For some people, the most exciting part of the Olympics are the plush, lumbering creatures designed by the committee to confuse children with a mixture of fear and delight. This year's mascots continue a proud tradition within mascot-ism of being pretty cute, mostly, but also a little weird.
Wenlock and Mandeville, the Olympic and Paralympic mascots, respectively, have been described as "neither animal, vegetable, nor mineral," and were apparently fashioned from droplets of steel from the official Olympic stadium. At least, that's their fictional backstory. Esoteric origins are not uncommon among mascots, which may explain why so many of them look so danged wonky. Granted, some are weirder than others. These are those special mascots that hold places in both imagination and nightmare, childhood wonder and adult WTF-ery.
Do you have a bizarre mascot that's close to your heart? We don't want to be exclusive, here. Share your strange mascot love with us.
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