|
|
Post by Fatal hilarity on Dec 11, 2008 0:24:33 GMT -5
Yes, you heard right- I found another weasel. This time, it's one of the animatronic characters in Splash Mountain. Here's a blog post about it: meettheworldinprogressland.blogspot.com/2008/08/brer-owl-brer-weasel.htmlAnd here's the accompanying image: 2.bp.blogspot.com/_KyBL-2TyB34/SLN92121oWI/AAAAAAAAAR4/Qgp4I5b-kRM/s1600-h/zTDL+Critter+(2).JPGI know what you're all thinking: that doesn't look ANYTHING like a Disney weasel! What makes them not just prairie dogs? Well, the thing is that a big chunk of the animatronics in Anaheim's Splash Mountain come from am attraction that doesn't exist anymore- America Sings. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_SingsAmerica Sings replaced the famous attraction The Carousel of Progress as part of Tomorrowland, of all things. It celebrated the music of America throughout it's history up until the 50's and 60's (which they got confused). The proof that the critters in the image above are in fact weasels comes from this ride they came from previously. This character makes repeated appearances singing "Pop goes the weasel!" Here's a video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1GuVelpDQsSo nobody born after 1988 would have been able to see it, because it closed then, eventually to be replaced by Innoventions in 1998. What happened is that Splash Mountain had gone over budget while it was being made, so they took a bunch of animatronics from America Sings to save money. This includes the uber-cute weasel. Even before the ride was closed, a couple of the geese had been removed and made into robots for Star Tours. Anyway, this blog calls them "Br'er Weasel", but anybody who's seen my posts in the ultimate fanfic thread will know that they're nothing like the Br'er Weasel in the comics. This guy is probably unaware of him. |
|
|
|
Post by wifeofsmartass on Dec 11, 2008 0:48:25 GMT -5
Yes! I've read about how so many of the animatronics in Splash Mt. come from America Sings. I remember reading in a book that they're weasels. I had always previously thought they were gophers when i was on that ride.  |
|
|
|
Post by Fatal hilarity on Dec 11, 2008 2:16:25 GMT -5
You've gotta admit that they don't look a darn thing like any other weasel made by Disney. I don't really understand why... maybe they just simply weren't thinking of the ones in Mr. Toad, which would actually surprise me. Maybe they wanted to distinguish them from the rest.
I mean, heck, the original Br'er Weasel predated Mr. Toad, and yet he looks enough like the others! The same thing goes for the ones in the comic "The Weasel's first solo story", who have fat, squat muzzles, and the ones in the "Heffalump and Woozles" sequence, and they're mostly stuffed dolls. Even they look enough like the others.
These little guys in Splash Mountain, on the other hand, are super cute, with squeaky, giggly voices in America Sings. Being cute and giggly is the total opposite of the rest of the weasels. And they hardly look like weasels, even, because despite their faces being closer to real weasels because they are flatter, they made them too flat and the wrong shape.
Weirdly enough, even though weasels don't at all have sausage-like muzzles (I think they're heads are kind of egg-shaped) the Disney weasels somehow feel like weasels, even if it's mostly stereotyping.
So what we've got here are the most unusual of Disney weasels. They're so different, in fact, that it's really hard for me to think of them the same way as the rest of them- they don't really seem like they could be considered part of the "family", I guess you could say. They're like the cutesy dorky freaks among the rebels. I'll bet that none of the others would be able to stand them.
Cute weasel: Pop goes the weasel!! Teeheehee!
Smarta**: Quit singin' dat!!
I've never noticed them when I've gone on the ride, actually. It's the "Laughing Place" section, I think- wherever they are, the indoor scenes are pretty dark, so I have difficulty taking in all the detail. I think it's that way for all the dark rides in Disneyland- there's just so much detail that it's nearly impossible to see all of it, much less film it, like many people have attempted to do.
|
|
|
|
Post by wifeofsmartass on Dec 11, 2008 7:57:34 GMT -5
Lolz!!! The cute, dorky freaks among the rebels!!! That killed me! XD Oh yeah, Smartass would KILL those weasels. He'd probably find them a disgrace to his species! XD But anywho... Yeah! Those weasels are in the laughin' place area, like you said. I remember them real well. But dear God, they look like rodents!!! Cute, yes, but they certainly don't do any justice for mustelids.
|
|
|
|
Post by Weasel Freak on Dec 11, 2008 19:14:15 GMT -5
Actually, those weasels sound like how I think my OC Sneaky (Although his voice has a hint of a sneer in it) would, if he were given a voice.
But, it's still such a disgrace to Weaselciety. Cute little gopher look-alikes that giggle like a little girl every three seconds (No offense to Psycho fans, he's way cooler and much, much more easier to bear). . . Just--- How in the world could they be weasels?! Are these Disney??
|
|
|
|
Post by Fatal hilarity on Dec 11, 2008 20:55:13 GMT -5
Disney put them in a Disneyland attraction, and calls them weasels, so we're stuck with them. And who else has the final word on Disney weasels other Disney itself??
Still, they are pretty much the Yin to the Toon Patrol's Yang, wouldn't you say? What I'm going to do with them in my weasel-related art projects is make them a laughing stock.
Any idea on what to call them? The Laughin' Weasels? Do we dare go as far as to give them individual names??
|
|
|
|
Post by psychoangel51402 on Dec 12, 2008 0:01:40 GMT -5
lolol, they're sooo cute! i couldn't help but think of a different singing group...  btw, does anyone have any pics of brer weasel? i can't find any! <:{ |
|
|
|
Post by Weasel Freak on Dec 12, 2008 21:41:03 GMT -5
. . . The Giggly Things? The Kyootee-Puffs? The Scarily Cute Annoying Things With Big Bug Eyes?
. . . The Poppers?
|
|
|
|
Post by Fatal hilarity on Dec 12, 2008 22:55:58 GMT -5
I've sent you a link all about Br'er Weasel in a PM, psychosangel. You should find plenty of images of him as you navigate, I think.
They do look embarrassingly like Alvin and the Chipmunks, don't they? And that particular interpretation, too. Weird. I know a thing or two about Chipmunks rip-offs... I wonder if these guys count?
I personally like what I came up with for their collective names: the Laughin' Weasels. Not only does it refer to the area of the ride they're currently in ("Laughin' Place"), it also refers to how they giggled so much in their original appearance.
Weirdly enough, their original appearance suggested that there was only one of them, so when every figure used for America Sings wound up in Splash Mountain, they pretty much multiplied!! XD
|
|
|
|
Post by psychoangel51402 on Dec 12, 2008 23:07:42 GMT -5
thanks! you have a knack for names, fatal! the names you gave all teh 'extra' weasels fit perfectly! hmmm...i rather like "Laughing Weasels"...how 'bout Li'l Laughers? (kinda ironic, considerin' how our beloved Toon Patrol weasels met their end...  ) |
|
|
|
Post by Weasel Freak on Dec 13, 2008 20:08:05 GMT -5
Same thing I was thinking. Our weasels laugh alot, too.
|
|
|
|
Post by Fatal hilarity on Mar 17, 2009 17:43:51 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by psychoangel51402 on Mar 18, 2009 12:18:03 GMT -5
I KNEW IT!!! Like I said, almost all Disney weasels have newsie caps. What is up with that?
|
|
|
|
Post by jebikun on Mar 18, 2009 18:00:51 GMT -5
ummm cuz they look good in it? Xp sorry.
Were they sporting newsie caps before Mr.Toad film?
|
|
|
|
Post by Fatal hilarity on Mar 18, 2009 20:06:17 GMT -5
The only known weasels made before that film were Agent von Weasel and Br'er Weasel- the first has a fedora, and the second a cowboy hat. You can tell that since Disney had no basic models to base them on (unlike most of the weasels that came after Mr. Toad), that they bear little resemblance to other weasels- von Weasel especially.
So blame Mr. Toad (or perhaps Kenneth Grahame) for most of what constitutes a Disney weasel.
|
|
)
