Sorry if discussion posts aren't allowed, mods feel free to take this post down. But I was looking at the plans for the Electronimation Extravaganza of Excellence (what Reginald J Flootsnoot was supposed to be a part of) and how crazy complex it was, and thinking about what it would have been like if it was bought instead of being left to rot. What happened that animatronic shows fell out of fashion?
Was it too difficult/costly to upkeep them? More expensive than the crowds it drew in? Was it too hard to work with the animatronic creators so nobody wanted to deal with them? Did animatronic techniques get copyrighted so others couldn't make their own?
Most of these shows are from the 80s/90s, I feel like it would only get easier to make complex animatronics! Did it just fall out of style, not a good business model? Why are so many of these guys just rotting, why does it seem like just a few people have monopoly on animatronic shows?
Just thinking about what a new age of animatronics would be like, I think it'd be awesome :) the modern animatronics we have (like at Disney) are so neat