Yippee Coyote
Graphic Novelist
EDIT (06/22/15): The Rio 2016 Olympic Committee has confirmed that Vinicius will appear in a series of shorts on Cartoon Network. Read the article here.
I recently wrote a case study on Vinicius, the 2016 Olympic Mascot, and his suspicious resemblances to Finn & Jake, which I published as a Community Blog Entry here on Toon Zone. Keep in mind the designers claimed that the Olympic mascots were inspired by pop culture and existing elements of "animation," so there is a high chance my assumption is true. Here is the entry:
Sure, Adventure Time is huge. The show itself has become a ratings phenomenon, built a huge fan base, and has encouraged its storyboard artists and writers to create shows of their own (Rebecca Sugar's Steven Universe and Skyler Page's Clarence, for example.) But despite its popularity, the series could never impact an event as monumental as the 2016 Olympics, correct? Actually, despite the spectacle being two years away, Adventure Time may have done so already.
I follow the Brand New blog, which covers modern design for businesses and recently discussed the 2014/15 Boomerang rebrand. Last week, the new Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic mascots took the spotlight on the front page, and even then, I thought the Olympic mascot looked familiar. Since then, I have started a "case study" to compare this mascot to the main characters of Cartoon Network's biggest franchise, Adventure Time. Why is it "Jake the Dog" and "Finn the Human" may have created the official mascot of the 2016 Rio Olympics? I have currently found three pieces of evidence that I have investigated to prove my theories, as well as my personal theory.
1. Anatomy of Color Tones
I put too much work into that picture. As you can see, the similar color tones are shown with two lines leading to a letter inside a circle, with the color similarity filled in. There's four I found, without noting the white colors.
A. Finn's shirt and the mascot's wrist:
The lighter shade of blue on Finn's shirt is integrated into the wrist of the mascot, leading to the darker shade of blue.
B. Jake's orange fur and the mascot's primary body color:
Possibly suggesting the Olympic mascot is a merger of Finn and Jake, Jake's yellow/orange fur serves as the color of the mascot's upper body and head.
C. Finn's backpack and the mascot's tail:
Finn's backpack has two shades of green; the darker color is used on the mascot's tail, which is directly below the normal position of the backpack.
D. Finn's pants and the mascot's palm/end of wrist:
Paired closely with the lighter blue on both Finn and the mascot, the darker blue covers the rest of the wrist and hand until the fingertips.
Still not convinced? Well, this next piece of evidence(and the one after) may look more suspicious.
2. Facial Expressions
There's not much to say about this one. Look at the two faces, with the left shot taken from a recent episode of Adventure Time and the right from a profile graphic for the Olympic mascot. Suspiciously similar.
3. Abilities
Jake's stretching powers seem too good to be replicated. But somehow, the designers of the mascot were able to copy that trait as well. According to the official press statement:
Theory of "Manipulation"
Now, I have a theory to this, and it may be true based on the information I have collected so far (thanks to @szjdfgs.)
There is an animation studio in Brazil called "Birdo" that created the Olympic mascots. While designing and submitting the characters to the Rio Olympic Committee, the studio was working on a pilot submission to Cartoon Network called Oswaldo.
[video=vimeo;61744531]The pilot submission project, arranged by Cartoon Network LA, would choose one pilot to fund and develop into a full series. Apparently, "Oswaldo" wasn't chosen as the winner, but was still picked up by Cartoon Network and is currently in development. This is where my theory starts. If Cartoon Network picked up and funded a pilot that lost the submissions contest, were any strings attached? Perhaps Turner Brasil knew the studio was working on the mascots and made an offer? Adventure Time is Cartoon Network's most popular series, but what if they thought integrating the likes of Finn and Jake into the Olympic mascot would make the franchise even bigger? It seems likely, as Cartoon Network is not known to making exceptions, especially with pilots. After all, it was not until 5 years that Uncle Grandpa became a series after losing its submissions contest.
I'll finalize this case study with another quote from the press statement I excerpted above. Seems coincidental, but I think not.
Feel free to discuss you theories, opinions, or comments below.
I recently wrote a case study on Vinicius, the 2016 Olympic Mascot, and his suspicious resemblances to Finn & Jake, which I published as a Community Blog Entry here on Toon Zone. Keep in mind the designers claimed that the Olympic mascots were inspired by pop culture and existing elements of "animation," so there is a high chance my assumption is true. Here is the entry:
Sure, Adventure Time is huge. The show itself has become a ratings phenomenon, built a huge fan base, and has encouraged its storyboard artists and writers to create shows of their own (Rebecca Sugar's Steven Universe and Skyler Page's Clarence, for example.) But despite its popularity, the series could never impact an event as monumental as the 2016 Olympics, correct? Actually, despite the spectacle being two years away, Adventure Time may have done so already.
I follow the Brand New blog, which covers modern design for businesses and recently discussed the 2014/15 Boomerang rebrand. Last week, the new Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic mascots took the spotlight on the front page, and even then, I thought the Olympic mascot looked familiar. Since then, I have started a "case study" to compare this mascot to the main characters of Cartoon Network's biggest franchise, Adventure Time. Why is it "Jake the Dog" and "Finn the Human" may have created the official mascot of the 2016 Rio Olympics? I have currently found three pieces of evidence that I have investigated to prove my theories, as well as my personal theory.
1. Anatomy of Color Tones
I put too much work into that picture. As you can see, the similar color tones are shown with two lines leading to a letter inside a circle, with the color similarity filled in. There's four I found, without noting the white colors.
A. Finn's shirt and the mascot's wrist:
The lighter shade of blue on Finn's shirt is integrated into the wrist of the mascot, leading to the darker shade of blue.
B. Jake's orange fur and the mascot's primary body color:
Possibly suggesting the Olympic mascot is a merger of Finn and Jake, Jake's yellow/orange fur serves as the color of the mascot's upper body and head.
C. Finn's backpack and the mascot's tail:
Finn's backpack has two shades of green; the darker color is used on the mascot's tail, which is directly below the normal position of the backpack.
D. Finn's pants and the mascot's palm/end of wrist:
Paired closely with the lighter blue on both Finn and the mascot, the darker blue covers the rest of the wrist and hand until the fingertips.
Still not convinced? Well, this next piece of evidence(and the one after) may look more suspicious.
2. Facial Expressions
There's not much to say about this one. Look at the two faces, with the left shot taken from a recent episode of Adventure Time and the right from a profile graphic for the Olympic mascot. Suspiciously similar.
3. Abilities
Jake's stretching powers seem too good to be replicated. But somehow, the designers of the mascot were able to copy that trait as well. According to the official press statement:
But apparently, stealing the powers of the most awesome Cartoon Network character in a decade was "cooler" than creating an ability that makes the character unique. Next!
Theory of "Manipulation"
Now, I have a theory to this, and it may be true based on the information I have collected so far (thanks to @szjdfgs.)
There is an animation studio in Brazil called "Birdo" that created the Olympic mascots. While designing and submitting the characters to the Rio Olympic Committee, the studio was working on a pilot submission to Cartoon Network called Oswaldo.
[video=vimeo;61744531]The pilot submission project, arranged by Cartoon Network LA, would choose one pilot to fund and develop into a full series. Apparently, "Oswaldo" wasn't chosen as the winner, but was still picked up by Cartoon Network and is currently in development. This is where my theory starts. If Cartoon Network picked up and funded a pilot that lost the submissions contest, were any strings attached? Perhaps Turner Brasil knew the studio was working on the mascots and made an offer? Adventure Time is Cartoon Network's most popular series, but what if they thought integrating the likes of Finn and Jake into the Olympic mascot would make the franchise even bigger? It seems likely, as Cartoon Network is not known to making exceptions, especially with pilots. After all, it was not until 5 years that Uncle Grandpa became a series after losing its submissions contest.
I'll finalize this case study with another quote from the press statement I excerpted above. Seems coincidental, but I think not.
In conclusion, the creation of the Finn-and-Jake-esque Olympic mascot was either an act of manipulation, inspiration, or something entirely different. But nevertheless, the mascot would look much different if it wasn't for the success of Adventure Time.
Feel free to discuss you theories, opinions, or comments below.
Last edited:
It's so nice.
