The New Purdue Pete

The new Purdue Pete was not meant to be unveiled until the spring game on Saturday, but it was accidentally leaked today. Before giving my comments about it, here he is, in all his glory.

Boiler up? (Courtesy Journal & Courier online)

Now, focusing on the face alone, I think they did a pretty decent job. The goal was to make him look like less of a pedophile, which I believe they succeeded in. He isn't horrendously pale, and he doesn't appear to be wearing lipstick. Both huge bonuses.

Also, a quick remedy would be to make the helmet black. The silver is just weird.

With the rest of his outfit, however, I believe they tried to make him look more like the Boilermaker statue. In this, they failed. They would need a collared shirt, not a T-shirt. Also, I think that if they are going with the felt suit most mascots are, it needs to be a full-body suit. You can clearly see below the slant P where Pete ends and the person in the suit begins. This then leads to an awkwardly narrow waist for someone that is supposed to be a big and strong man. Also, the picture here doesn't show it, but he has weird shoes on. If they're going to keep those, it definitely needs to be a full body suit.

Overall, I think it is a good start. I think they need to make it a full body suit. I think the shirt needs to be black, as well, as the shirt shown is practically the same color as the rest of Pete. I think with a little more work, this could work out to be a great-looking mascot.