EPCOT Figment, well, to be replaced by Figment

[mysto]

Blame them..They Didn't want Dreamfinder.

I was in Rochester in the late 80's and watched them slowly crumble. It didn't get really bad until a while later, but they were routinely laying off 10k at least. They would probably cut any expense at that point, I'm not sure I would say they didn't want it. Didn't want to pay for it, perhaps couldn't.

 

[mysto]

We can all agree Figment deserves better than the current attraction, but I genuinely don't know what a good modern figment would look like.

I think Imagineering is really hard. It's easy for some to dis their work.

 

[OptimusPrime]

I think Imagineering is really hard. It's easy for some to dis their work.

If it were easy everyone would do it

 

[SplashJacket]

It’s pretty simple, just a new interpretation of the original attraction. Nothing else needs to be done. The original still holds up and should have never closed to begin with.

I think Imagineering is really hard. It's easy for some to dis their work.

Exactly, I don’t think a new interpretation of the original would satiate the hungry.

We’ve very closely if not passed the threshold for impossible to satisfy.

I don’t necessarily think a modern version of the original figment would satisfy our community, and by modern I don’t mean banal design.

With such a large gap and such a prolonged inferior product, I don’t think a nostalgic return to the original would work as well as people think it would.

A modern figment would need to be novel, creative, and technically impressive in the same way of the original one, and that’s not simply a plussing of the original.

Obviously that’s not impossible to achieve, but it is much more difficult than “make it better.”

 

[Bocabear]

I think if they went back to the original premise for the attraction as the plot, it would be a better attraction. An Introduction to who the dreamfiner is and his sidekick Figment...Then a tour of the dreamport... With an inspiration of the original attraction, and today's technology this could be absolutely amazing...Turn thr entire Pavilion into a Steampunk repository of dreams...New tech, New story, Same characters... Seems like that could be a really amazing attraction...

 

[Haymarket2008]

Literally adapt the Little Golden Book version of the original concept and you have a hit. It’s perfection.

 

[Moth]

Literally adapt the Little Golden Book version of the original concept and you have a hit. It’s perfection.

Would you be for or against the classic EPCOT references?

 

[The Leader of the Club]

Would you be for or against the classic EPCOT references?

Personally, I’d be for it to an extent. I don’t want it to be an EPCOT nostalgia-fest, but if they’re fairly hidden Easter eggs they’d be fun additions. I’d rather see classic EPCOT spring up around the park in the next few years leading up to the 50th…

 

[OptimusPrime]

Exactly, I don’t think a new interpretation of the original would satiate the hungry.

We’ve very closely if not passed the threshold for impossible to satisfy.

I don’t necessarily think a modern version of the original figment would satisfy our community, and by modern I don’t mean banal design.

With such a large gap and such a prolonged inferior product, I don’t think a nostalgic return to the original would work as well as people think it would.

A modern figment would need to be novel, creative, and technically impressive in the same way of the original one, and that’s not simply a plussing of the original.

Obviously that’s not impossible to achieve, but it is much more difficult than “make it better.”

Nothing will ever satisfy the community.

There’s MFs in the Lion King thread crying about how it’s a bad idea as if they haven’t been crying for an attraction to reflect the park’s values while not replacing anything.

There is never any satisfying anyone.

 

[OptimusPrime]

Would you be for or against the classic EPCOT references?

My worry with a redo is that they’ll MCU ify the update and make it about dangling keys in front of fans with “oh hey look Bonnie Appetite” instead of trying to tell a story

 

[Haymarket2008]

Would you be for or against the classic EPCOT references?

In moderation, absolutely for it.

 

[Mickeynerd17]

As much as I love the nods to the original park, adding more references is simply dressing up a dead corpse.

What we need are new pavilions and new characters designed with the same philosophy that created EPCOT in the first place. The only characters that should stick around in a major way are dreamfinder and figment. The others can make cameos in places, but nothing more.

Making the 21st century equivalent to impressive attractions like World of Motion or Horizons will go much farther than pictures of the sea monster or robot butler.

Unfortunately, that would also require taking creative risks akin to when EPCOT was being designed. The current company would not take such risks today.

Maybe one day, but it is not this day.

 

[Moth]

What separates Figment and Dreamfinder so much from the other EPCOT Center characters?

Ignoring they're the focal point of their attraction.

 

[V_L_Raptor]

Would you be for or against the classic EPCOT references?

For. Good heavens, absolutely for.

 

[DCLcruiser]

What separates Figment and Dreamfinder so much from the other EPCOT Center characters?

Ignoring they're the focal point of their attraction.

He's a friendly dragon. Show an 8 year old a dragon and they are hooked. I'm still hooked at my age.

Also, Future World doesn't really have any other characters.

UoE - The tigers? Dinosaurs? Neither were characters.
Horizons - None, that I recall
M:S - None
WoL - Goofy playing sports? White blood cells?
WoM/TT - None
SE - None
Seas - Nemo is new and doesn't really matter for the pavilion.
Land - LK is not even the main attraction

 

[V_L_Raptor]

What separates Figment and Dreamfinder so much from the other EPCOT Center characters?

Ignoring they're the focal point of their attraction.

The original attraction used them to speak to viewers in a much more germane way than any of the other attractions did. Not even Cranium Command, ostensibly telling people about how their own brains work, managed to draw in the audience the way the original JII did. It didn't talk down, it just shared, and it did so in a way that made people want to re-ride to catch more of what was on view, because so many scenes were jam-packed with elements that it was impossible to take the whole thing in over a single ridethrough.

They came to embody the tone of the attraction, and nothing since has matched it. Of course they're still beloved!

 

[Moth]

He's a friendly dragon. Show an 8 year old a dragon and they are hooked. I'm still hooked at my age.

Also, Future World doesn't really have any other characters.

UoE - The tigers? Dinosaurs? Neither were characters.
Horizons - None, that I recall
M:S - None
WoL - Goofy playing sports? White blood cells?
WoM/TT - None
SE - None
Seas - Nemo is new and doesn't really matter for the pavilion.
Land - LK is not even the main attraction

UoE- Correct. That's never really had a mascot.
Horizons- Technically the family, but also the Butler has become a 'mascot', but the narrator/family is never given names and the Butler is the mascot after the ride closed.
M:S- Correct
WoL- Buzzy feels pretty clear cut here.
WoM- Test Dummies? Bird and Robot? Water Machine Freak? Grasping for straws. These feel more "marketable scrimblo" versus an actual character which brings me to...

For JII, you ride alongside Figment and Dreamfinder, even for 3.0 you ride alongside and get to know Figment. They feel like, actual characters that have a story and everything behind them, especially since JII is very much a "fantasyland" style ride in ways the others aren't.

 

[DCLcruiser]

UoE- Correct. That's never really had a mascot.
Horizons- Technically the family, but also the Butler has become a 'mascot', but the narrator/family is never given names and the Butler is the mascot after the ride closed.
M:S- Correct
WoL- Buzzy feels pretty clear cut here.
WoM- Test Dummies? Bird and Robot? Water Machine Freak? Grasping for straws. These feel more "marketable scrimblo" versus an actual character which brings me to...

For JII, you ride alongside Figment and Dreamfinder, even for 3.0 you ride alongside and get to know Figment. They feel like, actual characters that have a story and everything behind them, especially since JII is very much a "fantasyland" style ride in ways the others aren't.

I would say Figment is the only character. The only one you want to take home, and buy merch. He is the unofficial mascot. EPCOT is the realization of an imagination.

To me, pastel-purple lighting = EPCOT, and that directly ties to Figment.

 

[Mickeynerd17]

What separates Figment and Dreamfinder so much from the other EPCOT Center characters?

Ignoring they're the focal point of their attraction.

Dreamfinder and figment were the only official characters outside of the fab five back in the day. All the others were given character status after their respective rides closed to sell merch as "representatives" for their respective pavilion.

also dreamfinder and figment are much more timeless than the others.

Making a new horizons ride centered around the robot butler would be odd at best imho.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Dreamfinder and figment were the only official characters outside of the fab five back in the day. All the others were given character status after their respective rides closed to sell merch as "representatives" for their respective pavilion.

Kitchen Kabaret had a pretty strong merchandising presence from Day One though. Helps that it was actually there on opening day versus Imagination being pushed back to March '83.