顶流冰墩墩、雪容融的热度还没过去，就又有一个吉祥物登上了热搜，不过是因为形象过于“奇特”。3月22日，2025年日本世界博览会协会举行记者招待会，确认了吉祥物最终形象。该吉祥物的形象一经发布，不少日本网友直呼“心态崩了”。
你可能想当然地认为，在三个超级可爱的卡通形象中做选择一定很难，对吗？
It’s easy to assume that this would be a difficult decision between a trio of instantly adorable, disarmingly cute characters, right?但是，这三个候选设计都相当奇特。除了作品A似乎还有一些奇怪的魅力，作品B和作品C形状不规则的眼睛看起来肯定惊悚大于可爱。Well……all three would-be goodwill ambassadors for Expo 2025 are pretty disturbing. OK, Candidate A looks like it could have a sort of quirky charm, but Candidates B and C, with their irregularly shaped rings of eyes, definitely show stronger concentrations of creepiness than cuteness.然而，在过去几周通过对三个候选设计的舆情分析，组委会已做出决定，最终脱颖而出的并不是设计A和设计B，而是设计C。And yet, after taking the past few weeks to sift through public reactions to the three candidates, Expo 2025’s organizers have made their decision, and it won’t be Candidate A representing the event, nor Candidate B, but Candidate C.2025年世博会官方推特账号写道：“我们已经确定了吉祥物设计。”组委会表示，“将努力使它成为广受世界各国喜爱的形象”。“We have decided on the character design,” tweets the Expo 2025 official Twitter account. “We will raise it as a character that people all over the world will love and feel a sense of attachment to,” the statement adds.这一形象源自世博会的主题“生命的光辉”，同时也表现了大阪“水都”的形象，根据使用用途的不同，设计会改变形态。角色名称未定，今后将公开征集。该吉祥物形象甫一出炉，日本网民就“炸”了。有推特网友评价道：“当孩子们看到这个东西四处走动时，可能会吓得大哭大叫。”“When children see this character walking around, they’re totally going to start crying and screaming.”“So they’re prepared not to sell any merch, right?”“我不可能买这个吉祥物的毛绒公仔，或者任何有这个形象的东西。”“No way I’d buy a plushie, or anything else with that character on it.”“这就像是把《芝麻街》里的埃尔莫的身体融化，（然后放在‘甜饼怪’身上）。”“It’s like they took [Sesame Street’s] Elmo, melted his body, [and put it on Cookie Monster].”“What? I think it’s super cute…”“设计C是三个选项中最疯癫的，我要感谢组委会做出了不同寻常的选择。”“Candidate C was the most psychotic-looking of the three, and I want to thank them for going with something out of the ordinary.”
来源：中国日报网英语点津（编辑：董静）