Jab’s Builds! (Miss Piggy! The Swedish Chef! Sweetums! Gonzo!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
Jabroniville
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Pongo & Perdita

Post by Jabroniville »

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PONGO & PERDITA
Played by:
Rod Taylor (Pongo) & Cate Bauer (Perdita)
Role: Concerned Parents
PL 2 (21) Combat, PL 3 (21) Defenses
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 3 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Insight 2 (+4)
Intimidation 4 (+2)
Perception 2 (+4)

Advantages:
None

Powers:
"Animal Senses" Senses 5 (Acute & Extended Scent, Low-Light Vision, Ultra & Extended Hearing) [5]
"Animal Physiology" Speed 2 [2]
"Natural Weapons- Teeth" Strength-Damage +1 [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +3 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Natural Weapons +3 (+1 Damage, DC 16)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +2 (DC 12), Parry +3 (DC 13), Toughness +1, Fortitude +2, Will +5

Complications:
Disabled (Animal)- Dogs cannot speak to humans, nor use their paws to easily manipulate objects. They can speak to other animals, however.
Relationship (Pets)- Domestic dogs are intensely loyal to their pet humans, and will fight to the death to protect them.
Weakness- Dogs are utterly incapable of lying. Their entire body reflects their current mood. Just watch them if you notice your lamp is broken, and you will know who did it.
Responsibility (Fish Out Of Water)- Animals may be intelligent in this world, but cannot comprehend weird human technology.
Relationship (Each Other; The Puppies)- Pongo & Perdita are worried enough about their puppies that they abandon their pets and run out of London in search of them.

Total: Abilities: 22 / Skills: 8--4 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 8 / Defenses: 4 (21)

-Pongo & Perdita use mostly-unchanged Animal Stats, save for boosting their Mental Abilities, since Dogs in that world aren't quite as dumb as real animals. Rod Taylor, who played Pongo, was actually a legitimate movie star in his own time, starring in The Birds and The Time Machine, among other memorable works.
Jabroniville
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Cruella de Vil

Post by Jabroniville »

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Image
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CRUELLA DE VIL
Played by:
Betty Lou Gerson
Role: Horrible Monster, Crazy Villain
Most Villainous Act: 99 Counts of Attempted Murder... ON PUPPIES.
PL 2 (37)
STRENGTH
0 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 1
FIGHTING 2 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE 0

Skills:
Deception 5 (+5)
Expertise (Fashion) 4 (+6)
Expertise (Criminal) 3 (+5)
Intimidation 6 (+6)
Perception 2 (+2)

Advantages:
Benefit 2 (Wealth), Equipment 2 (Big Red Car), Fast Grab, Ranged Attack 3

Offense:
Unarmed +2 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Initiative +1

Defenses:
Dodge +2 (DC 12), Parry +2 (DC 12), Toughness +1, Fortitude +2, Will +5

Complications:
Motivation (Fashion)- Cruella does things for only one reason- more gaudy fashions, always based off of furs. She'll do ANYTHING to get her hands on those puppies.

Total: Abilities: 12 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 8 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 7 (37)

-Cruella de Vil is the enduring symbol of 101 Dalmatians as a franchise, and for obvious reason- this villain is ALL OVER THE PLACE, doing the exact opposite of being reserved. This is a CRAZY, iconic villain, combining every negative attribute of ugly people and poorly-fashioned people into one extremely loud package. Most of the prior villains were either hapless men, or reserved, sinister women- Cruella was instead this outgoing basket case, her psychotic driving style, crazed expressions and giant flowing fur coat making her one of the most memorable villains in history.
-Cruella was so successful and popular that Milt Kahl (the most hard-to-get-along-with animator at Disney) was jealous of her designer Marc Davis, and tried to put her into The Rescuers until they settled on Madame Medusa (a clear attempt by Kahl to one-up Davis). Curiously, she doesn't really "get hers" at the end of the film, aside from crashing her car and failing to grab the puppies. I mean, she's still extremely rich and capable of stealing MORE puppies. She also has some kind of Area Damage Effect linked to her crazy-ass driving style if you really wanna go that way :).

-That name is just freakin' AMAZING, though. Practically going from over-the-top cartoonish (I mean, "CRUELLA?") to brilliantly clever.

-Cruella, as I've said, is an icon- she still shows up in the parks as a Face Character, was the star of a live-action film, and more. She's one of the few Disney Villains who could effortlessly maintain a Feature Film on her own, and most actresses would LOVE to perform such a gigantic ham. Victoria Smurfit was an oddly-sexy Cruella on Once Upon A Time (the actress aged REALLY well, being noticeably attractive even in her forties when I saw her at a local Comic Expo).

About the Performer: Betty Lou Gerson was a radio star of some repute in the '30s, but wasn't in many famous things, appearing as an extra in many films and TV shows. She was the narrator in Cinderella eleven years before 101 Dalmatians, but Cruella is obviously her biggest role.
Last edited by Jabroniville on Sun Sep 02, 2018 7:00 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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HalloweenJack
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Re: 101 Dalmatians

Post by HalloweenJack »

Jabroniville wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:45 am Image
now this one....this was my late nephew's favorite Disney movie. He was obsessed with it as a little kid to the point that even in adulthood he would always call a Dalmatian a 'Pongo'

"They're called Dalmatians you know?"

"....Shut the **** up."


The little Canine Crunchies commercial is beyond cute too.
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HalloweenJack
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Re: Cruella de Vil

Post by HalloweenJack »

Jabroniville wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 6:00 am
. Victoria Smurfit was an oddly-sexy Cruella on Once Upon A Time (the actress aged REALLY well, being noticeably attractive even in her fifties when I saw her at a local Comic Expo).

rather impressive considering I just looked her up and she's 44..... ;)
Jabroniville
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Zarina! Fawn! Sleeping Beauty! Aurora! Phillip!)

Post by Jabroniville »

catsi563 wrote: Sat Sep 01, 2018 4:37 am You know id almost argue Prince Phillip deserves Fearless or at least Lionhearted , I mean the guy is captured by Maleficent and doesn't give up and then when she dragons out on him he doesn't back down he freaking charges her and evne when backed into a lethal corner hes still fighting her
I tend to use that Advantage VERY sparingly, but it might fit in this instance.
Spectrum
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Aurora! Phillip! The Fairies! Maleficent! Cruella de Vil!)

Post by Spectrum »

101 Dalmations inspired one of my favorite classic Simpson's songs- See My Vest.
We rise from the ashes so that new legends can be born.
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Ares
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Re: Maleficent

Post by Ares »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Sep 01, 2018 8:24 pm -You know the craziest thing about Maleficent? She has like TEN MINUTES OF SCREEN TIME for the entirety of Sleeping Beauty! Think- she is EASILY the most memorable part of the film, and among the most infamous of Disney's villains, she she takes up about 1/9th of the duration of her only film appearance. THAT is the definition of a great villain. Compare her to the sissy villains (Prince John, Scar), buffoons (Hook, Gaston) and sources of comedy (the drag queen antics of Ursula), and you see this majestic, mighty, unflappable figure. Irrationally calm to the point of being disconcerting, she can cackle like a madwoman. Maleficent is amazing in almost every way, right from her very first scene. Watch carefully- she flies in as a burst of flame like a good ham should, but instead of screaming and raging, she appears completely calm. Even polite. She's absolutely the picture of poise, yet every single person in that room is staring intently at only her, held by fear. See, simpler villains try to chew all the scenery and sing their Villain Song, but Maleficent? She owns people WHILE CALM. And then- and this is the beautiful part- THEN she hams it up, laughing, screaming and insulting everyone!! This villain gets the best of BOTH worlds- sheer charismatic scene-ownership while calm, AND scenery-gobbling rage!

-Maleficent is also a great example of villainy for it's own sake, cursing an infant to die just because her parents didn't invite Maleficent to her Christening/party/whatever. She declares herself "Mistress of All Evil!" constantly drops the "E" word- she knows just how bad she is. When she captures Prince Philip, she declares she'll release him... but only in one-hundred years, forcing him to only rescue his True Love when he's a man too old to truly enjoy her. Now THAT is evil.
That was one thing that made me associate Maleficent with the Fae of old and modern stories: just how incredibly petty they can be and in it for the sake of their own pleasure. The Hell does it even matter to someone like Maleficent that she wasn't invited to a child's christening or whatever? But it was an insult to her ego, and she was not going to let that stand. So she curses an innocent baby just to spite her parents. And when she learns that they've taken steps to prevent her curse? She effectively puts her entire life on hold to ensure her revenge, admitting at one point that she hadn't had a peaceful night's rest since Aurora went into hiding.

And then when she finds out about that sleep spell, she decides to torment Philip by keeping him imprisoned, but allowing him to break her curse when he's an old man, near death and unable to enjoy his life. Basically, doing it completely for the spite. But it says something about her that she makes these relatively petty acts of villainy seem like the Emperor taking over the entire galaxy in Star Wars. She's just that damn good at her job.

In that way, she reminds me of something I read somewhere about immortal beings needing a hobby to pass the time, and hers is apparently being an incredible bitch to anyone who gives her the slightest justification. She's apparently willing to just dick with these people for 100+ years over not being invited to a party.

It's another reason why I hated the Maleficent movie with Angelina Jolie, and literally head-desked when I read that the damn thing is getting a sequel. They took Maleficent and tried to make her sympathetic. I just . . . WHY?!?! Why would you take this kind of villain and make her some fallen hero? She's not frickin Darth Vader, she's the person who cursed a baby with death because her parents didn't invite her to a party! And then they didn't even let her keep the dragon transformation.

I actually tried to give it a shot, thinking maybe it was going to be some nuanced take, but NOPE! The very first thing we see is her flying around like she's frickin Superman or Captain Marvel, warmly greeting everyone, and then finding this person who trespassed into their territory. A starving orphan who took a gem from a pool of water so he could use it to buy some food. And she takes the gem and throws it back in the water, saying something to the effect of "The stone knows where it wants to be". And I just had to stop the film there for a moment and bury my face in my hands because are you fricking kidding me?!?! The kid is starving, he took a gem that belonged to no one, there's no mystical "the creatures in the pool will die if the gem is taken" bit, he found a precious gem he could trade for food at the bottom of a lake, and was told "no, you can't have it, because we should leave rocks alone".

It says something when the only way they could even try to make it work was by making everyone else in the movie either incredibly evil or a complete idiot. The three fairies, the main heroes of the animated film, are turned into complete idiots. Stefan, the good king from the film, is turned into a monster. The message of the movie basically amounts to "Women are good and in tune with nature, while men are selfish at best, evil at worst, and no good comes from trusting them. All the problems women have, any sins they commit, it's the fault of men."

There's a reason TV Tropes refers to this as "Draco in Leather Pants: The Movie". The whole thing reads like some angsty teenage girl's lesbian slash/fic of Aurora and Maleficent, only to make it work she had to reveal how everyone else was more evil than the fricking childkilling evil witch.
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Jabroniville
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The Sword in the Stone

Post by Jabroniville »

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THE SWORD IN THE STONE (1963):
Written by:
T.H. White (original story), Bill Peet

-This is arguably one of the most forgotten Disney Animated Canon films, at least among those that were entirely one story and not collections of shorts. I remember it vaguely as a kid, because I saw something where an old wizard was shapechanging into animals along with a young kid- this was REALLY awesome to me as a kid, as I always figured that would be among the most rad powers to have. I didn't figure out what movie it was until much later, and have only FINALLY watched it in 2013 because I needed to complete the Disney Canon for my builds (translation: this was never one of the ones my parents got when I was a kid). This is HARDCORE scratchy-animation era, complete with scraggly beards and a scrawny, unimpressive-looking wolf. Plenty of slapstick, and an odd story structure: it has a fairly typical beginning, but we spend almost an hour on a couple of Animal Scenes without meeting our real antagonist (save a rapist female squirrel, a jerky Knight and his dad, and a hungry pike). The music in this SUCKS, too, just aimless random songs by an old man.

The final battle between Merlin & Madame Mim is actually REALLY good, though, and shows a lot of the strengths of animation, too. The multiple transformations into animals is great, especially as they keep one-upping each other and getting clever with it. Merlin's intelligence is put to the test against Mim's evil magic, and he finally outsmarts her by turning into a germ- a brilliant play. Then "Wart" pulls the Sword from the Stone, is about to bail on the whole deal because of the responsibility... then Merlin just shows back up again and says "oh yeah you'll be King" and they drop it. Very odd ending.

Altogether, it comes across very odd- it starts with like an HOUR of slow-going lessons, with the "Main Villain" only showing up in about ten minutes after all that time. The Madam Mim stuff is great, but over quickly, and then Merlin just bails and returns without much explanation and the potential issue of "I don't want to be King" is just ignored. Not one of Disney's better offerings.

Reception & Cultural Impact:
-The movie did well enough (sixth-highest gross of 1963), and it gets re-released every decade or so on Home Video, but I can't recall a single person ever talking about it, from children to adults. Despite that, it's getting a Live-Action Remake in 2019 (I haven't heard one word about THAT until just now, oddly). The only real relevance it has to the Disney Parks is the King Arthur Carrousel, a very pretty part of Fantasyland. This is actually a very old attraction, and was in use BEFORE Disneyland was built- it was moved from Ontario, where it had been used since 1922. Merlin the Magnificent is sometimes heard in the Magic Mirror part of some Disney Stores as well, but roles requiring his type of magic are more typically accomplished by the Fairy Godmother.
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KorokoMystia
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Aurora! Phillip! The Fairies! Maleficent! Cruella de Vil!)

Post by KorokoMystia »

Merlin also appears in Kingdom Hearts, but he doesn't do a lot, and you never go to a Sword in the Stone themed world. Also, somehow now I'm remembering that King Arthur And The Knights of Justice was a thing..And then there was the strangeness of A Kid In King Arthur's Court, which was even a Disney live action film..and it had a young Daniel Craig in it, long before he became famous for being Bond.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Aurora! Phillip! The Fairies! Maleficent! Cruella de Vil!)

Post by Jack of Spades »

I guess I’m the minority; I liked Maleficent. It’s a different story from Sleeping Beauty, yes. Maleficent is a different character. But I liked her transformation from hero to villain and back to hero. I liked the subversion of “true love” as only romantic love. The recreation of the christening scene was awesome, with Jolie’s smile seeming absolutely inhuman. And the look on her face when Aurora says “you’re my fairy godmother” is priceless.

And now I have Cruella de Vil's song stuck in my head. At least it ran those Siamese cats off.
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Jabroniville
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Merlin

Post by Jabroniville »

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MERLIN
Played By:
Karl Swenson
Role: The Mentor, The Absent-Minded Professor
PL 8 (155)
STRENGTH
1 STAMINA 1 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 7 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 5 AWARENESS 4 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Deception 2 (+4)
Expertise (Singing) 2 (+4)
Expertise (Magic) 9 (+14)
Insight 3 (+7)
Perception 2 (+6)

Advantages:
Ranged Attack 4, Ritualist

Powers:
"Wizard"
"Transform Himself & Others" Variable 10 (Shapeshifting Forms) (Extras: Affects Others) (80) -- [87]
  • AE: "Invisibility" Concealment (Visuals) 2 (8)
  • AE: "Snowstorm" Environment 3 (Cold) (6)
  • AE: "Shrink Objects" Shrinking 12 (Extras: Affects Others Only +0) (Flaws: Limited to Objects) (24)
  • AE: Move Object 5 (10)
  • AE: "Animate Objects" Summon 1 (Extras: 64 Multiple Minions +12, Horde, Continuous) (16)
  • AE: Flight 6 (120 mph) (12)
  • AE: Movement 2 (Time Travel 2) (4)
"Images of the Future" Senses 4 (Precognition) (Flaws: Uncontrolled- Unclear Images) [2]

Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Animal Forms +7 (-4 to +9 Damage, DC 11-24)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +7 (DC 17), Toughness +1 (+9 Animal Forms), Fortitude +3, Will +8

Complications:
Power Loss (Magic)- Merlin must be able to gesture and speak to cast spells.
Responsibility (Forgetful)- Merlin often forgets the exact spells to use

Total: Abilities: 40 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 89 / Defenses: 12 (155)

-Merlin is a mentor-figure in the film, promoting to Wart the idea of "Brains Over Brawn", using his head rather than physical might in battle. He's pretty absent-minded and clumsy, but he can see the future, and has a REALLY wide array of magical powers (especially the ability to shapeshift himself and others), amplified by his great intellect. Madam Mim discovers this to her chagrin, as she trumps him in the Shapeshifting Battle by transforming into a big Dragon, only for Merlin to turn into a GERM, thus making her sick (a butt-load of Shrinking combined with a Progressive Weaken/Affliction effect). His Dr. Strange-like array also allows him to animate dozens of objects at once, turn invisible, shrink all his stuff to fit into a single bag, travel to Bermuda (IN THE FUTURE!), fly, etc.

About the Performer: Karl Swenson had a pretty long careeer playing bit parts and TV stuff, of which Merlin is only one, but it's still probably his most famous role, given how long Disney's been around for.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Aurora! Phillip! The Fairies! Maleficent! Cruella de Vil!)

Post by FuzzyBoots »

I have longstanding fond memories of The Sword in the Stone and I'm given to understand that, outside of the Madame Mim / Merlin scene (which I first read in an Alfred Hitchcock anthology, actually, which included that scene from A Once and Future King as a standalone story), the squirrel scene, particularly the lovelorn young female squirrel, made a big impression on a lot of people, including the slowly budding furry community.

Heh, I also will probably always remember them co-opting the characters for a toothbrush PSA that we watched in elementary school. I can't find evidence of it online today, but it involved Merlin asking Arthur about his tooth health and learning that he had a toothbrush, but that it was an old ragged one passed on from the last king, thereby allowing them to introduce the idea that you need to replace your toothbrush at least once every 6 months as the bristles wear out.

I also learned on one of the Wikis that there was animation re-use. Most funnily, the deer that Kay tries to shoot is apparently Bambi's mother.
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Aurora! Phillip! The Fairies! Maleficent! Cruella de Vil!)

Post by Woodclaw »

As a kid there were 4 Disney movies me and my sisters watched non-stop, mostly because they were the only ones we got taped from TV: Mary Poppins, Robin Hood, Saludos Amigos/Los Tres Caballeros and The Sword the Stone.
Aside from the epic shapeshifting duel, the scene I remember the most is when Merlin and Wart became fishes and explore the river/moat around the castle, the pike they face was really terrifying.
FuzzyBoots wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 9:30 pm I also learned on one of the Wikis that there was animation re-use. Most funnily, the deer that Kay tries to shoot is apparently Bambi's mother.
Well, the identity of the hunter has been a long-standing trope of its own. In one of the first drafts of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? the ariters toyed with the idea that Jugde Doom was, in fact, the hunter, because it was an easy way to bring him up a notch on villainy scale.
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FuzzyBoots
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Aurora! Phillip! The Fairies! Maleficent! Cruella de Vil!)

Post by FuzzyBoots »

Woodclaw wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 9:43 pm
FuzzyBoots wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 9:30 pm I also learned on one of the Wikis that there was animation re-use. Most funnily, the deer that Kay tries to shoot is apparently Bambi's mother.
Well, the identity of the hunter has been a long-standing trope of its own. In one of the first drafts of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? the ariters toyed with the idea that Jugde Doom was, in fact, the hunter, because it was an easy way to bring him up a notch on villainy scale.
I've also heard it suggested that they were going to show Gaston doing it.
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HalloweenJack
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Re: Jab's Builds! (Aurora! Phillip! The Fairies! Maleficent! Cruella de Vil!)

Post by HalloweenJack »

Spectrum wrote: Sun Sep 02, 2018 12:55 pm 101 Dalmations inspired one of my favorite classic Simpson's songs- See My Vest.
*slow clap*
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