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vedj-f-bekuesu · 5 years

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So I’ve made a few posts analysing Rex Dangervest. That’s all fine and good because he does have a lot to analyse (it’s a very good film with a lot of emphasis on theming, it comes with the package).

However, I don’t think I’ve done any in-depth stuff with the other LEGO Rex most people know after that, and my PFP, Rex Fury. It’s a shame because I think between Chase Begins and LCU, there is a nice arc to analyse with Rex, but because way more focus is given to Chase’s arc (because protagonist and all), Rex is often seen as this pretty flat brute. So, I’m going to be tracking his characterisation between Chase Begins and LCU and showing that he too had a shift in character, and one for the darker at that.

Merry Little Troublemaker

In my last post related to Rex Fury, I drew comparison to Emmet in where his arc goes. That being said, I want to make clear that Rex and Emmet have very different start points; Emmet is a run-of-the-mill worker who ends up becoming a hero due to his inherent qualities prior to his turn. Rex Fury is a bad apple from the very beginning. LCU even explicitly states that Rex’s criminal career started when he was just six years old (although we’re only shown him winding up kid cops by taking their doughnuts).

All we know after that is that Rex eventually worked his way up the criminal chain to be considered the biggest criminal in LEGO City, and he has been arrested at least once before the events of Chase Begins. Then again, is being top of the chain really that much of a big deal if the competition isn’t that threatening. As we’ll see later, most of the crime he actually commits is closer to the standard of a very persistent above average criminal. The best comparison I can think of right now is Daisy Kaboom from LEGO City Adventures; she’s certainly the main criminal figure but she’s only got a bit more competence on her side compared to her colleagues.

A really important point I should cover at this point is Rex’s actual personality in Chase Begins. For a start, he’s very cocky and joyful, for lack of a better word. When he gets to meet Chase for the first time, it’s via a sneak attack when Chase shows up in the middle of Rex getting explosives for the main heist. But for most of it, he’s got an adorable happy little manner throughout. He’s even jokingly thanking Chase by the end of the conversation!

The notable exception to this is when Chase accidentally reveals that Natalia has been freed from her frozen state, which Rex presumably thought would be able to hold her until the heist was over.

Him taking the information in and rethinking the plan over is the first bit of vulnerability Rex shows, and it’s right in front of Chase’s face as well.

Second of all, Rex displays implicit but still very-much-present altruism. For example, the escape from Albatross Island he does involves freeing pretty much every prisoner, and not all of them end up working on his plan later either. Amongst them were four other major criminals considered comparable in rank to Rex himself. Out of those, it’s not clear who was working on the plan with him for sure, but we know at least Flash Johnson must have been since he was part of the Apollo Island distraction efforts. On top of all this, he later entrusts the abduction of Natalia (the only instance in the series where Rex abducts Natalia himself) and the Mayor to Snake and Bruiser (lower goons) respectively, while he sorts out something else. Compared to later conduct, that’s a high level of respect.

Finally, there’s the heist itself. The contentious and lethal part of Rex’s entire plan in the game is the use of dynamite on buildings. While in the real world that would be classed as a terrorist act probably, in LEGO terms that’s a pretty standard higher-level criminal thing (Daisy Kaboom, as hinted by the name, even specialises in it). Plus, as Deputy Dunby (yes, Dunby) realises, all of his actions (both the fires and the kidnapping) were intentional diversions, so if Rex banked on the police showing up to these places and saving the people trapped long enough to pull off the heist, he probably wasn’t intending for there to be loss of life. It’s a reckless plan, but not that malicious.

The Snapping Point

So as the big heist goes on, Chase eventually manages to work past the distractions and reach Rex Fury himself as he’s robbing the bank. Here is where his trademark anger really starts to flare, but even in this angered state he’s not that terrible. He gets a chance to show off his strength when he goads Chase to approach him (although he doesn’t throw him that far, so I’d say at this point his strength was merely above average and not super strength), he sets a fire behind him to put a barrier between him and Chase (which is more dangerous to him than Chase), he uses his dynamite to destroy property and not directly on Chase, and he even gets a bit of a casual word in with his goons.

After this, he is rightfully frustrated, which only heightens when Chase insults his education. They get into a fisticuffs on the stairs of the bank, which leads up to the only other bit of vulnerability Rex shows while coherent;

He’s recovering from the blows to his body (because he definitely is much weaker than in LCU), and as a result he decides to flee, taking a nearby rubbish truck. When that gets stopped, he does another runner, but when you get on the same vehicle, he resorts to hiding behind a shield while his goons try to attack you and fire with a water cannon (his only form of retaliation being to shunt the shield).

Chase manages to throw him off the truck in one throw, and upon landing he gets completely dazed, ending his plan once and for all. Dunby makes an easy arrest, Chase accidentally reveals Natalia is willing to testify against Rex while Rex looks on dazed still, all ends happy...according to Chase Begins.

LCU recounts this moment a little longer, but what is clear is that somewhere in that moment, when the humiliation, the anger and the failure against a complete rookie finally seemed to sink in, something in Rex Fury just...snapped, and he was no longer the run-of-the-mill criminal who was content with reckless distractions. Presumably while Dunby was seeing Chase off, Rex tried to do another getaway. His first showing of the change wasn’t exactly the greatest, granted (a lawnmower, really? Must have still been a smidge dazed), but what is notable is that the subsequent final arrest for that incident had him able to hold against six officers. If he was only a bit stronger in Chase Begins, how did he achieve that? Simple; the same way Emmet was able to achieve momentary feats of great strength, by channelling his heightened anger.

The Monster of LEGO City

After this point, Rex changed in a variety of ways, even if he still kept his position as top baddie. For a start, instead of being held in the regular part of the prison, he was given his own cell secluded in the warden’s office, effectively acting as a permanent solitary confinement. Over time, Warden Stonewall took the position from Warden Fielding. Unlike Fielding, Stonewall was corrupt, so to make his time easier with Rex he allowed concessions to Rex (basically anything he wanted if he was able to negotiate for it, and even allowing him to have the tools for escape, although he couldn’t just let him free as this would compromise his position). This meant two things happened;

1. He was able to build his strength. Much like Rex Dangervest, there’s solid evidence he had been following a kind of exercise regime with a punching bag and numerous dumbbells. This made the momentary burst of strength a permanent feature.

2, The altruism was practically gone. Instead of letting all of the other prisoners out in a grand scheme, his escape was only for himself, leaving everyone else to stay rotting in the prison. In addition, during his stay he had started to manipulate others into sourcing certainly luxuries, only to renege on the deal and stiff them. This is a tactic he’d eventually play to Vinnie with practically all the stuff Vinnie retrieved, when sometime after his escape from Albatross Island he agreed to work for Forrest.

It’s important to note how differently he does his plan in regards to others even once he’s freed. Instead of speaking directly to his goons, most of the communication is done through walkie talkies and is very impersonal (the exception is right at the very end, but even then his talk to them is very direct, not playful). He’s more willing to speak in person to those more equal to his station, but with Vinnie this was to continue “negotiations” and reveal a new tool in his arsenal; coercion by force. As for Forrest, this was probably the lightest he behaved, but it was still very matter-of-fact...mostly.

The third change, the one that had built up silently, is probably the most fundamental one of all; his mischievous, angry and reckless but ultimately still tame personality had been replaced with malice, hatred, cruelty and a thirst for revenge. Compare how he confronted Chase in Bluebell Mines in Chase Begins compared to the same confrontation in LCU.

There is no sneak attack here, he confronts him to his face in the open. And when Chase tries to retaliate, he responds in kind with a punch to the face. It also leads to the only moment what can be considered straight-forward glee he has; being told about the truck that’s been secured from the LCPD (a feed to his need for revenge). This is cut short when he loses his temper with the goons on hand with the ice cream truck, a much lower tolerance for their antics here than in Chase Begins.

Much later on, after Vinnie decides to (unwittingly) cross Rex’s boss, Rex begins to display how deplorable he’s really become when he orders his men to put Vinnie on ice, ironically being more outright gangster than mafia don Vinnie. Unlike with Natalia, there would be no way for Vinnie to eventually thaw out, so this was an explicit murder attempt (even if it may have been under orders from Forrest higher up).

This borders on depravity when Chase infiltrates Rex’s secret base to find Rex detaining and torturing Henrik Kowalski. It’s true that Rex was not the only one guilty of torture in LCU, but when Chan did it, it was in response to Natalia trespassing to find his secrets, and for the utilitarian purpose of extracting information about why she was there and what she had found out, before keeping her restrained up a crane once he’d got what he wanted. Forrest told Rex in the scene prior that he’s already secured the leverage that would get Henrik to talk (aka Natalia), but not only is this in response to Rex being keen to do this by physically beating him, he still goes ahead with a different form of torture when it served no purpose to the scheme. At that point it was for his sick pleasure. Again, not too dissimilar to Rex Dangervest, who had Emmet to rights under the dryer already but went along to gloat and eventually torture him to twist the knife in.

Also note that Rex had to be aware of what Forrest’s ultimate plan was when he was granted his own spacesuit and would have need to travel to Blackwell Tower right after the torture scene. Given his eye roll when Henrik explains that the original proposal would have caused the animals to die (he was shown to be somewhat of an animal lover in Chase Begins), his sneer in anticipation of Henrik being threatened with his daughter’s life and complete lack of response to Forrest concluding his message (to take Natalia to the ship), Rex is 100% complicit in homicide on a mass scale.

Way up in space, Rex shows off the only other time he shows more of his old spirit; bragging to Chase about how he was the one who got him the robot T-Rex (the one Rex was now going to use to try and kill Chase). After this point though, between Chase besting the robot and Forrest stabbing him in the back, he becomes consumed with anger. He doesn’t show vulnerability this time, he just rages in response to Forrest. Even after the unit explodes and he barely survives on the ruins, his only goal is to kill Chase. While he does elect to use a shield for a bit, when the thing comes down he tries to run Chase down, choke him and throw him off the edge, he doesn’t hide. Throwing bodies at him only dazes him, which would have ended his scheme in Chase Begins but is merely a minor setback here. Only when the unit is broken completely and Rex is left to fall to the planet does his plan come to a stop. For reference, even Rex Dangervest shows vulnerability right up until Emmet makes it clear that he refuses to go along with his plan after learning all the hurt he caused, making him go insane. It’s implied the same has effectively happened here (”Are you mad?! We’re plummeting to out doom!”).

He gets humiliated further when he lands in a toilet, but even with the toilet on his head and with handcuffs on, after falling through space, he had enough resistance left to give the two officers moving him a hard time. It’s unknown how his future would pan out from that point.

The last thing I want to cover is how this is symbolised by his clothing ware. The beginning of Chase Begins and LCU imply that Rex isn’t a stranger to being bare-chested, but it’s always been very temporary. When he first appears in person in Chase Begins, he wears full clothing; a vest and a domino mask. When Chase has angered Rex outside of the bank, he’s not wearing his domino mask, stripping a layer from his self. In the ending, he wears the domino mask again but it slips off, and the domino mask is never seen again. LCU then shows the vest for only a brief time before he spends the rest of the game (up to the space suit) bare-chested, this time making the exposure to his more raw side a permanent fixture.

So there we go, an (over)analysis of Rex Fury and what elements make him so interesting to me. I think it helps he was given two games to work across. Plus, outside of all this, he’s entertaining as heck.

#rex fury #lego city undercover #VEDJ-F talks #a lot #it's only fair really

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brickowskibois · 5 years

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Late nights... or early mornings, depending on how you look at it

A little drabble about Rex struggling to fit in again that I made to cope

"Rex?"

Rex looked up from the blueprints he had been examining, meeting Lucy's gaze in surprise. He hadn't even heard her enter the room.

She stood in the doorway in her nightshirt, hair still rumpled, but her eyes were awake and attentive as they scanned Rex's face.

"Are you all right? I felt you leave bed, and got worried when you didn't come back..."

"Ah, nah, I'm fine, don't worry about it. Just the usual trouble sleeping. Thought a little jaunt through the house could help." Rex smiled slightly as Lucy walked over, taking the seat next to him. "Is Ems still asleep?"

"You know him, he could sleep through a freight train driving right through the middle of the room." Lucy gave a small laugh. Then she leaned over, letting her head fall on Rex's shoulder. "Whatcha looking at?"

Rex tried to ignore his blush, returning his attention to the blueprints in his hands. "Just checking out Emmet's latest project. Looks like he's designing something for Riptide Dave."

"He's going by 'Riptide' now?" Lucy snorted, rolling her eyes. "And here I thought I changed my name a lot..."

Rex chuckled, tilting his head to rest on Lucy's. "Yeah, well, gotta cut him some slack. He's still figuring himself out. Not everyone is as good at that as you were."

Lucy lifted her head from his shoulder to look at him properly, raising a brow slightly. "... I take it you're not just referring to Dave?"

"Oh, here I was trying to compliment you, only to have you go all psychologist on me? How dare you." Rex shook his head in mock disappointment.

"Oh come on, Dangervest, you know I can read you like a book! Don't act so surprised!" She gently took his arm, giving it a soft squeeze, making him look back at her. "I can tell a lot has been on your mind recently. I'm guessing that's why you couldn't sleep...?"

Rex sighed. She really did know him frighteningly well... There was little point in hiding the truth from her now. "... Yeah. I have been doing a lot more thinking than usual... about... myself."

He looked back at the blueprints he held. It was almost impossible for him to believe that, at one point in time, he could have been the one doing this. Designing wonderful things for all of his friends, bringing their dreams to life, creating something new where there had been nothing before.

Rex couldn't remember the last time he had built anything, much less something of his own design. He idly wondered if he even could anymore...

"... Emmet has his construction job, you have your music, but I'm just... drifting. I thought things would get easier with time, not harder... But now, seeing you two so happy and confident in your paths, it just makes it all the more apparent that I... don't have one."

Rex sighed, setting down the design again. "I'm happy for both of you, I really am. I just... It's hard to stay positive when I feel so lost. A majority of the time, I don't even know what the hell I'm doing here..." He bit his cheek, mentally scolding himself. He hadn't meant to say that last bit aloud, Lucy was definitely going to look too deeply into that...

Lucy was silent, no doubt turning over his words in her head. Then she leaned towards him, wrapping an arm around his waist, once again resting her head on his shoulder. "I know how you feel, Rex."

"You do." He had intended to phrase it as a question, but her gentle touch had temporarily robbed him of breath.

"Mhm." She paused, organizing her thoughts. After a moment she nuzzled his shoulder, then continued. "After the rebellion... I didn't know what to do with myself. I threw myself into going full 'apocalypse' because, well, it was something. But now I know that it wasn't quite me. And... I didn't even realize I was pushing you away while I was doing it..." She holds him tighter, giving a quiet sigh. "It's not easy, I know. And you're right, it probably won't get any easier. But there's no rush, Rex. You have the rest of your life to figure all this out. And I have no doubt you're gonna find what makes you happy. Might not be anything quite as exciting as defending the galaxy or pioneering the wild west, but... I'm sure you can find something worthy of you."

Rex beams at her, truly touched by her words. "... You think so...?"

"I know so, silly." She reaches up, angling his face so she could kiss his cheek. "Now... come back to bed. We miss you Mr. Insomniac.~"

Rex chuckles, rubbing her arm gently. "Okay, I guess I can save the worrying for later."

"You better! You still owe us, like..." She glances at the clock on the stove. "... four more hours of snuggles."

Rex snorts, grinning wider. He keeps an arm around her as he stands, moving his other arm under her legs and scooping her up. "Guess I'll start paying up then!~"

#the lego movie 2 #rex dangervest #lucy lego movie #WyldStyle #dangerstyle #rexmetstyle #ficlet

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burgycreeper405-blog · 2 years

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Rob Dangervest after he back to the futured :D

yes, he ain't wearin the vest anymore and he's not like a space adventurer or something like that, he just became a normal citizen again and his job is a construction worker again

if he gets found vs not

if he gets found a bit late

yes, there's two outcomes.. well, three actually but the 3rd one is just a bad timeline for Rob

explanation/lore down below so there's a whole lotta readin, hope you're prepared

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so, gonna try and info dump and it's gonna be messy dab

when Rob bttf (back to the futured), he woke up in a desert, just outside the city

he didn't hesitate to go in the city, he just walked around, looking around everything that changed, he keeps seeing food, but he doesn't have any money to get one

he just keeps on walking, and walking around the town, he sits down on the floor or just an empty chair or a bench to rest, but he hasn't eaten anything yet, he has done nothing but walk for almost the whole day and then his mind is starting to get hazy

when he started walking again, he just looked almost dead, bcuz of how hungry he is and his mind is starting to lose it

he was walking for a while and then he got tired so he just sat down on the side of the road, he's just looking at the ground not thinking of anything

after a while of just sitting there, he suddenly felt a hand touching his shoulder, he looked up and saw Sweet, she may have changed her attire and the color of her hair, but he could never forget he beautiful face, so he smiled and started tearing up, "..Sweet..? You- You finally came! I-It's been so long- I thought you forgot about me.. why did you forget about me? am I just that easily forgettable??"

Sweet's eyes were widened after that, a part of her was telling her that this man was Benny, the man who she loves who disappeared for years just suddenly came back out of nowhere and he looks so so different, but it's just so impossible to believe but a part of her is telling that it's really him, so she brought him back to her apartment and tried to take care of him til he gets better

and that's in the "if he gets found" timeline

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if he didn't get found by sweet

the first half still happened, but he's just sitting there til sunset, no "someone touched his shoulder"happening, and when sunset arrived, he just blinked, and he looked around, looking for something, or rather, someone

and then suddenly, he just stood up and started walking, but this time, he started shouting for Sweet's name and just started to panicly looking around the place

he's just frantically shouting and looking for her and other people are weirded out by him, some people tried to help and asked him what's wrong, but he's just lost his mind, so someone started calling 911

the ambulance arrived and tried to bring Rob to the mental hospital, but when they grabbed him, he started to push them and punched one of them, and he started running away from them, still calling out to Sweet

but suddenly, one of the police caught up to him and just started to electricute him just to get him down, the police got him and he started to pass out, last thing he saw was the police and nurses walking towards him, and then he's out

when he woke up, he just woke up in a room, he can't move his arms so he started to panic, until a doctor or a psychiatrist came in, "Please, help me! I need to save Sweet! Please!" he says or kinda shouts to them, then the doctor said, "Don't worry, your sweet is gonna be okay. You just need to stay here til you get better. Now, do you know your name? Any friends or family that you can easily contact?"

"Please, I have no time for this! Just let me go! I need to find Sweet-!"

the psychiatrist wrote something on his clipboard and then he started to walk out of the room

"Hey-! Wait!" he tried to get up but it's a bit hard when you can't move your arms, but he managed to do it anyway, "Don't leave me here! Please! I need to save my friends!"

he looked around but all he could see were white walls.. he felt so alone.. he couldn't help but cry.. he felt useless.. he couldn't save his friends.. he couldn't even save himself and escape from this place..

everyone was right, he's just nothing

bcuz of his mindset, he doesn't remember that he just time travelled back in the past and got bttf, his brain just made him think that he somehow escaped Undar, and now he's in syspocalypestar, so he tried to find and save his friends, but he thought that those guys just brought him back to Undar, but more worse

so, he's just endlessly hoping for Sweet and the others to save him from this place, and since he's all alone, plus he can't move, and those doctors, nurses or psychiatrists just doesn't let him leave or take off the straight jacket (cuz they're scared that he might lash out and start hurting people), his mental illness is just slowly but surely worsening, even if the psychiatrist work their azz off to get him better, it's just not working.. he's just slowly losing his mind

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there is a different outcome to the "if he didn't get found" timeline (aka the 3rd pic above, the "if he gets found a bit late")

when he's still in the mental hospital for like, a few months, he's just starting to lose his mind, the psychiatrist keeps on hearing Rob mentioning the name "Sweet", so they asked the General, or even the Queen herself if they know anyone by that name, and boy oh boy did the General or the Queen just told Sweet the news..

but, Sweet is having a hard time believing it.. but they still went to visit and check who this "Patient R" is

and when they got there and saw Rob.. Sweet is having second thoughts, cuz this guy doesn't look anything like the guy she knows and love.. he's just crazily laughing, and crying in the room all by himself,.. but when she heard him talk, her heart started to pound, she hadn't heard that voice in years.

so when she finally came in the room.. a part of her is doubting that that's him, but she just gotta know, so she called his name,.. and Rob looked at her.. he became quiet all of a sudden.. until he just started to cry, "..S-Sweet..? Is that really you?? Y-you're actually here-?"

And that's all Sweet needs to know if it's him, she runs up to him and hugged him immediately and she just started crying

and he just sobs, words cannot express how happy and sad he is, if he could, he would hug her back, "You look s-so happy when I was gone.... You f-forgot about me... didn't you?"

she lets go and looks at his tired, sad eyes, "Wh- No, i would never forget about you! I-.. I'm so sorry- I didn't mean- I just- We couldn't find you a-and it's been years- I thought you were dead- I'm so sorry, Benny" and she teared up and hugged him again

Rob was just lost for words, so he just leaned his head on her and just teared up as well

and timeskip to that, Sweet just started to visit him almost everyday, and surprisingly for the psychiatrist, Rob is slowly but surely getting better, until timeskip to Rob staying at Sweet's apartment and just like in the "if he was found" timeline

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Sweet is the only one who can help Rob get him back to normal, plus with professional help, but without Sweet, those professional help will just be useless

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Rob, if he's okay now, lets go most of his tough act, but he's a nice and calm guy, but he also has anger issues, Rob does still act tough, but not really rude.. unless you're rude to him then he'll be rude back at you

but if it's someone named Lucy/Wyldstyle, then he's just gonna hate them

note: he just hates someone who has that kind of name, appearance doesn't matter, so if you're named Lucy or Wyldstyle, he'll just get mad at you every second you're face to face with him

he doesn't get angry that much, it depends really, but he's mostly just calm about it,.. but IF someone mentions the name "Lucy" or "Wyldstyle" or even interacts with somebody who's names are those, he will explode..

well, sometimes, depending on who mentioned it,, if it's his partner/s or friends, he will just get mad at them, don't talk to him if he's mad cuz say one thing wrong, his anger will just add up and it will really take a long time for him to cool down

but if he's face to face with someone who's name is either Lucy or Wyldstyle, he will rage and has the urge to just hurt them, but he's just stopping himself, he just wants them out of his space

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k, thas all for now, tis a very long post lmaoo, hope you had fun reading, if not, then sorry but also not sorry for wasting your time, you choose to read it anyways

#burgy talks #burg art #the lego movie #the lego movie 2 #tlm au #rex dangervest #tlm character swap au #tlm benny #rob dangervest #general sweet mayhem #sweet mayhem

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