New Mickey and Minnie heads - how we feeling?

brb1006

brb1006

Well-Known Member
Cmdr_Crimson said:
Turns out Tokyo fans aren't happy with the new versions...
soranews24.com

Tokyo Disneyland changes the faces of their Mickey and Minnie costumes, breaks fans hearts

The difference is subtle, but to many fans, it's significant.
soranews24.com soranews24.com
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@SweetDuffy101 wasn't kidding when he said Japanese visitors weren't thrilled with Mickey and Minnie's new looks from months ago. I'm sure they will get used to it over time. I bet most WDW and Dl fans got this reaction back in late 1988/1989 when the new heads we're getting rolled out replacing the 1978 designs.
(1978-1988)
s-l300.jpg


(1988/1989-2016/2019)
mickey-minnie-disneyland-disneycharacters0917_0.jpg
 
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brb1006

brb1006

Well-Known Member
BasiltheBatLord said:
Are the previous heads really from 1988? Had no idea they were that old.
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Yeah, I believe Mickey and Minnie's then new heads started showing up at the Main Street Electrical Parade sometime in early or late 1988 at Walt Disney World. They started getting rolled out in 1989. Meanwhile Disneyland still kept their 1978 heads until 1989.

Here's footage of WDW's MSEP from March 31, 1988


This footage of the "Totally Minnie" stage show from 1988 featured the new designs for Mickey and Minnie. The "Totally Minnie" stage show and "Mickey's 60th Birthday Parade" at Walt Disney World was one of the last places to hear Jack Wagner's performance as Mickey and Minnie.


A year later, Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor took over as the voices for Mickey and Minnie at the parks starting in 1989.
 
rescue_ranger

rescue_ranger

Active Member
BasiltheBatLord said:
Are the previous heads really from 1988? Had no idea they were that old.
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It really is crazy isn't it? I was born in 88 and have a picture of my mom and I in around mid 89 with the "new" Mickey head. It's all I've ever known, literally but I really do love the new look. It's very modern. Even though I get nostalgic feeling when I see the heads I grew up with, I know things have to change and I'm glad this change was for the better.
 
brb1006

brb1006

Well-Known Member
rescue_ranger said:
It really is crazy isn't it? I was born in 88 and have a picture of my mom and I in around mid 89 with the "new" Mickey head. It's all I've ever known, literally but I really do love the new look. It's very modern. Even though I get nostalgic feeling when I see the heads I grew up with, I know things have to change and I'm glad this change was for the better.
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Plus the new heads look more on model to their animated designs. Hopefully Goofy and Chip N Dale might get a similar makeover in the future.
 
brb1006

brb1006

Well-Known Member
Apologize for bumping a 3 year old thread, but Jiminy Cricket recently got a new head that debuted at Tokyo Disneyland sometime in 2021.


This design currently hasn't been seen at the other Disney Parks.

Update: Turns it it's the same design, guess the lighting played tricks with me. Then again, knowing the 2022 remake of Pinocchio is coming in a few months might make this relevant.
 
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yensidtlaw1969

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
brb1006 said:
Apologize for bumping a 3 year old thread, but Jiminy Cricket recently got a new head that debuted at Tokyo Disneyland sometime in 2021.


This design currently hasn't been seen at the other Disney Parks.
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wdrive said:
It looks the same to me
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I agree with wdrive, this looks like the same Jiminy Cricket that's been seen around for some time now. Here he is in screenshot from that Tokyo video:

Screen Shot 2022-07-20 at 3.31.58 AM.png


And here he is at Animal Kingdom in 2012:

1658302302342.png


And since we're nearly on the subject, I would love to see Disney grab hold of the release of the new Live Action Pinocchio as an opportunity to revisit Pinocchio's look. He's not awful, and in fact in some pictures he looks pretty good, but this version of the character has always felt a little "close but no cigar" to me. I'd love to see them take one more pass at him and bring him closer on-model.

Screen Shot 2022-07-20 at 3.42.43 AM.png



But certainly both Pinocchio and Jiminy (and even Geppetto!) look better these days than they did through the 90's:

gettyimages-667937872-612x612.jpg



And just because I had a minute, I jumped into Photoshop and used the Liquify tool to throw together a quick edit of how an updated Pinocchio could look

Current look vs. Photoshop:

Screen Shot 2022-07-20 at 3.35.35 AM.png
Screen Shot 2022-07-20 at 3.35.35 AM copy 2.jpg
 
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brb1006

brb1006

Well-Known Member
yensidtlaw1969 said:
I agree with wdrive, this looks like the same Jiminy Cricket that's been seen around for some time now. Here he is in screenshot from that Tokyo video:

View attachment 654392

And here he is at Animal Kingdom in 2012:

View attachment 654391

And since we're nearly on the subject, I would love to see Disney grab hold of the release of the new Live Action Pinocchio as an opportunity to revisit Pinocchio's look. He's not awful, and in fact in some pictures he looks pretty good, but this version of the character has always felt a little "close but no cigar" to me. I'd love to see them take one more pass at him and bring him closer on-model.

View attachment 654394


But certainly both Pinocchio and Jiminy (and even Geppetto!) look better these days than they did through the 90's:

View attachment 654395


And just because I had a minute, I jumped into Photoshop and used the Liquify tool to throw together a quick edit of how an updated Pinocchio could look

Current look vs. Photoshop:

View attachment 654396 View attachment 654397
Click to expand...
I honestly had a soft spot for Pinocchio 80s/90s design. Maybe it's because his hair popped out more.
Pinocchio.jpg


But yeah, Pinocchio does need a minor makeover, something similar to Smee.

Speaking of Pinocchio, Lampwick made an appearance at a Disneyland Paris Private Event a few years back.
c00727ca275f1549cfd0dec946be6d66.jpg
 
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yensidtlaw1969

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
brb1006 said:
I honestly had a soft spot for Pinocchio 80s/90s design. Maybe it's because of his hair popped out more.
View attachment 654488

But yeah, Pinocchio does need a minor makeover, something similar to Smee.

Speaking of Pinocchio, Lampwick made an appearance at a Disneyland Paris Private Event a few years back.
c00727ca275f1549cfd0dec946be6d66.jpg
Click to expand...
I actually totally agree about 80/90's Pinocchio's hair! The current version has a slight emo vibe to it 😅 The older version captured more of the look of his hair in the film.

Lampwick looks kind of . . . scary?? But I like that he's out there! I think he and Geppetto may need to see a hairstylist, though, they both seem to have an uncharacteristic fuzziness.

I have to say, I think they did a good job with Foulfellow and Gideon! Stromboli could use some help though . . .

1658338509818.png
1658338680635.png


I'd really love to see the Pinocchio characters make some more appearances with the new movie coming out. They really don't get enough visibility, especially at WDW. It'd be nice to see them all together somewhere!
 
brb1006

brb1006

Well-Known Member
yensidtlaw1969 said:
I actually totally agree about 80/90's Pinocchio's hair! The current version has a slight emo vibe to it 😅 The older version captured more of the look of his hair in the film.

Lampwick looks kind of . . . scary?? But I like that he's out there! I think he and Geppetto may need to see a hairstylist, though, they both seem to have an uncharacteristic fuzziness.

I have to say, I think they did a good job with Foulfellow and Gideon! Stromboli could use some help though . . .

View attachment 654492View attachment 654493

I'd really love to see the Pinocchio characters make some more appearances with the new movie coming out. They really don't get enough visibility, especially at WDW. It'd be nice to see them all together somewhere!
Click to expand...
Yeah, you can tell Lampwick hasn't gained an update just by looking at this eyes and design. Prior to that photo, Lampwick hadn't been seen at the Disney Parks since the conclusion of the original run of the Main Street Electrical Parade at Disneyland in 1996 (1997 if you count the "Hercules Electrical Parade" that performed at New York City). Glad to know someone at Disney kept the Lampwick costumes for over 20 something years.
 
yensidtlaw1969

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
brb1006 said:
I honestly had a soft spot for Pinocchio 80s/90s design. Maybe it's because his hair popped out more.
View attachment 654488

But yeah, Pinocchio does need a minor makeover, something similar to Smee.
Click to expand...

Just because I had another minute and I agree with you about the hair, I tried to do a pass in Photoshop where his hair is styled a little more like it used to be:

Screen Shot 2022-07-20 at 3.35.35 AM copy 6.jpg


It's not perfect, but compared to how he looks now I'd prefer to see him looking something more like this in the parks. Disney's made some great strides towards getting characters more on-model in recent years, Pinocchio could totally benefit from that.
 
brb1006

brb1006

Well-Known Member
yensidtlaw1969 said:
Just because I had another minute and I agree with you about the hair, I tried to do a pass in Photoshop where his hair is styled a little more like it used to be:

View attachment 654629

It's not perfect, but compared to how he looks now I'd prefer to see him looking something more like this in the parks. Disney's made some great strides towards getting characters more on-model in recent years, Pinocchio could totally benefit from that.
Click to expand...
Speaking of older character costumes, I always found it odd how Geppetto prior to 1998 was never depicted with glasses.
 

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