Last week when Mulan and Pocahontas got their new outfits, they changed for all meet and greets and all shows in every park in Walt Disney World and Disneyland on the same day. Honestly surprised Mickey and Minnie would get new heads for MRFF today and nowhere else yet.
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New Mickey and Minnie heads - how we feeling?
- Thread starter WDWLover#1
- Start date
Last week when Mulan and Pocahontas got their new outfits, they changed for all meet and greets and all shows in every park in Walt Disney World and Disneyland on the same day. Honestly surprised Mickey and Minnie would get new heads for MRFF today and nowhere else yet.
Donaldfan1934
Well-Known Member
This is why I'm confused by @GiveMeTheMusic's point. If character integrity is so poor, then why was there two smooth and seamless character transitions just a week ago?
MagicHappens1971
Well-Known Member
That's why I said that they probably changed everywhere else. I'm assuming they don't have enough heads yet, which if that is the case there's no reason to debut the new heads. With Poca & Mulan I'm sure they ordered the costumes and were ready to be deployed. Especially since Mulan & Poca don't have much representation in the parks so they would need less costumes. Personally I feel Mickey and Minnie looking different in Friendship Faire then in their meet and greets just a few minutes away from Friendship Faire was a bad call on costumings part, or whoever would make a decision like that. And the changes aren't subtle, they look much different, next to each other.
GiveMeTheMusic
Well-Known Member
A seamless transition to new costumes that don't resemble the characters in any way shape or form. It's not character integrity if the new look has nothing to do with the character design, even if the rollout was seamless.
For years, fuzzy Hook met in Adventureland while an entirely different face hybrid Hook costume was used in Dreamalong. Same with Smee. This disturbed no one apparently.
Since most guests couldn't tell old Mickey head from new Mickey head if their lives depended on it, I'm sure no one is worried about using them in MRFF while the rest of the park doesn't have them yet.
Character integrity means not having Cinderella meets advertised 50 yards from the restaurant that uses her name, where it's advertised that she's there all day. In the name of capacity, character integrity has taken a nosedive.
Donaldfan1934
Well-Known Member
All great insights here. I particularly agree with you that the new Mulan and Pochahontas costumes are definitely huge steps in a confusingly misguided direction. Hook and Smee just didn't work at all as a face characters and I'm happy those contradictions are gone. Like the Mickey head change, I'm sure most little girls don't pay too much attention to the proximity error of Cinderella's Royal Table and Princess Fairy Tale Hall, but that in no way excuses the latter's terrible placement. Not only does it look bad from a character integrity standpoint, but it committed the even bigger sin of taking up perfectly good dark ride space as well. Thanks for clarifying. I was viewing the issue from a broader perspective so I completely missed the intricacies that used to be taken into account.
Thumper 32
Well-Known Member
Ha. Stock footage shows up everywhere and it's clear no one in marketing has a clue. One of the recent vacation planning videos had shots of 80s Donald, late 90s Donald, and current Donald, all within less than a minute of each other. Guaranteed that we will continue to see footage of old/current Mickey for YEARS to come, given how long he was around and how much B-roll there must be of him.
Flippin'Flounder
Well-Known Member
I think the new heads look really awkward next to the old Donald/Daisy/Goofy.
Donaldfan1934
Well-Known Member
That Donald footage sounds hilarious and unbelievable to watch. I guess they just don't care since anyone with eyes can see the vast differences between the 3.
Donaldfan1934
Well-Known Member
Donald and Daisy's standard heads look fine, but the articulated ones could use an improvement to better match the standard versions. Goofy on the other hand needs an upgrade all around.
MagicHappens1971
Well-Known Member
Olafs articulated head isn't that great either :/ the inside of his mouth is the wrong color and he has a double chin
brb1006
Well-Known Member
The double chin part might have be intentional since he is a snowman.
From a technical standpoint though it's astounding. If you look he's able to do different expressions with his mouth and not just the standard open and close. The double chin effect is because of the fabric sadly and probably unavoidable.
Olaf also, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think he's programmed - that is the performer is not controlling him live, because of the different mouth movements and I can't see the hands moving. Is this the same with the rest of them? Cos I can't see the gang moving their fingers to control (and in DAWM Mickey would have one hand behind his back for most of it to avoid people noticing - in MRFF I don't see it so have they all got pre programmed movements?)
JohnD
Well-Known Member
Um, no. They looked cross eyed.
brb1006
Well-Known Member
I wonder what an Accelerated Marie would look like? Considering that Baloo has one at Hong Kong Disneyland's new Mickey show. I wonder what Marie's would look like mainly at Tokyo Disney Resort since it's the only park where she can be heard speaking at shows and parades?
bsiev1977
Well-Known Member
Can't people just have a differing opinion than you? Why automatically discount their feelings by citing nostalgia while you dismiss their opinions?
By the way, I do happen to like the newer heads
JustInTime
Well-Known Member
Love the new heads.
munchiezxx
Well-Known Member
I started to like the new heads in the picture but in the video it's really weird to watch haha. I think the eyes are too thin or something.
TubaGeek
God bless the "Ignore" button.
A couple of integrity issues:
-They have gotten STUPID lax with heights. I have pictures where I'm taller than Goofy and the same height as Sulley.
-Yes, girls can play multiple princesses, but there needs to be a limit. No more Snows playing Jasmine. It makes no sense.
-There was a time where there were FOUR Goofs out at DAK simultaniously. That's not okay.
-Yes, girls can play multiple princesses, but there needs to be a limit. No more Snows playing Jasmine. It makes no sense.
-There was a time where there were FOUR Goofs out at DAK simultaniously. That's not okay.
That's a technique made popular by Jim Henson. It helps make the characters look like they're focusing visually on things and not just staring emptily .
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RMichael21
Well-Known Member
So, I decided to watch Dream Along with Mickey on YT again to see the different in heads, and let me just say how big Mickey/Minnie's heads look in comparison to the new ones. I think they're a vast improvement, but it'll just take me some time to get used to them.