Minnie Mouse

Minnie Mouse is the girlfriend of Mickey Mouse created by The Walt Disney Company. Minnie is sweet-natured and fun-loving. The comic strip story The Gleam by Merrill De Maris and Floyd Gottfredson first gave her full name as Minerva Mouse. "Minerva" has since been a recurring alias for her. Minnie also shares the same birthday as her boyfriend, Mickey Mouse.

In most appearances, Minnie is presented as a close friend of Daisy Duck. Her favorite hobbies are dancing, gardening, shopping, music, and fashion.

Personality
Minnie is the girlfriend of Mickey Mouse and best friend of Daisy Duck. She enjoys dinners, movies, and basically spending as much time as possible with Mickey. Overall Minnie is sweet, beautiful and fun-loving but she has moments when anger gets the better of her. Despite this she is never the "bad guy" in the situation. She is one of few friends around Mickey that always have a good reason to be upset. Like Mickey she enjoys travel and on many occasions she plays the role as a "damsel in distress".

She has been described by some characters as feisty being able to speak what she feels no matter the person she's up against which is how she manages to assist Mickey in saving her. Minnie also shows her motherly side on more than a few occasions. Other than shopping and dancing, her most recurring activity is gardening.

Minnie Mouse is more than just Mickey's girlfriend, however. Her strong character includes numerous personality traits, and her favorite activities include gardening (both flowers and vegetables), shopping, dancing, and experimenting with new fashions. As a strong but fun female character, Minnie has gathered many fans throughout the world, and they can travel to Disneyland to meet this very well-known heroine.

History
In 1928, Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse to act as a replacement for his previous star, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. But Mickey could not fill the void alone. Among the few consistent character traits Oswald had developed before moving on to Universal Studios was his near-constant pursuit of potential sweethearts. So, for Mickey to have a chance to emulate his predecessor at flirting, someone had to replace Oswald's many love interests. This replacement to Miss Rabbit, Miss Cottontail, Fanny and an uncertain number of unnamed nurses and dancers was to become Minnie Mouse.

Minnie, who at the time was not yet named, was designed in the fashion of a "flapper" girl. She was so probably intended to follow the trends of then-current youth culture in an effort to add to her audience appeal.

Mickey and Minnie debuted together in Plane Crazy, first released on May 15, 1928. Minnie is invited to join Mickey in the first flight of his aircraft. She accepts the invitation but not his request for a kiss in mid-flight. Mickey eventually forces Minnie into a kiss but this only results in her parachuting out of the plane. This first film depicted Minnie as somewhat resistant to the demanding affection of her potential boyfriend and capable of escaping his grasp.

The next film featuring the couple was The Gallopin' Gaucho. It was the second of their series to be produced but only the third to be released on December 30, 1928. In it, Minnie was employed as the barmaid and dancer of Cantina Argentina, a bar and restaurant established in the pampas of Argentina. She performs the tango for Mickey the gaucho and Black Pete the outlaw. Both flirt with her but the latter intends to abduct her while the former obliges in saving the "damsel in distress" from the villain. All three characters acted as strangers first being introduced to each other.

They appear together again in Steamboat Willie, the third short of the series to be produced but released second on November 18, 1928. Pete was featured as the captain of the steamboat, Mickey as a crew of one and Minnie as their single passenger.

A recurring co-star
The commercial success of Steamboat Willie helped introduce Mickey and Minnie into the audience. Twelve more films featuring Mickey were produced in 1929. But Minnie only co-starred in seven of them and was mentioned in an eighth.

The first of them was The Barn Dance, first released on March 14, 1929. Minnie stands at the center of attention as Mickey and Pete rival each other in order to win her favor. Both offer to pick her up for the dance but she chooses Pete's newly purchased automobile over Mickey's horse-cart. When the automobile breaks down she resorts to go with Mickey. The latter proves a clumsy dancing partner, repeatedly stepping on her feet, and so she turns to Pete again. She is surprised when Mickey asks for another dance and seems to be light on his feet. However she is disgusted when Pete points that his rival had placed a balloon in his shorts. She resumed dancing with Pete while Mickey is reduced to crying on the dance floor. Minnie proves to be rather demanding as a partner in a romantic relationship. Mickey obviously has yet to claim her as his girlfriend by this point.

The Opry House, first released on March 28, 1929, was the first short to feature Mickey but not Minnie. A poster, however, mentions Minnie as being a member of the "Yankee Doodle Girls." This later group of female performers remained as unseen characters and were apparently short-lived. Minnie appears again in When the Cat's Away, first released on April 11, 1929. 'She is attending a party with Mickey along with several other mice. The short was unusual in the depiction of Mickey and Minnie with the size and part of the behavior common in regular mice. The set standard both before and after this short was to depict them as having the size of a rather short human being.

Minnie was seen again in The Plowboy, first released on May 9, 1929, where she is featured as a farm girl and gets Mickey to milk her cow Clarabelle for her. When Mickey presents her with a bucket full of milk and proceeds to kiss her, Minnie answers by knocking the bucket on his head. This in front of his horse Horace Horsecollar who is just making his debut. Minnie obviously was not very appreciative of Mickey's affection at the time.

Their attempt at farming life would prove short-lived. Their next appearance in The Karnival Kid (May 23, 1929) cast Mickey as a hot dog vendor and Minnie as a carnival "shimmy" Dancer. Minnie then appears as a fiddle player in Mickey's Choo-Choo (June 26, 1929).

"Minnie's Yoo Hoo"
Her next appearance was arguably more significant. Mickey's Follies (June 26, 1929), featured the first performance of the song, "Minnie's Yoo Hoo." "The guy they call little Mickey Mouse" for the first time addresses an audience to explain that he has "Got a sweetie" who is "Neither fat nor skinny" and proudly proclaims that "She's my little Minnie Mouse". Mickey then proceeds in explaining his reaction to Minnie's call.

The song firmly establishes Mickey and Minnie as a couple and expresses the importance Minnie holds for her partner. The song would go on to become the theme song to their series as well as the theme to a Disney prime-time television series, The Mouse Factory.

Mickey, Donald and Goofy: The Three Musketeers
In the 2004 direct-to-video movie Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, Minnie plays the role of the princess of France, who continually daydreams about her true love, Mickey. She's also the only monarch getting in the way of the plans of Pete, who can't take over the kingdom if he cannot get rid of her. Interestingly, for this particular film, Minnie is drawn with hair bangs, which do not appear in any later cartoons.

Fun and Fancy Free
Although Minnie did not officially appear in Fun and Fancy Free, a scene with her, as Happy Valley's queen, was planned to be included in the Mickey and the Beanstalk segment before the decision to include it in the film. In the scene, Mickey came before her to sell her his cow, and in exchange, she gave him the magic beans.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Minnie made a small non-speaking cameo appearance at the very end of the film with Mickey and a crowd of many other cartoon characters.

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas
Minnie is Mickey's girlfriend and hard-working. Despite her hard work she is in debt with bills and tries not to let Mickey know. Minnie works a large store owned by Mortimer Mouse. She expects to have a Christmas bonus which she receives but instead of being money it's a fruit cake. She was originally going to use the money for a gift for Mickey but without the money might go home empty handed. Minnie trades her prized watch for a case for Mickey's beloved harmonica, but Mickey trades his harmonica for a chain for Minnie's watch. They realize their love is gift enough and enjoys Christmas together.

Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas
In the sequel, Minnie is in an ice skating show which becomes a competition with her best friend Daisy Duck. Minnie's anger gets the best of her and battles Daisy on ice. When Minnie performs a dangerous stunt she injures herself. Daisy comforts her and they finish the show together as friends. Later Minnie is worried Mickey will overdue the family Christmas party and when Pluto goes missing she searches with Goofy, Daisy, Scrooge McDuck and other members of their family.

Mickey Mouse Works
In Mickey Mouse Works, she finally appeared in her own segments. Occasionally, she starred in "Maestro Minnie" shorts, in which she conducts an orchestra of living instruments that she usually has to tame. In the series, Minnie was usually paired up with best friend Daisy Duck. The two will have various ups and downs but in the end were still best friends. Minnie also joined Mickey in his segment "Mickey to the Rescue" and in the shorts she is kidnapped by Pete only to be rescued by Mickey.

House of Mouse
In House of Mouse, Minnie is in charge of planning the show and the club's bookkeeper. She is often annoyed by Clarabelle's gossip, Daisy's wackiness and Mickey mischief. Minnie is often responsible for saving the club in times of crises using her cool and rational personality to calm things down.

Minnie appears in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. Minnie along with Mickey and the Disney guest are snowed in the club. Mickey advises the plan to have a Christmas party while Minnie finds a box of the gang's Christmas stories. Minnie also appears in Mickey's House of Villains. In it Minnie is worried about the large number of villains in the club on Halloween night thinking they might be up to something. Unfortunately Minnie is correct and the club is taken over by the Disney Villains. During their rein, Minnie threatens the leader Jafar in leaving the club but failed. After Mickey saves the day Minnie and the others celebrate.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Minnie also appears in the children television series, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Minnie is apart of the clubhouse pals and Mickey's girlfriend. Like other appearances Minnie enjoys cooking, gardening, sining and dancing. Minnie also has an alter-ego known as Detective Minnie famous for solving mysteries in the clubhouse. Detective Minnie often teams up with Daisy's alias Secret Spy Daisy to solve major issues. Together their known as The Friendship Team. Minnie has become the star of the most recent of the show's specials most notably Minnie's Bow Tique where she opens a boutique selling all forms of bows.

Toontown
Minnie Mouse is another original Disney character. She is a black mouse and she wears a pink and white polka-dotted dress. She can be found strolling in the Minnie's Melodyland playground.She also has her own Trolley Game called "Match Minnie". The players must correctly copy some dance moves Minnie makes by pressing the arrow keys. The fastest player wins the round. Minnie can be found in old Disney shows also.

Disney Parks
Minnie Mouse is the most common Disney character in the Disney Parks after Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. She is the third most requested character at Disney theme parks, behind Mickey and Winnie the Pooh.

In the Magic Kingdom there is a statue of Minnie sitting next to Roy O. Disney on a bench. She has a starring role in a handful of shows especially at the Tokyo Disney Resort.

Minnie's House is available for a tour in Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland. She also makes meet and greet appearances in her Disneyland home.

Minnie can be spotted in several entertainment entries including: Fantasmic!, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Dream Along with Mickey, Mickey's Soundsational Parade and others.

Minnie Oh! Minnie!
In Tokyo Disneyland, Minnie is the central character in the high-energy musical show using the Latin American flavor to make Disney style entertainment.

Twas the Night Before Christmas
Minnie was one of the main stars in the Christmas show in Walt Disney World. In the middle of the show, Minnie performs a solo number; her version of 'Santa Baby'.

Kingdom Hearts series
Majority of information taken from Kingdom Hearts Wiki: Minnie Mouse.

In the Kingdom Hearts video game series, Minnie is the queen of Disney Castle, who rules the peaceful kingdom alongside King Mickey. Despite being a queen, she rules the kingdom with equality to her citizens and shows no pride to her status.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Queen Minnie is hosting the yearly Dream Festival in Disney Town. During Ventus's visit, they find themselves having trouble with the ice-cream machine that the trio received from their grand uncle, Scrooge McDuck, but Ven manages to make it work right again. Afterwards, Aqua arrives to defeat monsters attacking the Fruit Ball Area, after which Minnie approaches to thank her. During the Rumble Race, Terra attempts to chase a group of Unversed, but almost gets crushed by Pete, who is posing as Captain Dark. Minnie warns him just in time for him to dodge the car. Then, Minnie tells him to participate in the competition as a means to help them rid of the monsters without breaking the rules.

By the end of the Dream Festival, Minnie presents the Million Dream Award to the most-voted heroes in town: Aqua, Terra, and Ventus (separately yet at the same time) with the Cream Berry, Double Crunch, and Rock Crunch ice-creams. Pete angrily confronts her about this, and she is forced to banish him to another dimension to make him understand what trouble he has caused. During the ending credits, she observes with her friends as Louie, Dewey, and Huey race.

Kingdom Hearts
Queen Minnie and Daisy Duck go over to the flowery courtyard, where they see Donald Duck fussing with Goofy about something top secret. They demand an explanation for that, so he hands over the letter he found in Pluto's mouth from King Mickey. After that, she has them follow the king's lead, worrying for all of them as well as Chip and Dale, who are the engineers for the Gummi Ship. From there on, she rules the kingdom on her own.

She is the one who sent Jiminy as their royal chronicler. She is not really seen again until the ending credits of Kingdom Hearts, where she sees Donald's nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie return from Traverse Town.

Kingdom Hearts II
One year after the events of Kingdom Hearts, Queen Minnie is still ruling the world of Disney Castle on her own, with Lady Daisy as her advisor.

Prior to Sora, Donald, and Goofy's visit, black rose thorns suddenly appear in the Hall of the Cornerstone where the Cornerstone of Light is kept. Soon after Heartless begin appearing in the castle and that opens the pathway to Disney Castle.

When Sora and the others visit Disney Castle, they find out that it is in danger because of Maleficent and Pete, who are threatening the castle by changing the past. Sora escorts Minnie to the king's throne, where a secret entrance lie for the castle construction site in the past (Timeless River).

After the castle is safe again, Queen Minnie continues to protect it. During the end credits, she is seen reunited with King Mickey, holding hands and noses touching each other.

Trivia

 * According to Mortimer Mouse, Minnie is his former girlfriend who left him.
 * Minnie's voice actress, Russi Taylor, was married to Mickey's voice actor, Wayne Allwine. Because Allwine has recently passed away, she is now widowed.
 * Minnie is often cited as an unofficial member of the Disney Princesses.
 * The comic strip story The Gleam by Merrill De Maris and Floyd Gottfredson first gave her full name as Minerva Mouse. "Minerva" has since been a recurring alias for her.
 * Minnie appeared in concept art for Epic Mickey, but did not appear in the actual game herself. There is a possibility that she might appear in Epic Mickey 2.