Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[Spectrum]

Removed for those more easily triggered by lack of group think.

[Spectrum]

Removed for those more easily triggered by lack of group think.

[squirrelly-sama]

Funny, I read her training scenes in a completely different way. Yet another time when someone who isn't capable of a job taking advantage of those that can, pushing them down so that she could 'perform' better.

I really don't care who you are but if you can't pull my fat ass out of a burning car you're useless to me. Thanks for taking the job of someone who can.

you do realize that due to the ability and size difference between all the animals that things like that can apply to any of them. Many of the larger ones can't even go into smaller animal communities, probably couldn't pull said small animals out of harms way, and are probably equally likely to run into even larger animals who also need saving that they're not strong enough to provide like the elephants.

I really hated the movie. Little miss go getter perfect bunny overcoming large animal oppression! Were there any male characters that weren't incompetent (the sloth, the desk sergeant, the mayor), toxic masculine (most of the police) or a sleazeball (the fox, the lemur and the shrew)? Only the female character were allowed to be clever (Hops, the lamb).

Nick was a smart and competent character, the mayor was just a typical corrupt politician stereotype like Quimby, the sloth was a joke about slow DMV beurocrats and wasn't incompetent just slow, like a bureaucrat which is better than most DMV stereotypes get since they tend to be obstructive and cruel as well. And you're complaining that the criminal characters are sleazy, hell the Shrew is a godfather ripoff the fox being a deepvoiced foulmouth man was a joke based on such a personality and voice coming from something so cute and tiny.

[Spectrum]

Removed for those more easily triggered by lack of group think.

[squirrelly-sama]

Ah, Zootopia. I don't like everything about it but still one of my favorite Disney movies to come out in a while. But byfar my favorite thing to come out of it was the memes.

[Jabroniville]

You're right, having different police forces to deal with the different size population centers would have made sense. They didn't bother to go there because it would have weakened little Mary Bun's exceptionality. You can't make her a perfect little snowflake if there are smaller police out there getting the job done.

... the perfect bunny who was herself confronted with her own conclusion-jumping and stereotyping halfway through the movie, and forced to accept the fact that she was every bit as guilty as those she was going after? THAT perfect bunny?

ICE cold take, Spectrum. ICE cold.

[Spectrum]

Removed for those more easily triggered by lack of group think.

[Jabroniville]

NICK WILDE
Played by: Jason Bateman
Role: Sly Fox, Con-Artist
PL 4 (65)
STRENGTH -2 STAMINA -1 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 3 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+3)
Deception 5 (+8)
Insight 3 (+6)
Investigation 2 (+5)
Perception 3 (+6)
Stealth 1 (+7 Size)
Vehicles 2 (+4)

Advantages:
Contacts, Fascination (Deception)

Powers:
"Fox Physiology"
"Animal Senses" Senses 6 (Acute & Extended Scent, Low-Light Vision, Scent-Tracking, Ultra & Extended Hearing) [6]
"Animal Physiology" Speed 2 (8 mph) [2]
"Teeth" Strength-Damage +1 [1]

"Small Size" Shrinking 4 (Feats: Innate) (Extras: Permanent +0) -- (3 feet) [9]
(-1 Strength, +2 Defenses, +4 Stealth, -2 Intimidation)

Offense:
Unarmed +3 (-2 Damage, DC 13)
Teeth +3 (-1 Damage, DC 14)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness -1, Fortitude +2, Will +5

Complications:
Reputation (Con-Man)
Motivation (Greed)
Responsibility (Bad Past)- Nick was picked on by a group of kids he desperately wanted to join, all because he was a nasty carnivore.

Total: Abilities: 22 / Skills: 22--11 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 18 / Defenses: 12 (65)

-Nick was a CLASSIC smart-ass in the movie- some of the best bits are just him digging and digging at poor over-eager Judy, hampering her investigation at every turn. Only because she's recorded him admitting to making tons of tax-free income does he hang out with her in her quest (she's using his contacts in the underworld and con-man tactics to her advantage), but by the end, they've found some mutual understanding and become good friends. Until she does a press conference where she points out that the "carnivores have regressed to their primitive, savage ways"- a pointed comment he takes as a nasty insult to his kind. Angry and hurt, he intimidates her into proving she fears his kind (she nearly uses her mace on him), then runs off. Judy has to come back and tearfully beg him to return to helping her uncover the NEW conspiracy, which he finally acquiesces ("You bunnies- SO emotional").

-Nick isn't a natural fighter like Judy is, but has his own defenses. A fox is a pretty capable predator, but he himself is smaller than all but the tiniest of carnivores in Zootopia- the otters, fennecs & weasels appear to be his only inferiors in height.

About the Performer: Jason Bateman is one of those odd actors who's not an A-Lister, but is just in EVERYTHING, being good-looking enough to lead, but not so much that he has to be the Male Love Interest, and good enough to play the straight man (an underrated skill) while also having a sense of humor. He got his start in Little House on the Prairie as a child actor, and moved on to Silver Spoons and other '90s stuff. He was even a Teen Idol, complete with the mandatory drug problems! He got regular, but not major, work for a long time, and was the central cog in Arrested Development for years. He gets regular movie roles, typically as an ordinary guy in ensemble casts.

[Ares]

One of my favorite bits in the movie was when the Chief of Police was about to make Judy resign, and Nick realizes just how much she was putting on the line for this investigation and how much his screwing with her was about to cost her. So he then comes up and Fast Talks rings around the Chief, and then leaves with "Officer Hops", followed by the two sharing a moment.

I also liked that the bully from Judy's childhood was allowed a chance to apologize. While its no excuse for being a bully, kids are often going through their own things and being at the right age to make stupid decisions, come up with bad coping mechanisms. A nice message of the movie is that forgiveness is actually a thing we should actually remember is an option. We've all made mistakes, we need to recognize that and be willing to forgive others and ourselves if the effort is made. Far too many people demand an apology from someone for slights both real and imagined, and then don't actually forgive the person making the apology. For them, it's more like the apology is an admittance of guilt that justifies their anger at someone, rather than what is suppose to be a step in mending grievances and helping us get along.

[Horsenhero]

Yes, yes that same bunny in social identity the Disney movie.

*ahem* Let me see if I can wear this character quite right.

*GASP* I am.. weak. I am.. as frail and foolish as they are. Yet, that is the society in which we live. I can, I.. must.. I... will do better than the oppressive patriarchy.. for I am woman.. I am bunny!

Don't vote for me because I'm a woman, but you know, I am a woman.

I see we're feeling a little salty about Zootopia.

[Jabroniville]

Yeah, I liked the bit with the bully, too. How he grew up into a decent, if thick-headed, guy. A neat thing about the story is that pretty much EVERYONE was given depth and some form of nuance. The Mayor was a glad-handling clown and hiding the truth from people, but he was genuinely doing it to avoid causing a panic (which is EXACTLY what happened when the news got out), as well as covering his own ass. Our villain WAS put-upon and diminished because she was a "little guy".

What I liked about Judy was that she was actually a BAD RECRUIT at first- disappointing everyone. But instead of whining for the bar to be lowered just for her (which is what a LOT of "well I can't succeed the regular way so this is ABLEIST" people would do), she actually GOT BETTER. She trained, learned to work with her drawbacks and use some of her advantages properly, and she won. The "Big Guys" on the force disregarded her because of the same flaws that held her back in training, so she, again, had to work with what she had.

Strength is only ONE factor of being a cop; being smart, investigative, fair, even-tempered and other things are all bonuses. If pulling someone out of a burning vehicle was the make-or-break part of being a cop, then every cop in Zootopia would have to be an elephant.

And of course, Judy has obstacles put in front of her. And, this is important, she MADE MISTAKES. The last 30 minutes are more or less her making up for a MAJOR screw-up, which is definitely not what you'd get from a "Perfect" character- the world would have simple molded around her perfection to make everyone see her as great. Instead, she WORKED at it.

[Jabroniville]

I feel like she would have a very different signature song.

Haha, goddamn. What a throwback. Way, WAY ahead of his time, from the looks of things.

[Jabroniville]

ASSISTANT MAYOR DAWN BELLWEATHER
Played by: Jenny Slate
Role: Ignored Put-Upon Worker, Secret Disney Villain
PL 1 (50), PL 3 (50) Defenses
STRENGTH -3 STAMINA -2 AGILITY 0
FIGHTING 0 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 3 AWARENESS 3 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Deception 10 (+12)
Expertise (Politics) 5 (+8)
Insight 4 (+7)
Perception 2 (+5)
Persuasion 5 (+7)

Advantages:
Benefit (Assistant Mayor), Ultimate Deception

Powers:
"Sheep Physiology"
"Animal Senses" Senses 3 (Acute Scent, Low-Light Vision, Radius Sight) [3]
"Animal Physiology" Speed 1 (4 mph) [1]

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

Offense:
Unarmed +0 (-3 Damage, DC 12)
Initiative +0

Defenses:
Dodge +4 (DC 14), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness -2, Fortitude +0, Will +5

Complications:
Secret (Behind The Bigotry)- Bellweather acts passive and kind, but is secretly behind the plan to discredit predators in Zootopia, allowing her and other "little guys" to take over the town.

Total: Abilities: 10 / Skills: 26--13 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 21 / Defenses: 4 (50)

-Ms. Bellweather appears as a simple Voice Of Reason throughout much of Zootopia, being a put-upon worker bee under the Mayor, a lion who does all the press-related stuff, but leaves all the work for her. She cheers on Judy Hopps in the Police force ("Us little guys gotta stick together!"), and ends up getting her just reward when the Mayor is arrested for the cover-up over the predators going out of control. But of course... the movie's not over yet. Soon, Judy and Nick uncover the conspiracy at the heart of everything- the "Night Howlers" are cooked up in a lab and are "darted" into predators, making them go crazy. And BELLWEATHER was behind it all, in order to grab power. Judy does the classic "It'll never work!" bit, at which point Bellweather just angrily snaps back "Fear ALWAYS works!". In a deeply cynical, cruel move, she's organized a systemic push-back against the dominant people of Zootopia, using the natural fear of others at the heart of most people. In essence, creating a scapegoat out of someone that people already feared.

-Bellweather is a non-combatant, but an exceptional liar.

About the Performer: Bellweather was played by Jenny Slate, a comedian whose work I am mostly unfamiliar with. She does a lot of voice acting (like in The Secret Life of Pets and Star vs. The Forces fo Evil), but also shows up in stuff like Kroll Show. I'm pretty sure I've seen none of her other work.

[Ares]

Yeah, I liked the bit with the bully, too. How he grew up into a decent, if thick-headed, guy. A neat thing about the story is that pretty much EVERYONE was given depth and some form of nuance. The Mayor was a glad-handling clown and hiding the truth from people, but he was genuinely doing it to avoid causing a panic (which is EXACTLY what happened when the news got out), as well as covering his own ass. Our villain WAS put-upon and diminished because she was a "little guy".

What I liked about Judy was that she was actually a BAD RECRUIT at first- disappointing everyone. But instead of whining for the bar to be lowered just for her (which is what a LOT of "well I can't succeed the regular way so this is ABLEIST" people would do), she actually GOT BETTER. She trained, learned to work with her drawbacks and use some of her advantages properly, and she won. The "Big Guys" on the force disregarded her because of the same flaws that held her back in training, so she, again, had to work with what she had.

Strength is only ONE factor of being a cop; being smart, investigative, fair, even-tempered and other things are all bonuses. If pulling someone out of a burning vehicle was the make-or-break part of being a cop, then every cop in Zootopia would have to be an elephant.

And of course, Judy has obstacles put in front of her. And, this is important, she MADE MISTAKES. The last 30 minutes are more or less her making up for a MAJOR screw-up, which is definitely not what you'd get from a "Perfect" character- the world would have simple molded around her perfection to make everyone see her as great. Instead, she WORKED at it.

Agreed. She was never a diversity hire or brought on to fill a quota, she had to claw and fight her way to get her dream job. What was nice was that you could also see the logic of the police force, and their problems with her were never about her gender, and only about her species because of inescapable facts about being a rabbit in that world: namely that you were very small and very weak compared to 80% of everyone else. They were genuinely concerned with how her physical abilities would potentially impair her job and whether or not she'd get herself and/or someone else killed simply trying to prove society wrong.

It's also amazing what the movie could get away with. The whole "Only rabbits can call each other cute" thing is basically working in an N-word Privilege joke into a PG film.

[squirrelly-sama]

I felt that the film handled that issue rather well. They didn't obviously parallel specific ethnicities, and showed the problem of prejudice goes both ways and is a problem on an individual level. We see Judy discriminated against for her size and by the fox for being a prey animal but we also see the same being done back to the predator animals. I mean we have the fox seeming like the obvious stand in for the racist white country bumpkins but rather than leaving it at we later see the situation and roles reversed in similar fashion in the 50s style bar having a "We don't like your kind here" scene. Even the main character show's she can be guilty of prejudice after having suffered from so much of it before. It was one of the things I really liked about the movie, it handled the nuance of the topic rather well.