Two things that would thaw Walt Disney with the heat of his own rage

What you are about to see is a bunch of stultifyingly counterfeit Disney characters performing at a concert where Dear Leader, Jr. of North Korea, Kim Jung Un, was in attendance. I’m wondering if he was, perhaps, slightly underwhelmed.

Bonus: right smack in the center of an “Oh SNAP” bullseye. The following is an image of several “rejected” designs for Mickey Mouse, a most beloved creation of Walt Disney because he’d always considered the happy little rodent a reflection of himself. Warning: one of these Mickeys has a penis.

So, why are these so bad? Because they were drawn in 1985, 20 years after Walt Disney’s death, by Ward Kimball, one of the most prolific animators at Walt Disney Productions from 1934 to 1972. One of Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” who he’d once called a “genius,” and upon whom he relied to create or redesign tons of classic Disney characters including Mickey. At the same time, it is no secret that a lot of Disney’s closest cohorts didn’t always agree with him and didn’t always have nice things to say about him. (Because Walt Disney was more than a little bit of a nutter and not “World’s Best Boss.”) In fact, Kimball was partly responsible for starting the whole “Disney cryogenically froze himself after he died” rumor, so, yeah — a sweetheart.

At the same time, there is no way to not laugh at any of this.

Video Link (via Gawker, io9)