Cuddly(?) Sackboy Will Be Sony’s Mascot
Console mascots have long been a mark of identity and it might say something that Sony’s been searching for a spokesthing since the launch of the PSOne. Nintendo has Mario. Sega had Sonic, though it might want to stop pretending it ever did. Microsoft has finally settled on Master Chief.
Sony, on the other hand, has had some torrid affairs. There was Crash Bandicoot, Lara Croft, Kratos, but no personal property it was willing to call its own.
Until now. Sony has finally settled on a mascot: Sackboy the Hanged Man.
My husband’s horrified that I think of LittleBigPlanet’s cute little Sackboy as a hanged prisoner, but damn, people. He…just…has a sack over his head. He looks like something that Offred gazed at in the opening chapters of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale…if the Republic of Gilad had decided to prosecute all beings less than two feet tall in addition to women and Jews.
SCEA marketing manager Mark Valledor says, “We want LittleBigPlanet to lead the charge into a new genre of gaming and turn Sackboy into the next emblematic character for the PS3. This is a very big title for us.”
I respect that; every console needs a visual representation. And the further away we get from the ’90s saturation of furry mascots, the better. Sackboy is certainly the cutest little convict I’ve ever seen, I’ll give him that much.
(Image copyright Sony)
I like that Sony is looking for a macot, but naming sackboy as it might be a bit premature. Maybe they should wait to see how Little Big Planet does when it launches.
I would probably prefer a lot of different characters to Sackboy, I really don’t find the LBP art style endearing and thus, Sackboy just looks weird to me.
I agree that it might be a bit early to determine Sackboy’s love-factor; it’s unlikely that LBP will tank, but you just never know. I think Sony should wait. It’s waited this long.