Post by alquackskey on Mar 31, 2024 0:56:21 GMT
Apologies for posting a lot - one more major point I was wondering about.
On the current tree, the link between Oswald and Mickey is through their mother. Is there any concrete reasoning for this?
As far as I'm aware, he's mainly considered Mickey's brother because of Epic Mickey. This, of course, causes some issues - the implication that it's literally Walt and so on.
Ignoring that, though, are they genuinely brothers in Epic Mickey canon?
As in, is it directly stated in official material?
My main reasons for asking are:
1. To determine his place in the family. As in, is it 'brother' in the sense that Yanez and Sandopaper were brothers? Or is it a literal sense of them being long-lost brothers under the same family member?
2. To determine his placement. Currently, he's the son of a rabbit with Mickey's mother. If we're going solely by Epic Mickey canon, wouldn't it make more sense for the father to be Mickey Mouse, who, while not a copy of Walt, ended up as a successful filmmaker? I don't know how direct of a parallel he's meant to be (He's portrayed pretty unfavourably), but I'd imagine there's at least some inspiration there.
There's also the fact that it makes more sense for a rabbit to give birth to a rabbit with a mouse as the father than a mouse giving birth to a rabbit because a rabbit is the father, but after the Donald tree, I'm well aware that that's a non-issue
So, tl;dr: Is there any official material designating Mickey as Oswald's brother, specifically? As in, in a context that makes it clear they're brothers and not just, like, fire-forged friends?
And, assuming that there is, is there a reason for their link being the mother, rather than the father? I'd imagine the father would make more sense in context
I haven't followed the Epic Mickey game franchise much, but I read some comics recently, I didn't find mentions that stated that they are half-brothers, and some information on wikipedias says that they are brothers or half-brothers, I added Oswald as being the son of Mickey's mother to keep the surname Rabbit instead of the surname Mouse.
I'm doing some digging on Oswald and Mickey's relationship - for the most part, it did seem to be fanon. However, one bit of evidence that seems more solid:
These are the last two pages of Epic Mickey: The Graphic Novel (INDUCKS: XPW EM GN 1)
This does depend on your interpretation - as in, it could very easily mean 'become brothers' in the sense that they grow close and become like family to one another.
However, what makes me pause is the 'Together Again' image in the end.
Given how long Oswald hated Mickey, it could very easily be taken as 'They're brothers, but couldn't see each other as such due to circumstances'.
There's also an interview with Warren Spector, the director of the game. The following statement is relevant:
Creative director Warren Spector said Oswald’s evolution in the franchise has been designed to reintroduce him to fans after being absent since 1951. His techie edge combines with physical and behavioral differences to set him apart from Mickey, Spector says.
“In the second game, they start out as allies, as companions, as collaborators,” Spector said. “They’re still brothers, though, so there is still tension between them. Brothers always have tension, but that doesn’t mean they don’t work together to accomplish common goals.”
Full interview here.
So, at the end of it all, it's still kind of muddy. Personally, I'd lean towards Oswald being a literal brother on the father's side.
The issue with Oswald is that there's no clean way to interpret him - so much of the content featuring him in recent years is meta-focused. He doesn't really slot in neatly because Epic Mickey's metanarrative is treated as a 'canon' part of his character - even in areas it doesn't really work.
In that context, I'd say that having Mickey's father be Oswald's is the cleanest way to approach it - you can still keep the general context (Dad loved you more and I got left on the side) without having to literally have Walt be a part of the narrative.