I'm far from a sports fanatic, but for some reason every time the Olympics roll around I am completely immersed and watch as much as I possibly can from the opening ceremonies to closing. This year my favorite male figure skater since Brian Boitano, Evan Lysacek, took home the gold and we got some fantastically cute mascots for the games.
These official vinyl toys were created by
Happy Worker and were for sale for the most part only at the games and in specific stores around Canada. Hit the jump to check out more about these little guys and see why I love them so much!

The box these guys come in is relatively simple, but manages to cram in a whole bunch of information without being completely overbearing. As you can see on the front of the box it states that if you buy this complete set you also get MukMuk who is the cheerleader of sorts.
The back of the box has short biographies for each of the characters, and I enjoy that the tab you open up in the box says that the toys are, "Dedicated to all children and critters with a dream."

The text is a bit small, so pull out those reading glasses, but since almost everything is in both English and French there was a lot to fit in there. First we have Miga who calls the coast of Vancouver Island home, enjoys surfing, snowboarding and anything that's fun and exciting. He loves wild salmon, his favorite color is forest green and his biggest dream is to land a corked 720 in the half-pipe.
Quatchi lives in Canada's mysterious forests playing hockey, traveling and taking photographs of his journeys. He loves to try all kinds of food, his favorite color is chill blue and his dream is to become a world-famous goalie!

Next up is Sumi who finds his home in Whistler which is good since he loves alpine skiing and flying over the Coast Mountains. His favorite food is hot cocoa, which is technically not a food, and his favorite color is fern green. His biggest dream is to share his forest and mountain home with the world, which he succeeded in with the most recent Winter Olympics.
MukMuk is the sidekick of the group and he finds his home in the Vancouver Island sub-alpine meadows. He loves eating, burrowing, eating (yes, twice), making friends and eating (again!). I bet you can't tell he likes to eat, right? His favorite foods are flowers, ferns and berries and his favorite color is berry orange. His biggest dream is to tell the world about his fellow island marmots.

One of the things that made me giggle a bit is that each of the figures are wrapped individually in blind boxed wrappers inside the box. I found this strange considering you already know exactly what you're getting when you buy the set, but at least you get the cute wrapper that shows them participating in different sports.

The figures are relatively small, but they have some weight to them - especially Quatchi, who stands around 3.25 inches tall. Sumi comes next at 2.75 inches tall and Miga is around 2.25 inches tall. MukMuk is the smallest and is only 1.5 inches tall.

As you can see they're not horribly detailed from the back, so it's best to keep them at front view. MukMuk's Canada hand does have the Vancouver 2010 words and the Olympic rings logo on it though that you can only see on the backside, while the front has the Maple Leaf.

We went outside so that they could play in the snow and feel more like home, but a ladybug about got the best of them.

When the ladybug went after MukMuk he wanted to squish it with his foam finger, but I wouldn't let him. If it would have gotten any closer though it might have been able to take him down! As you can see there's a small chunk out of the band of his hat - I'm not sure why, I'm assuming it's not suppose to be like that, but that's how mine showed up, and it's not very noticeable from afar.

Miga immediately jumped in the show and started making snow angels. He's absolutely adorable, but it looks as if the paint for half of the 'Vancouver 2010' is missing. I'm not sure if a stencil didn't get painted all the way or what exactly happened, but there's not any actual piece missing there, just the paint for the words.
Miga has the cutest little paws painted on the bottom of his feet. Between his paws and his cute little fluffy tail, I'm not sure which is more adorable.

Sumi is my favorite of the mascots, and there's a bit of a difference with him as well. While the other mascots have the logo for the Winter Olympics, Sumi sports the logo for the Paralympic Games, which are also being held in Vancouver and started yesterday.

As you can see these mascots are a fun way to show your support for the Olympic Games, whether they're already over or not. If the Olympics aren't your thing, they're still cute nevertheless so why not pick them up? For the most part they're well made except for the few flaws I mentioned here and there.
If you live in Canada you can still check out Happy Worker's website and see where you might be able to pick up a set. If you live anywhere outside of Canada I've found the best bet is eBay, which this is the seller I bought them from and had a great experience. If you happen to miss this bunch be sure to keep an eye out as they tend to pop up relatively frequently. Plus if vinyl toys aren't your thing there are also the plushies, or if you want to create your own - Quatchi comes in a white DIY version as well!
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