016. Thumper

Thumper is Bambi's best friend who is primarily known for his trait of repeatedly thumping his foot on the ground. His role in the film is to teach Bambi the ways of the forest. 

I've decided to model him like in the pose above, while also incorporating him thumping his foot to give him a little personality. This slight adjustment will probably be the trickiest part, but I think overall it'll be a pretty straightforward model to sculpt. I really like Thumper as a character and he's gonna be a really adorable addition to the collection so I'm quite excited for this one.  

The WIP post will be out either tomorrow or Tuesday when I've made some good progress on the model, Character trivia is below, see you in the next post!

• In reality, rabbits thump their feet when frightened.
• According to a line spoken by Roger Rabbit, he has an uncle named Thumper.
• Thumper is one of the Disney animator John Lasseter's favorite Disney characters, to the point that he named one of the grasshoppers in A Bug's Life after him.
• Thumper's original voice actor, Peter Behn, initially auditioned for the role of Bambi but was rejected. He was later chosen for the role of Thumper, based on his previous audition.
• Thumper was originally meant to have a much smaller role in Bambi, but when the animators noticed how cute the voice actor sounded, they insisted he had a greater role.
• Thumper was listed #44 in Empire Magazine's The 50 Best Animated Movie Characters.
• Thumper's father was originally meant to appear in the film but was scrapped.
• When the Disney Studio was commissioned to design troop insignia for the US Military in World War II, Thumper appeared on a few aircrafts as nose art alongside tanks and planes. A few munition factories even stamped pictures of Thumper to blockbuster bombs.
• In the 1963 Disneyland album Peter Cottontail, one of the stories focuses on Thumper called "The Story of Thumper". The story explains that Thumper used to thump uncontrollably when he was young before gaining control of it. The album also reveals the names of his four sisters: Blossom, Violet, Nillie, and Frillie.
• Thumper alongside Bambi and Faline appeared in the 1951 manga adaptation of the film by Osamu Tezuka with permission from Disney.