Saturday, January 5, 2008

Mascot's new look: Caped Spidey a little more fierce


Amy Burlage - Collegian Reporter

Spidey, the University of Richmond's beloved mascot underwent a considerable wardrobe change this month.

After an anonymous donor decided that Spidey needed a makeover, a focus group was organized, comprising students, alumni and athletic department administrators.

Claudia Coons, a student member of the focus group, said the group had two main goals: to make Spidey more fierce and more mobile.

"People felt like he was too soft and over-cuddly, too much like a teddy bear," Coons said. "We needed to make him scary but not so scary that the little kids were not attracted to him anymore."

The group started working during the summer and eventually partnered up with Keystone Mascots to make sure the suit was available for the men's basketball home opener on Nov. 10. They talked about ideas, sketches and concepts and eventually ended up with 20 potential revisions of the costume, Keystone representative Erin Blank said.

The end result has only four limbs instead eight, smaller shoes and hands and a webbed cape. The costume is tight-fitting and less bulky. Spidey's old suit weighed 40 pounds, and the new costume is made mostly of spandex so that the person wearing it is more exposed and is easier to interact with, Coons said.

"The new Spidey is going to be able to do a lot more things with his body," said Jana Ross, assistant athletic director for marketing and fan development. "The costume is much easier to move around in."

The new Spidey costume is a definite a relief for the person inside, said an anonymous "Spidey." According to this person, one of the best alterations is that his head is connected to the suit, making it a lot less cumbersome and more functional.

"In the old suit I couldn't do a cartwheel but in this suit we will be able to do things like that," Spidey said.

In addition to changing his look, there was talk about changing Spidey's name. Although a new name has not been established, Coons said that there was no name printed on the new version of the costume in order to leave this option open.

Blank said it took 10 weeks to make the suit, and although she could not disclose how much it cost, she said mascot costume costs could range from a couple hundred dollars to $25,000. She said mascots costumes could last up to 10 years if properly taken care of, and to make sure that Spidey is long-lived, Spidey went to a "mascot training boot camp" where he was taught how to take care of himself.

"Spidey learned how to clean himself and stitch himself up," Blank said. "He is the three dimensional face of the university, and the last thing we want to hear is that he lost an arm or a leg."

Men's basketball coach Chris Mooney said the team appreciates the hard work the athletic department is putting into enhancing the college atmosphere and school spirit through Spidey.

"It is especially great for the kid fans," he said. "The new character is very appealing and gets them excited and involved."

The anonymous "Spidey" did make it clear that although this new costume brings about change, it is not going to create a completely different character.

"The new Spidey will be able to do leaps and bounds more than the old, but none of us are gymnasts. We are not going to start somersaulting through the air all of a sudden."

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