It's okay. Moar reasons for people to like Star xD

Well, Star did take action eventually by pulling the collar off Steele in the unfinished cutscene. I think that's the most devastating blow he could deal, as the collar is a mark of Steele's achievements and respect. Taking that away makes him nothing. The fact that Star did it in front of Doc and all the others makes the experience all the more symbolic and humiliating.

Sorry for spamming up the comment box with this. xD

I don't know that I ever implied that his submissive attitude was unreasonable, but that certainly wasn't what I was aiming at. I was mainly pointing out that it's typical for someone who is used to being beaten up to, at best, be more talk than action, as we see with Star.

Considering that Steele kicked him in the face when he spoke out in the first race, I think Star being submissive and outright terrified of him is a reasonable reaction.

RJ, cat --> Your point is well-taken that Star was almost invariably the one to oppose Steele with words, but I seldom saw him act on them; nearly every time that it came up, he cowered whenever Steele responded to his disagreements. I could see him, in time, adding some doing to all that talking, and now that I have a better handle on the situation Troll is painting here (I think), I agree that it makes sense.

Well said Cat xD That's why in my headcanon Star becomes a reasonable team leader xD

To add onto RJ's list of Star's standing up to Steele, it's usually Star's call when it comes to something that's going to work. What I mean by that is Star is actually a deceitfully observant character. The others just never listen to him because he's not confrontational.

In the beginning of the movie during Steele's race with the opposing team, they're coming to a very narrow passage that's literally only big enough for one team to fit through, to force the other one to back off so that they don't collide. Star speaks up "Steele! We're not gonna make it!" And they wouldn't have.

And he even speaks up when Balto's lead dog, he doesn't just automatically assume Balto knows what he's doing. Him telling him to slow down was one thing he yelled out before Balto started to panic and speed out of control at the misfortune of the rest of the team. (I personally doubt that Balto's speed was much of a problem for Star because during the race around town, Star came at a very close second behind Balto, and the entire time he was just smiling and having fun. Imagine how fast he'd be should a serious occasion show itself.)

Also, if you pay attention to the film, Star actually notices that the mountain ends (you can tell by his terrified and near-incomprehensible yelling) and drops a good few seconds before Balto even reacts to it.

The other dogs may not take him seriously because of his knack to interrupt, and he may be seen as just a goofball, heck he can even be a pushover. But if having a keen eye for a situation and being observant doesn't make for a good leader, I dunno what does LOL

RJ is right. Even though the "golden collar" scene was cut off. it is shown in the movie that Star DID stand up to Steele. Sure he howled and barked at Balto, but there were only Kaltag and Nikki who were trying to kick Balto out of the dog race. And like RJ said, he was the first one to stand up for Balto when he arrived to help.
I think that he was just too afraid to make any bigger action against Steele, but al least he tried, and out of every other dog - I think he has the biggest potential.

And about the image - If other dogs didn't arrive - Steele woul've probably killed Star. Hoverer, defeated and wounded - he's not afraid of him anymore. I just wanted to show two things Star managed to gair - self confidence and other dogs' respect and friendship.
I wanted to give Star some character developement. He's still that cute and goofy dog we all love, but now a bit more mature and self confident.

But... Star did often stand up to Steele more out of him, Kaltag and Nikki... On quite a few occasions. He did it when they were lost in the blizzard ("Steele, we're LOST!"/"Steele, we're going in CIRCLES!") and when Balto came to save them ("Maybe we should listen to him!"/"What's with Steele? All Balto wants to do is help!"). None of the other dogs ever spoke out against Steele's authority in his presence and never acknowledged the fact that they were lost in the storm. Not Nikki. Not Kaltag. Just Star. Sure, the other two made it clear they didn't like him but they never said so to his face.

This, coupled with the deleted cutscene, does show that Star was a bit of wimp, yeah, but he was really the first to come through and do what was right. Maybe, as lead dog, he gained a lot of confidence and trust from the other dogs, leading to the character he is here. I dunno, I can't speak for TB as its her idea, but I'm also not getting how this is 'uncharacteristic'.

To me, Star didn't have any real character development. He, like Muk and Luk, were only there for laughs. It's nice to see him portrayed - even in a screenshot render - in a good setting. Nice work, TB