The Hulk is here, but that’s not the big story out of D23 Expo. For years, oversized characters have walked through the Disney parks. Huge and — let’s face it — shambling, those suits look heavy, especially if it’s Sully from Monsters, Inc. In the words of a late-night infomercial, there’s got to be a better way. And for a while now, Imagineers in Glendale have been trying to figure out what that better way is.
In the D23 Expo “Wonderful World of Dreams” Pavilion, they were happy to show off what they’ve developed. The challenge was to balance efficient mechanics with lightweight durability, the better to give cast members a full range of motion. Not surprisingly, 3-D printing provided the answer. Creating a full-on exoskeleton bolstered by the latest in audio-animatronic technology, they’ve created body pieces that don’t weigh the cast member down. Characters won’t just have immobile hands to wave; they’ll have articulation.
An Imagineer we shall call “Jonathan” (because that’s his name) demonstrated with an oversized hand. If you were in a rare gap in the crowd, he’d even let you wear it while he controlled the mechanics. The roboglove was almost weightless. Can it bear weight? We didn’t have the opportunity to check how much strength its grip has.
We saw this in the Pavilion on Friday. Sunday Josh D’Amaro, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chair, revealed that the Hulk would be coming to Avengers Campus in Disney’s California Adventure. It’s a “temporary” appearance, starting this week. A logical extension of this technology, and the Imagineers had been pretty canny to cover a torso piece with brown fur in the Pavilion. My mind had jumped to the Country Bears, who are popular everywhere except, apparently, Disneyland in Anaheim.
Of course it’s the Hulk as the first proof of this technology. Notice, however, that the version oversized-gladhanding in Anaheim wears the Quantum Realm helmet. Yes, that fits with the just-announced new idea for the third Avengers Campus attraction, opening a year or three after Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania reminds everyone how necessary those helmets are. The helmet achieves something else: it removes the need for the mouth to work.
In the next iteration, they’ve thought of that, too. What makes this exoskeleton more impressive is its spine. Headpieces connect to the spine of the skeleton, not weighing down on the cast member inside. That opens the door for full facial expression, which rare characters in the parks’ parades and shows have. For a few years now, Mickey Mouse has occasionally been able to blink and move his mouth along with soundtracks. With this technology, they can expand the roster (in more ways than one).
The more advanced and lightweight the animatronics get in headpieces, the more interactivity characters can have. One day, Hulk will be able to show his full face.
Admittedly, this is the world we live in. Breakthroughs in technology like this are driven for entertainment, but someday soon there will be therapeutic applications for it. When you wish upon a star…
