The evolution of Mickey Mouse's design.
| Image | As seen in/Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
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Plane Crazy (1928) | The original Mickey design, seen in Plane Crazy, doesn't wear gloves or shoes. His eyes also appear to take up half of his face. |
| File:Tumblr n8zutaJ0Xl1qhcrb0o1 1280.jpg | The Gallopin' Gaucho (1928) | Mickey now wears shoes, though, for the first half of The Gallopin' Gaucho, he still has his large-sized eyes. Midway through the short, he switches to the next design below. |
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Steamboat Willie (1928) | Mickey's eyes are now merged into his face making his pupils look like as if they were small black ovals for eyes. |
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The Opry House (1929) | From this short onward, Mickey now wears white gloves, though on the first half, he's seen without them. The reason being so his hands can be distinguished when drawn in front of his body. |
| File:Tumblr mzb8dgNztW1r3jmn6o1 1280.png | The Karnival Kid (1929) | Here, Mickey's eyes are drawn as "pie-eyes", and he now appears to have eyebrows right under the outline of his face. His face would continue to be drawn with the pie-eyes in the newspaper comic strip and various merchandise up until his 1939 redesign. |
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Blue Rhythm (1931) | Mickey's "pie-eyes" would go back to being black ovals in the middle of the short, but would strangely be used once more in Musical Farmer. His eyebrows remained up until The Beach Party. |
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Parade of the Award Nominees (1932) | Mickey appears in color for the first time. For this one film, his shorts are tinted green, despite his theatrical posters always depicting them as red. |
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Mickey's Garden (1935) | In the first full-color Mickey short to feature his standard outfit, we see that his gloves are tinted yellow. Note also that the buttons on his shorts are now oval-shaped. |
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Pluto's Judgement Day (1935) | This short marked the first appearance of a new design for Mickey, in which his body is now a pear-shape, allowing him to appear more flexible. Note that his gloves are still tinted yellow. |
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Mickey's Grand Opera (1936) | Mickey's gloves are now tinted white again. |
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The Whalers (1938) | The color of Mickey's face has gone to a more flesh tone hue, albeit a pale-looking one. |
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Mickey Mouse Meets Robinson Crusoe (1938) | Starting from the strip published on December 22, 1938, Floyd Gottfredson began drawing Mickey with Fred Moore's new design, the biggest change being that his eyes now have pupils. (According to "Steamboat Silly", these are his contact lenses.) For the first few strips to use this design, Mickey's pupils are still shaped like sliced pies, but this was quickly phased out. |
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Mickey's Surprise Party (1939) | In the first animated short to feature Fred Moore's redesign for Mickey, we see that he has a more vibrant-looking flesh tone-colored face. |
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Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip (1940) | Mickey's shoes are now tinted brown instead of yellow. |
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The Little Whirlwind (1941) | Mickey now has a slimmer body and perspective ears. |
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Mickey's Delayed Date (1947) | Mickey now appears to be drawn at a taller height than before. His ears are now back to the original round shape. |
| File:Tve66480-19520919-1006.jpg | Pluto's Party (1952) | In the last few cartoons of his original run, Mickey has a more angular stylized design and also has eyebrows. |
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Nash Rambler Commercials (1955) | Mickey appears in a simpler design, with his head and ears becoming more angular. |
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Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) | In his return to theatrical animation, Mickey's eyebrows are removed, and his drawing style returns closer to the 1940s style. |
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Runaway Brain (1995) | Mickey's height is now back to the shorter stature, and he has also gone back to his original red shorts and yellow shoes. However, the buttons on his shorts are colored yellow instead of their usual white here. |
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Mickey Mouse Works (1999-2000) | Mickey looks almost identical to how he looked in Runaway Brain, but with his buttons being tinted white again. |
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Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas (2004) | In his first all-CGI feature, Mickey's ears are in perspective mode (a la the 1941-42 shorts) again and his eyes appear to be smaller in size with larger black pupils. |
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Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006-2016) | Mickey's ears are perfectly round again. Also, the buttons on his shorts are round again. Also, his eyes are big again like in the early-1940s cartoons and Mickey Mouse Works. |
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Epic Mickey (2010) | For this video game, Mickey returns to his 1936 design. The game was intended to also have Mickey gradually change to his original 1928 design or his 1938 design depending on his in-game behavior, but this was scrapped in development. |
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Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion (2012) | The 2D cutscenes in both this game and Epic Mickey 2 depict Mickey with the pie-eyes of his 1929 design, though the gameplay still uses the black oval eyes. |
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Get A Horse! (2013) | Mickey's design in this part-CGI short is based on the design used in Steamboat Willie, though in the closing shot seen here, he's drawn with the pie-eyes of his 1929 design. |
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Mickey Mouse (2013-2019)/The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse (2020-2023) | Paul Rudish's stylized designs of Mickey in the new series uses his face from his 1929 design, and also has a noticeably skinnier body, and his face is tinted white. Also, the buttons on his shorts are tinted yellow again, like in Runaway Brain. |
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Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures (2017-2021) | Mickey reverts to his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse design but with a couple of different outfits. |
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Chip 'n' Dale: Park Life (2021-present) | Mickey appears in his modern design, with the addition of eyebrows again. |
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Mickey Mouse Funhouse (2021-present) | Mickey once again appears in CGI, again with differing outfits. |
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Mickey in a Minute (2022) | Mickey appears in his traditional clothing once more, although during this short he would revert to his previous designs. |
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Mickey Saves Christmas (2022) | Mickey appears for the first time in stop-motion in a design that resembles his modern appearance. This design would also appear in Mickey and Friends: Trick or Treats. |
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Once Upon a Studio (2023) | Mickey appears in his design from Mickey's Birthday Party, with the only change being his ears being rounded. |
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"Donald Duck Tries to Keep His Cool While Eating Spicy Wings" (2024) | Mickey wears more modern and common clothing, with a red hoodie and gray pants. (While not an official Disney video, it used Disney voice actors and was animated by Disney animator Eric Goldberg.) |
