The animated series X-Men ’97 is getting closer and closer to its final stretch. This continuation of the iconic production has managed to captivate its followers with its first season – its penultimate episode premieres this Wednesday – and the secret of this not only revolves around the good story they cover, but also the remarkable design of its characters, maintaining the fidelity of the 90s classic. In that sense, Trome spoke with Amelia Vidal who serves as ‘Lead Character Designer’ for X-Men ’97, from Marvel Animation.
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From Uruguay, she comments on the details that stand out the most about the popular X-Men 97′, as well as the challenge it had and also the praise that the series is currently receiving, which has made it one of the most viewed the platform of Disney+.
How did you get involved in the X-Men ’97 project and what responsibility did you feel about reviving one of the most remembered animations of the 90’s?
When I was working on the latest character designs for ‘What if…? Season 2′ I was asked to do the designs for the X-Men ‘main team’ to make a style proposal and present to Marvel, which was looking for a Lead designer. I worked on the line up and when I presented it, I spent a few days with a lot of nerves until they told me that they liked it and that I was going to be the Lead character designer of the continuation of the original show from the 90’s. I was crazy with happiness! Once production began, I was lucky enough to be able to put together a design team with super talented artists who contribute a lot of creative ideas and develop the characters for the show with me (Steven Choi, Jerome K. Moore, Vy Tran, Alex Garner, Mariko Yamashin, Diego De Rose, Franco Spagnolo, Alejandro Moreno, Steven Russel Wells, Izzy Kersley, Chelsea Li and Paul Harmon, coordinated by Frank Moran.) As for the responsibility of designing the characters, and what is special about them is that They are characters that I have loved since I was little and I wanted to do the best job possible, but at the time I designed them I didn’t think that millions of fans would see them, because it would be too much pressure. Imagine working knowing that millions of people will see your work, impossible. When I design, it’s a moment between the character and me.
We see a lot of characters with a similar design to the original series, was there a particular reason for preserving their style?
As X-Men ’97 continues directly from the original show, it was essential to maintain the same tone. That the characters are recognizable, as if they were the same actors, but with enough upgrade so that they can do things in animation that we have not seen before.
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Speaking of the character designs, which one did you find the most complicated and which one did you enjoy doing the most?
Of those that already appeared, I think it was Ciclope. I designed it keeping the black of the suit that marks the anatomy because it seems to me that it is iconic to the 90’s version which is a translation of the comic to animation. The challenge was to make it consistent in animation and for this the anatomy had to be correct and for the animators to identify patterns that they can use as a guide so that the character remains in model when animating it. It’s hard to choose just one character that I enjoyed designing…I really liked Magneto, Rogue, Gambit, Storm, Jubilee…but also the others, it’s very hard to choose. I can tell you that if the ones I liked doing the most are a 10, the rest are 9.50. I like them all!
Audiences have loved X-Men ’97. In particular, what did you like the most after watching the series?
I love seeing the characters come to life, after spending so much time working on the characters and their details, seeing them come to life is a magic that never tires. With the design team we not only design the concepts, turnarounds and expression sheets, but we also do model adjustments and animation performance, so we spend a lot of time with them. So being able to see them in motion and recognize them on screen as the characters we met and doing such cool things is fantastic.
The first chapters of “X-Men 97” are available on Disney Plus. (Photo: Disney)
Finally, are there any mutants who haven’t yet appeared in X-Men ’97 that you would find challenging to design for a possible second season?
Right now we are working on a second season and I had the opportunity to design characters that are very loved by fans. I really want everyone to see them, but it’s a matter of wait and see. No spoilers!
