Welcome to our third interview for Round 3, the Best Leading Man. But I think we've got a new winner here. It's Gabriel from Rebelle 2. Surprisingly, he's the only one in the contest who's a new character; and despite being up against three other Heroes the judge nominated, the fans chose him for Best Leading Man.
How does it feel to win round three?
Honestly, it feels amazing and is such a relief. I was afraid that with Broken Shards of A La Reine des Neiges cœur, coeur winning the other rounds so far that I wouldn’t win anything. Not that I think that they didn’t deserve to win because they did. I’m just really jealous and AaronHayley4ever, if toi feel bad about it toi really shouldn’t. toi should consider is a compliment because when someone is jealous of your work that means toi really are good at your work and I hope I can have that happen to me someday.
Anyway, this is just incredible! I mean, I was the only one with a hero that was a new character and I thought that maybe people would prefer characters that already exist over Gabriel. I’m just so happy that I just can’t describe it! It’s just unbelievable!
How hard was it to come up with the character of Gabriel?
It was actually really hard because I had to make a brand new character and a l’amour interest to one of the only single Disney Princesses. I wanted to make sure he wasn’t just there to be a l’amour interest, give him a distinct personality, make sure he was a believable match for Merida, was likable, and heroic and bada** enough to be fighting with Merida. I wanted to give him a backstory so I could explain why he was kind of rude and distant when he and Merida first met, not just another cliché hate turned to l’amour romance. I wanted to make sure that people would like him and make him so likeable that people wouldn’t hate him just because he was taking away Merida’s singleness, while still making sure he wasn’t too perfect. I also had to make sure that while he was heroic and bada** that he didn’t over shadow Merida, who would be the one to defeat the villain, but didn’t become a useless character that would be qualified as a damsel in distress.
Did toi have several different ideas for leading men that toi thought about using before Gabriel?
Actually I did. I even had to ask everyone on fanpop for help. I saw people thought Merida and Young MacGuffin would make a cute couple but I needed to have a character who everyone could understand. It would be hard for me to write a character as a l’amour interest ou one of the two main characters when we couldn’t understand a word he said. As much as people a dit they’d l’amour that I just a dit NO, that’s not going to work at all. If I did that it would just turn out stupid and ridiculous. Plus she already rejected him so it would be kind of ridiculous to make him Merida’s l’amour interest.
Another idea I had was maybe make him a thief. I thought maybe he’d steal something from the palace, Merida chased after him, she captured him, he escaped the dungeon, and they realize they’re the ones who have to defeat the villain. It would take part of Merida being rude to him and I thought maybe have him flirt with her. However, I realized Disney had done that before with Aladin and Flynn and I wanted to do something new a fresh.
I thought of maybe using a prince ou nobleman from a neighboring kingdom. But I just couldn’t come up with a good idea for it and it just seemed BORING! I thought of using a king from a neighboring kingdom and I almost did. That was something a Disney Princess film has never done. The princess has never ended up with a king. I thought it would be a good idea because it would montrer Merida that she shouldn’t judge someone based off their position and that just because someone has a lot of power doesn’t make them an egotistical person.
If so, why did toi decide to make Gabriel the leading man?
I went with Gabriel; well actually I haven’t made up my mind on his name so Gabriel was the first name I ever came up with. Anyway, people seemed plus interested in Merida with a peasant boy rather than with a king. So I had to come up with an interesting storyline with the peasant boy because the plus I thought about it, the king idea wasn’t as strong with the story. I gave Gabriel a backstory and thought it added to his character. I just fell in l’amour with this character the plus I wrote him and felt like the peasant boy worked so well that I couldn’t imagine any other choice.
What inspired toi to make Gabriel?
Well, one of two reasons, but we’ll get to the other reason in a later question. One big reason is because I needed to have Merida travel with someone. I realized that there aren’t a lot of stories where the main character travels alone and manages to change and develop for the better. The only time it’s worked is when the main character runs into several different characters on their journey but I thought that it would just make the story too long. I tried to make my sequel entries as long as they can be without having to remove any scenes unless I needed to if it was made into a movie. I figured that with a traveling companion for Merida, besides Angus, it would help her grow and change for the better, same with Gabriel. I mean, after the events of the first movie, Merida didn’t really need to learn anything about responsibility. All she needed to do is learn to open up to someone and not just write off l’amour just for the sake of it. So Gabriel became a necessity to the story.
What was the inspiration for his design?
Well, it was actually all those Merida and Hiccup vidéos and crossovers I saw. When I saw an older Hiccup in How To Train Your Dragon 2, I thought that I’d make Merida older, twenty-one years old. His design went through a lot of ideas. The three I thought of were a large young man, a scrawny but charmingly handsome young man, and the design he has now. At first I was hesitant with using older Hiccup as his character design because I thought all Hiccup’s annoying fan girls would freak out over it and wouldn’t bother to talk about the story, the couple, ou the character themselves.
However, in the end I thought the fat guy would be too much like her father and the scrawny guy wouldn’t be believable as a bada**. So it was the handsome and regular sized guy for the win. But I had to make sure he didn’t look too much like Hiccup, which was hard because it’s not easy to make edits to computer animated characters. If I had to ability to change his design plus so he looked less like Hiccup, I would do it in a heartbeat. But I did what I could. I gave him blue eyes; black hair, different colored armor, and I gave him facial hair. I thought that giving him facial hair all over his face and not just a little, like Flynn, was unique. But I didn’t give him a beard, just some long stubbles. toi hardly see any animated heroes, especially Disney one, with facial hair. So I thought it would make him unique, especially for someone who’s with Merida.
What inspired toi give, Merida, who is known for having no l’amour interest, a l’amour interest?
Here’s the seconde reason that inspired me to make Gabriel, all of the annoying hypocrites. I mean they think that it’s bad for a girl to be obsessed with getting a boyfriend ou getting married but they think its fine for a girl to wanna stay single just for the heck of it. That’s just so hypocritical and drives me crazy! They a dit that at least Merida didn’t have a man to constantly have to saving her, which she didn’t; instead she had to be constantly saved par her mother. I wanted to make him to expand the message that the first movie had. It a dit toi don’t need a man to be happy but I’m trying to montrer that toi shouldn’t just write off romance just for the sake of being single. If toi do that you’ll miss out on something special. I feel that both sides are unbalanced and I wanted to fix the balance. It’s true that romance and marriage isn’t everything but it still is something incredible that toi shouldn’t give up on. It was to help with Merida’s character development and to send a message to all those hypocrites.
If Gabriel became an official Disney Prince where would toi rank him on the favoris list?
He would be my 2nd favori after Aladdin. I know that might sound arrogant but he’s just a great character in my opinion.
If Gabriel became an official Disney Prince where would toi rank him on the handsome list?
He would be 2nd after Eric. But that’s mainly because he’s modeled after Hiccup in How To Train Your Dragon 2, who I find to be one of the most handsome animated males ever.
If toi could choose a voice actor for Gabriel, who would it be?
I actually don’t know. I want him to be voiced par a Scottish actor and not just some American actor doing a Scottish accent. But I don’t know any Scottish actors besides that ones in Brave. I think I’ll try to find an unknown Scottish actor so I can help him get his career started. But I will consider well known Scottish actors, who aren’t well known to me apparently, if they’re good enough, just to be fair. But I wanna make sure their voice isn’t too well known that it’s distracting to people watching the movie.
Like when I watched Bolt and while I l’amour Miley Cyrus, I found her to be distracting for the first few years that I watched the movie. But I was so used to her on Hannah Montana that I just heard what I thought her character on the montrer would be saying. I mean she does a fantastic job in the movie and doesn’t distract me anymore but I don’t know. I just wanna make sure I don’t distract anyone with the voice actors. But if toi guys know any Scottish actors that are really good I’ll take note of it if this is ever made into a movie and recommend them to Disney and Pixar.
What is your favori thing about Gabriel?
My favori thing about him is his free spirit/sense of adventure. A lot of my favori fictional characters are like that and it makes him and Merida such kindred spirits.
What is your least favori thing about Gabriel? (if anything)
I guess that he was rude to Merida when they first met but it doesn’t bother me that bad.
You modeled Gabriel, look wise, after Hiccup from How To Train Your Dragon 2. Do toi see any similarities between them personality wise?
I suppose the whole wanting something plus and being misunderstood thing. But other than that no and it’s a good thing too. I can’t stand Hiccup AT ALL! His dorkiness is WAY too over the top, he never thinks things through, constantly almost gets everyone killed, never listens, had no common sense, and in the sequel is really stupid! But I won’t get too into that.
Were toi afraid that people wouldn’t like Gabriel because he was a l’amour interest to Merida, who everyone prefers to have stay single?
I really was but in the end I decided that, while I wanted to have everyone like him and be happy with it, that it has to make me happy and that I like him. If I don’t like my work and I’m not happy then it’s just not going to work out at all and I might as well not do it at all. But he was voted to best leading man of the story so it doesn’t really matter. To those who don’t like him I say HAHA, I WON toi HATERS!
If Gabriel became as populaire a Disney and Pixar character as Aladin and Woody, how would that make toi feel?
That would be a great honor! Aladin and Woody were some of my biggest role mannequins when I was little and are both among my favori fictional characters. The idea that I actually made a character that made such a huge impact and was an idol to other little boys would just be unbelievably amazing!
Do toi think Gabriel would make a good role model? If so, what do toi think makes him good role model?
I actually do. I think that letting go of the past and moving on so toi can let yourself be happy is what makes him a good role model. I think this is something that everyone can relate to, not just little kids.
You're a judge in this contest, if toi could have nominated and voted for your characters and stories would toi have? (be honest)
Well, in terms of story I have to say that Broken Shards of A La Reine des Neiges cœur, coeur deserved to win. It’s just incredible and is such a unique idea for an animated Disney film. Besides, I wouldn’t be able to decide between my stories. I l’amour them all equally. I put a lot of cœur, coeur into them. But I probably do have plus emotional attachment to From Paws To Thumbs because it’s what started all of this and what made me know I wanted to make Disney sequels and Disney films in general.
As for characters, I have to be honest that I really would’ve voted for myself. For best leading lady and best leading man I would have voted for Scamp and Angel (From Paws To Thumbs). But that’s kind of a personal preference because they’re both among my favori fictional characters. I loved being able to expand on their characters and develop them so more. I enjoyed every seconde of écriture them. I don’t think admitting this is me being arrogant because it’s not like I’m saying that my choices are the only good ones and that everyone knows I’m the best. I’m just being confident, which to me is a good thing.
Last question! Do toi think Gabriel deserved to win Round 3? If not, who? (be honest)
Absolutely! But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t others that deserved to win as well because there were a lot of great leading men.
How does it feel to win round three?
Honestly, it feels amazing and is such a relief. I was afraid that with Broken Shards of A La Reine des Neiges cœur, coeur winning the other rounds so far that I wouldn’t win anything. Not that I think that they didn’t deserve to win because they did. I’m just really jealous and AaronHayley4ever, if toi feel bad about it toi really shouldn’t. toi should consider is a compliment because when someone is jealous of your work that means toi really are good at your work and I hope I can have that happen to me someday.
Anyway, this is just incredible! I mean, I was the only one with a hero that was a new character and I thought that maybe people would prefer characters that already exist over Gabriel. I’m just so happy that I just can’t describe it! It’s just unbelievable!
How hard was it to come up with the character of Gabriel?
It was actually really hard because I had to make a brand new character and a l’amour interest to one of the only single Disney Princesses. I wanted to make sure he wasn’t just there to be a l’amour interest, give him a distinct personality, make sure he was a believable match for Merida, was likable, and heroic and bada** enough to be fighting with Merida. I wanted to give him a backstory so I could explain why he was kind of rude and distant when he and Merida first met, not just another cliché hate turned to l’amour romance. I wanted to make sure that people would like him and make him so likeable that people wouldn’t hate him just because he was taking away Merida’s singleness, while still making sure he wasn’t too perfect. I also had to make sure that while he was heroic and bada** that he didn’t over shadow Merida, who would be the one to defeat the villain, but didn’t become a useless character that would be qualified as a damsel in distress.
Did toi have several different ideas for leading men that toi thought about using before Gabriel?
Actually I did. I even had to ask everyone on fanpop for help. I saw people thought Merida and Young MacGuffin would make a cute couple but I needed to have a character who everyone could understand. It would be hard for me to write a character as a l’amour interest ou one of the two main characters when we couldn’t understand a word he said. As much as people a dit they’d l’amour that I just a dit NO, that’s not going to work at all. If I did that it would just turn out stupid and ridiculous. Plus she already rejected him so it would be kind of ridiculous to make him Merida’s l’amour interest.
Another idea I had was maybe make him a thief. I thought maybe he’d steal something from the palace, Merida chased after him, she captured him, he escaped the dungeon, and they realize they’re the ones who have to defeat the villain. It would take part of Merida being rude to him and I thought maybe have him flirt with her. However, I realized Disney had done that before with Aladin and Flynn and I wanted to do something new a fresh.
I thought of maybe using a prince ou nobleman from a neighboring kingdom. But I just couldn’t come up with a good idea for it and it just seemed BORING! I thought of using a king from a neighboring kingdom and I almost did. That was something a Disney Princess film has never done. The princess has never ended up with a king. I thought it would be a good idea because it would montrer Merida that she shouldn’t judge someone based off their position and that just because someone has a lot of power doesn’t make them an egotistical person.
If so, why did toi decide to make Gabriel the leading man?
I went with Gabriel; well actually I haven’t made up my mind on his name so Gabriel was the first name I ever came up with. Anyway, people seemed plus interested in Merida with a peasant boy rather than with a king. So I had to come up with an interesting storyline with the peasant boy because the plus I thought about it, the king idea wasn’t as strong with the story. I gave Gabriel a backstory and thought it added to his character. I just fell in l’amour with this character the plus I wrote him and felt like the peasant boy worked so well that I couldn’t imagine any other choice.
What inspired toi to make Gabriel?
Well, one of two reasons, but we’ll get to the other reason in a later question. One big reason is because I needed to have Merida travel with someone. I realized that there aren’t a lot of stories where the main character travels alone and manages to change and develop for the better. The only time it’s worked is when the main character runs into several different characters on their journey but I thought that it would just make the story too long. I tried to make my sequel entries as long as they can be without having to remove any scenes unless I needed to if it was made into a movie. I figured that with a traveling companion for Merida, besides Angus, it would help her grow and change for the better, same with Gabriel. I mean, after the events of the first movie, Merida didn’t really need to learn anything about responsibility. All she needed to do is learn to open up to someone and not just write off l’amour just for the sake of it. So Gabriel became a necessity to the story.
What was the inspiration for his design?
Well, it was actually all those Merida and Hiccup vidéos and crossovers I saw. When I saw an older Hiccup in How To Train Your Dragon 2, I thought that I’d make Merida older, twenty-one years old. His design went through a lot of ideas. The three I thought of were a large young man, a scrawny but charmingly handsome young man, and the design he has now. At first I was hesitant with using older Hiccup as his character design because I thought all Hiccup’s annoying fan girls would freak out over it and wouldn’t bother to talk about the story, the couple, ou the character themselves.
However, in the end I thought the fat guy would be too much like her father and the scrawny guy wouldn’t be believable as a bada**. So it was the handsome and regular sized guy for the win. But I had to make sure he didn’t look too much like Hiccup, which was hard because it’s not easy to make edits to computer animated characters. If I had to ability to change his design plus so he looked less like Hiccup, I would do it in a heartbeat. But I did what I could. I gave him blue eyes; black hair, different colored armor, and I gave him facial hair. I thought that giving him facial hair all over his face and not just a little, like Flynn, was unique. But I didn’t give him a beard, just some long stubbles. toi hardly see any animated heroes, especially Disney one, with facial hair. So I thought it would make him unique, especially for someone who’s with Merida.
What inspired toi give, Merida, who is known for having no l’amour interest, a l’amour interest?
Here’s the seconde reason that inspired me to make Gabriel, all of the annoying hypocrites. I mean they think that it’s bad for a girl to be obsessed with getting a boyfriend ou getting married but they think its fine for a girl to wanna stay single just for the heck of it. That’s just so hypocritical and drives me crazy! They a dit that at least Merida didn’t have a man to constantly have to saving her, which she didn’t; instead she had to be constantly saved par her mother. I wanted to make him to expand the message that the first movie had. It a dit toi don’t need a man to be happy but I’m trying to montrer that toi shouldn’t just write off romance just for the sake of being single. If toi do that you’ll miss out on something special. I feel that both sides are unbalanced and I wanted to fix the balance. It’s true that romance and marriage isn’t everything but it still is something incredible that toi shouldn’t give up on. It was to help with Merida’s character development and to send a message to all those hypocrites.
If Gabriel became an official Disney Prince where would toi rank him on the favoris list?
He would be my 2nd favori after Aladdin. I know that might sound arrogant but he’s just a great character in my opinion.
If Gabriel became an official Disney Prince where would toi rank him on the handsome list?
He would be 2nd after Eric. But that’s mainly because he’s modeled after Hiccup in How To Train Your Dragon 2, who I find to be one of the most handsome animated males ever.
If toi could choose a voice actor for Gabriel, who would it be?
I actually don’t know. I want him to be voiced par a Scottish actor and not just some American actor doing a Scottish accent. But I don’t know any Scottish actors besides that ones in Brave. I think I’ll try to find an unknown Scottish actor so I can help him get his career started. But I will consider well known Scottish actors, who aren’t well known to me apparently, if they’re good enough, just to be fair. But I wanna make sure their voice isn’t too well known that it’s distracting to people watching the movie.
Like when I watched Bolt and while I l’amour Miley Cyrus, I found her to be distracting for the first few years that I watched the movie. But I was so used to her on Hannah Montana that I just heard what I thought her character on the montrer would be saying. I mean she does a fantastic job in the movie and doesn’t distract me anymore but I don’t know. I just wanna make sure I don’t distract anyone with the voice actors. But if toi guys know any Scottish actors that are really good I’ll take note of it if this is ever made into a movie and recommend them to Disney and Pixar.
What is your favori thing about Gabriel?
My favori thing about him is his free spirit/sense of adventure. A lot of my favori fictional characters are like that and it makes him and Merida such kindred spirits.
What is your least favori thing about Gabriel? (if anything)
I guess that he was rude to Merida when they first met but it doesn’t bother me that bad.
You modeled Gabriel, look wise, after Hiccup from How To Train Your Dragon 2. Do toi see any similarities between them personality wise?
I suppose the whole wanting something plus and being misunderstood thing. But other than that no and it’s a good thing too. I can’t stand Hiccup AT ALL! His dorkiness is WAY too over the top, he never thinks things through, constantly almost gets everyone killed, never listens, had no common sense, and in the sequel is really stupid! But I won’t get too into that.
Were toi afraid that people wouldn’t like Gabriel because he was a l’amour interest to Merida, who everyone prefers to have stay single?
I really was but in the end I decided that, while I wanted to have everyone like him and be happy with it, that it has to make me happy and that I like him. If I don’t like my work and I’m not happy then it’s just not going to work out at all and I might as well not do it at all. But he was voted to best leading man of the story so it doesn’t really matter. To those who don’t like him I say HAHA, I WON toi HATERS!
If Gabriel became as populaire a Disney and Pixar character as Aladin and Woody, how would that make toi feel?
That would be a great honor! Aladin and Woody were some of my biggest role mannequins when I was little and are both among my favori fictional characters. The idea that I actually made a character that made such a huge impact and was an idol to other little boys would just be unbelievably amazing!
Do toi think Gabriel would make a good role model? If so, what do toi think makes him good role model?
I actually do. I think that letting go of the past and moving on so toi can let yourself be happy is what makes him a good role model. I think this is something that everyone can relate to, not just little kids.
You're a judge in this contest, if toi could have nominated and voted for your characters and stories would toi have? (be honest)
Well, in terms of story I have to say that Broken Shards of A La Reine des Neiges cœur, coeur deserved to win. It’s just incredible and is such a unique idea for an animated Disney film. Besides, I wouldn’t be able to decide between my stories. I l’amour them all equally. I put a lot of cœur, coeur into them. But I probably do have plus emotional attachment to From Paws To Thumbs because it’s what started all of this and what made me know I wanted to make Disney sequels and Disney films in general.
As for characters, I have to be honest that I really would’ve voted for myself. For best leading lady and best leading man I would have voted for Scamp and Angel (From Paws To Thumbs). But that’s kind of a personal preference because they’re both among my favori fictional characters. I loved being able to expand on their characters and develop them so more. I enjoyed every seconde of écriture them. I don’t think admitting this is me being arrogant because it’s not like I’m saying that my choices are the only good ones and that everyone knows I’m the best. I’m just being confident, which to me is a good thing.
Last question! Do toi think Gabriel deserved to win Round 3? If not, who? (be honest)
Absolutely! But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t others that deserved to win as well because there were a lot of great leading men.