I like Buddy a lot, and I've been friends with his "performer" for many many years. I'm pretty sure that if we ask, he'll help us in any way he can.
However:
What really gets me is: First, making polls based on wrong assumptions. Spikey never was supposed to be the EF mascot. Mai Ling is the official mascot for EF 17, and while she may not have been as prominently featured as Spikey, she was adorable and worked out really well. Now, even she was meant only as mascot for this years EF, not as a constant mascot such as Brok is for Confuzzled. So... there is absolutely nothing you could base a poll like this on.
Second: I seriously hate it when people simply go their way, ignore facts, ignore things people who DO KNOW say, and just try to push their ideas, try to create some sort of public demand or pressure, trying to impose decisions upon the EF staff, and then try to hide behind excuses like "It was just a funny idea". Yeah, sure, this is exactly why you chose the backdoor of posting a poll on a forum that is in no way EF related: Trying to put us under pressure.
The whole thing is simply useless as, like I said, there is no official mascot for EF18. Yet. And if there will be one, we will find a way of creating one that people will like. And we will put comments such as Jim Martin's, or comments made by attendees into account. But we are NOT going to give in to pressure like this.
Thanks for listening to my little rant.