Last
week, I had a purely self-indulgent post where I imagined a wave
of Collectible LEGO Minifigures consisting of Disney film and TV
characters representing the themed lands of Disneyland. This week, I
continue to pamper myself by imagining a wave of Collectible LEGO
Minifigures consisting of characters more specific to Disneyland:
characters originating in the Disney theme parks, prominent Cast
Member concepts, and even a few guests.
I suppose a reiteration of the rules is in order here:
- I have to come up with 18 concepts for minifigs.
- There will be two minifigs per land (including the upcoming Star Wars area—although I had to break this sub-rule last time), one male and one female.
- Each minifig must have an identifiable connection to the land where I assign them, not just fit in a general thematic sense. This should be easier to manage here than in last week's project, since I'm using characters specific to the parks.
- Each minifig must be original. Last time, that meant no repeats of characters who have already been made into minifigs. This time, it's going to be even harder; LEGO has produced minifigs for a vast variety of themes over the years, many of which cover similar ground to the themed areas at Disneyland.
- Not a rule as such, but more of a consideration—when crafting the character set last week, I made sure to think about the desires of LEGO collectors and Disney fans who aren't so interested in the parks per se. In other words, even though my goal was a minifig set specifically tied to Disneyland, I wanted it to be something that people outside that narrow fandom could enjoy on its own merits. I'm aiming for the same thing with this one—these should be minifig concepts that anyone can find a use for.
Think I can do it again? Let's find out!
Main
Street, USA:
There's only one specific “character” really tied to Main Street,
that being Abraham Lincoln. Unfortunately, believe it or not, he's
been done. Instead, for the male character, I decided to go with
an idea that as far as I know, has never been addressed by LEGO: a
marching band performer! Obviously the Disneyland Marching Band is
not exclusive to Main Street, but they appear there the most often.
For
the female character, I'm thinking a classy 1910s lady, in a
lace-edged dress and enormous hat with a feather. Watch The
Music Man
to see what I mean—there are some great
period costumes in that play/film!
Adventureland:
The archetypal Adventureland dude is surely a Jungle Cruise skipper.
LEGO has released some similar minifigs before, such as the Explorer
or Johnny
Thunder, but I think a safari tour guide is distinct enough. His
counterpart would be a Tiki Juice Bar hostess...although the shirt
print would have to be greatly simplified in order to come out at
minifig scale. I
mean, yikes.
New
Orleans Square:
There is of course no shortage of colorful, unique characters in this
area of the park. The only trouble is that in the broad strokes, they
already exist as minifigs, many times over. LEGO has produced many
sets featuring pirates and ghosts. But that's broad strokes. We can
drill down to more specific presentations.
Pirates,
I think, are still a dead-end—there are just too many different
pirate minifigs already in existence for specific characters from the
ride to hold much appeal outside the theme park fandom. Ghosts are a
better bet. Most LEGO ghosts are the generic bedsheet sort, and many
LEGO fans would love to see more specific personalities. The trick is
picking the right
ghost to commemorate this way, because again, it needs to be a
concept that people outside the Disney parks fandom will appreciate.
Our best bet is probably Constance—she's a bit grim for LEGO, but
she hits the right intersection of iconic to the Haunted Mansion and
recognizable outside that context.
So
that's our New Orleans Square lady. How about the fella? Having
eliminated pirates as likely contenders, and not wanting only the
Haunted Mansion to be represented here, I'm taking a look at the
“street level” atmosphere of the area. How about a jazz musician?
There's a very Blues Brothers-esque saxophone player in one of the
Collectible Minifig waves, but I'm thinking of something more 1920s,
with bright-colored trousers with a matching vest and fedora, and a
shiny trumpet. I kitbashed something close to what I have in mind for
a New
Orleans Square themed model I put together some years ago.
Critter
Country:
This is a tough one. Since the removal of the Country Bears, all of
Critter Country's attractions have been based on pre-existing
properties, without much in the way of connective tissue. That is,
it's hard to imagine the land itself as a community with its own. For
the male character, I'm thinking perhaps a Storyteller: an Uncle
Remus-like figure who tells tall tales of the critters. For the
female character...you know what? Hell with it, let's have Trixie.
She's still credited as the owner of the women's restroom in the
Hungry Bear Restaurant.
Frontierland:
LEGO did an Old West theme a while back, but fortunately for my
purposes, the focus was relatively narrow, with minifigs mostly
representing gunslingers, U.S. Cavalry, and Plains Indians. The
Collectible Minifigs line has done little to expand upon this, so
there are still plenty of niches left to fill. My picks for
Frontierland are a riverboat pilot and a dance-hall girl.
Fantasyland:
And here we run into the same sort of problem as Critter
Country—we're not doing Disney film characters this time around,
but most of the characters you would expect to see here are
from Disney films. Even the Matterhorn is no help, because LEGO has
already made a Yeti
and a Lederhosen
Guy. (That's seriously what he's called.) I think this is where I
have to roll out the first of my guest minifigs! How about a little
girl in a Princess dress and Minnie Mouse hennin? For the guy, I'm
going with a court page. You know, one of these guys:
Mickey's
Toontown:
Following the same procedure here as for Fantasyland. This time, it's
the male character that's the guest—a guy wearing a Mickey Mouse
beanie*—and the female who's the Cast Member—in this case, an
operator on the Jolly Trolley.
Tomorrowland:
The Collectible Minifigs alone have given us scientists and space
explorers and aliens galore, making this area more of a challenge
than you might think at first. Nonetheless, there are a few actual
characters invented for this area, and although none are current, I
already crossed that line with Trixie. I would choose Tom
Morrow for the male character, and for the gal...well, there
aren't any original Tomorrowland characters who are female
(except...well, see below), so I'm reverting to Cast Members and
making this one a Monorail
driver.**
Star
Wars Land:
There's no way around it: I have to flagrantly cheat. Until the Star
Wars area opens, there's no way of knowing what, if any, original
characters will be introduced through its attractions. So I'm
borrowing a couple from Tomorrowland. The male character can be one
of the Jedi Masters at the Jedi Training Academy. At the moment I
can't remember what any of their names are, but the fact that they
have different names shows that they are definitely characters,
not generic Jedi, and thus the fact that there are lots of LEGO Jedi
doesn't disqualify the notion.
For
the female character, then, I choose none other than...Eyebrow Woman!
At least that's what I call her. She did the boarding announcements
for the original version of Star Tours, and while it's not evident
from the still picture below, she had some of the best eyebrow game I
have ever seen on a human.
So
that's it for Round 2 of Collectible LEGO Minifigs, Disneyland
Edition! The Management appreciates your patience. Hopefully we'll
have something better for you next week.
*
I really, really, really
want LEGO to make Mickey Mouse beanies for minifigs to wear. This is
just one of the many reasons I hope the partnership between them and
Disney results in more theme park sets!
**
I'm ending up with a surprising number of vehicle drivers in this
series. I suppose it's fitting, as vehicle models are a big part of
LEGO.
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