Disney plans "edgier" Mickey, jealous Oswald

[David Gerstein]

Originally Posted by FleischerFan

I guess in a few of the very earlier appearances of Donald & Mickey ("the Band Concert" - "Mickey's Magic Show"), he was a ham trying to horn in on Mickey's act, but Mickey always reacted good-naturedly.

Hmm. Try watching them again. And see also 7:30 here; and of course 6:30 here.

Mickey and Donald aren't enemies; the comics show that in serious situations they won't stop to fight each other. But 1930s "Disney culture"—magazines and books as well as films and comics—do establish the pair as friendly rivals during day-to-day situations, kind of anticipating Bugs and Daffy in some ways. And part of that certainly extends to their modern-day portrayal in new comics.
At Egmont we were advised to think of them as Hope and Crosby!

[Richie]

http://www.hulu.com/watch/107490/the...fri-nov-6-2009

Conan jokes about Mickey's redesign.

In another note, here's a post by a fellow named Devil_Rising that I liked...

"It's funny....except for the fact that it only goes to show how all areas of media, who are not specifically "in the know" about video games, only run with surface information and draw completely false conclusions.

I love Conan O'Brien, and he's just making a joke. But a lot of people, if you haven't been paying attention, have been latching on to this whole "Mickey is getting a re-design" thing, and putting a negative spin on it. They're running with the misconception that Epic Mickey is trying to make Mickey "edgier" and more violent, which actually doesn't turn out to be true at all.

Yes, the plot and setting of the game does seem to be deeper and darker, on the surface, than most people would associate with Disney or Mickey Mouse. But in reality, along with Mickey actually just getting brought back to his early look and attitude, NOT really a "re-design", is the fact that a LOT of early Disney stuff DID have deeper and darker subject matter, just like old Looney Tunes did.

It's actually not as "Un-Disney" as some people think. In fact, Disney didn't really completely garner it's "wholesome, clean family entertainment" image until LONG after Walt Disney himself had died, in the 1960s.

Point being, Epic Mickey is much truer to Disney's roots than most of the critics popping up probably realize."

[Jon Cooke]

From what I've seen, this game looks like fun. When is it coming out? I couldn't find a listing on Amazon.

[Richie]

Fall 2010, Jon. A specific date is yet to be determined.

[CueBallCat79]

Originally Posted by Richie

Fall 2010, Jon. A specific date is yet to be determined.

An entire year from now? Seems like a bit long.

[Richie]

Originally Posted by CueBallCat79

An entire year from now? Seems like a bit long.

That's videogame industry for you It's not uncommon for a company to unveil a game 1 or 2 years before its release, if only for the hype train to start its journey.
It helps, though, since there's a considerable amount of time to design a great game, fix as many glitches as possible, enhance the framerate/graphics, etc.

[AnthroCoon]

>>You'd think Oswald would want to kill Andy Panda and Woody Woodpecker as well.

Too late, he got gunned down by Jack Ruby... Ah, I was waiting to see if someone said it. To most people the name "Oswald" has a different meaning...

[J Lee]

Originally Posted by Richie

Eh, guys...



Don't worry about such an idiocy taking place. If you go to the link I provided, you'll find the game's director thoughts on how the game should be shaped. He's a huge Disney fan, not to mention an admirer of classic animation in general (his thesis was based on golden age cartoons) with lots of respect for Mickey's legacy, and he won't put dirt on his name by degrading him to that.

Well and good for the first use of the "new" character. But what about the second if it's successful? Or the fifth?

The usually problem nowadays is that if a character is successful, the suits in charge latch onto one or two things that seem to get positive public response and beat those things into the ground.

On the edgier side, the best example goes back almost two decades, when John K debuted Ren & Stimpy, and the suits at Nickelodeon slapped their heads and said "Fart, piss and poop jokes! Why weren't we doing this years ago!" and within a few years you saw a glut of cartoons all over the place, where gross-out gags were just about the only gags allowed, because they were cheap and easy for a one-time laugh. Repeated viewings of said cartoons, eh, not so much.

My guess is if "edgier" Mickey succeeds in this game, unless the top people at Disney animation are careful, some suit from the bean counting and not the artistic side is going to decide if edgier works, super-edgier will work even better in some other use.

[J Lee]

Originally Posted by FleischerFan

Could you expand on this thought?

Is this "adversarial" relationship something unique to the Disney characters in the video game world? I am pretty familiar with Disney characters in cartoons, comics strips, and comic books and I would never have characterized Mickey & Donald as adversaries.

While Donald always runs into machines, insects, and smaller animals that cause his temper to flare, he usually appears as a friend of Mickeys in most of the adventures they shared.

I guess in a few of the very earlier appearances of Donald & Mickey ("the Band Concert" - "Mickey's Magic Show"), he was a ham trying to horn in on Mickey's act, but Mickey always reacted good-naturedly. And the bulk of their joint appearances, Mickey, Donald & the Goof were amigos.

There is certainly nothing in their relationship to equal the Bugs-Daffy rivalry.

Disney apparently disagreed, at least as how they thought the public viewed the Mickey-vs.-Donald relationship. The opening of The Mickey Mouse Club both from the 50s and the later revivals show a one-way jealousy by Donald towards Mickey, and that carried on through the new House of Mouse animation linking segments a decade ago. Mickey's passive in the post mid-30s relationship, so it's not Bugs-vs.-Daffy, but Donald's envy of the studio's "star" character has definitely been an ongoing part of his animation personality.

So the trick is, if you're going to use Oswald, is how to differentiate his jealousy from Donald, while at the same time maintaining him as a likable character, the way Donald is, if Disney plans to use Walt's original creation in media outside of this video game.