Disney is resurrecting the 1920s icon for a new adventure

Disney brought back one of its oldest characters on Thursday to star in its first in-house short in more than 94 years. Who is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit? available on the studio’s YouTube channelsees the titular character get into some 1920s-style mischief, and it comes as Disney gears up for his own 100th anniversary Next year.

Oswald, created in 1927 by studio co-founder Walt Disney, was among the first animated characters with a distinct personality. He made his debut that year Transport problems and then he showed up in a bunch of shorts.

However, in 1928 Walt lost the rights to use Oswald. This prompted him and animator Ub Iwerks to co-create a replacement character: Mickey Mouse. Oswald gradually fell into oblivion.

In 2006, Disney CEO Bob Iger (who returned to the role last month) reached an agreement with NBC/Universal to bring Osvaldo home. He has appeared in video games such as the 2010s Epic Mickeyon merchandising and in parks since then, but on Thursday he brought us his first Disney-produced short since 1928.

“Oswald is such a brave thug. We wanted to bring Oswald back, and in short, he’s literally returning to his original home, the movie screen,” director Eric Goldberg said in a statement. “We wanted Oswald to do the whole ‘smash and stretch’ animation style, ‘rubber hose’, celebrating that first generation of Walt Disney artists”.

Also on Thursday, Disney rolled out an Oswald Snapchat lens around the world so you can date an augmented reality, or AR, version of the character. This probably would have blown Walt away.