Bolivar Leader Overview

[untitledjuan]

Oh no, they made him hot!…and less like his RL portrayals. Not sure how to feel about that.

Gameplay-wise, my immediate thought is that he’s “crisis-proof”. Greatly mitigates chances of you losing conquered settlements during the unhappiness crisis and essentially negates the plague crisis in both Antoquiry and Exploration?

It's weird for him to be hot. Many of the painters that made his portraits in-life claimed that he wasn't a rather handsome character. Of course, he was embellished in order to boost his image as the George Washington of South America and to create the cult of personality that he developed between 1819 and 1831. Also, he was know for being rather cruel, so I bet artist would think twice before not portraying him as a literal Roman emperor. Also, he was rather short for his time. Scholars in Colombia tend to agree that the most realistic painting made of him was made by Pedro José Figueroa, which is this painting:

Also keep in mind that some of the comments regarding his bad looks might have been politically motivated, especially after he unsuccessfully wanted to modify the Constitution to allow him to be president until his death.

Here's another painting made by an artist who actually knew him, this one was done in 1828 by José María Espinosa, who made the portraits of various early presidents and independence leaders of Colombia:

In summary, there are lots of portrayals of Bolívar throughout history, ranging from these early portraits to the more romanticised one made during the late and early 19th century and the 20th century movie and TV portrayals of him. Sadly, his in-game model looks more like the TV portrayals and not like the romanticised late 19th century portrayals or, much better, the realistic early 19th century ones.

 

[ConspicuousFlower]

Honestly the closest I can find to this depiction of Bolivar is his portrayal by actor Luis Gerónimo Abreu in the 2019 series, Bolívar.

 

[untitledjuan]

Honestly the closest I can find to this depiction of Bolivar is his portrayal by actor Luis Gerónimo Abreu in the 2019 series, Bolívar.

Yeah, they went with Netflix series style postmodern portrayals of him, ignoring the romanticised late 19th century paintings and the much more historic early 19th century portrayals.

 

[Mudkip1001]

Honestly the closest I can find to this depiction of Bolivar is his portrayal by actor Luis Gerónimo Abreu in the 2019 series, Bolívar.

Firaxis does have a track record of using popular tv depictions of leaders, look at Sulieman from civ 6, that was ripped right out of then concurrent turkish tv show

 

[Ryansinbela]

I think Hojo Tokimune was the same

 

[untitledjuan]

Bolivar is in the Crossroads game files.

Ability: El Libertador
Gain 1 free Support on your wars. When you conquer a Settlement for the first time it can purchase 1 Constructible for free. Unrest does not prevent Purchasing.

Agenda: Cornerstone of Freedom
Likes the Leader with the least Unhappy Settlements. Dislikes the one with the most Unhappy Settlements.

Attributes:
Expansionist
Militaristic

The "El Libertador" Ability is quite historically accurate and I really like it. Bolívar's original army began as a very small Venezuelan force in the Llanos region between New Granada and Venezuela. Then it began to grow when he captured Bogotá in 1813 and the Congress of New Granada granted him a lot of soldiers and resources due to this action, allowing him to capture various other Venezuelan towns with the help of the resources he got from Bogotá. An event know as the "Campaña Admirable" or "Admirable Campaign".

Later on, when the Spanish recaptured Venezuela, Bolívar decided to capture Bogotá again, due to it being the capital of the viceroyalty. He crossed the Andes and captured Bogotá again in 1819, after the Battle of Boyacá. The viceroy of New Granada, due to the fast movement of Bolívar's army, fled the city before being captured and left behind the weapons and resources that Spain had there. It was with this resources captured from the capital city of New Granada that Bolívar managed to reconquer Venezuela. Then, with the joint resources of New Granada and Venezuela, he captured Quito, and with what he got from Quito he conquered Perú, then Bolivia, etc. There were even plans to go as far as capturing Florida from the Spanish, but then Bolívar died.

He had a very clear military strategy of going first after big important strategic cities with resources to fuel his war machine and go after the next big city, etc. leaving the small towns with less resources for last.

This also ties to his agenda, were he also tried to "liberate" other colonies which, at least according to him, were unhappy with Spanish rule. Again, his agenda also makes sense in historical terms.

 

[untitledjuan]

Firaxis does have a track record of using popular tv depictions of leaders, look at Sulieman from civ 6, that was ripped right out of then concurrent turkish tv show
View attachment 723231

That's a shame. Suleiman's historical onion headdress is waaaay more iconic than this portrayal. They do seem to have tried to make his headdress more round in the alternate persona they released of him later on. Maybe they do it to appeal to local audiences who have been recently exposed to these movies/series. I don't know if Turkish people would identify Suleiman more with this portrayal than with the historical one, but I bet most Colombians have in mind the historical Bolívar when talking about him, than the TV portrayal, I don't if it happens otherwise in Venezuela, Ecuador, Panamá or elsewhere in Latin America.

 

[untitledjuan]

Bolívar should also unlock Spain in the Exploration Era, in order to be able to create a historical transition from Spain to a former Spanish colony. Let's hope he unlocks a Colombia civilization in the future.

 

[Ryansinbela]

He definitely will

 

[Mudkip1001]

That's a shame. Suleiman's historical onion headdress is waaaay more iconic than this portrayal. They do seem to have tried to make his headdress more round in the alternate persona they released of him later on. Maybe they do it to appeal to local audiences who have been recently exposed to these movies/series. I don't know if Turkish people would identify Suleiman more with this portrayal than with the historical one,

I think its fine cause they added the other persona, which is pictured above, which I believe is more accurate (idk I have a strong personal bias against learning about Ottoman History).
I'm honestly in the camp of artistic liberty, cause in the case of Ada Lovelace for example:

Between art and reality I think they found a nice middle ground...

Maybe with Simeon Bolivar this time around they wanted to show a more ragtag/scrappy revolutionary who in Bolivar's case had to deal with a lot of failures/exiles before achieving his goals. (we will probably see a narrative like that in the quest lines about it at least).

also, I tried watching that Bolivar show years ago (when Bolivar was announced for the New Frontier Pack); its very long at 63 episodes, and it kinda felt soapy...

but I bet most Colombians have in mind the historical Bolívar when talking about him, than the TV portrayal, I don't if it happens otherwise in Venezuela, Ecuador, Panamá or elsewhere in Latin America.

Maduro of Venezuela called it out and didn't like it

which might be considered a seal of quality for the rest of the world...

 

[RedCourtJester]

WOOOOOOOOOOF PAPI. He can libertador my cornerstone anytime.

(Also still stoked that he returned instead of being replaced by San Martin, and in top form. Great design, love it.)

That's a shame. Suleiman's historical onion headdress is waaaay more iconic than this portrayal. They do seem to have tried to make his headdress more round in the alternate persona they released of him later on. Maybe they do it to appeal to local audiences who have been recently exposed to these movies/series. I don't know if Turkish people would identify Suleiman more with this portrayal than with the historical one, but I bet most Colombians have in mind the historical Bolívar when talking about him, than the TV portrayal, I don't if it happens otherwise in Venezuela, Ecuador, Panamá or elsewhere in Latin America.

Eh I liked Hammerpants Daddy.

 

[Gambito]

This depiction looks great for a Simon Bolivar of Nepal or Bulgaria, or any other Civ in the game, since we don't have anything close to Gran Colombia or Venezuela. He doesn't resemble the real Bolivar at all. Civ 6 one looks better. More reasons to be dissapointed with this instalment

 

[Evolena]

Simon Bolivar's unlock and recommendation links:

 

[untitledjuan]

Simon Bolivar's unlock and recommendation links:

View attachment 725786

Never expected to see Simón Bolívar of Meiji Japan in a Civilization game

 

[Ryansinbela]

Never expected to see Simón Bolívar of Meiji Japan in a Civilization game

I mean to be fair we didn’t expect leaders to lead any Civ

 

[untitledjuan]

I mean to be fair we didn’t expect leaders to lead any Civ

Which leads to some very funny/crazy/problematic situations

 

[evonannoredars]

Fingers crossed for a teddy/tamar situation next week where he shows up in-game without the goatee?

 

[Ryansinbela]

What happened with Tamar

 

[evonannoredars]

What happened with Tamar

Her skine tone was lightened iirc - not as drastic of a change as with Teddy lol, but leader design alterations seem very possible.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Fingers crossed for a teddy/tamar situation next week where he shows up in-game without the goatee?

No such luck. He has the goatee in the livestream.