Game Art and Machinima Character Research: Duck-Billed Platypus

By Stuart Brown

Here I have looked at some of the characters that will inspire my own, looking at a variation of their appearance, back-story, character and speech that reflects it. Though I am producing a character for a comedy, I will design him to be a trans-media character where he could be portrayed as a serious, brave, courageous character also.

Rafiki

Rafiki is the mentor archetype from the Lion King. He is old, wise, very much in touch with nature, though slightly enthusiastically crazy. Though he appears to be a crazy old baboon, his teachings for Simba echo though to the audience, such as "the past can hurt, but you can either run from it, or learn from it."

He combines many traits that I would like to incorporate into my character, including the ability to be useful in a fight, despite his appearance.

Yoda 

Yoda is the wise old mentor to most Jedi in the Star wars films. In episode 4, he is shown as far more comedic than personally I think he should be, the idea of  wise teacher stealing food and giggling to himself doesn't fit the characters sense in the rest of the movies, or later in that one, or the way he was described by other characters. Even though this was the first film he featured in, I feel his best appearance was in Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith, though I do enjoy his cartoon look in the TV show Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

In Episode III his effects had reached their peak, and the character got more to do action wise, after fans loved his small fight sequence in Attack of the Clones. His teachings, thou harsh, seem more realistic and relate to the story better. They allow you to understand what the Jedi sacrifice and help relate the Anakins downfall.
 "Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed that is." "What must I do, Master Yoda?" "Train yourself to let go... of everything you fear to lose." 

 
Samwise Gamgee 
Samwise Gamgee is another character whose appearance undermines his strength. Though he is often referred to as the 'fat, stupid hobbit' and often gets homesick, Sam's inner strength, bravery and courage to go against even the biggest foes for those he cares about is something I would want to correlate to my character. He is emotional, loyal, protective, and arguably the most relatable character of the series.

Though he had no desire to go on the quest through middle earth, the did so for his friend: "Mr. Frodo's not going anywhere without me." I also love his perception of the world. His view is inspirational and can be viewed for our world too.
"By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something. There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for" 

King George 
Though I didn't find this character particularly inspirational for my my own, he is to my knowledge the latest aborigine in film, and has a design that I love. I have a strong desire to make my character aborigine, and though I will keep my mind open seeing this only strengthens my opinion.

I like the reds and oranges in the costume and the overall colour pallette, that reflects the hot climate of Australia.  The head band works well and after looking at him I feel like I want to look at more tribal based characters.

Tonto
Originally a character in the 1938 radio show, Tonto is the sidekick to popular American western character the Lone Ranger. His name in Spanish translates as 'fool' which originally was quite racist, but is in the modern Gore Verbinski's Lone ranger this is ment in the wacky Johnny Depp kind of way he plays the character. I will look at this version of the character to study.


Tonto is first introduced as a strange, somewhat crazy fugitive who feeds the dead bird on his head. This accepts his name as 'fool'. But throughout the film, we learn more of the characters beliefs, such as when a boy tells him the bird "its not alive you know," he replies "Awaiting spirit to return. Not same thing." reflecting what actually happened to the title character in the film. We also learn that his quest in the film is not to simply be the sidekick to the Lone Ranger, but more the opposite. Rather than being bland and two-dimentional (like the previous incarnations of the character), Tonto has a personal story. After finding two white men nearly dead, he brings them back to his village to be healed. When well, the find traces of silver in the river, and bribe the young Tonto to tell them where the river begins, Tonto dose so. They find huge amounts of silver there, and murder nearly of Tonto's tribe that saved them so no-one else would find the silver they would return for. For this reason, Tonto is out for revenge against the "Wendingo" which initially  he believes is an evil spirit in his enemy, but through his character development comes to realise he is "just another white man" (racistly insinuating it is greed in the person, not a 'wendingo.') This I think is great, as much as the the film may seem racist for intimidate interpretation of a native American character named Tonto, with a dead bird on his head, he actually has a thought out emotional back story that gives him a personal stake in the film.

He is comedic character in some ways, such as arguing with the 'spirit horse' scene, and accidentally throwing a rock at the Lone Ranger's love interest, which keeps audiences entertained, but he is also a solid action star of the film leaping between runaway trains in an undeniably cool fashion. With a great back story and visually stunning and iconic design, Tonto, in my opinion, as proven himself a fantastic modern character revitalising the western for modern audiences.

Johnny Depp stated that  the iconic appearance of Tonto was based on this painting by Kirby Sattler, where the bird (thought ment to be flying) appeared to be on the man head, this being the main inspiration for the characters appearance.

I think Tonto will prove my most useful piece of research as a character as I feel of all I've looked at he's the strongest and more what I'm looking to create. Except as a Platypus.