My 2024 D23 cosplay gallery, part one

Once again, I attended D23 for 2024. This time, my family and I were dressed up as characters from James and the Giant Peach. I was James. I went for a day and a half, due to circumstances beyond my control.

As always, too, I have taken pictures of other people in their costumes, so many that, as usual, I cannot fit them all into one page. This post is from the first day:

That's it for the first day of cosplays. Stay tuned for day two.

Custom ideas for Disney Lorcana cards, part two

Continuing on with my ideas for new Disney Lorcana cards, I thought I would finish up with some of the ideas I have for new cards themed to Mickey Mouse and friends, as I have with the first two cards.

The first card I thought was a second Goofy card. Like the first one, it is based on the old cartoons. In this case, it is based on Aquamania, in which Goofy takes his son out for some waterskiing, only to get caught up in a waterskiing race:

Another card idea I've had is similar to the Donald card idea I had, in that it's also in response to something actually happening. It was revealed that, at this year's D23 Expo, an addition to the game would have Mickey and friends as pirates:

However, Pluto appears to be inexplicably absent. That is something that bugs me about the game: Pluto has had little representation in the game, and that's a shame, as I like Pluto. Anyway, this card idea of mine below tries to rectify that:

Images of the other pirate cards are too rough to give a full idea. Therefore, it is likely that the final Pluto card will need some work (it was really hard to find a picture of Pirate Pluto without bringing up either Pluto in a Halloween costume or the Pluto cartoon Pantry Pirate), but it gives you an idea of what to expect.

Custom ideas for Disney Lorcana cards, part one

One of my newest interests at the moment is the Disney card game Disney Lorcana, which is basically Disney's answer to Magic: The Gathering.

I've become so enamored of the game that I've not only played it every so often, but I've also come up with some of my own ideas for game cards. I've tried to fit them to the actual game as much as possible so that they would seem like real cards that could realistically be used in the game, even though they probably never will. Most of my ideas are either expansions of preexisting franchises or the addition of new franchises.

To start things off, I decided to create some card ideas for Donald Duck (for his 90th birthday) and Goofy, one each (though they both will have many more to come in their own franchises). I actually came up with the idea for the Donald card, based on the addition of a real card in the game called "Mickey Mouse - Leader of the Band", which is based on The Band Concert:

My idea for Donald, in this case, is another card based on that cartoon. I used an online card creator to create this card and all other cards, and I've tried to make it fit as best that I could:

I think I did a good job with this card. It also shows how and where you can make your own cards.

As for Goofy, especially with the Olympics coming up, I gravitated towards his iconic sports cartoons to see what would be best:

Anyway, those are the first of a few new cards that I came up with for Disney Lorcana. I have several more ideas to come.

MouseCon 2023 cosplay gallery

In November of 2023, I went yet again to MouseCon. I dressed up this time, again as Mickey Mouse, as I did in 2019. Among the guests I saw this time were John C. Morris (again!), Amy O'Neil (who played Amy Szalinski in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids) and one particularly great surprise, Tony Anselmo, the voice of Donald Duck! Unfortunately, I could not get pictures of them.

And of course, I got pics of cosplayers like usual, although they were fewer in number this time:

I will be going to D23 like usual this August, and of course, MouseCon in November next.

"Once Upon a Studio" was robbed!

...or maybe not.

Sorry for starting on such a dramatic title, but it's just that Once Upon a Studio, one of the greatest things Disney has done in recent years, was denied an Oscar nomination. It seemed like such a shoo-in, considering what it is and what it was celebrating (the 100th anniversary of The Walt Disney Company). Everyone seemed to think it was going to happen. Presented below is the full and complete video:

Basically put, it's a love letter to Disney animation fans and quite an emotional E-ticket from start to finish (speaking of, incidentally, the film is also playing at Disneyland, if I recall).

I myself have felt that given the enormous crowd of Disney characters, heroes and villains alike (albeit only from Disney proper; no Pixar characters), I initially was reminded of the closing scene of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which, of course, features a whole crowd of Toons, Disney and non-Disney alike, all gathered together to learn that Marvin Acme had bequeathed Toontown to these lovable characters, who then all sing "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile":

For sheer raw emotion, however, I was not sure if the comparison with Roger Rabbit was entirely accurate. Another, equally apt comparison would have to be the finale of The Muppet Movie:

As in that movie, Once Upon a Studio ends with the camera pulling away from the enormous crowd of classic Disney characters from the last 95+ years, as they all sing "When You Wish Upon a Star", with little bits of the crowd joining in little by little, until finally the entire crowd is singing.

I also have made comparisons with the closing scene of the Disney anthology series episode "This Is Your Life, Donald Duck", which ends with a huge crowd of Disney characters, parading onto the stage to pay tribute to Donald:

Another comparison I made was with this one old ad for Eastern Airlines, one of the earliest sponsors for Walt Disney World. In 1973, Disney produced an ad that featured a crowd of Disney characters, including those from the latest movie at the time, Robin Hood, accompanying a nondescript family to the new vacation destination via Eastern:

Getting back to Once Upon a Studio, it was originally supposed to be released in theaters alongside Wish in November of 2023. However, they changed their minds and instead aired it on TV in October, with it being available on Disney Plus a few days later. Indeed, when I went to see Wish, although it did pay homage to Disney's past history in the closing credits, and indeed all throughout the film, it played alone, without this short. The one country that did show these two together in theaters was Japan, on December 23. It has also been confirmed that Once Upon a Studio will be released as a bonus on the Blu-Ray release of Wish in March.

Anyway, the short film struck such a chord with everyone who saw it that it seemed like a natural for the Academy Awards nomination for Best Short Film. Indeed, the film was first screened in June at the Annecy Film Festival. This would have been a breath of fresh air for Disney, considering its less-than-stellar performance over the last year. Even Wish ended up underwhelming with a lot of people, which is not good for it to be a celebration of the company's 100th anniversary. Even I admit it's not that great of a movie, even though I wouldn't dismiss as the total washout that many critics wrote it off as.

However, it seems the idea that Once Upon a Studio would receive a nomination was not much more than online chatter, particularly since it wasn't even really shown in theaters, only on TV and streaming. In hindsight, they seemed to have dropped the ball by not showing in theaters as planned (save for in all of one country). That, combined with Disney's currently dismal performance, probably contributed to the Academy's decision to not include this film in their shortlist.

That said, I have to wonder, does that make it any less of a great film? Probably not, but it does give me pause. I was shocked at first, but from reading about it, it makes more sense. But it still seems to have diminished its greatness. I don't know.

New shorts on Disney Plus!

Dreams do come true! Kind of.

It has been confirmed a few days ago that, presumably in honor of Mickey and Minnie's 95th(!) birthday, Disney Plus will be streaming several new classic shorts over the course of four months, 28 in all.

Included will be several black-and-white Mickey cartoons, the premiere Silly Symphonies cartoon The Skeleton Dance, and even a few Oswald cartoons. Below is the full schedule:

However, I would have added a few more shorts to the mix, for a total of 40 new ones, with each of the blocks of shorts totaling eight per (save for September, which has a full 8 shorts already), plus a brand-new block in November. The following are my proposed new additions

July 7:

-Billposters (1940)

-The Eyes Have It (1945)

August 11:

-No Sail (1945)

-Two Weeks Vacation (1952)

October 6:

-Pluto's Kid Brother (1946)

November 3:

-Plane Crazy (1928)

-The Karnival Kid (1929)

-Music Land (1935)

-Donald and Pluto (1936)

-Don Donald (1937)

-Donald's Double Trouble (1946)

-Pluto's Blue Note (1947)

-Donald's Diary (1954)

And in addition, I'm still hoping for the eight cartoons that are (or at least were) streaming on Disney Plus in Japan (maybe that could be a December thing):

Anyway, I'm really quite excited that they are finally putting out more old shorts on Disney Plus! I had read somewhere that they weren't doing any more, so this is a pleasant surprise.

MouseCon 2022 cosplay gallery

 Another year, another trip to MouseCon!

In November of 2022, I went again to the convention, but I did not stay for a very long time. I did not dress up either, instead wearing a custom-made Mickey Mouse button shirt. But as always, there were booths, galleries, other cosplayers, and guest celebrities. There were several returning guests, including John C. Morris (the voice of Andy in the Toy Story series) and Mary Gibbs (the voice of Boo in Monsters, Inc.). Alanna Ubach (the voice of Imelda in Coco) was supposed to be there, but couldn't make due to prior commitments. Other celebrities who did make it included Heather Matarazzo (Anne Hathaway's best friend Lily in The Princess Diaries) and, most significantly, Donnie Dugan and Peter Behn, the voices of Bambi and Thumper, which I thought rather appropriate given that Bambi was having its 80th anniversary that year!

Here are just a few of the cosplayers that I saw that day:

That's Dodger up there, from Oliver and Company, just so you know.

And here also is an appearance by Dugan and Behn:

I will try to make it to next year's event. Maybe I will dress up again, maybe not.

The villains in Disney Villainous, part three

Here now is the third and final installment in the list of Disney villains in their appearance in the game Disney Villainous. As always, in most cases, the descriptions are derivative of an old Laughing Place article on the Disney Villains and their comparisons to the Seven Deadly Sins of old. However, instead of two expansion packs, I've decided to do three (each containing three villains, for a total of nine altogether here), since there's currently an odd number of packs out there as of late. After the first two expansion packs, the third is called "Perfectly Wretched", the fourth is called "Despicable Plots", and the fifth is called "Bigger and Badder".

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• FILM: "101 Dalmatians" (1961)
• VOICE ACTOR: Betty Lou Gerson
• ANIMATOR: Marc Davis
• GAME ARTIST: N/A
• Proof positive that wicked drama queens are never out of fashion, the shock-haired, chain-smoking, fur-loving fashion diva Cruella de Vil continues to delight and outrage, even though her shenanigans are none too politically correct; she just wants to steal a bunch of cute doggies in the name of a fashion statement after all. Miss de Vil is the height of self-centered elaboration, but we love her for it just the same.
• ALLIES: Horace and Jasper Badun
• QUOTE: "I'll get even. Just wait. You'll be sorry."
  
  
  
  
• FILM: "Tangled" (2010)
• VOICE ACTOR: Donna Murphy
• ANIMATOR: Nik Ranieri
• GAME ARTIST: N/A
• No weapons needed, as Mother Gothel weaves her web of wicked words. Fearful of losing her youth and beauty, she's managed to preserve it for centuries, but now needs the magical powers imbued in Rapunzel’s hair to retain it. Posing as Rapunzel's mother, Gothel "protects" her from the outside world to keep her "safe" and, more importantly, herself young. But when Rapunzel goes missing, Gothel is forced into quite the race against time to find her and the source of her youth.
• ALLIES: The Stabbington Brothers, royal guards and riders
• QUOTE: "You want me to be the bad guy? Fine. Now I'm the bad guy."
  
  

• FILM: "Steamboat Willie" and others
• VOICE ACTOR: Billy Bletcher, Will Ryan and Jim Cummings, among others
• ANIMATOR: Norm Ferguson, Eric Goldberg and others
• GAME ARTIST: Erik Hoepfner
• Pete (AKA Peg-Leg Pete (AKA Black Pete)) has the distinction of not only being the "oldest" villain on this list (in fact, he even predates Mickey Mouse by about three years), but also the most diverse: beginning with Julius in the Alice Comedies and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Pete is the constant archenemy of not only Mickey (beginning with "Steamboat Willie", where, as the steamboat captain, he basically makes the mouse do all the work), but all of his friends: Minnie, Donald and all the rest.
• ALLIES: Bandits, his parrot, a cricket, etc.
• QUOTE: "I'm gonna knock you right into next week!"

• FILM: "Beauty and the Beast" (1991)
• VOICE ACTOR: Richard White
• ANIMATOR: Andreas Deja
• GAME ARTIST: Johnny Morrow
• He's the golden boy in his provincial town, the kind of guy the girls all go gaga for, and, oh, yes, he eats five dozen eggs every morning, so he's roughly the size of a barge. Why, then, can Gaston not land the beautiful Belle for his bride? Maybe it's all that reading that she does. No matter: with an ego as big as his brawny physique, Gaston is confident that he'll win her over - if it's the last thing he ever does.
• ALLIES: LeFou, Monsieur D'Arque, all the villagers
• QUOTE: "And don't I deserve the best?"
  
  

• FILM: "The Black Cauldron" (1985)
• VOICE ACTOR: John Hurt
• ANIMATOR: Phil Nibbelink
• GAME ARTIST: A.J. Nazzaro
• With a skull-like mask for a face, topped with two mangled horns, cloven feet, and a spiked tail, it's not hard to liken the Horned King to the image of the devil himself. Throw in a hacking cough, and he's even more akin to a certain Lord of the Sith we're all familiar with. His goal is fairly simple: find the Black Cauldron, with which to raise an army of the undead and overrun all of Prydain.
• ALLIES: Creeper, brutish henchmen, Gwythaints
• QUOTE: "Arise, my messengers of death! Our time has arrived!"
  
  

• FILM: "Cinderella" (1950)
• VOICE ACTOR: Eleanor Audley
• ANIMATOR: Frank Thomas
• GAME ARTIST: Marisa Oh
• Lady Tremaine, the mother of all stepmothers, coddles and spoils her two homely daughters Anastasia and Drizella (not to mention that brat of a cat Lucifer) at the expense of stepdaughter Cinderella, who she has browbeaten into submission as their scullery maid. Jealous of her stepdaughter, she is bent on climbing the social ladder by marrying one of her daughters into royalty. What more proof could there be of her inherent wickedness?
• ALLIES: Anastasia, Drizella, Lucifer
• QUOTE: "Above all, self-control."
  
  
  
• FILM: "Toy Story 3"
• VOICE ACTOR: Ned Beatty
• ANIMATOR: Bobby Podesta
• GAME ARTIST: N/A
• Don't let his fluffy, cute, strawberry-scented appearance fool you. All those years of Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear feeling unloved by his owner have taken their toll on his sanity. Now at Sunnyside Daycare, he rules its toys with an iron paw. But he never counted on some new toys somehow ending up at the daycare.
• ALLIES: The toys at Sunnyside
• QUOTE: "You're a piece of plastic. You were meant to be thrown away."
  
  
  
• FILM: "The Sword In the Stone" (1963)
• VOICE ACTOR: Martha Wentworth
• ANIMATOR: Milt Kahl
• GAME ARTIST: N/A
• This wacky witch claims to be the most powerful magic-maker in the land, and all she has to do to prove herself is beat that goody-two-shoes wizard, Merlin. A wizard's duel is proposed, with Mim providing the rules (all the better to break them). Alas, the tricky sorcerer outwits Mim by inflicting upon her his own brand of germ warfare.
• ALLIES: None
• QUOTE: "Want to fight? Want to have a wizard's duel?!"
  
  
  
  
• FILM: "The Incredibles" (2004)
• VOICE ACTOR: Jason Lee
• ANIMATOR: N/A
• GAME ARTIST: N/A
• Annie Wilkes ain't got nothin' on this "number one fan". It all started years ago when Buddy Pine saw his career as Mr. Incredible's would-be sidekick Incredi-Boy cut tragically short after Mr. Incredible himself soundly rejected him. In response, Buddy's hero worship turned into hatred, fueling his warped genius into adulthood. His path littered with the bodies of real supers, Mr. Incredible and his family are the next to go on his hitlist.
• ALLIES: Mirage, Omnidroid
• QUOTE: "You can't count on anyone, especially your heroes."
  

And that concludes the multi-part look at the Disney villains as seen in the strategy game Disney Villainous. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did creating this list. Happy Halloween!