#character: terk

[moveslikeanape]

[meekosthemeparkphotos]

Terk

[baronessofmischief]

One of the other things I love about the animated Tarzan movie is how effectively they use color and costume design. Clayton is one of the very few Disney villains whose color scene isn’t red, black, purple, or a combination of the above. It’s largely yellow and muted black and brown with the typical turn-of-the-century safari hunter design, the colors matching the other main human characters.

What’s important though is that he’s a hunter, not just a guide, and that aspect combined with his color scheme ties him to the other main villain in the movie: Sabor.

Clayton’s color scheme matches the jaguar, and the fact Sabor is shown to be stalking both the humans and gorillas is a great parallel and foreshadowing for who will be the main villain in the end. Sure, the adults watching it can tell who the bad guy is, but the more subtle setup for the kids is a great way to introduce foreshadowing and visual storytelling, showing them (and the characters) that the real villain was camouflaged among them, stalking his prey unseen until it’s almost too late.

[elijones94]

🦍 In “Tarzan” during the elephant stampede, Kerchak saves a baby gorilla from getting trampled to death. Before doing so, the elephants come crashing through the jungle after being frightened by Tarzan undertaking a dangerous dare from Terk and her friends. Members of the gorilla family flee the scene and termite mounds get destroyed by the panicked elephants. I based these two drawings on the scene where Kerchak is seen evading an elephant before saving the baby gorilla from the stampede. Later when Tarzan takes responsibility for the stampede, Kerchak angrily berates Tarzan by telling him he almost killed someone. 🐘

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q36Q7lw1qOE&pp=ygUYdGFyemFuIGVsZXBoYW50IHN0YW1wZWRl

[mechawolfie]

I'm just now noticing the amount of gender envy I felt as a kid for the main guy characters from disneys old furry movies.....

[bandgie]

Hi! I ABSOLUTELY LOVED your Beast of a Man tarzan!smut. Seriously it was so engaging and you wrote him so well (HES SO HOT AGHH). He's such a hot character idk why others don't write about him, I'm starved for Tarzan fics...

Could you please make a part 2 to the smut? You have such a great/smutty idea going I would love to see you continue it!!

It would mean everything to me!

( ^◡^)

a/n: hi yes thank you so much and ofc! it's been so long since I've written smut on Tarzan so please bear with me! (fic anon is referring to here)

synopsis: You have successfully brought back the ape-man for research. Despite behaving like an animal, he's a lot more human in more ways than you originally thought.

warnings: MDNI 18+, recording during sex, oral (m!), 69ing, semi-public oral sex, cumming in mouth (m!&f!), rough throat fucking (f!rec), cum eating (m!&f!)

2.8k words

"Who the fuck is this?!"

Your colleagues screamed and ran upon seeing who, more like what, you brought back to camp. They hopped up on tables and held up papers as weapons. They eyed you both wearily, on the verge of tears as you stood just a few feet away.

"I think that's a bit extreme," you sigh. 

The ape-man was beside you, clinging onto your leg like a child would do with a mother. He, too, was very wary around these strangers. You could hear him grunting and pulling at you as if keeping you from getting too close. 

Cute yes, but this would mean it would take a lot of work to build trust in the entire group.

Slowly, the fellow researchers began to try and communicate with the man. Talking slowly and softly, just like you showed them to. All of you agreed that this being could be the missing link, the answer to the question anthropologists have tried to find for decades.

It took over a month for everyone to be comfortable around one another, but of course, another issue was raised. 

"So does he just not have a name?" Professor Porter asked. 

As of now, you all were just calling him 'the ape-man' or 'hey you' to get his attention. It never crossed your mind to give him an actual name. 

"We're not gonna name that beast," Clayton butted his way into the conversation. Clayton, as big and strong as he was, seems the most afraid of your new friend. He's hostile, rude, and arrogant. Even if the ape-man cannot understand the words thrown at him, he can feel them.

The best thing to do in these situations was to ignore Clayton, he just loves the sound of his own voice. 

"No," you turn your attention back to the professor. "Not that I know of at least. Should we come up with one?"

"Oh great," there's heavy sarcasm laced in Clayton's voice. "Here you are naming a dog you're not even gonna keep."

"With no due respect Clayton, please shut the fuck up," Terk, the youngest of you, speaks. Terk is small for his age, but he has built. A hairy man who's lively, talkative, and one of the natives that live here. He and the ape-man get along well, a little too well sometimes.

Clayton flips Terk the bird.

"A name for him would be nice, yes." The professor looks as though he's sweating from the tense atmosphere. "Do come up with one dear, I think the missing link would rather you do it."

It's no secret that the ape-man prefers you over the other researchers. He's constantly at your hip, following you like you have an invisible leash on him. Your colleagues, however, don't know how close you two actually are. 

The conversation stays in your head for the rest of the day. A name. A name. Something everyone has yet is unbelievably difficult to come up with. Hundreds of possibilities run through your mind as you carry out your daily tasks. Even the ape-man, who's used to you ruffling his hair, grows confused about your behavior.

Nightfall comes with everyone in their tents and you still haven't come up with a name. 

With a groan, you turn on your side to see the very person who's making you struggle already looking at you. His eyes are dark, but the candle in your tent lights up his features just enough. You reach out and brush a lock of hair out of his face, watching how he moves to try and get you to touch his skin.

You settle with resting the palm of your hand on his cheek, rubbing your thumb over it. 

"A name," you tsk. You narrow your eyes and let your gaze travel over his body. He needs to look like his name, that's a must. "Hey, do you know what a name is?"

He doesn't answer. 

"Something to call you. That's a name. Do you have one?"

He stares at you.

Well, this is going to be harder than you thought. 

Pursing your lips, you say the first name that comes to mind, "Edward?"

He reacts to that. His calm expression turns into a scowl, bushy eyebrows coming together. You quietly laugh and shake your head, "Not that one okay."

"Tony?"

He frowns.

"Taren?"

He pouts.

"Okay, okay. I think I got it...Garrett."

The ape-man groans, mimicking the behavior he's seen you do hundreds of times. It shocks you to see him act so human, so you. It's equally adorable as it is terrifying. 

He's gotten closer to you, a breath away. The proximity used to freak you out, but you've learned it’s how he shows his affection. His trust. 

The ape-man is waiting for you to say a word he likes, a sound that comes off your tongue magically. Judging from your facial expression and earlier absent behavior, this is an important task for you.

You want the name to be strong, versatile, and not easily replaceable. The being you've found is one-of-a-kind, it's only fair his name is as well. You play with a few letters in your head, bouncing them in your mind until you think of one that suits him.

"What about Tarzan then? Do you like that one?"

His pupils dilate, watching your beautiful lips pronounce the word. His word. 

"Yes."

You gasp, sitting up abruptly. Your sudden movements make him panic as he sits up with you. He scans the tent to find an intruder while you sit there stunned. 

He spoke. The ape-man no! Tarzan just spoke to you. He understood language and used it, even if it was just a mere word. A one-syllable answer that has shaken you to your core. 

"Oh my god. You just, Tarzan you just spoke. Holy shit, say it again. I need to capture this on video." You ruffle through your bag looking for your camera. 

Tarzan stops searching the tent and looks back at you looking as confused as ever. Like he didn't just display human speech in a mere month.

Quickly, you pull out the camera and hit record, aiming the lens at Tarzan's hard, yet beautiful features. 

"Repeat what you just said," you look at him through the monitor. Instead of complying, Tarzan stares blankly into the lens. "Do you like the name Tarzan?" You press.

No answer, his eyes flick from the red light to your eyes. 

"Come on! Just tell me whether or not you like the name." You're starting to grow impatient. At this point, you're convinced he's just being an ass.

Finally, he adjusts his seating position. Tarzan glances down at his crotch then back up to you, then back to his crotch. You follow his gaze, trying to understand what he's trying to say. Then it clicks. 

Compensation. If you want him to do you a favor, you have to do him one as well. 

"Are you being serious?" You sigh at him. Tarzan gives a faint nod to you. Even if he can't do so, you swear you see him smirk. Asshole. Setting the camera down, you angle it towards the two of you. Might as well have fun with it.

You crawl your way towards him, parting his thighs slightly before giving him a playful glare, "You're such a man sometimes."

Unlike before, Tarzan wears cargo shorts rather than a mere piece of clothes from last time. Professor Porter made it clear that if he was to hang amongst you all, clothes were necessary. 

They suited him nicely, even now. The way the material hugs his toned thighs, how his cock bulges through the shorts even when he isn’t hard. You couldn't help but run your hands along his muscular legs, finding his crotch.

He groaned as you palmed him, straining to not thrust his hips up. Tarzan learned to be patient with you, especially in the presence of others. Most animals didn't care whether they mated alone or in their pack. Even if Tarzan was raised by those animals, the thought of others hearing the sounds you make for him is repulsive. 

Instead, he has to settle for brushing your hair from your face as you undo his buttons. Delicate fingers unzipping the seam until his half-hard cock sprouts in your face. 

It doesn't matter how many times you've seen his dick, it makes your pussy quiver every time. All you can think about is how perfectly it stretches you, how the tip slides against your cunt deliciously. Your mouth salivates at the memory, and you let your spit drool off your tongue to land on his cock.

Tarzan loves the sigh. A pink tongue just hovering over his length. He also remembers the feeling of your hot mouth on him. The way your lips slowly come closer to the crown of his head, how your breath wafts over him. It feels euphoric when you finally make contact with him, mouth enclosing his flushed head.

It's so warm in your mouth, smooth as you lightly suck on him. The hand on your head slightly grips your hair, a sign that he likes the slow pace you've set. You hum around his cock, taking him a little deeper as you widen your jaw.

One of your hands makes way to grip the base, pulling the skin upwards in a stroking motion. 

This makes his hips jerk, gagging you for just a split second. Your wide eyes look up at him, small tears peeking at the corners. Tarzan gives an apologetic look, but the sight of your teary eyes and pretty lips around his cock makes him fuck up toward you again.

You pull away from him, earning a whine as Tarzan throws his head back dramatically. 

Maybe he thinks you're going to stop as punishment, but it's quite the opposite. Your cunt is sopping from tasting him, even if it was for a brief moment. Even if you have a task at hand, and your camera is still recording for 'research,' you have your own needs to take care of. 

Tarzan is none the wiser as you put a hand on his bare chest and lay him down. He eyes you curiously but lets you push him all the way down before hopping on top. His eyes widen as he's faced with your clothed cunt. Underwear the same color as your tongue that holds the strongest smell of you.

He doesn't need any directions as he dives his nose into you. Tarzan is obsessed with your natural smell. His nose immediately grows damp from your wetness, his tongue poking out to lick the juices that leak out.

Softly moaning, you take a hold of his cock once more. You pump it a few times before taking it into your mouth. It's surprising to see that he's not humping in your mouth like normal, but he's so distracted with your pussy that he can't seem to bother noticing his own pleasure.

It's hard to focus on his hard length as his teeth tear off your panties. You gasp when you hear the fabric split, but it turns into a whine when his tongue finally makes contact with your bare cunt. 

Tarzan has to grip your hips to keep you still. As much as he would love for you to grind on his face, he needs to have his meal first. His tongue runs over your folds, finding that little bud you love so much to be touched. 

He sucks on it and pulls, stretching your clit. Your legs shake and you have to pull away from his cock to catch your breath. Lazy hands stroke his hard-on as you look back. You clench at the sight of his unruly hair peeking above your ass, the sounds his mouth makes as he laps at you.

Turning back to your literal task at hand, you find the energy to take his cock once more. You unhinge your jaw and exhale, taking Tarzan deeper and deeper until your eyes roll back. You hollow your cheeks and suck, moving your head back up until just the tip remains in your mouth, and go all the way back down.

Now Tarzan can feel the bliss of your mouth on him. He moans into your pussy and slightly jerks his hips up, making you gag around him once more. 

Feeling you work so hard makes him want to reciprocate. He shakes his head left and right to try and bury himself deeper. He uses his grip to force you further onto his face. Tarzan's tongue finds the squeezing entrance that he's breached so many times. He digs his tongue into you, finally getting a taste of you from the source. 

He's guiding your hips so you could drag your pussy against him how you like. Tarzan can feel your hips trying to pull away from him as the feeling of his tongue has gotten too much. And it has.

You're trying to distract yourself by deepthroating him, but it's no use. All you can feel is his experienced mouth, how he remembers every detail he knows you like. You can feel your orgasm approaching, and how it builds in your stomach rapidly. 

Tarzan feels your legs shake. Your thighs trembling and giving out, full lower body weight on his face. He can taste how the wetness has changed, thicker and tart. Tarzan knows this taste like the back of his hand. You're going to cum, give him that white cream he loves licking out of you.

You've completely stopped paying attention to his dick. A part of you should feel bad for neglecting him, but you can't seem to care as Tarzan's tongue fucks you. Instead, you find yourself humping his face, his mouth following as you approach your high.

You squeal as you come, clamping a hand over your mouth as you finish. Warm gushes out of you, body quivering as the eager man under you happily drinks it all. Tarzan gulps and slurps until he's beginning dripping from the corners of his mouth. 

He takes and takes until you're the one having to tell him no more, that you can't handle another orgasm. 

Tarzan hears the desperation in your voice, the way you plead. It takes strength for him to pull away from your pussy, a soft growl emitting from his chest. 

Then his thighs wrap around your head, securing you in front of his cock. You have no time to question him as you involuntarily take his cock into your mouth.

There's so much pre-cum dripping from the slit that all you can taste is its saltiness. He's throbbing, fucking his hips into your mouth as he holds you still with his legs. 

All you can do is take it. Lips wrapping around his girth as he desperately slides his dick in and out. You gag and silently plead for Tarzan to be gentler, but he's having none of it. Your hands warp around his thighs to steady yourself, your head bobbing uncontrollably to match his movements.

Tarzan twitches in your mouth once, stilling his hips deep into your throat. Tears immediately prick your eyes and fall down your face, and you swear your vision goes black for a fraction of a second before he pulls out. You get the chance to gasp for air as he lines up his cock to your lips again and shoves it back in.

You think you might pass out. You're at the mercy of Tarzan, and he's still unable to see how much stronger he is than the average man. Your mouth is nothing but a fleshlight to him as he makes you choke around him. It makes you feel like a toy, a warm hole for him to fuck his seed into.

And you wouldn't have it any other way.

The familiar twitch in his cock occurs again. Once, twice, then three times before he unloads in your mouth. Hot spurts of his cum find themselves in your throat, forcing you to gulp it down. 

Tarzan's hips slow, letting his cock drag against your lips before he finally pulls out. You cough and pant as his orgasm drips from your tongue. 

His thighs release you and you promptly plop down on them. You feel his hands rub soothingly over the curve of your ass, up and down your thighs. And an extra apology, Tarzan presses a kiss to your throbbing pussy. You chuckle and kiss his thigh back before sitting up, hoping off his face. 

You have to crawl to grab your camera, breathing a sigh of relief to see the red light still shining. You aim the lens at his face as he too sits up. You can see the arousal on his face from eating you out, his swollen lips, and messy hair.

"So," you start. "Tell me, Tarzan, did you like that?"

Tarzan's lips quirk into what you think is a smile before he looks at you directly through the camera. 

"Yes."

a/n: holy fuck I dont think y'all know how hard this was. I kinda went all out for the first one so the second one was hard as hell to match lmaooo. I physically and mentally can't do a third installment. this is the final one sowwy also I added some characters from the film! hopefully you caught that, I made Terk human, Tarzan needed a friend even if it's a fanfic

[civetcider]

As a kid I used to get these wild intense feelings about Terk and I didn't figure out that it was gender envy for like 20 years after that. Anyway, that gorilla transed my gender.

yeah it's honestly still really cool to see such a genuinely well written "tomboy" character for lack of a better term, i can only assume that's kinda what they were going for at least? haha, i actually rewatched tarzan the other day since i hadn't seen it in such a long time and she's still SO GENDER esp at the end of the movie where she's sad tarzan is leaving but hides it by pretending she doesn't care and Tantor yells at her for being emotionally constipated LIKE i didn't think i was gonna get called the fuck out but FINE, she is important to me, and it's crazy cuz i really feel like even today you don't see many characters like that in media

tarzan DOES just make me wish we got a movie without the boring hetty human romance and it was all about the gorilla troop drama, like the lion king or the old disney cat and dog movies TBH just my opinion no humans needed in this story just make a movie about gorillas tbh fr

but anyways my favorite character was actually tarzans mom here's my self insert fanart where after tarzans stupid dad dies or whatever i start dating his mom

[disneysactualfirstgaycharacter]

Terk from Tarzan (1999)

Gay as an Umbrella Term: Terk is considered to be visually and vocally androgynous, as her gender is called into question by those who have seen the film constantly.

Wait, You Were Joking?: The narrative pokes fun at her lack of femininity, as Terk is made to wear a dress during the second act of Tarzan in order to disguise herself as Jane, to very little effect to every character other than Kerchak.

VS

Shere Khan from The Jungle Book (1967)

It’s Fanon: Shere Khan exhibits what is considered to be campy behavior throughout the source material, leading him to be considered among the many queer-coded villains within Disney animated canon.

[s10127470]

The Disney Heroes Franchise: Slight Revision and Meet the Heroes (Part 1)

As I'm sure many of know, I made a post a little over a year ago about my idea on how I would revival the forgotten Disney franchise, Disney Heroes.

To this day, it's undoubtedly my biggest and most popular post.

If you want to check it out for yourselves.

At the end of that post, I promised to go more in-depth on my idea.

But for a long time, I've had trouble trying to continue the idea.

Largely thanks to stuff like focusing on my writing, college, etc.

But now since I'm free for the summer, I'm in a franchise mood.

So I'm back to continue my idea!

To start this off, I wanted to mention that although my original concept and idea for the franchise still stands, there is one change I decided to make.

And that's to the roster.

Essentially, the roster now is both bigger and smaller.

Basically, similar to other franchises, Disney Heroes will have Waves, with each one introducing new characters and locations to its brand.

Essentially, these next few posts about Disney Heroes will be focused on the hypothetical First Wave.

As for the movies that would be represented in the first wave, this would include all the films that were represented in the original franchise.

Those films being:

-Hercules

-Aladdin

-Peter Pan

-Tarzan

-The Sword in the Stone

-Robin Hood

-Sleeping Beauty

-Mulan

-Atlantis: The Lost Empire

As for our roster of heroes specifically, we have Merlin, Li Shang, Fa Mulan, Mushu, Yao, Ling and Chien Po, Hercules, Megara, Philoctetes, Pegasus, Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, Iago, Magic Carpet, Genie, Tarzan, Jane Porter, Professor Porter, Terk, Tantor, Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Wendy, Michael and John Darling, The Lost Boys, Arthur, Archimedes, Robin Hood, Little John, Maid Marian, Friar Tuck, Princess Aurora, Prince Phillip, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, Milo Thatch, Kida Nedakh, Dr. Sweet, Vinny, Audrey, Moliere, Cookie and Ms. Packard.

As I mentioned in my initial post, they were all brought together by Merlin after he found out about their respective villains deciding to team up together to further their goals. So now it’s up to the Disney Heroes to thwart their the villains’ plans and protect their respective realms.

Their headquarters is in Merlin, Arthur and Archimedes’ home-realm of Camelot, specifically in their castle they acquired at the end of their film.

But now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about the actual heroes themselves, starting off with....

Merlin:

The founder of the Disney Heroes, the ever-wise powerful wizard of Camelot, and frequent time traveler.

Merlin is basically the guy in the chair, similar to Oracle and Professor Xavier (though not literally as those two).

He’s the one who sends our heroes on their missions and keeps in touch with them while on said mission to inform them what they’re up against.

But despite that, Merlin is one of the most powerful members of the team, being a master sorcerer.

As for his outfit, it would look like this...

Archimedes:

You can't have Merlin around without his trusty owl!

He's usually hangs with Merlin and helps out with keeping in touch with the heroes.

And by keeping in touch, I mean he'll usually be throwing shade at them, much to Merlin's dismay.

As for his looks, he pretty much looks exactly the same as he usually does.

Li Shang:

Next we come to leader of the Disney Heroes since let's be real, out of this group, Shang is undoubtedly the most qualified to lead.

He's a skilled strategist and tactician, skilled in various martial arts, and fights with a gun (a type of staff used in ancient China) and a bow and arrows.

As for his outfit, Shang would wearing the exact same thing he had from the D23 Folktale Figurines Series, but with the addition of his father's helmet.

Hercules:

Next we come to one of the four heroes that start off the original franchise.

Hercules is the muscle of the team, thanks to his god-like strength.

In addition to being skilled in hand-to-hand combat and wrestling, he also fights with the Lightning Sword and Lion Shield.

Both of which were forged by Hephaestus, the former is a sword with a lightning bolt-shaped blade that can emit powerful electricity, and the latter is a golden shield with the face of a lion.

As for his looks, Hercules would be wearing the same outfit from the short-lived revamp during the original franchise's run.

Pegasus:

And what's a demi-god without his trusty flying steed?

Pegasus is able to fly at incredible speeds, allowing his rider to get to their desired location in the nick of time.

He's also decently strong, since he is, ya know, a horse.

As for his looks, they would be pulled from his Lorcana card.

Aladdin:

Here we have another member of the original four!

Aladdin is essentially one of the speed fighters of the team, thanks to his impressive speed and agility.

Plus the fact that he’s incredibly stealthy doesn’t hurt either.

In addition to that, Aladdin is also a skilled swordsman, fighting with a huge magical scimitar that given to him by Genie that can cut through just about anything.

He also carries a dagger with him for back-up just in case he can’t use his scimitar at the moment.

As for his looks, Aladdin would be wearing the same outfit he was suppose to wear for for the short-lived revamp.

Abu:

And what’s a street rat without his trusty monkey.

Abu essentially wears the same type of fez, vest and waist cloth like Aladdin, with the first two having the same color scheme as his usual outfit.

As you expect from a monkey, he’s incredibly quick, agile and nimble.

But that’s not all, because just like his buddy, Abu’s got…

(This was the best one I could find….)

Peter Pan:

We've come to the third member of the original four.

Peter is another one of the team's speed fighters, thanks to his ability of flight.

He also carries a variety of weapons on him, including a bow and arrows, a tomahawk, and of course, his trusty dagger.

Peter also utilizes his living shadow in battle, which he'll have as a tag-team of sorts.

As for his looks, Peter would be wearing the same outfit from the short-lived revamp as well.

Tinker Bell:

And you can't have Peter Pan without his trusty fairy companion.

Tinker Bell is the pure definition of small but mighty.

In spite of how small she is, she's strong enough to pick up a full grown human and throw them.

But in addition to her power of flight and producing pixie dust, Tinker Bell's true power lies in her mind.

Being carried over from her solo films, she's a tinkerer, creating a variety of weapons and gadgets to help her in battle.

Her most prominent weapon is a crossbow that she shoots stuff like nails and thorns with.

As for her looks, they'll be pulled from this Lorcana card.

Tarzan:

We've finally come to the final member of the original four!

Tarzan is one of the most well-rounded members of the team.

He possesses above-average strength, speed, agility and endurance.

Tarzan also utilizes a variety of weapons, including his bare hands, a spear, a knife, a bow and arrow, and even a vine lasso.

As for his looks, Tarzan would be wearing the same outfit he was suppose to wear for for the short-lived revamp.

Arthur:

Coming to The Sword in the Stone characters, we've arrived to the main protagonist of that film and one of the main heroes to start off the second wave of the original franchise.

Arthur may be one of the newbies of the team (since he's one of the youngest members), but he's notslouch in combat.

Thanks to some training from his foster father Sir Ector and the some of the other Heroes, Arthur has become a decently skilled swordman, wielding the legendary sword of Excalibur alongside a trusty shield in battle.

As for his looks, they would be pulled from this Lorcana card.

Robin Hood:

Here we have another main hero of the original second wave.

Robin Hood specializes in attacking enemies from afar with his trusty longbow and arrows.

But can also get close and personal with his sword.

As for his looks, Robin would be wearing the same outfit from the Folktale Figurines Series as well.

Prince Phillip:

Now we've come to the final member of the second wave.

Prince Phillip is one of best close-range fighters, being a skilled swordman and all.

In battle, he utilizes the enchanted Shield of Virtue (which can block and deflect just about any kind of magical attack) and Sword of Truth (which can slice through just about anything).

As for his looks, Phillip would be wearing the same outfit from the short-lived revamp as well.

Milo Thatch:

Here we have the final member to be introduced to the original franchise.

Milo is a perfect mix-between a ranged and physical fighter.

He'll fight from afar with a pair of mystical Atlantean boomerangs (with one being able to emit fire, while the other emits ice), but he'll also fight up-close with an Atlantean spear.

As for his looks, they would be pulled from this Lorcana card.

Well that's all for now.

I know some of you are wondering why I didn't cover everybody else.

Well I figured since there are so many members, it would be better to split this into parts so it doesn't become too long.

But for the heroes I did cover, you're probably wondering why I didn't got into their characters. Well that's because they're pretty much the same as they were in their respective films, so there isn't really a whole lot to go over in that department.

But I am planning on doing a post where I discuss some of the relationships among the team.

I hope you guys enjoy this post and let me know what you guys think about it!

[spiderdreamer-blog]

Tarzan (1999)

It's hard to define sometimes where the end of the Disney Renaissance period from the late 80s through the 90s is. After the release of The Lion King, the 2D animated features steadily made less money and critical acclaim became more mixed. There was a sea change occurring thanks to more competition from companies like DreamWorks and Warner Bros., as well as the advent of the computer. For me, the dividing line is 1999's Tarzan, mostly because it's after this point that we get to what I and others call the 2000-2004 "experimental" age with films like The Emperor's New Groove, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Lilo & Stitch, and Treasure Planet. But Tarzan has much in common with those films, representing a step away from the Broadway musical traditions and into a new, intriguing arena of animation storytelling. It's genuinely one of my favorite Disney films to revisit, and I hope this review helps explain why.

The story takes Edgar Rice Burroughs' initial novel Tarzan of the Apes as a guideline more than an actual adaptation, namely ditching concerns about nobility wealth inheritance and unflattering black African caricatures (the spinoff TV series would deal with the latter in trying to be, uh, less problematic about such). We pick up with Ye Olde Dramatically Convenient Boat Wreckage in a truly commanding opening sequence set to Phil Collins' anthemic Two Worlds. Tarzan's unnamed parents land in Africa and are put in parallel to gorillas Kala (Glenn Close, at the time coming off a very different performance for Disney as live action Cruella De Vil) and Kerchak (Lance Henriksen). Tragedy strikes for both families, and where one loses his parents, another gains a son. But Tarzan (Alex D. Linz as a child, Tony Goldwyn as an adult) grows up knowing he is "different", desperate to prove himself as an ape and belong. He seems to find an equilibrium, becoming best friends with Terk (Rosie O'Donnell) and Tantor (Wayne Knight at his most nebbishy), and even managing to vanquish Sabor, but then strangers arrive. Strangers who look like him, in the form of British scientist Archimedes Porter (Nigel Hawthorne), his daughter Jane (Minnie Driver), and their guide Clayton (BRIAN BLESSED). Now things steadily grow more complicated as Tarzan wishes to learn all he can about these outsiders and himself, but what might it cost?

One of the first, most notable things about the film to me is its complexity in the writing and characterization. Looking back, the Renaissance can have a problem in terms of male leads being love interests who don't get as much focus or slightly bland focus-tested "likable". This isn't true for ALL of them; the Beast has many layers to his personality, while Simba and Quasimodo are great, imo, because they have more baggage tying them down and thus more to rise above for true heroism. Nor does it make most of them bad characters. But it was notable enough, as was the tendency for them to be overshadowed by the villains or sidekicks, for co-directors Kevin Lima/Chris Buck and writers Tab Murphy/Bob Tzudiker/Noni White to slightly...course-correct.

Ergo, Tarzan himself is very much the main focus here. There's only one major sequence that he's not really involved with, and even when he's not onscreen, the other characters are as intrigued by his contradictions as the audience. (Insert your own Poochie jokes here, though obviously it doesn't come CLOSE to that) We truly feel his anxiety about fitting in, and the lengths he goes to are intensely relatable even at their most self-damning.

The other characters, too, feel richer and more lived-in than many of the standard types. Kala is a mother figure, one who tries to make Tarzan feel like he belongs, but is deeply scared of losing him. Kerchak is possibly my favorite character in the film because of how much you have to read into his actions because he holds so much back emotionally until the very end. Even then, he comes off as a more realistic harsh father figure than a caricature, and we can always understand where he's coming from. Jane is one of the best Disney love interests, meanwhile, feeling like a modern romantic comedy heroine with a lot of drive and initiative, as well as being just genuinely nerdy, which you don't often see even today. Clayton manages a nice two-step of seeming like an obvious bad guy but playing things down the middle until he gets what he wants. Even the comic relief gets good moments, such as Professor Porter gently supporting the romance or Tantor standing up for himself at a critical juncture.

Of course, what helps here is that said characters have some of the most beautiful environments and animation backing them up in Disney history. The African jungle is depicting as a kind of painterly, hyper-real fantasy, with impossible tree shapes and vines that bloom in the sunlight. And the then-revolutionary Deep Canvas CGI process allows Tarzan to soar through them, the camera spinning and rotating with each movement. The design sensibility is "classical" Disney to a large degree, but with slightly longer faces or larger eyes to add expressiveness. The California, Parisian, and Florida animation teams all clearly busted their asses to make this come to life. And Glen Keane's work with the Paris studio on Tarzan might be the best of his legendary career in terms of the variety of movements and subtleties in expressions. So too goes the rest of the supervising animators: Ken Duncan makes Jane truly lovable and wholly distinct from the likes of his Meg or Amelia; Randy Haycock gives Clayton a macho swagger that feels entirely his own rather than feeling like a Gaston ripoff; Bruce Smith combines remarkable anatomy work and microexpressions with Kerchak; Russ Edmonds' Kala is warm and motherly while never letting you entirely forget she's a gorilla; Dave Burgess makes Porter funny with his slightly squat, short shapes; and Mike Surrey and Sergio Pablos make for an excellent duo on Terk and Tantor in terms of contrasting their size, as well as the latter giving nervous-nelly body language to such a huge character. That's harder than it looks.

The aural end is just as good. Much hay and memery has been made of Phil Collins going ridiculously hard on the storytelling songs, which I fully support. But it really is true that they add so much here and take the burden off the characters in terms of singing save for the improvisational scat number "Trashin' The Camp". I'm partial to "Strangers Like Me" in terms of the earnest yearning and connections that Tarzan makes over the course of it. And of course the various versions of "Two Worlds" are essentially the mission statement of the film, complete with absolutely bitchin' percussion. Mark Mancina's accompanying score is also excellent, sounding like a fusion between The Lion King (which he produced/arranged for both the film and Broadway show) and his action movie work on projects like Speed or Bad Boys. Particularly great is the cue that plays when Tarzan defeats Sabor and builds up to his classic yell, which milks the heroic triumph for all its worth.

The voice cast is also excellent top to bottom. Goldwyn has a deeper timbre than many Disney male leads, less of an ingenue, and this adds to the stormier emotions; we truly feel his pain on lines like "Why didn't you tell me there were creatures that look like me?" But he's not TOO grim, thankfully, and gets some good subtly funny moments such as sounding out monkey noises in a conversation that Jane only hears one half of. Close is properly maternal, of course, getting her best showings in emotional one-on-ones with both Linz and Goldwyn as they hash out their relationship. Henriksen, like the animation, wisely underplays Kerchak and lets the emotion come out through his gruff, gravel-pit voice rather than obviously signaling things. Driver is hilarious and winning as Jane, getting some of the best laughs and most sweetly tender bits of the proceedings. It's all the more impressive when you consider she played Lady Eboshi in the Princess Mononoke dub the same year, which is the utter opposite of this performance. BRIAN BLESSED doesn't do a lot of his patented BRIAN BLESSED yelling outside of some choice bits at the end, but he makes a meal of Clayton regardless as a charismatic asshole, and I like how he plays a climactic bit of manipulation in particular. Hawthorne gets a much better showing here than his previous Disney voice role as Fflewddur Flam in The Black Cauldron, daffily sweet and humorous in equal measure, while O'Donnell and Knight are familiar vocally but use that to inform their characterizations rather than distract.

I think what I like most about this movie is that it feels incredibly well-rounded. Some Disney movies from this period might have a great villain or sidekicks but a weaker protagonist in Hercules or strong protagonists/villains but a weaker supporting cast as in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. (Then you have Pocahontas, which sucks on ALL ends!) In Tarzan, everything feels of a piece, and nobody jars against the tone or mood. Combine that with the dizzying highs of the animation and truly excellent emotional beats, and you've got a real winner that stands the test of time in my eyes.

[thatsprettylane]

Characters who actually fit the Barbie prison meme because you guys are ignoring the sidekick aspect of the meme:

Sam and Max (Sam and Max)

Luke Skywalker and R2D2 (Star Wars)

Ron Stoppable and Rufus (Kim Possible)

Link and Midna (Twilight Princess)

Shrek and Donkey (Shrek)

Spock and Jim Kirk, but only on Vulcan (Star Trek: TOS)

Tom and Jerry (Tom and Jerry)

Aladdin and Genie (Aladdin)

Yzma and Kronk (The Emperor’s New Groove)

Tarzan and Terk (Tarzan)

[moveslikeanape]

Happy Valentine's Day!

I've cleaned up/recreated some of the old Tarzan Valentine's cards. Feel free to save them and send them to your friends!

[rockybloo]

i dunno how you're gonna feel about this, but I showed one of my friends your art of Pin (he's my fav btw good work👍🏾) and they said that he looks like he sounds like Terk from Tarzan and I-

Wow-

I mean, Terk is one of my fav characters and was a gender awakening for me because her voice could be very ambiguous.

So I could see Pin with it very easily since he is a character who could have a masculine voice or a slightly more feminine one.

HELL I used to do ole ass voice clips of him myself.

[piracytheorist]

Sometimes I think about how I don't feel the non-binary label would fit me, and other times I think how my "imaginary friend" when I was little was actually non-binary, and how I would see animated characters without clear indicators of their gender, like Tweety or Terk from Tarzan and I would go "Huh. I don't know where I'd put them but neither in girls nor boys" without actually consciously thinking about the possibility of a secret, third option. I mean, not that that should necessarily say something, just that it's pretty interesting that without having had any knowledge about non-binary identities, I still came up with the idea of "neither girl nor boy" not only for my imaginary friend, but for certain fictional characters too, and felt completely comfortable with them not fitting one category.

[elijones94]

🦍 Young Tarzan ( sketchbook drawings I based on drawings by Disney animator John Ripa) 🌴

[lungfuls]

I've always gravitated to male characters/figures bc they're the ones who are ever written as actually funny/goofy yet sensitive. Always my favorite variety of character. Shouts out to Terk from Tarzan for showing me that gals can be silly too 😭 but ya. As much as it would be second nature for me to participate in blorbo culture lmao, I do know the degree to which that sort of thing centers on men is born from misogyny that maybe doesn't seem so deep in this context on the surface, but I think the exclusion of women from.. idk.. comedy? Fun. Goofiness. Ease. Is one of the more pervasive and harmful aspects of today's misogyny.. like, how many times have you heard "girls can't be funny" or "girls just aren't as funny as guys"? I've heard it a lot. And it's. Like. Here's the thing.. I am obsessed with being accurate. And like. Women ARE funny.. that's the troof