Originally Posted By phruby Jim Hill's latest podcast confirms in the ten minutes of the show that the Queen of Hearts will be getting a projected face similar to the seven dwarfs mine train. It will be the only character to be upgraded. Also he states the MK is getting the explosion effect for BTMRR later this year.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Interesting. It sounds like some of the dark ride upgrades that the MiceAge crew talked about may actually be based in facts. I'm still not sure it's the best use of that funding (especially considering that the other figures in the ride won't get upgrades), but that figure has always seemed like it needed something more Part of me always liked how you could tell she was supposed to be angry, because her dangly earrings were sticking out horizontally from her ears. Her rage even extended into her jewelry, apparently!
Originally Posted By Captain Neo Projections suck but will the new figure at least move like a real Audio animatronic?
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Why do you say they "suck"? Do you really think they are that bad?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Projections suck but will the new figure at least move like a real Audio animatronic?<< Assuming that it uses a similar setup as the Dwarfs (and everything has indicated that it will), the motion of the body will be great. I definitely prefer physical faces to projections, but even I have to admit that the overall effect of the Dwarf figures is quite good. Think of it like a slightly scaled back version of the Buzz Lightyear AA in the queue, and that will give a good idea of the result
Originally Posted By Captain Neo The Seven Dwarfs figures looked good in the video they showed yes so i'll be cautiously optimistic.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Quite good? They're amazing man! What's wrong with you? << Honestly, it's the projections that hold me back some. In the dark mine, I understand why they let the "million diamonds shine", but it also results in the dwarfs having bright faces compared to the rest of their bodies. You can even see the glow of the projections reflected in their beards. Until they can find a way to make the projection appear more neutral (which will be really hard to do), I have a hard time moving them above the "really good" level to "great"
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance But, it allows them to have so much more motion and animation in their faces, rather than one robotic movement or pose.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros But how many expressions do they really need to convey in the 5-10 seconds that you're in the room with them? It's not like they need to go through a full range of emotions. I would bet that some moving eyes, eyebrows, and mouths/cheeks would get everything across just fine Just think about what all the Lincoln figure can do. His motions are incredibly detailed, but done with a physical face. Presumably, he needs more emotions and movements than the dwarfs, because the audience sees him for a much longer period of time, but he manages to do it without relying on projections (though I realize that building ever AA to Lincoln standards wouldn't make sense financially)
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Even if they only make one expression, the fluidity of movement with the projections is so much more lifelike than the mechanical stop-go of a lot of AA figures.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "But how many expressions do they really need to convey in the 5-10 seconds that you're in the room with them?" A lot. This installation is probably one of the greatest tributes to classic Disney animation I've ever seen.
Originally Posted By PeterPan1313 LOL, I would take anything Jim Hill says in his comments/podcast with a grain of salt, that's where the wild rumors are. For example, remember what Jim said regarding Star Wars land at DHS, " It won't actually be construction of Star Wars Land itself that starts in the first quarter of 2014. But -- rather -- site prep. A good portion on the Echo Lake area & environs needs to first be pulled down and hauled away before all of the necessary below-ground prep work for this DHS expansion / alteration can actually get underway. So it could well be late Fall / early Winter of 2014 before we then see any aspects of Star Wars Land go vertical." <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2013/09/15/how-mark-renfrow-brewed-up-quot-unleashed-the-villains-quot-for-disney-s-hollywood-studios.aspx">http://jimhillmedia.com/editor...ios.aspx</a> It's in the comments. Too bad for Jim Hill that Trowbridge is in charge of WDI's portfolio in Anaheim.
Originally Posted By PeterPan1313 >>But how many expressions do they really need to convey in the 5-10 seconds that you're in the room with them? It's not like they need to go through a full range of emotions. I would bet that some moving eyes, eyebrows, and mouths/cheeks would get everything across just fine<< True. Also, all of the Dwarfs in the mine have the rear-projection system, they all look alike, having a couple of the older limited motion dwarfs in the background would kinda highlight the differences in style. Yes, later on we have a cottage scene, but that's after some dips and turns, and most of it behind a window. Not so sure about seeing a limited motion Alice, and then a Queen of Hearts with a moving face 5 seconds later, and then back to the old portion of the ride. A lot of guests would be wondering, 'why is the Queen so animated?' It would also give prominence to the ride's villain, making it less about Alice and more about the Queen, IMO. Miceage said a grand new Ursula being defeated scene in Mermaid, and another hair-do for Ariel, don't see any of that, just saying . . .
Originally Posted By PeterPan1313 Maybe Miceage wants a special Queen of Hearts animatronic that activates when certain Magic Bands are in it's presence, then the Queen of Hearts animatronic goes ballistic and complains about everything in the park. Seriously, if they're going rear-projection, they'd have to change out most of the animatronics on the ride just to have a consistent experience.
Originally Posted By familyguy I agree with Ferret. The projections are ok...but to me they have their flaws, and are just not as impressive as an actual audio animatronic. It's always about about the "wow factor" of how real it looks. I would expect a projection to look good (again...while having it's flaws) but when you see what looks like an actual face (as opposed to a projection) that is able to move and convey emotion and seemingly communicate in way that is convincing, as we've seen them do in the past....that's where, IMO, the wow factor comes in.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance "Miceage said a grand new Ursula being defeated scene in Mermaid, and another hair-do for Ariel, don't see any of that, just saying . . ." Dude, she did get new hair, in all of the above the water scenes.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance And I might add, they got it more right than you did, Peter. You said that there were NO changes coming at all to the Little Mermaid ride. Just general maintenance stuff.
