Does Anyone Else Agree With Me That Mickey Is Overrated?

Don't worry. When he goes into the public domain realm, I'm sure his ego will deflate.
 


A bit, yes. As for me, I'm a huge villains fan, although I've stopped buying the merchandise. Back in the 1990s and early 2000, there was a massive push. Butcthen slowly the items began featuring the sane five or six characters. Now I feel that Ursula, Maleficent, Captain Hook, the Evil Queen, are especially watered down and overused.

Still, the Disney sheep will continue buying overpriced mouse ears in every single color and style that gets released. Mickey is the company's mascot, logo,, and cash cow. He's here to stay.
 
A bit, yes. As for me, I'm a huge villains fan, although I've stopped buying the merchandise. Back in the 1990s and early 2000, there was a massive push. Butcthen slowly the items began featuring the sane five or six characters. Now I feel that Ursula, Maleficent, Captain Hook, the Evil Queen, are especially watered down and overused.

Still, the Disney sheep will continue buying overpriced mouse ears in every single color and style that gets released. Mickey is the company's mascot, logo,, and cash cow. He's here to stay.
Calling merchandise collectors/fans 'sheep' is a little harsh and insulting, don't you think?
 
Nah. There's Mickey, and then there is the rest.
 


Don't worry. When he goes into the public domain realm, I'm sure his ego will deflate.

Disney will never let Mickey go into the public domain. Now some of the older films will eventually run out of copyright protection (Steamboat Willie will do so in 2024) and go into the public domain, but the character and trademark will be heavily protected.
 
The 1928 "Steamboat Willie" black & white version of Mickey Mouse will enter public domain on January 1, 2024. However, later iterations of Mickey Mouse (such as the version wearing gloves or with white eyes and black pupils) will remain under copyright protection until their copyright protections expire.
 
Yeah, I can't really say he's overrated. His success created Disney, and the reason for his success is that his cartoons were good and creative. He's grown and changed over the years, but he's iconic. While I'm more of a Donald or Goofy man myself, there is no denying that, "It all started with a mouse."
 
A bit, yes. As for me, I'm a huge villains fan, although I've stopped buying the merchandise. Back in the 1990s and early 2000, there was a massive push. Butcthen slowly the items began featuring the sane five or six characters. Now I feel that Ursula, Maleficent, Captain Hook, the Evil Queen, are especially watered down and overused.

Still, the Disney sheep will continue buying overpriced mouse ears in every single color and style that gets released. Mickey is the company's mascot, logo,, and cash cow. He's here to stay.

Disney has lots of different fandoms. You aren't a sheep because you choose one over another. To discredit one is to discredit all. If it brings you joy that's all the excuse you need to like something. So, enjoy your villians fandom, but don't be one in real life. 😉
 
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Mickey is my main man. Always will be. When I went to see him when he was talking, I turned into a 10 year old fangirl(I'm 72). I was so excited that I almost left all my bags behind.
Other characters are great, but Mickey is #1.
 
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Anyone? He barely gives any other characters, other than Frozen, the chance to shine.
Although the thread title says "overrated," your introductory post makes me think that by "overrated," you might actually mean "overused." Is that possible, or am I reaching? Being overrated doesn't prevent other characters from shining, but being overused could.

I think the "overrated" question depends on whether you think of Mickey primarily as a character or primarily as a symbol of the Disney company. As a character, he's not very deep or complex, which is fine, because that's not what cartoon characters were supposed to be like in the 1920s and '30s. We've become used to characters with a lot more nuance, so if you try to compare his personality to that of any main character, villain, or sidekick from the past 30 years, then you probably are going to conclude he's overrated. From what I understand, the newer cartoon series at least gives him a few flaws, but he's still pretty generic compared to newer characters. Here's a satirical piece that makes fun of him and of Disney for exactly that.

However, as a bunch of people have pointed out, the company is built on him. As a symbol of Disney on the whole, he's not at all overrated or, for that matter, overused. It may help to recognize that when a new video game, app, or product gets Mickey or Minnie slapped on it, they're not being used in the same way Ursula, Mushu, or Lightning McQueen would be; they're being used as the face of Disney, basically as personified logos.* They're being used generically, and who they are in their cartoons isn't usually important to how they're used in those contexts. Of course, sometimes their personalities may be important, like on Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, but if they didn't sometimes represent the Disney company, rather than themselves, they wouldn't get used nearly as much. Certainly not enough to be perceived as not "giving" others the "chance to shine."

* There are a few other characters that get used to represent the company, rather than being used as themselves, like Tinkerbell, Jiminy Cricket, and most recently the Genie. But again, when they're used in those contexts, their personalities get stripped out of it, too. Genie doesn't crack jokes at you when you purchase a lightning lane; he's really just there as a magical face (and convenient name) for an apt Disney product.
 
Did Donald Duck write this?
In the last Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse short, Donald has a fantasy sequence (more like hallucinations) that he was the one that started the Disney empire. Stuff like Donald being the captain in Steamboat Willie, the Sorceror's Apprentice, and a statue of Walt (as a duck strangely) and Donald together.

 
In the last Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse short, Donald has a fantasy sequence (more like hallucinations) that he was the one that started the Disney empire. Stuff like Donald being the captain in Steamboat Willie, the Sorceror's Apprentice, and a statue of Walt (as a duck strangely) and Donald together.

I love this so much! I absolutely died of laughter by the end of his dream sequence the first time I watched it.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the last actual, in-theater movie to STAR Mickey Mouse something like 20-25 years ago? If so, that means there's an entire generation that has never seen a new Mickey Mouse movie in theaters.

I'm talking about a movie on par with Fantasia, not movie shorts or appearances.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the last actual, in-theater movie to STAR Mickey Mouse something like 20-25 years ago? If so, that means there's an entire generation that has never seen a new Mickey Mouse movie in theaters.

I'm talking about a movie on par with Fantasia, not movie shorts or appearances.

No. Get a Horse! was from 2013 and was released with Frozen. Also Fantasia 2000. But Mickey was never really the star of feature length movies.

 
I don't get the whole overrated part of this. I would say he is underrated a bit. All his movies have been home theater releases so I don't know how he doesn't give other characters the chance to shine. He finally got his first ride after over 60 years of the parks existence. He is the mascot of Disney so he shows up a lot but as Walt said, it all started with a mouse.
 

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