Figment
From The Unofficial DisneyWiki
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [Source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Figment is the beloved purple dragon that is featured in all the various versions of Journey Into Imagination.
Created by Dreamfinder from "two tiny wings, eyes big and yellow, horns of a steer, royal purple pigment, and a dash of childish delight" in addition to (according to press material and Birnbaum's guide) a lizard's body and a crocodile's nose.
In the original version, he acts as a young and curious student of the imagination to Dreamfinder. In the current version, he is well aware of what imagination is and is mostly a prankster, pulling tricks on Nigel Channing (Eric Idle) until he is willing to listen to him and his lesson that imagination works best when set free.
[edit] Behind the Scenes
The Journey Into Imagination pavilion was one of the last of the original Epcot pavilions to be designed. Looking for host characters, inspiration was taken from the mothballed Discovery Bay project for Disneyland. An attraction called "Professor Marvel's House of Illusions" was to have been hosted by the title eccentric scientist, who among his other endeavors, bred dragons as a hobby. The Professor and one of his smaller dragons would soon evolve into Dreamfinder and Figment. Figment was also inspired by a line in an episode of Magnum PI. In the episode, Higgins' garden was being destroyed by a goat Magnum hid in his backyard. When Magnum tells Higgins it's only a Figment of his Imagination, he replies that "Figments don't eat grass!". Realizing that a Figment of the imagination had never really been visualized, the dragon was given his name. During most of the development, Figment was green rather then his familiar purple pigment. At the insistence of Kodak, who thought the green was too reminiscent of business rival FujiFilm, the color was changed to how he is seen today.
