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Or "why I made a whole website dedicated to Major Mint"
Well, there are two basic reasons for this.
1. Major Mint is my favourite character in this movie. I'd go as far as to say I might not have watched it more than once if it wasn't for him. I was never really very girly, to be honest, and by the time this movie came out I was 10 and gradually moving out of my Barbie phase. But there was something about this character that I absolutely loved. About seven years later, I watched this movie again and was remind about how much I loved this character. I also watched "Barbie as the Island Princess" and got into the other movies as well, so you could say he's the whole reason I got into this fandom. Which brings me very nicely to:
2. He's underrated. I mean, REALLY underrated. This guy doesn't seem to get any love around here. Very few other Barbie movie fansites mention him (even ones supposedly about "Nutcracker"). Even Mattel ignore him by leaving him out of every single promotional picture. Whenever they bring the movie up nowadays, guess who is forgotten? You get my point. So this site is basically my tribute to him. Someone suggested I make it and I thought it was a good idea.
So... Why do I like Major Mint so much?
Oh, sure, like you're not wondering.
What grabbed my attention about Major Mint was how he was very well-rounded. One of the biggest complaints people have about the Barbie movies is how everything is "too perfect" (not my opinion, just theirs). Major Mint is not perfect, as I have mentioned on my character page. It's interesting to see a character on the good side who isn't all sweetness and light and actually has a few flaws to him. I suppose I could relate to a guy who lost his temper occasionally and wasn't exactly good at communicating with people. I'm not saying Mint is the ideal role model for young girls, but you see what I'm getting at.
One review of "Nutcracker" described Major Mint as a "stereotypical British officer". Well, congratulations; that's exactly what he was meant to be. The Major (and, to an extent, Captain Candy) are seen at the very beginning as toy soldiers; that probably ought to tell you something. Toy soldiers could be considered stereotypes; you will never meet a soldier in real life who behaves exactly like one. So is it really that surprising? It's also kind of interesting that they used such a masculine character in a movie aimed at young girls. If Mint had been a real person he'd probably be wondering what the hell he was doing in a world where most things appeared to be pink!
Another good thing about Mint is how he is a fantastic example of the following; not everyone who is good has to automatically be pleasant. The Major is far from friendly, but he is definitely not evil. In some ways, he reminds me a bit of a strict parent or guardian (Clara's grandfather, anyone?) who has your best interests at heart and isn't very good at showing it. Unfortunately, too many people get the wrong idea and this leads to reviews like this (he says "Captain Candy" but I think we can guess which character he means):
"Nice, but the British characters were the evil ones... The only problem I had was that English accents were chosen for the only 3 disturbing characters - the two villains and the hypocritical Captain Candy."
Which brings me very nicely to something that could count as no. 3 - he is misunderstood. MAJOR MINT IS NOT EVIL. I find it rather hilarious to believe anyone can think he is. Sadly, like a lot of funny things, it gets old very quickly and it finally got infuriating with this next review (once again, obvious name mix-up):
"There are two other characters, Major Mint and Captain Candy - both are portrayed as adults in the movie. Captain Candy is actually a mean old fart who reminds me of Colonel Mustard from the Clue Board game. Funny, in the toy stores, Captain Candy is really the little tommy doll! See? A movie for the toy industry period."
Yes, I think we can all see why I don't like that one. Other interesting comments about Major Mint include "obnoxious" and "ugly" (I'm leaving out "arrogant" because that's actually true). Apparently, because he's not always friendly and doesn't look like Ken, he is automatically evil. That's a good thing to teach children, isn't it? It's ironic that this same group of people often say Barbie is superficial, yet they have attitudes like that.
So, long story short; I felt he was underappreciated, misunderstood and a great character. That's a good enough reason to make a fansite, I guess.
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