Do we even know if the kid was a "brat" and pissed off Pluto? Maybe Pluto and the kid were playing around? I think it's a sad state of affairs when the characters at the parks get picked on and knocked over. It's no wonder they don't wander freely anymore. Leave it to the annoying guests to ruin it for everyone.
I wish the entertainers in RollerCoaster Tycoon would go berserk every so often and chase and/or assault guests. It would make a good Easter Egg feature. Was it Eyore or Tigger who groped some lady a few years back?
This is most interesting since costumed characters are NEVER supposed to even remotely do anything like this *ever*, even if a guest comes up and beats the living **** outta him.
At first I thought it was a joke until the mom came up and he "surrendered". I agree, where the hell was his handler? I don't know official Disney guidelines for this kinda thing, but if the character is being picked on don't they just go away?
Obviously PLuto was upset about something. Towards the end he gave a look around like "did you see what the little **** did to me" The kid had to have done something to set him off. I agree where was the handler, probably was on the other side of the film trying to head the kid off. Nothing like this should happen but seriously. How much of this crap can a minimum wage park employee take who has to deal with people like this everyday in a suit the probably weighs 100 lbs and is hot as hell.
Honestly, i was just impressed he could run that well in that thing.
The mother should have yanked her kid around and chewed his butt in the first place like she did to Pluto, but then there would have been nothing to video.
I hardly ever seen costumed characters at the parks I go to now, but when I was a kid they always had someone with them. They help with arranging pictures, crowd control, and keeping kids from doing things that could make Pluto go nuts. He may be domesticated, but you have to remember he is still an animal and will act like one when provoked. It would have been interesting to see what he would have done if he actually caught the kid.
Someone asked about handlers... are there ever handlers out with the costumed characters? I can't remember ever seeing them.
Yes there are, always. They generally stand back, for example they'd be around the person taking the video, opposed to always next to Pluto. When there is a line for a character (even if it's a roaming one), they either stand out of sight of the camera or next to the person taking the photo. The job of the handler is to make sure guests are under control and to get the character out of a bad situation as fast as possible. As anyone who has been in a costume before can attest it's nearly impossible to see outta those things, so having an extra pair of fully working eyes is always helpful.
