Mighty Jaxx has announced a new Mickey Mouse statue showing off the transformation of the characters from black and white into the iconic red, black, and yellow version we all know today.
The 10″ vinyl art “toy” features Mickey dripping with paint while holding a paintbrush. This unique piece of art is priced at $199. The Mickey Mouse Transformation (Disney100) figure is expected to ship in August.
I’ve noticed that most of the merchandise ignores Mickey Mouse’s first appearance when it comes to Disney’s centennial celebrations. Before Steamboat Willie, there was another version of Mickey. A version that talked in squeaks.
This early iteration of the new iconic rodent first appeared on screen in 1928’s Plane Crazy. Here Mickey’s eyes are larger than future incarnations. They were also entirely outlined instead of blending into the rest of his face. His feet were much smaller and lacked shoes. However, the two-buttoned pants and iconic ears were present.
In a way, Mickey’s original design looked much more like something you’d see from an early Fleischer Studios short. The world’s most famous mouse also took a bit of inspiration from Pat Sullivan’s early Felix the Cat design.
Needless to say, Mickey Mouse outlasted all of the completion he faced in the first half of the 20th Century. This is interesting, considering the character didn’t have a feature film of his own and mostly appeared in animated shorts.
I don’t think Mickey’s likeability truly happened until the newer semi-adult-focused shorts started airing. Between the 1950s and 2010s, I believe Mickey was mostly seen as a figurehead or mascot rather than the star of the Disney company. Those Mickey Mouse cartoons, however, changed how audiences looked at the character.
Instead of Mickey being the “gee wiz” good guy, the new shorts let him be a multifaceted character. Sometimes he’s the typical nice fellow; other times, he’s a bit of a pain in the backside. The shorts were certainly meant to appeal to an older, cynical audience which I appreciate. Heck, this version of Mickey finally earned him his own ride!
[Source: Mighty Jaxx]
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