Site mascots!

[Wildcat]

My site doesn't have a mascot, but I think it'd be a cool idea. I might make it my vintage fursona, Mildred, because I need to do something with her besides self-shipping stuff.

[eote]

my mascot is my main animal jam look! i used to play the game as a kid & returned to it a while back for nostalgia and accidentally grew attached to my little guy:

[serenefork]

I wanted to ask everyone their opinions on site mascots!
If you have one why? If you don’ have one, why not?
What makes a good mascot for a site? What makes a bad mascot?
I want to hear all sorts of thoughts on site mascots so please leave your thoughts here for me!

[Oceansandy02]

I have one, their name is RoboBook. They are actually a booksona that lI made for EWOW. I only made it to round 8, though.

I think mascots are pretty cute, and add personality. They are also good for protecting your identity online, in my opinion. Though, I do have a rushed self portrait that I made.

[DougsShack]

I wanted to ask everyone their opinions on site mascots!
If you have one why? If you don’ have one, why not?
What makes a good mascot for a site? What makes a bad mascot?
I want to hear all sorts of thoughts on site mascots so please leave your thoughts here for me!

I have several mascots, and I have a fictional organization they are a part of: The Department of Peculiar things. The penguin was created by my son, and the cat by my youngest daughter.



Lord Humphrey Slothington, Keeper of the Shacks
Professor Percival P. Pickle III, Ph.D.
Emperor Judias Penguinder XIII
Queen Snowy the Melodious

Since these are characters we've made up for random purposes around the house, it made sense to me to make them part of my little online world.

[candycanearter07]

Not really, unless you count me using sappy as a pfp for everything. Though it does seem like a fun idea, IDK how to really get that idea across.

[Bede]

I suppose the Six-Eared Macaque would be considered the mascot of my site? Though I've not considered him in such terms before now. I've always instead just said that my site is "themed" around him.

[Slix]

Poliwager's mascot is... Poliwag! But, more recently, we've had a few other "mascot"-like characters, including Poliwrath, a bot that does various activities on the site, and Big Political, a joke that came out of a moderator making an image for a "big poliwag" and having it autocorrect to that. We've also had events centered around Dunsparce for a while now!

[candycanearter07]

Poliwager's mascot is... Poliwag! But, more recently, we've had a few other "mascot"-like characters, including Poliwrath, a bot that does various activities on the site, and Big Poltical, a joke that came out of a moderator making an image for a "big poliwag" and having it autocorrect to that. We've also had events centered around Dunsparce for a while now!

grrr no politics >:(

I really like the clear theming of your site, everything is all blue and white and stuff and theres poliwags everywhere.

[Slix]

grrr no politics >:(

I really like the clear theming of your site, everything is all blue and white and stuff and theres poliwags everywhere.

No, you see, it's not political at all, and that's the joke. It's just big Poliwag with a derpy face. :)

Thank you! I have thought about changing the colors over the years but keep going back to this as a solid choice.

[kurohaato]

I've been feeling like some of my webpages lack character, so I spent some time yesterday playing in Vroid Studio and ended up with a handful of MMD models to use as mascots! Kiyomi was just an old model I've had sitting around for a few years now but Ran and Ayame are brand spanking new. (They actually started their lives as a pair of Love Live OCs. I might keep to that and use them for my idol shenanigans. We'll see.)

I'm not entirely happy with the models honestly. None of them have proper hair physics, Ran's skirt clips every 5 seconds because of her height, and something about Ayame's color palette just feels... :/// Ah well nothing's stopping me from editing the models, and I'll still be using them around my site.

Kiyomi's model test (Happy Hands) credits in desc.

Ran and Ayame (Respectively)'s model test (Roki) credits here

[CATBYTE]

my website's mascot is my online persona! however due to my current lack of prowess when it comes to drawing humanoid/humanlike characters, what you actually end up seeing on the webpages is a simplified stick figure version of them. i enjoy having a "mascot" character to represent me, i feel it brings a certain cohesiveness as well as a personal touch to my website that would otherwise feel missing.

the simplified way i draw them has existed long before the website did, but the website has pretty much become their place to shine when it comes to my online presence. it's also gotten to the point where i'm pretty attached to the style, so even if i did focus in on improving my humanoid drawing skills... the stick figures are probably here to stay xD.


this particular doodle of them was the first one i made specifically for the website, it was intended to be a placeholder for my homepage however as with many placeholders it stuck! a handful of the other assets of them i use are shared in this thread, but i have not posted an update in a while as there's now quite a bit more x3.

What makes a good mascot for a site? What makes a bad mascot?

i think a good mascot is one that reflects the webmaster/site runner/etc. mascots are often projections of the creator, regardless of how directly representative the character is of them. even if a mascot is wholly unlike it's creator, that says something about the person behind it!
as i said before in regards to my own reasons for my mascot, it brings a personal touch to pages. mascots can really enhance the feeling of a webpage. whether it just be a character that resembles their real life appearance, an oc, a fursona, or just a character they think looks cool or cute.

i think a bad mascot would be something antithetical to this sort of expression, like a character solely composed of generative ai, as i feel ai art lacks the creative soul that contributes so much to the life of a mascot character. i also see it as lacking the same input and intent as a character drawn by an artist, whether it be drawn by the webmaster or a commission. the internet is already full enough of generative slop as it is, and i do not think i can ever bring myself to accept it as a valid form of artistic expression.

[ValyceNegative]

I visited several communities (even a wiki!) that used site mascots; at their "less invasive" state they are simply employed in decorative graphics to make utility pages less drab, but they can become a good way to involve user activity: one forum I was in used their mascots as protagonists for contests and art projects, so we'd all create stories and headcanons for them through drawings x3

However, these were "public spaces" so to speak, pertaining to subjects that interested multiple people, so it's easier to represent a collectivity through a symbolic character.

When it comes to personal sites, the mascot deal can be wonkier: they are supposed to be all centered around the author, so it's expected to find articles and pages written in first person rather than from a staff. If a mascot is used in place of "the webmaster" and it's just a graphical decoration it can lose itself among everything else; on the other hand if it's given too much personality and it talks or guides the viewer around it can end up looking like a butler keeping the place alive while the owner is away.

With that said, it's still not impossible to pull off a good mascot role on a personal site. My personal favourite use is that of a "pet" like either an interactive toy to have onsite while browsing or an adoptable to take away before leaving.

[Monoki]

I have one. it's more or less this guy ->

He's not just for the website though. he's more of a "brand mascot" for my creative works and stuff. as well as a bit of his own character that I might make a story out of. I do wanna find a way to incorporate him more into my site though.

[Turboblack]

interesting topic, I can't copy it, but you can look at it on the site