Minnie Mouse

Minnie Mouse is the girlfriend of Mickey Mouse created by The Walt Disney Company. Minnie is sweet-natured and fun-loving. The comic strip story The Gleam by Merrill De Maris and Floyd Gottfredson first gave her full name as Minerva Mouse. "Minerva" has since been a recurring alias for her. Minnie also shares the same birthday with her boyfriend, Mickey Mouse.

In most appearances, Minnie is presented as a close friend of Daisy Duck. Her favorite hobbies are dancing, gardening, shopping, music, fashion, and spending time with Mickey.

Personality
She enjoys dinners, movies, and basically spending as much time as possible with Mickey. Overall Minnie is sweet, beautiful and fun-loving but she has moments when her anger gets the better of her. Despite this, she is never the "bad guy" in the situation. She is one of few friends around Mickey that always has a good reason to be upset. Like Mickey she enjoys travel, and on many occasions she plays the role as the "damsel in distress".

She has been described by some characters as feisty being able to speak what she feels no matter the person she's up against which is how she manages to assist Mickey in saving her. She is known for having a motherly side, as well as often being the voice of reason in her circle of friends. She is relatively calm during hectic periods and usually viewed as the most reliable and/or level-headed in the group. While genuinely gentle, Minnie has been shown to get frustrated quickly. Times like this include Mickey forgetting dates, Pluto or Figaro misbehaving, Mortimer's harrassment, Pete's schemes, Donald's temper, and Daisy's over the top energy.

Minnie Mouse is more than just Mickey's girlfriend, however. Her strong character includes numerous personality traits. As a strong but fun female character, Minnie has gathered many fans throughout the world, who travel to Disneyland and other Disney Parks to meet this well known heroine.

Appearance
Minnie's trademark outfit is usually a dress revealing her white bloomers with a large matching bow and high heel shoes that all are one color (depending on the cartoon). Like Mickey and Goofy, Minnie also wears white gloves for fashion. Her outfit is sometimes red with white polka dots. It has sometimes been a blue outfit with a pink bow and shoes. In earlier cartoons, she wore a hat with a flower in place of her bow.. In some cartoons, Minnie was shirtless with only a skirt, bow, bloomers and her high heels.

History
In 1928, Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse to act as a replacement for his previous star, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. But Mickey could not fill the void alone. Among the few consistent character traits Oswald had developed before movinoyfriend and capable of escaping his grasp.

The next film featuring the couple was The Gallopin' Gaucho. It was the second of their series to be produced but only the third to be released on December 30, 1928. In it, Minnie was employed as the barmaid and dancer of Cantina Argentina, a bar and restaurant established in the pampas of Argentina. She performs the tango for Mickey the gaucho and Black Pete the outlaw. Both flirt with her but the latter intends to abduct her while the former obliges in saving the "damsel in distress" from the villain. All three characters acted as strangers first being introduced to each other.

They appear together again in Steamboat Willie, the third short of the series to be produced but released second on November 18, 1928. Pete was featured as the captain of the steamboat, Mickey as a crew of one and Minnie as their single passenger.

The commercial success of Steamboat Willie helped introduce Mickey and Minnie into the audience. Twelve more films featuring Mickey were produced in 1929. But Minnie only co-starred in seven of them and was mentioned in an eighth.

The first of them was The Barn Dance, first released on March 14, 1929. Minnie stands at the center of attention as Mickey and Pete rival each other in order to win her favor. Both offer to pick her up for the dance but she chooses Pete's newly purchased automobile over Mickey's horse-cart. When the automobile breaks down she resorts to go with Mickey. The latter proves a clumsy dancing partner, repeatedly stepping on her feet, and so she turns to Pete again. She is surprised when Mickey asks for another dance and seems to be light on his feet. However she is disgusted when Pete points that his rival had placed a balloon in his shorts. She resumed dancing with Pete while Mickey is reduced to crying on the dance floor. Minnie proves to be rather demanding as a partner in a romantic relationship. Mickey obviously has yet to claim her as his girlfriend by this point.

The Opry House, first released on March 28, 1929, was the first short to feature Mickey but not Minnie. A poster, however, mentions Minnie as being a member of the "Yankee Doodle Girls." This later group of female performers remained as unseen characters and were apparently short-lived. Minnie appears again in When the Cat's Away, first released on April 11, 1929. 'She is attending a party with Mickey along with several other mice. The short was unusual in the depiction of Mickey and Minnie with the size and part of the behavior common in regular mice. The set standard both before and after this short was to depict them as having the size of a rather short human being.

Minnie was seen again in The Plowboy, first released on May 9, 1929, where she is featured as a farm girl and gets Mickey to milk her cow Clarabelle for her. When Mickey presents her with a bucket full of milk and proceeds to kiss her, Minnie answers by knocking the bucket on his head. This in front of his horse Horace Horsecollar who is just making his debut. Minnie obviously was not very appreciative of Mickey's affection at the time.

Their attempt at farming life would prove short-lived. Their next appearance in The Karnival Kid (May 23, 1929) cast Mickey as a hot dog vendor and Minnie as a carnival "shimmy" Dancer. Minnie then appears as a fiddle player in Mickey's Choo-Choo (June 26, 1929).

Minnie's "Yoo Hoo"
Her next appearance was arguably more significant. Mickey's Follies (June 26, 1929), featured the first performance of the song, "Minnie's Yoo Hoo." "The guy they call little Mickey Mouse" for the first time addresses an audience to explain that he has "Got a sweetie" who is "Neither fat nor skinny" and proudly proclaims that "She's my little Minnie Mouse". Mickey then proceeds in explaining his reaction to Minnie's call.

The song firmly establishes Mickey and Minnie as a couple and expresses the importance Minnie holds for her partner. The song would go on to become the theme song to their series as well as the theme to a Disney prime-time television series, ''The Mouse Factory. ''

Fun and Fancy Free
Although Minnie did not officially appear in Fun and Fancy Free, a scene with her, as Happy Valley's queen, was planned to be included in the Mickey and the Beanstalk segment before the decision to drop it from the film. In the scene, Mickey came before her to sell her his cow and in exchange, she gave him the magic beans.

Who Frame Roger Rabbit
Minnie made a small non-speaking cameo appearance at the very end of the film with Mickey and a crowd of many other cartoon characters.

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas
Minnie is Mickey's girlfriend and hard-working. Despite her hard work she is in debt with bills and tries not to let Mickey know. Minnie works a large store owned by Mortimer Mouse. She expects to have a Christmas bonus which she receives but instead of being money it's a fruit cake. She was originally going to use the money for a gift for Mickey but without the money might go home empty handed. Minnie trades her prized watch for a case for Mickey's beloved harmonica, but Mickey trades his harmonica for a chain for Minnie's watch. They realize their love is gift enough and enjoys Christmas together.

Mickey,Donald, and Goofy in The Three Muskteers
In the 2004 direct-to-video movie Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, Minnie plays the role of the princess of France, who continually daydreams about her true love, Mickey. She's also the only monarch getting in the way of the plans of Pete, who can't take over the kingdom if he cannot get rid of her. Interestingly, for this particular film, Minnie is drawn with hair bangs, which do not appear in any later cartoons.

In this film, Princess Minnie wants nothing more than to find her true love, however, she must put this dream on hold after she escapes a murder plot by the Beagle Boys. She demands that her captain of the musketeers Pete, find her bodyguards. Unknowing to Minnie, Pete is the mastermind behind the murder plot and desires to rule France as king. To avoid a threat to his plan, Pete hires three janitors, Mickey, Donald and Goofy, to be the musketeer bodyguards, believing they'll do a terrible job. Minnie quickly falls in love with Mickey. After being rescued from a kidnapping scheme, Mickey and Minnie embrace their forbidden love on a evening date across the kingdom. That night, Mickey, Donald and Goofy are kidnapped by Pete and his minions. The next night, Minnie and Daisy head over to the grand Opera. There, she learns Pete's plans and is captured. However, over the course of the show, Minnie and Daisy are rescued. Minnie dubs the trio royal musketeers and presumably marries Mickey afterwards.

Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas
In the sequel, Minnie and Daisy are entering an ice skating competition. While excited, she is concerned with the fact that she may not be as good as the other contestants. Minnie begins her performance, with the alligators from Fantasia to assist her, and is quickly praised. Daisy becomes jealous and jumps in to steal the spotlight. To further her performance, Daisy has the hippos from Fantasia to assists her. A rival battle follows. Eventually, Daisy pulls off an impressive stunt. Minnie decides to do her own but injures herself in the process. Daisy rushes to her side to comfort her friend. They make up and finish the performance together in a grand finale.

In Mickey and Pluto's segment, Minnie hopes Mickey decides to pull off a simple Christmas party instead of over doing it like he does every year. When Pluto goes missing, Minnie is the first to be notified. She takes the news to her friends including Scrooge McDuck who volunteers to buy a snow plow company to search the city for Pluto. Minnie, Scrooge, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Max, Huey, Dewey and Louie spend the entire day searching in the snow plow. In the end, they reach Mickey's house where Pluto has been found. They all enter the house to sing a carol and celebrate their Christmas.

Mickey Mouse Works
In Mickey Mouse Works, she finally appeared in her own segments and cartoons. Here, she portrayed as Mickey's intelligent, mature, and beloved girlfriend. Occasionally, she starred in the "Maestro Minnie" shorts, in which she conducts an orchestra of living instruments that she usually has to tame. In most of her starring cartoons, Minnie would be paired up with Daisy who, in contrast to her, is very wacky and talkative. Some of her other cartoons would involve her getting into her own mischief such as when she accidentally turned Pluto's fur purple with dye. When she appeared in Mickey's cartoons, she was often the main subject with Mickey usually trying to find grand ways to impress her. She was also the focus in most cartoons with Mortimer Mouse. She also costarred with Mickey in his short segments "Mickey to the Rescue" where she plays the role of some of her early cartoons: getting kidnapped by Pete, taken to his lair, and being rescued by Mickey.

House of Mouse
In House of Mouse, Minnie is in charge of planning the show and the club's bookkeeper. Her a outfit, black and white undershirt with a skirt and with boots. She is often annoyed by Clarabelle's gossip, Daisy's wackiness and Mickey's mischief. Minnie is often responsible for saving the club in times of crises using her cool and rational personality to calm things down.

Minnie appears in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. Minnie, along with Mickey and the Disney guests, are snowed in at the club. Mickey advises the plan to have a Christmas party while Minnie finds a box of the gang's Christmas stories.

Minnie also appears in Mickey's House of Villains. In it, Minnie is worried about the large number of villains in the club on Halloween night, thinking that they might be up to something. Unfortunately, Minnie is correct and the club is taken over by the Disney Villains. During their reign, Minnie threatens the leader Jafar to leave the club and change it back to normal, but fails. After Mickey saves the day, Minnie and the others celebrate.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Minnie also appears in the children television series, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Minnie is apart of the clubhouse pals and Mickey's girlfriend. Like other appearances Minnie enjoys cooking, gardening, singing and dancing. Minnie also has an alter-ego known as Detective Minnie famous for solving mysteries in the clubhouse. Detective Minnie often teams up with Daisy's alias Secret Spy Daisy to solve major issues. Together their known as The Friendship Team. Minnie has become the star of the most recent of the show's specials most notably Minnie's Bow Tique where she opens a boutique selling all forms of bows. Minnie is also a major character in the spin-off series; ''Mickey Mousekersize. ''

Minnie Mouse Bow-Toons
Minnie is the central character of the Disney Junior short series, Minnie's Bow-Toons. Here, Minnie and Daisy open a store selling all types of bows. They are accompanied by her kitten Figaro, Minnie's nieces Millie and Melody, and a living cuckoo clock figure named Coca Loca. Like her previous television role, Minnie wears a pink dress with white polka dots, white bloomers, pink heels and pink bow also with white polka dots. Minnie's skills with bows has also been used to solve problems for her friends. At the end of every short, Minnie states the store policy: "There's no business like bow business!".

Video Games
Minnie has appeared in many video games alongside Mickey. Often, she either has to be rescued by Mickey (such as in Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse and Mickey Mouse: Magic Wands!), or she joins him on his adventures (such as in Mickey Mousecapade, The Great Circus Mystery starring Mickey and Minnie, and Hide & Sneak). A costume of Minnie is also available in Disney Universe, and she has also been confirmed to appear in Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion.

Kingdom of Hearts
In the Kingdom Hearts video game series, Minnie is the queen of Disney Castle, who rules the peaceful kingdom alongside King Mickey. Despite being a queen, she rules the kingdom with equality to her citizens and shows no pride to her status.

Queen Minnie and Daisy Duck go over to the flowery courtyard, where they see Donald Duck fussing with Goofy about something top secret. They demand an explanation for that, so he hands over the letter he found in Pluto's mouth from King Mickey. After that, she has them follow the king's lead, worrying for all of them as well as Chip and Dale, who are the engineers for the Gummi Ship. From there on, she rules the kingdom on her own.

She is the one who sent Jiminy as their royal chronicler. She is not really seen again until the ending credits of Kingdom Hearts, where she sees Donald's nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie return from Traverse Town.

One year after the events of Kingdom Hearts, Queen Minnie is still ruling the world of Disney Castle on her own, with Lady Daisy as her advisor.

Prior to Sora, Donald, and Goofy's visit, black rose thorns suddenly appear in the Hall of the Cornerstone where the Cornerstone of Light is kept. Soon after Heartless begin appearing in the castle and that opens the pathway to Disney Castle.

When Sora and the others visit Disney Castle, they find out that it is in danger because of Maleficent and Pete, who are threatening the castle by changing the past. Sora escorts Minnie to the king's throne, where a secret entrance lie for the castle construction site in the past (Timeless River).

After the castle is safe again, Queen Minnie continues to protect it. During the end credits, she is seen reunited with King Mickey, holding hands and noses touching each other.

Minnie has been confirmed to appear in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, in The Country of the Musketeers as Princess Minnie. Whilst overseeing Riku and Sora's Mark of Mastery exam, King Mickey, Donald and Goofy are away from Disney Castle, during which time Maleficent and Pete invade Disney Castle were they capture and hold Queen Minnie hostage, and her crown along with a letter are sent by Maleficents raven Diablo to the King in hopes of luring him back to the castle.

Mickey does and confronts Maleficent with Donald and Goofy, asking for Queen Minnie's safe return. Maleficent refuses and with her increased powers (which have made her resistant to the effects of the Cornerstone of Light) She launches an assault at the three. Her attack is intercepted by Lea's chakram and during the distraction, Minnie casts Faith and is reunited with Mickey, and stands behind him, Donald and Goofy as they summon their weapons and prepare to battle Maleficent and Pete, Mickey giving them one last warning. The two realize they are outnumbered and flee (though Pete is surprisingly reluctant.

Kinect Disneyland Adventures
Minnie appears as a meet-and-greet character in the game near the entrance to Frontierland on Main Street USA and in front of her house in Mickey's Toontown. She and Daisy are given the task of decorating and organizing Toontown City Hall for the upcoming mayor election. One of the tasks that she gives to the player involves finding flowers for her decorations. Minnie also takes part in the Mickey's Soundsational Parade mini-game, dancing on Mickey's float.

Trivia

 * According to Mortimer Mouse, Minnie is his former girlfriend who left him.
 * Minnie's voice actress, Russi Taylor, was married to Mickey's voice actor, Wayne Allwine. Due to Allwine's death in 2009, she is now widowed but she is partners with Bret Iwan, the current voice of Mickey.
 * Minnie is often cited as an unofficial member of the Disney Princesses and has been included in some of the franchise's material.
 * Minnie appeared in concept art for Epic Mickey, but did not appear in the actual game herself (nor is she ever mentioned by Mickey). There was also no mention or trace of her in Epic Mickey 2, but she did appear in Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion.
 * According to Walt Disney, Mickey and Minnie Mouse have never been married on screen. But, in 1933, during an interview with Film Pictorial, Walt said, “In private life, Mickey is married to Minnie... What it really amounts to is that Minnie is, for screen purposes, his leading lady.”
 * Minnie's eyes are longer and wider than Mickey's, while her smile is slightly shorter and more closed than his.
 * In the popular ABC television series Once Upon a Time, several figurines of Minnie and Mickey can be seen, most notably in Mr. Gold's pawn shop.
 * Minnie was used along with Mickey in a 1930 Aesop's Fables cartoon called "The Office Boy" and again in a 1931 Aesop's Fables cartoon called "Red Riding Hood" after Walt Disney admitted influence from this cartoon series which had been around even before Mickey was even created. But Walt sued its creator Paul Terry for "plagiarizing" his character which lead to Aesop's Fables ending in 1933.
 * In the Pucca episode "Tame That Toon", the classic cartoon version of Pucca strongly resembles Minnie Mouse.
 * In fact, one of Pucca's inspirations could possibly be Minnie Mouse