25 Tumblr Posts That Made Us Rethink These Disney Characters
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Websites like Tumblr have been fantastic for sharing stories and perspectives from around the world, providing a unique online space for people to share their outlook on the world. Among the many things that Tumblr has been used for, it allows people to do and see and read and hear from a single screen. It’s also given fan bases for all kinds of fictional universes the chance to come together and share their passion. Take the Disney community, which has used the platform to expand on some of their favorite aspects of the animation company’s films that no one else has ever seen. Disney fans from all over the world flock to Tumblr to share their love and passion for the films they grew up watching and loving.
Seriously, these Tumblr posts blow our mind and give us a whole new appreciation of some of your favorite moments and characters from the Disney films we all grew up with. Some of them will make you reevaluate characters, others will point out little moments of brilliance that we all missed. But the important thing is that they are all pretty great observations we really hadn’t thought about. Here are 25 Tumblr posts about Disney that make us rethink all those movies.
Disney On Ice
via: Buzzfeed
The “Disney on Ice” shows have been a mainstay for decades now, giving skaters around the world a frame to show off their skills to audiences of enraptured children. But as you can imagine, some of the movies they’ve adapted into these brief ice musicals were probably better ideas than others. Sure, there’s stuff like The Little Mermaid that have worked really well within the setting. And then there’s whatever this is. This Tumblr user found a picture from the Disney on Ice version of Finding Nemo, bringing the fishy characters from the Pixar hit to terrifying, terrifying life.
Seriously, this poster is not wrong in pointing out just how horrifying this kind of look is. We’re pretty sure it made this movie into an unintentional horror show for the kids, who were not expecting to see their favorite characters not only be weird fish people in the creepiest way possible. They’re just so much bigger than the characters seem on screen, and that just adds to the horror of the look. Like, we understand needing to keep the performers faces open to be able to see, but why did they then give them ANOTHER face? These are walking nightmares! Well, skating nightmares, but you get the point.
That True Dad Face
VIA: Dorkly
Moana was an incredibly sweet and refreshing take on a lot of classic Disney tropes, boasting the kind of flashy musical numbers that made the Disney Renaissance so special. A lot of that fun came from elements of the film that were played out differently than the cliché expectations of Disney, leading to stuff like Moana being more in-charge of her own arc, or the cute animal sidekick not being able to come along for the majority of the adventure.
A really nice addition was her parents, who proved to be loving obstacles in her path, particularly as she got more invested in heading out to sea. Her father especially hates the idea of Moana (which is a name that means "water," ya dummy) going out into the water to potentially perish like his old friend. This poster managed to screencap him in the middle of a scene where he’s trying— again— to explain that she can’t go out into the water. Those bug eyes, those forced grin, that barely contained rage only held back by true parental love? That’s a pure Dad face, and it’s hilarious that someone finally gets to throw one at a Disney Princess.
Dances With The Colors Of The Wind
via: Dorkly
Pocahontas is the forgotten middle child of the Disney Renaissance, and that’s mostly because the movie as a whole is a great big mess. The film flip-flops in terms of tone, never knowing if it wants to commit to the serious aspect of the story, or if it wants to be a fun Disney romp that had cute animal sidekicks doing cute animal sidekick things. One element that tries to salvage the movie is the admittedly good musical numbers, including one where Pocahontas leads a Mel Gibson-played John Smith through her lands to show him the beauty he never saw. It’s a sweet moment within the movie, kind of the lynchpin of the entire story.
So the moment only works how hard the animators can make John Smith go all in on his surroundings. And as the Tumblr post points out, they did a pretty good job of it. Just look at him! He put his absolute all into that lunge. He is 110% into this musical number, and it’s kind of glorious, especially when you imagine real life Mel Gibson making that same kind of jump. That’s the jump of a man who’s always wanted to be in a musical and is relishing the moment while he can.
The Wishing Star
via: Imgur
There are a lot of little connections between the Disney animated films, and it’s always fun to try and find them. But some fans have found links between the movies that really push the idea that maybe all these Disney movies really are tethered together and telling one grand story. And one of the most interesting is this one, which points directly to the wishing star. That star has been a presence in many of the Disney films, serving as a beacon of hope for many characters around the world.
We initially thought Timon’s joke about the star being a firefly that got stuck in the sky was a joke, but he was right about the eventual fate of Ray from The Princess and the Frog. But the interesting wrinkle to the story is how that star has also served as the path one takes to find Neverland in Peter Pan, and as the seeming source of the Blue Fairy during Pinocchio. Beats from these movies can actually tie together into a pretty impressive story of the eternal war of good vs. evil (seriously, this writer has written before about some of these kinds of fan theories), and things like the Wishing Star being connected to so many movies really helps elevate the fantasy of the films into almost a full-on mythology.
Meet The Woman Who Trained Coulson
via: Imgur
Disney bought Marvel Comics in 2009, bringing them under the same umbrella as The Muppets, Star Wars, and now potentially, Fox, as well. And since then, there haven’t been as many direct Marvel/Disney connections as one would expect. But since the rising success of the Marvel films and the increase in interest in the characters, more crossovers have begun to happen in recent years. But this Tumblr post might need to become a reality, immediately, because it makes for a pretty amazing fan theory. Over the course of The Incredibles, poor teenage, Kari, was stuck watching what she thought was going to be a normal baby that turned out to be going through about eight different superpowers over the course of her gig.
She actually did a pretty decent job at the end of the day. Sure, a lot of the house was wrecked, but not only had she managed to survive the fiery onslaughts and teleportation confusion, she figured out how to keep him calm. Her story ends when she gets mindwiped, but it’s nice to think of a world where the government saw her potential and turned her into a special agent dedicated to keeping super powered people from getting out of control. And then connecting that to Phil Coulson? Pure perfection. Well done, Tumblr. Well done.
No Bothers
via: Imgur
Sometimes, you just have to sit back and watch the internet come together for the greater good. This includes those times that people have rallied behind a cause or helped solve a crime, which is all well and good, we know. But we also want to appreciate when people managed to all come together online and just keep making a joke even better. Take this post, which keeps turning Winnie the Pooh into a bigger and bigger brawler by realizing how intense he can casually be.
Seriously, they’re not wrong when they point out that he just took what amounts to his internal organs and just pushed them back into his body without a care in the world. He just smiles and goes about his business, trying to get more honey to eat like Pooh Bear always is. And after that first post struck a chord with some people, other Tumblr users got enamored with the idea and kept adding onto the moment. We don’t know what’s funnier, the increasing size of the words or the italics and bold that make the statements land with more power each time they’re written. It speaks to the power a simple change in the writing can empower the writing, and also that Tumblr can be hilarious.
Next Level
via: Imgur
Seriously, there’s a reason that Disney cartoons have become synonymous with the entire art style as a whole. The Disney animation studios have produced countless beautiful sequences filled to the brim with artistic touches and flourishes that make their movies stunning even on their fifteenth rewatch. It’s the little things that separate them from some of their rival companies, showcasing the sheer detail that the animators went into with these movies. One such moment is highlighted in this post, pointing out a really clever little-unseen aspect of the film, Princess and the Frog.
Dr. Faciller is one of the best new villains from the company, and his musical number is a full-on visual feast. As he dances around the room and charms Prince Naveen into a costly mistake, the parlor grows darker and darker. But one touch that can be seen much earlier in the song than many of us realized is located in Faciller’s shadow, which naturally transforms the wallpaper behind the voodoo conman into a series of skulls and crossbones. It’s a nice touch on an already impressive scene, and it invites the viewer to go looking for even more special hidden gems throughout the movie.
A Goofy Realization
via: Dorkly
A Goofy Movie may not have had the release or the reception of some of the other Disney movies, but it was also one of the best Disney films of the decade. The story of Goofy and his son, Max, going on a surprise camping trip became a direct-to-home video favorite for many children, with catchy music and a surprisingly complex relationship explored between father and son. But as you get older, your perspective on some characters and story elements naturally will change with your experiences and perspective. But it also completely transforms some movies, Goofy Movie included.
When you’re a kid watching the movie for the first time, you immediately end up siding with Max and his bummer outlook on the camping trip. He’s such a lame Dad! And then you get older and realize just how good of a Dad Goofy has been during the course of the movie, and start to look at Max’s immaturity as the horrible character flaw that it’s supposed to be. Goofy care so much! And his son just keeps meeting it with a bad attitude. This movie might have one of the best parental relationships in the Disney canon, and this perspective shift just makes it better.
Flynn Rider Is The Best
via: Dorkly
Flynn is the best. In a world of bland Disney male romantic leads (looking at you, Prince Charming), the charming thief with a heart of gold (and sticky fingers) managed to be a breath of fresh air in Tangled. He ultimately proves to be a pretty nice guy (because this is a Disney movie and that’s how Disney movies roll), but he’s still an incredibly fun character for his frankness and surprise at the insanity around him. Most of the characters in the movies end up just running with their magical abilities and not worrying about how crazy things can get over the course of the movie.
Flynn is not one of those characters. Instead, he sees the magic happening and promptly freaks out like any sane person would because hey, guess what, straight up magic is a thing. That moment just gets played out, even more, when the Flynn later gets his wound healed by the previously mentioned magic hair, and promptly continues to freak out. It’s a very humanizing moment for the movie and the character and helps make him one of the most memorable of the Disney Princes. It’s just nice to see one of them have some solid characterization, you know?
There Are So Many Levels To That Joke
via: Dorkly
The differences in language can allow for a lot of subtle jokes and jabs to slip past the audience without them ever realizing it. Clever creators can really slip a lot past us (and the censors) by utilizing alternate languages to cover up some of the more risqué or sly jokes. Take this bit from Mulan, which only really makes sense if you know what the actual Chinese translation means. In the movie, Mulan has started impersonating a man so she can serve in her father’s place in the ancient Chinese army. When she’s interrogated by her new captain, she gives the fake name Ping, of the Fa family.
According to this post, there’s an additional layer to that character choice. It turns out that the name, Fa, translates in native Chinese to Hua, which means the name she just gave her new commanding officer was Hua Ping, which also means “flower vase” in Chinese. But that’s not all. It turns out that the phrase Hua Ping has also become a slang term in China for someone or something that is camp gay. Which is A) a hilarious thing to identify as your name, and B) is the worst thing a girl hiding as a boy could name herself.
Cinderella’s True Dream
via: Dorkly
Cinderella has got one of the worst bum raps of all the Disney Princesses, even when compared to the ones who were kidnapped as children. She ends up spending much of her life essentially working as the personal servant of the woman she should be called, mother, and is constantly afflicted with verbal (and sometimes even physical) abuse. She just wants to be happy and enjoy life, just like anyone else. And instead, she ends up only ever getting locked in her room and forced to befriend the mice that live in the walls. Even when she finally gets the chance to go out to the ball, her “sisters” literally rip the dress off of her and tear it to pieces.
When her Fairy Godmother comes and gives her the chance to go to the Ball, she takes it up and heads out immediately. While she did end up meeting the love of her life at the party, it’s important to remember that she didn’t go to the ball just because she wanted to try and fall in love. No, as this poster reminds us, Cinderella just wanted to go turn up a party and make it her own. Who can’t understand that?
The Dream Disney Princess
via: Dorkly
A lot of the Disney Princesses have had strong similarities, to the point that a lot of jokes have been made about how they really just blend together at the end of the day. Almost all of the Disney Princesses want to try and explore the world around them, where they’ve been otherwise locked up and kept for their entire lives. They have a song in their hearts and a wish in their dreams. But that doesn’t mean we can’t wish for something new every once in a while. Some people agree with that idea, including this post.
This Tumblr user ponders a new kind of Princess, with a whole new kind of musical power. See, this post imagines a world where she lives in a musical world, and she can’t hold a tune. She can’t sing along to any of the musical numbers that the rest of the world seems to live in. But then, halfway through the movie, she finds out she has a musical power that no one else seems to be able to match: she can rap. Come on, how amazing of a plot twist would that be to hit in the middle of a Disney film.
Siding With Triton
via: Dorkly
Ariel from The Little Mermaid is an incredibly sweet, but incredibly short-sighted, young woman. She’s energetic and emphatic, but she really wants to try something new, falls heads over heels in love with Eric the second she meets him, and she agrees to a literal deal with the devil so that she can maybe be with him. So, you know, a teenager. We all remember having that kind of lack of impulse control, but hopefully, most of us didn’t end up trying to make an actual deal with a sea devil.
At the time, we agreed with her attempts to rebel against her strict father and completely sided with her in their arguments. But like with Goofy, growing up really changes your perspective on the whole situation. Because, as this post brings up, you lose your childhood innocence a little bit and end up agreeing with the parents more and more in these kinds of movies. Seriously, Triton would have been perfectly fine in assuming this was just a simple crush, and he should rightfully be wary of his daughter trying to reveal themselves to another kingdom just because she likes a dude. Triton has a point, is all we’re saying.
Beauty Is A Social Construct, Susan
via: Dorkly
What was once a defining element of an entire movie can become less believable as time goes on, with certain aspects of a story or movie just not aging well. Take, for example, the major motivation of the Evil Queen in the very first feature-length Disney film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She is enamored with being the most beautiful person in the world, to the point where she will straight up hit herself with some seriously uglifying magic just so she can take out her biggest competition in the beauty department.
But this post makes a compelling case for what the magic mirror should have told her, and how it should have affirmed how powerful she actually is instead of just playing along with her vanity problems. While we like it a lot for the strong-worded response it puts in the mirror’s mouth, it’s also a personal favorite of ours because it just casually calls “the evil Queen” Susan and we find that hilarious. Just think about it, the evil magical Queen Susan. Imagine her making potions and laughing maniacally while the mirror just tries to reason with Susan while she keeps being just over the top and nuts.
Elsa Lessons
via: Rebloggy
Elsa is one of the most famous modern Disney characters, becoming something of an icon in no time at all when Frozen first premiered a couple of years ago. She was basically one step removed from a superhero in terms of her magical abilities and their potential power. But she still never loses her innate friendliness and charm (unlike the earlier drafts of the Disney movie, which actually had her as the straightforward villain of the movie) or her all around adorable personality or look.
She’s the definition of what a Disney Princess can be in a modern movie, and has made for a great teacher for people on Tumblr who want to learn how to meld both of those looks. This point in the movie specifically sees Elsa forming a beautiful gown out of pure ice magic, and then using her abilities to fight off an entire invading party that came aiming to kill her during an ambush. It’s that level of cold, calm confidence that she’s been exhibiting for the entire movie up to this point, amplified by her new freedom outside of the castle. She’s got the confidence to go to war just by herself, and that’s what you need to be cute and intimidating.
The Nicest Person In The Front Row
via: Dorkly
There are plenty of little gags hidden amongst the Disney movies that you never realized were tucked away in the middle of the movies that you’ve seen a thousand times. All it takes is one person managing to notice it, and it can open up entire new favorite aspects or jokes to these movies. Take Frozen, which manages to slip in a very small and subtle joke right past us, right behind another joke.
Early in the movie, Princess Anna awkwardly ends up in front of the rest of the guests for the coronation of her sister. She ends up waving at the crowd, before being moved into her proper position by the aide behind her. But in a joke that we never realized was there, a woman clearly thought Anna was adorable and deserved some recognition for that by waving right back at her. It’s an incredibly sweet little moment in a movie full of them, and we never once realized it was there until someone on Tumblr managed to pause it at the right moment to show it off. Just goes to show how many jokes we never even notice in these movies.
The Scariest Part Of Tangled
via: Dorkly
Man, Tangled was a surprisingly strong late game Disney movie, especially in the supporting cast. We’ve already been over how great Flynn Rider is, but special mention needs to go to the villain, Mother Gothel. She’s played in a more realistic way than many of the other Disney villains, with a real sense of humanity to her that makes her all the scarier when she reveals the limits she’s willing to cross to try and keep her youth. As this Tumblr user realized, that extends to some of the subtle blocking in the movie as well.
Mother Gothel doesn’t love Rapunzel nearly as much as she just loves her hair and the power that it possesses. It’s treated as a verbally abusive and scary relationship between her and Rapunzel, with the elder thinking the stolen less as a person and more of a tool. Even when she’s being apparently loving, she’s just manipulating her daughter into the place that she wants. It’s a truly scary villain for her painful and realistic she feels, and a great small move to give the baddie to illustrate her relationship with her supposed daughter. Plus, it makes Flynn even better at the end, which is just so sweet.
Old School English/Greek We Think
via: Dorkly
Disney has proven to be pretty consistently cute and clever throughout a lot of their movies. We’ve already been over some of the sly jokes they’ve slipped past audiences in the past by using other languages to mask them or working little touches past us. But there are also plenty of super-intelligent jokes that come from the company that Mickey built, ones that rely on some real intelligence and context to fully understand every joke.
This Tumblr user has a bit of knowledge about a joke we never realized was being told in Hercules. When the young demigod comes to Phil to try and recruit him as his legendary trainer, the satyr tries to tell him to go away. But during the conversation that follows, there’s actually a really subtle Greek gag. As the post explains, the obvious gag is because Phil just confuses Hercules with his sarcastic response. But there’s another layer of humor to the scene when one considers that the phrase would actually only be two words in the original Greek language. It speaks to the intelligence of the writers and animators behind the films, and just how far they’re thinking of the world they’ve created.
The Difference In Teaching Methods
via: Dorkly
Both Belle and Jane Porter share a lot of similarities in character and methods when it comes to the ways they go about trying to teach their respective love interests how to be good people instead of the animalistic wrecks that they are during the early stages of their relationships. But some people online noticed how they differ too. See, both women love books and end up trying to teach their respective characters how to read so they can be cultured at least a little bit.
But while Jane has to start small and introduce the jungle raised Tarzan even how to even understand what words are by using See Spot Run, Belle jumped straight into William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet for Beast. Some have pointed out that, at least, Beast already had an understanding of reading and could skip ahead to that point without having to go through all the basics of language. It’s also just funny to imagine Belle absolutely refusing to not use the library he just showed off to her to their full potential and read something classical that she’d probably never actually gotten the chance to actually read in her previous provincial life.
The Villainous Touches
via: Dorkly
Between all the various Disney villains, there are actually a lot of surprising similarities. And we don’t just mean between their usual impulse to do evil things for cruel reasons. There’s the color scheme that’s used for a number of the villains— a lime green flame that powers a lot of the villains across the movies (and can even be tied back to Chernabog, the giant devil monster that shows up in the Night on Bald Mountain section of the first Fantasia).
And most importantly (well, important to this one Tumblr user at least), there’s a tendency for these characters to not just have an ego about them, but just think that every other single person in the world is just an idiot. Which, considering that they always end up getting cornered and tricked by the good guys instead of just getting beat up just makes them look even more shortsighted in the long run. These characters just can’t seem to stop themselves from using the word, to the point where one has to wonder if it’s an unspoken rule at the Disney company that’s existed since the early days of the company. It’s a fun way to lean into the pride behind the villains, and it makes for a funny similarity.
Patrick Warburton > Kronk
via: Dorkly
No doubt about it, Kronk proved to be one of the single best parts of The Emperor’s New Groove. The doofus henchman was 100% enthusiastic about every choice he made in the movie, whether it was trying to help commit regicide or listening to the problems of a put-upon squirrel. For a lot of people of a certain age, it was our first introduction to the actor and has remained an important part of his celebrity ever since. But one poster clearly didn’t think there was much more that was going to be impressive about his career, and that’s just not the case.
Patrick Warburton is amazing and worth $30 million, and he deserves your respect, random Tumblr poster. Warburton has become famous in the voice-over world, especially for his roles as Joe Swanson in Family Guy as Brock Samson in the eternally underappreciated, Venture Brothers (seriously if you haven’t seen it, it’s amazing). He’s also been the first live-action Tick, plays Lemony Snicket in the new A Series of Unfortunate Events television series, and starred in his own sitcom for seven seasons, entitled Rules of Engagement. The actor is fantastic, and you know he deserves that respect. The commenter is the only smart one in the post.
The Difference Between Mickey And Donald
via: Dorkly
At various points in time, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck have alternated being the mascot of the company. While Mickey was the earlier character and proved to be the softer character in terms of personality (making him ideal to slide further into the mascot role than Donald), the “habitual roof-blower” Donald was a more entertaining and memorable character. The two have been paired together (alongside Goofy, Minnie, Pluto, and Daisy) as the core family of the Disney company, but those two provided the company a lot of its personality over the years.
So, it’s always fun to see the two of them paired together or dealing with the same problem, and why the company has leaned into that duo so much over the years. Because their intrinsic differences come to the forefront of their moments together, as this Tumblr post shows off. Even just the simple act of skipping rocks on a lake brings out completely different feelings from the two characters. Mickey just likes spending time outside, happy alongside his friend in the evening air. Meanwhile, Donald likes to pretend that he’s taking out some real fury out on the lake. It’s perfect and sums up their overall personalities perfectly.
The Orphans!
via: Dorkly
It’s a simple character description and conflict to make the hero of your story an orphan. It removes a lot of the support systems that most of the characters wish they could call on for help and makes it easier to push the characters into dangerous adventures or explain how they could become thieves while still being likable. But it doesn’t change the fact that the Disney animation family is just chock full of orphans. It’s a really big recurring element of the movies, giving the audience an immediate reason to emphasize with many of the characters that they are watching in the Disney film. We mean, seriously!
Just look how many orphans this Tumblr post realized they could stick into a single train to make their point! Hiro, Flynn, Aladdin, Cinderella, Lilo, Quasimodo, and Mowgli are all members of the orphan train. And come on, that’s nowhere near as many other Disney characters are orphans too and apparently stuck in another part of the train. Arthur, Snow White, Beast, and plenty of other Disney protagonists are orphans too, and it’s just funny to imagine all of them having to ride the orphan train all the way to the Disney characters meetups.
On The Run
via: Dorkly
Earlier, we talked about all the little connections that seem to support the idea of all the Disney movies taking place in the same universe as one another. But sometimes, the creators of the movies aren’t leaning so far into that as they are just having fun with the rest of the Disney canon. Big Hero 6 was in production when Frozen became one of the biggest movies of all time, so it makes sense that the two movies would throw some jokes the other’s way. While we haven’t been able to find any Big Hero 6 references in Frozen (not for lack of trying, mind you), there actually is a pretty subtle nod to the musical tucked away in Big Hero 6.
At one point in the film, our hero, Hiro (just go with it) and his new robot pal, Baymax, rush to the police to try and warn them about a seeming supervillain in the city. And in the background of that room is a board of suspects that the police are looking for, including one Prince Hans from Frozen. Hans was eventually revealed to be the villain of the movie, trying to weasel his way into a place where he could steal the kingdom from Elsa and Anna. So you know what? We’re with the original poster. Guy’s a jerk, serves him right.
The Right Kind Of Disney Princess
via: Dorkly
Merida from the Pixar film, Brave, felt like a deliberate and specific reaction to previous Disney Princesses characters. Instead of being focused on gowns or parties, she specifically goes out looking to become as good of a warrior and hunter as her father. While a lot of the movie is her trying to deal with that conflict within her society and family, she stays true to herself and her more rebellious spirit. But she would have definitely liked this costume store for how they ended up setting up the “Disney Princess” costume section.
Instead of being a spot full of tiaras and jewelry, the shelves are full of different kinds of weaponry so the magical princesses don’t need some Prince Charming to come to their rescue. Instead, they can just rescue themselves and use all those weapons to try and save the day. The look on Merida’s face below it is hilarious, and now, we wish we could just see the little girl who sees that and gets just as excited as this post does. Just imagine some little girl calling herself a Disney Princess while singing songs and sword fighting all the kids who are being mean to her. Adorable, right?
References: Rebloggy, Dorkly, Imgur, Dorkly, Buzzfeed, Dorkly, Throwbacks, Dorkly, BoredPanda, Dorkly, Dorkly
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