History YMMV / ClassicDisneyShorts

* VanillaProtagonist: There's a startlingly low amount of shorts focused on Mickey in the '40s and '50s, even those categorized as his cartoon, his more laid back EveryMan persona making him rather dull compared to more proactive co-stars such as Donald or Pluto.
* ValuesDissonance: Minnie beats Figaro with a broom and kicks him out at one point in "Figaro and Frankie" (mistakenly assuming he ate the bird). Even when she realizes Frankie didn't actually die, she never apologizes to the cat. Normally, this stuff would be considered slapstick, but this short in particular was more serious. The aforementioned scene has not aged well, as it is clear that Minnie Mouse has committed an act of animal abuse.

** WesternAnimation/OswaldTheLuckyRabbit, who was Disney's biggest star before Mickey, has gained quite a revival at least since 2008, to the point where the 2023 short ''WesternAnimation/OnceUponAStudio'' has Mickey step aside during the big group photo, allowing his older brother Oswald take center stage.

%%** WesternAnimation/OswaldTheLuckyRabbit.

** Most of the gags in Goofy's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMdTBep3W9c Teachers Are People]]" short, since it involves a kid turning in a handgun and grenade, threatening a classmate with a (water) pistol, and ''blowing up the school''.
** ''No Smoking'' becomes this due to Walt Disney's death from lung cancer, especially the gag where a skywriter spells out "Smoke Lookys" (Lucky Strike was Walt's preferred brand). Tellingly, one TV edit of the cartoon has a new ending where Goofy really does give up smoking.

** The later Donald Duck shorts from the late '40s and '50s show how desperate the writers were to come up with new ideas -- one short has Donald become so obsessed with obtaining honey that he dresses up as a bee to steal honey from an [[TooDumbToLive actual hive]], instead of just going to the store and buying some honey in a jar like any sane [[strike: man]] duck would do.

* TastesLikeDiabetes: Many, particularly fans of the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes and those who dislike Disney films in general, see them as this.

* HypeBacklash: The shorts and characters are beloved and popular, but their exposure and esteemed reputation have made many see them as rather [[TastesLikeDiabetes quaint and juvenile]] in contrast to other cartoon series like WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes.

* AccidentalInnuedo: "And remember, don't molest the bears.".

* ArchivePanic: The original theatrical cartoons combined amount to 469 shorts total (not including shorts initially released as part of a bigger feature, such as the shorts in ''Film/TheReluctantDragon'', ''WesternAnimation/SaludosAmigos'', ''WesternAnimation/TheThreeCaballeros'' and the '40s Disney package features) and that number shoots up to 562 if you include all of the silent Disney films (the Newman Laugh-O-Grams, the WesternAnimation/AliceComedies and WesternAnimation/OswaldTheLuckyRabbit)[[note]] although only around 50 of the 93 silent Disney films survive, are available or are known to exist[[/note]] -- to watch all of them in chronological order would take around 66 hours and 30 minutes, or close to three days without sleep. And that's not counting post-Golden Age shorts, TV shows and feature animation appearances of the characters. And lets not even get started on the absolutely monstrous number of comics these characters have appeared in, ''especially'' the WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck comics.
%% * BaseBreakingCharacters:

** ''Toby Tortoise Returns'' is an oddball in the Silly Symphonies lineup-wheras most, if not all of those shorts were either sweet, sentimental and naturalistic, this short has much more in common with a Warner Bros. cartoon, complete with full cartoony, fast paced slapstick comedy.

** Mickey Mouse's "WesternAnimation/RunawayBrain" from the 90's, which was the first ([[Franchise/KingdomHearts but certainly not]] [[VideoGame/EpicMickey the last]]) attempt at returning Mickey to his adventureous, edgier roots. Whether it succeeded or not is up for debate.
** The later Donald Duck shorts from the '50s and onward show how desperate the writers were to come up with new ideas -- one short has Donald become so obsessed with obtaining honey that he dresses up as a bee to steal honey from an [[TooDumbToLive actual hive]], instead of just going to the store and buying some honey in a jar like any sane [[strike: man]] duck would do.

** Most of the gags in Goofy's "[[http://youtu.be/dMdTBep3W9c Teachers Are People]]" short, since it involves a kid turning in a handgun and grenade, threatening a classmate with a (water) pistol, and ''blowing up the school''.

* MagnificentBastard: ''[[WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle1943 Chicken Little]]'' (1943): [[CunningLikeAFox Foxy Loxy]] desires to eat all of the birds from a nearby farmhouse. Prevented from getting in by force, he turns to a psychology book to manipulate the foolish Chicken Little into thinking [[MistakenForApocalypse the sky is falling]]. When his plan is foiled by Cocky Locky, the birds' leader, Foxy uses disguises and rumors to make the others think he's unfit to lead, then encourages Chicken Little to declare himself leader. Foxy uses another piece of "sky" to discredit Cocky Locky and tricks Chicken Little into luring the birds to his cave, where [[TheBadGuyWins he successfully eats them all]]. Foxy Loxy stands out as one of the shrewdest Disney villains in this cautionary tale of hysteria.

* PopularWithFurries: All of the Sensational Six. It also helps that several have spinoff universes which are ''also'' popular with furries (such as the Carl Bark ''Duck'' comics, the ''Goof Troop''-verse, and the ''Ducktales'' cartoon).

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Subverted. Most of Disney shorts were made for all audiences, so these shorts are safe for kids. Then there are propaganda shorts like "WesternAnimation/DerFuehrersFace" and rather nightmarish cartoons like "WesternAnimation/TheMadDoctor" and "WesternAnimation/PlutosJudgementDay". Any kids watching those will become either terrified or totally confused.

** Chip and Dale are shown to be protagonists and KarmicTricksters whenever confronted against Donald or Pluto, but most of the time, they are harassing and tormenting them when they did nothing wrong to them to begin with.

* FoeYay: Pete kissing Mickey at the end of ''Symphony Hour'' has got to be a prime example.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:

* HarsherInHindsight:

* ValuesDissonance: Minnie beats Figaro with a broom and kicks him out at one point in "Figaro and Frankie" (mistakenly assuming he ate the bird). Even when she realizes Frankie didn't actually die, she never apologizes to the cat. Normally, this would be considered slapstick, but this short in particular was more serious. The aforementioned scene, in particular, has not aged well, as it is clear that Minnie Mouse has committed an act of animal abuse.

** Clarice from "Two Chips And A Miss". She was in one cartoon and now she's a meetable character in the Ride/DisneyThemeParks. She's also pretty popular in Japan along with Chip and Dale themselves.

** The orphans are shown to be angels when they appear in the cartoons, but they usually go out of their way to antagonize Donald for no better reason, [[ForTheEvulz just for their own amusement]].

** Chip and Dale are shown to be protagonists and KarmicTrickers whenever confronted against Donald or Pluto, but most of the time, they are harassing and tormenting them when they did nothing wrong to them to begin with.

** The character, Mortimer Mouse (or a very similar version thereof) initially appeared in ''Mr. Slicker and the Egg Robbers'', a very early storyline from the ''Mickey Mouse'' comic strip. The name is older still; it was ''[[ContinuityNod almost]]'' the name given to the character [[WhatMightHaveBeen that was instead named Mickey]].