Unintentionally Hilarious Bootleg Toy Story Action Figures

From Cracked.com:

For some inexplicable reason, Woody screams “FIRE! FIRE! DROP THE GUN!” complete with machine gun sound effects while his chest lights up like Iron Man. Either he has serious PTSD or a rampaging crystal meth addiction. If this is an indication of the quality of the rest of the bootleg Toy Story line, we might have to take the packaging’s advice and “collections them all”.

(And as I write this, I notice that while I’ve mentioned Buzz often enough to justify a WordPress category, poor Woody only gets a tag. I guess once again it’s all about the space toys. Sorry, cowboy.)

Is the Academy Award for Best Picture a Farce?

My spouse (not a Disney Parks fan, but an animation nerd) has a bone to pick with the Academy for last night’s Best Picture win, and the fact that Toy Story 3 didn’t win. From his blog this morning, Why The Oscars’®©™ Best Picture award is a farce:

As good as it undoubtedly is, [The King’s Speech] isn’t better than TS3 and the collected body of work Pixar has turned out. TS3 like Godfather II, and yes I believe they deserve to be discussed together, was able to be as good as – if not better – than the great original movie. (TS2 was 50% of a great movie and certainly not in a league with the other two. Drop me a line and I’ll explain why.) The depth of character, the incredibly mature story it told, the writing, the storytelling, the acting were all of a quality seldom matched. And it’s nomination was nothing more than tokenism. Feh. A pox on all The Academy’s houses.

Myself, I can live with the fact that Toy Story 3 walked away with just two Oscars, for Best Song and Best Animated Feature.

But it bugs me that I can’t imagine an animated film winning Best Picture, despite the excellent work in this medium. And let’s remember that it is in fact a medium, not a genre . . . which makes it odd to set apart in the way that we do. Plus, comedies tend to be perceived as less prestigious somehow than serious dramas, or even thrillers, so if we ever do see an animated film win best picture, my money’s on something more like Metropia than Toy Story, despite the fact that the latter is a better film.

I’m not sure I’ll go as far as my spouse, in calling the awards a farce. But the deeper I get in animation fandom, the more disgruntled I am with the Academy’s apparent attitude.

Disney Hipster Meme

Who knew there was a whole meme going on out on the interwebs about Disney hipsters? And no, I don’t mean trendy themepunks . . . I mean photoshopping and captioning Disney characters into hipster status.

I’m lucky enough to have a teenage son to clue me into these things, and he sent me these as a bit of a sampler (click on the images for larger versions):

And hey, if you’re inspired, here’s a palette of Disney hipsters, all ready for you to caption.

Rumor has it there’s a little place called MemeBase where people churn this stuff out every day. In fact, right now there’s a pretty nasty caption on a Buzz Lightyear drinking cup posted there. But you didn’t hear it from me.

Pixar Items on eBay to Benefit Clinton Bush Haiti Fund

Want to scoop up some Pixar collectibles while doing a little good for your fellow human beings? Lee Unrich, co-director of films including Finding Nemo and Toy Story 2, is auctioning off a number of collectibles, including Toy Story 3 posters signed by Tim Allen, John Ratzenberger, and other members of the cast. Most interesting to me are a couple items ending fairly soon: A Monsters Inc crew gift of Jones Soda and an extremely rare Toy Story crew gift fossil watch.

A special baseball hat tip to my friend Hayden for mentioning this on Facebook!

Everybody Wants the Space Toys

Long before the Christmas clearance sales, this Pez dispenser display at our local supermarket was sold out of Buzz Lightyear, and had plenty of the Woody version, perfectly echoing the anxieties of our cowboy hero as he feels his place threatened in Andy’s heart, and that moment in the 1950s when space toys pushed their wild west counterparts out of the way.

Sorry, Woody. I blame Sputnik.

Recent Highlights from Those Darn Cats Podcast

In the interest of shameless self-promotion, here are a few highlights from recent episodes of the Those Darn Cats Podcast, which I co-host and co-produce with my BFF Lisa:

• How to Not Suck at Disneyland Paris: Tips, tricks, and random commentary from my son and me after several days at our happiest place in France. (Well, actually I think we had an even better time at a tiny café in Bayeaux, but what the heck.)
• Scurvy Monkeys and Voicemails: We’re joined by hosts of the Scurvy Monkeys and Disney Dudes Podcasts, both of which are bizarre and irreverent in their own ways, and then listen to some truly astounding voice mails
• More D23 Mishaps and In the Mode: My co-host and BFF is even crankier about D23 than I am, perhaps because she is an actual member.
• Ladies and Gentlemen, Introducing Miss Devon Dawson! Lisa interviews the voice of Jessie, the Yodeling Cowgirl, from the Riders in the Sky album Woody’s Roundup.

Now, don’t be fooled by the fact that my 13-year-old son sometimes joins us on the podcast….it is often not family friendly, and I don’t advise listening to it with kids around.  Especially that one with the Scurvy Monkeys.

You can find us on iTunes or Podcast Alley, or subscribe via RSS feed.

Toy Story Mania Madness! Buckets, Potato Head!

StudiosCentral has pictures of souvenir popcorn buckets themed to the upcoming Toy Story Mania atraction, and apparently destined for distribution at all of the Disney Parks. Waaah, I can hardly wait! I am a total sucker for Toy Story swag. Plus, as an avid reader of icanhascheezburger, I have a certain attachment to bukkits.

Plus, The Disney Blog has some cool YouTube videos of Mr Potato Head, currently entertaining Guests at Disney’s California Adventure. I started to watch one of them . . . and then resisted the urge. I am trying trying trying to stay reasonably spoiler-free!

Toy Story 1, 2, 3 in 3D

Can you tell I’m catching up on my reading this morning? Yeah, I thought you could.

Blue Sky Disney has the scoop on release dates for the Toy Story movies in 3D, including both previous Toy Story films and the upcoming three-quel:

“Toy Story” on October 2nd, 2009.

“Toy Story 2” on February 12th, 2010.

“Toy Story 3” on June 18th, 2010.

Nice synergies, people . . . the 3D attraction Toy Story Mania opens summer 2008 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s California Adventure, followed by more Toy Story than you can shake a stick at in the subsequent two summers.

Count me in.

Don’t Tell Broke Hoedown Jr! Toy Story Musical to Debut on Disney Cruise Line

Broke Hoedown Jr is a huge, huge fan of Toy Story, and I’m not sure how he’d feel about Toy Story musical described in the Orlando Sentinel today (hat tip: The Disney Blog). Would he be disquieted by the Buzz and Woody face characters, or clamoring to climb aboard the show’s debut voyage?

Either way, I gotta keep this quiet for now. It was not a pretty scene when he first learned that Star Wars Weekends existed, and that he’d never had the chance to go. I may well have to remedy that in 2008, pending other possible Disney trips (there is in fact a limit to my budget, and my frequent flier miles balance).

$1B Investment Announced for California Adventure

The Wall Street Journal has now reported what BlueSkyDisney readers already knew: Disney’s California Adventure is getting $1 billion in upgrades and redesigns:

Just as Main Street harks back to Walt Disney’s hometown of Marceline, Mo., in the early 1900s, California Adventure’s new entrance will trace the footsteps of Walt Disney from when he arrived in Los Angeles in the 1920s, these people say. Similar to Disneyland’s iconic castle, the redesigned park will feature a replica of Hollywood’s former Carthay Circle theater, where Walt Disney premiered the movie “Snow White” in 1937.

The new-look park also will be expanded by around 12 acres and will bulk up its attractions, with a heavy emphasis on animated movies created by Pixar, including “Cars” and “Toy Story.”

I’m guessing that Toy Story ride is the already-under-contstruction Toy Story Mania . . . anybody know different?

Not everything’s changing, though:

It is still unclear what will happen to the name, as the company sees appeal in the words “Disney,” “California” and “Adventure,” these people say. But there is a big risk in leaving it the same. That said, some unusual relics will be left untouched for now, including the tortilla-making factory and a bread-baking demonstration. A person familiar with the plan says the Golden State area isn’t considered as thematically out-of-place as others in the new plan and won’t be changed in the near-term.

The Golden State area is lovely and relaxing, so I’m glad they’re not planning to mess with it much.

While there’s a lot of Pixar in this plan, there’s a lot of Walt too, and even a new Little Mermaid ride. Still, I expect the Pixarization-bashing to begin in 5, 4, 3, 2 . . .