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It’d be more *immersive*Sure, but how would additional axes of movement help in the storytelling?
It’d be more *immersive*Sure, but how would additional axes of movement help in the storytelling?
I think they switched from hydraulics to electric. Fully sealed against the elements and no more hoses and leaky oil seals. So the old AAs weren’t an option.What I can't fathom is, why on earth did they not reuse some of the figures and animatronics from Splash. Could have fleshed out some of that bayou full of musical animals with.... ya know... musical animals... but no, they had to rip out everything in their blind commitment to hatred.
As @TP2000 mentioned, most of the AAs from Splash were originally designed to be viewed in the America Sings show, not to be viewed while zooming past in a log flume. As such, they some of those figures were over-engineered for that application. Also, several of the Splash AAs had extremely limited movement, but seemed to use them to good effect.
well for starters you’d actually be able to incorporate the critters as characters- allowing them to talk and do more than just one limited motion throughout the ride (and the finale). Having other characters besides Tiana and Louis narrate the story would be a big improvement- something the predecessor did through the other rabbits, vultures, and frog characters. It would have felt more impactful to meet the critters as you’re gathering them throughout the ride (they made a big deal about their personalities), and finally see them all playing their instruments together in the finale scene.Sure, but how would additional axes of movement help in the storytelling?
well for starters you’d actually be able to incorporate the critters as characters- allowing them to talk and do more than just one limited motion throughout the ride (and the finale). Having other characters besides Tiana and Louis narrate the story would be a big improvement- something the predecessor did through the other rabbits, vultures, and frog characters. It would have felt more impactful to meet the critters as you’re gathering them throughout the ride (they made a big deal about their personalities), and finally see them all playing their instruments together in the finale scene.
The old AAs were hydraulic. The new ones are electric.why not keep some of the Marc Davis AA’s? Cost cutting probably.
The old AAs were hydraulic. The new ones are electric.
They would make the new ones look bad.Why can’t both coexist?
They would make the new ones look bad.
I guess another problem is how do you add all of these figures to the finale, where they're needed at the party. Of course, the real problem there is the stupid story they've written up.Great point. The obvious work around though would have been to scrap the cheapo figures and use the old AAs for the critter bands. In this scenario, the only purpose built AAs for TBA would be the new high end AAs/ characters from PatF. I bet you however that even if this wasn’t a cost cutting move some imagineer was worried about us thinking they would look “cheap” if they reused the America Sings AAs as main characters. That would be a crazy reason to get rid of those beautifully designed and beloved AAs though. Especially when you replace them with crap.
They're completely different systems, and hydraulics are messy, require a lot of maintenance, and are much more limited in their movement. I imagine Disney was happy to rip out all the hoses and be done with oil leaks.Why can’t both coexist?
State of the art animatronics are leaps and bounds ahead of those old AAs. I get that the America Sings AAs had charm and a good deal of movement, but those older models are in no way better than the newer electric AAs. In fact, the new ones could be programmed to behave exactly like the old ones, but the old ones could never perform like the new.They would make the new ones look bad.
They're completely different systems, and hydraulics are messy, require a lot of maintenance, and are much more limited in their movement. I imagine Disney was happy to rip out all the hoses and be done with oil leaks.
State of the art animatronics are leaps and bounds ahead of those old AAs. I get that the America Sings AAs had charm and a good deal of movement, but those older models are in no way better than the newer electric AAs. In fact, the new ones could be programmed to behave exactly like the old ones, but the old ones could never perform like the new.
They may be saving in maintenance, but the new ones were certainly more expensive, so I’m not sure it should be chalked up to “cost-cutting.” I think they probably could have repurposed the old ones, but why would they want to have two separate systems?Right, so cost cutting. There is no reason that I’m aware of that both can’t be there simultaneously.
Some of the hydraulic AAs were really well done- I always thought the gators and the geese, for example, were really great.The hydraulic AAs might be more limited in movement than the best of the new electrical ones but they re certainly much better than all the limited motion figures they added to the ride.
But like TBA (and most rides with AAs), some of the figures had very limited and repetitive motion:
Oddly enough, the Brer characters (made specifically for Splash and supposedly the main characters of the ride,) seemed to be of a lower quality and more poorly animated than the critter characters, which were designed with much more fluid movement better animation for the America Sings show.
That video isn't an accurate representation of the animation a Splash figure had. That video is from 2022/3, when none of the figures on Splash were moving at their best/most fluid. Watch B Roll of Splash (Both coasts) from their opening years (same time frame as we're seeing Tianas now) and you'll see that the Br’ers had just as much animation as the side characters.
If the new critter AAs are so state of the art, and are able to be programmed to be like the old ones, why do they all have 2 movements at most. And not even have blinking eyes. It’s like they are staring into my soul.They're completely different systems, and hydraulics are messy, require a lot of maintenance, and are much more limited in their movement. I imagine Disney was happy to rip out all the hoses and be done with oil leaks.
State of the art animatronics are leaps and bounds ahead of those old AAs. I get that the America Sings AAs had charm and a good deal of movement, but those older models are in no way better than the newer electric AAs. In fact, the new ones could be programmed to behave exactly like the old ones, but the old ones could never perform like the new.
TBA uses highly-articulated A-1000 AAs for its main characters, but less-articulated models for the critters, which have limited motion. It seems obvious to me that from a storytelling perspective, you'd want to use highly-animated figures for whatever part of the scene you want to be the focus of attention and less articulated figures for those parts of the scene that are more like support, mood-setting, or background elements of the scene.If the new critter AAs are so state of the art, and are able to be programmed to be like the old ones, why do they all have 2 movements at most. And not even have blinking eyes. It’s like they are staring into my soul.
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