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Army Men Revolution, Army Men Toyverse project, Making Of, Revolution story concept, Storyboards

Making the Microverse, Part 11: Army Men Theory

August 29, 2024 GigaHawk c3 Leave a comment

Major Mylar’s initials are MM (he uses them on his badge). Major Malfunction’s initials are also MM. Major Gooding was Lord Malice, so in “Major Malice” we can also find MM. Which member of the 3DO team that designed some of the games has those initials: Michael Mendheim.

But before you think anything of it, this is just a joke, we’re not theorizing anything 👀. But here’s what it’s all about… and this is the fun part.

Theories in fandoms are exciting for a number of reasons:

Creativity: They allow fans to use their imagination to fill in gaps in the official story, creating new narratives and possibilities.
Connection: They foster a sense of community, as fans discuss and debate their theories, sharing their enthusiasm and passion.
Deepening: They help fans explore the story’s universe further, uncovering details and connections that may not be apparent at first glance.
Interactivity: They make the fan experience more interactive, as fans don’t just consume content, but actively contribute to it.

By the way, it has been proven that some theories in other fandoms were so plausible and amazing to the creatives behind that fandom’s franchise, that they ended up making these fans’ “dreams” come true.

Here are some instances where fan theories or requests influenced the creators to make changes or additions to the story:

Peter Parker in “Iron Man 2”: This theory suggested that a young boy wearing an Iron Man mask at the Stark Expo, who is saved by Iron Man, was actually Peter Parker. Tom Holland, who plays Spider-Man, confirmed this theory in an interview, stating that the boy was indeed Peter Parker.
Rex in “Return of the Jedi”: Fans speculated that the bearded Rebel trooper seen on Endor in “Return of the Jedi” was actually Captain Rex from “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and “Star Wars Rebels.” This theory gained traction when “Star Wars Rebels” confirmed that Rex fought in the Battle of Endor. However, the character in “Return of the Jedi” was originally named Nik Sant, and while the theory is popular, it remained a bit complicated for some time, because was not officially confirmed by all sources. But later Dave Filoni itself confirmed it on X, and this was confirmed in “Galaxy of Adventures” animation and in a newly released Star Wars children’s book titled: “I Am A Clone Trooper”.
Desperate Housewives: Fans were so vocal about wanting Mike and Susan to end up together that the show’s creator, Marc Cherry, changed his original plan. He had intended for Mike to marry Katherine, but fan demand led him to pair Mike with Susan instead.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Fans were eager to see Keith Richards, who inspired Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Jack Sparrow, appear in the films. Due to this overwhelming demand, the writers included Richards as Captain Teague.
Lord of the Rings: An unnamed elf in “The Lord of the Rings” films became a fan favorite and was given the name Figwit (Frodo is great — who is that?). Due to the character’s popularity, director Peter Jackson gave him a speaking role in “The Return of the King”.
Supernatural: The character of Castiel was originally intended to be a short-term character, but fan enthusiasm led to him becoming a series regular.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Fans shipped the characters Jake and Amy so strongly that the writers decided to develop their relationship into a central storyline.

These examples show how powerful fan voices can be in shaping the stories they love. But on other occasions, the fandom simply came up with their theories about something that would be a reality later and that had already been thought of, end even executed, by the creators of the franchises. We have the examples of:

Jon Snow is a Targaryen: In “Game of Thrones,” fans speculated that Jon Snow was not Ned Stark’s illegitimate son but the child of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. This theory was confirmed in the series, revealing Jon as Aegon Targaryen.
Stan Lee in the MCU: Before it was confirmed, Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fans theorized that Stan Lee, the creator of many Marvel characters, was playing the same character in all his cameos. This was confirmed in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” where he is seen talking to the Watchers.
Palpatine’s Return: In the “Star Wars” saga, some fans speculated that Emperor Palpatine didn’t actually die in “Return of the Jedi.” This theory came true in “The Rise of Skywalker,” where Palpatine returns as the main villain.
Snoke’s Identity: In “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” fans speculated about the true identity of Supreme Leader Snoke. While many theories were incorrect, the revelation that Snoke was a creation of Palpatine in “The Rise of Skywalker” was anticipated by some fans.
Bruce Willis is Dead in “The Sixth Sense”: Fans speculated that Bruce Willis’s character was dead the whole time in “The Sixth Sense.” This theory was confirmed in the movie’s twist ending.
The Identity of the Man in the Iron Mask in “The Flash”: Fans of “The Flash” theorized that the Man in the Iron Mask was Jay Garrick, the original Flash from the comics. This was confirmed in the season 2 finale.
The Joker’s Identity in “Batman: Arkham Knight”: Before the release of “Batman: Arkham Knight,” fans speculated that the Arkham Knight was actually Jason Todd, the former Robin. This theory was confirmed in the game.
The True Nature of Westworld: In the TV series “Westworld,” fans theorized that the park was actually on another planet or in a different time period. It was later revealed that the park is on a distant planet.
The Real Villain in “WandaVision”: Fans speculated that Agatha Harkness was the true villain behind the events in “WandaVision.” This theory was confirmed when Agatha revealed herself.

But in our case we are just connecting unfinished dots with factual possibilities, within the possibilities of the Army Men universe (which we call Toyverse) and trying to fix the inconsistencies that plague the entire saga in a convincing way, which will also require the generation of convincing images, since many times “A picture is worth a thousand words”.

The best enemies ever molded: friends!

Did anyone notice how many traitors there were in the Green ranks alone? The Green Colonel in Army Men 2, H.F. Blintz turning into King Plurtz the First in Army Men RTS, Major Godding turning into Lord Malice in Sarge’s War and Sarge Hawk himself turning into Major Malfunction in (right) Army Men: Major Malfunction.

Another plausible theory (within this theory) is that the AWOL Green Colonel and Blintz knew each other, or at least talked about the same crazy stuff.

We’re going to tie all of this together in a convincing way, adding Major Mylar betraying Plastro in Army Men 2 (talking about the same crazy stuff). But we’ll leave that to the narrative of our project.

Sarge is Sarge Hawk?

A much discussed theory with a simple answer: there is no official answer, and there never will be one. 3DO don’t want to answer the question because they wanted us to believe they are the same, but it was OBVIOUS they are visually very different (the voice of Jim Cumming tried to be the same than the original Sarge). And if there was one answer today, it is unlikely to be genuine.

The reality is that Sarge Hawk and the whole Sarge’s Heroes era was a “soft reboot” where 3DO wanted (without saying so) that people believe that it was the same protagonist, so as not to lose that initial push of the first games. Something like those franchises where the actor changes without any explanation of why, like the 007 films: each film is usually just a stand alone installment, although later there was a series of films where the stories were a continuation (although this did not impact much on the story of each film). But when the 007 franchise changes actors, they simply continue creating films without specifying if it is about the same individual, if in fact the agents are different people who are named as such and finally, there is not even a real temporal progression. This writer’s theory is that different agents are called 007 as they die or retire. This can be seen in Daniel Craig’s latest film, where another female agent is called 007 because Craig’s character was missing ad considered MIA (or AWOL).

So there you have the answer. As far as we are concerned, it’s not about what we believe, but about what we want to do. And we have a GREAT answer to this question that will satisfy everyone… you’ll see!

What do you think?. If you have any good theories, leave them in the comments!

P.S.: Because of this last theory and the statement: “The best enemies ever molded: friends!” we want Hawk to fight the copies of him an his friends of the Bravo Company Commandos. The same for the female protagonist being a Tan version of Hawk’s girlfriends, Vikki.

Concept Art, Making Of, Storyboards

Making the Microverse, Part 9: Pop Culture fest!

July 16, 2024 GigaHawk c3 Leave a comment

Historically, the Army Men franchise is full of cultural references from literature, film and television… and we are not going to be left behind of this habit.

Since many of us in the Army Men Toyverse project are fans of Sci-Fi, war and action films in general, we take references from here and there, not only visual, but from the personality of a character being based on an iconic popular character, to certain sounds or weapons based on popular sound pieces.

We think that in the Army Men Microverse the toys themselves adopt and personify characters, as if they were children in a game, and that personality they adopt becomes the purpose that drives and defines them.

Army Men known references

Army Men: Green Rogue:

The introduction of the Omega Soldier in Army Men Green Rogue is almost a copy-paste of the storyboarding of the scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 appears in Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Terminator 2: Judgement Day T-800 introduction into the story

Army Men: Green Rogue Omega Soldier introduction into the story

The previous suspense, the tempo, the metallic beat music sound typical of the Terminator franchise and the nudity of the character, among other details, are totally based on these introductory scenes of the films of this franchise. For this reason one of the frames of reference for Omega’s personality will be Arnold’s T-800.

T-800 Arrival in The Terminator movie

T-850 Arrival in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes

Sarge’s Heroes is an obvious reference to Kelly’s Heroes, the film of the same name. In fact, each member of Bravo Company has a very different personality and appearance from each other, and each member has a different specialty. The same thing happens with Kelly’s men. Besides, everyone is crazy… in their own way.

The Red Baron and the Beige Baron

Manfred Albrecht von Richthofen, known as the “Red Baron” or “Baron Von Richthofen”, was a German fighter pilot during the human’s World War I. He is considered the ace of aces of war because he managed to shoot down eighty enemy airplanes. The obvious parallels with Baron Von Beige don’t need much clarification, but it has nothing to do with the Red Baron’s personality, except that he was an honor fighter equivalent to the English gentlemen he fought against. The Beige Baron has equal respect for his enemies, like Captain Blade and instead of finishing off his opponents, he just knocks them down and leaves them a Beige scarf as his trademark. Therefore Von Beige is not a murderer, but an avid fighter who likes to compete against other great pilots.

During the First World War, pilots were considered to be medieval knights “riding” the skies, and that rivals recognized each other as such when they crossed paths on the battlefield. Certain pilots had the habit of giving the military salute to their opponents when passing each other during a reconnaissance mission, but that solemn salute was soon replaced by a much more practical gesture within the context of a total war, although perhaps less chivalrous: the aviators began to carry guns (and use them).

One of the reasons World War I pilots wore scarves was not to be thrown at downed enemies (although they got used to doing it), was the combination of open cockpits and open engine oil systems, which used castor oil. Many early aeronautic engines used an open oil system, in which, instead of circulating the oil, it was dripped out of the engine and replenished from a reservoir, since being rotary engines, the castor oil used It was thrown in all directions, even towards the pilot. Ingesting castor oil not only tastes disgusting, but can also cause quite catastrophic effects on the digestive system. A silk handkerchief filtered out most of the castor oil.

Cajun Joe Colonel

“Cajun Joe’s mansion” was written in the back of the mission list, or description of some kind about missions, in the poster of an Army Men PC special edition, product of a partnership of 3DO with Ubisoft, which led us to the lyrics of a song, called “Cajun Joe (The Bully Of The Bayou)”, a “Country” 60′ style song that coincides in some sort of way with the Gray Colonel mission, like the terrain where the mission take place, the Bayou land.

Colonel Blintz, Lord Malice, Major Malfunction and a Green Colonel

Both the former Colonel Blintz, later called “Blintz” or “King Plurtz One” from Army Men RTS and the Green Colonel from Army Men 2, were clear references to the character of Colonel Walter E. Kurtz from the movie Apocalypse Now. In some very diluted way, the plot of both games, RTS & 2, was based on the primary idea of this movie: hunt down the renegade Colonel because he is out of control or knew a lot, and that is considered dangerous…

Even Lord Malice was also partially based on this character, and Sgt. Hawk goin evil when he became Major Malfunction. Or at least the game’s plot was. Only at the end of the game we found out that Malice was Gooding and Hawk was Malfunction (when in the movie the identity of the villain is known from the beginning). All of them were good men that went crazy.

Sources for this article:

https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_Now

Army Men Revolution, Concept Art, Making Of, Microverse, Storyboards

Making the Microverse, Part 6: Concept Art & Storyboards

July 3, 2024 GigaHawk c3 Leave a comment

There are many ways to make conceptual art…

The points to take into consideration for our Army Men concept artists:

Sarge Hawk Vitruvio Army Men Concept Art

At first the Army Men must look like real soldiers, realizing later during the that they are actually miniature.
Any childish item, like a teddy bear, should look fierce and terrifying. A serious threat, although it may seem harmless at first for the player to take it lightly.
They should look like real little toys, plastic soldiers. There are details impossible to achieve on a certain scale, which make the plastic soldier 3D models look small.

Conceptual art is an artistic and simplified sketch in which the conceptualization or idea is more important than the drawn/conceptualized art. Ideas prevail over their formal or sensitive aspects so that the artistic aspect of the concept takes a back seat, favoring the speed of production time of the idea, also reducing the mental process of understanding the idea.

By dispensing with the complex creation of the final product before it is approved, so much time is not wasted on visual pieces that could not be approved. Therefore these sketches accelerate the idea production process. Regardless of the technique, material or form used to represent it is not something strict.

Before reaching the final choice of an idea, there may be several previously rejected conceptual pieces, and even this process can go through several steps, such as a very simple concept, which then evolves into a more complete and complex one (which is still a conceptual piece). After a concept art is approved, the chosen idea moves on to the actual production of the final product.

Classic Concept Art from 3DO

Sarge Hawk Concept art from Army Men

Bombshell Army Men

Character Concept Art (full color)

How do we interpret these Storyboards?

In the case of finding Conceptual Art of the original Army Men games, before the Heroes saga, we would need more information as it is in black and white, which would not allow us to interpret what colors each one is. The following is an example:

Army Men Air Attack Concept Art

Some of the ideas that want to be tested in helicopter games are interesting. They probably all would have been achieved in Air Attack 3, maybe?

Other Concept Arts

Others ways of making Storyboards

Both Army Men Revolution and our animations will take place in environments based on real places. Therefore, here is a simple example of a Storyboard made with photographs: