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The new, new Sparky was released Wednesday and the reception Arizona State received ranged from satisfied, to baffled, to...well...ill-informed.
Who is Jodi Arias and why is she stealing new, new Sparky's thunder?
— Cody Ulm (@CodyUlm) May 8, 2013
My lack of knowledge about the real world aside, most people still found Sparky's redesigned redesign to be a big deal even weeks after the initial "yeah, that's our bad" from ASU. And because the university was able to admit their original efforts were wrong and misguided, most maroon and gold diehards found it in their hearts to forgive them:
@houseofsparky Pleased the NewNewSparky Saga is done and people feel like their voices have been heard.
— Jedi ASU (@JediASU) May 9, 2013
Heck, a solid amount of people even felt that this new, new Sparky looks more like the way Sparky should be than ever before:
@houseofsparky first time the mascot actually looks like the sparky logo
— Frank Grimes (@Franimal31) May 8, 2013
@houseofsparky New Sparky looks a lot like Old Sparky, but not the Old New Sparky that no one liked, the Old Old Sparky that everyone liked.
— Mark D. (@BigBaldMark) May 8, 2013
@houseofsparky The new Sparky is the perfect combination between the ASU of lore while also representing a new era.
— Tyler Nickel (@TylerNickelASU) May 9, 2013
That's not to say there weren't folks still calling this whole ordeal one big waste of time though. In this instance, some guy named Brad Denny decided to take the passive-aggressive route:
@houseofsparky The Sparky vote was a perfect example of democracy in action. What's more American than using time better spent elsewhere?
— Brad Denny (@BDenny29) May 9, 2013
And, of course, there was still that justifiably upset mob of fans who continued to harp on the old "if only people cared this much about our athletics" hypothesis:
@houseofsparky who cares - mascots are for my kids should have had the voting at games in 2013-2014 #buttsinseats
— Mike Crabtree (@mcrabtree3) May 9, 2013
@mcrabtree3 @houseofsparky Problem is ASU presents their mascot as more integral part of their "Brand". They shouldn't.Dumb
— El Lobo (@SUNDVL24) May 9, 2013
@houseofsparky New Sparky is cool. I just wish fans cared as much about actually showing up for home games as they do for this mask.
— Matt Villanueva (@matt_villanueva) May 9, 2013
@houseofsparky ARRRRG!!! CHANGE IS SCARY!Boycott!!!Boycott the boycott!!!&no I won't donate to the AD or buy tix!- retarded Facebooker
— dbrockdevil42 (@dbrockdevil42) May 8, 2013
Yet overall, one would be hard-pressed not to declare the new, new Sparky a success. Back in early March, 2,015 of House of Sparky readers (76%) voted that they disliked the anime, bumblebee Sparky in our site poll. But at the time of this article's publication, 70 percent of the 244 votes received on our most recent poll has ASU fans "liking" the latest redesign.
Similarly, 95.4 percent of our Facebook commenters were on board with the Sparky known as "Option B," according to the Cody Ulm patented eye test (disclaimer: the Cody Ulm eye test is still in beta testing).
So go ahead and pat yourself on the back, Sun Devil nation. We we're finally given some power and we managed to not screw it up by voting for Sparky the mouth-breather (but seriously, be glad we don't have gaping-mouth Sparky drooling all over the push-up board for the next decade).
And even if you're still wondering why ASU decided to fix something that wasn't broken in the first place there's still one thing you should be able to agree with: democracy is one helluva drug.
@houseofsparky DEMOCRACY WON.
— Mack Huff ⚾ (@HackMuff) May 9, 2013
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