- "Beloved Mr. Nitrokoff could light up a room
Especially when his pranks would end with a BOOM!" - ―Epitaph, "Ghostly Friends of the Haunted Mansion", My Disney Experience app
The Dynamite Guy, also known as Alexander Nitrokoff, is one of the 999 ghosts haunting the Haunted Mansion. His portrait is one of the four that hangs in the Stretching Room.
Description[]
Appearance[]
Based on his portrait, in life he appeared to be a middle-aged white man with a full beard, a balding hairstyle, wearing half a tuxedo with a red sash going from his right shoulder to his left hip (which might suggest that he was a politician of some variety). Waist down, he does not wear slacks in regards to revealing his red and white boxer shorts. On his feet, he wears purple socks, black shoes and white shoe coverings.
Background[]
Not much is known about Alexander Nitrokoff's life. He was likely a politician or public-official of some variety as indicated by his garb; though this is not confirmed. It is also possible that he had some affiliation with the Haunted Mansion in life based off of the Ghost Host referring to him as having been a guest (or resident in Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion) and how other stretching-room portrait characters are known to have been involved with the manor's history. An article in the My Disney Experience app, "Ghostly Friends of the Haunted Mansion", describes him as a socialite known for "always being a blast at parties" known for having something of a prankster streak, implied to have played a part in his death.
Alexander died under mysterious circumstances, standing atop a lit keg of dynamite while in his trousers and holding a piece of paper. Following his death, a portrait of him was hung up in the Haunted Mansion which he is referenced as having become a ghost within.
History[]
A removed portion of the Ghost Host's spiel written by X. Atencio would tell us more about the biography of the Stretching Portrait characters. In this version, he was "Alexander Nitrokoff, an anarchist who came to us with a bang one night". Disney would begin putting the name into active use in merchandising and spinoff media around 2020 with the release of a Funko Pop figure and the Frights of Fancy graphic novel.
Appearances[]
Haunted Mansion[]
As the Stretching Room transforms, his painting elongates to reveal an impending absurd fate: standing on a dynamite barrel with the fuse lit.
Main Street Cinema[]
Nitrokoff appears on one of Esmeralda's tarot-cards.
Appearances in other media[]
Film[]
Muppets Haunted Mansion[]
In Muppets Haunted Mansion, Alexander is played, fittingly, by Crazy Harry who's the mad bomber of the Muppet crew.
Haunted Mansion (2023 film)[]
The gentleman appears as one of the animate portraits in the stretching room, where the mortals have to escape from, among other things, a keg of dynamite. While explaining the mansion's history, Bruce indirectly references him by bringing up explosions and quicksand.
Printed materials[]
The Ghost Gallery[]
In the unofficial Ghost Gallery storyline the character is referred to as Ambassador Edward Gracey of Burma who was the uncle of Master Gracey (who in this version of the story is also the Ghost Host). He died in 1937 when revolutionary guerrillas broke into his Embassy and blew it up before a banquet.
SLG comics[]
The Dynamite Guy appears in the story A Dynamite Party. In this version, his name is Steven, and he had a wife named Edith. The slip in his paper was actually an invitation to a party at Gracey Manor. A wild eccentric, Steven goes to the party without his pants, but loses his glasses, wandering half-blindedly through the halls of the Mansion. Looking for the food pantry, he stumbles into a closet full of explosives and unwittingly lights a fuse when setting the candle down.
The Haunted Mansion: Frights of Fancy[]
The ambassador appears in this story, explicitly referred to as Alexander Nitrokoff by Constance Hatchaway. A part of the group of misfit ghosts Constance assigns to work with Sydney on the anniversary event, Nitrokoff has multiple sets of boxers he switches between when Sydney asks if he can be any scarier, including one covered with clowns.
Video-games[]
Disney Crossy Road[]
In the app Disney Crossy, Alexander appears as an unlock able character referred to as "The Orator" and when you play as him all the candelabras in the mansion are replaced with sticks of dynamite.
Trivia[]
- In Tokyo Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, there is a portrait in the corridor of doors depicting an unknown man with the same proportions and pose as Nitrokoff, plus the dimensions of the portrait make it appear to have been taken from a Stretching Portrait.
- The most likely interpretation of the painting is that it is an allegory of the futility of power, just like the Quicksand Men are the allegory of the futility of money, and the Tightrope Walker an allegory of the futility of beauty, as all three do not stop death. From that, it can be assumed that Alexander Nitrokoff was a politician (also supported by his red sash).
Gallery[]
