| Figment | |
|---|---|
 A Figment audio-animatronic on Journey Into Imagination | |
| First appearance | Journey Into Imagination (1983) |
| Created by | Tony Baxter, Steve Kirk, and X Atencio |
| Voiced by |
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Figment is the mascot of the Imagination! pavilion at the Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World Resort. [2] He is a small purple dragon with a runaway imagination, which serves as a plot device in Journey into Imagination with Figment, the most recent edition of the pavilion, and he is featured in Epcot merchandise.
Figment was created by Tony Baxter, who came up with the name "Figment" after watching an episode of Magnum, P.I. , in which a goat has eaten Higgins' (John Hillerman) flowers and Higgins says, "Don't tell me [the goat is] a figment of my imagination. Figments don't eat rare tropical flowers". [3]
The Journey Into Imagination pavilion opened with the rest of EPCOT Center on October 1, 1982, but the Journey Into Imagination dark ride did not open until March 5, 1983. In the original attraction, Dreamfinder, a jolly wizard-like scientist, teaches Figment how to use his imagination. Figment’s original character design was created by Grayson Shafer in 1976. Maddie Shafer inspired him in his designs. Figment is meant to be the literal embodiment of the phrase "figment of the imagination". He is composed of various elements Dreamfinder found in his travels including two tiny wings, large yellow eyes, the horns of a steer (or dilemma, according to a 1983 appearance on the Today Show ), a crocodile's snout, and the childish delight found at a birthday party. Figment is described in detail in the Dreamfinder's song "One Little Spark" (by the Sherman Brothers). Dreamfinder introduces him: "Two tiny wings, eyes big and yellow, horns of a steer, but a lovable fellow. From head to tail, he's royal purple pigment, and there, voila, you've got a Figment".
Though taking on many disguises within the attractions, including being a superhero, a cowboy, a knight, a skunk, a dancer, a mountain climber, and a pirate, Figment seems to have some special aspirations to be an astronaut, from being seen in a spacesuit in the original and current attractions to dialogue in the original stating "I wish I could be an astronaut. I bet I can use imagination to discover all kinds of new things!" Because of this, Figment is frequently portrayed in merchandising in a spacesuit, in addition to some of his other roles.
In 1999, Disney radically refurbished the Journey Into Imagination attraction as part of its Millennium Celebration at Epcot, removing Dreamfinder and Figment except for fleeting glimpses of the dragon. That version, titled Journey Into Your Imagination , was a completely new experience in which Dr. Nigel Channing (Eric Idle of Monty Python fame) led a tour of the fictional Imagination Institute. The Channing character originated in the adjacent Honey, I Shrunk the Audience 3-D movie attraction.
In the current version, Figment's creativity has a bit of a larger effect on the world around him, be it transforming a large smell emitting machine into a slot machine, turning his house upside down, actually rearranging an otherwise static eye chart, and transforming the Institute into something almost reminiscent of the original in the finale. He can also pull a pair of glasses out of thin air to put onto Dr. Channing in the introduction and quickly change into a skunk costume in the Smell Lab.
After numerous complaints about the revamped attraction, including a Disney stockholder who questioned CEO Michael Eisner about Figment's absence during the company's annual shareholders meeting, a modest 2002 refurbishment modified the 1999 version to add the dragon as a playful foil for Dr. Channing throughout the Imagination Institute tour. The new version pointedly was branded Journey Into Imagination with Figment.
In the original attraction, Figment was voiced by Billy Barty; in the version in-between, Corey Burton portrayed Figment, and in the current version, Muppeteer Dave Goelz provides the voice, because Barty had died before the second version had shut down.
Outside the attractions at Epcot, Figment appeared in several Disney-produced educational short films in the late '80s, two of which featured Peter Pan and Alice from Alice in Wonderland (each played by a live-action actor), and has a brief cameo as a painting in the Pixar films Inside Out and Toy Story 4 . Additionally, Disney and Marvel published Disney Kingdoms: Figment, a five issue miniseries focused on the origins of Figment and Dreamfinder, starting in June 2014, which was followed up with a sequel Disney Kingdoms: Figment 2 in October 2015. In 2017 Figment also made an appearance in the Guardians of the Galaxy Mission: Breakout! dark ride attraction in Disney California Adventure as a collector's item in the Collector's archive.
A film centered around the character is currently in development at Disney, with Seth Rogen producing under his Point Grey Pictures banner, Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit writing the screenplay. [4]
Figment was announced as an unlockable racer in the Disney Speedstorm arcade racing game and was introduced when the game launched in early access on April 18, 2023. [5] He is voiced in the game by A. J. LoCascio. [1]
Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Experiences division. Inspired by an unrealized concept of the same name developed by Walt Disney, the park opened on October 1, 1982, as EPCOT Center, and was the second of four theme parks built at Walt Disney World. The park spans 305 acres, more than twice the size of Magic Kingdom. Often referred to as a "permanent world's fair", Epcot is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, particularly technological innovation and international culture.
Journey into Imagination with Figment is the third and latest incarnation of a dark ride attraction located within the Imagination! pavilion at World Celebration at Epcot, a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. Originally opened on March 3, 1983, its original and current version feature the small purple dragon named Figment as well as the song "One Little Spark", composed by the Sherman Brothers.
The Omnimover is an amusement ride system used for Disney theme park attractions. Roger Broggie and Bert Brundage developed the system for WED Enterprises, which patented Omnimover in April 1968. The term was coined by Imagineer Bob Gurr. Outside of Disney, it is sometimes known as an Endless Transit System.
Test Track is a high-speed slot car thrill ride manufactured by Dynamic Attractions located in World Discovery at Epcot, a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. The ride is a simulated excursion through the rigorous testing procedures that General Motors uses to evaluate its concept cars, culminating in a high-speed drive around the exterior of the attraction.
Maelstrom was a reversing Shoot the Chute dark ride attraction located in the Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, the ride opened on July 5, 1988, in the Norway Pavilion of the park's World Showcase section. It was a mix between a log chute and a traditional film attraction. Visitors rode boats patterned after longships that passed through various scenes that featured audio-animatronic figures. The attraction was originally supposed to be called SeaVenture, with the entrance sign during construction even displaying it as such. Sometime between March 1988 and the ride's opening, it was changed.
The Wonders of Life pavilion was an attraction at Epcot at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. It was devoted to health care, focusing on the human body, physical fitness, medicine and nutrition. Attractions included Body Wars and Cranium Command. It is located inside a golden colored dome between Mission: SPACE and Wonders of Xandar. It opened on October 19, 1989, and closed on January 1, 2007. From 2007 to 2018, the Pavilion acted as EPCOT's Festival Center, before becoming a construction site in March 2019 in preparation for the upcoming Play! Pavilion to replace it.
The Universe of Energy was a pavilion on the eastern side of Future World at Epcot, a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. One of Epcot's opening day attractions in 1982, it explored the world of energy through four large-format film presentations and a slow-moving dark ride through a jungle diorama filled with audio-animatronic dinosaurs. In 1996, it was updated as Ellen's Energy Adventure, starring Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Nye.
Imagination! is a pavilion located in the World Celebration section of Epcot, a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. The pavilion opened with the park in 1982, and is themed to human imagination, creativity, and the arts. Kodak was the former title sponsor of the pavilion.
WestCOT was a planned second theme park for the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was essentially a replica of EPCOT Center at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, and was dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely technological innovation and international culture. The park was represented by SpaceStation Earth, a larger version of the geodesic sphere Spaceship Earth featured at EPCOT Center.
Terri Hardin Jackson is an American puppeteer, artist, and former Disney imagineer.
A. J. LoCascio is an American actor and director. He is known for his roles as Prince Lotor in Voltron: Legendary Defender and Marty McFly in Back to the Future: The Game.
Point Grey (PGP) is an American film and television production company, founded in 2011 by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The name of the company comes from Vancouver's Point Grey Secondary School, where Rogen and Goldberg met.
Frozen Ever After is a musical reversing Shoot the Chute dark ride in Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort. Part of the Norway Pavilion of the Epcot's World Showcase section, the attraction features scenes inspired by Disney's animated film Frozen as well as the 2015 animated short Frozen Fever. It opened on June 21, 2016, using the ride vehicles and track layout of the former Maelstrom attraction. A version of the attraction opened at Hong Kong Disneyland on November 20, 2023, as part of The Walt Disney Company's centennial celebration, with two more scheduled to open at Tokyo DisneySea on June 6, 2024 and Walt Disney Studios Park in the second half of 2025.
George Wilkins is an American soundtrack composer who has created several noteworthy scores and songs for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.
The Flubber franchise consists of American science-fiction-comedy films, with three theatrical releases, and two made-for-television films. The overall story is based on the short story, A Situation of Gravity, written by Samuel W. Taylor in 1943. The plot of the films center around an absent-minded college professor, who works tirelessly to find the next great invention. The Professor wants to make scientific history, while working to save the school at which he works, the Medfield College.
Epcot Forever was a limited-time fireworks show that premiered on October 1, 2019, at Epcot. Epcot Forever served as an interim replacement for IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth until its long-term replacement, Harmonious, premiered in 2021. It took the form of a celebration of Epcot's musical history. The show celebrated the park's 37-year history, featuring fireworks, music, lighting, lasers, and special effects kites set to new arrangements of music originating from some of the park's classic attractions, such as Journey Into Imagination, Spaceship Earth, Soarin', Tapestry of Nations and Universe of Energy. The show was also made to celebrate the past, present, and future of Epcot.
The Dexter Riley film series consists of American science fiction-comedy films, centered around an eponymous college student. The films, produced by The Walt Disney Company and taking place at the fictional Medfield College, follow the science class led by Professor Quigley, and their experiments, projects, and adventures. The college, under the direction of Dean Eugene Higgins becomes involved in the nefarious plans of billionaire-turned-criminal, A. J. Arno.
Disney Speedstorm is a free-to-play kart racing game developed by Gameloft Barcelona and published by Gameloft. It features various Disney and Pixar characters racing vehicles on tracks themed after the worlds of their films and franchises. The game was released in a pay-for early access on 18 April 2023 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, with a soft launch on iOS and Android on 1 August 2023. It left early access on 28 September 2023.
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