Steampunk Disney

While I'm not huge into it, for the last four years or so, I've had a minor hobby of collecting Disney pins. By collect, I mean I occasionally buy a pin I like, or one associated with an attraction at Disney that I like, or a character from a Disney movie I like. As you might possibly guess, my pins are about 50% pirate themed and another large chunk of them are Star Wars themed. Putting the Disney characters in the role of Star Wars characters has been a big deal lately. I still haven't seen a Darth Maul Donald Duck for sale individually, but I may have to go to eBay for that one one of these days.

Anyway, while here in Orlando doing Disney again, I ran across a limited series of pins called Mechanical Kingdom that are Disney characters done steampunk. Here's an image of the artwork. Mickey and Pete are not available individually, and since I didn't feel like spending $140 for the entire set, I got the Donald pin. The background for it is a bronzed tiki head and on a tiny chain is a bar that says "Adventureland."



While the artist who designed these characters says they were clearly inspired by the steampunk fashion movement that's popular amongst some goths and whatnot these days, it's questionable whether putting the Disney characters in pseudo Victorian clothes and goggles really makes them steampunk for not. There's nothing about them that's particularly "punk" for example. Rather, I think that they feel very retro-pulpish, the Donald Duck one in particular. And for those of you who know anything at all about my taste, you'll probably know that to me that's better than punk anyway... I love the retro-pulp vibe of these pins. They make me feel more Hollow Earth Expedition than The Difference Engine or Perdido Street Station. And that's a good thing.