Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Merchandise Disappoints . . . So Far
January 1, 2008
I’ve been anxiously awaiting Disney’s release of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit videos and merchandise ever since Disney traded away Al Michaels to get him back. And as I mentioned recently on this blog, the videos did not disappoint! But sadly, my first sighting of Oswald merchandise was a bit of a letdown. This afternoon at the Burlington mall, I spotted an Oswald poster stashed amongst various clearance items, on the floor at the Disney Store. Poor little rabbit! Doesn’t the prodigal son deserve a little better debut? When I was in the parks over the summer, most Cast Members didn’t seem to know who Oswald was . . . and there was nary an Oswald item to be found.
Now I’m even more glad that I picked up the Oswald DVD tin as soon as I could, as it included a nifty little button, included in the price of the set (bonus!). And I guess in the short term, my best bet for Oswald merchandise remains eBay and the various vintage movie nostalgia sellers. Hey Disney, how bout letting your Couture division see if they could whip up a nice watch or belt or somesuch?
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1. Jon | January 2, 2008 at 1:47 am
The lack of merchandise shows you that its very hard to market a character that has been out of the public eye for so long. Oswald even predates our parents! Its a hard sell when that rabbit doesn’t have decades of push behind him to make him an easy sell.
The lack of push makes me wonder why Disney wanted him so bad. Aside from the whole “completing” the canon, I have to wonder if they plan to use the character in the future for anything, or if he’ll left to be an untouchable and historic force only to be dusted off for retrospective films.
Right now, Oswald is for Disney geeks only. There isn’t even a colorized version of him to hawk on merchandise! I could be wrong, but isn’t Oswald in public domain now?
2. FoxxFur | January 2, 2008 at 3:15 am
I got ahold of the Oswald suede plush for my mate, who is a bunny enthusiast, and we both like it a lot, but that’s the best item for $50, and it sold out very quickly. The ornament also I guess, and the promised booble-head never appeared in any Disney stores near me. So I think you kind of saw the worst piece of Oswald merchandise, and the rest is pretty much gone, which isn’t much consolation, but at least know that there was a pretty col stuffed animal.
3. Amy | January 2, 2008 at 9:15 am
A watch could be really cool.
From this post over at The Disney Store Shelves it sounds like more oswald merchandise could be on the way.
4. Kitty-chan | January 2, 2008 at 9:29 am
Thanks Amy!! Ooh, clearly I need to put The Disney Store Shelves in my blogreader! I have to admit, I’m not a Disney Store fan generally speaking . . . the merchandise generally hasn’t been up to par with what’s available in the parks and at those few (Disney-owned) World of Disney Stores.
Jon, it’s definitely true, so far Oswald does seem to be for geeks only, and I’ll bet that some (if not most? all?) of his cartoons are public domain by now given how Universal let him languish. But a geeks-only reputation hasn’t stopped any number of other merchandising strategies that other companies have employed (Star Trek lunchboxes, anyone? Farscape action figures?).
And say, does anyone read this blog whose parents predate Oswald? Hey Scopa, are you out there?!? I will say that I watched the Oswald DVD with my mother-in-law, and she remembered seeing him in the theaters.
5. Amy | January 28, 2008 at 9:02 pm
I think I’ve found the best piece of Oswald merchandise so far. Shoes!
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the first-ever Disney character, stars on a special Ultragirl model that will first be sold at Colette in Paris before hitting Brazil.
6. Jennifer | January 28, 2008 at 9:24 pm
O.
M.
G.
Those shoes are awesome!!!
7. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Super-cool Shoes! « Broke Hoedown | January 29, 2008 at 8:36 pm
[...] posted the link to these shoes in my blog the other day, on my previous post about Oswald merch disappointing me so far, and I thought they were cool enough to merit their very own post. Sadly, I’m still [...]
8. Fay Saunders | May 26, 2008 at 10:16 am
I have an original Oswald Rabbit stuffed toy. It is around 7″ tall. Would you know if it is desirable or not please?
Regards
9. Jennifer | May 26, 2008 at 10:18 am
Fay, that sounds super-cool?
10. Oswald Fan | July 29, 2008 at 9:44 pm
I also went to disney world to find stuff, I only met ONE person who did that was staff only because his father, (Who was dynasty old!) worked on ads for old disney shows.
My grandmother had an old Oswald film, it worked on one of those old projectors. Its unfortunatly broken now, because the film is was put in an attic without protection from the heat and it was the size of a baseball when I went to go look for it with my aunt who also used to watch it.
11. Gamin' Guy | November 4, 2009 at 1:05 am
Oswald is an important character in the upcoming Wii game Epic Mickey. Hopefully it will make him popular again.
12. Jennifer | November 4, 2009 at 9:37 am
I’m really looking forward to Epic Mickey! The Tank Riot Podcast on Walt Disney mentioned that Oswald will be the villain….will be interesting if that’s really the role in which he’s cast.
13. Rabbit | November 9, 2009 at 4:07 pm
If you haven’t seen it, there is currently a thread about Oswald the Rabbit’s true copyright/public domain status here at the Disney forum at toonzone:
http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=238179