Two alien-looking characters representing the Olympic and Paralympic Games, respectively , each with a single massive eye made of a camera lens, the pair is likely to fascinate fans far more than the mascots of Olympics past, simply by virtue of their appearance.
Add in the ability for anyone to make fully customizable versions of them, or read their engaging back story, and you've got a pretty good diversion to check out between events. Iris was one of a multitude of agencies, companies, and even studios including Pixar, among others that responded to the Olympic committee's call for mascot submissions, and made it through a grueling month process -- which was also highly secretive -- before finally winning the commission.
True to Olympic tradition, the characters have characteristics that pay homage their native country: The mascots are made of steel "representing the steel and mining industries in the U.
The characters also come complete with a fully-realized origin story -- which "War Horse" author Michael Morpugo formally fleshed out -- in which Wenlock and Mandeville, who are forged from the steel from the last girder to go up in London's Olympic stadium by a soon-to-retire steel worker, and then brought to life by a rainbow.
The legacy of the Olympic venues is also a big theme this year, with plans for many of them to be disassmbled and taken to locales around the world after the Games. See full-size image here. Above: Mandeville. Here's some text about the two characters from the London website followed by text from iris' website:. How did I get my name? My name is inspired by Much Wenlock in Shropshire, a town that is at the heart of Olympic history.
De Coubertin was inspired by the Much Wenlock Games, too, and went on to found the modern Olympic movement. The Much Wenlock Games are still held to this day! Eighteen months ago the team here at iris pitched against some world-class competition in the advertising industry, as well as some leaders in character design, to win the brief to create the London Olympic and Paralympic mascots.
We have created a flexible design that allows you to make the mascot your own, while celebrating what is great about Britain — our heritage, our culture and our creativity. They are inclusive, because they invite everyone to take part and get involved. The story of the mascots has been brought to life in a beautifully animated film written by Warhorse author Michael Morpurgo.
The Wenlock Games, as they were known back then, helped inspire Baron Pierre de Coubertain to conceptualize the modern Olympic Games in And what about Wenlock's partner, Mandeville? That character was named after the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, located in Buckinghamshire about miles southeast from Much Wenlock, which was actually the birthplace of the Paralympic Games.
Back then, the Stoke Mandeville Games was simply a series of competitions held for soldiers injured from the war, but it is largely regarded as the inspiration for the Paralympics. With the help of author Murpurgo, Wenlock and Mandeville were conceptualized as two drops of steel that came from a factory in Bolton, which were both taken home by a retiring worker.
That worker takes these steel droplets and molds characters out of the metal for his grandchildren. He gives them each a single eye, which is supposed to act as a camera lens to both see the world and respond to it.
Wenlock And Mandeville: Your Impressions? The mascots for the Olympic and Paralympic Games have received a fair share of hot and cold reviews.
UK-based design publication Creative Review had positive things to say about Wenlock and Mandeville:. However, not everyone is a fan of the Olympic Games mascots. Obviously, a meeting was held about whether those mascots were a good idea, and someone said, 'Sure. That's what we're told produced these mascots, although a drunken one-night stand between a Teletubby and a Dalek seems like an equally plausible explanation.
As you can see, there are clearly some different viewpoints on these two one-eyed characters. What we want to know now is what you think.
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