Re: Steamboat Willie pin
For pete sake's people: If you're going to criticize, at least learn what you're criticizing about. A LARGE part of the marketing campaign for the first L/S movie, which continued into the pin line, was Stitch being inserted into famous Disney movie moments and subsequently messing them up. remember the ads where he was inserted into Lion King, Aladdin, Little Mermaid, and Beauty/Beast? There was a pin series which also put him into Hunchback, Lady/Tramp, Peter Pan, Robin Hood, and Fantasia. AND Steamboat Willie. There was another series which had him on 6-8 attractions throughout the parks, all four. My favorite promo poster was one which said, "There's one in every family..." and it had ALL the Disney animated characters gathered around, and staring in revulsion at, Stitch. He was intended to cross into the other Disney IP from the beginning, and I think it was a very clever way to introduce him and get to know his character a bit before the film even came out.
So let's stand down from DEFCON 1 here... it's not like they're trying to re-cast him as the new Mickey or something. I mean, in the Fantasia pin he's messing up Mickey's control of the brooms. Although, to be honest, the lines for the kids waiting to see him and Lilo at the meet-n-greets are equally long. The kids I work with at school at much more familiar with the Stitch cartoons than many of the classic, original Mickey and the gang cartoons (which is in part due to the Disney company not making them easy to find anymore, although the recent releases on iTunes are a step in the right direction there).
