Toys, Cartoons and Animated Characters

My humans continue to tease me lots.

For the last few days, they have been comparing me to a cartoon cat who seems to be taking over the Internet (Simon's cat). The cat has a little moving cartoon where he goes to a lot of effort to wake his human and then points to his mouth to demand food. This cartoon has also been shown on breakfast television. Andrew grew up with real cats so claimed this was very realistic. I said this was yet another reason to prefer toy cats: we don't demand food all the time.

But today my humans wanted to get up and Andrew slept through the first alarm. Now they blame me for not waking them! They have had a couple of late nights recently and they can hardly blame me for that! Toy cats don't stay out all night either!

Simon's cat may do cat-like things but he's still just an outline cartoon. For the most part, Disney are very clear that their characters are not "cartoons", they are "animated characters" ("Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" is artistic licence). Dumbo wasn't just an elephant and the seven dwarfs weren't just dwarfs: they each had their individual personalities. So, if you want to see a cat with unique character being lively in the morning when someone else wants to sleep, have a look at "Cat Nap Pluto". Please remember, however, that the cat character concerned was just acting a part for Mr Disney and is really a very sweet, good natured kitty who deserves a cuddle.

And I'm just joking about the humans teasing me. What it really means is that they are paying attention . . . and that my place on the bed remains unchallenged.

Prrrrr.

Character 9 - Elastigirl

I wasn't sure whether to have another character picture yet but my humans were going through some picture of me and I saw this one. I couldn't resist her: Elastigirl, Mrs Incredible, Helen Parr or whatever you call her.

She was really nice to me. Look how she is stroking my head and holding me close. And of course it helped that she could reach across from the far side of the room to pick me up!


This picture was taken in the animation section of the Disney Studios park. I think this was one of those times when the Incredibles were just waiting in a corner of the room - not occupying the main "character greeting" area. That meant there was not so much of a line.


I hear Disney are now doing a "Toy Story 3". Surely it can't be stretching things too much to have "Incredibles 2"? Let me think. Several years have passed; the kids are leaving home; Mr and Mrs Incredible feel lonely and adopt a "super" pet - a black and white cat. Sounds good so far.


Prrrrr.

I'm Still Here

I have to aoplogise for being away but we have been having problems with computers that my humans couldn't solve very easily. They even had a professional engineer come in and tinker inside the box. It turned out it was just the monitor screen (the box was working fine - but the engineer charged them anyway). Of course, they never asked me for help. Serves them right. Anyway, we have now bought a new monitor and I can start catching up with what has been happening.

At the end of October we had Halloween. The humans held a party - as they did last year - and spend a lot of time decorating the house inside and out. The house name was changed to "Haunted House" and there were giant images of skulls with red eyes staring out the windows. One room was converted to a dungeon with a grim stone wall and a skeleton hanging in a metal cage. There were lots of spiders and one witches' cauldron bubbling mist across the living room. I was glad I stayed upstairs. I had to be firm with the humans. Neither I nor any of my fellow Figaros were dressing up as a black cat.

Quite a lot of local friends came and many dressed up. Perhaps it was one of the witches who came who put a hex on the computer. We were supposed to have a boy wizard (see photo) but he didn't sort things out either. Did he have any useful spells ("computus reparo"?). He's not a Disney character.

A Real Star

My Mikki still won't allow me to tell you (more than I already have) about the cousins and brothers who live with me and her competition about me in Disney parks is continuing. So, I thought today I would post a picture of me not in a Disney park. This is me somewhere near 6925 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, California.

You will notice a few things about this picture.

First, the humans are making me stand on the pavement (sidewalk). I much prefer the pictures I have in the parks where another Disney character holds me up and gives me a cuddle. On the sidewalk I might get dirty - and I might get stolen by a passing tourist (there were lots about). I know the human whose legs are in the picture would claim he was staying close to protect me but some people would say he was just spoiling the composition (couldn't you airbrush him out in "post production"?).

Second, the star is upside down as seen my me so I can't read who is celebrated here. The shot has been set up for the benefit of the audience who will see the pcture. I don't mind: it's just another example of what we stars do for our fans. Oh, and Andrew had been holding me when we found the star so I knew it was Mickey's.

This picture was taken in 2005. We also found stars for Donald Duck, Walt and Roy O Disney (I think Walt has 2), Snow White and the Sherman Brothers. I don't know if the Disneyland one was there yet but if it was we didn't know about it so didn't look for it. We shall have to go back one day. Now, wouldn't it be nice if my character was famous enough to have a star of his own?

Welcome to Hollywood. What's your dream? A real star please.

Good Homes Needed

I hear that there are people out there in cyberland looking for the other Figaros - my brothers and cousins - who live with me. I put one family picture on this Blog but we have an addition to the family since then (he's on the Blog too). In fact, we all got together on the sofa a few days ago and Andrew took a new group portrait but Mikki has banned me from posting it just yet. I will tell you that there is more useful quiz information about "our Figaros" available in cyberspace than that found on my blog!

So here is a picture of me with other Figaros taken in Walt Disney World in 2007. All these "cousins" are of the "Disney's Tote a Toy" type that was in the stores then and was still there when we last visitied in 2008. And yes, you are right: this was another example of my humans teasing me by putting me on a shelf in a store with other toys that had not yet been bought. At least they were quite quick about taking the picture and watched over me carefully so nobody could take me thinking I was for sale. Oh, the things we stars do for a good show!

I am sure these particular toys have found homes with humans by now but you know how it is, if your rescue one toy from the shop another is put in its place. I am sure there are plenty there noa and they all need good homes.

Yes, of course we have one of this design of Figaro in our family (but not one of the ones in the picture). We call him "Fancy Figaro" (or just "Fancy") because of the sparkly glittering gold dots about his fur. They look very striking on the fur but we are not so sure about the more regular spots on his nose. If there is a "gold spot disease" going round, none of the rest of us have caught it back here in England yet.

Talk to you again soon.

Figaro the Toy Cat

Art if Retiring

Not all the great personalities of Walt Disney World are "characters" in the animated sense. If you were lucky when you visited the Beach Club (or passed through the lobby often enough) you could meet Art. I met him several times - either when we were staying at DVC at Beach Club Villas or "just passing through". This picture was taken in December last year. Art was great fun and really nice to me - but I think he was really nice to everybody. I know lots of our friends have also told us how much they enjoyed meeting him.

Now the Disney Parks Blog reports that Art is to retire. Mickey Mouse never looks any older but even in Walt Disney World humans (apart from Peter Pan) have to grow up.

Disney likes to think of its jobs as acting roles and they call their staff "cast members". However, the best are often those who depart a little from the script and allow their own individuality to make things extra special for the people they meet. I suspect this can take more courage than Disney like to admit (that's just how it is in large corporations). Over the years, we've met a few of these special people. They are definitely in our list of top memorable experiences and I think I should mention more in future posts on my Blog (Neil - first met at Mama Melrose and most recently seen at Tusker House is probably top of the list). Today, however, is Art's day. My humans and I wish him all the joy he brought us and others.

Characters 8 - Woody

A couple of evenings ago, my humans couldn't find anything they wanted to watch on the tv. We have several hundred channels of sattelite tv so you will realise this happens quite a lot of the time. They did what they often do in this situation - turn to the "Kids" section and look up "Disney Cinemagaque". They caught the last quarter hour of "Toy Story 2". After that, they could get out our DVD and watch the whole movie.

So here is a picture of me with the "rooten-tootenest cowboy of all time". I've met him a few times and also Buzz, Jessie and Bullseye. This shot was taken at "Al's Toy Barn" when it was in the Studios but the Round-Up Gang have also been in the Magic Kingdom. Bullseye couldn't hold me so I haven't had a cuddle from him. I don't think I have seen the Prospector in the parks - but would you want a cuddle from "Stinky Pete"?

Sheriff Woody, his friend Buzz and all the others in Andy's room have a lot to answer for when they told the world what we toys get up to when our humans aren't looking. However, they all seemed nice when I have met them in Walt Disney World.


By the way, the next night we didn't need to resort to DVDs or the Kids channels. "Pretty Woman" was on one of the regular sattelite film channels. And the night after that we had the Disney Pixar feature on "The South Bank Show" (a couple of clips from Pinocchio but no kitten).