Steampunk Disney
 

It started with the Vinylmation steampunk Mickey...

Now, it's a set of pins (and soon more merch):

That reminds me, I wonder if Epic Mickey is still on track for release later this year.

I'm looking forward to Epic Mickey, though I never even finished the first Kingdom Hearts.

...and here's the Vinylmation I was talking about:

I realy don't get the appeal of the Vinylmation stuff. It just looks cold and unimaginitive.....

There is something wrong with the Steampunk Disney stuff. It's way too cute to be Steampunk and, for me, there's a huge disconnect.

It's new and improved Non-Threatening Steampunk(tm)! You know... For kids!

It's just not steampunk enough.

It looks more like Victorian Disney

No trend, movement, style or genre can survive Disneyfication (especially of the market-driven variety) intact. It's the very definition of cultural co-opting, keeping everything neutered, sanitized and scrubbed free of troubling socio-political subtext. (And remember, I love Disney.) So, Disney character steampunk just can't ever be authentic (for want of a better word). That said, I would happily watch a cartoon or feature with the characters in a Victorian steam-punky setting. Too bad that isn't happening. Just a set of pins that I will not be buying.

From what I understand, Epic Mickey has completely lost the dark edge present in the earlier leaked designs. Too bad. I was hoping Disney would do something radically disturbing and recontextualized. Instead, it sounds like we're getting something far more conventional involving Disney villains. Pity.

Some of the early urban vinyl Mickey stuff actually was kind of gross, disturbing and unsettling. Everything I see lately has been much more friendly. (In any case, it was trend-chasing all the way.)

My, but I'm in an uncharacteristically cranky mood this evening.

What's funny for me is that the designs for both Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet were both way more true to the steampunk aesthetic than the "Mechanical Kingdom" stuff. But they weren't as self-conscious. They also weren't very successful.

(I still like 'em.)