Original Phillie Phanatic a Genius, Insane

↵John Branch of the New York Times pens a manual on making a career of designing sports mascots. It stars the original Phillie Phanatic, Dave Raymond, who has built a second career as the nation’s top mascot designer. Branch leads us through the process of creating Walleye, the yellow fish mascot representing a Ohio minor league hockey team.↵↵⇥The discussion involved eye shapes, tummy thickness and the practicality of three-fingered hands for a fish mascot. A critical question was whether a giant yellow walleye should wear hockey shorts or go bare-bottomed, even if a fish does not really have a bottom.
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↵⇥“There may even be an argument down the road for different heads for different expressions,” Raymond said. [...] “That’s a big leap. But if the character is really successful, then investing in heads for different attitudes — that’s never been done before.”↵↵Emotive mascots -- that’s so NEXT LEVEL. Other mascots aren’t even in the same solar system.
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↵There’s a sort of brilliant madness involved in numerous professional fields: offensive coordinator, chef, mime. That’s certainly the case here in the world of mascot design, as Branch’s profile makes perfectly clear. But Raymond wouldn’t being the world’s top furry Frankenstein without his experience as Philadelphia’s first big mascot. Sixteen long years in that forsaken suit with those fans -- no wonder the dude’s gone loony.↵