I noticed that anomaly with the Paralympic mascots myself. ("Proteas the Seahorse" fairly rules.) It's also notable how the Winter Olympic mascots also tend to be better then the summer ones. Why there would be an inverse relationship between the quality of the mascot and the likely viewership of the event truly escapes me.

The 2010 Olympic mascots have a certain something, but they really have this "PaRappa the Rapper" vibe going. Come to think of it both them and the entire Beijing 2008 crew would make great guest stars on Happy Tree Friends (http://happytreefriends.atomfilms.com/).

Of course, leave it to me to spot a certain hairdo problem with the 1992 Barcelona mascot, Cobi. (Image slightly edited for clarity.)