Please welcome Wenlock and Mandeville to popcult superstardom, ladies and gents. They're the newly assigned Olympic mascots for the 2012 games in London, and together, they have enough legs to compete in doubles badminton but only enough eyes for one pair of swim goggles. Adorable! For the more practical Olympic fan, Mandeville can be flipped over and used to open a Corona. The duo's official back-story -- and their other Dreamworks-baiting photos -- are as precious, metallic, and weird as you expect.
It may seem like these two were dreamed up as part of a WALL-E/Monsters Inc. Happy Meal hybrid, but the BBC reports their origin story is even richer than that.
"We've created our mascots for children," said Locog chair Lord Coe. "They will connect young people with sport, and tell the story of our proud Olympic and Paralympic history." The characters are named after the village of Much Wenlock in Shropshire - which hosted a precursor to the modern Olympic Games in the 19th Century - and the birthplace of the Paralympic Games, Stoke Mandeville hospital in Buckinghamshire.
Olympic motifs chime through the design: Wenlock wears the Olympic rings as friendship bracelets, and although predominantly silver in colour, also contains flashes of gold and bronze.
Mandeville's head reflects aspects of the three crescent shapes of the Paralympics symbol. In a deliberate homage to London taxis, each has a yellow light on top of its head, with an initial in the middle.
Mandeville and Wenlock will feature in an animated series. In author Morpurgo's vision, the pair begin life as two drops of steel from a factory in Bolton, taken home by a retiring worker who fashions characters out of the metal for his grandchildren.
No word yet if children can also recharge Wenlock using the cigarette lighter in any sedan.
London 2010 Unveils Games Mascots Wenlock and Mandeville [BBC]