Jab’s Builds! (Beaker! Sam Eagle! Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Thorpocalypse
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Great Beasts! Ranark! Omega Flight! Pink Pearl! The Dreamqueen!)

Post by Thorpocalypse »

Jabroniville wrote:SHE'S THE GATEWAY FATTIE!!! I swear I was never into that until I saw her!!!

uh, I mean- I'm not into that at all. She's... the only exception. Yeah.
To quote Fat Bastard, and also a line I've used many times over the years since, ONCE YA GO FAT, YA NEVER GO BACK! :lol:
Me fail English? That's unpossible. - Ralph Wiggum
greycrusader
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Ranark! Omega Flight! Pink Pearl! Dreamqueen! Collective!)

Post by greycrusader »

Oh bother-The Collective/Weapon Omega. Another utterly wasted, never-quite-taken-to-fruition character, a recurring problem at Marvel these days."Half-Formed" is right on target, Jab-the concept behind The Collective's origin is way kewl (actually doing something with the whole mutant de-powering debacle), exploring the idea of an ordinary working class/middle-class superhero (a mail carrier), and even coming up with a pretty snazzy costume design. But then...

The character isn't given, y'know, an actual personality, or interesting backstory, or any interesting "hooks"; a continuity morass gets re-visited, with the Xorn/Fake Magneto/Fake Xorn thing thrown in, the regular guy with demigod powers means "instant lunatic" thing cliche, sticking The Collective on Omega Flight, where he is so overpowered either he has to be the center of everything or get shuffled off panel somehow...

Sorry, much as I LOVE a lot of what they've done and admire their accomplishments, Bendis and Hickman did a LOT of this in the last decade; the new Hyperion, Alpha, Blue Marvel, Black Swan, Ex Nihilio and his sister (whom I can't even name), the new Nightmask and Starbrand, Marvel Boy/Protector, the Sentry (cursed be his name)...and I know they didn't create/first write ALL of the above, but their combined efforts kept these characters alive and re-appearing again and again, even when they really didn't add ANYTHING to story lines.

Ah, well.

All my best.
greycrusader
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Great Beasts! Ranark! Omega Flight! Pink Pearl! The Dreamqueen!)

Post by greycrusader »

Thorpocalypse wrote:
Jabroniville wrote:SHE'S THE GATEWAY FATTIE!!! I swear I was never into that until I saw her!!!

uh, I mean- I'm not into that at all. She's... the only exception. Yeah.
To quote Fat Bastard, and also a line I've used many times over the years since, ONCE YA GO FAT, YA NEVER GO BACK! :lol:
You got THAT one right! At least in my case, I suppose.

;)

All my best.
Thorpocalypse
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Ranark! Omega Flight! Pink Pearl! Dreamqueen! Collective!)

Post by Thorpocalypse »

Horsenhero wrote:The big problem with characters like the Collective is they're really only good for one plot arc...at the end of which they need to be eliminated (not necessarily killed but a nail needs to be put in the coffin of their single story). The unwillingness of writers to let this crap go is why the Phoenix Force keeps coming back, Thanos won't just freaking die and we keep having to retread the "X-Men dystopian future" again and again. Honestly, the best thing to happen to Dr. Doom was when he was "killed" in FF #200 and by editorial decree he couldn't be used by any writer until Marvel editorial finally lifted the curtain during John Byrne's FF run and let him resurrect him. Some characters just need to be one shots...or very limited in their use otherwise they lose their story value.
I tend to agree. Characters like Vulcan, Doomsday and Bane fulfilled their purposes for their arc, they were great (well, not Vulcan :roll:) did their thing and then they should have just let them sit. Or use them sparingly, like a "sequel" arc. Big bads like Apocalypse, The Joker, Doom, etc. are better when they are not seen all the time. Someone like MODOK you can use a lot because he's MODOK. He's not special. It should feel like it's a big deal when Doom or The Joker show up because they ARE special and you should have a special purpose for them.

I actually kinda feel the same about Superman now, to be honest. I don't want him "killed" every year, but he's The Man. He should show up when the crap really hits the fan, like he did in Kingdom Come. Metallo breaks out of prison? Random monster in a meteor from Krypton crash lands in Nevada? Send Supergirl or get Mon-El out of the Phantom Zone for a bit. Darkseid invades Earth? Bring out Big Blue.

And Darkseid should only try to invade Earth like once every 3-5 years, not every Arbor Day!!! :evil:
Me fail English? That's unpossible. - Ralph Wiggum
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Ranark! Omega Flight! Pink Pearl! Dreamqueen! Collective!)

Post by Jabroniville »

Yeah, Marvel has gotten AMAZINGLY bad at just introducing these all-powerful idiots and then keeping them around. Bad enough that so many of them were Superman-ripoffs, but to then just leave these bad ideas wandering around in various books, doing nothing of importance? You kill off The Collective in his first big arc, and you have a LEGEND (look at Wonder Man, who was legendary for years after his demise, to the point where Marvel finally DID bring him back from the dead for good). Keep him around... and he farts around doing nothing on low-tier books or wherever a writer remembers he exists, and he ends up being just "one of those guys", despite his vast power.

That almost all of these idiots are Power-Geeky characters is also mystifying. If the writer wants to whip it out and measure it to see how big it is... why not do that by giving their established faves a power-up? But instead, they gotta go "Full FanFic" and create a super-powered OC that can wipe out every other character with ease.

You can tell Al Ewing is a good writer because his stuff with the Blue Marvel has absolutely NOTHING to do with his power level, and everything to do with his CHARACTER. I would have no idea the guy is Top-Tier just reading the 40-odd issues of Ewing's stuff with the guy. But you can't say that about The Sentry (war be upon him), The Collective or Vulcan.

The "Doomsday/Bane" thing is telling, too- because they almost went the opposite route. The characters became unprotected, meaning that every writer who wanted to "put over" their new OC would just have them kill a Doomsday or beat up Bane in order to show off. So they turned into famous examples of "Badass Decay", getting weaker with each appearance. Suddenly, Bane, the man who broke the Bat, became a character desperately in need of a resurrection.

(Fun Fact: I was gonna use Ex Nihilo's sister's name... but I ALSO forgot what the frig it was. She and Nightmask remain the only two Avengers characters I absolutely cannot stat, because one of many things Hickman sucks at is freaking clarity)
Jabroniville
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Rok

Post by Jabroniville »

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Wasn't this dude in "Pirates of Dark Water"?

ROK
Created By:
Simon Furman & Pat Broderick
First Appearance: Alpha Flight #115 (Dec. 1992)
Role: Assassination Ring Leader
Group Affiliations: The Children of the Night
PL 8 (83)
STRENGTH
5 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+7)
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (Assassin) 4 (+5)
Intimidation 3 (+5)
Perception 2 (+4)
Stealth 3 (+5)

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Fast Grab, Improved Critical (Unarmed), Ranged Attack 2, Startle, Takedown

Powers:
"Hands of Stone" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Split) [3]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Hands of Stone +8 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +9 (DC 19), Toughness +6, Fortitude +6, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)
Enemy (Wild Child)- Wild Child scarred Rok many years ago, and Rok has carried a grudge ever since.

Total: Abilities: 56 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 3 / Defenses: 9 (83)

-Rok is one of the last Alpha Flight villains introduced- he leads an underground assassination squad made up of children, and has a personal vendetta against Wild CHild, who injured him years ago. Wild Child (as Weapon Omega) and Nemesis II were captured, but Weapon X (Kain, at that point, I believe) appeared and Wild Child KO's Rok. Rok appears to be super-strong for some inexplicable reason (he is likely a Mutant, given how Alpha Flight worked), and makes like "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin and punches guys with hands of stone. PL 7.5 will do for him.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:22 am, edited 2 times in total.
Jabroniville
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Citadel

Post by Jabroniville »

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CITADEL (Real Name Unknown, aka Weapon Y)
Created By:
Fred Van Lente & Clayton Henry
First Appearance: Wolverine: First Class #5 (Sept. 2008)
Role: Forgotten Villain
Group Affiliations: Department H
PL 10 (99)
STRENGTH
11 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Expertise (Soldier) 5 (+5)
Insight 2 (+2)
Intimidation 5 (+5)

Advantages:
Close Combat, Ranged Attack 5, Startle

Powers:
"Healing Factor" Regeneration 6 (Feats: Regrows Things) [6]
"Adamantium-Laced Body" Protection 4 (Extras: Impervious 9) [13]

"Adamantium Suit" (Flaws: Removable) [8]
Protection 2 (Extras: Impervious 8) (10 points)

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+11 Damage, DC 26)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +12 (+14 Armor, +5-9 Impervious), Fortitude +8, Will +3

Complications:
Motivation (Greed)

Total: Abilities: 50 / Skills: 12--6 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 27 / Defenses: 9 (99)

-Citadel is another "Retcon" character, appearing as part of a group of soldiers that were injured and experimented upon- Adamantium was grafted to their bodies, turning Citadel in particular ("Weapon Y") into a nearly-invincible fighter. He went on a rampage against Department H, planning a demonstration to expose the project, but a rookie team of Alphans took him down- Wolverine, Snowbird, Aurora & Shaman. He was then seen to have died of Adamantium Poisoning, but was resurrected out of nowhere (with no explanation) for the latest Alpha Flight run. Which was, of course, written by the SAME MAN who wrote the original appearance of Citadel in the first place- creators continuously do this again and again in comics- bringing back even their obscure characters.

-Here, Citadel was a meat-headed powerhouse who was sent against the government and arrested, but was eventually set up with the "Alpha Strike" team and fought Alpha Flight on behalf of the Master of the World. Largely he just kind of took hits and didn't die, but Wolverine was able to halt him a bit by stabbing in in the eyes, since of course that Adamantium suit didn't cover THOSE.

-Citadel is big and dumb, but extremely hard to injure. A standard Powerhouse without much fancy beyond sheer durability- he's only PL 9 offensively, but packs PL 10 toughness.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:22 am, edited 2 times in total.
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L-Space
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Ranark! Omega Flight! Pink Pearl! Dreamqueen! Collective!)

Post by L-Space »

I liked the Collective versus New Avengers fight, but assumed that he was going to release the energy he obtained to "re-charge" the mutants depowered during M-Day. Instead the Collective stuck around to exactly jack squat.
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Formerly luketheduke86
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Ranark! Omega Flight! Pink Pearl! Dreamqueen! Collective!)

Post by Jabroniville »

And that's it for Alpha Flight's supporting characters! A huge combination of "cool-looking guys with no characteristics" (Byrne guys), and absolute bottom-tier, forgotten Jobbers!

Next up, the villains from the DC SuperHero Girls' latest special, because I forgot to post them before I started with Alpha Flight. Yes, I spend days and days on the "planning phase" of who I'm gonna build and when, only to FORGET PEOPLE at the last second.
Jabroniville
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Dark Opal

Post by Jabroniville »

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DARK OPAL
Played By:
Sean Schemmel
Role: The #2 Bad Guy
PL 8 (115)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 3 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+6)
Deception 5 (+8)
Expertise (Magic) 2 (+6)
Expertise (Politics) 3 (+7)
Insight 2 (+5)
Intimidation 1 (+4)
Perception 2 (+5)
Ranged Combat (Dark Energy) 3 (+10)
Stealth 2 (+5)

Advantages:
Equipment 1 (Sword, Armor +2), Improved Critical (Blast), Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Dark Opal" (Flaws: Removable) [20]
Dark Blast 10 (20) -- (25 points)
  • AE: "Disguise" Morph 2 (Humanoids) (10)
  • AE: Move Object 10 (20)
  • AE: "Shadow Form" Insubstantial 1 (5)
  • AE: Teleport 10 (20)
  • AE: Movement 1 (Dimensional Travel- Gemworld) (2)
Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Sword +11 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Blast +10 (+10 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +3 (+5 Armor), Fortitude +5, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Power)

Total: Abilities: 68 / Skills: 24--12 / Advantages: 4 / Powers: 20 / Defenses: 11 (115)

-Dark Opal is seen for the first time in Hero of the Year, and engages in the theft of various items in order to create Eclipso's MacGuffin. It also turns out that he & Eclipso had plotted to usurp the throne to Gemworld, but when they lost, they conspired to act like Opal had been mind controlled, so he could still act as "Royal Wizard" or whatever. Eclipso's annoyance over this (she was exiled) comes to a head when she acts meaner and meaner to him when he fails at various points, and finally he tries to steal the MacGuffin from her. Eventually he's beaten as more of an afterthought, and it turns out all his power comes from a gem on his armor. He has a really high-pitched, somewhat effeminate voice, making it hard to take him seriously.
Jabroniville
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Eclipso

Post by Jabroniville »

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ECLIPSO
Played By:
Mona Marshall
Role: The Big Bad
PL 11 (195)
STRENGTH
2 STAMINA 4 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 11 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 4 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 4

Skills:
Athletics 3 (+5)
Deception 5 (+9)
Insight 4 (+8)
Intimidation 4 (+8)
Perception 4 (+8)
Ranged Combat (Dark Energy) 4 (+10)
Stealth 2 (+5)

Advantages: 
Improved Critical (Blast) 2, Power Attack, Ranged Attack, Startle

Powers:
"Invisibility" Concealment 2 (Visual Senses) [4]
Snare 12 (36) -- [37]
  • AE: Blast 12 (24)
"The Black Diamond" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [49]
 "Electrified Cages" Create 13 (Extras: Continuous) & Energy Aura 8 (Extras: Affects Others Only +0) (Flaws: Limited to Cages) (60) -- (61 points)
  • AE: Mind Control 7 (Extras: Area- 30ft. Burst, Selective) (Flaws: Ranged) (35)
Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Blast +10 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 25)
Snare +10 (+12 Ranged Affliction, DC 22)
Mind Control +7 Area (+7 Affliction, DC 17)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +4, Fortitude +6, Will +8

Complications:
Motivation (Power)

Total: Abilities: 74 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 90 / Defenses: 13 (195)

-Eclipso is a generic "Dark Lord" kind of villain, using her evil plot to gain ultimate power (with Supergirl's Kryptonian crystal combined with a bunch of other stuff, she essentially turns into a PL 13-14 creature with Variable Power). Her & her minion Dark Opal begin squabbling over the power, and then Supergirl sacrifices her connection with Krypton in order to blow the thing up, sending Eclipso scurrying away to her home base. There, Supergirl & Wonder Woman have to team up, using an injured Supergirl's Super-Vision to detect the villainess, while pointing her out to Wonder Woman's attacks.

-Eclipso shows only a handful of powers, but is definitely a little stronger than the trainee heroes at Super Hero High. At PL 11, she's quite dangerous to them, but notably falters defensively against the more powerful characters (PL 7.5 only!), so she has to play a careful game using her Stealth & Invisibility, which is notably ineffective against X-Ray Vision. Her Black Diamond is a Mind Control Device, but not that powerful- the HEROES don't pull off a "we have too much willpower!" trick- their PARENTS do! Now, Jim Gordon, Hippolyta & the Kents (Supergirl's guardians) are no Bystanders, but all of them at once are basically like "we won't kill our kids!", so that's no super-device right there. It DOES allow her to create some powerful shells that injure anyone who tries to break free from them, however- only Bumblebee is able to counter them, by swiping Eclipso's Black Diamond and using it to turn off the effects.
Jabroniville
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Anastasia

Post by Jabroniville »

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ANASTASIA:

So this Don Bluth guy was doing pretty good in the 1980s, giving Disney a kick in the ass with his own animated movies, many of which harkened back to the "old school" days of Disney, with a bit of dark subject matter, horror and ambiguity tossed in. Working with Amblin Entertainment and a few other studios, he was producing some well-thought-of stuff. However, Disney kind of fought back with GUSTO by the late 1980s, and all of a sudden they were wiping the floor with Bluth's stuff, producing all-time classics like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and others, thanks to the powerhouse combination of Howard Ashman & Alan Menken (the creators of the hit Little Shop of Horrors musical), and a concentration of their best talents. Suddenly, Disney's animation scene was a roaring success- by 1997, they were in the midst of what is called the Disney Renaissance, featuring many of their biggest hits- while Bluth's work was struggling to find an audience. Four bombs in a row (Rock-A-Doodle, A Troll In Central Park, Thumbelina, The Pebble and the Penguin) kicked a hole in his rep, and something else was needed.

So Bluth's company did what a lot of companies do when they're getting their asses beat- they copied what the big boys were doing. And so we come to Anastasia- a Disney Princess movie in all but name, featuring many of the cliches and tropes that were becoming ultra-common even by that point. A plucky young heroine who wants Something More, has an Animal Sidekick, and engages in singing at the drop of a hat.

* It's very Disney-esque, animation-wise- Deliberately so. But there are points where it's easy to tell which studio has the bigger budget & talent pool to fall back on. There are several weird, overly-animated faces going on here, and that's from the main characters. The eyes are about half the size of Disney characters, which makes their similar styles feel a bit "odd".

* Rasputin somehow walks right into the palace without any guards caring, promises the death of the Tsar and his family... and is then just seen somewhere else. This should be his "Maleficent Moment", and we don't even see him arrive OR leave- Storytelling 101, people! This actually happens several times- our "big reveals" never occur.

* The Russian Revolution is glossed over pretty quickly as Rasputing "fanning the flames" by selling his soul, causing the peasantry to rise up and wipe out the Romanov line. WELL, I guess they only have an hour and a half. In any case, Rasputin falls into ice and Anatasia escapes, but gets a bump to the head and is left behind in Russia, whiler her beloved Grandmother escapes. If you wanted to see Historical Drama, you'd look elsewhere- the Russians were good-natured about this, basically shrugging and going "well they just used history as the basis for the thing; not a documentary".

* "Ten Years Later", two con-men are planning to offer up a girl to satisfy the grandmother's plea for her Anastasia back, while all St. Petersburg is atwitter over it. Meanwhile, young amnesiac "Anya the Orphan" leaves the orphanage, while she and the lady in charge engage in some helpful exposition, to the point of awkwardness ("TEN YEARS you've been a thorn in my side..." "if I go THIS way, I'll be Anya the Orphan forever!")- SHOW, DON'T TELL, PEOPLE!! Then she friggin' finds an Animal Sidekick practically the second she's out the door and sings an "I Want" Song, and THIS is our big Disney Princess moment right here.

* One of the "Big Moments" is when Anya walks through the curiously empty (and still full of plunder & loot) Imperial Palace and sees all these memories flooding through- sort of a glowy spectral party... but it's interrupted when our two scam artists (Love Interest and Kelsey Grammar) convince her to "pretend" to be Anastasia in order to pocket the reward money. Dmitri, our male protagnist, has the most hilariously "90s" hair for a 1926 setting, with the "short in the back, longer swooping locks flowing back" thing going on.

* Then Rasputin gets his "Big Villain Song" (which would easily be an all-timer if he were a Disney Villain and there weren't all those damn bugs doing the background singing), and we get the first inklings of Anya & Dmitri as Partners In Bickering. Some great line delivery by Meg Ryan here ("then stop bossing me AROUND" with a great sarcastic reading). Dmitri looks oddly bored/drunk in many pictures, though- I think they're going for "sly/conniving", but his eyebrows are all over the place, he's always squinting/sneering, and it's off-putting.

* Eventually, they kind of go on the "Journey/Montage" to Paris, while Vladimir (who FINALLY gets some real characterization, halfway through the movie) teaches her the finer points of acting like an aristocrat. She & Dmitri learn to waltz together, and this is the point where naturally they forget they've been bickering this whole time. In a neat bit, though, Dmitri basically runs away from the kiss, largely out of feelings of inadequacy. There are a few near-death moments from Rasputin acting from afar thanks to his "Reliquary" of demonic energy, but the heroes survive.

* Most of the songs are... pretty forgettable. Once Upon A December is pretty good, Journey To The Past is a decent "I Want" Song and Oscar Bait, and In The Dark of the Night belongs with some of the Disney Villain Songs... the ending theme is hilariously '90s, with a very poppy beat and people singing over each other in a very "Dance Mix" kind of way. Though the Dowager Empress's Lady-In-Waiting (who is basically made entirely out of boobs & hips) takes them on a trip through a Paris which is colored like an impressionistic painting by Matisse- a nice touch. Oddly enough, 50 minutes in, the movie about the Russian Princess ends up being a love letter to Paris, as we see all sorts of brilliantly-lit buildings, fireworks and scenery. And then Angela Lansbury steals the show as the sad old Dowager Empress, pleading with Dmitri to allow "a tired old woman" to live out her final, lonely years in peace. Her subsequent interactions with Anya/Anastasia are picture-perfect as well.

* There's actually a handful of "dead periods" where nothing much is going on and people are just shooting expository dialogue at each other, or we're admiring the scenery- there's danger on a train and on a ship, but these are few and far between, and the heroes go more than an hour between seeing our villain. It's quite odd.

* And of course we have fifteen minutes left, so it's time for Rasputin's grand reappearance, and we climax with a battle scene aboard a giant bridge, complete with Summon Monsters and vast power. However, Rasputin gets done in by the Animal Sidekick, and one final "Dosvidanya!", Anastasia stomps his Reliquary and he's reduced to bones and dust. And of course our happy ending- the heroes run off together, promising the Dowager they'll meet again soon.

Ultimately, the movie is a GOOD one that aspires to be GREAT, and can't quite get there. There's so much potential- a Con Man falling for a Charming Peasant Girl, Wacky Sidekicks, a Crazy Villain, songs, and more. But most of the songs aren't that great, the Wacky Sidekicks aren't wacky enough, Dmitri is kinda "off" the whole way, and the villain is too goofy to be as threatening as he should be. The animation is good, but the backgrounds are better than the characters, most of whom look kind of "Off-Brand Disney", with eyes that are too small for the type, weird "acting" (it looks almost Rotoscoped, as everyone's a bit too "wobble back and forth", like real people do, but typically don't in animation. There are some laughs, but not as many as in a Disney film of comparable stature- it's not for nothing that the most popular character ended up being the tiny bat that's only in a handful of scenes.

The dialogue gets the job done, but isn't really that terrific. Angela Lansbury gets the best out of her stuff, but Rasputin has few memorable lines outside of his Villain Song, and the other characters don't get much to work with either. The problem is that nothing is quite pushed to the level it should have been pushed to- instead of bickering, Anya & Dimitri should be FURIOUS with each other (think Belle/Beast). Rasputin spends so much time being goofy that he ends up not that scary. The big dramatic scenes are of a train and a ship, both of which are fairly easily escaped. Even the end with the Reliquary feels anti-climactic. Everything needs to be BIGGER and BETTER- the only thing they hit right out of the park is the backgrounds, which are uniformly beautiful.

It doesn't help that the movie so blatantly apes Disney. Tropes that were considered old and tired by 1997 were now being copied almost EXACTLY, and it came off like an also-ran. That said, the movie was a great financial success (spinning off Bartok the Magnificent, about Rasputin's comedic Familiar), proving both Bluth and Fox Animation could hang... except their next movies were bombs, and both had their reps ruined. Bluth all but disappeared until fairly recently (with a Kickstarter campaign and a team-up with Doug the Nostalgia Critic), and Fox Animation spent time on the shelf before switching gears completely into CGI much later on. But Anastasia, despite falling into the Discount Racks at movie stores (HMV up here consistently has it for only 5 bucks, for about fifteen years now), is actually getting its own Broadway musical, lifting the plot and some songs entirely (granted, they're dropping Rasputin entirely and focusing more on real history, so it's not a complete adaptation). So this amazingly still has name value!
Horsenhero
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Dreamqueen! Collective! Citadel! Anastasia!)

Post by Horsenhero »

Huh. Well, they can't be concentrating too much on real history or the musical would end with Anastasia getting gunned down and buried in an unmarked grave (the Bolsheviks wanted NO martyrs grave for monarchist allies to get emotional over).

Still, for years some people romanticized that the Czarina might have escaped. That must've been something Stalin, Lenin and Trotsky found mildly amusing, since they all doubtless knew the truth.

Interesting tidbit from the journal of one of the revolutionaries who helped shoot the Czar's family dead: Apparently they tried to smuggle out a bunch of jewelry in their clothes as the fled, so when the bullets hit them, they threw off sparks. This light show was disconcerting to the Bolshevik soldiers until they figured out exactly what the cause was.
Jabroniville
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2016 8:05 pm

Anastasia

Post by Jabroniville »

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ANASTASIA, GRAND DUCHESS OF IMPERIAL RUSSIA (aka Anya)
Played By:
Meg Ryan (speaking), Liz Callaway (singing)
Role: Disney Princ-- I mean FOX Princess, Plucky Young Girl
PL 2 (37), PL 3 (37) Defenses
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 2 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 2 (+3)
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (Courtesan Behavior) 2 (+2)
Expertise (Singing) 8 (+10)
Insight 2 (+4)
Perception 2 (+4)

Advantages:
Minion 2 (Pooka- Tiny Dog)

Offense:
Unarmed +2 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +2 (DC 12), Toughness +2, Fortitude +2, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Something More)- Anya is a true Princess. She wants to discover her past and her family.
Relationship (Dimitri)- The two instantly dislike each other, which of course means there's a spark of romance between them.
Relationship (Pooka)- A dog finds Anastasia as soon as she's out of the orphanage, and the two soon become inseparable... in that it's always just kinda there. It does bite Rasputin one time, and gets Dimitri to save her from sleepwalking to her doom, though.

Total: Abilities: 22 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 4 (37)

-Anastasia is our heroine, and is quite typical of such things- plucky, high-spirited and wanting "Something More"- in her case, she doesn't want to a simple peasant girl working in a fishermens' village. Instead, she runs off to St. Petersburg, where she gets roped into Dimitri & Vladimir's con to dress someone up as "the Lost Russian Princess" Anastasia. Naturally, this "Anya" orphan with no memory of her past is she, but the characters don't figure this out for about an hour, and instead work on "classing her up" (helpfully done by a montage, though ultimately it matters little). Meg Ryan, not really a Voice Actress of renown, nonetheless does a good job portraying her sassy side ("Do you really think I'm royalty?" "Yes!" "Then stop bossin' me around!"), though her "angry side" later is a bit less convincing. And of course she can't sing, so they got another person to do that part- something Disney doesn't typically do (Mulan & Jasmine had to get Lea Salonga to sing their lines, but the others were typically doing both). Journey to the Past is pretty good, but rather ordinary. The singing voice is technically-gifted and hits everything right, but doesn't push through as much emotion as say, Paige O'Hara (Belle) or the Frozen sisters.

-The whole "Wait, I remember stuff now!" is a bit iffy, but ultimately it isn't a complete ass-pull- Anya is triggered by a smell from the Dowager Empress's hand oil (scent is the most powerful memory trigger there is), but there's also a bit where she's all of a sudden remembering Dimitri being back there in the palace and you're like "now where did THAT come from?" Ultimately, she's pretty typical for this kind of character, and also lacks an interesting design- when Disney creates a Princess, they go ALL OUT- they have an iconic hairstyle, a distinctive outfit, etc. Anastasia just kind of puts her hair in a bun and wears a slinky, plain dress by comparison.

-Anastasia isn't an elite character, but shows enough ability that she can survive jumping out of a speeding train car. So tougher than Cinderella, but nowhere near as skilled as most of the hard-working Princesses out there. Hell, she can't even really talk to animals (though a bunch follow her around while she's learning to walk like a Princess, and she meets that dog).
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Batgirl III
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Dreamqueen! Collective! Citadel! Anastasia!)

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If you wear a dress and you have an animal sidekick: you're a princess.
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