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Insaniac is an animatronic toy, and one of the tritagonists of Small Soldiers. He was designed by Irwin Wayfair, an employee of Heartland Play Systems, for the Small Soldiers toy line.

Design

Insaniac's role among the Gorgonites is something of a wild card, offering creative problem-solving and a constant stream of one-liners. His race's society exists under an ideology of "logical anarchy", and that can be experienced through his chaotic behaviour and hyperactive personality.[1]
His glowing Gorgonite emblem can be found on his tribal necklace.

Small Soldiers (film)

Since Insaniac is a Gorgonite, he was not supposed to really do anything except to always have lots of fun and make jokes all the time. There were only two times Insaniac really helped out and that was when the Gorgonites finally tried to help the Fimple and Abernathy families fight back against the Commandos when they launched a full scale attack on the neighbourhood.

Insaniac assisted by jumping out of the dog door and starts spinning around and whacking every single Commando he saw with his flail. The other time when Insaniac helped was when Archer had to get to the top of the telephone pole. When Archer shot his armed crossbow over the pole, Insaniac caught it in his mouth and then started spinning around to reel up Archer to the top of the pole arm.

After the huge battle of the Gorgonite allies defeating the Commando Elite, Insaniac and the rest of the Gorgonites were found hiding under a huge satellite transmission disk that had shielded them from an Electromagnetic pulse that had wiped out their enemies for good.. Then a couple of days later Alan gave the Gorgonites a wooden boat in which the heroic creatures set sail on a river to go in search for their home world Gorgon.

Other Appearances

The Gorgonites' Quest (Book)

Top Secret Dossier (Book)

Small Soldiers (PS1) (Video Game)

Small Soldiers: Squad Commander (Video Game)
Insaniac appears as a playable character during the Gorgonite campaign, and as an enemy during the Commando Elite campaign. He attacks by spinning his flail.

Action Figures
The original Kenner action figure came bundled with a small, green, goblin-like character named Miniac.
This character has appeared as an action figure X times, including:

Trivia

  • Despite his biography listing his weapon as a mace, it is clearly a flail.[1] This could refer to an earlier draft of his design, or may simply be an oversight on the writer's/Irwin's part.
  • In the film, he jokingly refers to his weapon as "the old ball and chain", which is a reference to an old trope of sexist humour (as old as the 1800's), when a husband would liken his wife to a prison manacle.[3]
  • Insaniac's flail cannot be seen during scenes it isn't used, without explanation as to where he stores it.[citation needed]
  • He frequently makes references to popular stand-up comedians of the time when he speaks, with delivery reminiscent of Rodney Dangerfield and Robin Williams.
  • Insaniac's penultimate design has him wrapped in chains, leaving him with only his left hand to move, and right foot to hold objects. This design survived long enough to be made into a maquette, and can be seen on the trading card used as his profile picture above. A precursor to this version can be seen in one piece of concept art, which shows him wrapped in bandages like a straitjacket, limiting his movement in the same way.[1]
    • This chained design is referenced in one novelizations of the film, which also leaves him non-verbal beyond laughter, suggesting it was based on a earlier version of the screenplay.[citation needed]
  • Early designs for Insaniac showed him as a stereotypical witch-doctor, wielding a spear with trophy skulls. This then evolved into the more familiar design, with the added theme of voodoo pins.[1] While not officially stated, these tribal elements were likely toned-down to avoid racial insensitivity.
  • It is possible that the name of Insaniac's homeworld, Gormentia, is a play on the degenerative mental illness, dementia; somewhat tastelessly alluding to the unpredictable and strange behaviour of his species.

Gallery


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Dreamworks (1998). "Small Soldiers Top Secret Dossier", ISBN 0-14-130242-9
  2. Behind the Voice Actors: Small Soldiers. https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/movies/Small-Soldiers/
  3. Word Histories: ‘ball and chain’ (literal and figurative uses). https://wordhistories.net/2023/06/20/ball-and-chain/


Navigation
Gorgonites Canonical ArcherInsaniacOculaPunch-It and Scratch-ItSlamfistTroglokhan (Freakenstein)
Non-Canon ChanterFlatchoo (Belch Brigade) • Nibble (PS1)/(Toy)Stench
Commando Elite Canonical Brick BazookaButch MeathookChip HazardGwendy DollsKip KilliganLink StaticNick Nitro
Non-Canon BipodMortarSentryVasquez
Civilians The Abernathys AlanIreneStuart
The Fimples ChristyMarionPhilTimmy
Globotech Employees Gil MarsIrwin WayfairJoe KawalskiMs. KegelLarry BensonRalph Quist
Others BradMontgomery Heart
Locations "Real" The Abernathy HouseThe Fimple HouseGiant Toy WorldGlobotech IndustriesHeartland Play SystemsThe Inner ChildWinslow Corners
Fictional GorgonGorgonite Homeworlds
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