.Mac. said:
With Cad Bane, you have an almost neon blue alien with red eyes, a cliche 'bad guy voice' and wearing a literal cowboy hat.
You make it sound like there's something wrong with a neon blue alien with red eyes. It's alien, very fitting for Star Wars, and the species name is Duros, who are also seen in the Cantina of the original Star Wars, if you remember. I strongly disagree about his voice, that's part of what makes him so interesting and badass - I can't think of a single character who sounds just like him. You have a problem with his cowboy hat and yet just earlier you praised Fett and his cowboy archetype? hmm.
I'm aware he's the same species as in the cantina, however the Duros in the cantina work as background aliens for me because they're so unusual. It's way too campy a design for a prominent villain in a live action medium. Again, let me stress, he's fine where he belongs. In a cartoon.
As for the cowboy hat, yes I have a problem with it. Because it's taken straight from our earth cowboys. Whereas with Fett the creators borrowed aspects of the cowboy archetype that would register with us on the subliminal level without him outright looking like one. Subtlety is something children's shows don't need. However, movies do.
They're laughable caricatures; completely fine for the medium they're presented in, but have absolutely no place in a live action, more serious movie.
It's because they are a cartoon is why they're a "caricature". Why can't a character originally created for an animation be in a live-action film? Your reasoning doesn't make sense here. That's exactly like saying live-action characters can't later become animated, or characters from books should not be in live-action or animated films. Yes their expressions and antics may be exaggerated for its target audience in the cartoon, but doesn't mean the same would be true in the live-action.
My reasoning makes perfect sense. I think it's you that's misunderstood why I see him as a caricature. It's not the expressions/antics inherent to the childish medium that bothers me. As you've made clear, these can be changed for a movie, and I completely agree. As I explained above, his design bothers me as it is derivative of OUR world, not a galaxy far far away. Also, people relate to other humans, or at at least human faces better when it comes to loving or hating a character (which I think is key in this instance). If there was another character design which could be a human in makeup (a la Twileks or Zabraks) then I'd be more open to it. As it stands, Cad Bane would have to be CG, or have a REALLY expressive prosthetic mask. Even if I did like his design, it wouldn't work even for a big movie production. It would be like the Neimoidians all over again. They weren't threatening either.
I understand you may not have meant to take absolutely everything about the character, but personally I see nothing about it that's of any use. He has the same lazy, derivative, and stereotypical character design as some of the CG Prequel villains, except it's even worse.
Again, his character design is based on the pair of Duros in the Cantina of the original Star Wars, not the PT. Do you still feel the same way about the design now? Even if his character is from the PT era, that doesn't automatically make him a bad character either. Not everything that resulted from the PT is bad. Have an open mind, please.
It could in actuality be a completely new bounty hunter too, but the reason I chose Cade Bane is because he's already an established character of this time period that most SW fans are at least aware of, who I think is awesome and with potential, and thought it'd be perfect if we see more of him and less of Jango (making Boba Fett more his own and unique). Aurra Sing is another potential bounty hunter, who was mentioned earlier, and indeed she was originally seen in TPM and later "caricatured" in the Clone Wars show.
Sorry didn't mean to sound like a hard ass in any of this, but some times we gotta stand up for something if we really believe in it and like it :)
The fact he's a Duros doesn't change how I feel about it. I'm not going to suddenly like his character design just because he happens to be the same species we see in ANH. Lol.
Also, I agree that not everything from the PT was bad, and I do have an open mind already.
I get it. Characters can be adapted from film to cartoons. But you've got to ensure that when the reverse happens, it's not such a childish design that it'll look stupid in live action. In the case of Cad Bane, I believe I'm right. Aurra Sing and all the other movie characters taken across to TCW looked less cartoony in their designs as a result of not having started as a cartoon. Cad Bane has kids' show written all over him. It's like they looked at the subtle things about Boba Fett and amped it up for an audience that can't pick up on these subtle cues yet.
"We've got to show he's a frontier rogue. Like a cowboy. How do we get kids to understand that?"
"Give him a cowboy hat?"
"Someone get this man a cookie!"