Today is the birthday of a cartoon character whose entire existence is a quandary to what people think they know about animation. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is a cartoon character that, first and foremost, was the original version of Mickey Mouse. Mickey's origin is its own tale of lies and deceit, but in short Micky Mouse only exists because Walt Disney didn't know how copyright ownership worked yet.
Oswald, like Mickey, was co-created by Disney and the remarkably undercredited Ub Iwerks. Unlike Mickey, Oswald was created for Universal Pictures. Universal owned the character until the mid 2000s, when the Disney company traded the contract of sportscaster Al Michaels for the character's trademark. They ended up putting him in the video game Epic Mickey and some theme parks, but otherwise they have just sat on this cartoon rabbit they could easily fold into their branding. I just want to see the rabbit man. He's just Mickey Mouse but cuter.
Oswald! My good man! Love this little guy he's in my top ten favorite cartoon rabbits!