying "and heres [character] with a gun", gets me every time

    • @jessesaunders7043
      @jessesaunders7043 Рік тому +44

      with aGUN

    • @jamesstewart7784
      @jamesstewart7784 Рік тому +52

      The sudden "here's the mascot with a shotgun" got me the most.

    • @jonathanrobles7377
      @jonathanrobles7377 Рік тому +23

      I've now imagined what a stylized shooter with the mascots would look like with all these "x character with gun" designs

    • @mrdelirious8706
      @mrdelirious8706 Рік тому +45

      The video is like 80 minutes long, so you maybe think the joke will soon become less funny.
      Nope. Killer every time.

    • @iEcilpse
      @iEcilpse Рік тому +22

      i was doing the dishes while watching a chunk of this and ALWAYS had to look over IMMEDIATELY when “and here’s (character) with a gun” was said. it’s important information

  • @dantesdiscoinfernolol
    @dantesdiscoinfernolol Рік тому +213

    If the Snowlets have 10 fans, I am one of them
    If the Snowlets have 2 fans, I am one of them
    If the Snowlets have one fan, it is me
    If the Snowlets have no fans, I am dead
    Long live the Snowlets

    • @Thegamergod7444
      @Thegamergod7444 4 місяці тому +5

      If miga has 10 fans, I'm one of them.
      If miga has 2 fans, I'm one of them.
      If miga has 1 fan, it's me.
      If miga has no fans, I'm dead.
      It's that comment but miga

    • @ibisbill2335
      @ibisbill2335 4 місяці тому +4

      PREACH!!! SNOWLETS SWEEP!!!

    • @gabrielchee8470
      @gabrielchee8470 4 місяці тому +1

      Im just watching to see if lyo and merly made it

    • @gabrielchee8470
      @gabrielchee8470 4 місяці тому +2

      ​@@ibisbill2335I think i liked them the instant i realized theyre essentially rowlets ancestors design wise.
      And rowlets my favorite Pokemon

  • @LazurBeemz
    @LazurBeemz Рік тому +1967

    Seeing Misha and Cobi together was like watching the Avengers for the first time

    • @GrahamStarkVlogs
      @GrahamStarkVlogs  Рік тому +248

      Right??

    • @TimelordRick
      @TimelordRick Рік тому +99

      I legit thought there were gonna be more of them, like Hodori, and Sam Eagle were about to join in or something

    • @yeeoof1995
      @yeeoof1995 Рік тому +68

      would be a long shot nowadays but imagine some future olympic mascots being in some sorta officially commissioned animation where the mascots meet past ones

    • @StartimerZ
      @StartimerZ Рік тому +14

      @@yeeoof1995 I would love that It would be wholsome

    • @mirelle_mojena
      @mirelle_mojena Рік тому +1

      NAH LITERALLY

  • @EikoandMog
    @EikoandMog Рік тому +638

    Thank you for including Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat. Absolutely vital part of the team. Roy and HG were comedians that poked fun at the culture of Sport in Australia and their commentary of the grand finals, while useless for actually following the game made them a household name. Their satirical coverage of the 2000 Olympics called "The Dream" is widely considered a magnum opus and a fond memory of the games and was also widely distributed to all nations, not just Australia! To this day, the official mascots are known as "Olly, Millie and Dickhead".
    I would also like to mention that Fatso was displayed lovingly at the Olympic Park until stolen in 2010.

    • @xGamermonkeyx
      @xGamermonkeyx Рік тому +47

      I cannot stress enough how wild it was seeing these characters again. I was in grade 4 I think when the Olympics were on, and I remember watching Roy and HG's show on 7 with my family.
      Being reminded of Fatso while watching this video sent me into a solid ten minute spiral of hysterical laughter, like a core memory was unlocked from my childhood, and while I love him as what he really is; an Australian critique of the safe, digestible design by committee mascots of the Olympics in general and a lampoon on the over-advertised and corporatized nature of the Olympics at the time, I really have to betray myself by being honest here and saying I really was just laughing at the name Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat for the whole ten minutes.

    • @TheBrainSpecialist
      @TheBrainSpecialist Рік тому +40

      "Olly, Millie, and Dickhead"
      Ah, Australia, never ever change

    • @lrgogo1517
      @lrgogo1517 Рік тому +9

      Wait, why is _Syd_ the "dickhead"? Aren't echidnae the more phallic-looking animals?

    • @xGamermonkeyx
      @xGamermonkeyx Рік тому

      @@lrgogo1517 I think because he's from/named after Sydney and it's a common gag in Australia that people from Sydney are huge dickheads.

    • @merdehappens
      @merdehappens Рік тому

      ​@@lrgogo1517 It rotated around, or whichever order they were going with when mentioning them. 'X, Y. Dickhead.'

  • @barbarasanglard3355
    @barbarasanglard3355 Рік тому +857

    As a Rio local I absolutely adored Vinicius and Tom! Vinicius would also show up during random matches dressed up as the sport they were paying and terrorize everyone, it was Hilarious. I also can't forget the core memory of Vinicius dressed up as Gisele Bündchen, they were so fun and one of my favourite memories of the games!

    • @debonidaniel
      @debonidaniel Рік тому +71

      Their behavior was based on Brazilian children who don't sit still and are curious and "a little more intelligent and uninhibited than those from the rest of the world". They also signified the good humor of all of we brazilians.

    • @hubsterheck
      @hubsterheck 8 місяців тому +47

      Im not from Brazil, but I absolutely adore Vinicius and he's my favorite Olympic mascot. I love his warm color scheme and proportions in his design

    • @Sonicfan4eva
      @Sonicfan4eva 5 місяців тому +1

      I thought Vinicius looked like a Barbie

    • @lary_uwu6027
      @lary_uwu6027 4 місяці тому +2

      I remember voting for.. i think a jaguar and i got so disappointed it didn't win i couldnt enjoy Vinicius and Tom at the time.
      Now i wish i had a plushie...

  • @0990ftn
    @0990ftn Рік тому +581

    Japanese here and boy the degree of everyone’s disappointment when they announced Miraitowa & Someity was immeasurable because most people actually preferred 1:12:39 Kitsune & Tanuki, and 1:12:42 Komainu & Shisa proposals more than Miraitowa & Someity, and the possible reason why kids chosen them was because they had superpowers (the other 4 characters didn’t…..for very obvious reasons)

    • @Hijiri_MIRACHION
      @Hijiri_MIRACHION Рік тому +28

      I certainly liked Komainu & Shisa as well, Komainu especially. I too was there for the disappointment...

    • @6letterss
      @6letterss Рік тому

      Komainu and Shisa do look like porn bait

    • @SilverLining1
      @SilverLining1 Рік тому +46

      I wonder if the vote was split. I personally love komainu and shisa, but honestly miraitowa and someity aren't bad. Just inferior

    • @lrgogo1517
      @lrgogo1517 Рік тому +42

      I had this phase of being an Olympics fanatic that both started and ended around Rio season. It was arguably the first Olympiad I actively followed, and I became enamored with all the presentational aspects - the logos, the mascots, the field decorations, the ceremonies... And I was hyped for the future Olympiad in Japan, for reasons that would double the length of this comment. But one day, I discovered that the future (not yet named) mascots for that event, which I was very so-so on, was in competition for the role with... a kitsune and a tanuki. *I FREAKING LOVE TANUKIS* (kitsune are also cool). How could Japan's collective youth fail me so hard? Driven to such despair, I vowed to quit consuming info on the Olympics, and ignore the (originally slated for) 2020 event.
      Thankfully, my relationship with Tokyo 20“20” was mended when Google's Doodle team of all people dropped an entire video game celebrating the event, and delivered justice for the noble tanuki, and the komainu, and a bunch of other critters from JPN folklore.

    • @lrgogo1517
      @lrgogo1517 Рік тому +10

      Not sure what these "very obvious reasons" are supposed to be. Isn't the shared trait between kitsune and tanuki that they have the _power_ to change into things?

  • @campbellolney9753
    @campbellolney9753 Рік тому +1148

    I just want "Graphic Design with Graham" to be a regular (or at least semi-regular/when he has time and interest in whatever) thing

    • @TehFrenchy29
      @TehFrenchy29 Рік тому +52

      Irregularly recurring*
      * As often and involved as is feasible within Graham's willingness and ability to do so
      **Because "Graham just doesn't feel like it" is a perfectly reasonable and more than sufficient justification for not doing another whether or not it will continue at some point in the future, but we clearly enjoy these and it seems generally like G does as well so hopefully they do

    • @campbellolney9753
      @campbellolney9753 Рік тому +6

      ​@@TehFrenchy29 yeah, that's basically what I was trying to say, thank you for putting my words together more accurately 😂

    • @MarsIsDead86
      @MarsIsDead86 Рік тому

      Agreed!!!

    • @logank9177
      @logank9177 Рік тому +2

      Absolutely, even if it's not Olympic related in the future, more stuff like this would be great!

    • @keab42
      @keab42 Рік тому +7

      Graham's Font Feels

  • @elliottchrist
    @elliottchrist Рік тому +185

    56:08: a character named Coal who doesn’t like pollution, which is like a character named Uranium who doesn’t like radiation poisoning. “We’re all trying to find the guy who did this.”

  • @barbarasanglard3355
    @barbarasanglard3355 Рік тому +1140

    My mom was just a little kid in Brazil in 1980 and she remembers how she loved Misha and was sad in the closing ceremony when he shed a tear

    • @cerdgold225
      @cerdgold225 Рік тому +107

      Brazilian here, I also remember my mom talking about Misha in every olympics whenever they showed the mascots, I guess it really resonated with people, huh?

    • @christopher9727
      @christopher9727 Рік тому

      Don't follow the worldly trends follow Jesus Christ today
      There is no security or hope with out Jesus Christ in this world come and repent of all sins today
      Today is the day of salvation come to the loving savior Today repent and do not go to hell
      Come to Jesus Christ today
      Jesus Christ is only way to heaven
      Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void
      Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today
      Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today
      John 3:16-21
      16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
      Mark 1.15
      15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
      2 Peter 3:9
      The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
      Hebrews 11:6
      6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
      Jesus

    • @debonidaniel
      @debonidaniel Рік тому +2

      Are you Ana Paula's volleyball player daughter ?

    • @the-np4mr
      @the-np4mr Рік тому +2

      And then everyone clapped

    • @driveasandwich6734
      @driveasandwich6734 Рік тому +56

      @@the-np4mrthere is nothing unbelievable about this comment

  • @adiuntesserande6893
    @adiuntesserande6893 Рік тому +2436

    Graham, you realize that you’ve turned yourself into quite likely the world’s foremost expert on the topic of all things Olympic-but-not-sports, right?

    • @andrewsparkes6275
      @andrewsparkes6275 Рік тому +122

      He's filled up his brain so much with that stuff, he quite literally forgot he HAD CANCER.

    • @F66x
      @F66x Рік тому

      @@andrewsparkes6275 We found the cure. Rev up those wiki articles.

    • @danquaylesitsspeltpotatoe8307
      @danquaylesitsspeltpotatoe8307 Рік тому +1

      Para olympics are evil they discriminate against little people banning them!

    • @mike04574
      @mike04574 Рік тому +14

      did he forget helicopters existed during munich olympics

    • @tuney7319
      @tuney7319 Рік тому +12

      Tbf everything about the olympics except for the sports themselves are interesting

  • @SailorFailures
    @SailorFailures Рік тому +423

    Just when I thought it had all blown over...
    Part of the reason Lizzy may have been more popular than the Olympics mascots is because the Australian Paralympics Committee operates completely independently from the Olympics Committee, including their marketing. So the Paralympics marketing department may have simply spearheaded a more successful advertising campaign for Lizzy in the 2000s than the Olympics Committee did. When I worked on the 2020-2021 Australian mascot redesigns, the Paralympics Committe and Lizzy weren't brought on until after I had already been working on the Hockey & Surfing Kangaroo Olympic mascots for a while, because the committees communicated separately, and consequently the scope of Lizzy's redesign/branding was different.
    I really felt like the Australian Paralympics Committee genuinely loved Lizzy and her connection with the Aussie public - she's a really fun mascot and it was an honour to work with her :)

    • @hellowatsupo
      @hellowatsupo Рік тому +25

      I feel like this needs to be pinned. I love it when I see people in the video also in the comments

    • @debonidaniel
      @debonidaniel Рік тому +8

      That's not exactly what you said. In Sydney there were two separate Organizing Committees. However, everything that was managed in common was unified. Two different marketing strategies were developed. While the licensed products for the Olympics were dedicated to stores and supermarkets " premium" and were more expensive. Those for the Paralympics went to more popular and suburban markets as a way of getting the population involved with the Paralympic Games, which were unknown to around 85% of the Australian population. They were even the same suppliers and manufacturers, but in smaller quantities and more cheaper in an action to envolve better the population with the Paralympic Spirit. However, Australians identified more with Lizzie personality, than with the Olympic mascots. While products with Lizzie with the Olivia Newton-John's voice sold like hotcakes, those with Olympic mascots dried up.

  • @paulmooney2833
    @paulmooney2833 Рік тому +416

    I love Graham's delivery of GUN. Made me giggle every time.

    • @calebmarmon1310
      @calebmarmon1310 Рік тому

      My reaction is a split-second instinct to shout “Duck!” before giggling.

  • @WFierce
    @WFierce Рік тому +697

    What makes Roni's soulless dead eyes more terrifying is the apparent confidence he has with a gun.

    • @kigut7443
      @kigut7443 Рік тому +89

      oh roni has definitely taken a life. no doubt about it

    • @juliamavroidi8601
      @juliamavroidi8601 Рік тому +53

      He's always terrified EXCEPT when he's holding a gun. Just what I want at a mass event!

    • @red-trinity7390
      @red-trinity7390 Рік тому +10

      “yo can’t believe I have a gun.”

    • @Wohlfe
      @Wohlfe Рік тому +9

      Pretty sure he's a Vietnam vet with severe PTSD

    • @WFierce
      @WFierce Рік тому +7

      @@Wohlfe Roni: First Blood?

  • @ThirdCultureChinese
    @ThirdCultureChinese Рік тому +51

    As someone who lived in China during the 2008 Olympics, I, together with millions other Chinese kids at that time, have special ties with the Fuwa's, as the years leading up to the Games witnessed some rather rough times, yet we overcame the obstacles and welcomed the world. Fuwa embodied the optimism of that special year. I remember how hyped we all were, even for those who did not live in Beijing (like me, who lived in Shanghai). We learned English phrases that would help us assist foreigners, kept our streets clean, and (us kids) showed best effort in school (as if it mattered at all LOL). To this day, the 福娃 (Fuwa in Chinese characters) bring me waves of nostalgia and warmth.
    Oh btw, while Izzy from Atlanta might be the most memed mascot in the West, 砳砳 Lele (the mascot of Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympics) was our Chinese Izzy. I was no longer living in China at that time but from what I saw on Chinese social media, that little cr*ckhead turned the internet into a wildfire.

  • @brettcaldwell3318
    @brettcaldwell3318 Рік тому +621

    Love the "looks like it could have been done better by a six year old" followed by having Penelope provide an actual drawing was great.

    • @IdentifiantE.S
      @IdentifiantE.S Рік тому +7

      It was really cool

    • @magentasky234
      @magentasky234 Рік тому +7

      27:57 *traumatic flashbacks*

    • @yeeoof1995
      @yeeoof1995 Рік тому +9

      the eyes being different sizes added a LOT of personality to them!

  • @Tajessa
    @Tajessa Рік тому +216

    Hello, no one has asked for more Fatso lore and here it is anyway:
    Fatso was called "the Battlers' Prince" for reasons, there is a statue of Fatso outside the Sydney Olympic Park which has been repeatedly stolen, and yes, the Australian Olympic Committee had NO SENSE OF HUMOUR about it which just made Fatso more popular.
    Thank you Graham, I enjoyed the heck out of this!

    • @konpbitz2913
      @konpbitz2913 4 місяці тому

      It's fun to imagine that the local news keep reporting that fatso got stolen for the 12th time this week

  • @M75248
    @M75248 Рік тому +53

    "Cobi, the greatest mascot
    He lives next to the sea in Barcelona"
    I remember watching Cobi's
    cartoon when I was a kid! I didn't know Petra was the paralympics' mascot tho.

  • @TheThundercow
    @TheThundercow Рік тому +1274

    I think it's actually very cute that Lillehammer just had children representing every part of Norway instead of a walkaround.

    • @e5h8x3
      @e5h8x3 Рік тому +18

      King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

    • @christopher9727
      @christopher9727 Рік тому

      Only Jesus Christ blood can cleanse us of are sins come to Jesus Christ today
      Romans 6:23
      For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
      Come to Jesus Christ today
      Jesus Christ is only way to heaven
      Repent and follow him today seek his heart Jesus Christ can fill the emptiness he can fill the void.
      The Holy Spirit can lead you guide and confort you through it all
      Heaven and hell is real cone to the loving savior today
      Today is the day of salvation tomorrow might be to late come to the loving savior today
      John 3:16-21
      16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
      Mark 1.15
      15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
      2 Peter 3:9
      The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
      Hebrews 11:6
      6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
      Jesus

    • @JrIcify
      @JrIcify Рік тому +30

      They justified the whole thing with that move

    • @richarddavis8863
      @richarddavis8863 Рік тому

      ​@@e5h8x3lol damn you just triggered a memory, I super spun out girl at a festival told me I should check that band out, they good?

    • @the-np4mr
      @the-np4mr Рік тому

      I don't and think it was a federal psyop 👍

  • @Lenoh
    @Lenoh Рік тому +182

    24:55 "Voosh-ko", it's "Little Wolf" in Slovenian, which explains his singing voice; he doesn't howl, he Sarajevos!

    • @deirdregibbons5609
      @deirdregibbons5609 Рік тому +15

      Thanks for that. I remember watching the 1984 Winter Olympics on TV s a kid and really liking the idea of Vučko as a mascot. I liked that he looked a bit fierce but was actually very friendly. I read later on that the Olympic planners wanted to change the fairy tale depiction of wolves as scary villains and show children that Vučko was a friendly and playful wolf.

  • @YuBeace
    @YuBeace Рік тому +21

    I love how I heard the woman sing at 16:48 and then wondered "Hm, if that's the wife, I wonder how Schneemandl himself is going to sound." ...and boi. That's a smurf.

  • @RhJones
    @RhJones Рік тому +768

    I (British) was trying to remember the 2012 London mascot all the way through and thought it’s got to be a lion and maybe they’d do a dragon and a unicorn to include Wales and Scotland. The freaky metal creatures unlocked a memory of why so many people thought the games were going to be awful.

    • @nuttynatsu2354
      @nuttynatsu2354 Рік тому +73

      The only part of the mascot I liked was the name. The opening ceremony made up for it though

    • @melissaharris3389
      @melissaharris3389 Рік тому +79

      Big miss not using a dragon as the London 2012 mascot as a dragon is on the coat of arms for the City of London

    • @samsowden
      @samsowden Рік тому +21

      @@nuttynatsu2354 the opening ceremony was SO GOOD.

    • @TachyonKing
      @TachyonKing Рік тому +75

      Nothing speaks London like two dripping slags of molten metal forged into sentient creatures.
      Seriously what on earth was going on with London’s branding?

    • @jlofty281
      @jlofty281 Рік тому +49

      EXACTLY. I was 9 at the time and had thought the Vancouver mascots were adorable so I couldn’t wait to see what my country would do only to realize that sometimes things are bad for no reason

  • @monskiski01
    @monskiski01 Рік тому +529

    I'm *SO* happy you included Sydney's Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat... I couldn't even remember what the 'official' Sydney mascots were - but I'll never forget my, and my countries love for Fatso.

    • @Othraerir
      @Othraerir Рік тому +12

      the battler's prince :)

    • @optiquemusic6204
      @optiquemusic6204 Рік тому +3

      I'm the opposite: I forgot Fatso was a thing until he was brought up, while I still remember Syd, Millie and Ollie (along with Lizzy) after 20 years.
      Tho he's a Commonwealth Games mascot, I want to shout out Borobi, the Koala of the 2018 Gold Coast CG's. His design was cool.

  • @justlola417
    @justlola417 4 місяці тому +61

    CRIMINAL not to show Vinicius' walk-around costume and people dancing with it. It was the best part of the Rio Olympics

  • @mewr11
    @mewr11 Рік тому +467

    I have a soft spot for Millie the Echidna because I had a water bottle as a kid that was shaped like her. You're probably wondering how you make a water bottle shaped like an echidna - let me tell you, it's exactly as inconvenient as it sounds to drink from a bottle covered in yellow plastic spikes.

    • @aperson1
      @aperson1 Рік тому +38

      That didn't answer my imaginary question but thank you very much for the information nonetheless

    • @patrickmitchell9068
      @patrickmitchell9068 Рік тому +4

      God I remember those

    • @WFierce
      @WFierce Рік тому +15

      I still have my Syd the Platypus drink bottle. I don't think I ever actually used it as a drink bottle.

  • @AnimalCrosser53
    @AnimalCrosser53 Рік тому +266

    I really like the choice of Blaze as the Atlanta Paralympic mascot over Izzy. It may not be understood as such in the popular consciousness, but the phoenix IS a symbol of Atlanta. The phoenix is even on the seal of the city in order to represent the city's rebuilding and growth following the burning of the city by General Sherman in the Civil War. It seems to me a real shame that the folks designing and choosing Olympic mascots for the city seemed to think it was this unrepresentable place, when they easily could have gone for low-hanging fruit like the phoenix, the "city in a forest," or even (pun intended,) just peaches. Thanks so much for making another amazing video and I'm so glad to hear you're in better health!

    • @kigut7443
      @kigut7443 Рік тому +45

      for a paralympic mascot the phoenix is a great choice too. a powerful bird who, after falling, is fated to rise again stronger and burning brighter than ever. what a beautiful message to incorporate into the paralympics

    • @SWalkerTTU
      @SWalkerTTU Рік тому

      Maybe they should’ve just borrowed Momotarō from Japan.

  • @elliottchrist
    @elliottchrist Рік тому +259

    A few stray thoughts about Vučko (which, apparently, is pronounced "voosh-ko," and his name literally translates to "Wolfie")...
    1. As per Wikipedia - in Yugoslavian culture (like most places) the wolf was generally seen as a ferocious, villainous character - so having Vučko be a friendly, likable wolf character actually rehabilitated the image of the wolf in the public eye.
    2. It seems like, in the 1970s and early 1980s, designers were still trying to figure out whether an Olympic mascot was supposed to be more of a geometric, modernist logo like Waldi or Amik, or a fun cartoon character like Schneemandl or Misha. It looks like they tried to split the difference with Vučko, who still has those clean, geometric shapes and lines, while still maintaining the poses and facial expressions of a cartoon character (though I kind of prefer the more hand-drawn, slightly Chuck Jones-y look of the animated version).
    3. I remember seeing articles and image galleries of abandoned Olympic sites in the present day, and since the area had gone through the Bosnian War, there were plenty of pictures from Sarajevo. And there, in some places, amongst the graffiti and crumbling concrete, you can see Vučko's friendly face, happily welcoming you to the now-decaying site, like an Olympic Ozymandias. ("'I am Vučko, King of Wolves! Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and have fun!' Nothing beside remains...")
    You threw me down this rabbit hole, Graham. You did this to me. I hope you're happy.

    • @elliottchrist
      @elliottchrist Рік тому +43

      Quick addendum to that last point: not only can original, authorized images of Vučko be seen alongside the graffiti - at times, Vučko IS the graffiti. It seems that some of the vandals who came to tag the site had a soft spot for the guy, and have spraypainted their own renditions of Vučko throughout the abandoned venue - including at least one holding a spray can. Rock on, Vučko.

    • @alexfarkas3881
      @alexfarkas3881 Рік тому +15

      @@elliottchrist I so dearly wish to see these images.

    • @smoki99able
      @smoki99able Рік тому +19

      Vučko is highly underrated and the first mascot i remember as a child. There was many shorts and he could sing.

    • @enysuntra1347
      @enysuntra1347 4 місяці тому +4

      ​@@smoki99ableHis "Sarayevooo-ooo-ooo" chant IMO is an integral part of the character.
      In a documentary or awareness commercial during the air bridge to Sarayevo, they showed him chanting, and on the "ooo", they made it look as if the arm was drawn across the record, and the film broke, to make room for the perspective of a relief flight descending upon Sarayevo airport. For me, this was a VERY powerful image, having seen Vučko announcing the sports reporting during the games as a child.

    • @gabrielchee8470
      @gabrielchee8470 3 місяці тому

      ​@@smoki99ableI think for me it's probably the fuwa, though wenlock and Mandeville were the ones i probably interacted with the most

  • @onihaiena6152
    @onihaiena6152 Рік тому +176

    idk why but misha and vinicius give me joy
    having had soviet parents i understood how iconic the former was and honestly the latter gives off Adventure Time nostalgia and i just love the energy

  • @LeeAllanSpades
    @LeeAllanSpades Рік тому +480

    My high school's mascot was just a top hat with arms and legs. Not even anthropomorphized. Just a hat. Seeing the 2024 mascot brings me such joy.

    • @XxzoundsxX
      @XxzoundsxX Рік тому +8

      Lol what was team name (not the school, just the generic "vikings," "warriors" etc...) that evoked top-hat?

    • @LeeAllanSpades
      @LeeAllanSpades Рік тому +38

      @@XxzoundsxX the Hatters

    • @LordArikado
      @LordArikado Рік тому +15

      My high school's mascot didn't even have a proper mascot suit. They just dressed a dude in a cheap knight costume without even a helmet to hide his face.

    • @DrDashajacsonaleksan
      @DrDashajacsonaleksan Рік тому +3

      We were the Bethlehem stars and did not have a mascot.

    • @Gman_2009_
      @Gman_2009_ Рік тому +1

      Lmao we were a dumbass football-centric town that just used the generic bulldogs

  • @AverytheCubanAmerican
    @AverytheCubanAmerican Рік тому +104

    The thing about Izzy's special is that it debuted on August 12, 1995 on TNT and it wasn't actually discovered until December 2020, so I guess you could say Izzy was so bad that his backstory became LOST MEDIA! For whose who wanna more about the special, this Torch World is an alternate universe contained within the Olympic flame. Izzy wants to compete in the Olympics but is bullied for wanting to. Like his parents said here, he is told that Torch World citizens can't compete in the Games until a council of elders lets him under the condition that the only way he can go down to Earth to compete is if he obtains the five Olympic rings. Perseverance, Integrity, Sportsmanship, Excellence, and Brotherhood.
    By being confident that he will get them all, he earned Perseverance. He found himself in a cycling race, but admitted he cheated as he found a shortcut, which earned him Integrity. He competed in gymnastics, earning higher scores than a bully, except from one judge who was another bully in disguise. Even though this was unfair, he accepted, earning Sportsmanship. In hurdles, despite the bullies raising the hurdle heights, he still won, earning Excellence for giving his all. All the hate Izzy is getting catches up to him, and he can't do a 1v1 basketball match against a bully, stating it wasn't worth the Olympics, earning him Brotherhood in his effort to bring peace, as the elders realized the Olympics are meant to bring people of all walks of life together for the betterment of society.

    • @DasNordlicht91
      @DasNordlicht91 4 місяці тому +1

      also, in case anyone wanted to know, we don't get explanation as to *why* he's the Olympic mascot for Atlanta. We don't get something like he's sent to down to represent the magic Olympic torch realm or whatever in Atlanta.

  • @corruptdropbear
    @corruptdropbear Рік тому +1723

    I have to be honest, having a furry artist make an entire suite of redesign for the entire Australian Paralympic team, including their own gold coin, and it somehow getting approved is amazing.

    • @LexYeen
      @LexYeen Рік тому +319

      You have to admit though, New Lizzie is everything a mascot should be.
      We furries understand the assignment when it comes to character design.

    • @emilysmith2965
      @emilysmith2965 Рік тому +287

      Furry artists are great at mascot design… it doesn’t have to be saucy to be furry.

    • @IdentifiantE.S
      @IdentifiantE.S Рік тому +23

      @@emilysmith2965The problem is what people do with that 💀

    • @IAmCaligvla
      @IAmCaligvla Рік тому +42

      @@LexYeen The redesign is great... It doesn't really represent the Paralympics though.

    • @baconpantsable
      @baconpantsable Рік тому +94

      I was super confused on why Lizzie had a weird amount of muscle definition in her coin and that actually answered a lot of questions

  • @30juneJPN
    @30juneJPN Рік тому +429

    Hello. Your video appeared in my feed over here in Japan, and in defense of Miraitowa and Someity (Tokyo 2020), I wanna point out that they have an *insane* cult following 2 years after the games took place.
    There was an anniversary event in July of 2023 where fans were able to meet and greet with the two, and participants had to wait in line for free tickets to get a picture with them that were scheduled to be handed out at 1PM. They were gone by 11AM because enough fans (mostly adults, ironic considering the selection process) were already in line early and they had to give them out early to avoid heatstroke cases!
    This is a really Japanese phenomenon and because "forgettable" was your conclusion, I thought I'd just point that out. These fans are really remembering a specific aspect of the Games very fondly and with so much controversy surrounding Tokyo 2020, the mascots have really helped cement their legacy.

    • @jonathanhughes3537
      @jonathanhughes3537 Рік тому +41

      I thought that the two Tokyo mascots were the Legendary Pokemon from the next game to be released when I first saw them. I still like the design and am glad to see they have a following!

    • @BaobhanloreArt
      @BaobhanloreArt Рік тому +30

      I actually really like them! They're like chibi mecha heroes, and look like they'd make awesome nendoroids.
      Tokyo 2020 may have suffered from the pandemic but their character designs are still on point!

    • @elodee3
      @elodee3 Рік тому +12

      I don't think they're very good at all, but I'm glad some people really enjoy them

    • @dsadgegdsg4740
      @dsadgegdsg4740 Рік тому +15

      @@jonathanhughes3537 They reminded me more of Pokemon designs from the then-recent generations 5 and 6 games when I first saw them, with the strong, somewhat geometric outlines that were most heavily seen in those generations' designs. I also predicted that kids would prefer them for that same connection, so I wasn't surprised that they won.

    • @eruno_
      @eruno_ Рік тому +2

      I love them!!!

  • @zippy8250
    @zippy8250 5 місяців тому +43

    All Mascot timelines (Because its hard to find them in order)
    Los Angeles (1932): 5:35
    Tokyo (1964): 6:54
    Grenoble: 7:26
    Mexico City: 8:30
    Sapporo: 10:12
    Munich: 11:50
    Innsbruck: 14:46
    Montreal: 16:56
    Lake Placid: 17:53
    Arnheim 18:59
    Moscow: 19:49
    Sarajevo: 24:36
    Los Angeles (1984): 26:22
    New York: 26:05
    Calgary: 30:12
    Seoul: 31:46
    Albertville: 34:10
    Barcelona: 35:23
    Lillehammer: 38:38
    Atlanta: 39:48
    Nagano: 48:58
    Sydney: 51:39
    Salt Lake City: 54:48
    Athens: 56:48
    Torino: 57:49
    Beijing (2008): 58:36
    Vancouver: 1:02:23
    London: 1:05:15
    Sochi: 1:06:35
    Rio: 1:08:36
    Pyeongchang: 1:10:01
    Tokyo (2021): 1:10:49
    Beijing (2022): 1:13:50
    Paris: 1:17:10

  • @griffindor65
    @griffindor65 Рік тому +395

    When the redesigned Lizzie mascot popped up, I asked why the Olympic committee designed a fuckable mascot, and then Graham offered the obvious explanation.

    • @dracocrusher
      @dracocrusher Рік тому +111

      Yeah, my initial reaction was literally:
      1. This looks good!
      2. Holy crap, this is pure furry bait, isn't it?!
      Most mascots wish they could get the glow-up Lizzie did, just holy shit!

    • @LexYeen
      @LexYeen Рік тому +39

      furries: we're everywhere.

    • @BowserTheSecond
      @BowserTheSecond Рік тому +15

      ​@@LexYeenWe are indeed everywhere.

    • @SilverLining1
      @SilverLining1 Рік тому +15

      I love her mouth in the original design. Redesign is indeed smashable tho

    • @gungle2595
      @gungle2595 Рік тому

      @@LexYeen they're in tech, they're in the Olympic committee, wouldn't be shocked if they took over the illuminati at this point XD

  • @m_a_p
    @m_a_p Рік тому +204

    Loving this. Schneemanndl (and Sonnenweiberl) are Austrian diminutives. So more or less "little snowman" and "little sun woman"

    • @twell1984
      @twell1984 Рік тому +18

      And the utterly terrifying song lyrics thus literally mean "Little snow man, why do you have such big hands...?"

    • @ChiSbaObePcheH11
      @ChiSbaObePcheH11 Рік тому +22

      @@twell1984 continuing on with "what do you want to do with them - pinch me in the bottom?" im literally speechless

    • @juliamavroidi8601
      @juliamavroidi8601 Рік тому +3

      ​@@twell1984Is Sonnenweiberl supposed to be singing this? HER HABDS ARE JUST AS BIG!

    • @twell1984
      @twell1984 Рік тому +12

      @@juliamavroidi8601 That is not really clear. Here is everything I was able to understand: „Little snowman, why are your hands so big? What do you plan to do with that pair, pinch my rear?“
      „So I can clap louder during (unintelligible) tonight, then I will need my giant hands to make it really crack.“

    • @-._.-o-._.-
      @-._.-o-._.- Рік тому +14

      @@twell1984 The part you didn't understand is "Schneeplattln" which i guess is a pun on "Schuhplattln", a traditional dance where you slap your hands against your thighs/shoes

  • @readysetfish1299
    @readysetfish1299 4 місяці тому +52

    If Cobi has a million fans, I’m one of them
    If Cobi has 5 fans, I’m one of them
    If Cobi has 1 fan, that one is me
    If Cobi has no fans, I’m no longer alive
    If the world is against Cobi, I’m against the world

  • @the_real_Kurt_Yarish
    @the_real_Kurt_Yarish Рік тому +154

    Cobi and Petra are incredibly 90's in design in a way I can't articulate, and I love it. The Snowletts, too.

    • @the_real_Kurt_Yarish
      @the_real_Kurt_Yarish Рік тому +11

      @@Blakbox92 They do! Wish I could narrow down what to call that style beyond "90's clip art", though.

    • @y.m.or.4053
      @y.m.or.4053 Рік тому +9

      @@the_real_Kurt_Yarish I guess post modern digital screenprint art, but don't quote me on that lol

    • @the_real_Kurt_Yarish
      @the_real_Kurt_Yarish Рік тому +6

      @@y.m.or.4053 As good a name as any!

    • @burningphoneix
      @burningphoneix Рік тому +4

      They remind me of the seven up guy

    • @charityquill4965
      @charityquill4965 Рік тому +14

      they seem pretty "anti-corporate" I would say. lots of the safe or boring mascots have uniform shapes and clean lines, whereas cobi, petra, and the snowletts are very asymmetrical and a sketchy pencilled-in kind of artstyle. it gives them a lot of charm and character

  • @staffaroni09
    @staffaroni09 Рік тому +172

    Asked my korean husband about the '88 mascot and he remembered the boy and girl both by name so definitely not hodori in drag haha hosuni seemed to be most featured in a gold or jade statue set with them in wedding outfits. The two of them are even standing very tall at the entrance to the Seoul Olympic museum right now

    • @fntthesmth423
      @fntthesmth423 7 місяців тому +3

      That makes sense, but ah... a bit of a shame. Just because one wishes something were true does not make it so, though

  • @martsip
    @martsip Рік тому +65

    im russian and im in animation college rn and last week i visited a lecture by the director of Баба Яга Против (Baba Yaga is opposed) (24:02). the director is a very nice 82 yo man and is suprisingly liberal :) thanks for mentioning soviet cartoons they were a really huge part of my childhood and one of the reasons i went into animation school

    • @trudbenik
      @trudbenik Рік тому +18

      Soviet era cartoons are wild. Very creative, progressive and artistic. And like the rest of Europe, everything went to hell in the nineties.

    • @BadWebDiver
      @BadWebDiver 4 місяці тому +5

      Russia has great history of animation. I still love the Russian animated Jungle Book story! And the scifi themed animated films.

  • @FerretNoir
    @FerretNoir Рік тому +181

    I gotta say man, I am completely not interested in the Olympics at all. And yet you've managed to make me sit through about 2 hours worth of videos about it, and they've thoroughly entertained me. Nice job!

    • @GrahamStarkVlogs
      @GrahamStarkVlogs  Рік тому +22

      Thanks!

    • @SuperFlashDriver
      @SuperFlashDriver Рік тому +5

      As a person that did Special Olympics from January 2005 up until June 2014, and even getting Mario & Sonic At The Beijing Olympic Games, and heck, even played the Ham-Ham games that were related to Athens 2004 Olympics games, it's always interesting to see what sports used to occur or what events took place before, during, or after the olympics in the early part of the 20th century compared to the 21st century....But considering that Paris is going to have the summer olympics nearly 100 years later is quite a coincidence, and I wouldn't be surprised if we get another type of Chariots of Fire film in the 2080s at some point (If it doesn't, oh well, but it would be like reviving the original with a new perspective on the athletes from the 2024 games, not just the 1924 games in Paris, France).

    • @andyknapp
      @andyknapp Рік тому

      2 hours? You really rounded up there

    • @avr7120
      @avr7120 Рік тому +6

      @@andyknapp adding up this and the emblem videos its about 2 and a half hours

    • @andyknapp
      @andyknapp Рік тому +1

      @@avr7120 true

  • @calibunnyVT
    @calibunnyVT Рік тому +140

    I’m gonna be honest, as someone who didn’t know he existed until I watched this, I LOVE Izzy in a “this guy looks like the mascot for a children’s edutainment series about teaching kids about the internet” kind of way. He’s just whimsical and nonsensical enough in design that I now treasure him dearly, thank you for this gift

    • @mirelle_mojena
      @mirelle_mojena Рік тому +10

      HELL YES MORE IZZY LOVE!

    • @sedeuphadude80
      @sedeuphadude80 Рік тому +7

      Never heard of him until this video, but similar reasons. Sometimes, I like things that people don’t.

    • @charityquill4965
      @charityquill4965 Рік тому +6

      yeah that tracks pretty well, expecially considering the use of the poorly aged cgi lol

    • @izzyliberti
      @izzyliberti 4 місяці тому +1

      ok, I'm definitely biased because I'm also an Izzy from 1996, but THANK YOU for this Izzy justice!!! ✌😤

  • @itsdord
    @itsdord Рік тому +41

    The art style for Vucko is so slick, huge fan of the smooth lines and geometry.

  • @thejackscraft3472
    @thejackscraft3472 Рік тому +305

    The Beijing 2008 mascots actually make sense to me as a group of 5, since they look to at least partly be based on the 5 elements of Wuxing. Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal.

    • @sabrina-wuz-here
      @sabrina-wuz-here Рік тому +64

      they're the colours of the 5 rings as well which probably adds to it all!!

    • @richardliu5339
      @richardliu5339 Рік тому +23

      I agree with this. As a Australian-Born Chinese who was young at the time of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, and was influenced by them, I may sound biased in saying this, but Graham Stark is a bit too harsh on them.
      I believe that the fact they are supposed to be imp-like is because they're representative of China's sporting spirit in a sense. Just watch the donghua that they star in, and you'll see that they're really into the theme of the Olympics overall, with their various quirks. So five might seem much, and I'm not too against that idea, but their theming was pretty good. I do still feel bad for the artist Han Meilin, now that I learned that they went through thousands of drafts for this. But I think that they deserve praise for making the mascots of the Olympics as good as they are, from my perspective.

  • @littlewickedlaugh1216
    @littlewickedlaugh1216 Рік тому +245

    I laughed way too hard when lumpi came on screen. JUSTICE FOR LUMPI!!!

    • @AbiFranklin
      @AbiFranklin Рік тому +6

      I wonder if there was any relationship between the olympic Lumpi and Picasso's dog Lump (aka Lumpi) who was from Germany.

    • @Dong_Harvey
      @Dong_Harvey Рік тому +1

      There will never be justice for Lumpi, he didn't deserve it

    • @larrymantic2635
      @larrymantic2635 6 місяців тому +7

      Lumpi looks so blomby

  • @ernestomedina7163
    @ernestomedina7163 Рік тому +197

    Cobi is still a cultural touchstone in Barcelona life (there are tons of small grafittis of him everywhere) The olympics marked a before and after in the city and they’re regarded as a great moment in the city’s history. And (like misha) he was also released to the air on a silver boat at the closing ceremony, very pretty actually.
    Also, its funny to see him as a bullfighter, given that bullfighting is forbidden at catalonia and is a very “spanish” thing, opposite to the catalan culture

    • @cobicheese
      @cobicheese 11 місяців тому +5

      If you're talking about the graffiti that I think you're talking about, they were actually done by Mariscal himself!

    • @jamiesprinkbob
      @jamiesprinkbob 4 місяці тому +1

      this semester im studying abroad in barcelona and i cant wait to see the cobis! school starts during the paralympic games so im gonna see if i can head to paris for a couple days to watch them! i love the olympics

    • @Antonio_868
      @Antonio_868 4 місяці тому +1

      As a funny fact, there was a mascot that coexisted with him called Curro. He was the mascot of the World Exhibition held in Barcelona that same year (he is a big white bird with a colored beak, a big crest, and dot eyes).

  • @y.m.or.4053
    @y.m.or.4053 Рік тому +34

    Seriously the Paris 2024 package is SO GOOD LOOKING. I don't think branding for the games has been this good since Rio.
    The mascots are adorable, I like how the paralympian one is a bit taller and has a metal prosthetic running leg (I like that it's SPECIFICALLY a running leg instead of just a prosthetic.)

  • @LightOfZeon
    @LightOfZeon Рік тому +144

    Imagine being nine years old in 1996, living in Atlanta.. Yes, I was flooded with all the Izzy merch, as was every kid at my school.
    Edit: You're not alone, Graham. I too recall Izzy getting kidnapped. Someone would say they spotted Izzy in a crowd at a Coke party, or on top of the Swissgear pavilion. They might have had little faith in their audience, but more likely I remember it being a pretext for the 'detectives' to visit all the advertiser stalls and get a cheeky extra commercial in.

    • @Antifearn
      @Antifearn Рік тому +28

      IZZY WAS AT A COCAINE PARTY?!

    • @jonathanhughes3537
      @jonathanhughes3537 Рік тому +5

      @@Antifearn That explains the eyes.

    • @gabrielchee8470
      @gabrielchee8470 2 місяці тому

      ​@@jonathanhughes3537I kinda feel it's becuz the rings lock his eyelids down that way for some reason

  • @Jaxymann
    @Jaxymann Рік тому +100

    Misha & Cobi showing up in the 1996 Olympic cartoon was a bigger crossover than Endgame.

  • @lugnutoverjapan
    @lugnutoverjapan Рік тому +45

    Graham starting off saying nothing can beat the first mascot. Me, "oh we'll see about- WHAT A GOOD BOY!"

  • @TwinnedBanana
    @TwinnedBanana Рік тому +81

    I never thought I would hear 'Olympic mascot Sam the Eagle' and 'Hetalia' in the same context, but here we are! Also, awesome video!

    • @cipherquest3024
      @cipherquest3024 Рік тому +9

      Well the other "Sam the Eagle" probably would not be a fan of the show for not having enough America

  • @brigittesantos3260
    @brigittesantos3260 Рік тому +285

    Vinícius and Tom were kinda criticized in Brazil because of their similarities to American cartoon aesthetics...
    But in fact, they were strongly grounded in different Brazilian street art styles, which really helped them generate identification with the public.

    • @tuney7319
      @tuney7319 Рік тому +54

      That’s silly, most Brazilian cartoons are based on western aesthetics, heck most cartoons period are based on western aesthetics. Heck cabolinha the most famous Brazilian character is very clearly based on the current western comic style at the time.

    • @debonidaniel
      @debonidaniel 11 місяців тому +22

      @@tuney7319 Monica's Gang cartoons are based in japanese manga.They won more western aestestics with the time.

  • @jeffschauff4364
    @jeffschauff4364 Рік тому +279

    As a Calgarian old enough to have attended Olympic events, I loved Hidi and Howdy to bits as a kid and therefore, still do. My grandparents worked at the "Bear Cave" which coordinated their appearances and were along for much of the torch run so my bias runs strong. Here's where I pray somehow Graham reads this. When the games were over the suits were disassembled into little pieces and given to staff as a thank you. So I have a Howdy right paw. And now you have to know that there are disembodied parts of Hidy and Howdy scattered across who knows where. :D

    • @dandylionwine
      @dandylionwine Рік тому +22

      We hope that they will not one day self-animate and reassemble like the Iron Giant.
      Delighted to learn this, though. What a cool thing, to have such a tangible and historical connection between the subject and the audience. Thanks for sharing!

    • @aperson1
      @aperson1 Рік тому +16

      and this is a side quest for some adventurer in the distant future, i can tell.

    • @Dylan184m
      @Dylan184m Рік тому +1

      Epic video. Loved it

    • @nathanaelwaters2509
      @nathanaelwaters2509 Рік тому +2

      Hello fellow calgarian

    • @outistynnanyt5153
      @outistynnanyt5153 Рік тому +9

      Howdy and Hidey were drawn and quartered???

  • @snowyalice
    @snowyalice Рік тому +204

    As someone who was an Australian child who went to see the Sydney Paralympic Games, meeting Lizzie was the highlight of my time there. I still have merch with the Olympic and Paralympic mascots on it kicking around in my house. So iconic.
    EDIT: Asked my mum if she remembered Schuss (she’s French was would have been about 7 at the time of the Olympics). She very much remembered Schuss, with very fond memories.

    • @gungle2595
      @gungle2595 Рік тому +7

      I would advise against telling people that Lizzie is your favourite given the recent redesign, might seem questionably motivated

    • @transcodeshootingstar8266
      @transcodeshootingstar8266 Рік тому +10

      @@gungle2595who cares? Its not offensive or suggestive in the slightest

    • @SuperFlashDriver
      @SuperFlashDriver Рік тому

      @@transcodeshootingstar8266 Yes, but you do realize furries online do make NSFW artwork on the side right??? So keep that in mind that yes, they can do Safe For Work stuff, but they also like to do Not Safe For Work. Considering the 2000s and 2010s were a time when Furries used to do deviant artwork online, and nowadays it's exemplified by 3. Thank goodness for the safesearch/mature filter/SFW switch for every website, can't imagine not having that as an option on every art website out there.

    • @LadyLockwood92
      @LadyLockwood92 Рік тому +12

      @@SuperFlashDriver Lots of people who *aren't* Furries make nsfw art. It doesn't stop anyone from liking any other sfw art. 'Furry porn exists so you shouldn't like any furry art, regardless of content' is a weird take.

    • @SuperFlashDriver
      @SuperFlashDriver Рік тому

      @@LadyLockwood92 I did not say "Furry porn exists" only for those into anthros and such, I'm just saying that I"m not surprised many people prefer that specific mascot over the others, and thus, furry porn/art exists. So my take on it didn't make sense to you at all, my mistake...But I do admit I forgot the other end of NSFW for those not into furry porn and such. So that I had no clue, that's on me.

  • @ireallysee
    @ireallysee Рік тому +262

    Brazil loves Vinicius btw, he's seen as a funny mascot, appearing in many games and on Brazilian TV, every now and then a compilation video of his best moments in the 2016 Olympics goes viral on tiktok, the Rio Olympics was horrible for the people that lived in Rio so having at least one fond memory of Vinicius being just a silly lil mascot is really cherished

    • @vinnyfromvenus8188
      @vinnyfromvenus8188 4 місяці тому +3

      why was the olympics bad for the people?

    • @kidrinke
      @kidrinke 4 місяці тому +26

      @@vinnyfromvenus8188 idk if it was horrible, but it surely was not good, the government invested a shit ton of money to hold the games, money the population needed, and wll, it was very successful, the games were very good, but to this day, a lot of structural parts of the olympivs were simply abandoned, not repurpoused, not renovated and still used as sports training, simpley abandoned

    • @byejesper
      @byejesper 4 місяці тому

      @@vinnyfromvenus8188 the games were, mostly, horribly timed. Brazil went through political unrest at the time, we just held the World Cup and spent a LOT of money on that that ended up not being well spent, which undermined the government's popularity. Long story short, the first ever female president in the history of the country got impeached and was replaced by her VP (from a different party) less than a month after the olympics were held here. wasn't fun lmao

    • @julianaarau
      @julianaarau 4 місяці тому

      ​@@vinnyfromvenus8188 is just some people been stupidy. We love the games. Was a amanzing experience

    • @julianaarau
      @julianaarau 4 місяці тому +3

      ​@@vinnyfromvenus8188 was not. He is just been dramatic

  • @Harkzoan
    @Harkzoan Рік тому +136

    I'm loving how 'and then Japan' happens surprisingly more than the number of games they held. Also thanks Future-Past Graham!

    • @dragonbretheren
      @dragonbretheren Рік тому +32

      You can't tell Japan to NOT go wild with mascots. It's a physical impossibility for them.

    • @nibblitman
      @nibblitman Рік тому +12

      Everything in Japan is mascoted. Towns, Prefectures, Schools, Companies, Fruit, it goes on forever.

    • @gabrielchee8470
      @gabrielchee8470 3 місяці тому

      ​@@dragonbretherenI guess that explains why miraitowa and Someity still appear from time to time.
      Poor snowlets and parabbit tho (especially the latter since I think it's gonna be impossible to hunt down media of that)

  • @cs3417
    @cs3417 Рік тому +50

    Ok, needed to check on the 1972 marathon route. They actually did a rerun of the same route for the Isar (Munich's big river) Marathan 2022 because of the 50th birthday of the games. Found an image of the route immediately by searching for "1972 München Olympia Marathon Strecke" (1972 Munich Olympics Marathon route). Should be the first picture. As you said, why? Fun though. Thanks for this fun trivia. Now continuing with the video. Thanks Graham as always for your work. Love and energy from just a bit east of Waldi's butt on the map ;)

  • @MrLoaded2012
    @MrLoaded2012 9 місяців тому +8

    I was a kid when Cobi was revealed as the Olympic mascot and I perfectly remember the controversy since almost everyone found it hideous. In fact, Javier Mariscal, the author, grew increasingly defensive amid the criticism...Funny thing, it ended up growing on the general public and I dare say it is very fondly remembered nowadays. Thanks for the video, I hope you're doing OK with your recovery.

    • @Mario_N64
      @Mario_N64 5 місяців тому +1

      It took some time to understand Cobi. Once I studied cubism he grew on me.

  • @Peronioz
    @Peronioz Рік тому +129

    HOLY CRAP when you started the Cobi Troupe globetrotter experience with Brazil's version I got such a wild whiplash because BKS (the studio that did the brazilian version) is where my uncle worked!
    He did most of the text translation and localization at the time since the 60s!
    He worked in Felix the Cat, Flintstones, Jetsons, Tom and Jerry, all that stuff.
    He always brought home some memorabilia (mostly plushies) of the stuff he worked on, so I have this weird dog in a wardrobe just... sitting there. And I only connected the plushie with the mascot when I heard the theme song, because of how familiar it was.

    • @Mateus_Carvalho
      @Mateus_Carvalho Рік тому +5

      Yeah, that BKS call just screams nostalgia. I think I remember catching stuff they dubbed as a little kid with my aunt watching the state channel.
      Were they the ones who did Madeline?

    • @mirelle_mojena
      @mirelle_mojena Рік тому +1

      whoaa that's incredible!

  • @BikoFactory
    @BikoFactory Рік тому +59

    36:27 "Now unlike Cobi, who is a sheep dog, Petra is a girl with no arms."
    Why is this sentence so funny

  • @kurinthekitty6842
    @kurinthekitty6842 10 місяців тому +50

    As of this morning
    The Mascots for the next winter olympics have been announced
    There 2 minks named Tina & Milo

  • @ahuman6901
    @ahuman6901 Рік тому +160

    Not sure why the 2002 flash animation was so charming to me, it’s so nostalgic for some reason.

    • @SuperFlashDriver
      @SuperFlashDriver Рік тому

      Believe it or not, in the late 90s early 2000s adobe introduced the Adobe Flash Player to compete with I believe was Apple's Quicktime Player in the late 1990s. Shockwave Player was made by Macromedia, so you were either a macromedia shockwave player type of person, a Quicktime Player type of video user, or Adobe Flash Player type of user. Some videos on theme park websites either chose Adobe Flash Player, Shockwave Player, or Quicktime Player for their websites that have videos you can stream through the website (or on a separate window player), or it would play embedded in a programmed window the coders did in the late 90s early 2000s. Believe me, theme park, video game, and many multimedia companies all used one of those three at some point in the mid to late 90s, eventually adobe bought shockwave player once Macromedia got discontinued or went bankrupt. But sometimes when Adobe's Shockwave or Flash Player didn't work, I used to use Apple's Quicktime Player function if the shockwave player wasn't working for say a Front POV of Talon The Grip of Fear or Hercules, or heck, even Cedar Point with Blue Streak, Gemini, Magnum XL-200, MIllennium Force, Top Thrill Dragster, etc. All of those back in the 2000s and late 1990s all used Quicktime Player or Adobe's Shockwave/Macromedia Shockwave Player, or Adobe Flash Player up until it's discontinuation in the early to mid 2010s, and later shut off on January 1st, 2022.
      So yeah, I'm also nostalgic for Shockwave/Flash/Quicktime Players that you would separately install on Windows 98/2000/XP back in the day. Heck, if you had a Macbook or even an iMac, Quicktime Player was automatically installed upon installing the Mac OS X back in the day (which were 10.0 to 10.3 in the early 2000s up until Maverick in 2012).

    • @staysterling
      @staysterling Рік тому +7

      Real early Neopets energy

    • @Raymaniak
      @Raymaniak 2 місяці тому +1

      It is somewhat nostalgic, but for me the most noticable part is the music. I don't know why, but some music tonations seem really sad and wistful to me, unlike most people and often seemingly the composers. Can't shake the feeling. The music in this animation, particularly the middle part where they go down the slope, has that quality - the sounds feel in place for something deeply melancholic, like themes of aging and loss. Very surreal with the visuals.
      If anyone reads this and feels the same way please let me know I'm not crazy

  • @ENNEN420
    @ENNEN420 Рік тому +44

    Former Paralympics Committee member here! In the 90’s I was actually the man responsible for the oversight of the 1999 Paralympics Mascot creation. The original mascot’s name was Sally the Serval! She was designed as an amputee with a prosthetic foot. The kind amputee athletes used. She was married to another Serval named Sam who ran an upscale cigar and liquor store in Compton by day, and Isreali relief charity by night.
    Hope this was interesting to you guys!

    • @dsadgegdsg4740
      @dsadgegdsg4740 Рік тому

      -Sugoi!-

    • @Dreamconfedi
      @Dreamconfedi Рік тому +2

      You're a complete liar. There's no way a man, who's likely over 40, would have chosen to have the channel art or videos of a meme-y Discord kid.

  • @SupremeLeaderKimJong-un
    @SupremeLeaderKimJong-un Рік тому +54

    It was more than just a threat at Atlanta, it killed two and injured over a hundred. Here's more info on Hodori: Hodori was also the 1986 Asian Games mascot! The Amur tiger was historically found across Korea, though today their range is mostly just in the Russian Far East. Tigers are important in Korean culture. Korea is known as the land of tigers because Korea is said to resemble one! In the myth of Dangun, the founder of Gojoseon, a bear and a tiger wished to become human beings. The bear turned into a woman by observing the commandments to eat only mugwort and garlic for 100 days in a cave, but the tiger could not endure the ordeal and ran off, failing to realize its wish. The bear gave birth to Dangun.
    The Sangmo hat is an ancient hat. The origin of it can be found in the history of the jeon-lip. Jeonp-lip is a black cap of the sangmo. The origin of the jeon-lip is the jeolpung on the head. Jeolpung is the basic type of crown cap of the Korean Three Kingdoms Period, and used various ornaments such as flowers, branches, and bird feathers to represent the region and its identity. The old style of sangmo can be found in the mural paintings of Goguryeo tombs which adorn the feathers of birds on soldiers' heads.

    • @Dong_Harvey
      @Dong_Harvey Рік тому

      @SupremeLeaderKimJongUn Thanks Supreme-Leader Kim Jong-Un, your impressive knowledge of Korean history is always so very immaculate and well received.
      Even more interesting is how you at so well versed in the legacy of Atlanta terrorism!

  • @GustavoFernandesKing
    @GustavoFernandesKing Рік тому +102

    As a brazilian I have to say that winter Olympics is a thing I always get surprised when I am remember of its existence.

    • @michellecavalcante5883
      @michellecavalcante5883 Рік тому +26

      I guess it does not help the fact that when what they call "Summer Olympics" happens it is winter here in Brazil 😆😆😆

    • @GustavoFernandesKing
      @GustavoFernandesKing Рік тому +24

      @@michellecavalcante5883 and in Brazil we call the Summer Olympics. just The Olympics

    • @michellecavalcante5883
      @michellecavalcante5883 Рік тому +1

      @@GustavoFernandesKing true

  • @NathanBeatty
    @NathanBeatty Рік тому +75

    I heard the voices of Izzy’s parents and said, “I know those voices!! Tress MacNeill and Rob Paulsen!” Then you went ahead and confirmed it. Thank you for keeping me from having to look it up!

  • @issanghessi5661
    @issanghessi5661 Рік тому +10

    fun fact about petra! shes actually based on an artist named lorenza böttner, a friend of mariscal! böttner even appeared as petra in the opening and closing ceremony

  • @Vontyak
    @Vontyak Рік тому +168

    It’s incredible to me that so many of these mascots exist in a connected universe. The MCU, the Mascot Cinematic Universe!

    • @ben-chan420
      @ben-chan420 Рік тому +13

      Not just that, thanks to Misha the Bear's comic with Mickey Mouse they're also all tied into the Disney universe too lmao

    • @emilyoflynn
      @emilyoflynn Рік тому +6

      i would totally imagine athena and phevos meeting up with wenlock and mandeville

    • @OM19_MO79
      @OM19_MO79 Рік тому +2

      I’m glad the 2010s are on their way out, that whole cinematic shared whatever is finally becoming tiresome and cringy.

    • @anindhitakiranaisa5815
      @anindhitakiranaisa5815 3 місяці тому

      Qatar fifa mascot event make huge universe of maskot.

  • @pytawidmo
    @pytawidmo Рік тому +140

    Regarding the Sochi naming conventions - to be fair, some of the previous mascots also had similar names, just not translated.
    For example Vučko means "a wolf cub", the lovable Misha is just "Mike" but that's also used as a colloquial name for "a bear" (often similar in use to the American "Teddy bear").

    • @SQUIZZLER24
      @SQUIZZLER24 Рік тому +5

      As a little aside, vučko is pronounced “vuchko”, right?

    • @heididavison816
      @heididavison816 Рік тому

      @@SQUIZZLER24I was thinking that too with the little mark above the letter c!

    • @midloran
      @midloran Рік тому

      I was looking for this comment, you gained my like.

    • @brendaneichler5244
      @brendaneichler5244 Рік тому +3

      To be fair, Teddy Bears were named after a very specific man.

    • @MadameChristie
      @MadameChristie 6 місяців тому

      Closer to Voochko. ​@@SQUIZZLER24

  • @tottallyok
    @tottallyok Рік тому +15

    I am absolutely obsessed with the Snowlets and their incompetence at sports

  • @Kramburger
    @Kramburger Рік тому +26

    If you're wondering why the Sydney Olympic mascots didn't feature a Kangaroo, it's (probably) because the Mascot for the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne was Matilda the Kangaroo and they didn't want to double up, although we'd really be the only ones who cared. Matilda was a giant statue that built for the opening ceremony that winked, wiggled it's ears, and deployed about 2 dozen kids from it's pouch. After the games the statue lived at a water park in Queensland halfway up the country and now lives at a truck stop on the Bruce Highway.
    Also, Lizzie the lizard was voiced by Olivia Newton-John.

  • @TheatreKallum
    @TheatreKallum Рік тому +51

    The Snowlets, I love them so much I burst out laughing when I saw them but they inhabbit such a spirit I can't help but love them.

  • @GlebPonositKino
    @GlebPonositKino Рік тому +57

    Some trivia about Soviet and Sochi mascots. If I remember it right, it was heavily implied that «The Polar Bear» is Misha's grandson. I think it was spoken out loud by the commentator during the ceremony. And the moment when the footage with Misha was shown - that is the moment when The Polar Bear is recalling his grandpa's departure.
    You also said that the moment when Misha "shed a tear" was quite heartbreaking for the Soviet people. And it was. But I think the fact that Misha literally flew away was considered a real tragical moment among the people.
    The thing about the names of the Sochi mascots is also somewhat complicated. You see, technically even Misha does not have a name-name. Like, in Russian "bear" is "медведь" ("medved"), but a bear can be also called Mishka as a cute name. Like a cat can be called "kitty" in English. And yes, Misha or Mishka is a short form of name Michail, but when you call a bear mishka - I don't think consider it as a name. So giving a bear character such name is like calling a cat character Kitty or a fox character - Foxy. I mean, yeah, it is technically a name, but quite an obvious one.
    There also might be a cultural reasons why Sochi mascots did not have real names. In Russian folk and fairy tales animal characters usually do not have names so they are always called just Hear, Fox, Wolf, Bear and such. Maybe they tried to channel this fairy-tale like spirit of the characters.
    Thanks for the video and research!

    • @gr33ngirlsea
      @gr33ngirlsea 4 місяці тому +4

      Awwn, someone partly explained the naming above, and I thought bears were just called Mike and I was excited. Guess they aren't, lol. 😅

    • @ArthurBrooklyn
      @ArthurBrooklyn 4 місяці тому +3

      @@gr33ngirlsea its diminutive way of saying Michael, so Misha is literally Mikey but its also the same word for bear cub in russian. So generally if there is a bear in a russian toon guess what his name is.
      The cub left such a deep impression on me that i named my son after him. Also because when we travel, its a great name because every culture has a Mike and I get to call him different local version of the name every time.
      Another fun NAME fact that people don't know Trump is Putin's namesake. Donald comes from Gaelic name Dòmhnall, which comes from the Proto-Celtic word *Dumno-ualos, meaning "world-ruler" is the same as Vladimir which literally translates to the same (Vlad [ruler] mir [world]).

    • @TheMbmdcrew
      @TheMbmdcrew 4 місяці тому +1

      So Russian fairy tales are kind of like Aesop’s Fables, in that sense, where animals are just referred to by the name of their species?

    • @ArthurBrooklyn
      @ArthurBrooklyn 4 місяці тому +3

      @@TheMbmdcrew Sometimes, but mostly no, animals usually have traditional names assigned to them, with only bear cub coinciding with the name Mikey. Some of them are Onomatopoeias, Homonyms, alliterations, or ambigrams. A good example is Leesa, fox in russian, so often she is named Alisa. [leesa-ahleesa]. Often its not connected to the sound but the demeanor of the animal. Since cats acts smart and "royal", the name Vasily (in english Basil) is often used, which means kingly (many russian sovereigns had that name).

    • @winterlink27
      @winterlink27 4 місяці тому +2

      @@gr33ngirlsea Surprisingly, bears and foxes in Russian fairy tales do have traditional names. Not only first names, but patronymics too! If a fairy tale bear has a name it's always a "Mikhail (aka Michael) Potapych" and a fox is an "Alisa Patrikeevna". Patronymics derive from fathers' names, so it means their fathers' names were Potap and Patrikey (too much info, right, lol?)

  • @LexYeen
    @LexYeen Рік тому +34

    I'm sure that Lumpi was just happy to be considered.

  • @1257Dark
    @1257Dark Рік тому +32

    I feel that Graham saying "Here's -mascot- with a gun" needs to be a Desert Bus reaction audio clip. I feel this very strongly.

  • @c1nnamodoll
    @c1nnamodoll Рік тому +13

    i genuinely haven’t laughed as hard as i did at misha’s segment in so long. i thought my chest was gonna cave in man, that jumpscare of him with the gun and BEING SENT OFF WITH A BUNCH OF BALLOONS ???? i think i’ve been rewinding and laughing for 10 if not 15 straight minutes, oh my god i keep having to pause because i was laughing so hard. this video rules, thank you for making this

    • @c1nnamodoll
      @c1nnamodoll Рік тому +2

      just when i finally stopped dry heaving from laughing so hard at misha with a gun, i yelled out loud "WAIT, WHAT???" at the balloons clip and laughed even harder. holy shit i dont think ill laugh like that again in my entire life

  • @GMSTRrules
    @GMSTRrules Рік тому +34

    Of note, for the 2008 Beijing mascots, China (and more) recognizes the 5 elements philosophy instead of the Hellenistic 4 elements. They are fire, water, wood, metal (sometimes translated as gold), and air. Each mascot seems to be associated to an element -- though I can't find any source to back that up.

    • @loadeddice4696
      @loadeddice4696 Рік тому

      My first thought was "Oh hey, there's five stars on the Chinese flag, and of these five mascots one is bigger than the other four. Cute"

  • @SievertSchreiber
    @SievertSchreiber Рік тому +237

    Thank you Graham for continuing this series after your hardships.
    Edit: wtf! This video is over an hour long…

    • @GrahamStarkVlogs
      @GrahamStarkVlogs  Рік тому +130

      oh, there's so much

    • @SievertSchreiber
      @SievertSchreiber Рік тому +39

      @@GrahamStarkVlogs you and your friends (aka LRR) got me through my chemos. It makes me happy to see you do what makes you happy again after your experience with cancer. Also, I like me some trivia!…

    • @GenCavox
      @GenCavox Рік тому +7

      Literally, not figuratively, but literally my exact reaction

    • @300lbcanary2
      @300lbcanary2 Рік тому +5

      Direct comment to the edit.....YES WTF? I laughed and cried when I noticed that about 1:30 in (when we got to see past, future, curly headed Graham in cameo).

    • @Gatraz
      @Gatraz Рік тому +3

      @@GrahamStarkVlogs and none of it prepared me for Kristi and Hakon. Nothing at all.

  • @tunicoco
    @tunicoco Рік тому +30

    Hi, Brazilian here. You guys should look up videos of Vinicius characters interacting with the crowd during the 2016 Games. Those guys went wild.

  • @jamesstewart7784
    @jamesstewart7784 Рік тому +174

    The story Mukmuk is actuallly super wholesome and adorable and I now love the Vancouver mascots, also, as a British person, as a nation we HATED our mascots in 2012 along with the logo.

    • @emilysmith2965
      @emilysmith2965 Рік тому +19

      Well we all know the logo looked like some very inappropriate Simpsons activity

    • @trcon
      @trcon Рік тому +19

      As an olympic-obsessed kid during 2012, for some reason I was absolutely infatuated with Wenlock and Mandeville. Even had the plushes that I got from Hamley's. Hugely nostalgic now even if, in hindsight, they were ugly as sin haha

    • @yeeoof1995
      @yeeoof1995 Рік тому +11

      another brit here, yes the mercury twins do suck ass. mr. blobby is our go-to for this kind of thing and any would-be pretenders shall be smote.

    • @icaruskarin
      @icaruskarin Рік тому +6

      Well yes as an adult in the UK - EVERYONE hated the mascots and the logos.

    • @yabe-kfptentacultist
      @yabe-kfptentacultist Рік тому +4

      Wait uk people hated it? I loved it and still love it

  • @Hydraas
    @Hydraas Рік тому +15

    The sudden cut to Good News! with the Innsbruck music caught me so off guard I love it

  • @olliesidaway
    @olliesidaway 4 місяці тому +43

    I can confirm that as an 8 year old British kid during the 2012 London games, all the kids (at least the ones I knew) loved the mascots. I still have a soft spot for them today, they’re weird lil gremlins that had admittedly very huggable plushes

    • @psyc840
      @psyc840 4 місяці тому +4

      Yeah they were definitely of their time. I remember that Britain hadn’t quite gotten out of the 90s era of candy rings and pop-up sucking-sweets. So of course they were going to make the mascots unique for the sake of it. Still better than stock-animal-character number 142. They also reek of the same “designer vinyl” style that produced Vancouver’s mascots, in that they also made for great figurines.
      (We also still have the best opening ceremony so suck it)

    • @abbyelectric
      @abbyelectric 4 місяці тому

      I turned 8 in the run-up to the games as well! I remember loving the aesthetic the mascots had, and the fact that they were entirely 3D animated characters was super cool. Funnily enough, I'm now a student animator myself!!

    • @alittleredvixen
      @alittleredvixen 4 місяці тому

      Yeah and I have wenlock and still think their cute!

  • @mollywalker5790
    @mollywalker5790 Рік тому +30

    As a British kid during the 2012 Olympics, I loved Wenlock and Mandeville. There was an animated webseries that I watched with my siblings and we had the plushies (which were almost sold out at every store at the time). In a weird way I found them kind of cute

    • @kurinthekitty6842
      @kurinthekitty6842 5 місяців тому +2

      I still have a plushie of Wenlock
      It (somehow) survived my childhood
      Mandeville with the British friend Emily

  • @Bleesotron
    @Bleesotron Рік тому +126

    If we include the episode of ENN, Graham's actual Bacon number is 3, and it's not even an obscure link. O'Halloran was in The Happening with Mark Wahlberg, who was in Patriots Day with Kevin Bacon.

    • @moohawkofdrknss
      @moohawkofdrknss Рік тому +6

      I *knew* there had to be a way that Graham’s Bacon number would be lower, I could feel it in my bones.

    • @varmintx0
      @varmintx0 Рік тому

      I have absolutely no memory of Patriots Day's existence. Looking at its box office, I was obviously not alone.

    • @valosonthor
      @valosonthor Рік тому +2

      A bit of clarification: the idea of degrees of separation became popularized through connections to Kevin Bacon, and thus the shorthand term has become Bacon number. However, the Bacon number is a measure of separation between any two people, not specifically between a person and Kevin Bacon. So, when Graham was talking about a Bacon number of 5, he was saying there are 5 degrees of separation between himself and Hidi & Howdy.

  • @Fireluigi1225
    @Fireluigi1225 Рік тому +32

    Honorary mention goes to Mario, who appeared to promote the Tokyo games at the end of the Rio games

  • @flippy015
    @flippy015 Рік тому +41

    Honestly the whole Misha story is wild to me, in particular as a kid growing in Costa Rica I vividly remember watching the little bear Misha anime spanish dub not knowing it was an Olympic mascot, Latin America has a wild story of old animes being dubbed and transmitted on public tv between the 80's and 90's. Bonus fun fact around the 80 Costa Rica had a lot of soft ties with the Soviet union including scholarships and public projects so having an anime transmitted to children from that time strikes me incredible hilarious

  • @OddModlin
    @OddModlin Рік тому +62

    This content is soul food. Thank you! Please bring us along on your next rabbit hole.

  • @DJPuzzles
    @DJPuzzles Рік тому +13

    I have loved the Olympics since 1996, and I know more about mascots than my friends, and ordered Jingjing plushie from China. but wow, now I know so much more!
    I really loved Izzy as an American 10-year-old, but I also remember being told the story that it was designed by a kid, and so the strange wonky design was always innocent and joyful to me. I loved the big sneakers on the Izzy plushie I had as a kid. Now I'm a bit bummed out that it was just designed by some guy.
    In 2009, I got to hold a real panda for a minute in China that they had named Huanhuan, after the mascot. They named a whole litter after the mascots. LOVE the pictogram of Jingjing with a gun, really looks like a remoreseless marskman. So glad you highlighted all the gun poses throughout history.
    I don't mind them going up to 2-5 mascots, but I hate when the two mascots are gendered boy and girl - much better to split for a better reason like flora/fauna or technology/nature.
    Thanks again, this was fantastic.

  • @mrphlip
    @mrphlip Рік тому +81

    Oh man, I completely forgot about Fatso the Wombat. I watched a bunch of The Dream back in the day, but that particular detail completely slipped my memory.
    The main thing I remember from that show was during the 2002 winter games, Steven Bradbury got first place in the semi-finals of the ice skating when everyone in front of him crashed, so they had him on The Ice Dream to talk about how silly that situation was, and asked "so what's your strategy for the finals" "basically the same again, it seemed to work well"... and then in the finals everyone in front of him crashed and he got first place again.

    • @massgunner4152
      @massgunner4152 Рік тому +1

      That man has to be a wizard, what are the odds?

    • @mrphlip
      @mrphlip Рік тому

      @@massgunner4152 To be fair, he knew he couldn't really compete against the other racers, so his strategy legitimately was "hang back so you don't get caught up in a crash if one happens, hope one takes out a couple people so you get the podium"... It just went far better than he could have expected.

    • @jvanyai
      @jvanyai Рік тому

      Bradbury was the first in line to acknowledge he wasn’t the best skater at the time, and took the win as a reward for his career as a whole. Legend.

  • @valoriedarling588
    @valoriedarling588 Рік тому +26

    Izzy was such a pivotal part of my childhood and I grew up with so much of the merch. I genuinely loved his design as a kid and I thought it was wild that people hated him so much x.x

  • @KristjanKalve
    @KristjanKalve Рік тому +56

    A fun tidbit about the 1980 Moscow games - the sailing events were held in the then Estonian SSR and had it's own separate mascot in addition to Misha - the baby-seal Vigri.

  • @ANeMzero
    @ANeMzero Рік тому +38

    The wear on the toy in the first shot of Shuss makes him even more upsetting because instead of just being a red ball it looks a bit like muscle, like he had his face removed.
    Howdy and Hidy also have a unique distinction of being mascots who are also instructions, in that when the walkarounds say howdy you'll want to hidey.

  • @GaijinBaseball
    @GaijinBaseball Рік тому +25

    50:17
    The reason the Owlets like hockey is because the major driving force behind the Nagano Games was Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, both Japan's richest man and the head of Japan's chapter of the International Ice Hockey Federation at the time.
    Through his company, Seibu, Tsutsumi owned both a hockey team, the Seibu Prince Rabbits (since defunct), and a baseball team, NPB's Saitama Seibu Lions. When the Lions won their first Japan Series championship under his ownership in 1982, Tsutsumi wasn't with the team in Nagoya (home of their opponents, the Chunichi Dragons), as was customary for the owners, but he was in Tokyo watching a Seibu Rabbits game.

  • @renatonomicon
    @renatonomicon Рік тому +58

    This was phenomenal. And i almost cried when I saw Cobi animation dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese, because it was a cartoon I watched as a kid. And also about Misha, if I was Sochi committee I would put it again as mascot, Misha is the perfect definition of an Olympic Mascot even because it’s the first one I remember, even being born closer to Los Angeles games. And as a Brazilian, the Rio Mascots are great, the funny part is that they were created in an animation company based in São Paulo, the Rio de Janeiro “rival” city here in Brazil.

  • @conorsullivan3528
    @conorsullivan3528 Рік тому +57

    1:08:20 My two years of Russian in college are finally coming in handy here!
    "Zoich" the hypnotoad is named for how a Russian might pronounce "2014" as it is written in the Sochi logo's font: "зоич." The Russian letter "Ч" makes a "ch" sound. I guess it would more be how a Ukrainian would pronounce it (the Russians use "И" whereas the Ukrainians use "І") but it's the same sound and I think a Russian speaker would still get the joke.
    One of the things that I like about the Sochi logo is how much use they got out of the h/4/Ч, including the little mirrored section that was mentioned in the first of these videos.

    • @sdasda7777
      @sdasda7777 Рік тому +4

      Yes, I was curious if anyone brought this up. However I'd like to point out the i (1) isn't the only letter that isn't native to Russian cyrillic, the Z (2) isn't present in it either, neither in Ukrainian, as far as I know.

    • @conorsullivan3528
      @conorsullivan3528 Рік тому

      ​@sdasda7777 that's a good point. I figured that "Z" and "З" were close enough to be intelligible, but I'm for sure willing to be corrected by a native Russian speaker or somebody who knows better

    • @sdasda7777
      @sdasda7777 Рік тому +1

      @@conorsullivan3528 I was thinking latin alphabet might just be common knowledge in Russia, and from looking it up it seems it really might be the case.

    • @conorsullivan3528
      @conorsullivan3528 Рік тому

      @@sdasda7777 OK yeah that definitely makes the most sense. Helps explain the I/И thing too.

    • @ArthurBrooklyn
      @ArthurBrooklyn 4 місяці тому

      @@conorsullivan3528 i used to be part of the russian alphabet.. example is the world known book "war and peace"
      particularly the word peace... when they got rid of the letter i ...it killed a lot of meanings...in modern russian "peace" and "world" use the same word "mir" but when Tolstoy published his masterpiece, it used to have the now defunct "i" and hence the correct translation would be war and the world. It's a translation lost not only to foreigners, but to modern russians as well. In fact all latin letters from what i know except j,q and w used to be at some point part of the alphabet. Also the russian alphabet used to be logographic and had many variants of script but of the same language. like if you write cursive but it looks different than type. You have no idea how many college level educated people i met that could not properly identify the English cursive capital letter "Q" - test it yourself and see.

  • @4whomittolz846
    @4whomittolz846 Рік тому +69

    I loved Vinicius and Tom! Rio games were at that exact time in my early teen years that I remember a lot of the stuff quite vividly, and I remember watching the whole animate series on the lead up to the games. Thank you for reminding me of those little guys.

  • @uforad170
    @uforad170 Рік тому +30

    i remember one time i did a thread rating every olympic and paralympic mascot on a scale of 1 to 10 on twitter. glad to see im not the only one weirdly fascinated with these lil guys.

  • @sushivoid6295
    @sushivoid6295 Рік тому +207

    Vinícius and Tom in my opinion were the best mascots, especially because they were integrated into the games

    • @gungle2595
      @gungle2595 Рік тому +29

      Those guys deserved the 100 episode show with 2 spin-offs, not the chinese quintuplet

    • @lightofaangelg2372
      @lightofaangelg2372 Рік тому +49

      Also, the whole idea of Vinícius and Tom gave both of them the same importance. It ain't the Olympic mascot and the other one, they are together, they are friends, they complet eachother

    • @biazacha
      @biazacha Рік тому +20

      At very least they should have kept the wrestling plushie thing, that was a genius PR move.

    • @debonidaniel
      @debonidaniel Рік тому +12

      ​@@lightofaangelg2372I'm Brazilian and the idea was exactly that. They are Brazilian children who are very curious and can't stay still until they discover what's around them. This characteristic demonstrates that children don't discriminate against anyone and everything is the same as the Olympice and the Paralympics.

    • @debonidaniel
      @debonidaniel Рік тому +3

      ​@@biazachaThis is the spirit of Brazilians. We are not rigid with life. Everything can be less serious and as we saw in the ceremonies, a lot can be done with little and broken a lot of concepts.

  • @gravymoat
    @gravymoat Рік тому +14

    Thank you Graham! My wife walked in the room and was like "I remember these!" and I got to make her day by informing her you made a new one!
    Aside from the brightening of our days, I'm very happy you're doing well!

  • @adam_nathan
    @adam_nathan Рік тому +14

    “Who knows when Australia is going to get the games again”
    *Brisbane Olympic committee having been awarded the 2032 games in 2020 fuming*

  • @KremBotop
    @KremBotop Рік тому +16

    Football FIFA World Cup logos / mascots should be the natural follow-up of these impressive series of videos, just a suggestion. Amazing job with these so far, learned a lot of new things.