What's the better "site is down" mascot?

Tumblr's Tumbeasts

Twitter's Fail Whale

Background:

posted 01-26-2011 by Rebecca

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My friend Matt Inman (best known as The Oatmeal, creator of awesome web comics) created some Tumbeasts for Tumblr to use when their site goes down. They implemented the design of the cute little creatures within hours.

On the other side of the fence is the infamous Fail Whale, created by Twitter to let their users know when the site is down (which happens a lot, as any Twitter user will attest). Which mascot do you think is better?

Debate It! 32

Matt's is definitely better but the Fail Whale is iconic...it's like comparing The Beatles and Jay-Z.

Posted By brewpub, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Vote tumbeasts or I'll find out where you live and sick a pack of badgers on your crotch

Posted By oatmeal, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

The Beatles vs. Jay-Z. There is no better description that can compare this vote. Since I don't like The Beatles, I will vote for Jay-Z. Easy!

Posted By karlnoelle, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Hmmmm - those badgers are tempting offer...

Posted By Mr Duck UK, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Brewpub, you are basically saying that Jay-Z is better than The Beatles... My vote goes to TheOatmeal's magnificent creation, if for no other reason than that his webcomics are made of Win that has been forged in heaven...

Posted By benfclark, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

The Tumblebeasts are adorable and clever. They get my vote.

Posted By melikedcollege, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Oats'Â Tumbeasts FTW.

Posted By auburntigerrich, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

No, not the badgers! There, I voted!

Posted By Troten, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Those birds can't hold up a WHALE!! clearly the Tumbeasts are more believable. Instant win.

Posted By zuelue, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

To be fair, the Tumbeasts were done intentionally to be a better mascot than the Fail Whale. Still...much cuter. Like a cat clawing your eyeballs.

Posted By jazzs3quence, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

i really likes the eyes on the beasts. makes the image so radiantly fun

Posted By draugr, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

I love that the Fail Whale is getting a huge FAIL in this vote.

Posted By mstreiter, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Another advantage for the Tumbeasts: they will annoy OCD geeks types whose gut reaction is "but that's not what rack mounted servers look like!" Still waiting for a service to just steal one of the cards from The Critic, like: http://nueport.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/wheelbe.jpg

Posted By tilthouse, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Will the badgers take care of the crabs?

Posted By Johnny4, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Matt could make a living just creating downtime comics (as if he really needs to but still). Tumbeasts FTW!

Posted By TheMadHat, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Please tell me more about these crotch badgers.

Posted By mpilatow, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Wow, 9518 views & 2771 votes on this one. Way to go Rebecca, the numbers are really rising! And I totally vote for Matt. His twisted sense of humor is super geeky and insanely adorable, so anything he does is generally a win my books.

Posted By stephwoods, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

@Steph I'd love to take credit, but Matt tweeting it really brought the ruckus. :)

Posted By Rebecca, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Oatmeal's funny like The Far Side was funny, only geekier. I voted for the Tumbeasts regardless of badgers or no badgers.

Posted By ewelch, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

I wonder if AT&T has a Tumbeast problem, too. That would explain why they suck worse than people who misuse semi-colons; furthermore, Oatmeal rules!

Posted By EmilGH, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Go Matt! :)

Posted By BambiBlue, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Oatmeal all the way! It actually makes more sense than the Twitter whale.

Posted By kode29, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

can't wait till tumblr is down....

Posted By goodwebsites, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

fail whale? epic fail.

Posted By lockheed40, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

The Oatmeal always wins.

Posted By giamanry, 01-27-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Of course, The Twitterati have no idea this is here. You folks need to inform big brother.

Posted By matt, 01-27-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

I'm betting Tumblr has boosted traffic simply do to their being highlighted by The Oatmeal. Wonderful. Hopefully this means the tumbeasts will make more appearances.

Posted By angicle, 01-27-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Tumbeasts are totally awesome and cute and I love that within hours of The Oatmeal posting them, Tumblr implemented them!

Posted By irishjeeper, 01-27-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

My Christmas gift from my best friend was a signed print of The Oatmeal's Gayroller comic! He rocks! :-)

Posted By SusanMarie, 01-28-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

You mean badgers on your crotch is NOT normal? My granny gives me a new crotch-badger every Christmas. Much better than the anal-ferrets she used to give.

Posted By AnubisibunA, 02-02-2011 (1 years and 3 months)