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Has Mickey Lost His "Special" Feel



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Face My Fears

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I always equated Mickey in the KH series to Yoda in the Star Wars franchise. You rarely see Yoda fight, but when you do it's just amazing and a special moment. At the end of KH1 you meet Mickey for the first time, then you see him as a ghost then real in KHCoM, and then finally you actually see him in action in KH2 (and even get to use him -- surprise). It felt so special whenever Mickey showed up on screen, it was like something extremely important was going on.

But now we're so many games into the franchise, several of the spinoffs featuring Mickey prominently and... when I finally saw him in KH3, he just felt like a regular. Maybe it's just me giving Mickey such importance in the franchise, but I kind of wish we saw less of Mickey in KH3 and he only showed up to look like a total badass and/or say something really important. They had Mickey basically lose all the fights he was in in KH3 (until Sora shows up), so I just feel like he's not as special as he used to be.

Does anyone feel this way?
 

Zettaflare

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Yeah, Mickey seemed to have lost the grand presence he had in the first three games. In KH3 he comes off as incredibly incompetent at times. Donald and Goofy felt more important than him, lol.
 

disney233

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Now, I love Mickey's moments. BBS & DDD still felt special to me, and secured that badass Mickey. I mean...it ain't every day you see Mickey Mouse completely halting everyone with S T O P Z A. The ONLY time I'll give Mickey the benefit of the doubt is his 'attempt' confrontation with Xehanort. YES DONALD SHINED WITH ZETTAFLARE, BUT C'MON THE MOUSE PULLED OUT AN ULTIMA OUTTA NOWHERE! Buuuuut, I will have to agree with Zettaflare above. There were times when Mickey just felt...incompetent. BUT Y'KNOW, THAT'S LITERALLY WHAT HAPPENED TO A L L OF THE GUARDIANS AT THE 'CLIMAX.' SOOO THEY GOTTA THROW IN THAT INCOMPETENT MICKEY A H Y U K
 

AdrianXXII

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Hm I feel like it's only natural for a character like Mickey to feel less special as time goes on. They kind of have to show him more now that there's no real reason for him to be working behind the scenes and the more we see him the less special his appearances seem.

He still strikes me as powerful though, he suffered from holding the incompetence ball in KH just like most major characters in KH3, to let Sora shine, but hopefully that'll just be a one time misstep for all of them
 

Veevee

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To be honest, he only had a special feeling in KH1 (at least to me). In KH2 we met him a few times and he almost never did something noteworthy but being a douche by not giving Sora even the most basic informations and he was always gone in a second. It appeared he had some grand agenda, something big to do and in the end, he hardly contributed anything in that game. Yes, he followed Xemnas around (which apparently made no difference), we have no signs he did something in the worlds and his role in the grand scheme of things is pretty low considering he is a keyblade master. The only game I actually liked him in was Re:Com because that was when he still seemed to care about people and KH1 was okay because he was hardly ever featured and actually did something. From KH2 onwards, he always came off as an overrated (by in-game standards), rather bland character who hardly did anything useful or noteworthy.
 

DarkosOverlord

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Yeah, I think Mickey only came off as "special" to me in KH1 and CoM.

When I played KH1, it had some charm to it, and it also helped that I was a naive kid who didn't really know how narrative worked. Was he the King? He had to be, right? But why aren't they calling him by name? Also, how come Mickey Mouse isn't, like, the first character I see in this Disney game?
The way he appeared at the end... one could go full cynical and say he was some kind of ex-machina, but somehow it felt... right. You knew the King was out there doinf something, and his appearance is justified and doesn't really dimish what Sora and the others accomplished.

In CoM he was useful as a positive character Riku could talk to, and that's where the series really lays down that Mickey isn't just another Keyblade wielder (the first time I finished KH1 I actually though he received the Keyblade around the same time Sora did for some reason), but kind of a big deal.
Mickey was basically the Light counterpart of Ansem, on many levels. Not just because he acted as the angel on Riku's shoulder, but also for the powerful feel he gave off.
The way he casually says stuff like sending a fraction of his power to Castle Oblivion and giving "a little help" by warding off Ansem's powerful Darkness made him more badass than any backflip or cool pose.
And yet (man CoM's writing was just so good) he's also not a perfect character, and while arguably one if not the strongest one in the whole game he too overcomes some of his shortcomings by watching Riku and realizing Darkness shouldn't be eradicated.

KH II presents Mickey as a dude who's too cool to stop and talk to you for more than a couple of minutes, and started the trope of Donald and Goofy fangirling hard about him which honestly overstayed its welcome after the first time.
It doesn't feel like he's doing anything urgent and fighting his way through alternative routes like in KH1, nor does he feel the strong and badass Master CoM made him out to be.
He doesn't achieve anything special or unique on his own, literally every goal gets cleared by either Sora or Riku, he dives after Xemnas in a dark corridor and nothing comes out of it, and Yen Sid robbed him of any possible mentor role by merely existing.

I liked teaming up with him to fight Vanitas in Ven's story, I'll give him that.
Other than that, throughout the rest of the Master Xehanort arc Mickey just feels... there, he either has some cameos because he's Mickey Mouse or he says and does stuff because the "plot advancement" roulette stopped on his name.
Obviously the games aren't ABOUT him, and I can understand not wanting to give him too much spotlight to avoid some predictable criticism, but he doesn't feel as special and unique as he could be.
Which I think it's a bummer. Memes aside, I like Mickey Mouse and would love to see him in all of his potential.
 

Elysium

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Riku, Mickey, and Maleficent all have lost the "special" feeling they've had in the past to varying degrees--because of disuse (and, in Maleficent's case, misuse). Hopefully now that KH3 is done they can dump the excess characters that the series never needed in the first place and Riku can go back to being heavily featured. And maybe Maleficent can be a villain again now that Xehanort and the other weak sauce original villains are done with, too.
 

Veevee

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I was always a little disappointed how differently Mickey was portrayed in the KH games in comparison to his comic self. I read a lot of stories about and with him when I was a kid and I especially liked the Phantomias ones. Yes, he was always a little cocky, but he genuinely cared about his friends, was sweet with Minnie and a clever Jack of all Trades. The games though .. from KH2 onward, he gave me the feeling he was everywhere and nowhere and never really cared. One of my biggest gripes is how he treated Sora in KH2 - he just should've told him Riku was well and alive and kicking which would have calmed Sora - as we could literally see in the first game, Sora was totally okay with Riku being gone as soon as he knew that the latter was fine. If Mickey had just told him "yes, he's fine, he has stuff to do, concentrate on your mission", Sora would've been less worried. That is another example of "we have to stall the plot for the sake of it" - the game couldn't let us know what became of Riku even if we knew he was okay and as a result, Mickey looked like a douche.

Also KH2: There's trouble in Disney castle, but no king to be found. What was he doing that would justify letting your loved ones be overrun by heartless?

For BBS, well ... it bothers me how he never mentions TAV or looks for them or even cares. Yes, he only meets them briefly, but later refers to them as good friends, he still lets Aqua rot in RoD when having the literal key to her rescue in his hands (and having been in the RoD anyway) and going to that exact place where she was couldn't have been that problematic. It made me feel like he didn't care and was surprised what came out of it.

DDD is kinda the same. He sees the danger along with chairsitting old beard, but doesn't act until it is too late and even fails on that. It's shameful.

In KH3, he didn't manage to do anything - even though no one except for Sora actually does something on his own worth mentioning. Kairi dies and he, along with the others, doesn't look any fazed.

Honestly, it's not even that I don't like Mickey as a character, I just can't stand him in Kingdom Hearts - at all. He's played to be the Keyblade Master, the wise guy, a mentor of some sorts, a guiding light and at the end of the day, his caring about other people seems superficial after Re:Com. Re:Com was a great game where he shined and genuinely cared about Riku, being by his side and actually having a presence - from there on, he is never where he is needed and wherever he actually is, he doesn't accomplish much, still gets treated like a great guy.
 

Neo_

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I always equated Mickey in the KH series to Yoda in the Star Wars franchise. You rarely see Yoda fight, but when you do it's just amazing and a special moment. At the end of KH1 you meet Mickey for the first time, then you see him as a ghost then real in KHCoM, and then finally you actually see him in action in KH2 (and even get to use him -- surprise). It felt so special whenever Mickey showed up on screen, it was like something extremely important was going on.

But now we're so many games into the franchise, several of the spinoffs featuring Mickey prominently and... when I finally saw him in KH3, he just felt like a regular. Maybe it's just me giving Mickey such importance in the franchise, but I kind of wish we saw less of Mickey in KH3 and he only showed up to look like a total badass and/or say something really important. They had Mickey basically lose all the fights he was in in KH3 (until Sora shows up), so I just feel like he's not as special as he used to be.

Does anyone feel this way?
That's a good point, but I also think the "Yoda thing" ran its course, so I'm fine with it either way.

I mean, didn't the same thing happen with Yoda by Episode II where he was just this little CGI thing flying around the screen?
 

Elysium

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@Veevee: I actually feel the complete opposite. KH is the first time I've ever really liked Mickey or Minnie for that matter (and I like Goofy better here than anywhere else, too). I've always liked Donald and still hate Daisy. Mickey and Minnie were unexpectedly awesome in KH and I love it. Before KH, they came off as bland goodie-goodies with almost no personality.
 

redcrown

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For BBS, well ... it bothers me how he never mentions TAV or looks for them or even cares. Yes, he only meets them briefly, but later refers to them as good friends, he still lets Aqua rot in RoD when having the literal key to her rescue in his hands (and having been in the RoD anyway) and going to that exact place where she was couldn't have been that problematic. It made me feel like he didn't care and was surprised what came out of it.

That's what happens when people start writing backwards and don't account for how certain characters's actions appear after the fact.
 

AdrianXXII

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Also KH2: There's trouble in Disney castle, but no king to be found. What was he doing that would justify letting your loved ones be overrun by heartless?

I think it in this case he might just not have gotten word of something going on. During the events of KH1&2 everyone kind of lacked any means to contact him.

Still him being absent for over a year is rather irresponsible, even if Minnie can handle it. Though who knows he might have come home during days for a bit.

For BBS, well ... it bothers me how he never mentions TAV or looks for them or even cares. Yes, he only meets them briefly, but later refers to them as good friends, he still lets Aqua rot in RoD when having the literal key to her rescue in his hands (and having been in the RoD anyway) and going to that exact place where she was couldn't have been that problematic. It made me feel like he didn't care and was surprised what came out of it.

To be fair we don't really know what he was doing in the years between BBS and KH1 or the months between CoM and KH2.

He probably would search for them in that time period, that might have actaully been what lead him to finding Sora and Riku.

I have a hard time imagining that Mickey didn't try to find Aqua, while in the realm of Darkness, but when he saw Riku needed his help and he had a way out of the RoD he probably took it.

I might be mistaking, but it seemed to me that Mickey wasn't always aware of the fact that the Kingdom Key D could be used to travel between realms.

Obviously this is all just speculation, seeing most of Mickey's adventure happened off-screen. The way the story is told it doesn't paint the nicest picture of Mickey.

However other than the KH2's not telling Sora and his incompetence in KH3 and DDD, most could be adressed with something confirming he was unreachable in KH2 and did go searching for TAV since losing sigh of them.
 

Xblade13

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In my honest opinion Mickey should have had Yen Sid's role in KH2 and onwards. In KH1 and CoM it painted King Mickey as a competent and powerful wielder of the keyblade, who could perform great feats of Light magic and was, as previously stated in this thread, sort of the Light counterpart to Ansem. Him being wise and serve as the Dumbledore/Gandalf figure to Sora and Riku would've made sense, and Yen Sid just kinda shows up out of nowhere in KH2. In fact, from the moment Yen Sid is introduced as Mickey's teacher, the series downplays on Mickey to make him seem as if he is still in training himself, incompetent. You could still have Yen Sid as his master in BBS and DDD as flashbacks but by the point KH2 comes around he should be the Master himself.
 

disney233

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Whenever Mickey's on screen in KH3 I just rub my hands together and lean back because I know it's time for some juicy redundant information to be exposed to the audience in Bret Iwan's lame ass Mickey Mouse voice
To be fair....no one can really replace the man himself................which makes me now believe that Mickey shouldn't have been present after COM. Because really, after COM Mickey has really downplayed...big-time. KH2 he's a douche to Sora, Birth by Sleep he's just as oblivious, and DDD and 3 he's a combination of clueless and being a douche. But don't worry, 3 evened the playing field by making EVERYONE in the game cueless, douchy, and useless all around. (You can probably tell that I'm with the minority who saw...no reason for Sora to be picked on. I mean...granted yes, Sora's an idiot, but he can at least get the job done.)
 

Elliekey13

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I agree, to some extent. While I do feel that Mickey could have done with out losing pretty much all of his fights (getting captured by aqua was kinda pathetic. Sure, she's a keyblade master and all, but Mickey is too) I also feel that it wouldn't have made much sense for Mickey to be on the sidelines. For one, he needed to be a guardian of light, to complete the seven. The guardians didn't acquire the likes of Roxas Xion and Terra as "bench members" if you will, until after the initial fighting. So from a story stand point, Mickeys presence was required for the part of the game he most widely appears in.

I also feel he needed to be really involved with the story because of just how many connections he has. Mickey is all over the place. He also feels a great sense of responsibility because of it. Mickey feels like he has to help find and recover Aqua, because of how responsible he is for her entrapment in the realm of darkness. Mickey feels he has to help defeat Xehanort because he has been there from the beginning, trying to stop Xehanort ever sense his first attempt at triggering a keyblade war. For Mickey to be absent, even if he was said to be moving off screen wouldn't make sense.

Welp, thats my two cents anyway.
 

disney233

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For Mickey to be absent, even if he was said to be moving off screen wouldn't make sense.

Welp, thats my two cents anyway.

Then his entire 'arc' doesn't make sense.

Anyway, I digress. Yep, because the way it's made out to be, every person with a keyblade is REQUIRED in battle, even if they have no right to after their pathetic display in the RoD (Mickey) and even if they can't even fight (Lea & Kairi). (I won't defend Lea because of how easy it was for him to be bitch-slapped and his keyblade B R E A K I N G. The man's literally better off with chakaras.) I'm still nitpickey on this, apologies. It's just...the more I think about it, the more I feel that Mickey...didn't have much involvement....specifically in KH3.
 

redcrown

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Whenever Mickey's on screen in KH3 I just rub my hands together and lean back because I know it's time for some juicy redundant information to be exposed to the audience in Bret Iwan's lame ass Mickey Mouse voice

It's almost as if this series has two distinct Mickey's; Wayne Allwine's KH1-KH2 Mickey and Bret Iwan's BBS- KH3 Mickey.

The former being enigmatic yet classically charming with empathy and compassion (when it came to his friendship with Riku and wanting to walk the road to dawn with him), while the other goes from incompetent and amnesiac (as demanded by the backwards writing) to the plot's exposition dumper along with Yen Sid.

Although I'll admit he also had his annoying moments in KH2, with the "there hearts have decided" scene being the worst one for me.
 

disney233

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Although I'll admit he also had his annoying moments in KH2, with the "there hearts have decided" scene being the worst one for me.
His annoyance is MY annoyance of HIM being a douche to Sora. For god's sake just tell him if Riku's okay or not. We don't need that cryptic bullshit that literally everyone wants to hurl at us. Someone even mentioned it.
 
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