On Cultural Icons: The Five Fuwa, or Olympic "Friendlies"

I suspect these five strange creatures are not Beijing's Olympic mascots as they pretend to be, but aliens from a toddler planet.

Creating official Olympic mascots is a complex project -- politicians and artists make strange bed fellows. Chinese folk artist Han Meilin (known as "Picasso" in the East) begged to be relieved of the assignment after over 1000 attempts to satisfy The Committee. The end result, however, is memorable, and provides ample fodder for satire and derision (recall the "Whazit" from the 1996 Atlanta Games). As the mother of a 6 year old who survived the teletubbies and is surrounded by Pokemon, I find it hard to deny the "Friendlies'" surrealistic appeal.