How much do the leaders look like their RL counterparts?

nukehumvee

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Yep, thread title says it all. How much do you think the leaders in Civ5 look like the ones in real life?

Below is my analysis on the current 23. You can have your say about all 24 of them (I hear the Danish are coming).

George: Almost exactly like in real life. No surprise here.
Harun: I don't know if he really kept peacocks in his garden, but I think they have captured his essence, that of a caliph.
Monty (the First): No actual picture exists of Monty, but I bet the guys did some hard work putting authenticity (or shall I put in this context, some Aztec-ness) into him. Just hoping no one will make fun of him and make a female version... Like someone did with his grandson.
Wu Zetian: Being honest, I may not be seeing at the actual image of the Empress. But then props again to Firaxis for putting real effort.
Ramesses: I thought Firaxis would model him with the same Pharaoh's crown. They changed it. Still, the guys did an awesome job.
Lizzie: At first I thought: What, the English leader is the Red Queen? Someone must've watched too much Alice in Wonderland (the unfortunate newer version). Then after much scrutiny her hair kinda looks like the real thing.
Nappy: Another carefully made character. Nuf'said.
Otto: I. Could. Not. Recognise. Otto. Without. His. Helmet. Now I can.
Alex: As always, leaders without real pictures of them are a pain to build. At least Alex now looks like a general going to war (which he really was meant to be) than the democratic leader look-a-like in Civ4.
Gandhi: Gandhi was one real pain when he becomes a Civ leader. He looked funny. He looked peaceful. He launched nukes when you din't notice. Now the guys fixed him and he can now stand tall (no pun/joke intended) among other leaders. But he will still nuke you.
Ayenwatha: We never seen him in real life, but I bet if I met Ayenwatha, he would look like that.
Oda: Yep, that's the hairstyle of a ronin Oda prefers. But the guys forgot that Oda likes archery, and his suit should have no sleeves.
Suleyman: Has beard. Has belly. Has oversized turban. Good.
Darius: Another guy with no real pics. But then looks better than the funny-looking him in Civ4.
Augustus: I'm surprised the guys picked him instead of Julius. But then again they did a fine job making a lazy-looking emperor out of him. No offence.
Cath: Looking hotter and hotter from title to title isn't normal. But on Cath it is. Cath, not even once (she denounced me the most so far).
Ram Khamhaeng: I've seen the statue, and the King of Siam ingame really looks like the statue.
Askia: By bringing out the River Warlord out of him, the guys are once again getting my claps. I'm still not sure it's him though.
Neb: Looks like Darius, only he has brown hair, and is sitting in a darker palace.
Temujin: This is the most handsome Temujin I've ever seen.
Pachachuti: I've only seen Huayna, now they changed him with Pacha. I don't think that's how he looks like.
Izzy: She now looks more like the near-theocratic queen she nearly was. Still, I miss the hotter Izzy from Civ4.
Kamehameha: If that's how Hawaiian kings are supposed to be, I'll believe it's him. Right now I do believe.
 
I think they're generally pretty good. I think Ramkhamhaeng looks flabbier and shorter than his real life counterpart, which apparently created some controversy because people felt he resembled an apparently controversial or oppressive Prime Minister.

I thought Suleiman looked too far at first, but I just compared pictures. It's just his Santa clothing that made me think he looked off. I think he's pretty good.
 
There are plenty of representations of Alexander; the problem is that they are all in the ancient Greek tradition of portraying the subject in as flattering a way as possible, since the job of the artist was to dig beneath the substance of a person and present the ideal. (I think that's the gist of it, but it's been over a decade since I studied classical Greek art). As a result, we really have no idea of what any significant figure in classical Greece looked like - except Socrates had a potbelly and Pericles had a funny-looking head (hence the helmet - maybe). CiV Alexander looks pretty much just like those statues. I don't know where CIV Alex came from, but maybe he's supposed to be a more realistic portrayal.

And I agree on Catherine. This is the only Civ game I can think of in which her avatar looks anything like the actual person.
 
I think they're generally pretty good. I think Ramkhamhaeng looks flabbier and shorter than his real life counterpart, which apparently created some controversy because people felt he resembled an apparently controversial or oppressive Prime Minister.

I thought Suleiman looked too far at first, but I just compared pictures. It's just his Santa clothing that made me think he looked off. I think he's pretty good.

That said, I do think Ram Khamhaeng actually looks like that PM.

Haha, I thought Suleyman look Santa-ish too.
 
There's a photo of Otto von Bismarck sitting down on a table or something and looking vaguely glum: they took Otto's representation from that. It shows him without his helmet. :D

Pachacuti's in-game image and Kamehameha's image are both strongly based on metallic statues of them, and can be seen on Wikipedia.

Wu Zetian looks far too young to be an empress...and checking Wikipedia, she was an empress when she was a granny. Her in-game representation is an idealised vision of her in her younger days as Empress Consort imo.

Montezuma is fairly inaccurate, imo. He lacks the robes of most Aztec emperors, and he looks more like a dancer than anything else.

George Washington's nose should be more prominent, but his background scenery follows that of a famous painting of him very closely. :D

Rameses II's is based on a dark black statue of him (with the pharaoh's scepter/crook thingy too), and perhaps also based on his lean skeleton. His facial structure follows it fairly closely, imo.

Ramkhamheng looks almost nothing like that statue of him available, and does rather resemble the PM. Aslo, the Buddhist head statue in his garden is inaccurate and actually somewhat offensive, as was pointed out by Thai Civ fans. The only thing they got right was the jungly look of Thailand and his headwear.

Overall I think they did decently, some great hits, some great misses.
 
For Ramkhamhaeng, which I don't want to go back down the road of the old thread. Look at the statue, look at his icon, and then look at the character. There's a sort of transition. Essentially, the character is a bit stockier and a bit flabbier. He still has a general resemblance, he also just has a general resemblance to someone else.
 
I quite like Ramkhamaeng, he looks kind of stern. I think the leaders look a bit prettier than they would have done but that's understandable.
 
I know this thread's kinda of dead, but I will comment.

George Washington-clothing right on track, perhaps he looks too handsome, doesn't hint at the fake teeth he wore
Harun Al-Rashid-no real pictures of this guy, I guess his look is accurate for an Abbasid Caliph
Montezuma I-only a tiny representation of him exist, he should have more clothing, and no skull on his crown
Wu Zetian-much younger and lacking the headdress in her older depiction
Ramesses-has the blue crown, can't really tell if his hair is red like the real one
Elizabeth-guess this looks accurate, maybe beautified
Napoleon-he looks like his depictions
Bismarck-looks accurate
Alexander-shouldn't he be blond? I read his real counterpart had heterochromia and a neck deformity,
Gandhi-pretty accurate
Hiawatha-I thought maybe his skin is a little too light, but maybe I'm wrong
Nobunaga-resembles the drawing by the Jesuit
Suleiman-perhaps his beard is too large, but he liked huge turbans
Darius-looks like the Persian depiction of Achaemenid kings
Augustus-said to have light colored hair, also had connected eyebrows
Catherine-beautified of course
Ramkhamhaeng-no contemporary depiction exists, perhaps does look similar to Shinawatra
Askia-no real depictions, burning background doesn't suit him
Nebuchadnezzar-should look like Darius in style, helmet is kind of weird
Pachacuti-looks like statue, no contemporary portrait exists
Isabella-doesn't reveal her auburn hair, she does look attractive compared to real depictions
Kamehameha-looks like statue, there are portraits in European garb and no helmet
Harald Bluetooth-no real depiction, at least no horned helmet but wings
Sejong-looks like his depictions
 
Most of the male leaders' arms (and bodies) look scrawnier 'n heck. While I wouldn't expect the older and tireder versions to have musculature like a bodybuilder, I don't think the younger, combat-aged leaders would all have had arms that looked like a wimpy scribe's instead of a man who'd reached the pinnacle of empire leadership by being one of the strongest and fiercest fighters in their land. Questionable body-art, there. Artistically pretty strange looking.
 
I've always been confused about Augustus' representation. This guy was a brilliant and hugely energetic man, and the only adjective that comes to mind when I see his leader screen is "lethargic."
 
He's supposed to be acting arrogant and superior. Probably made more sense for later Emperors that the Princeps civitatis, but I at least see where they're coming from. He was without equal in the known world at the time (where other monarchs at least had equals from other states).
 
I always got "world-weary" moreso than anything else, which was apparently very much Augustus' attitude in his later years.
 
Ramkhamhaeng:
Spoiler :
Unfortunately for Ramkhamhaeng, he resembles a rather controversial PM, so far anytime anyone has seen Ramkhamhaeng in the game, they all say the same thing, "Is that Thaksin?"

What really annoys me is that head in the background! Doesn't look remotely thai to me! A wooden Sala (gazebo) would have been a better choice.



Askia:
Spoiler :
Reading his wikipedia article, he seemed more like a patron of the sciences, rather than a warlord.



Sejong:
Spoiler :
I've one thing to say, lightbulbs.... It's amazing they made a mistake that big.
Spoiler :
Look at the lamps to see what I mean.
 
About Ramkhamhaeng:

He does resemble that prime minister and it seems likely Firaxis used that person at least partially. However, he is also based on a famous statue of Ram. Basically, take that statue and make him look flabbier and less idealized and you end up with the Civ5 leader. My guess is Firaxis figured the statue made the guy look more perfect than he was, so they wanted to also look at a real Thai leader and compare the difference. The result is unfortunate in some circles, but I certainly don't think they were trying to make any political statement with it.
 
About Ramkhamhaeng:

He does resemble that prime minister and it seems likely Firaxis used that person at least partially. However, he is also based on a famous statue of Ram. Basically, take that statue and make him look flabbier and less idealized and you end up with the Civ5 leader. My guess is Firaxis figured the statue made the guy look more perfect than he was, so they wanted to also look at a real Thai leader and compare the difference. The result is unfortunate in some circles, but I certainly don't think they were trying to make any political statement with it.

I agree with that, it's not a political statement, I just find shows a lack of effort into research, however, it's a more recent issue one so it's understandable, however the lack of effort in research on thai culture is more evident in the head statue in the background, a quick search on thai art and architecture or culture and customs would have made it obvious that it shouldn't be there.

On the other hand, the choice of a Wat for the UB is a wonderful one, much better than the Ho trai usually found in mods here IMHO. I'm going off topic however.
 
And some say Ramkhamhaeng in Civ5 resembles Chow Yun-fat, who, as you may know, played a Thai king in the movie "Anna and the King".

>sukritact

The head is indeed annoying. In any Buddhism tradition, a statue of Buddha should always depicts the whole body.

The Sejong lightbulbs are... :wow:
 
And some say Ramkhamhaeng in Civ5 resembles Chow Yun-fat, who, as you may know, played a Thai king in the movie "Anna and the King".

Never watched it, the film was banned here apparently, the 1956 version certainly was, but you're right, they do look similar.

The head is indeed annoying. In any Buddhism tradition, a statue of Buddha should always depicts the whole body.

A statue of buddha isn't normally used for decoration (at least traditionally) and is normally housed in my experience, so it still would have been weird. A spirit house (Although I'm not sure if they existed in Ramkhamhaeng's time), or a Sala would have been a better choice.

The Sejong lightbulbs are... :wow:

:lol: As i said, it's amazing they missed it!
 
And some say Ramkhamhaeng in Civ5 resembles Chow Yun-fat, who, as you may know, played a Thai king in the movie "Anna and the King".

Also a book: Anna and the King of Siam.
And a Broadway musical: The King and I

Never heard of this Thai PM you guys are talking about.
 
Chow Yun-fat played him in the movie. He did not play him in the Broadway musical and certainly did not play him in the book. :p
 
Well Only leader I thinx is really bad done is catherine she didn't had so big breast and looked olso differently in general but hey thats marketing i Guess
 
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