#fantasmical

[animentality]

[pierppasolini]

Fantasm Comes Again (1977) // dir. Colin Eggleston

[tomwaterbabies]

they weren't lying, that really do be some imagination

[whencartoonsruletheworld]

girl oh my goooooood can you fucking imagine

[twitter link]

[ceramicdolphin]

aaaand there she goes.

[adventurelandia]

8-bit Fantasmic

[fadu11000]

Matty lee

il est pas hot ? Il est bouillant

[kanataueda]

[adriberry]

Twisted Wonderland & Fantasmic

When I played Twisted Wonderland for the first time in 2022, I had a near immediate prediction for where the story was going based on the Prologue. I posted a multi-part series to TikTok where I described this theory and now that we’re in Book 7, what looks to be the last major book in the main story, I’ve been practically proven right.

Because Twisted Wonderland is Fantasmic.

Fantasmic is a “nighttime spectacular” found at Disneyland, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and in which Mickey Mouse goes into the world of his imagination through dreams. He dreams fantastic dreams of adventure on the open seas, of parades of musical animals, and heroes achieving their hopes and dreams. But the Villains are here too and the Evil Queen takes her chance to get Mickey while he’s vulnerable in this dreamland. She and the other villains gather together to destroy the hero once and for all- culminating in a fight between Mickey Mouse and Maleficent in her dragon form. And when Mickey is at his most scared, he remembers that this is his imagination and his dreams and he has the power to defeat evil with love and friendship.

It sounds just a little familiar, right? Yeah, we’re in the middle of all that in Book 7.

I’ll start from the beginning…

(Lots of twst theory under the cut)

NRC as Disneyland

We all know Royal Sword Academy looks like that (a Disney Parks Castle on steroids), but we don’t exactly know the layout of its campus. Night Raven College on the other hand has some bits and pieces that resemble the layout of the Disney Castle parks. It helps that there is literally a “Main Street” central walkway to the Castle which houses the main school building.

Another parks reference is the location and general look of the Ramshackle Dorm. In the original concept for Main Street USA, the main entryway of all the castle parks which has some dining and lots of shopping, there was originally going to be an abandoned old house because Walt Disney believed every perfect town had one creepy looking house for the kids to scare themselves with. This eventually turned into the Haunted Mansion ride, but the original concept of the main street haunted house and Ramshackle dorm look exactly alike!

There are other small elements which also bring to mind the Haunted Mansion like Grim’s name being from the title of the Haunted Mansion’s theme song, Grim Grinning Ghosts. Crowley’s raven theme, though already associated with Disney Villains, also brings to mind the ravens found throughout the ride.

Already, the setting is putting the player in the mindset of being in a Disney theme park subconsciously, but the connections to Fantasmic go deeper when we get a closer look at Ramshackle as the Prologue continues.

Ramshackle and the Mickey Mouse Shorts

There is one other Disney property Ramshackle looks like that may not be as well known to people who didn’t grow up ravenously consuming the Mickey Mouse shorts. Lonesome Ghosts is a 1937 short starring Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy as they play ghost hunters who were called in by a group of ghosts who wanted some mortals to mess around with. The Lonesome Ghosts house immediately brings to mind Ramshackle dorm, including the inside which is also torn up and abandoned.

The Ramshackle ghosts look at lot like the Lonesome Ghosts too, just without legs to give them a more traditional ghostly look.

When Yuu finally gets to their room, it is basically a recreation of Mickey Mouse’s room most recognized from the game Epic Mickey. But the room’s first appearance was in the 1936 short Thru the Mirror, an Alice Through the Looking Glass type story where Mickey gets transported into another world though his mirror.

He goes on a musical adventure on the other side, causing trouble the whole way. In both Epic Mickey and in Thru the Mirror, Mickey is taken to a world which is strangely familiar but also wrong. And in both stories he wakes up from this dream which turns into a nightmare.

Not to mention that this room in Twisted Wonderland is canonically connected to Mickey’s room.

We now have the second piece of the puzzle in the Twisted Wonderland story: Mickey Mouse, dreams in fantastic worlds, and nightmares.

Yuu: The Beastmaster & The Mouse 

*Spoilers for Book 7 ahead* 

In the Prologue, Yuu (a small but high-spirited friend) teams up with Ace (their impulsive and sometimes hot-tempered friend), Deuce (their endearingly dumb friend), and Grim (their friend who acts a lot like a pet) to defeat a blot creature and bring a replacement magestone back to Crowley. Crowley is in shock that someone finally got NRC students to work together despite the notoriously big egos of the students. He calls Yuu a “beastmaster” who can tame the students despite not being as powerful as them.  

It’s foreshadowing for the events of Book 7 of course, but the Disneyland-like setting and Yuu’s connection to Mickey Mouse are all set here. Yuu, Ace, Deuce, and Grim are stand-ins for Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto in the Prologue. And Yuu’s eventual meeting with Mickey Mouse cements that, as every main character in Twisted Wonderland is a counterpart to a Disney character, Yuu is Twisted Wonderland’s Mickey Mouse. 

Come Book 7, Yuu wakes up in Mickey’s room from Thru the Mirror. It’s made clear when Mickey shows up and explains the adventures he got into there, but the audience knows that this place is from a dream. When the blot creatures attack, Silver rushes in, explaining that his magic is the ability to hop from dream to dream. So Yuu, Grim, and Silver slowly start gathering everyone who is currently sleeping, waking them up from their dreams (and sometimes nightmares) to defeat Malleus together.

Just like Fantasmic, Yuu and the NRC students are taking their power back because all of it is a dream and they have the real power there if they believe in themselves. But instead of the Villains teaming up to defeat Mickey, the Fantasmic story is subverted with our Twisted Mickey teaming up with the “villains” towards their common goal of saving the school and all of Twisted Wonderland. 

The end of Sleeping Beauty and the end of Fantasmic are the same: the hero defeats dragon Maleficent. Silver is equal parts Aurora and Prince Phillip and Yuu is Mickey. When you factor in some of the Twisted Wonderland concept art, we can expect to see Malleus’s full dragon form at the end of this book. Maleficent is killed in Sleeping Beauty and it’s unclear of her fate in Fantasmic, but since Twisted Wonderland is a twisted Fantasmic, I’m excited to see how the story gets subverted again at the end to get Malleus’ happy ending! 

If you made it this far, I appreciate it! This post is a long one but I wanted to go into a little more detail than the original TikToks I posted this theory from and add bits from Book 7. If you haven’t seen Fantasmic, you can view each existing show (and some past versions) on YouTube. My favorite videos of them are below! It’s interesting to see the similarities in the stories, even if Yana Toboso didn’t actually take inspiration from it (I’d like to think she did though. She has a history of getting into research rabbit holes). 

Disneyland’s Fantasmic is the original and has a full dragon animatronic for Maleficent (or... had... it exploded last year).

Disney’s Hollywood Studios’ Fantasmic differs by just how many villains are involved (all of them show up to murder that mouse) and the newest version has a lot more Disney heroes present. 

Tokyo Disneysea’s Fantasmic has some of the most impressive light effects and floats and a really nice take on the magic mirror and Maleficent.

[fantasm-legacy]

Greatly amused by the fact that republic non-force users in this sequence have to be unceremoniously thrown to reach a ship that is taking off and look greatly bewildered by the whole experience

[pierppasolini]

Fantasm Comes Again (1977) // dir. Colin Eggleston

[theolivetree123]

Elias's Fantasmic Adventure!

My 200 follower special!

(More under the cut!)

Event Summary

When Elias was younger, he always loved to read fairytales. Yet, there was one book that told a story that stuck with him till the present day. The story was about a creative and joyous mouse who, while asleep, dreams of himself on a spectacular journey through the depths of his own imagination. Elias loved that story, but as the years went on, the book fell into obscurity. No one in all of Twisted Wonderland seemed to know anything about this book! Elias thought he had been dreaming about it for years until he saw the same book in NRC's library. Though it was covered in dust, Eilas still felt the exact same spark that he had felt when he was little. As to not let the story fall into obscurity again, Elias begged Crowely to find a way to let people know about the book, yet Crowely couldn't help him. Elias almost ran out of ideas until he remembered a rhyme his mother would tell him.

Here in your mind

It’s magic you’ll find

When out of the night

Dark forces ignite

To blind you with frightening schemes

If you use your might

To brighten the light

You'll create night of wondrous dreams

This inspired Elias to put matters into his own hands. With funding from Kalim, Elias sought to put on a wonderful water and light show spectacular as a homage to his favorite fairytale. But, he will need actors and dancers! Help Elias create a nighttime fantasmic!

Actors and Dress Code

In the fairytale, the magical mouse goes on a trip through his mind. In his dreams, he sees wondrous, beautiful, and dangerous things. Since this live show is supposed to be inspired by that story, Elias would like all actors to dress appropriately for whichever part you may be going for. Of course, there is still a lot of room for you to be creative!

In this show, Elias will be playing the part of the mouse, who, fast asleep, dreams that he is a mighty sorcerer's apprentice with the power to control water, color, and magic.

In the original story, the mouse sees things such as:

A vibrant jungle

Elephants on parade

A Genie who can grant any wish

A large ocean with all sorts of creatures

Pirates

Fairies

Beautiful princesses

Evil monsters

Powerful dragons

With these in mind, you can decide how you want to be perceived in Elias's dream! Do you want to be a beautiful prince or princess? Or do you want to change Elias's dream into a nightmare?

Here's some references:

For your character's outfits, make them vibrant and fantastical! Anything can happen in Elias's dream!

If you're still stuck, then go watch the original Fantasmic! It should give you ideas for your character's outfits. (Yes, I know that the link is the outdated version, but tbh they didn't change much from the one linked and the updated one so IT'S FINE)

Rules

No NSFW!

This event will start today (September 3rd) and end on September 30th!

Anyone can participate! Whether it's an OC, canon character, or even a staff member.

You can participate by making cards, writing fanfics, or drawing fanart! Anything is cool!

If you make a card with voice lines included, please try to explain what role your character will be taking in the show.

Once you've made your entry, please tag me and use the hashtag, #EliasFantasmicAdventure!

Here’s the base if you’re making a card:

Actors

-----------------------

Elias Miel by me!

Joseph Akaba by @readsrandomstuff67

Yuya Florence by @cheerleaderman

Melione by @the-rini-rush

Flori by @bunniehunn

Zagarius Hekkate by @screamintoad

Makaria Hekkate by @blood-red-bumblebee

Mariah Amathyst by @slumberingrose-fandom

I look forward to seeing what you all create!

If you have any questions, feel free to dm me or send me and ask!

[male1971]

Disneyland developed a nighttime spectacular in 1987 that featured 999 ghosts and skeletons from the Haunted Mansion that took over Tom Sawyer Island to entertain crowds along the Rivers of America five years before “Fantasmic”.

Disneyland consultant Don Dorsey discussed the history of the shelved Haunted Mansion-themed nighttime spectacular during the Magic After Dark panel at the D23 fan event at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Concept art developed for the Haunted Mansion-themed nighttime spectacular shows ghosts pouring out of the classic dark ride and flowing over the Rivers of America onto Tom Sawyer Island in a spectral rainbow.

In a spooky castle scene, headless knights hoisted a coffin into the air as ghost brides lingered amid scattered skeletons.

Pirates fought with swords in the masts of a ghostly version of the Sailing Ship Columbia as fireworks exploded near the stern in another scene developed for the nighttime spectacular.

The finale featured the Chernabog villain from “Fantasia” looming overhead as flames engulfed the waters below.

“Everybody thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be amazing,’” Dorsey said during the D23 panel presentation. “Then it got shelved for a period of time for Disneyland’s 35th.”

After the 35th anniversary celebration in 1990, attention turned to another nighttime spectacular involving water and fireworks that ultimately ended up occupying the same spot on Disneyland’s Rivers of America.

“Fantasmic” debuted in 1992

[adventurelandia]

Fantasmic Tick Tock Croc model, 1990

[ringmaster-pixie]

I hear there’s a jester in town. They run a theatre, and seem to be pulling people in quite quickly. You might need to up your game, as you now have completion.

yeah but do they have a super cool traveling circus with stunts and a carnival and stuff? I DONT THINK SOOOOO!

Okay but WHO IS THIS MYSTERY JESTER.

HISS.