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EPCOT Figment, well, to be replaced by Figment
- Thread starter Walrus from Paris
- Start date
WaluigiTime
Well-Known Member
Figment hasn't been okay since 1999
Stupido
Well-Known Member
Yeah, we rode two weeks ago, and it was easily in the worst shape I've ever seen. Figment didn't come out of the speaker in the sound lab, and this Figment looked exactly the same. The wait was 40 minutes too, cause the land was evacuated and spaceship earth is down. I felt bad for anyone without a LL.
I think if they announced it was being rethemed tommorow it'd be seen as a mercy kill at this point
FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
So I saw a video of this in action, it’s Infact an OG audio-animatronic figure. The old Figment with the CAT-BAT blocks from the original Literature scene, with one of the 02 sweaters awkwardly put on him. Hence the somewhat strange (atleast in regards to the context of this scene) look/posing. Actually really, ‘Really’ Awesome to see this guy fully working here still and hope whenever they finally get to restoring the ride back to its former glory, he’ll be back in his rightful place, blocks and all. And the “Detour to Figment’s Open House” Figment animatronic that’s typically here will be back in the original Film Finale, on top of the rotating film reel your vehicles would ride around, as he should be, with the short sleeve turtleneck shirt put back on him.
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FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
Admittedly, considering this is a legit OG animatronic figure they had backstage (as he’s been brought out for EPCOT special events before in the past), he’s actually the best option they could’ve used, as otherwise he would’ve been completely static and that’s just as bad of show as the OG Film Finale/Current Detour AA not moving. Much better to have an animated Figment than one that isn’t at all.
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FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
Hope you mean rethemed back to the original rather than *yet another* unnecessary Film IP theme. That wouldn’t even be a mercy kill, it’d be a straight up murder/repeat of the same mistake that initially killed this ride, no joke. Figment shoehorned back in as the band-aid fix. Like if they replaced Haunted Mansion with a High School Musical theme, still calling it Haunted Mansion, keeping half of the track and replacing the rest with a truncated ImageWorks (despite the original still being upstairs behind a wall) & gift shop space, but “fixing it” by shoehorning the ghosts & “Grim Grinning Ghosts” song back in the ride (lyrics of course changed to go with the new show scenes), the new title of the attraction being “Haunted Mansion With Ghosts”. Truly ‘the’ most baffling/crazy thought process behind an update to a classic ride ever, but that’s genuinely what it is currently. A bizarre Honey I Shrunk/Figment crossover with a deceiving title that you come off of going “What the heck was that?”, “What did that have to do with imagination/creativity?”, “Hey, this isn’t the classic Journey Into Imagination ride with Figment I remember, where’s Dreamfinder? What happened here??”
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FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
Ngl, but I think a cool little thing they could do in the meantime that’d be a fun little touch for us classic Journey Into Imagination ride fans (not to mention just folks wanting to see a little new but classic magic added back to the ride that wouldn’t cost Disney much to do), would be to give the former Film Finale/Detour to Figment’s Open House figure his classic short sleeve shirt back, and to repaint the astronaut Figment back to the classic gray & orange color scheme rather than the current yellow & purple. Also, during the Festival of Arts, maybe put the former Artist/Sound Lab Figment in his classic artists’ beret & bow for a fun little addition for this year’s Festival of the Arts. This could also easily prep the figures for an easier transfer to their original positions/show scenes later down the line. (also, PS: Great Future Merch ideas. Human sized classic yellow & red turtleneck Figment shirt (to go along with your Figment head cap 
), Figment head hat adorning his classic purple beret from the Arts scene for the Festival, and maybe a classic Astronaut Figment figure and/or plush)
(And yes folks, those are the only figures from the original still utilized in the current ride. All the others in the Upside Down Open House & the Blast Finale were newly fabricated for the 02 ride.)
), Figment head hat adorning his classic purple beret from the Arts scene for the Festival, and maybe a classic Astronaut Figment figure and/or plush)(And yes folks, those are the only figures from the original still utilized in the current ride. All the others in the Upside Down Open House & the Blast Finale were newly fabricated for the 02 ride.)
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FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
Another thing they could do.. is.. so.. you know how in the smell lab scene, it begins with “Our research shows that smells often trigger the imagination, especially when pleasant familiar smells come into play” and shows a white rose on the slot machine monitors.
I wonder if there’s a way for when that happens it could spray the original Rose scent for a bit (as a callback to the original Arts scene) until ultimately the rose disappears, then of course the scene would play out the same way we’ve known it to since ‘02, “Your mind defines what enters through your nose. That’s how you tell a skunk is not a rose”. But ultimately of course it depends how much it’d cost to do & program that little bit. If it costs too much, Disney of course wouldn’t invest in doing it. But ultimately, again, it’s like.. to let us fans smell that classic scent again, one that could be kept long term in the future, for the inevitable restoration. I see no downside to that at all. It’s a nice touch for the classic fans in the meantime and it, again is something that’ll be a good investment in the long run, as that’ll of course be reused again. (The ‘02 skunk scent out in the future, of course, but you get what I mean). Maybe the additions of that classic magic would eventually convince management to ultimately greenlight a full return to the classic iteration w the tech & spfx enhancements we’d expected all those years ago that can finally be done today. These touches along with new classic ride themed merch (maybe even re-releases/reprints of classic shirt designs and such) I think would be enough to convince them also. But yeah.
I wonder if there’s a way for when that happens it could spray the original Rose scent for a bit (as a callback to the original Arts scene) until ultimately the rose disappears, then of course the scene would play out the same way we’ve known it to since ‘02, “Your mind defines what enters through your nose. That’s how you tell a skunk is not a rose”. But ultimately of course it depends how much it’d cost to do & program that little bit. If it costs too much, Disney of course wouldn’t invest in doing it. But ultimately, again, it’s like.. to let us fans smell that classic scent again, one that could be kept long term in the future, for the inevitable restoration. I see no downside to that at all. It’s a nice touch for the classic fans in the meantime and it, again is something that’ll be a good investment in the long run, as that’ll of course be reused again. (The ‘02 skunk scent out in the future, of course, but you get what I mean). Maybe the additions of that classic magic would eventually convince management to ultimately greenlight a full return to the classic iteration w the tech & spfx enhancements we’d expected all those years ago that can finally be done today. These touches along with new classic ride themed merch (maybe even re-releases/reprints of classic shirt designs and such) I think would be enough to convince them also. But yeah.
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Rodj
Well-Known Member
I have to ask, are you sure? The head looks makeshift(especially the eyes which have smaller pupils), and disregarding the legs, it seems smaller. This one also has head, tail, and mouth movement, which I didn’t think was on the original animatronic(if it even had any motion outside of the blocks).
FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
Pretty sure, though I could be wrong. That figure indeed had the same “makeshift” painted eyes back in the day during the later years of the ride’s operation. (As can be seen in the photo I shared above also). He began with eyes that could move left and right but eventually they got changed out (probably for maintenance cost reasons, you can see this watching various ride throughs of the original ride aswell as old photos), otherwise, every movement and the posing is exactly the same. Only difference now is they added the 02-current long sleeved sweater to him & removed the blocks.
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FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
Otherwise, the only other conclusion I could think up is they possibly used the same mold to build this guy, but again, identical movements & look/pose.
As a side note though, to get him looking really good, they really should repaint those eye pupils. They def need to be larger and be pointed towards the center, looking right at us. Otherwise he looks dazed &/or bug-eyed. Here’s a quick edit I made on Instagram. That should typically be the way these figures’ eyes should be positioned/painted, generally speaking. Of course I couldn’t do them perfect due to the touch controls ‘but’ overall, there ya go. That’s how he should look:
As a side note though, to get him looking really good, they really should repaint those eye pupils. They def need to be larger and be pointed towards the center, looking right at us. Otherwise he looks dazed &/or bug-eyed. Here’s a quick edit I made on Instagram. That should typically be the way these figures’ eyes should be positioned/painted, generally speaking. Of course I couldn’t do them perfect due to the touch controls ‘but’ overall, there ya go. That’s how he should look:
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jah4955
Well-Known Member
Was it ever in good shape?
WaluigiTime
Well-Known Member
I think it is really cool that at least one of the original Journey animatronics still works.
Rodj
Well-Known Member
jah4955
Well-Known Member
I apologize to any fans, but I was disparaging 3.0. I rode it right after it opened (like I did with the previous 2 iterations), and while on it was thinking the same opinion I've maintained about a quarter century now, "what a weak attempt to make up for the trainwreck that was '2.0'...cram Figment in everywhere you can!'" Compared to 2.0, 3.0 IS GREAT. Compared to 1.0, not so much.
FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
I wouldn’t even say it’s great. A marginal improvement at best lol! To think.. they spent all the money simply shoehorning in Figment to the lousy Honey I Shrunk themed Institute tour retheme nobody liked, doubling down on that theming, even paying enough to get Eric Idle to come back as Dr. Nigel Channing (the character ‘nobody’ liked as a Dreamfinder replacement I might add) when they literally got in Chuck McCann (Dreamfinder’s OG voice) to record ‘snoring’ behind a closed “Dream Lab” door after the ridiculous Skunk fart scene. Like, seriously??? Wouldn’t it have cost less simply to bring back Dreamfinder, the original show scenes & theming, etc. considering it was ‘already’ made, recorded and basically had to be refurbed/restored & rebuilt, rather than what they did. Things that make you go “Why??”.. when what they should’ve done was simply restore it back to what it originally was w the tech & spfx enhancements we expected to happen when it initially was due for an update. And if they didn’t have the budget at the time, it honestly would’ve been better to leave it closed til the budget was good enough to restore & enhance it properly, I said what I said.
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FigmentsBrightIdeas
Well-Known Member
Nah, if they simply repainted the eye pupils real quick to the correct size & position, he’d look perfectly fine. On top of it, can be reused in the future for the Literature scene where he’d belong, with his classic Cat-Bat block trick/illusion
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