YOG HeartGold SoulSilver

New update! : A new challenger have arrived.

(c) Singapore YOG 2010 Committee

Unless you are stuck inside a hole or are in a coma in Singapore recently, you would probably know by now that the Singapore Youth Olympic Games are coming up. 14th to 26th August 2010 to be precise. This is the first ever Olympic Games targeted towards the youth and it is held in Singapore; so naturally you cannot escape the marketing blitz that is on the ground and in the mass media. And to coincide with the ’100 days to YOG’, we’ve decided to dedicate one last post and art tribute on the website to this first of its kind international sporting event.

To put it into pop culture perspective, the Olympics are the grand daddy of sports events. They are like the Avengers with Iron man, Captain America and Thor. Old pedigree with legacy, well respected, highly popular and still packs a punch. This Youth Olympics are like a newly set-up Young Avengers. Young and enthusiastic heroes-to-be join them to become heroes of their own right and perhaps even one day, move on to the main Avengers team. Replace the teams with Justice League and Teen Titans if you are more into DC. Us in the community of Arts have a similar culture as sports. Like sports, we strife to be the best in our field and to prove our talents, one of the best methods would be to take part in national or international competitions such as Extravaganza or Pixiv competitions. A new competition that could encourage, train and unveil new budding talents worthy of our admiration and friendly rivalry is always welcomed to us.

YOG clock at One Fullerton.

Photo from YOG’s flickr

Admittedly, we as animanga fans are traditionally not exactly sporty people (seriously, admit it!). We might enjoy an occasional jog or the once-in-a-blue-moon soccer match but anything competitive? No, thank you. Competitive sports should remain in my television within that Slam Dunk anime or Captain Tsubasa or whatever. Heck, I don’t even like sports anime except for Bamboo Blade. So don’t expect me to be rushing to queue up for any of the YOG tickets though I’ll still feel proud if any Singaporean athletes won in their field. Go Team Singapore! Today, the Youth Olympics! Tomorrow the Olympics!

(c) Singapore YOG 2010 Committee

Having said that, as an art enthusiast, I took particular interest in the design and illustrated aspects of the games. I found the YOG mascots cute. In the mascot-type of cute.The 3D videos they made wasn’t that impressive but the 2D version captured the mascot’s looks very well. I like the design and how it is a neat combination of our local lore (Singha and Merlion) with Olympics icons (the torch). Every single detail of the mascot (and their personalities) had been thought up meticulously to represent something about Olympics values or Singapore. A pretty good case study on how to design and market a mascot. The overall design of the mascots resulted in something appealing to both kids and girls (and anyone who like ‘cute’ stuffs). Especially Merly. WaHa was the first guy to point that out to me and I had to agree with him. I then told WaHa to try his hands on redrawing the YOG mascots in his own style. More on the results after the cut.

Poor Merly had to swim back to shore alone. Awww.

(c) Singapore YOG 2010 Committee

WaHa liked the YOG mascots enough to accept my challenge. And what you see below is the result. We liked what he had done. Perhaps liked it even more than the official artworks, since we are biased. Since these artworks featuring Lyo and Merly are legally subjected to the Singapore YOG 2010 brand, between the both of us, we’ve decided that it would be easier and more satisfying to contribute our efforts to the Singapore YOG 2010 Committee. We are probably going to find some way to ‘give’ the artwork to the official YOG committee (maybe during one of their upcoming events?) and see what they do with it. That should be a nice little ‘national service’ on our side at CDS.

Click the images for larger versions of the individual artworks

Remember. Merly, Lyo, ‘Blazing the Trail’ slogan and the Singapore YOG 2010 logo all belongs to the Singapore YOG 2010 Committee. These fanarts are a sign of our appreciation and liking for what they are doing.

Edit: Haimerejzero decided to enter the gauntlet and gave his own reinterpretation of Merly. It is definitely different from the official design but that doesn’t mean it is any less pretty! Shout out to any CDS members viewing this article. If you wish to join the fun and show your appreciation for the YOG mascots, just do your own reinterpretation of Lyo and Merly and send them over!

Art by Haimerejzero. Merly is copyright of Singapore YOG 2010 Committee.