Aladdin's Genie!!

I present the Genie from Disney's Aladdin! Made by Medicom Toys in Japan, this is the best likeness of the Genie around!

A Hobo Haiku

Dear Mr. Hobo,
You padded the hoof to the
bindle of my heart.

The Last Known Photograph of John Hammond

This is the last known photograph of wealthy business magnate and philanthropist, John Hammond. Taken moments before his death on a remote island off the coast of Costa Rica.

Minnie The Moocher

My favorite scene in the Betty Boop short "Minnie The Moocher"



Cab Calloway is a ghost walrus! A GHOST. WALRUS. Think about it.

Harness The Power!

Harness the power of dinosaurs!!

The Hatbox Ghost

Dateline: Disneyland 1969. The Haunted Mansion opens it's doors for the first time on August 9th, six years after construction of the facade had been completed in 1963. The Haunted Mansions boasts 999 happy haunts, but were there 1,000 haunts when it first opened?

If you were lucky enough to ride the Haunted Mansion in 1969, you may have seen a ghost whose stay in the mansion was brief: the infamous Hatbox Ghost. Ol' Hatty would have lived in the attic, and stood opposite of the Bride. The effect was that his head would disappear and then re-appear inside of the hatbox he was holding:




As opening day to the Haunted Mansion approached, a number of merchandising materials started to appear. One of which was a story record, with sounds from the mansion and a story of kids going through the mansion.

In the record, the kids encounter the hatbox ghost, whom the narrator describes... "He was a cloaked figure with an evil, grinning face. A hatbox hung from his hand. With each beat of his bride's heart, his head disappeared from his body and appeared in the hatbox."



Upon closer inspection, a famous visage appears on the cover:



He also even had his own page in the included 11 page booklet:



There was also a souvenir kids record that contained a picture of Mr. Box:




So as a kid in the 60's, looking forward to the opening day of the new Haunted Mansion attraction, you would have been familiar with the character of the Hatbox Ghost. Imagineer Marc Davis even drew this mock up of the character:



A number of press photos with Yale Gracey were taken as opening day approached:



Pictures courtesy of doombuggies.com



Here's what the Hatbox Ghost looked like inside the attraction:


Picture courtesy of doombuggies.com

So what happened? Where did this haunted resident go? One rumor circulated that he as so scary, Disney received so many complaints they had to remove him from the attraction. While this makes for a great story, sadly, that was not the case. The real truth was that the disappearing/reappearing head effect just didn't work well enough, and because of this, the Hatbox Ghost was taken out of the mansion for good. But what was his fate?

On a recent article on Jim Hill Media, Imagineer Marc Davis claims the Hatbox Ghost was re-purposed as one of the eagles in the attraction America Sings:



However, I do not believe this is the case. The Hatbox Ghost was not a complex animatronic, and an item that recently went up for sale on eBay proved this theory.

Early in 2009, a Haunted Mansion Reference Manual went up for sale on the auction site eBay. This manual was used by cast members to maintain and repair the effects in the mansion.



The following are the schematic pages for the Hatbox Ghost (click to enlarge):





As you can see, there really wasn't a whole lot to him. The main effect was just a matter of lighting, and the only real moving part was his trembling hand on his cane. I highly doubt he was stripped down and used as the eagle in American Sings, since he was mainly just some metal tubing in the first place.

Since the Hatbox Ghost's now infamous exodus from the Haunted Mansion attraction in Disneyland, his mystery and legend has grown over the years. He became an instant favorite character of doombugs (Haunted Mansion fans, named after the "doombuggy" ride vehicles) everywhere. In the last few years, Disney has noticed the buzz concerning our mansion's favorite ex-resident.

Offical Hatbox Ghost merchandise has been available for the first time since the records in the 60's. A "Big-Fig" was released in 2005, designed by Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily:




He has also been on a number of tombstones:





As well as several pins:





But perhaps the most exciting bit of merchandise was the recently revealed one of a kind full size Hatbox Ghost to be auctioned off at Disney's D23 Event. Designed by Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily:






There are currently rumors circulating that the Hatbox Ghost might make a return to the Haunted Mansion for the 40th Anniversary Event, taking place on 9-9-09. It would make sense, since his merchandising has definitely hit critical mass. The public definitely want to see the return of this famous dearly departed ghost.

Will we see him returned back to his corner of the attic? Only time will tell.

Skull Jeep

Continuing on the theme of apocaLEGO, I'm please to introduce the Skull Jeep! Horses will be a highly valued commodity after the zombie apocalypse: No gas required!

The Skull Jeep

Death Bus!

The newest addition to my apocaLEGO vehicles. The Death Bus! Next stop... HELL! Exact change only please.

The Death Bus

ApocaLego!

I have a new favorite hobby: Taking regular Lego sets and apocalypsizing them! Ie, what if the set existed in a post-apocalyptic Lego world infested by zombies?? Check out some of my creations:

The Lego Apocalypse


Mr. Spike


High Hide


Camper Chaos


More to come soon!!!

Captain EO is gone...

So I'm sure you've heard the news about Michael Jackson's passing... very sad. He was my favorite musician growing up by far. I would listen to the Thriller album over and over on my walkman, and one of my first music purchases was the HIStory cassette. And of course, there was Captain EO, my favorite attraction at Disneyland. So in tribute to Michael Jackson, I present:

www.captaineo.net

Disney/Pixar's Up

Finally got around to seeing Disney/Pixar's Up today! Incredible movie, Pixar never disappoints! However, there was something about Paradise Falls that looked familiar...

Up


The Lost World (1925)


The first image is from some concept art from Up. The second image is a still taken from the 1925 Lost World movie. At least we know Pixar has good taste!

Old Man Baby

Correction. This is the coolest thing ever.



Whenever I'm sad, I just imagine if babies were born with mustaches...

Ollllllllllld maaaaaaaaaaan baaaaaaaaaaaby!

Re-Design?!?!?

So as you may have noticed, my blog has been re-deigned to better match the color scheme of my website. While the steam-punk-pirate look was cool, it was ultimately in my best interest to keep the crocco.net branding consistent throughout it's multiple properties.

Plus, robots are rad.

Coolest. Thing. Ever.

Words cannot describe how cool this is. You just need to see it for yourself.

Terminator Salvation!

Check out this cool Terminator Salvation widget I made!



Be sure to check out the international website! Terminator Salvation

Enjoy!

More Captain EO

Here's some more merchandise from Captain EO! Here are 2 pvc figures from a 4 figure set. On the left is Idee & Odee and on the right is the infamous Hooter. Circa 1986.



Now my quest is to find Major Domo and Fuzzball!

I've Been Dugg!

On Monday, one of my wallpapers on my website got "dugg", ie, made it to the front page on the popular news site digg.com ! As of typing this, it has just passed the 1500 diggs mark!



Check it out on digg!!

Pretty cool!

¡lıʌǝ

It seems there is a macabre trend in alcohol.... or should I say.... spirits? Muahahha....

Captain EO

So there's no secret I'm a huge Captain EO fan. Sadly though, Captain EO merchandise is few and far between. There's a few buttons, shirts, a comic, and small PVC figures... but the best by far are the plush toys! They made a Hooter, Fuzzball, and Idee and Odee. They're actually pretty cool! I still need to find an Idee/Odee plush, but in the meantime, check out my Hooter and Fuzzball plushes!



And if you're wondering what Captain EO is, first of all, FOR SHAME. And second, behold the spectacle that is Captain EO!



Keep in mind this was meant to be in 3D, so feel free to react when necessary.

Enjoy!

Kenner Action Toy Guide!

So, who remembers those cool little booklets you used to get packed in the box of your favorite toy? Back in the 80's and early 90's, it was fairly common to find a little book about the other toy lines made by the same company as the toy you just bought packed in the box. Some made mini-comics with ads on the back, such as He-Man and Dino-Riders, others had little fold out booklets to see what other toys you could get in that same line, such as Thundercats or even the Rock Lords. However, none did it better than Kenner with their Action Toy Guide



As a kid in the 80's (remember, no internet!) these were gold. I used to sit and drool over all the different figures I would want. I would even circle the ones I wanted most, or even used a color code to show the order in which I wanted the toys, to "Want Most" to "Want Least, but still Want".



They made variations of the Action Toy Guide for quite a number of years that I can remember, but none were as good as the early stuff. I have a few saved, and hopefully I can dig them out and scan them in for your viewing pleasure. I grew up on this stuff!

Man, I wish I still had my Ecto-2. I played with it until it was destroyed!

Siiiiilver Haaaawks!! A pretty obvious Thundercats rip-off, but pretty cool nonetheless!


If you want to see the complete 1988 Kenner Action Toy Guide, check it out on my flickr page by clicking here!

Enjoy!