The new toys include an LCD screen with your face on it, and will play your voice with the press of a button. They’ll be available in-person from Disney World for $89.99 plus tax.
What’s better than a cool Tron action figure? A cool Tron action figure with your face and voice, obviously.
That’s the idea behind the Tron Identity Program, a new piece of merch that Disney will be selling visitors to the Lightcycle attraction that’s opening in Tomorrowland in Walt Disney World Florida on April 4th. The idea is that you get your face scanned, record six lines of dialogue, and then manually customize your character’s look with different helmets, bodies, and team colors, and you’re left with a figurine that feels truly “you.”
It’s a not dissimilar idea to Hasbro’s Selfie Series, which 3D prints your head onto an action figure of your choosing after you scan your face with an app. But while Hasbro is going down a 3D printing route with a lead time of several weeks, the Tron Identity Program simply shows your face on a small LCD screen inside the figurine’s helmet, according to Gizmodo.
The result is a more expensive toy at $89.99 plus tax (versus $60 plus tax for Hasbro), but also one that can be turned around relatively quickly. Disney’s press release says the customization process takes around 20 minutes, and that the figurine will be ready to collect within another 60. So it’s a bit of a compromise, but at least you’re left with a pretty cool piece of memorabilia by the end of the day. Its box is even designed to look like a small Tron arcade cabinet.
It’s been a little while since Tron and its once-groundbreaking virtual reality world known as “The Grid” has appeared on screens. Disney revived the franchise in 2010 with Tron: Legacy, but aside from a 2012 TV series the series has remained dormant for the better part of a decade.
That could all change very shortly, however. A third Tron movie titled Tron: Ares was (as of January at least) scheduled to enter production in August this year, Deadline reported at the time. Dr. Michael Morbius himself Jared Leto is set to star, with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales co-director Joachim Rønning reportedly in talks to direct. Yippee.