Ole Miss revealed its new Landshark mascot on Saturday afternoon, which was named Tony after a late Rebel player. However, the mascot itself looks a bit, well, strange, and fans were quick to point that out following Tony’s debut event. As you can see below, the mascot is just as weird and frightening as you’d expect a shark mascot to be: RELATED: Ole Miss unveiled 3 sweet new logos Saturday Fans quickly took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the new mascot, and some of them used some great memes to get their points across. First, we’ll get the obligatory (and perfect) Jim McElwain joke out of the way so we can move on: Alright, fine, we’ll do one more McElwain meme, but that’s it, OK? Now, on to some of the best of the rest:<doc-sep>The Landshark launch committee wanted 'Tony' to be intimidating but also not too scary for young Ole Miss fans. OXFORD, Mississippi — In a burst of fog and confetti blasting from all sides, the figure sauntered onto the stage. For a moment he just looked like a football player in full pads, number 47 printed in white on his red jersey, muscular arms flexing and pointing. Then the shark head cleared the pillar of smoke. A permanent toothy grin spread across Tony the Landshark’s face as he bounced along to the music — landsharks, the crowd learned, can dance as well as any landlocked creature. His rubbery head nodded along, a fin protruding from the back of it. Then the lights came up on Tony, named and numbered after former Rebels linebacker Tony Fein, who coined the ‘fins up’ hand gesture a decade ago. The landshark hopped off the stage and opened his arms wide. The small children seated in the front rows jumped up and engulfed him. Ole Miss unveiled its new on-field Landshark mascot Saturday at Meet the Rebels Day in the Manning Center. It was the culmination of a process that started in earnest when the Ole Miss Associated Student Body announced in September that it was going to conduct a poll testing the potential support behind changing the Rebels' mascot from Rebel the Black Bear to a landshark. Less than 11 months later, Ole Miss has met its before-the-2018-season deadline to introduce the Landshark in flesh and blood. “It doesn’t look like a typical mascot,” Ole Miss cheer coach and mascot coordinator Ryan O’Connor said. “It’s not a foam head with fake fur all over it. It looks, and I imagine feels, like what a shark feels like.” The creative process became the responsibility of Micah Ginn, associate athletic director for sports production and creative services, and his team after Chancellor Jeffery Vitter announced the Landshark would become Ole Miss’ next mascot last fall. That ended Rebel’s tenure after just a seven-year career. The first step was to assemble a Landshark launch committee made up of leaders from the student body, spirit squad, sports administration and marketing team. The ‘fins up’ gesture had been around since 2008, and spread across sports teams, but the committee still had a question to answer: what does a landshark actually look like? This landshark has a friendly side pic.twitter.com/M80sxvrgUJ — Maddie Lee (@maddie_m_lee) August 11, 2018 “It was excitement,” Ginn said of the feeling in the room. “It was tons of ideas going back and forth, and concept art, and it almost was an advantage that this is a fictional creature because the sky’s the limit. You’re not bound by really any rules of what a shark, or a bear, or an eagle, or anything looks like. You’re coming up with something that’s your own.” Once the Landshark launch committee had settled on initial sketches, it turned to a Hattiesburg-based design company to push the process forward. According to its website, RARE Design has worked with numerous professional sports teams, including the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves. That work with NBA teams was what caught Ole Miss’ attention, Ginn told the Clarion Ledger. RARE Design took the lead on developing logos and new branding and refining the mascot design for the Rebels. But when it came to the creation of the actual costume, RARE connected Ole Miss with Nascent Perspective Studios and Jessee Clarkson. Clarkson has worked in the art departments of movies including Iron Man, Watchmen, and Aliens vs. Predator. “The idea of, ‘Look through the catalog, oh let’s pick that shark,’ that wasn’t going to work,” Ginn said. “We wanted this to be a landshark that had never been seen before, a character who had never been seen before, and put a whole lot of detail and thought and intentionality into the design of the Landshark.” An Ole Miss spokesperson told the Clarion Ledger the whole venture, including branding, a new website, costume design and multiple costumes, cost somewhere between $50,000 to 75,000. It was privately funded by the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation. The Landshark launch committee wanted the mascot to strike a balance between being intimidating but also not scaring young children. Ginn described Clarkson tinkering with the number of teeth in the mask—too few and it looked goofy, too many and it was terrifying—and studying pictures of Santa Clause to determine what wrinkle patterns around the eyes would make it look the right amount of friendly. The result was a chameleon-like quality of blending into the context. When he’s bearing down on a crowd with red lights flashing behind him, Tony looks like something straight out of a nightmare. When he kneels down to take a picture with a two-year old wearing a large blue bow on her head, he’s practically hug-able. After Tony's grand entrance Saturday, one small child sniffled as if she wasn’t sure if she should cry or not. But the majority bounded up to the shark-man without hesitation. One of the first things the Landshark launch committee decided on was the Landshark's personality. O’Connor has worked, and will continue to work, with the mascot performers on implementing that demeanor and walk. “We have to have a walk that showcases him as kind of an athletic jock,” O’Connor said. “There’s a way that athletes walk through campus, so we kind of played off that kind of walk.” They’ve already received appearance requests, O’Connor said, and she’s come up with ideas for some game-day stunts.<doc-sep>Ole Miss unveiled their brand new mascot over the weekend and early returns were that it was a success. Tony the Landshark, named after the late great Tony Fein, made its debut at Meet The Rebels and kids loved it, fans loved it, and the Rebs dominated Twitter for the better part of 48 hours. We discuss our thoughts on the release, the new branding, and what we think could enhance the brand moving forward. Also, should they add a female mascot to the fold to reach out even further to the female fanbase and female sports on campus. We also touch on Tiger Woods’ humongous push for a major over the weekend and how it factors in to his Ryder Cup status and legacy moving forward. Is his impact on golf bigger than Michael Jordan’s impact on basketball? Also, Chad Kelly back. Tune in. Summer is in full swing so go see Greg and snag some choice meat from LB’s Meat Market, the official sponsor of this here podcast and the best protein for your Ole Miss baseball grilling needs. Also, the BRAND SPANKIN’ NEW food truck will be out and about on The Square. So go get some! And if you like gambling and good food, head down south to Biloxi after the regional to Harrah’s Gulf Coast for some blackjack, slots, Southern cooking from our good friend, Kelly English, at the Magnolia House, and SOON TO BE HOME TO A SPORTSBOOK. What’s not to like? Winning money, drinking, indoor/outdoor sports bar, STARBUCKS, and our pal Kelly whipping stuff up in a crock pot probably. Go down to the Coast, tell em Red Cup sent ya! If you are looking to get sideways in the 901 and surrounding areas, head on over to Old Dominick Distillery on Front Street. They’ve got everything from vodka to the new Memphis Toddy and soon they will have their very own Memphis Whiskey once the aging process has completed. So remember when you are looking to stock the cooler for football season in 2018, ask for Old Dominick Distillery at your local package store. They are located in downtown Memphis, trace their roots back to Italy, and take pride in providing you a true sip of Memphis.<doc-sep>
In what might mark the first time in history a Change.Org petition has paid off -- even indirectly -- Ole Miss unveiled "Landshark Tony" on Saturday. Tony, inspired by the Rebels' famous "Fins Up" celebration, came onto the scene with a Twitter account and a photo, and man is he ever a sight to see. There's change, and then there's change. This might be the first mascot to truly give the Pelicans a run for their money in terms of scary appearances and not in an intimidating way. Why is his eye squinting a little? Why are his eyes pitch black? And why oh why is his mask so detailed? His smile is insanely sinister. Mascots needs a certain amount of whimsy. You don't need your land shark to be an anatomically correct shark. He looks like a rejected design from "Street Sharks," and they were also horrifying. Twitter agrees with the sentiment. The story behind Tony is actually pretty endearing. He's an homage to former Ole Miss linebacker Tony Fein, a veteran who served in Iraq and died in 2009. Fein wore the same No. 47 that Landshark Tony will wear. He's credited with starting the "Fins Up" celebration. The execution is just extremely questionable. To be fair to Ole Miss, the SEC has a longstanding tradition of not knowing what they are mascot-wise. You can make an argument that sharks are rebels of the sea. The Black Bear was at least named Rebel, so there was a stretch of a connection there. Only one word can really describe this unveiling: yikes.