BART's Anime Mascots

https://www.bart.gov/news/fun/anime

113•archagon•13h ago

Comments

AStonesThrow•12h ago

This is really cute and friendly. I like it; very much in-character for the BART.

My own transit system has sort of developed two mascots. They are not as artful or clever as BART's, but they are designed with a utilitarian purpose: to demonstrate good vs. bad behavior while onboard.

https://www.valleymetro.org/blog/2019/10/quick-guide-light-r...

The characters are named "Right" and "Rong", both humanoids who are differentiated primarily by color and mood. Right, of course, does all the right things and abides by the rules, while Rong is a classic example of the scofflaw you wouldn't want sitting next to you.

bitwize•9h ago

Reminds me of the perennial standbys from Highlights for Children, Goofus and Gallant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goofus_and_Gallant

AStonesThrow•9h ago

Yes it is totally Goofus/Gallant style! Right down to the simplistic verse of the slogans in the window decals. Thanks for making that comparison. I am sure they drew from that fabled tradition, so to speak!

archagon•10h ago

(I kind of unironically want every public service to have a cute mascot that could be turned into a plushie.)

zaptrem•10h ago

Lol why do the info sheets include blood type?

creata•10h ago

Giving the blood type of the character is common in anime and manga. Wikipedia links it to a belief that blood type can predict personality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type_personality_theory

godelski•9h ago

Okay, but why are we importing pseudoscience?

bitwize•9h ago

Because it's fun.

I don't believe astrology is real, but I've assigned birthdays to some of my characters based on zodiac signs which are said to align with their personality, simply because it's cute and fun. I was inspired by the characters of Sailor Moon, each of which have a birthday in a zodiac sign ruled by their associated planet. (So Moon is a Cancer, Mercury is a Virgo, etc.).

godelski•9h ago

I guess to each their own. I can see how it can be fun but when zodiac signs are discussed it is disproportionately about more than "fun" and that certainly biases me (and I think many others).

Lammy•9h ago

Homestuck and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race (Terezi is my fav)

29athrowaway•6h ago

You can also see it in Street Fighter II: The World Warrior.

joshdavham•9h ago

It’s from Japanese culture. Knowing a person’s (or a fictional character’s) blood type is something they find interesting. A bit like how we in the west find astrological signs interesting.

UncleEntity•9h ago

For when BART police accidentally grabs their gun instead of their taser?

romanpoet•10h ago

This has precedence for the LA Metro in 2017.

https://observer.com/2017/10/la-metro-promotes-transit-etiqu...

repeekad•9h ago

Obligatory reminder that BART is going to run out of its emergency funding by spring 2026

echelon•31m ago

Does that mean BART ceases operation?

thaumasiotes•8m ago

The only way that could happen is if San Francisco was vacated. Most likely would be that they provide more "emergency" funding.

godelski•9h ago

I do like the idea of mascots, but truthfully I think they are better done as non-human mascots and need to be simple. I think Japan got this right with Yura-chara[0]. There seems to be a strong preference for non-human characters and when there are human ones, they're still overly simplistic.

Seems like same rule about flags[1]: a child should be able to draw it from memory.

Only Barty seems to fit these conditions.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuru-chara

[1] https://nava.org/good-flag-bad-flag

Lammy•9h ago

> I think Japan got this right

I like DPS-kun from beatmaniaⅡᴅx copula: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcfmIKKMu7Y

They made a plush of him that's very cute too

yellowapple•8h ago

Agreed. Nyango Star is another example of this sort of mascot done right. He's an apple, a cat, and a heavy metal drummer; what's not to love?

spondylosaurus•8h ago

The first BART mascot has a little blue chibi goat next to the human girl, and I can't tell if the chibi is supposed to be an alternate form of the girl or a completely separate entity, but either way it seems like it could be a solid yura-chara.

bobthepanda•7h ago

Not for a transit system per se, but the ORCA farecard in Seattle has a mascot named Boop, who is an orca: https://info.myorca.com/news/meet-boop/

godelski•4h ago

I would feel offended if they chose anything else lol. But the orca mascot is cute. Well done Seattle

Reason077•3h ago

There's quite a precedent of sea-related names for transit fare cards. Hong Kong's Octopus, London's Oyster, San Francisco's Clipper... any others I've missed?

rexpress•40m ago

Opal in Sydney

thaumasiotes•26m ago

Opals aren't sea-related.

throwaway314155•7h ago

> Seems like same rule about flags[1]: a child should be able to draw it from memory.

Im a grown ass man and can't draw the US flag properly from memory, much less the many far more complicated flags out there.

I don't think that definition is particularly useful.

jonchurch_•7h ago

It is a useful concept, and letting the whispers of the vexillophiles[0] into your head will lead you to see that most flags are well, pretty bad.

CGP Grey has a lot of opinions[1] about this.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vexillology

[1] https://youtu.be/l4w6808wJcU

godelski•47m ago

It's a "you should" kind of rule not a "everyone follows this with no exceptions" kind of rule. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I can think of an example of the latter

thaumasiotes•14m ago

> It's a "you should" kind of rule not a "everyone follows this with no exceptions" kind of rule.

It's not a "you should" kind of rule either. It's something someone made up and wants to persuade other people of for no particular reason, similar to "don't split infinitives".

There is no benefit to having people be able to draw the flag accurately. A flag has two purposes:

1. Be easy to recognize.

2. Be visually impressive.

Two good flags are the flag of California and the flag of Saudi Arabia. You'd have a hard time drawing either one, but that's not a problem.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_California

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Saudi_Arabia

(Note also that I've seen a Spaniard claim her flag was easy to draw. She meant that it's easy to draw if you don't bother to draw the coat of arms.)

imtringued•6h ago

They have non-human characters. The key mistake they made is that they put the human characters front and center. The human characters should appear in accompanying comics where they end up interacting with the animal mascots, not be the mascots themselves.

cosmicgadget•9h ago

> The reincarnated bunny spirit of a legacy car who has seen it all.

Not how I picture a BART car that has "seen it all".

cultofmetatron•8h ago

no kidding.. I lived in SF during the peak of the influx of tech and was a daily BART rider. there's things I can't unsee.

Lammy•7h ago

I'm glad I got to experience the carpeted cars with cloth seats even if they got gross some times.

cobbzilla•4h ago

Cloth seats on BART must be among the worst design decisions ever made. Seating on public transit must be something that can be hosed down with bleach, and not a material that will forever hold whatever funk is deposited into it.

Lammy•3h ago

It was way more comfortable to sit on, soft surfaces help keep noise levels down inside the car, and I wash my clothes regularly :p

flomo•3h ago

I took BART a lot (uhhh) 30 years ago. The trains were very clean and highly policed. I wouldn't even bring a coffee on board, much less smoke crank or whatever. Different era.

SllX•27m ago

Sounds like the dream. All I want is a more frequent police presence in and around the station infrastructure and on the trains for both BART and MUNI. Like why is that a different era? Why can’t that be the current era?

PaulRobinson•8h ago

I'm pretty well travelled across Europe and North America, and a little bit of South America.

I've never seen anything like the BART anywhere else - and I don't mean that in a positive way.

It's late where I am, I'm about to go to bed, and now this image of a BART car that has "seen it all" is going to haunt me... I might eat a load of cheese to calm the dreams down...

spike021•7h ago

not sure about “seen it all” but definitely “screamed it all”. I haven’t ridden Bart in a while but i remember the banshee screeches.

kappasan•7h ago

We have something similar here in Kyoto! But we're Japan so there's an actual anime [1] and a character relationship chart [2], both straight from the city government.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OInuZFHeQo

[2] https://www.city.kyoto.lg.jp/kotsu/cmsfiles/contents/0000215...

neilv•6h ago

They're all female? I wonder whether the BART officials know all the connotations of different kinds of anime/manga fandom.

saagarjha•5h ago

Look if you want to draw rule 34 of the BART mascot that's on you.

neilv•3h ago

Probably I've been on the Internet too long, and gotten a distorted view of what anime fans are interested in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_service

rKarpinski•5h ago

Baylee is 6' 2"?

zghst•3h ago

This train has a lot more history than you think. Something, something about the NSA and mind-reading. You would not believe it.

The Anime Mascots are a good touch.

TulliusCicero•3h ago

Oh damn the heights on the mascots are very anti-stereotypical, 6'2" for the woman and 5'2" for the dude.

notpushkin•2h ago

This is kinda cool, but... Coloring sheets? Seriously?

bigcat12345678•1h ago

Good, no wifi, but Mascots. Yeah, I'd like some price hike as well.

irusensei•14m ago

Everything is better with anime characters

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