It’s been said that it all started with a mouse. But before the mouse there was a rabbit. Before the rabbit was a little girl named Virginia. And before her there was finally a man who did little animations for a small movie theatre advertising local businesses. That man was Walt Disney.

This POP! Icons Walt Disney with Drawing figurine depicts the creative genius somewhere between the rabbit and the mouse:

There are quite a few images of Walt with drawings of Mickey Mouse. It should be noted that most of these drawings were actually done by Ub Iwerks, the other man who designed and drew the mouse for his first formative years. But the world of publicity needed to see the animation Master in control of his creation, and so we have an altered history.

The Walt Disney Company that we know now is celebrating its 100th Anniversary in 2023. It’s proper to note that this was not the first animation business that Walt started. Laugh-a-Grams was only around for a few years before it went under. But that didn’t stop Walt! He struggled on with help from one of his Uncles, another man before the mouse that started it all.

This figurine is rendered in glorious black and white. This is appropriate as all of Walt’s first efforts in animation were in black and white as well.

The drawing he is holding is of Mickey in his famous role of Steamboat Willie, the first animated Short to be released starring the mouse, if not the first one to be made.

It will be interesting to see what other figures and sets are released to celebrate this 100 milestone for the Disney Company!

As you can see, this figure depicts Walt in his younger years. But for many of us, our experience with Uncle Walt came in his later years. For me, he was like the grandfather I never had. When I saw the image of Walt on this box, it gave me a pang. It touched my heart!

With that in mind, what period in Walt’s life is pivotal to you? I wrote an essay about this issue that I called Do You Prefer the Younger or the Older Walt? Each ‘man’ excelled in different ways. How is this possible when they are the same ‘man’? Click on over and find out!