ELKO — Adrian Ropp is a man of many talents, working as the head of story on franchise video games such as “Disney Infinity” and “Hogwarts Legacy.” He started as a hand-drawn animator, working on films such as 2002’s “The Princess and the Pea” and serving as the animation director for 2009’s “The Velveteen Rabbit.” He also has been an illustrator for “Archie” comics Ropp spoke about his colorful career and journey of personal growth at 2024 Elko Pop Con.
For working on the “Disney Infinity” games, which involve a crossover between various Disney characters via interactive figurines, Ropp said he faced the challenge of putting familiar characters into a video game while keeping them true to the reasons audiences adore them. “Every time we worked on a character, we researched them really well. We worked on everything from ‘Bolt’ to ‘Meet the Robinsons’ to ‘Hannah Montana,”’ Ropp said.
“When you have the opportunity to work with these characters that are so beloved, you have to take it very seriously. You have to really understand why they're beloved, and realize that once you finish a story, it goes out into the world and it's not your story anymore. It belongs to the whole world,” Ropp said.
“‘Disney Infinity’ has been canceled now for nine years, but I still have people coming to my booth and having me sign their figures and bringing me boxes to sign, and they say, ‘I still play this with my family all the time,’” .