Blog
Five Characters that Should be in Epic Mickey
We Remember the Forgotten
by Coop
In a few short days, more information will be coming out about Epic Mickey than many thought would never see the light of day. With Game Informer's article, we're likely going to find out exactly what is so epic about Warren Specter's title. However, in preparation, we've brainstormed a little bit, and have come up with five story lines that should absolutely be in the exciting game. Some are friends, some are foes, and some, well... here are our five picks.
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad came out in 1949 and, unlike many of the others who will likely be in Epic Mickey, hasn't been forgotten by most. In fact, Mr. Toad is still a somewhat known character, and the film enjoyed release on both VHS and DVD, meaning Disney is in no way trying to forget about the movie.
The same can't be said about Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Despite protests, the extremely popular ride was removed in 1998 and replaced with The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Now, the only remnant of Mr. Toad is a toad-shaped tombstone outside of the Haunted Mansion. Rest in peace, Mr. Toad, may you exact your revenge in Epic Mickey.
Figment
No, that isn't Spyro. It isn't Puff the Magic Dragon, either. It's Figment, the small, purple dragon that, for many years, greeted visitors to Epcot center. He's been removed, restated, scaled back, and had his voice changed several times. He's a more recent character in the Disney portfolio, and one that they seem to want to get rid of as quickly as possible. In fact, they would have gotten rid of him entirely if not for investors' complaints about the character's absence, but that doesn't mean he can't hold grudges. Every game needs a few dragon bosses, and a disgruntled, unwanted purple dragon in a terrible yellow jacket would fit the bill for Epic Mickey.
Song of the South
If you've ever been to Disney World (or even if you haven't) you've likely heard the song ""Zip-a-dee-doo-dah." Disney treats it as the official theme of their amusement park, and plays it on every one of their television stations and out of every speaker in the place. You've also likely ridden Splash Mountain, one of the better water rides in the park. However, what Disney hates to admit is that it both the song and the characters from the ride from one of their lesser known films: Song of the South.
Released in 1946, Song of the South is a mixture of live-action and cartoon segments, focusing on stories told by an old African American man shortly after the Civil War. Yeah, you likely know where this is going. Despite having iconic characters and catchy songs (it won an Academy Award), Disney has tried their best to pretend this movie was never made. Don't bother checking Amazon for a DVD - it was never even released on VHS. What better reintroduction of the beloved Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, Brer Bear, or any of the others, than putting them in Epic Mickey? Even when compared to some of the other lesser known Disney Characters, the cast of Song of the South has a lot to be upset about, and I'm sure they'd be willing to help take down the Magic Kingdom.
Donald Duck
There has to be a turncoat. A character that Mickey would look to as a friend but will inevitably turn on him. And the bigger the name, the better. In all honesty, there's no one better for that spot than Donald Duck. Forget the ass-kissing in Kingdom Hearts, it's well known that Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse don't exactly see eye to eye. And while there can really be no doubt that Donald is going to be in Epic Mickey, it's worth mentioning him if only because he's so obvious. Think about it: what character in the Disney-verse has more of a grudge against ol' big ears than the pantless duck? For years Mickey has been stealing Donald's spotlight, and teaming up with Oswald may present Donald with an opportunity for the revenge he's sought for decades.
.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walt_Disney_Snow_white_1937_trailer_screenshot_(12).jpg&usg=__gExRECwOANw8y8V7B1rGN-2pfYg=&h=576&w=720&sz=64&hl=en&start=14&um=1&tbnid=Ee9CYfC6BAqmPM:&tbnh=112&tbnw=140&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwalt%2Bdisney%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1)
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney
Not everyone in Epic Mickey needs to be forgotten or fictional - we'd love to see the man behind the ears take center stage. Walt Disney would be a wonderful addition to the game's roster, even if it isn't in physical form. He could be Mickey's Navi, providing helpful hints throughout the title. If Specter (and the Disney board of executives) are feeling ballsy, they could also turn the man into a warped villain of some type, but there is little chance of anything like that happening. In the office, we even joked around about his head being placed onto a robot body for the last boss like Hitler in Wolfenstein, something that would likely upset millions. It would be worthy of a solid twenty minutes of laughter.
That's our piece, who/what/where do you want to see in Epic Mickey?
Tags
|
Epic Mickey
Wii
|
Comments
I don't know about Donald, he's a bit too prominent a character, but the others would make interesting additions to Epic Mickey.
i heart this entire list.
haha, I can totally see Walt Disney being the Navi equivalent. Instead of him saying "Hey! Listen", he'd go "NINE!" every time mickey takes a wrong turn.
The way that Disney has only sort of distanced itself from Song of the South is a strange phenomenon. I can imagine kids getting off of Splash Mountain and walking through the gift shop like, "Mommy mommy! Buy me this movie". I wonder what park employees are taught to say in those situations...
Hi,
I was reading your article and the addition of Mr. Toad to your list confuses me a bit, because in at least Disneyland Mr. Toads Wild Ride still exsists in Fantasy Land right next to Peter Pan & Across from King Arthurs Carosell. Perhaps you are talking specifically about Disney World and I am mistaken as I don't know what they have taken away from Walt Disney World. In fact for us in California at the original Disneyland they removed the Country Bear Show to Add Winnie the Pooh across the way from Splash Mountain.
I also agree on the Addition of Brer Rabbit & Brer Bear but as much as I would like to see them in the game unless they want more people looking into Song of the South to figure out who those characters are in the game and in Splash Mountain they may just omit them from the game as like you said they want people to forget about Song of the South all together.Although I was able to procure a Song of the South DVD from Bootleggers off the Internet in Great Condition. It actually ends up being a copy of a release of Song of the South that was released in Hong Kong on Laser Disc but it is completly in English Here is a some info I found on Wikipedia about the subject in case you're interested in it.
"The film has been released on video in its entirety in various European, Latin American and Asian countries—in the UK it was released on PAL VHS tape, and in Japan (where under Japanese copyright law it is in the public domain)[23] it appeared on NTSC VHS, BETA and laserdisc with subtitles, while a NTSC laserdisc was bootlegged in Hong Kong from the UK PAL videotape. Despite the Hong Kong laserdisc being NTSC, it has a 4% faster running time due to its PAL source, and thus also suffers from "frame ghosting". While most foreign releases of the film are almost direct translations of the English title (Canción del Sur in Spanish, Mélodie du Sud in French, Melodie Van Het Zuiden in Dutch, Sången om södern in Swedish, A Canção do Sul in Portuguese, and Etelän laulu in Finnish), the German title Onkel Remus' Wunderland translates to "Uncle Remus' Wonderland", the Italian title I Racconti Dello Zio Tom translates to "The Stories of Uncle Tom."[24], and the Norwegian title Onkel Remus forteller translates roughly to "Uncle Remus tells stories".[25]
Despite the film's lack of home video release directly to consumers in the United States, audio from the film—both the musical soundtrack and dialogue—were made widely available to the public from the time of the film's debut up through the late 1970s. In particular, many Book-and-Record sets were released, alternately featuring the animated portions of the film or summaries of the film as a whole.[26] Additionally, bootleg copies of the film in NTSC format, converted either from the UK PAL videotape or from a Dutch version based on the laserdisc, with subtitles made by amateurs, are widely available and have been sold in the United States at retail outlets and on online auctions with no legal action being taken by the Disney corporation."
Again I Can't wait to play Epic Mickey & hope that most if not all Unknown Disney Characters make it in the game.