It would look like this! Designer Satoshi Fumihara the genius behind the Japanese MTV series Golden Egg designed these funky Cubic Mouth Disney Key Cover which look cutting edge yet retain the cute qualities of Mickey and Mini. I’ve always admired how Disney has adapted to local culture in Japan by taking chances and this is always reflected in the merchandise — something which I wish Disney would do more often in the United States where the brand play it a bit too safe.

Tom Stathes’ latest Cartoon Carnival, number five to be exact, was presented at a storefront venue known as Vaudeville Park, and hosted by Cinebeasts, a local film society. Not only were the cartoons time-warp material; the twenty-somethings who’d organized the evening were dressed for the occasion in bowties, bowler hats and suspenders, a pianist was playing Fats Waller tunes, the SRO audience consisted of everyone from college kids to retirees, and never mind the open bar – they were handing out free popcorn!

A few of Tom’s regulars were onscreen – Farmer Alfalfa (inadvertently taking the place of a dancing bear), Felix the Cat (eluding a angry giant in another one of his fantasy landscapes) and Mickey Mouse, performing an ode to Minnie’s Yoo-Hoo via some of the most painstaking (and weird-looking) lip sync ever.

Reel two featured George Pal’s 1938 stop-motion Philips Cavalcade, a movie theater commercial for the radio manufacturer, and a completely new-to-me toon from a well-known name: King Klunk, an extended King Kong spoof (duh) from a pre-Woody Walter Lantz. (Klunk’s skeletal demise triggered an empathetic ‘awww’ from the audience.) The evening ended with a stop motion Western epic from an unknown filmmaker (quite good at his craft, too bad we’ll never know who he was) starring ‘Hector the Pup’ and his feline girlfriend (bearing an unmistakable resemblance to one of Avatar’s Na’vi) outsmarting an outlaw wolf.

On the program guide’s back cover: a helpful listing of cartoon mogul deaths (”Collect ‘em All!”), from Disney’s 1965 demise from lung cancer to Lantz’s 1994 old age farewell after clocking a solid 95 years on the planet. Tom will be back anon, no doubt about that; in the meantime I’m setting my alarm clock for Cinebeasts’ next must-see blowout – a screening of Estonian soviet-era TV commercials.

Joe is an occasional animation scripter and freelance NYC writer covering animation and sci-fi/fantasy entertainment. His work has appeared in the NY Daily News, Newsday, the New York Press and, as they used to say on Rocky and Bullwinkle, ‘a host of others.’ He is a regular contributor to the animation industry website awn.com, but it’s much easier to visit joestrike.com to see what he’s been up to lately.

So much of the toy fair is really aimed at kids, and while there are fanboy friendly booths here and there Diamond is always a pleasure to visit with the variety of cool goodies that they have. Shown above is a Qee Bear Spock — and below you can see a wide range of toys from Alice in Wonderland to Mickey Mouse:

Above: Alice in Wonderland toy line

Above: Mickey and Mini Mouse, Whiney the Poo and Piglet Qee Bears

Above: Ren and Stimpy Qee Bears and Peanuts collectables

Above: Where the Wild Things Are toy line

Fanboys love their toys! And 2009 has been a great year for collectors of both high and low art, so we’ve put together our favorites from this year with an eye on unique twists on old themes. For example shown above O-No! Sushi by Andrew Bell is an urban toy reaction from a vegetarian to sushi.

007 fans should love the James Bond Girls Barbie Doll Assortment Case which features Honor Blackman in Goldfinger, Halle Berry in Die Another Day and Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder from Dr. No.

Godzilla MechaGodzilla Plush shows the soft lovable side of Godzilla’s nemesis.

Because diamonds are a kitty’s best friend! These faux diamonds on this ever so cute Crystallized Swarovski Hello Kitty MP3 Player caught our eyes.

It’s note quite a toy, but as collectors we loved how fashion designer Marc Ecko put together an entire line of hip looking Star Wars clothing.

This Where the Wild Things Are Max 400 Percent Kubrick Figure pays tribute to one of our favorite books from our collective childhood.

This Mobile Suit Gundam USB Memory device appeased our inner retro anime fanboy.

For Lucky Star fanboys this Lucky Star Nyamo USB Drive was too cute to pass up.

As a retrogaming fanboy my eyes lit up when I glanced at this NES Controller Business Card Case.

Batman? Check! Anime? Check! What can be cooler than this Batman Ame Comi Statue?

This Star Trek USB Communicator is more than a toy that plugs into your computer, in fact it’s a fully functional microphone and earphone that will work with Skype, MSN, AIM and iChat.

For fangurls who love cosplay this authentic Suzumiya Haruhi Cosplay Wig was a must have item for any anime con appearance.

From a quick glance I wasn’t too impressed with the mecha design of this Transformers Disney Label Mickey Mouse — the problem was that it just wasn’t cute enough! But of course the devil is in the details: If you look closely at the top you’ll see the classic Mickey Mouse enjoying being at the controls of his very own giant robot (which won us over).

I hate insects with a passion but my favorite new toy line of geek toys was Hexbugs — a collection of actual working robots each of which is equipped with a different type of sensor (light, sound, motion, etc.) which effects how it interacts with you. Here are the Hexbugs from their debut at the New York Toy Fair:

I was trying to figure out why this recent commercial for Tokyo Disneyland Disney Halloween looks so damn cool. I’m an anime fanboy so my thought was that anything with a Japanese voiceover would just seem cooler, but that’s not the case. Then it struck me: Mickey and Mini and decked out in Venetian costumes instead of the typical goth look associated with Halloween. The result is that our mouse suddenly takes on a magical European quality that I just doesn’t associate with Mickey who’s as American as you can get.

The other odd thing about the Venetian masks is that they’re worn for the Carnival of Venice which takes place in February! Although it turns out the misplaced date is fine as “Disney’s Halloween” runs from September 10 through November 3, 2009.

Taking him into the maze! Of course being a mouse playing a maze game is second nature when you kit bash Mickey Mouse and Tron. This Tron Mickey Mouse Vinyl Collectible Doll is available for preorder at National Console Support, here’s their description:

“Disney debuted the original Tron movie in 1982 and it eventually scored box office sales of roughly $30 million. Tron engendered a number of video games including a coin-op from Midway which featured a funky joystick controller. Although Tron isn’t really a part of popular culture nowadays, Disney is planning a sequel to the original movie that’s slated to bow in 2011 which is one year shy of the film’s 30th anniversary. This year is as good as any to start peppering the marketplace with Tron merchandise and Medicom gets things started in Japan with a Mickey Mouse Tron figure.

The Mickster is garbed in the blue-lit outfit that the good guys in Tron wear and his pose indicates that he might be ready to engage in some serious disc hurling antics. The figure measures 12.50cm or roughly 4.90″ tall. Preorders are welcome to ship in late September 2009 at JPY6090 or US$60.90 from NCS.”

When are they going to have a Black Hole themed Mickey Mouse?

I wasn’t aware of this — but it seems that back 1989 at Tokyo Disneyland they had a Star Wars themed attraction called Mickey’s Space Fantasy. After some research I found out that the ride featured in this old advert is in fact Star Tours which was advertised as “The Ultimate Star Wars Adventure!” which was the direct result of Lucas working with Disney back in the 80s on several projects. But best of all, I found out that the ride is still running to this very day…

From a quick glance I wasn’t too impressed with the mecha design of this Transformers Disney Label Mickey Mouse — the problem was that it just wasn’t cute enough! But of course the devil is in the details: If you look closely at the top you’ll see the classic Mickey Mouse enjoying being at the controls of his very own giant robot.

I think anyone who who has found Disney a bit corporate and cold would appreciated this Mickey Mouse Dalek by illustrator Darryl Cunningham. Darryl also does an amusing web comic called Super Sam and John of the Night which is well worth checking out.

One of the fun things about urban toys is when they give you a fresh take on a familiar character, and that’s the case with these Modern Pets Friend: Mickey and Minnie figurines. In fact looking at these toys I almost wish that Disney would think of doing some feature length animation with a set of reinvented characters done right (of course while trying to avoid over doing it ala Muppet Babies).

Found via shopncsx.com.

I love the clever industrial design of this Mickey Mouse Desk Light which is from Japan. The top light enclosure with the ears is a bit of an obvious concept although what I think makes the design so great is the added touch of making the base of the lamp have the buttons from Mickey’s pants.

Here’s the official description of the lamp which is being carried by National Console Support for a little over $25 and is available for preorder:

“Mickey Mouse is an American cultural icon but he’s popular in Japan as well. Each year, NCS receives numerous Mickey Mouse product offers which range from consumer goods to toys to games. Sega Toys currently holds a license to produce products that bear the likeness and/or imprint of Mickey Mouse and other Disney properties. One upcoming product is the Mickey Mouse Desk Light which measures 12 x 32cm (4.72 x 12.59″) and is powered by two AA batteries.”

From 1977 this is a commercial for the Mickey Mouse Magic Kingdom which featured a set of modified Weebles made to look like popular Disney characters. Looking at this ad the monorail looks quite cool, although as I child I detested the egg shaped toys a great deal. In fact the advertising taunt of “Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down” so irritated me as a child that I had to know the answer as to what kept the damn things from falling over.

So after much experimentation my ultimate solution was to put one in a vice grip — and thus in the process almost destroying the vice grip. But after a long struggle I got to see the inner workings of the Weebles which were remarkable simple (there was a lead ball at the bottom of the inside of the sturdy plastic shell). Although looking back at it I had no idea that this Hasbro toy (which was rolled out in 1971) would be going strong decades later despite my scientific research on how to destroy the buggers.

This is the first look at the Mickey Mouse Glove USB Flash Drive, although right now there’s no info on pricing and availability. The gloves in the Mickey Mouse cartoons were in fact a silent tribute to the cel painters who had the painful task of coloring each inked frame of acetate. Having done this sort of work back in my art school days I can tell you that it’s a painfully slow task which is very easy to muck up, so it’s very gratifying to see this very modern tribute to the golden age of hand painted cel animation.

Found via geekalerts.

When Mickey Mouse first stepped out he was a little bit cute, but he was also a bit of a devil too — but sadly over the years Disney would transform poor Mickey into saccharine sweetie that we know today. But I have to admit that Disney is now starting to let outside artists have fun with their brand which is a breath of fresh air after years of cute kitsch merchandise:

Mickey Mouse in Runaway Brain W-Size

“Medicom’s Runaway Brain figure has been around for a few years now in two variants which were small toys measuring 15cm or 5.90″in length. The company has announced another variant which doubles the size of the figure to 30cm and quadruples the price. We’re guessing this is one that’s targeted solely at serious collectors.”