Confirmed to cast members this afternoon, the Studio Backlot Tour at Disney’s Hollywood Studios will close after 25 years in just 8 days on September 27th, 2014.
We first posted the rumor this morning, but it has quickly become fact. Disney has not announced what will replace the attraction yet. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.
It’s hard to believe but the premier of Star Wars Rebels is less than 2 weeks away. The Official Star Wars YouTube Channel has just released a brand new trailer for Star Wars Rebels: The Movie. The movie is officially the first two episodes of the series called Spark Of Rebellion. Star Wars Rebels: The Movie will debut on Friday, October 3rd at 9 PM on the Disney Channel.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVR9jpzABWo]
The title and tag line of Disney Infinity refers to the infinite possibilities for gameplay. The game came out in the UK on Friday 19 September (U.S. release is on Sept. 23rd) and as a huge Marvel fan, I dived into the first playset and managed to complete it and by Sunday morning. I haven’t really had an awful lot of time to explore the other facets of the game, community content or the improved Toy Box 2.0 mode, so this review will be solely based on my experiences of the first big piece of the experience – the action/adventure Avengers Playset which comes with every starter pack or collector’s edition starter park of Disney Infinity 2.0 – Marvel Super Heroes.
It’s also worth mentioning that by this point, over a year into the existence of the Disney Infinity franchise, I’m far down the rabbit hole, if you’ll excuse the Alice in Wonderland reference – so take my excitement with a pinch of salt if you’re unsure. As well as being a Marvel geek, I love Disney, so the idea of playing in each of the worlds was like catnip to me, and I really enjoyed my time with the original Disney Infinity on Wii U last winter. I still love my Wii U, but I wanted to bring my Disney Infinity 2 to my Playstation 4 as its where I now do the majority of my gaming. I was pleased to see that after signing into my Disney Interactive account of my PS4 when I booted up Disney Infinity 2, the service had remembered I’d collected every character in the original Disney Infinity and after swiping them all in on the NFC reader which comes with each Starter Pack or Collector’s Edition, the PS4 had remembered for example, that I’d levelled my Elsa to a badass level 10 ice queen.
As I said, I’m fairly committed to the Disney Infinity brand. My fiancé, well, he might use another word to describe it!
One of the other benefits for me of going with PS4 over Wii U, other than the graphical increase, was that Sony and Disney Interactive were releasing a Collector’s Edition which not only included Black Widow, Thor and Iron Man (as every starter pack does) but also an amazing light up frost giant display stand and the NFC figures for Captain America, Hawkeye and timed Playstation exclusive Hulk, and with the promotion running in the UK where you get another free figure (I choose Iron Fist) it meant that I was getting seven of the 16 figures in wave one for a slightly discounted rate compared to if I was buying them individually. And – I got that ace display stand! Plus, I was going to get all the figures and additional playsets anyway, so I might as well save a bit of cash. (You can tell I’ve had this conversation with my fiancé, can’t you?)
The Avenger’s Assemble!
Just a note on the quality of the figures before I jump into the gameplay. They’re just as well made as the first set of Disney Infinity figures. Very solidly made and beautifully painted. The bulky figures like Thor and Hulk have some weight to them but all figures feel like quality products, which is something that can’t always be said for the types of toys in the NFC gaming genre, for example, I find Skylander figures to be quite cheaply put together. Once scanned into the game, all characters have the same cartoony aesthetic. It’s very well done.
The playset itself is a fun action/adventure brawler where the Avengers are called in to save Manhattan from an eternal winter caused by Loki and M.O.D.O.K teaming up an launching an onslaught of frost giants and robot drones across the city. Whilst I could have done with a bit more variety in terms of enemy type (you get essentially five or six type of villain in this playset), the length of the adventure and relatively high challenge of the enemies meant I wasn’t every really bored of the action.
The gameplay plays out in character missions given out by Nick Fury, voiced by Samuel L. Jackson as in the film franchise. Later in the adventure Lady Sif, The Wasp and Captain Marvel all are additional quest givers. Quests are usually a variant on beat up a group of villains, move the citizens to safety, destroy a piece of evil tech or protect a piece of Avengers tech, and whilst I believe that this would get stale over a long playtime, the diverse powersets of the Avenger characters, and the relatively short playtime meant that I didn’t ever really feel I was doing the same thing over and over again. One of the weird omissions seems to have missions based around car chases/races, but I’m sure that some clever fan will base some Toy Box adventures around these shortly. Similarly, one of the very simple things I enjoyed in the first Disney Infinity was collecting the playset pieces dotted around the map in capsules. It was a very simple gameplay mechanic but it was fun to hunt these down and instantly rewarded your exploration of the playset. These playset pieces are now purchased through an online storefront where you trade in the “sparks” you’ve collected in missions. Bigger and more important playset pieces, like characters or villains, are unlocked as the rewards for completing story missions.
In terms of scripting the dialogue is written by comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis and its all good fun and draws heavily from the cinematic element of these characters. Quest givers are all well voiced and give you a bit of a interaction as you collect missions from them. There were some moments where logic jumps occur, for example, the big bad of the game is norse trickster Loki, as I’ve mentioned, but his introduction as the villain comes without any major introduction or deduction that he is behind the trouble in the city. Suddenly the quest givers are mentioning the battle against Loki, or an assault on his hideout before narratively, we’ve been shown he is the villain. You can sort of forgive this from the fact that this could be deduced by the cold spell on New York and the frost giants, but it does take you out of the story for a little moment. Also, regarding the quest givers, their dialogue sometimes repeats in the middle of a battle which is a bit annoying. Similarly, I felt that it was strange that it didn’t personalise my playthrough in anyway. For example, I got the exact same intro to quest whether I played as Hulk or Black Widow or Iron Man, where it would have been more engaging even if it the default dialogue was just proceeded by a “Tony” or a “Thor”. A little niggle I know.
All of the characters are fun to play as and as Iron Man and Thor in particular it is quite a rush to zoom around the city, strafing in out out of skyscrapers as you move from mission to mission. Cap, Hawkeye, and Natasha all have their ways of getting around too, with motorcycles and hoverbikes introduced quite early on with the latter being much easier to drive. The handling on the motorcycles is really difficult to get the hang of as it much too sensitive so I didn’t find my self hunting down the bike races dotted throughout the city.
Thor checks out the snowy weather at Avengers Tower
Throughout the playset I found myself excited to switch between the characters I’d collected to level them up and unlock new and greater powers, from increased damage from ranged attacks to super jumps, all over the combos and new powers you unlock are fun and you’ll want to level up each of your figures to see all that they can do. Any figures you’ve got from Disney Infinity 1, while they can’t enter the Avengers playset, they now also too structured skill trees which allows some limited progression system. Whilst we’re on the subject of the characters, throughout the Avengers playset there are gold tokens with either Nova or Rocket Racoon’s face on them. Collect 10 of each “crossover coins” and you then unlock the ability to play as as both Rocket Racoon or Nova in the Avengers playset, as long as you’d shelled out for the NFC figure (which, of course, I had!). It’s very clever marketing, I can almost imagine the kids who collect these coins but don’t have the figures so they nag their parents until they get them. You could be cynical of this, but the reference to the other available figures so far in Disney Infinity 2.0 is much more tastefully done than in the first game. There were areas and unlockables in the original game’s playsets that you couldn’t get unless you had each character in the playset, and for some like The Incredibles, that meant shelling out for five figures. Disney Infinity 2.0 so far hasn’t had any of these bits.
Another disappointing aspect of the game so far for me has been the few female characters available to play as in the Disney Infinity 2.0. Whilst the original game was far from perfect in terms of equal gender representation, there were many more female characters available. From the Marvel stable we get Black Widow and Gamora. Yes, Captain Marvel, White Tiger, The Wasp and Lady Sif all appear in the game as support characters, but it would have been nice to see a few more playable female figures. Marvel comics has a huge amount of iconic female characters who have served as Avengers and it would have been great to see them in the game as playable. As cool as Nova was as a crossover character for Avengers I would have much preferred flying around the city as Carol Danvers, and as mighty as Hulk was at smashing through the frost giants, I would have loved to play as the Sensational She-Hulk on the team too. Maybe they’ll introduce some more female superheroes is Disney Infinity 3.0 (along with the rumoured Star Wars playsets).
The playset took me about five to six hours to complete, at which point whilst the mains story was complete, there were still racing, flight and rampage challenges to do throughout the city, and still some flight or jump orbs to pick up too. At the time of completion my characters have levelled up to be between level 8 (Thor and Captain America) to level 5 (Hawkeye, Rocket Racoon and Black Widow) with Hulk, Nova and Iron Man being somewhere in the middle.
I’m looking forward to jumping into the other two playsets (Guardians of the Galaxy and Ultimate Spider-Man) and seeing if they have any more to offer. Even if they don’t, these little bite-sized five hour adventures are perfect for the bursts of action and I can’t wait to see what the community introduces with the Toy Box mode of gameplay.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Superheroes released on Friday 19 September 2014 in the UK and is released Tuesday 23 September 2014 in North America. The starter pack including the game, NFC hub, Avengers playset piece, two toy box games and Black Widow / Thor and Iron Man NFC figurines carries a RRP of £59.99 / $79.99. The title is available for PS3, PS4, Wii U, XBOX 360 and XBOX One. Hulk figurine is exclusive to Playstation platforms for 30 days from release. All other figurines are sold separately and available from launch for all devices.
This weekend, I visited Downtown Disney/Disney Springs as well as Disney’s Hollywood Studios and I have a number of newsworthy photos to share with you from my trip, so let’s take a look at what’s new and exciting!
Disney Infinity 2.0 for sale at Once Upon a Toy
The remodeling has begun at the World of Disney store: the pirate displays were ripped out and replaced with this temporary display
Work on the new pedestrian bridge in Marketplace continues
If you’re complaining about the lack of Android or iPod cases at WDW, the sun damage to these packages should indicate how poorly they sell compared to iPhone cases
Some of the pavement between Portobello and Fulton’s has come out from behind walls
The new pathway through Pleasure Island/ The Landing is nearing completion, so you’ll be able to walk between Raglan Road and Portobello soon
Legends of Hollywood is now a Frozen store on Sunset Boulevard at Hollywood Studios
With Wandering Oaken’s closing on the 28th, this will be the home to all Frozen merchandise at the Studios
Even the window display got dressed up for Olaf
A look inside
There’s even pressed pennies!
Not Frozen, but I spotted this awesome new pressed pennies book in the store
OLAFS!!!!
Character portraits can be found near the ceiling
New, 2-sided ornament
Pins
Over at One Man’s Dream, the New Fantasyland model is gone and the old exhibits are back
At Muppetvision 3-D, a new soon-to-be interactive element was spotted hanging in the pre-show
Goodbye…
The partnership with Hasbro and Disney continues to grow even stronger as they’ve now teamed up to bring the consumers new Disney Princess merchandise, including Frozen, by 2016. This new agreement will allow Hasbro to develop new dolls and merchandise to distribute worldwide, excluding Japan (sorry guys), with characters from Cinderella, Beauty and The Beast, The Little Mermaid and Frozen. All these new products will be available in 2016. Check out the full press release below and let us know what you think of this new deal in the comments.
PAWTUCKET, R.I.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Global branded play leader Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) today announced a new strategic merchandising relationship with Disney Consumer Products for the globally popular Disney Princess and Frozen properties. The agreement gives Hasbro global rights (excluding Japan) to develop dolls based on Disney Princess stories and characters including Cinderella, Beauty and The Beast, and The Little Mermaid as well as Frozen beginning in 2016.
“We are delighted to have been selected by Disney Consumer Products to develop dolls for the Disney Princess and Frozen franchises,” said Hasbro President & CEO Brian Goldner. “Our strategic thought leadership and innovation has led to the steady growth of our girls business over the past several years demonstrating that we have a true understanding of girls globally and how today’s girls want to play. The entire Hasbro team is looking forward to providing consumers with inventive new play experiences based on the beloved Disney Princess and Frozen characters and stories.”
Bob Chapek, President, Disney Consumer Products commented, “We are excited about our collaboration with Hasbro on the Disney Princess and Frozen franchises and the expansion of a robust partnership that has already yielded tremendous results across our Star Wars and Marvel properties. Hasbro’s focus on quality, innovation, and market-leading products designed for today’s consumer, makes them the best choice to grow one of the world’s most popular girls brands.”
Over the past ten years, Hasbro’s creation of new brands and investment in re-imagining existing brands such as My Little Pony has grown Hasbro’s Girls category revenues from nearly $300 million to more than $1 billion in 2013, a record level for Hasbro’s Girls portfolio.
“Our industry leading design and marketing teams are looking forward to delivering to consumers around the world wonderful play experiences based on these magical Disney properties,” said Hasbro Chief Marketing Officer John Frascotti.
About Hasbro, Inc.
Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) is a branded play company dedicated to fulfilling the fundamental need for play for children and families through the creative expression of the Company’s world class brand portfolio, including TRANSFORMERS, MONOPOLY, PLAY-DOH, MY LITTLE PONY, MAGIC: THE GATHERING, NERF and LITTLEST PET SHOP. From toys and games, to television programming, motion pictures, digital gaming and a comprehensive licensing program, Hasbro strives to delight its global customers with innovative play and entertainment experiences, in a variety of forms and formats, anytime and anywhere. The Company’s Hasbro Studios develops and produces television programming for more than 180 territories around the world, and for the U.S. on Hub Network, part of a multi-platform joint venture between Hasbro and Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK). Through the Company’s deep commitment to corporate social responsibility, including philanthropy, Hasbro is helping to build a safe and sustainable world for future generations and to positively impact the lives of millions of children and families every year. It has been recognized for its efforts by being named one of the “World’s Most Ethical Companies” and is ranked as one of Corporate Responsibility Magazine’s “100 Best Corporate Citizens.” Learn more at www.hasbro.com.
© 2014 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
About Disney Consumer Products
Disney Consumer Products (DCP) is the business segment of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) that delivers innovative and engaging product experiences across thousands of categories from toys and apparel to books and fine art. As the world’s largest licensor, DCP inspires the imaginations of people around the world by bringing the magic of Disney into consumers’ homes with products they can enjoy year-round. DCP is comprised of three business units: Licensing, Publishing and Disney Store. The Licensing business is aligned around five strategic brand priorities: Disney Media, Classics & Entertainment, Disney & Pixar Animation Studios, Disney Princess & Disney Fairies, Lucasfilm and Marvel. Disney Publishing Worldwide (DPW) is the world’s largest publisher of children’s books, magazines, and digital products and also includes an English language learning business, consisting of over 40 Disney English learning centers across China and a supplemental learning book program. DPW’s growing library of digital products includes best-selling eBook titles and original apps that leverage Disney content in innovative ways. The Disney Storeretail chain operates across North America, Europe and Japan with more than 350 stores worldwide and is known for providing consumers with high-quality, unique products. Disney’s official shopping portals online are www.DisneyStore.com and www.DisneyStore.co.uk. For more information, please visit Disney Consumer Products www.DisneyConsumerProducts.com or follow us at www.YouTube.com/DisneyLiving, www.Facebook.com/DisneyLiving, www.Twitter.com/DisneyLiving and www.Pinterest.com/DisneyLiving and www.Instagram.com/DisneyLiving.
These figures look incredible. I have been following Hot Toys for many years and they produce the most detailed and life like premium collectable figures ever made. These are not your regular run of the mill action figures. They range in price usually starting at around $170 and can go up to almost $1,000. Each of these figures is a 1/6th scale of the original size and perfectly recreated from the original subject. Just look at the Han Solo figure and you can see the scar under his lip, different colored strands of hair used to make Chewbacca and just the amazing detail of the costumes and weapons.
Established in 2000, Hot Toys Limited is a high-end collectible brand, devoted to designing, developing and producing high quality and highly detailed collectibles with authentic likeness. Initially started the business from producing 1/6th scale military action figures, Hot Toys has since expanded its product scope to specialize in 1/6th scale collectible figures from popular movies, video games, comics as well as world renowned celebrities.
These figures are not yet available for pre-order but should be soon. Sideshow Collectibles is the official distributor of Hot Toys figures in the US, North and South America, Europe, Australia and throughout most Asian countries. The only way you can purchase these collectable figures is through Sideshow Collectibles.
This is just the beginning for Hot Toys Star Wars collectible figures. Definitely looking forward to what the future will brings us.
Here is a description for each figure and for more information visit www.hottoys.com.hk:
Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
Han Solo
1/6th scale Collectible Figure
“Here’s where the fun begins.” – Han Solo
Hot Toys has always been a big fan of the iconic Star Wars saga and we are thrilled to have acquired the official right to manufacture collectibles from the Star Wars universe this year!
We will bring fans a large range of high-end collectibles with movie-accurate details and stunning likeness! To kick off this incredible series, Hot Toys is very excited to introduce the 1/6th scale collectible figure of the infamous smuggler, Han Solo, from Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope!
The movie-accurate collectible figure is specially crafted based on the image of Harrison Ford as Han Solo in the film and features a newly developed body, highly detailed costume, weapons, accessories, and a specially designed figure stand.
A special edition that is available for selected markets will include an additional Stormtrooper belt and blaster rifle which Han Solo has used on Death Star.
Star Wars fans don’t miss the opportunity to pre-order this amazing collectible figure! More collectibles from the Star Wars universe are coming. Stay tuned!
Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
Chewbacca
1/6th scale Collectible Figure
With Hot Toys’ acquisition of the right to manufacture collectibles for the Star Wars universe, fans can expect to see a large spectrum of high-end collectibles from this iconic saga in the near future!
Following the official reveal of the 1/6th scale Han Solo Collectible Figure, we wouldn’t forget about Han Solo’s trusty sidekick, the legendary Wookiee – Chewbacca! Many Star Wars fans have been longing for a high quality Chewbacca collectible figure for a long time and today Hot Toys is proud to present the highly-detailed Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope: 1/6th scale Chewbacca Collectible Figure!
The movie-accurate collectible figure is specially crafted based on the image of Chewbacca in the film featuring a newly developed body, brown fabric hair throughout whole body that captures Chewbacca’s unique appearance, highly detailed bowcaster, accessory, and a specially designed figure stand.
Star Wars fans shouldn’t pass up the chance to pre-order this incredible one-of-a-kind collectible figure and don’t forget to also add Chewie’s partner, Han Solo, to your collection!
© & TM Lucasfilm Ltd.
© 2014 Hot Toys Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Have you ever wondered what year your favorite Disney animated movie took place in? Well wonder no more. Thanks to Disney blogger, Aish, we have an answer for most of them and a best educated guest for the really difficult ones. Aish put together a timeline detailing each Disney animated movie and what time period each movie was set in. There are definitely allot of movies I was unaware of how far they went back to.
You can follow Aish’s Blog at http://disneysnewgroove.tumblr.com
Disney movies in order of historical setting
(Excludes most of the package films. Some films, eg The Lion King, are impossible to pin down exactly and some, like Aladdin and Treasure Planet, are anachronistic, so these are estimations. A few have been split into 2 if there is more than one time period in the movie, and sequels have been put together.)
Tonight on WDWNT: The Radio show, we have a full review of the 2014 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. We traveled around the World Showcase and taste tasted many of the new and returning dishes and drinks and have audio of our reviews recorded on-site at the event to share with you.
Also, the Studio Backlot Tour is closing in a few days… what does that mean for Disney’s Hollywood Studios? And as always, we will be giving out some great prizes from Theme Park Connection as we play WDWNT: The Price is Right!
Hosted by radio veterans and life-long Disney fans Tom Corless and Nick LoCicero, the live radio talk show on AM 1520 WBZW in Orlando focuses on the latest news and current trending topics at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. WDW News Today: The Radio Show can also be streamed live at www.1520wbzw.com. WDW News Today the Radio Show debuted in August of 2013 as a 1hour broadcast on Saturday evenings and has grown into a 2-hour program by popular demand.
To interact with the hosts during the show, listeners can call in at (407) 774-8255, tweet @WDWNT using #WDWNTRadio, or use the new LIVE chat that will be available at Radio.WDWNT.com.
The show begins at 8PM EDT tonight, don’t miss it!
Walt Disney Animation Studios just released a brand new trailer for the upcoming movie Big Hero 6. This is the first time we get a look at Hiro’s brother, Tadashi, who is also creator of Hiro’s robot sidekick Baymax.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IdMPpKMdcc]
I took some screen caps of some new scenes from the trailer and posted them below. Hope you enjoy them.
Big Hero 6 is produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and is based on the Marvel comic where a young prodigy, Hiro Hamada, and his inflatable robot, Baymax, team up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes. This will be Disney’s 54th animated film release. Big Hero 6 opens in theaters domestically on November 7th, 2014.
Website IndieRevolver.com got their hands on a photo that appears to show a never before seen Chrome Trooper that will be seen in Star Wars: Episode VII. I have been following a lot of stories and rumors regarding Episode VII and although I have heard that there will be a large presence of Stormtroopers in the film, this is the first time I have heard of a Chrome Trooper. According to Indie Revolver, there have been rumors for months of Chromed Stormtroopers, who are private security guards for the film’s main villain. From what I have heard, this will not be your typical Star Wars story. One thing that I know is that it sounds like we are in for some surprises and with J. J. Abrams directing, you know there will be some mind-blowing twists that we never imagined coming.
Concept art of Chrome Trooper provided by IndieRevolver.com:
Star Wars: Episode VII is the first chapter of a new trilogy that takes place 30 years after Return Of The Jedi. The movie is being directed by J. J. Abrams and will reunite the original cast as well as new cast members to continue the Star Wars saga. Episode VII is currently being filmed in locations such as Abu Dhabi, Iceland and various locations in the UK. Star Wars Episode VII is scheduled to be released domestically on December 18th, 2015.
