If you take Mickey Mouse, stretch out his ears a bit and give him a little bigger nose and a little larger body, you basically have Oswald. Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit was created after the end of the Alice series. Carl Laemmle, the head of Universal Studios told Charles Mintz that he wanted a cartoon series featuring a rabbit. Margaret Winkler Mintz suggested Disney for the job, and Disney responded with the short "Poor Papa." The cartoon was received very negatively, mostly because of the appearance of Oswald himself. He was more of a scruffy hooligan rather than the pleasing personality that Laemmle wanted. Disney went back to the drawing board and returned with "Trolley Troubles" which presented a more appealing and likable Oswald. Even throughout the series, Oswald's appearance softened. When the Oswald series was taken out of Disney's hands and given to Walter Lantz, the figure changed even more; Disney created Mickey Mouse, and Oswald became more boyish and cuter; almost an exact duplicate of Mickey. It's difficult to think about what might have happened if Disney had kept control of Oswald, but not hard at all to decide which was the most successful creation.