FF-UK North by NorthWest Mascot

Been thinking about this for quite some time - the North in general has Jase's Yoda as a mascot, and he gets around for a little fella lol. He's going to be at the frontline of promoting us at Manchester via the flyers and other stuff.

But what about one for the Fan Force North by North West? Could we do with a mascot for our division of the North, to market ourselves. And you have probably guessed already what I have in mind lol. There is one symbol that I think means a lot for us in the North West - a British survivor against the odds, a hardy Northerner and resident in the North West ... you got it, the Red Squirrel.

I had a mess around with this image a while back, not worked on it since ... but here's what I had in mind ...

[image=http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m309/timbolton/FanForce/FFUKN_logo_show_02.jpg]

If you think this works, I'll get a plush toy for our mascot. I have found this one - http://www.hamleys.com/invt/0000000914812. If we buy this one we also support the World Wildlife Trust too, which is an added bonus. I'll look into getting a Jedi robe made for him too.

And something for Collectormania G-Mex to involve the public with our mascot ... a naming competition! If we have the public name him, "Darth >insert name<" we can do a joking nod to what is happening with Del Rey and the EU too lol - them giving fans the opportunity of naming the new Darth in the Legacy series.

We could have a handout for Collectormania G-Mex, people can write their suggestion, we can shortlist the good ones then have one of those pulled out of a box - maybe by our Palpatine lol. The member of public who named him wins a small prize (which we can either hand out on the day or send onto them).

What do you think?

 

I can live with that, though I think it would be cool if we added a North West spin on the Squirrel.
Maybe wearing a flatcap or mining helmet

 

And something for Collectormania G-Mex to involve the public with our mascot ... a naming competition! If we have the public name him, "Darth >insert name<" we can do a joking nod to what is happening with Del Rey and the EU too lol - them giving fans the opportunity of naming the new Darth in the Legacy series.

Awesome idea, Tim!

 

call me an old stick-in-the-mud, or maybe it's lack of sleep from the weekend..

but where has all this inter-chapter divison come from ??????

first we have the CR posting about curry nights & not letting the NW "have it all" and now a proposed NW mascot !?!?!?!

now I know it's all supposed to be a bit of fun but isn't the idea for the NE & NW to become closer together ?? I just think espicially with the GMEX coming up and us hopefully recruiting new members, this isn't the kind of atmosphere we should be promoting.


rant over

 

Well, that "have it all" comment was a joking response to them having their own curry nights, and if they have them, so should we in the North East. It's not really a North East versus North West thing, it's just that we have our own little isolated corner between Boro and Newcastle, and they have theirs, and we don't spend much time interacting with each other. Apart from big meets, we're not really gonna get the chance to hang around much together.

Yes, the idea is for us to become closer together. And we will But, for small meet purposes, we have to accept that there is a hundred miles or so between those of us in the North East and those of us in the North West. Our small meets are in the Newcastle/Boro areas, the North West's are in the Manchester area. The idea for North East and North West becoming more closer together is to have more big meets like the ones in Leeds, York and GMEX.

And I don't see anything wrong with the mascot idea. Yoda could be official mascot for the North, but apart from big meets, he only stays in the North East The North West can have their own little mascot for their small meets.

 

Chris - there is no big division, but we do have a lot of localised social meets that both sides don't/can't go to, there is a clear North West and North East focus when we don't have bigger meets (note even though I get to as many regional locations as I can, I still haven't got to a Newcastle or Middlesbrough meet because of travel - not money) and we have always functioned this way so far. We aren't trying to split the chapter (you should know me better - remember it was me who was strongly against having two official CRs resulting in two forums - ie a split in the North - even though location-wise we can never ask the CR to get to both coastlines, it's expensive). NW has a lot of smaller local meets, so does NE, and this idea wasn't to cause issues, it was a bit of fun.

As Sie said about the status of the mascots - Yoda can only be in one place, and is usually in NE, I thought it would be nice to have one here for at NW meets. That is all this is about, not separating us! We have the North, our parent group and two strong localised areas in North where members focus on. We have to let new members realise this as much as the fact the North is very much a united group. Sie and I are chatting about meets for next year and looking into locations that we can have joint NW/NE attendance, but because of money we will never get everyone at all meets.

I took Sie's curry joke as it was, a joke. There was no seriousness in it, just friendly banter. And you'll see in a new thread I am starting for Manchester that we will stand united there.

You see what this is all about? Or do we still look divided?

 

Mascot for the NW is a great idea.

It's not about distancing from each other, it's about acquiring tools for recruitment purposes and also providing a little bit of an identity to the NW for when we have our meets. I honestly think that if you want to recruit members in Liverpool for example, you will have to have flyers with Liverpool things on, etc. Kinda makes sense to give people something they can identify with.

As for the curry thing - we have to have some laughs right? I mean War of the Roses flyers and all that. Might even throw in a few "wrong side of the Pennines" jokes Aha, but note I didn't say which side was which

 

[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v307/cozmic-chris/185squirrel.jpg]

 

Is that squirrel sat on a litter tray

That's really cool lol

 

If you are collecting for charity (children in need) it would be a good way to help. People often use that kind of "name a teddy" style thing as a way to raise charity money. Like, 20p to give it a name, then the one that wins gets the prize and all the money goes to charity and you have your mascot. Everyone wins. I don't know if you'd be able to though, withthe table not being a "trading" table.

 

...Im glad this is an internet message board and nowt serious....

* normal service has now been resumed.