A New "Mickey Mouse" Animated Series

[Scrooge MacDuck]

The way Goofy's eyes don't have a line separating them reminds me of Japanese cartooning, for one thing. The thin and equal linework (as opposed to the Rudish cartoons' paintbrush-like variation in line width along curves) also.

[TheMidgetMoose]

Aug 25, 2019 1:51:10 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

Aug 24, 2019 0:38:05 GMT TheMidgetMoose said:

On another note, it seems that Clarabelle Cow has brown fur in this short. Interesting. Of course, you could argue that's not actually Clarabelle, which would be a fair argument since it is somewhat off-model; but the clothing clearly indicates that it was intended to be her. Will this choice of brown fur spillover into other appearances, or was it just for this short?

I don't think she has brown fur ... seems like she's wearing a top (odd choice since Minnie isn't, but anyway).

First I've heard of those Popeye shorts, and yes, Mickey Go Local seems sadly very similar. Why is Bluto clean-shaven? Are very young children scared by beards? 

Maybe, but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be fur. She already has a red top on. The brown coloring is on her legs, head sans the nose/mouth area, ears, and arms. People (or cows, for that matter) don't usually wear clothing all those places.

[Mesterius]

Aug 25, 2019 19:35:50 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

The way Goofy's eyes don't have a line separating them reminds me of Japanese cartooning, for one thing.

Really?





That design trait reminds me more of American or European cartooning than any Japanese anime I can think of.

Oh, and Goofy's eyes don't have a line separating them in the Paul Rudish cartoons either. In fact, he generally doesn't have a line separating his eyes:

[Baar Baar Jinx]

Aug 25, 2019 20:15:31 GMT TheMidgetMoose said:

Aug 25, 2019 1:51:10 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

I don't think she has brown fur ... seems like she's wearing a top (odd choice since Minnie isn't, but anyway).

First I've heard of those Popeye shorts, and yes, Mickey Go Local seems sadly very similar. Why is Bluto clean-shaven? Are very young children scared by beards? 

Maybe, but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be fur. She already has a red top on. The brown coloring is on her legs, head sans the nose/mouth area, ears, and arms. People (or cows, for that matter) don't usually wear clothing all those places.

I see what you mean now. On my monitor, it's a very dark brown and almost looks black, but I see there's a clear difference between the color of her body and Minnie's. Since I didn't notice that at first, I thought you were referring to her blouse, which I suppose could be called brown, even though I thought it was unlikely you'd make such an assumption. 

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Here's Episode 2, which dropped five days ago. 



I'd say it's slightly better than the first one but still no great masterpiece. And what is this weird emphasis on food? 

[Baar Baar Jinx]

Yes, slightly better. The uninspired character designs still weigh the episodes down heavily. But you can tell that the facial expressions and body movements are more dynamic than in the first one. And yes, the focus of this cartoon series seems to be Southeast Asian cuisine.

[TheMidgetMoose]

Seems this series could benefit from some tweaking to the current art style and better sound effects. The super cartoony sound effects in Peranakan Spice kind of threw me off. They don't mesh to well and draw too much attention to themselves, in my opinion. I think this has potential (if it is to continue beyond two episodes), but there's certainly much which could be changed.

[schizo]

Slightly less duller than the first one due to having a bit heavier focus on slapstick, but the artstyle still looks like something from a cheap rip-off rather than the official thing.
Are these actually made in Asia? If Disney's gonna outsource the making of Mickey and Donald shorts, then maybe try Europe instead. Since that part of the world has a better track record when it comes to producing Disney content.

[Mesterius]

Sept 13, 2019 17:13:32 GMT schizo said:

Slightly less duller than the first one due to having a bit heavier focus on slapstick, but the artstyle still looks like something from a cheap rip-off rather than the official thing.
Are these actually made in Asia? If Disney's gonna outsource the making of Mickey and Donald shorts, then maybe try Europe instead. Since that part of the world has a better track record when it comes to producing Disney content.

The main problem isn't that they're outsourcing to Asia. The main problem is the specific mindset behind these cartoons -- make them as harmless and toddler-friendly as possible, keep the designs ultra-simple and dumbed down, don't have the characters talk. It all smacks of a combination of "let's keep these as cheap to produce as possible while at the same time making them perfect, harmless toddler fodder."

Plus, really... you can take virtually ANY Disney TV cartoon that's been outsourced to Asia over the past three decades and point to animation and art design that's way better than this.

[TheMidgetMoose]

Sept 13, 2019 17:13:32 GMT schizo said:

Slightly less duller than the first one due to having a bit heavier focus on slapstick, but the artstyle still looks like something from a cheap rip-off rather than the official thing.
Are these actually made in Asia? If Disney's gonna outsource the making of Mickey and Donald shorts, then maybe try Europe instead. Since that part of the world has a better track record when it comes to producing Disney content.

I mean yeah there have been plenty of very talented European artists who have put out great Disney content, but I don't doubt that there's someone in Asia who could do the same. I don't know if that someone is working on Mickey Go Local or not, but I'm sure that someone exists and could create great Asian Disney content if given the chance. Look at Osamu Tezuka, for example. Though I am by no means a Tezuka expert, my understanding is that he was a huge fan of Disney. It's said he watched Bambi over 80 times and was reportedly a big fan of Carl Barks. He put out incredible stuff during his lifetime and has a lasting legacy, though my understanding is that the only Disney-sanctioned thing he made was the Bambi manga.

My point is that I think it's crazy to imply a great artist or animator who has a passion for, or would at least do good with, Disney can't come from Asia. Europe has some tremendous artists and writers, but I think Asia could and, in cases like Tezuka, already has produced people like that as well. Asia has as much if not more due to a significantly larger population potential as Europe. I'm not sure Mickey Go Local has tapped into that potential, but I don't doubt it's there.

[Baar Baar Jinx]

Third one:

Yes, Clarabelle's fur is brown in this series.

[Scrooge MacDuck]

Oh dear. The characters really aren't improving. I still kinda like them when they're standing still, but it's all so stiff… At least the backgrounds are nice, but that's also true of the Rudish series.

[Baar Baar Jinx]

Sept 27, 2019 16:47:32 GMT Scrooge MacDuck said:

Oh dear. The characters really aren't improving. I still kinda like them when they're standing still, but it's all so stiff… At least the backgrounds are nice, but that's also true of the Rudish series.

I agree, this one carries on the tradition of mediocrity/amateurishness set by its predecessors. Although it was nice to see Clarabelle, Horace and Mortimer (are they supposed to be the same characters every time they appear, or are there several clones of them in the town this takes place in? They appear in such different scenarios in such quick succession that I almost wonder if it isn't the latter).

[TheMidgetMoose]

Sept 27, 2019 13:17:07 GMT Baar Baar Jinx said:

Third one:

Yes, Clarabelle's fur is brown in this series.

Some of the moments here were really, for lack of better word, ugly. I mean some of this did just not look good. Also, I still don't really find it funny or entertaining. It's lacking in a lot of areas. Mortimer's design is underwhelming. It feels very simple and lacks of lot of the charm that the original Mickey's Rival design had. What is up the constant reuse of Horace, Clarabelle, and Mortimer? Are they not aware that there are other characters in the Mouse Universe who could be used a background characters? The Rudish series has great background characters. I frequently pause episodes of that series to see all the unique designs of the folks in the background. Here it's just Horace, Clarabelle, and Mortimer over and over again. Is this laziness or some kind of rule that they can only use certain characters?

On the plus side, I didn't catch as many overly cartoony sound effects here as I did in Peranakan Spice. I still think Donald's design is really cute, and I like it more than any other character design in this show.

[drleevezan]

I see that they've included dialogue in this one - including one line in English. I wonder why? I'd assumed that every episode was going to voiceless.