Toys-to-life game Disney Infinity wouldn't be what it is without its amazing toy figures. And right now, all eyes are on one particular set of figures.
With Disney Infinity 3.0, Disney Interactive was able to introduce Star Wars to the series. The developer's reverential handling of Lucasfilm's chief franchise has drawn widespread praise from players and critics alike. I spoke with Disney Interactive's Jeff Bunker.
His official title is "Studio Art Director," but his job is more far-reaching than it sounds. Aside from working on the figures, he oversees their in-game counterparts and their abilities and movements, he oversees level design and ensures that everything shares a coherence. He also looks out for the quality standards of both Disney and the licenses they work with, including Lucasfilm, Marvel and Pixar.
The first Star Wars Playset to be released was Twilight of the Republic. Based on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and utilized the same voice actors and designs as the characters from that show. It came with the 3.0 Starter Pack. On September 29, Disney Interactive releases Rise Against the Empire, a second Star Wars Playset that stars the characters from the original film trilogy and follows the story of all three movies.
When comparing the two, one thing jumps out at you immediately. The Clone Wars characters look almost identical to how they appear on TV, while the original trilogy figures have a much more caricatured appearance. I couldn't resist asking Bunker about this.
"It's true," he confirmed. "If you look at them on TV, the Clone Wars characters -- and Star Wars Rebels characters, too -- are already somewhat 'caricature-ized.' It's part of how they're styled.
"I think if the original trilogy of movies had been made as animation, those characters would've been caricatured as well. That's the difference.
Looking at it in hindsight, of course he's right. You can't turn a real, human actor into a toy without adaptation. I asked how hard it was to find the right toy look for those movie characters.
"Han Solo was the hardest one to do," Bunker replied. "Harrison Ford has a very asymmetrical face. If you really look at him and study his features, he's got kind of a crooked mouth and nothing is quite even. So it was a real challenge to find the right 'toy' look for Han."
Below we present an exclusive piece of Han Solo concept art, provided to us by Jeff Bunker.
Complicating matters was the need to please not just Disney, but Lucasfilm, which has adopted stricter standards over the last few years. Lucasfilm had very specific feedback about not changing any of the story from the first three movies, and little details like the fact that Darth Vader never runs. He only ever walks.
Regardless, Bunker said it was an easy collaboration.
"Lucasfilm was great to work with," he said. "They are very protective of their brand, which they absolutely should be. They wanted to make sure that everything was in line with their quality level. But they were great, they gave us anything we needed and very helpful."
With Star Wars: The Force Awakens just a few months away, Disney Interactive has planned a third Star Wars Playset to accompany it. But the movie's production has been sealed tight, and director J.J. Abrams is notorious for guarding the secrets of the stories he tells.
I had to go there.
"[The production] has given us access to anything and everything we need," Bunker said. "They've been nothing but fantastic to work with. The timeframes of production on a movie and production on a video game don't sync up, you know. We need things much further in advance than movies do, to have enough time to finish the game.
"In this case, it was especially crazy because they've often been still figuring certain things out and finalizing things at the same time that we have. That keeps things interesting! But they haven't withheld anything from us, because they really care that we make something as authentic as possible."
I didn't bother asking for any movie spoilers, as I knew he would be under very strict contractual obligations to reveal nothing. I don't really want spoilers, anyway.
But fans should rest easy in knowing that Star Wars is in very capable, very knowledgable hands.
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