Those wonderful Mickey Mouse animated shorts are still happening – and the latest one has just arrived. This one is called “No Service” and features Mickey and Donald has they attempt to battle a “no shirt, no shoes, no service” rule with their limited collection of clothing. It’s a surprisingly self-aware cartoon, subtly mocking that neither character has ever been completely clothed. I’m both surprised and glad Disney signed off on this, because it’s a great little short. I hope we see many more like this in the future! Watch it below. Read more…
While WayForward is busy remaking the NES’s DuckTales with Capcom, Sega is also reviving a classic Disney game: Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse. E3 brings us the first footage of the remake, and it’s looking sharp. There may be a few more fans of Magical Quest on SNES, but this HD remake seems like a fun romp through a dark children’s fantasy world. My only question is whether or not the original game will be included as well; I always think that’s a nice touch. Read more…
First Ducktales (NES) was announced to have an HD remake in the works, and now Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse (Genesis) is getting an HD remake! Unlike Ducktales, which is being made by WayForward Technologies for Capcom, Castle of Illusion is being remade by Sega Studios Australia. Read more…
Wondered where Mickey Mouse has been all these years? His animated adventures have been few and far between, but it seems Disney is finally letting him back out again. Disney Animation has teamed up with Paul Rudd (Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory), to create 19 new animated shorts featuring the rambunctious mouse. The first, Croissant de Triomphe, is already available online for you to watch, and the rest will be trickling out onto the Disney Channel starting June 28th. I love how the art looks, and I can’t wait to see more of these films because this first one is fantastic! Check it out below. Read more…
It would look like this! Designer Satoshi Fumihara the genius behind the Japanese MTV series Golden Egg designed these funky Cubic Mouth Disney Key Cover which look cutting edge yet retain the cute qualities of Mickey and Mini. I’ve always admired how Disney has adapted to local culture in Japan by taking chances and this is always reflected in the merchandise — something which I wish Disney would do more often in the United States where the brand play it a bit too safe. Read more…
Tom Stathes’ latest Cartoon Carnival, number five to be exact, was presented at a storefront venue known as Vaudeville Park, and hosted by Cinebeasts, a local film society. Not only were the cartoons time-warp material; the twenty-somethings who’d organized the evening were dressed for the occasion in bowties, bowler hats and suspenders, a pianist was playing Fats Waller tunes, the SRO audience consisted of everyone from college kids to retirees, and never mind the open bar – they were handing out free popcorn! Read more…
So much of the toy fair is really aimed at kids, and while there are fanboy friendly booths here and there Diamond is always a pleasure to visit with the variety of cool goodies that they have. Shown above is a Qee Bear Spock — and below you can see a wide range of toys from Alice in Wonderland to Mickey Mouse: Read more…
Fanboys love their toys! And 2009 has been a great year for collectors of both high and low art, so we’ve put together our favorites from this year with an eye on unique twists on old themes. For example shown above O-No! Sushi by Andrew Bell is an urban toy reaction from a vegetarian to sushi. Read more…
I was trying to figure out why this recent commercial for Tokyo Disneyland Disney Halloween looks so damn cool. I’m an anime fanboy so my thought was that anything with a Japanese voiceover would just seem cooler, but that’s not the case. Then it struck me: Mickey and Mini and decked out in Venetian costumes instead of the typical goth look associated with Halloween. The result is that our mouse suddenly takes on a magical European quality that I just doesn’t associate with Mickey who’s as American as you can get. Read more…
Taking him into the maze! Of course being a mouse playing a maze game is second nature when you kit bash Mickey Mouse and Tron. This Tron Mickey Mouse Vinyl Collectible Doll is available for preorder at National Console Support, here’s their description: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 31, 2009 in Star Wars
I wasn’t aware of this — but it seems that back 1989 at Tokyo Disneyland they had a Star Wars themed attraction called Mickey’s Space Fantasy. After some research I found out that the ride featured in this old advert is in fact Star Tours which was advertised as “The Ultimate Star Wars Adventure!” which was the direct result of Lucas working with Disney back in the 80s on several projects. But best of all, I found out that the ride is still running to this very day…
From a quick glance I wasn’t too impressed with the mecha design of this Transformers Disney Label Mickey Mouse — the problem was that it just wasn’t cute enough! But of course the devil is in the details: If you look closely at the top you’ll see the classic Mickey Mouse enjoying being at the controls of his very own giant robot.
One of the fun things about urban toys is when they give you a fresh take on a familiar character, and that’s the case with these Modern Pets Friend: Mickey and Minnie figurines. In fact looking at these toys I almost wish that Disney would think of doing some feature length animation with a set of reinvented characters done right (of course while trying to avoid over doing it ala Muppet Babies).
I love the clever industrial design of this Mickey Mouse Desk Light which is from Japan. The top light enclosure with the ears is a bit of an obvious concept although what I think makes the design so great is the added touch of making the base of the lamp have the buttons from Mickey’s pants. Read more…
From 1977 this is a commercial for the Mickey Mouse Magic Kingdom which featured a set of modified Weebles made to look like popular Disney characters. Looking at this ad the monorail looks quite cool, although as I child I detested the egg shaped toys a great deal. In fact the advertising taunt of “Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down” so irritated me as a child that I had to know the answer as to what kept the damn things from falling over.
So after much experimentation my ultimate solution was to put one in a vice grip — and thus in the process almost destroying the vice grip. But after a long struggle I got to see the inner workings of the Weebles which were remarkable simple (there was a lead ball at the bottom of the inside of the sturdy plastic shell). Although looking back at it I had no idea that this Hasbro toy (which was rolled out in 1971) would be going strong decades later despite my scientific research on how to destroy the buggers.
This is the first look at the Mickey Mouse Glove USB Flash Drive, although right now there’s no info on pricing and availability. The gloves in the Mickey Mouse cartoons were in fact a silent tribute to the cel painters who had the painful task of coloring each inked frame of acetate. Having done this sort of work back in my art school days I can tell you that it’s a painfully slow task which is very easy to muck up, so it’s very gratifying to see this very modern tribute to the golden age of hand painted cel animation.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 3, 2008 in Animation
When Mickey Mouse first stepped out he was a little bit cute, but he was also a bit of a devil too — but sadly over the years Disney would transform poor Mickey into saccharine sweetie that we know today. But I have to admit that Disney is now starting to let outside artists have fun with their brand which is a breath of fresh air after years of cute kitsch merchandise:
“Medicom’s Runaway Brain figure has been around for a few years now in two variants which were small toys measuring 15cm or 5.90″in length. The company has announced another variant which doubles the size of the figure to 30cm and quadruples the price. We’re guessing this is one that’s targeted solely at serious collectors.”
