Jab’s Builds! (Whomp 'Em! Plumbers Don't Wear Ties! ToeJam & Earl!)

[squirrelly-sama]

I kinda want Ice and Fire Elsa to meet and have a showdown like the Miser Brothers from the Rakinbass movie.

[Shock]

It’s five years along, ya butt .

Ps Incredibles 2 builds are gonna have spoilers, too, so everyone get caught up with watching it .

Ah crap. I actually want to see that one

I assumed everyone had seen it- damn thing came close to Frozen’s record, lol.

I don't get out to the movies much and my wife and kids went to see it without me on a weekday during the summer.

[M4C8]

About the not committal gay thing, I just don't understand that mindset, I think it's one of the most ridiculous things about modern woke crusaders, they jump to a conclusion about a characters based on nothing tangible and then get angry and abusive to others when their view isn't explicitly and overtly stated as truth in subsequent appearances. People have done this with Elsa, since she doesn't have a love interest people stated she should be gay and because filmmakers haven't acknowledged this they've accused the film makers of gay erasure (which I'm sure is a pop band from the 80's)

Pretty much. There was an old joke about how, in literature, everyone that could even possibly be an analogy for Jesus was definitely an analogy for Jesus, even if you had to squint, twist and turn in all kind of improbable ways to make it work. That's sort of become the new thing with gay couples, where people will basically project the idea that two people are gay if a) They're the same gender, and b) spend any amount of time alone together. I remember a vocal minority being upset because they wouldn't make Steve and Bucky gay in the movies, because according to them, they were obviously in love. It's basically gotten to the point where some people just don't get the idea that people can have a deep friendship that is also also completely platonic.

I occasionally have phases of reading fan fiction and looking through fan art and what has always puzzled me is the sheer amount of 'turning straight characters gay' within both, FanFiction.net and Deviantart.com are both full of it.

Oh and changing the subject completely, I just read on another site that the Disney Parks are absolutely covered in human ashes, people genuinely scatter their loves ones all over the parks.

[Ares]

I occasionally have phases of reading fan fiction and looking through fan art and what has always puzzled me is the sheer amount of 'turning straight characters gay' within both, FanFiction.net and Deviantart.com are both full of it. I can completely understand creating such stories with established gay characters.

It's not really surprising. A lot of people on both sites range from mid-teens to mid-twenties, which makes them the right age for "shipping" their favorite characters together and expressing said things in their own art or writing. And some people like the idea of same sex pairings for a variety of reasons. Gay creators see it as something they want, and straight creators of that age often pair up two of what they find attractive. There are girls that like seeing two guys together and guys who like seeing two girls together.

To paraphrase Rick James: "Hormones are a hell of a drug."

[Scots Dragon]

Gay creators see it as something they want,

One thing to expand upon here; there really isn't all that much in the way of material aimed at a queer audience, something that has only recently started changing and not in especially large amounts, and this is the driving force behind a lot of popular same-sex shipping.

[Ares]

Gay creators see it as something they want,

One thing to expand upon here; there really isn't all that much in the way of material aimed at a queer audience, something that has only recently started changing and not in especially large amounts, and this is the driving force behind a lot of popular same-sex shipping.

I don't see that as inherently malicious as much as an unfortunate catch-22 situation of creating mass media. Creating something specifically for a target audience that is less than 5% of the population is pretty risky, and if done poorly can alienate what little audience you have and potentially create backlash amongst the rest of your audience. It's generally safer and more profitable to appeal to the largest demographic you can. It's even worse with movies where a large enough investment that does poorly (or doesn't get that China money) can result in a major financial crisis for a company.

Thankfully, that is a trend that is changing, at least by degrees. Games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age allow for same-sex romantic pairings, shows like Legends of Tomorrow have a bi-sexual woman leading the team, etc. And hopefully gay creators will be encouraged to actually create new characters and projects (rather than co-opting existing properties) to get the kind of media they want out there. Given the rise of Netflix and Crowdfunding, I really do hope gay creators or even creators that just want to include those themes will be able to create their own properties to explore them.

[Ares]

THE DUKE OF WESELTON

Mutton Chops: You're staring at the Queen again, your Duke-ship.

[Bladewind]

-With Elsa instantly becoming the most-popular character on DeviantArt within about a week of Frozen's release, it seemed inevitable that other variants of the character would pop up. Probably the most-popular was the concept of Fire Elsa, taking the same concept and becoming more... fiery with it. The powers are sort of the same, with a few modifications (the Castle is probably made out of some fancy shiny volcanic rock or something). Also her powers become a bit more horrifying in concept- it's a LOT easier to imagine the peasantry reacting with horror to her might.

Not to mention that instead of sending the country into winter, she`d DESTROY it...

[squirrelly-sama]

-With Elsa instantly becoming the most-popular character on DeviantArt within about a week of Frozen's release, it seemed inevitable that other variants of the character would pop up. Probably the most-popular was the concept of Fire Elsa, taking the same concept and becoming more... fiery with it. The powers are sort of the same, with a few modifications (the Castle is probably made out of some fancy shiny volcanic rock or something). Also her powers become a bit more horrifying in concept- it's a LOT easier to imagine the peasantry reacting with horror to her might.

Not to mention that instead of sending the country into winter, she`d DESTROY it...

An eternal summer that fucks up the ecosystem, causes massive floods with the now melting water and snow, and forces the people to endure heat they were never prepared to experience.

[Bladewind]

But that, IMO, is not what would happen.

Elsa generates ice that freezes everything and mimics winter. The Fire Queen generates fire. Fire doesn`t mimic summer. It burns...

[Jabroniville]

And finally, that's it for the Frozen builds, now with brand-new builds for the Duke, Oaken and notes on the Trolls .

Little known fact: I enjoyed Frozen tremendously.

[Jabroniville]

ZOOTOPIA (2016):
Written by: Byron Howard, Rich Moore, Jared Bush, Josie Trinidad, Jim Reardon, Phil Johnston & Jennifer Lee

-Zootopia is one of the latest Animated Animal Movies to come out, and it's hot on the heels of the biggest Animated run Disney's had since the Disney Renaissance of the '90s. In many ways, it's your Typical Disney Story- the Quirky Outsider (the eager, trying-her-hardest Judy Hopps- the only bunny on the Zootopia Police Department) meets a Cynical Outcast (Nick Wilde, the cleverest fox since Disney's Robin Hood), and have to prove themselves in a world that hates/fears/distrusts/dislikes them. It even has a lot of the recent "NuRenaissance" Tropes in it- such as the "Mystery Villain" (replacing the old-school "Big Ham Villain" is the tendency to pull out a surprise, with a more subtle, hidden bad guy, as seen in Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen and Big Hero 6), and the "You Get a Big Cry" moment (I never got overly choked up at old Disney movies, but now they go HARD in trying to make you bawl. Not as good as Pixar does, but they're skilled at it).

Basically, Judy (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin, who is just KILLING IT with animated work- her voicing of Fawn in The Legend of the NeverBeast was excellent, too) is a bunny on a Police force made up of large animals (Chief Bongo is a water buffalo; the others are all either major predators or herbivores like elephants & rhinos). As such, she is seen as a "Token Bunny" and given "Meter Maid" duty over important cases, such as the mysterious disappearance of several predators. She ends up railroading sly con artist Nick Wilde (a fox) into helping her via blackmail thanks to her trusty audio recorder (which gets used AGAIN AND AGAIN in the story; the definition of a properly-used "Chekov's Gun"). Nick, voiced by Jason Bateman (who is good, but enters into "He's In Everything" mode a lot), is funny as hell and does a GREAT job of being annoying to the over-eager Judy. They end up getting wrapped up in the big mystery at the heart of the movie, solve the big case, and gain appreciation for each other... and then you realize that the movie's not even close to over.

See, in a clever bit, they then SWITCH GEARS, and it turns out that Judy, who's been a victim of prejudice for being a small, weak animal (her past shows her being slashed by a mean fox bully as a child), is HERSELF prejudiced, as she explains the situation of these missing animals "reverting to their primitive carnivore ways"- a cruel way of putting it that causes NICK to feel disgusted and hurt. He then intimidates her into proving that she even fears HIM, causing him to leave her and makes her realize just what she's done- enabling ANOTHER level of prejudice to afflict the people of Zootopia. Predatory animals are now intimidated, rounded-up, mistrusted and feared- this allows for a new level of understanding to take place, and actually makes you THINK.

The theme of the movie is obviously "Prejudice & Fear = Bad". It can come off as preachy, but is smartly-done here and feels particularly relevant today (though, of course, like Marvel's Mutants, it's ALWAYS goddamn relevant- just in a different way to each era). In fact, watching it I almost assumed it was a criticism of the modern election cycle... until I remembered that THIS IS ALWAYS A THING. The idea of "making another group of people a target of fear for political gain" would have been relevant in the American South in the late 1800s and 1960s, Europe in the '30s, modern-day America, oh, and 100 years from now when there's a new group for everybody to hate. As our main Mystery Villain says when confronted- "Fear ALWAYS works!" In any case, I really liked how they turned things on their heads and pointed out some problems with JUDY- she's not some Flawless Plucky Protagonist; she has her OWN set of flaws and prejudices, as do we all. In this sense, it's more nuanced and clever than a simple black & white tale, as our "Social Justice" character is actually revealed to be perfectly willing to "other" someone else as well.

The movie's funny, too. There's great bits with Judy always meeting the nice little rodent girl who ends up saving their lives when they run afoul of Mr. Big (a tiny animal with big power, doing a Marlon Brando impersonation). Judy & Nick's relationship is HILARIOUS, as he basically smirkingly trolls her the entire way, egging her on and trying to get his own way. Judy just tries SO HARD that it's endearing, and she's clever enough that you don't just feel like she's the "nice girl" character with nothing else to her. The pop culture gags are fast and frequent, to the point where it almost feels like a DreamWorks-y movie, but they're not too over the top (a Godfather reference; a Breaking Bad one).

One of the BEST things about the movie is the use of the city itself- most Disney Cities are basically a castle surrounded by a handful of roads (even Frozen gives the friggin' ice castle this HUGE song and elaborate build-up... only to leave it after about ten seconds, before you even realize that Elsa has no bed, throne or food), so this MASSIVE superstructure full of high-technology (huge freezers cool down TundraTown; there's a massive desert for one group of animals, and aqueducts everywhere for aquatic ones), tools designed for animals of all shapes and sizes, and tons of other clever touches (elephants eat huge food; rodents live in Little Rodentia). Zootopia is the most fascinating Disney City ever, and I feel like a big map of JUST THAT would be worth the price of admission alone.

The best moment? Well, unfortunately, it's the one in the trailer. But hell, that sloth bit was HILARIOUS. Every theatre I've been in cracked the hell up when they see his slow-coming laughter at Nick's joke.

The most annoying thing is the constant attempt to "Let It Go" the song Try Everything by a warbling, goat-sounding Shakira as "Gazelle"- a Pop Star gazelle-woman in a skimpy outfit (even though she's weirdly sexualized- she just looks like a wide-hipped, bipedal gazelle). It's played all over the place, and all the characters are shown listening to the song and loving it. Then you hear it AGAIN at the end of the movie's big Party Scene. Like, she's got one f*ckin' song? That's it?

There's a lot of Celebrity Stunt-Casting- while the two mains aren't played by huge stars (Goodwin is a secondary character on TV shows; Bateman is kind of like "The Husband" on woman-based shows, or a sidekick/additional guy in ensemble casts), you can find other roles played by J.K. Simmons, Idris Elba (the current Actor Who's In Everything, along with Margot Robbie & Bryce Dallas Howard; though I find him rad and wish he'd get bigger roles as opposed to just MORE of them), and more.

Naturally, the Furry Fandom leapt all over it, having been snubbed by Disney for years (they publicly refused to hire Furry Artists, for reasons I'm sure you can figure out on your own). And apparently the fandom's been a little reserved over it, as they learned some painful lessons from the whole "Brony" thing (where a bunch of insane fans ruined it for everyone and gave the fandom a bad reputation, because there weren't enough mature people around to corral the behavior of the loons). Essentially, as my Furry friend said, "The older fans are holding back the younger ones. Something the Bronies never had".

All in all, a great addition to the New Disney Canon. It was a MONSTER smash hit, coming in just on the tails of Frozen's overall total (just over $1 billion, a mere $300 million off of Elsa & Anna's tale), and going over many of PIXAR's big numbers too. Basically, Disney can STILL Do No Wrong- the future will tell when they'll finally have their Pocahontas moment and bungle it all up, but we're not there yet.

Statistically-Speaking: The animals in Zootopia are interesting because they're pretty close to their real-life sizes (Nick & Judy are both small animals, and are thus towered over by rhinos, lions, polar bears and elephants, though not by quite as much as they would in real life). As such, the "Average PL" of even a civilian is rather high. Even with no experience, a hippopotamus or rhinoceros will be INCREDIBLY strong, and even good defensive fighters like Judy & Nick are helpless before Mr. Big's polar bear enforcers (who would probably hit PL 8-9, like REAL polar bears!).

Reception & Cultural Impact:
-Y'know, it's seriously, seriously weird. This movie was a MEGA-SMASH. It's literally only a couple hundred million behind Frozen, and would have broken records had that one not come out first. So... where is it now? I mean, it did almost every bit as well, but... it didn't get Meme'd as much. Despite the famous amount of relevance to modern day, it kind of came and went, with nobody quoting it overly much or obsessing over the characters or whatever. Disney Stores & Parks had toys and meet & greets, but dropped them as soon as they sold out, and then moved on to the next thing. It did twice as well as Big Hero 6, Tangled or Wreck-It Ralph, yet THOSE ones are the movies that guy TV shows and a big-time sequel. It's very strange.

I think PART of it's... that song. Shakira's Try Everything is pretty annoying, and her bleating voice is way out of fashion now. So you didn't have a musical meme going alongside the movie. The characters, while fun-looking, aren't as Toyetic as Olaf or Anna, much less ELSA, so the collectible market isn't as strong. The story is also somewhat sobering and intense, versus the Happy Fun Musicals that make the most money these days.

[M4C8]

My sister watched Frozen again the other day (while I was milling about) and it really is a musical, not a movie with some songs like most Disney movies. I'd only seen it once before and while I remembered the story and most of the action sequences for whatever reason I'd completely forgotten that there's a song like every five minutes.

[Jabroniville]

My sister watched Frozen again the other day (while I was milling about) and it really is a musical, not a movie with some songs like most Disney movies. I'd only seen it once before and while I remembered the story and most of the action sequences for whatever reason I'd completely forgotten that there's a song like every five minutes.

Oh yeah - you can tell because they even TALK via song: “ Actually, we’re not.” “What’d’yo mean you’re not” “I get the feeling you don’t KNOWWWW—?” “What do I not KNOWWWWW???”

[Jabroniville]

JUDY HOPPS
Played by: Ginnifer Goodwin
Role: Plucky Underdog
PL 6 (103)
STRENGTH -3 STAMINA -2 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 8 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+9)
Athletics 10 (+7)
Deception 4 (+6)
Expertise (Police Officer) 2 (+5)
Insight 3 (+6)
Investigation 5 (+8)
Perception 4 (+7)
Persuasion 3 (+5)
Stealth 0 (+13 Size)
Vehicles 3 (+5)

Advantages:
Equipment 2 (Handcuffs, Radio, Audio Recorder, Mace Spray- Affliction 6- Dazed/Stunned/Incapacitated- Reach 2), Improved Critical (Unarmed), Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Uncanny Dodge

Powers:
"Rabbit Physiology"
"Animal Senses" Senses 6 (Acute & Extended Scent, Low-Light Vision, Extended & Accurate Hearing) [6]
"Fleet Feet" Speed 2 (8 mph) [2]
Leaping 1 (15 feet) [1]

"Tiny Size" Shrinking 8 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) -- (1 foot) [17]
(-2 Strength, +4 Defenses, +8 Stealth, -4 Intimidation, -1 Speed)

"Momentum-Based Attack" Damage 4 (Flaws: Requires Successful Parry Of Attack, Limited to Damage Of Intended Attack) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +8 (-3 Damage, DC 12)
Momentum-Based Attack +8 (+4 Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +9

Defenses:
Dodge +12 (DC 22), Parry +12 (DC 22), Toughness -2, Fortitude +2, Will +7

Complications:
Motivation (Making It in the Big City)- Judy is a small-town girl who wants to make it in Zootopia, an iconic metropolis.
Prejudice ("Token Bunny")- Judy is tiny and weak- a big problem in a police force made up of water buffalo, elephants, lions, wolves & rhinos. Large animals often ignore her entirely, dismiss her attempts at anything, and disrespect her.
Responsibility (Actually Kinda Close-Minded)- Though she demands open minds as to her own minority rights, Judy holds some old prejudices of her own- including a distrust of predators.

Total: Abilities: 40 / Skills: 38--19 / Advantages: 5 / Powers: 28 / Defenses: 11 (103)

-Judy was great fun in the movie- an eager, happy protagonist who avoids Flawless Character Syndrome thanks to her frequent embarrassments (often at the hands of Nick, like when he takes her to the DMV where every teller is a sloth; or when he brings her to the NUDIST RESORT full of stretching & reclining animals au naturel) and the unique fact that she HERSELF carries prejudice- the Bunny Who Demands To Be Taken Seriously actually distrusts CARNIVORES, and even gets panicky when Nick, HER FRIEND, gets his dander up over it.

-Judy is a competent, if inexperienced, officer and investigator, successfully bluffs several animals, uncovers both a conspiracy to COVER-UP savage carnivores, then uncovers the conspiracy to MAKE THEM savage, and more. They even show a bad-ass Training Montage featuring her slowly improving after getting humiliated by the large animals in her Police Academy class- she rapidly impresses her cynical trainer (a polar bear) by learning to use her size and speed to her advantage (bouncing & hopping over an ice wall she was too weak to climb up; using the momentum of a rhino's punch to bounce back off the ropes and knock him out in a single huge punch in a boxing ring). She's a PL 6 fighter if she redirects someone's punch, but is much weaker otherwise +8 is good, but she's BUNNY-SIZED in a world where animals actually come close to their real-life sizes, meaning that she's about an eighth the size of just about everyone else on the force- PL 5 defensively is good (she's REALLY good at avoiding attacks), but even something like a crazed panther (who's job is just to drive a crime boss around) is a deadly threat.

About the Performer: Ginnifer Goodwin shows up in a good bit of stuff, but isn't overly famous. This movie in fact almost seems like a "Thank You" kind of role, as she spent years playing Snow White in Once Upon a Time before leaving for the last season, and was the third actress to play Fawn in the Disney Fairies franchise (where she just KILLED IT in The Legend of the NeverBeast). It's too bad her role on OUAT is incredibly boring and spiritless, as she has proven really entertaining in these films, really handling the "endearing, eager youngster" thing well. She was also in Big Love (a minor TV show about polygamous Mormons). Unfortunately, her live-action career has plateaued, as she hasn't been in anything for a while- she settled into motherhood and worked a lot less.