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HyperTyper
02-14-2005, 05:46 AM
When I began seeing the photos of the "designer" Mickey statues planted all around the place, I thought ... "Hmmm... this could be kind-of cool." Then I took a closer look. Some are rather fun, but some of them make me wonder if Disney really took this publicity stunt seriously. I know some of the designers sure didn't.

Many of the "designers" aren't artists. They're singers, or actors, or whatnot. "Designed by" does not mean "made by." I'm assuming the celeb said what they wanted, and someone else made it happen, right? Oh, well ... no biggie. No harm done, and the Mickeys make for interesting decorations.

But then, in today's MP Disneyland update, I see the Rosie O'Donnell edition. Saying it made me want to throw-up would be an exaggeration, but saying it looked like someone threw-up on Mickey would not. Her "Mickey in Yellow" is nothing more than a slab of Mickey statue with yellow paint splattered all over it. And unlike some graffiti, there isn't anything skilled or remotely attractive or interesting about it. Indeed, it's rather sad to see poor puked-on Mickey happily standing there, apparently oblivious to the fact that he's been slimed by a self-absorbed former talk show host. (Oh well ... he won't be the first one.)

I didn't bother to ask "What was Rosie thinking?!?!?" because this is Rosie, and, well, this is just the kind of thoughtless, childish stunt she would do. What I'd like to know is "What was DISNEY thinking??????" To put something so cheap, ugly and offensive in DCA? (As if the park didn't already have enough image problems.) I suppose Disney is going to try to make a bundle and auction the piece of garbage for a few grand on EBay after the display is over.

And Disney wonders why its image has lost its shine over the years. Could it be in part due to slavish pandering to pop culture, celebrities and such nonsense? The Rosie Mickey thing is symptomatic of a really annoying attitude at Disney ... that attaching a celebrity name to a Disney product will make it 'cool,' admirable and successful. We see it all the time, especially in Disneys most recent movies that were more about big-name credits than character, story or art. Don't they remember what happened when they tried to base a whole attraction on star power alone? SUPERSTAR LIMO??!?!? It DIED ... a quick yet painful and embarrassing death. (I never even got a chance to see the thing. Thank heavens.)

The next time Disney wants to try something like this, I suggest they have a coloring contest and pick one child under 12 from every state to design THEIR own Mickey. I'm sure they could come up with something far more appealing than Rosie O'Donnel's very un-funny mockery.

So, I'm curious ... did anyone else see "Mickey in Yellow?" Did it annoy anyone else, or am I just an old fuddy-duddy?

I propose we Disney fans do designer statues of celebrities who have done their own little part to tarnish the Disney name. I volunteer to do "Rosie in Oatmeal." He heee .... :D

Have a good week, everyone ...

Shortiemetoo
02-14-2005, 06:37 AM
When I was there two weeks ago now :crying: I really enjoyed the Mickeys. Some more than others, of course, but I thought that some of them were really really awesome. One that impressed me was Tom Hanks Mickey. It is so cool...took a lot of thinking to do that one. There were many I liked and a few I thought..."sheesh, what in heavens name was ______ thinking. They are going to be sold and the profit is going to the foundation/charity that the actor picked and is listed on each mickey. Disney/DCA/WDW are not going to receive any profits from the sale of the mickeys. That is what I think made it a great idea! :D

Stupid_American
02-14-2005, 06:53 AM
"ART"


I've really enjoyed the exhibit.
My biggest surprise was the Disney entry "Reflections".
They seemed to go for the "intellectual", rather than creative.

IMO, the "Clown" was just scary! :eek:

http://homepage.mac.com/stupid_american/clown.jpg

Your objection really seems to be aimed at Rosie.
As annoying as I find her, her's isn't the worst Mickey.
Love her or hate her, she always draws attention.

And, she has succeeded once again!

3894
02-14-2005, 07:00 AM
The Mickey statues are great, particularly if they're eventually auctioned off for charity.

TikiGeek
02-14-2005, 07:07 AM
IMHO - The Mickey's are great fun! Yes, some are poorly done but those few were more than offset by those that were very well done. We got some great photos and had a great time with them. :)

experiment626
02-14-2005, 07:26 AM
What really bugs me about the Mickeys is that they are all the same pose... Couldn't they have made them in several different posses?

dsnyredhead
02-14-2005, 07:33 AM
Some are cute....some are creepy. That's my thoughts. :D

HTHgal12
02-14-2005, 08:41 AM
I loved the mickeys! Some more than others though!

AprilShowers
02-14-2005, 09:46 AM
Is there a place where we can view photos of the Mickey statues? I would LOVE to see them, and since I won't be visiting CA soon.......

cstephens
02-14-2005, 09:53 AM
There are a few that I think are ok, but generally, I think they're creepy, which is why I've been referring to DCA as the creepy Mickey park...

Stupid_American
02-14-2005, 09:57 AM
Is there a place where we can view photos of the Mickey statues? I would LOVE to see them, and since I won't be visiting CA soon.......

We finally shot all 75!
It takes a little time to load, but navigates quickly after that.

Mrs. Stupid's InspEARations Site (http://homepage.mac.com/stupid_american/75Mickeys/index.html)

kadiehl
02-14-2005, 10:04 AM
We saw them all in January 2005 when we were at WDW. I loved them! I have tons of pictures of them...even Janet Jackson's that was pulled from the line up. Couple of my favorites were the Coca Cola Mickey, the Alias Mickey, Ben Affleck's Boston Red Sox Mickey, Saxophone Mickey and Annette Funicello's Purple mickey with wings touched me as well.

I wish they would keep them around the parks....I think they are great. Although auctioning them off is a great thing to do. If I had the money, I would snag a ton of them up! :)

D-lander 1956
02-14-2005, 10:07 AM
I personally don't like them. There is just something wrong about seeing Mickey in ANY colors other than his intended colors of black, white, red and gold. The majority of the them made me cringe, ugh! :(

WillCAD
02-14-2005, 10:13 AM
I saw some of them at WDW during MouseFest 2003. There was aparently some sort of flap with the paint not drying quick enough, and they had trouble placing the statues where they wanted to, so 30 or 40 of them wound up in neat little rows outside the MK turnstiles.

I found many of them to be clever and creative, and some of them to be pretty lame, but I didn't see the Rosie version.

As to HyperTyper's objection, "I'm with Stupid!" I think HT objects more to Rosie than to Rosies Mickey, which is fine with me, since everyone is entitled to their opinion. I don't have any particular problem with Rosie, but I will reserve judgement on her Mickey In Yellow till I actually see it.

Oh, and Stupid, the clown Mickey is only scary to those who are scared of clowns. Since I'm not one of those folks, I find the clown Mickey to be moderately cute.

EDITED TO ADD: Okay, I have looked them all over (thanks for the gallery Stupid!) and I now agree that Rosie's Mickey in Yellow is the worst, dumbest, ugliest, most unimaginative one of the bunch.

Shortiemetoo
02-14-2005, 10:38 AM
We finally shot all 75!
It takes a little time to load, but navigates quickly after that.

Mrs. Stupid's InspEARations Site (http://homepage.mac.com/stupid_american/75Mickeys/index.html)

I just want to thank you again!! I love your site, it brings back all the good memories of my trip!! And wow, the angles/lighting etc is awesome!!! :D

kadiehl
02-14-2005, 10:47 AM
Oh, and Stupid, the clown Mickey is only scary to those who are scared of clowns. Since I'm not one of those folks, I find the clown Mickey to be moderately cute.

Ok, after seeing Stephen King's IT in movie form years ago...I have hated clowns since and I am 30 now, LOL ;) But I do think the Mickey clown is cute. :)

Earkid
02-14-2005, 11:05 AM
I've said it before and I'll say it again.....Mickey with crab claws and a crab tail is just plain wrong.


I also saw the Rosie "yellow puke" statue last week and it looks worse in person. After seeing the others and all the thought that went into them, her "design" was insulting.

HyperTyper
02-14-2005, 11:17 AM
My objection is not about Rosie. There was a day when I didn't think she was obnoxious, and I found her somewhat entertaining. No, this has everything to do with the final result of her "work." The thing is ugly, thoughtless and pretentious ... and has no place with the other Mickeys wherever they are, let alone in a Disney park.

Some of the celeb pieces screamed self-promotion. However, I thought Doris Roberts' Mickey, with his likeness reproduced with patterns of Italian food, was pretty clever. There were a few others I liked a lot too. It was a good idea that a few people just treated like a joke or a tribute to themselves rather than Mickey. *sigh*

Stupid_American
02-14-2005, 12:02 PM
Some had fun with the idea, and like you said, others took themselves too seriously.

marktips
02-14-2005, 12:07 PM
Rosie's entry looked different in Florida, atleast it did to me. The pics do show what appears to be a vomit covered mickey, but the original was different. I don't think it weathered well and the paint faded - or worse, was redone and ended up looking like that.

I remembering thinking her entry was odd, but that specific color grossness would have stood out. Lemme see if i can find a link to how it looked at WDW. (Several of WDW's were redone and or repaired during their time there, from broken limbs to paint touch-ups and re-do's)

marktips
02-14-2005, 12:13 PM
In this image of the Rosie Mickey ( link to wdwinfo (http://www.wdwinfo.com/Photos/Mickey-75th/pages/IMG_9104.htm) ) you can see that the colors have faded terribly before it ended up at DLR.

So, it was never grand, but the faded version looks a lot less like Art than the original - which was meant to look sorta decropauged and splattered painted a la Pollack.

jetkitten
02-14-2005, 12:14 PM
I found a fun thing to do a DCA. find the rosie mickey, sit within ear shot and listen to people as they pass by. I actually enjoyed the mickey's. It takes a bit of creativity to make mickey into a lobster.

marktips
02-14-2005, 12:17 PM
Here's another link, the official one, showing what all the statues look like: https://licensing.disney.com/Login/apps/loginpages/jsp/dcpdl/splash/MickeyAllStatues.jsp

CrazyTrain
02-14-2005, 01:50 PM
I thought Rosie's was really ugly, too, but I did like how she put her kids pics in it. I am hoping that maybe they helped her decorate it, that's why it's all paint splattered. I didn't think it was offensive, just ugly.

There was a little kid who kept running up to each Mickey and hugging him "I havta hug baseball Mickey!" *run and hug* "I havta hug Lobster Mickey!" *run and hug* And to me, that's what it's all about!

I was wondering... Are they going to repaint these before they acution them? Because they're all beat up and dirty and worn.

HyperTyper
02-16-2005, 05:19 AM
In this image of the Rosie Mickey ( link to wdwinfo ) you can see that the colors have faded terribly before it ended up at DLR.

Ugh. The thing is worse in full, bright color. And the page with thumbnails of all the statues together makes O'Donnell's statue stand-out even more. Sad, sad, sad, sad, sad.

I was a little disappointed in the statue from Disneyland Resort too. It's just a plain Mickey with a silvery finish. Not ugly by any means ... I'd love to have one like it (smaller, perhaps). But with the creator being DISNEYLAND, I thought they'd have a bit more fun with it ... maybe dressing Mickey in tourist garb (with Goofy ears?) and holding a Disneyland guide map or something. But I'll accept their entry gracioiusly .... provided they PROMISE they were too busy making a really cool new Space Mountain!

I was also a little surprised at who didn't do a Mickey, including a few people who have had a lot of involvement with Disney over the years: Julie Andrews, Angela Lansbury, Marie Osmond (she makes dolls, for cryin' out loud ... She's at Disneyland ALL the time, and the Osmonds got their start at the park), the Sherman brothers ... Oh, well. I will thank Disney for one thing, too... not inviting Michael "Captain Eo" Jackson (or his sister) do a Mickey. That would have been a major brain malfunction.