carlos merigo wrote on brazilian website "b9" that the mascots bring back "the colorful, loving and fun atmosphere that marked the olympic mascots over the decades". merigo called them a "return to origins" following the "shapelessness" of wenlock and mandeville, the mascots of the 2012 summer olympics in london. neha prakash wrote an article on digital media website "mashable". prakash said that vinicius and tom "are more nostalgia-inducing than nightmarish" compared to the "terror" of the mascots of the 2014 winter olympics. many people compared the art style of the mascots to that of the "pokémon" franchise. stephen wood wrote an article on the history of olympic mascots in "paste", and he compared them to the style of "adventure time", an american animated television series. in an article published on "slate"'s culture blog "brow beat", matthew dessem wrote that there were no big problems with the mascots when compared to previous olympic mascots: "like the best olympic mascots of yore, vinicius and tom are well-suited to plush toys and licensing deals and will be completely forgotten within a year." leila cobo wrote an article published by "billboard", and she praised the organizers of rio 2016 for "celebrating music in a most joyful and profound way" by naming the olympic mascot after vinicius de moraes.