WHO EVEN IS HE?! Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Lore ✨🐇 | Disney Dreamlight Valley

Suddenly it seems as though Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is popping up EVERYWHERE!! But who even is he? Why are people freaking out about him? What Disney movie is he even from?!? Why is he in Disney Speedstorm and now potentially even coming to Disney Dreamlight Valley??
“It was all started by a mouse,” is a popular saying about how the Walt Disney company came to be. But look a little closer into the company’s history and you may find that it actually started… with a rabbit.
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is a lesser-known but important part of how the Walt Disney company became what it is today; and the reason we have the theme parks, and the films, and Disney Dreamlight Valley, and most importantly… he led to the creation of the man himself… Mickey Mouse.
Walt Disney was obsessed with the concepts and magic of animation, and in 1923, alongside his business-minded brother Roy, and loyal friend and genius animator, Ub Iwerks, began creating the “Alice Comedies” which were animation and live-action shorts based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland book. Walt Disney worked with a woman named Margaret Winkler, an animation distributor, to release the Alice Comedies to the public, which became a great success.
Over time, Margaret Winkler and Walt Disney disagreed about how to create the Alice Comedies. Walt Disney wanted to create quality animation with focus on character and storylines, while Winkler wanted more gags from the animated cat in the series, Julius the Cat. Winkler ended up marrying a businessman by the name of Charles Mintz, and when Winkler became pregnant he took over the company.
Mintz would go on to cause a lot of stress for Walt, asking for higher-quality animations in a shorter time without proper financial compensation. Mintz often took advantage of Walt’s naivety, forcing him into unfair contracts and negotiations.
In 1927 Mintz began working with Universal Studios, who was looking to create a cartoon character for a new series after a ten-year animation hiatus. There were too many cats in the cartoon world at the time, so they wanted something different. Walt Disney handed over sketches of a rabbit who we now know as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Mintz signed an agreement with Universal Studios to produce twenty-six shorts featuring Oswald. Walt Disney alongside Ub Iwerks created the first ever Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short titled “Poor Papa.” Both Mintz and Universal hated it and refused to release it. Mintz hated Oswald’s design and thought that he should have a monocle. Universal hated how many gags were in the short, something Mintz had always pushed him for.
Walt Disney was NOT going to put a monocle on him. But he did decide to focus on Oswald’s personality and make it distinctive. He didn’t want gags to happen “to” Oswald; he wanted the gags to come from within him, to come from who Oswald is as a character. Walt would say “I want the characters to be somebody. I don’t want them to be just a drawing.”
Then came Trolley Troubles, which starred Oswald as a conductor of a trolley having to cope with a series of misfortunes. Critics saw a lot of potential in this, so Walt hired a team to help with the creation of more Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts which were a massive success.
In early 1928, Mintz had grown tired of arguing with Walt about money and intended to take over Walt’s studio and staff and drop him. It was Ub Iwerks who told Walt about Winkler’s plan, but by then it was already too late. Walt’s entire team had left for Mintz and Universal for the renewal of the Oswald contract. Not only this, but Mintz had granted Walt Disney zero rights to the character he had created. Oswald now belonged to Universal, and Walt had nothing and no one but Iwerks on his side.
Walt Disney vowed he never wanted to work for anyone ever again, he wanted to be his own boss. He began making sketches of more characters on a train ride back to New York. He came up with a story about a mouse, inspired by Charles Lindbergh's 1927 flight over the Atlantic, who wanted to impress a lady mouse. This mouse… was Mortimer. Walt Disney read the story to his wife Lillian, and all she could think about was how horrible the name Mortimer was, and came up with Mickey. And thus, Mickey Mouse was born.
Eventually Oswald the Lucky Rabbit faded, as without the love Walt Disney poured into his characters, people no longer connected with him. Eventually the entire staff that betrayed Walt, eventually betrayed Mintz and left him.
In 2006, Walt Disney Studios acquired the rights of Oswald back from Universal Studios, and Oswald would go on to be feature in a video game titled Epic Mickey.

[@DavidChilson]

If the new character is indeed Oswald (instead of Figment), I hope they give him an interesting questline/story instead of being just a novelty character.

[@JamiesChaos]

Thinking about it, it may go perfectly with Rift in Time. If something is wrong with some sort of timeline, something happening to Oswald would affect every single other Disney story 🤔🤔

[@TheGardenBindery]

I love the Epic Mickey games soo much (I'm actually replaying them rn)! Oswald is honestly so cute and I hope he comes to the game

[@JamiesChaos]

Yesss!! They are so good!! I haven’t played them in years, but I think I might pick it up again soon! 😍

[@infinitetimer27]

Oswald!!! BRO THAT MY CHILDHOOD! I used to watch his shows and play the video game. And I’m only 18. I’m cultured man

[@joshkittrell914]

Oswald is one thing, but people barely even remember Ortensia. I had to play through Epic Mickey again to remember her.

[@JamiesChaos]

Maybe I should start making videos for obscure Disney references in general 🤣 give them a little love! ❤️❤️

[@MirandaTheInkling34]

Ive played Epic Mickey 2 growing up so i know Ortensia and Oswald since ive been tiny

[@BonesYourDaddy]

I’ve been holding out on buying this game but if they add Oswald it’s a instant buy. I really love this character and need more of him

[@JamiesChaos]

Yessss!! He’s so cute!!!

[@kerm_t]

Really good video, Jamie! You told us Oswald's story clearly, with a little touch of dramatization 😂 I still think that the lucky character could be Figment. In his official story, the Dreamfinder created the little dragon from ideas and sparks of imagination ("Hey, that's the update's name!" "Exactly muhahahah!"). Why don't you make a video about Figment too? It could be very interesting! Love your videoooosssss! ❤

[@JamiesChaos]

Yessss!!! I’ll write that down!! I’ve been asking for Figment since day 1, and honestly they did have his topiary in the showcase soooo, who knows??

[@kerm_t]

Yeah! I mean, imagination... Dreams... Figment fits perfectly into Dreamlight Valley's lore!

[@user-ox6qg6zm6b]

The first character was actually a ripoff of the first cartoon character ever, Felix the Cat, named Julius the Cat. He was killed in the first short, Little Red Riding Hood, and was the deuteragonist of the Alice cartoons, which was a combination of live action and cartoon characters.

[@I.C_Spiration_Station]

Oh my great joy goodness!! Your narration is giving me thrilling chills. I would soooo hire you as an narrator.

[@Ness_and_Sonic]

What I'm curious about is if the game has Jasmine and Mirage from Aladdin and Rebecca Cunningham from Talespin in Dreamlight Valley. I suspect Jasmine will be if she's not already, but I do wonder how these other two characters would look if they were in an official 3d game.

[@superawsomecyrusgamingtv]

Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was Created from 1 Years before Mickey Mouse and He is Mickey Mouse’s Older Brother he was created From 1927

[@erikpacheco6067]

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is the first character before Mickey Mouse was Created by Walt Disney and IB Iwerks

[@3fiddy777]

wow, thank you for this video, I had no idea who Oswald was. It makes perfect sense now and he deserves to be part of the valley!

[@JamiesChaos]

Yes!! He’s such a special character!! ❤️

[@christhejedimaster1885]

At one point Oswald the Lucky Rabbit co stated with Woody Woodpecker at Universal. Marvel Super Hero Island is also part of the rivalry

[@JamiesChaos]

I didn’t know that!! Love it!!! ❤️❤️❤️

[@Momba_Jules]

Wish I could like this video a million times! Oswald is my favorite.. thank you for telling his story!

[@JamiesChaos]

I love him too!! 😭 he’s such a cutie!! ❤️

[@wolfrine5674]

Wow thanks for history lesson I was one of those people who was like "eh..? Oswald? The heck is that"

[@JamiesChaos]

I figured most people had no clue! LOL! ❤️

[@JaxCoolKartunes]

What about Walter Lantz? Why is there a rabbit named "Oswald" in Woody Woodpecker comics?

[@MaytV109]

Pre-Mickey Disney cartoons are honestly the most mystifying content, in my opinion - especially since a lot of it is lost to time by now. Also, interesting trivia - you mentioned the rivalry between Disney and Universal that started with the - betrayal -, but Walt Disney and Walter Lantz (the in studio guy that took over Oswald once Universal pulled production into the studio lot) maintained a really good professional and friendly relationship. Of course, for my money, the Lantz Oswalds were massively inferior to the Disney ones - Oswald was not a character that was meant to transfer to being a talkie character lol... but it seems like Lantz taking over the character didn't create any bad blood between him and Disney.

[@owenanderson9624]

Very exciting, you're always a star Jamie 🌟

[@JamiesChaos]

Thank you Owen!! 💖💖

[@gogirl709]

You must be a grade school teacher irl - your reading is next level! I'm always like read me another

[@JamiesChaos]

Omg don’t expose me I literally am 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@JamiesChaos]

Thank you!! 🤣🤣❤️❤️❤️

[@gogirl709]

@@JamiesChaos Lucky students!

[@Lilitha11]

Almost no one knows who he is, and people who have seen him probably had no idea what his name was. Honestly, if you know who he is you are probably a Disney super fan.

[@JamiesChaos]

Agreed!! ❤️❤️

[@loonytunescrazy]

I known all about him a long time

[@angelinarobbins1567]

Jamie Oswald the lucky rabbit was the very first cartoon character that Walt Disney drew and created way before he drew and made Mickey Mouse. But unfortunately someone stole Oswald the lucky rabbit from Walt Disney during his time.

[@WorldofWarcraftfan02]

Walt was working for Universal when he created Oswald, when Walt left to start his own company Oswald was the property of Universal, it was in the early 2000’s that the copyright for Oswald stopped and Disney got the rights.

[@loonytunescrazy]

@@WorldofWarcraftfan02 Actually Bob Iger traded a baseball player to have Oswald returned to Disney

[@BonesYourDaddy]

⁠@@loonytunescrazyno it was al Michaels the sports commentator not a baseball player

[@loonytunescrazy]

Love Oswald walr;s disney second character the first was the Alice comdies and Pete who is the oldest disney character

[@JamiesChaos]

I hope Pete eventually comes to the game!! 😍❤️

[@superawsomecyrusgamingtv]

He Is 96 Years Old

[@CB-xo6cp]

I’ve only just thought of this but what if the I think it’s the late spring update with the realm. I was basically going through Disney plus and found encanto that made me think they have dynasty so it could be them, then I realised that the flowers could be from Isabella and now I’m stuck with this idea that more encanto stuff is coming

[@JamiesChaos]

Ooohhh!! I love this!!! I mean, Mirabel is clearly playing a part in this so it’s very possible 🤔🤔

[@harrillkaydin]

Jamie, what is the book called that you were referencing?

[@JamiesChaos]

Walt Disney: the Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler ❤️❤️❤️

[@MK_1Ultra]

You are chaotic

[@THESEAL1475]

Mickey is a a ripoff of him