Mr. Pants

Mr. Pants is Rare's website mascot and the main character of It's Mr. Pants. He is a crudely drawn mustached stick man wearing a bowler hat and red underpants.

Rare's official website
"Wait! Wait! We know that surveys are Evil incarnate, but we've got Mr. Pants the Survey Man to lead you through ours. How can you resist? Go on, give us a few minutes of your time - you might even convince us to change something if you slate it hard enough."

- Description of the Survey section from Rare's official website.

Mr. Pants was created by Leigh Loveday as the mascot of the Survey section for their website, back when it was known as "Rarewhere". He was made in about 30 seconds one day when he noticed that none of their current artists had the time to put together a new render of an existing Rare character for the Survey page.

Mr. Pants soon became popular with the fans sending emails in the Scribes section of Rare's website, with them sending a lot of fan art related to him. This led him to become Rare's website mascot.

In late 2002, Rare's official website replaced the "Ask Uncle Tusk" section, which was a section about Killer Instinct's Tusk answering fan mail and helping players with their games, with a "Pantsboard" section, named after Mr. Pants himself. The Pantsboard was a place where Rare asked a question to the fans (like their opinions on a new game, for example), and the fans then send emails with their thoughts on the question. After about a month's time, fan emails are selected and posted on the Pantsboard, with Mr. Pants occasionally answering them.

Other appearances
In Jet Force Gemini, after the player obtains 300 ant heads, they unlock the "ANTS INTO PANTS" cheat, which turns every ants into Mr. Pants.

In Banjo-Tooie, Mr. Pants appears inside the Dodgem Dome of Witchyworld as a constellation in the night sky, and reappears on Boggy's television in Hailfire Peaks.

In Grabbed by the Ghoulies, pictures of Mr. Pants can be seen all around Ghoulhaven Hall, along with boxes of "Mr. Pants Choco-Treats" on some shelves.

In both Viva Piñata and Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, one of the accessories that the player's Piñatas can wear is the "Mr. Pants Hat".

In Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Mr. Pants makes a cameo appearance as a vehicle part named "Spirit of Pants". There is also a giant Xbox disc of It's Mr. Pants in the LOGBOX 720 stage, even though the game was never released or announced for the Xbox console.