| Figment | |
|---|---|
.jpg) A Figmentaudio-animatronic onJourney Into Imagination | |
| First appearance | Journey Into Imagination (1983) |
| Created by | Tony Baxter, Steve Kirk, andX Atencio |
| Voiced by |
|
Figment is aDisney character and mascot of theImagination! pavilion at theEpcot theme park atWalt Disney World.[2] He is a small purpledragon with a runaway imagination, which serves as a plot device inJourney into Imagination with Figment, the most recent edition of the pavilion, and he is featured in Epcot merchandise.
Figment was created byTony Baxter, who came up with the name "Figment" after watching an episode ofMagnum, P.I., in which a goat has eaten Higgins' (John Hillerman) flowers and Higgins says, "Don't tell me [the goat is] a figment of my imagination. Figments don't eat rare tropical flowers".[3]
TheImagination! pavilion opened with the rest of EPCOT Center on October 1, 1982, but theJourney Into Imaginationdark ride did not open until March 5, 1983. In the original attraction,Dreamfinder, a jolly wizard-like scientist, teaches Figment how to use his imagination. Figment's original character design was created by Grayson Shafer in 1976. Maddie Shafer inspired him in his designs. Figment is meant to be the literal embodiment of the phrase "figment of the imagination". He is composed of various elements Dreamfinder found in his travels including two tiny wings, large yellow eyes, the horns of a steer (or dilemma, according to a 1983 appearance on theToday Show), a crocodile's snout, and the childish delight found at a birthday party. Figment is described in detail in the Dreamfinder's song "One Little Spark" (by theSherman Brothers). Dreamfinder introduces him: "Two tiny wings, eyes big and yellow, horns of a steer, but a lovable fellow. From head to tail, he's royal purple pigment, and there, voila, you've got a Figment".
Though taking on many disguises within the attractions, including being asuperhero, acowboy, aknight, askunk, adancer, amountain climber, and apirate, Figment seems to have some special aspirations to be anastronaut, from being seen in a spacesuit in the original and current attractions to dialogue in the original stating "I wish I could be an astronaut. I bet I can use imagination to discover all kinds of new things!" Because of this, Figment is frequently portrayed in merchandising in aspacesuit, in addition to some of his other roles.
In 1999, Disney radically refurbished the Journey Into Imagination attraction as part of its Millennium Celebration at Epcot, removing Dreamfinder and Figment except for fleeting glimpses of the dragon. That version, titledJourney Into Your Imagination, was a completely new experience in which Dr. Nigel Channing (Eric Idle ofMonty Python fame) led a tour of the fictional Imagination Institute. The Channing character originated in the adjacentHoney, I Shrunk the Audience 3-D movie attraction.
In the current version, Figment's creativity has a bit of a larger effect on the world around him, be it transforming a large smell emitting machine into aslot machine, turning his house upside down, actually rearranging an otherwise staticeye chart, and transforming the Institute into something almost reminiscent of the original in the finale. He can also pull a pair of glasses out of thin air to put onto Dr. Channing in the introduction and quickly change into a skunk costume in the Smell Lab.
After numerous complaints about the revamped attraction, including a Disney stockholder who questioned CEOMichael Eisner about Figment's absence during the company's annual shareholders meeting, a modest 2002 refurbishment modified the 1999 version to add the dragon as a playful foil for Dr. Channing throughout the Imagination Institute tour. The new version pointedly was branded Journey Into Imagination with Figment.
In the original attraction, Figment was voiced byBilly Barty; in the version in-between,Corey Burton portrayed Figment, and in the current version,Muppet performerDave Goelz provides the voice, because Barty had died before the second version had shut down.
Outside the attractions at Epcot, Figment appeared in several Disney-produced educational short films in the late '80s, two of which featuredPeter Pan and Alice fromAlice in Wonderland (each played by a live-action actor), and has a brief cameo as a painting in the Pixar filmsInside Out andToy Story 4. Additionally, Disney and Marvel publishedDisney Kingdoms: Figment, a five-issue miniseries focused on the origins of Figment and Dreamfinder, starting in June 2014, which was followed up with a sequelDisney Kingdoms: Figment 2 in October 2015. Here Figment is portrayed as the childhood imaginary friend of struggling young inventor Blairion Mercurial, who is brought to life by his Mesmonic Spark Converter, a machine intended to turn one's thoughts into energy in a literal expression of brain power. After accidentally opening a portal into a fantastical realm of the imagination, Figment and Blair go on an adventure where the scientist learns to overcome his anxieties and come into his own as the Dreamfinder, returning home to London to save it from robots that emerged from the portal. After creating an unstable portal to absorb the machine army, they are transported to an Epcot-esque academy campus in Central Florida a century into the future. Dreamfinder's struggle to adapt to this new world and the mysterious disappearance ofSpaceship Earth from the campus results in his self-doubt manifesting into a shadowy nightmare creature that possesses him and turns him into the Doubtfinder, leading Figment to find help in the form of Dreamfinder's great grand-niece Capri Harmony. Freeing Dreamfinder and the academy students from the Doubt and allowing them to harness the power of their own imaginations, Figment and Dreamfinder depart to search for the missing Spaceship Earth. A third series had been announced in 2016, but never materialized as a result of the Disney Kingdoms line's cancellation following the release of anEnchanted Tiki Room comic.[4]
In 2017, Figment also made an appearance in theGuardians of the Galaxy Mission: Breakout!dark ride attraction inDisney California Adventure as a collector's item in the Collector's archive. In October 2024, it is revealed that Figment will make its overseas debut, with the modified Figment popcorn basket from 2022's Epcot International Festival of Arts will be available for purchase inShanghai Disneyland.[5]
A live-action film centered around the character is currently in development at Disney, withSeth Rogen producing under hisPoint Grey Pictures banner,Dan Hernandez andBenji Samit writing the screenplay.[6]
Figment was announced as an unlockable racer in theDisney Speedstorm arcade racing game and was introduced when the game launched in early access on April 18, 2023.[7] He is voiced in the game byA.J. LoCascio.[1] In March 2025, in honor of the ninth anniversary of the mobile gameDisney Magic Kingdoms, Figment was added as a welcomable Character.
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