Tina and Milo are the recently announced mascots for the Milano Cortina Paralympic and Olympic games in 2026.  Milano Cortina also revealed the Flo, the friends of  Milo and Tina. The mascots are ferrets and were created by students. Milo the brown ferret represents the Paralympic Games. Tina, the other ferret, represents the Olympics.

The consensus of the parrot mascots is they are cute worldwide. National teams posted worldwide about the announcement on every social media platform and even athletes. And people are very much hyped for the cute mascots. 

“Oh they’re so cute,” said one local UNC Asheville bulldog.

This begs the question of what makes a good mascot? What freaks people out and what makes people happy? For me, I feel like good mascots are well-made. They’re quirky, they’re cute. Take Rocky as an example.

The bulldog we all have come to know and love, our Asheville bulldog. Rocky is a corky bulldog that is appealing to many people, including kids. Not only does Rocky have a personality, the bulldog mascot doesn’t look like he was made poorly. The bulldog mascot makes people happy and helps the UNCA athletics personal branding have a fun vibe.

Some mascots aren’t exactly the cute type of mascot people expect, but many of those mascots rely on their personality and wacky design instead, making them very popular because they are out of the box or are seen as unhinged. Take for instance Gritty. 

Gritty, The lovable orange furry mascot of the Philadelphia Flyers was announced in late 2018 and has fallen into the hearts of the people in Philadelphia and beyond ever since. People looked with enamourment at the furry mascot for his unusual looks and unhinged nature. Gritty has had several pop culture references. He has become a prominent figure in the Philadelphia community going to community events. People love the mascot because he is so chaotic and unpredictable. He is beloved because of his appearance and because he is out there and doesn’t care what people think of him.

One of the worst mascot types of all are humans. They are never made well and are creepy but not in a good way. Their proportions are way off of a human and they are creepy. I have never seen in my life a human mascot that ever looked good and didn’t scare kids. Take for example the Virginia cavalier.

The Virginia Cavalier creeps me out because of the way he was made. I feel like they should have picked sticking with a live person. Human mascots need to be destroyed. I don’t know anyone who likes them. All human mascots should just have live mascots.