Having started down this road. I'd like to explain where I am going with this.
First of all, this is not part of the official decision process regarding official names, logos, wallpapers. Our mascots live in their own universe that just happens to touch on that of the operating system. They can exist as a realistic dog, cat and fish, as in @Atomozero's original concept art. They can be the anthropomorphic figures I am playing with, and they can be versions that none of us have thought of yet. I do not mean to monopolize the mascots. If you have something different in mind, great!
Having three mascots opens up possibilities. With a single mascot, you can do a monologue, a single POV narration. With three, you have the possibility of interaction, dialogue, of telling our story while developing relationships between the three (and their human "supervisor") Cathilda flirts with Tracker, Pisces is quietly contemptuous of his non-technical partners. And so on. The reader/viewer is amused by the interaction, and we slip the message in between the jokes.
Tracker is a dog (I tend to think of him as a young Golden Retriever) and is the main character holding the trio together. He is also a stand-in for the author. The other two exist mostly to ask questions: Tracker is the mascot with the answers. He exists in a number of forms: as himself, just an anthropomorphic dog, as Track-ARRR the gentleman pirate, Trekker the Indiana-Jones type adventurer, and Trak-R the rebel. When the other two call him out on how he can personify stability when he has these different looks, his answer is that they got it the wrong way round: As long as he gets the job done, externals don't matter.
Cathilda the anthropomorphic cat is artistic, emotional, creative. She always maintains the same appearance.
Pisces Is a cyber-enhanced koi fish of uncertain gender. s/he will most probably start out in water, but at some stage s/he may announce that her cybernetic enhancements now allow her them to breathe air and share the stage with the other mascots.
If necessary we can even bring in other characters on a once-off basis.
The Appearance and even the names of the mascots are up for discussion and will become part of the story. For example, I don't really like the name Pisces, but I couldn't think of a "fishy" name (do NOT say Wanda!). If we do decide on one, then it will be worked into the story: "Oh, I don't identify with THAT name any more". The same applies to drawing style: "We look very flat and 2d." "Budget cuts." These mascots are aware that they are mascots and that they were created with AI: "Say it with me, we're slop and we're proud" [Ooooh, I am so putting that into a short video].
The ideal outcome is for the trio of mascots to develop their own following, which then gives us a captive market to which we can promote our operating system.
The absence of the human partner will remain the running gag of the show until we get very close to a release. Then I will gradually introduce myself and move the discussion into a more technical discussion of our new OS. The mascots will be pushed aside a little, but they can still have their own show occasionally.
I have released a webcomic and video as a trial run. If you find the whole mascot business an unnecessary diversion, fair enough. If you do like the idea, then please go back to the video and Like and Subscribe. That will make YouTube send it out to more people.
Episode 1 used a Zoom meeting as the scenario. That is probably good for a few more, but there may be shorts using just one mascot at a time, and another idea is to have them delivering news for MNN (Mascot News Network). I can just see the ticker running at the bottom of the screen with little news headlines about us!
I have learned a few things in the process. Properly animating the show the old-fashioned way is going to take too much time and effort. AI can do it, but the cost will be unacceptable. I am exploring other ways, though. In any case, the detailed Pixar-style drawing just eats up computer cycles like a sailor on shore leave and I'll probably move to a flatter, more classic-Disney, or European claire ligne style. I am mostly working on my Mac on this, but one day I will proudly announce that the latest episode was produced entirely on our own OS!
