During the 80s, Disney experimented a lot with films that featured furry friends rather than beautiful princesses. The 80s saw the release of The Fox and the Hound and The Great Mouse Detective, two films that did well in their own right but failed to capture the same magic that viewers had come to expect from Disney. The studio attempted to recapture the princess magic with The Black Cauldron, but that particular film ended up being more of a cult classic than anything. In fact, The Black Cauldron was a box office letdown, bringing in only 21.3 million (against a 44 million production cost).
It wasn’t until 1989 that Disney would knock it out of the park again with their animated smash hit, The Little Mermaid. Fans instantly fell in love with Ariel and her amazing adventure. The film also featured some incredible musical numbers that inspired an array of catchy songs for dedicated Disney viewers to sing along with.
Almost thirty years later and people are still paying homage to this timeless classic. Every day, people are creating covers of the famous melodies and crafting incredible works of fan art for their favorite characters. They’re also cranking out some hilarious comics, some of which showcase a different side to the film. After a trip through these 20 side-splitting fan comics, you might just see everyone’s favorite mermaid in a completely new light.
20 Sharks Need Love Too
Are sharks scary? Absolutely. But they’re also beautiful and, in a way, misunderstood. Sure, they can often be found prowling the ocean depths and scooping in prey with one quick chomp, but they’re far from mindless devourers. To put it simply, sharks have feelings too.
Maybe not the same feelings, but feelings none-the-less.
Perhaps the reason these titans of the sea are so bent on the utter destruction of everything around them is that no one stopped to ask them “how they’re doing.” Who knows, maybe sharks are incredibly kind and gracious creatures but we’re too busy screaming and running for our lives to notice. Whatever the truth may be, we aren’t crazy enough to slip into the darkness of the ocean and ask around.
Source: Dorkly (JHall Comics)
19 To Breathe Or Not To Breathe
Kids don’t spend a lot of time (or any for that matter) scrutinizing the wonderful world of Disney when it comes to logic and biology. After all, most Disney films aren’t exactly reaching for realism. We’re pretty sure undersea squid-witches don’t turn random mermaids into people with spooky magic on a daily basis (or maybe they do, the ocean is scary big). The point is, kids don’t really care about the logic behind certain aspects of animated films, but grown-ups sure do.
We spend a lot of our time picking apart the logic from these magical adventures because everyone knows that grown-ups hate fun. In reality, we just like pointing out plot holes and funny film errors. Case in point, the moment that Ariel turned from a mermaid into a human and then should have immediately succumbed to underwater pressure and a lack of oxygen.
Source: DeviantArt (MrRabLo)
18 Spider Of The Sea
This excerpt is from one of the funniest (and craziest) Little Mermaid comics to ever grace the internet. You can view the entire thing via Neil Cicierega’s (the artist) Tumblr post but be warned, it’s a short yet wild ride. Past the hilarious character depictions and random Pokémon references, this comic actually brings to light an interesting question.
Does Ursula know what humans even are?
For a creature that has spent all her time isolated at the bottom of the sea, she sure seems to know a lot about human anatomy, including how to replicate a pair of lungs (to breathe on the surface) as well as the exact shape and number of legs required for Ariel’s transformation. Maybe she’s had a lot more interaction with humans than we know.
17 She Knows What She Wants
On the subject of legs, have we ever really thought about how unhealthy Ariel’s obsession really is? After all, she even dedicates a portion of her elaborate people-loving song towards how humans walk, run, and dance. She’s obviously spent a lot of time checking out legs on the beach, possibly a lot like a creeper. We can only imagine her scouring the sands with some binoculars in hand (which she probably got from a sunken ship).
Does this obsession translate to any of the remains she happens to find riddling the bottom of the sea? We know she has a penchant for collecting human skulls, perhaps she’s also hoarding a bunch of leg bones. Ariel is definitely one of the most “eccentric” of the Disney princesses.
Source: Tumblr (Jeremy Kaye)
16 Gotta Wear Em’ All
Pokémon are used to assisting humans. The world of Pokémon is filled to the brim with Poké-human relationships that drive economies and solve real-world problems. Pikachu can be used to generate power, Machamp can be used to assist with intense manual labor, and Charmander could help keep their trainer warm in the winter. The possibilities are endless.
Unfortunately, not all Pokémon jobs are created equal.
Some of these poor creatures are forced into situations that are embarrassing and painful. Like these poor Shellder, forced to act as cover for a fairly oblivious mermaid. Ariel doesn’t seem to be phased by pulling this panicking creature away from its family. Or maybe she just hates Pokémon and knows exactly what she’s doing.
Source: Berkeley Mews
15 There Can Be Only One
Disney has spent a lot of time building an impressive variety of princesses. The stories may be similar in moral and structure, but Disney does a great job of visiting a new and exciting locale each time. We’ve been to the lush forests of Scotland, the arid deserts of Agrabah, and the architectural wonder that is Notre Dame. Each time Disney unveils a new princess, she’s from another part of the world.
Their latest foray took us to island nations of Polynesia. Moana spent a lot of her time on the water, much to the chagrin of Ariel. The Little Mermaid feels like she’s the only water-based princess that Disney needs. The two are far from identical but that doesn’t stop this fiery red-head from dishing out some ocean justice.
Source: Imane Imagination
14 Quite The Collection
Ariel spends a lot of her time taking discarded items from the human world. She has an abundance of thingamabobs and dinglehoppers thanks to careless sailors and water polluting jerks. But every so often, during her underwater adventures, the curious princess will come across a sunken ship. As you can imagine, this is an absolute goldmine of oddities for the inquisitive mermaid.
Unfortunately, Ariel doesn’t have much sense when it comes to what she should and shouldn’t be collecting.
Forks and cups are one thing, but human remains are a shade too far. The look on Flounder’s face says it all. We’d like to know exactly how many human skulls the mermaid has in her possession. Prince Eric might look at Ariel a bit differently if he found out she has her own graveyard.
Source: Dorkly (JHall Comics)
13 The Devil’s In The Details
Ariel wants so badly to be a human that she’s willing to go to the evil sea-witch Ursula for help. As we all know, you should never put your trust in someone who is known to be an evildoer, especially when everyone else tells you how untrustworthy that person is. Unfortunately, The Little Mermaid doesn’t spend a lot of time listening to reason and once she has the idea in her head that she’s going to woo Prince Eric, nothing will stop her from obtaining the legs she so desires.
Maybe she should have been a little more specific bartering with Ursula for her fancy new legs. Humans aren’t the only creatures to have legs, and as we already saw in another comic, Ariel isn’t exactly keen on how many legs are too many.
Source: Electric Bunny Comics
12 A Meal Fit For A Prince
Disney didn’t use to focus much on its leading men or princes (with the exception of Beast from Beauty and the Beast). Many of their early films showcased princesses in turmoil who eventually met up with their “true loves.” These handsome men in question were sometimes briefly shown or didn’t have much of a backstory other than “they were princes.” Prince Eric of The Little Mermaid fame is a good example of this early Disney phenomenon.
Halfway through the movie, we simply know he’s a sailor, who also happens to be a prince.
Ariel didn’t know much about the dashing prince before wanting to spend the rest of her life with him. Perhaps he’s got a crippling addiction to sushi? If so, it’s a good thing she got those legs when she did or her tail may have been on the menu.
Source: DeviantArt (snowzapped)
11 New World, New Problems
Part of The Little Mermaid’s charm is the time period in which it’s set. It’s a magical tale of love and adventure cast during a period in which brave mariners explored the open seas. Massive ships and proud helmsman were constantly treading the waters to discover new worlds and open up trade routes. Many of the objects that Ariel has in her possession are an homage to this simple time.
The Little Mermaid would be a much different story if it was cast in the modern age. Poor Ariel would find herself swimming past discarded pieces of plastic and all sorts of trash. Not to mention all of the terrible things that the 2000s introduced, like Crocs. Ariel would probably have a much different view of humans. We doubt she’d be so enamored with them after seeing all the trash they leave lying around.
Source: Comic Bew
10 Common Ground
When Frozen first came out, fans were shocked to discover that it didn’t follow the traditional Disney film formula. In fact, it made fun of it. Many of Disney’s earlier films pushed the idea that love conquered all, especially if that love was founded on nothing and two characters had only known each other for around twenty minutes.
You shouldn’t go marrying someone you’ve only known for a few hours.
But that’s just what Ariel did, and this comic shows why that’s a bad idea. What do Eric and Ariel have in common, aside from that fact that they both like water? We’re sure Eric has had his fair share of seafood dinners. Who knows how many of Ariel’s fishy friends he’s devoured over the years.
Source: The D Continuum
9 Cashing In
Ariel has a ton of stuff from the human world. She’s spent a long time collecting all of the random objects that drift to the bottom of the ocean, and she’s probably raided her fair share of shipwrecks. She holds a lot of stock in these objects, so much so that she proudly displays them and even includes them in her musical numbers. We often wonder if she’d return to the ocean to retrieve all her goodies, even after becoming human.
Or maybe she’d take a page from the modern age and realize that antiques and handcrafted items are all the rage. Most of those dinglehoppers are probably made of real silver, so they might fetch a pretty penny. Or she could just do what everyone on Etsy does and pass them off as a painstakingly crafted treasure.
Source: Dorkly
8 The Story Behind The Story
By now, most people know that Disney adapted some of its most famous films from old world fairytales and folklore. What you may not know is that most of these stories were incredibly depressing and filled with a myriad of disturbing scenes and plot twists. Case in point, how the original story of Cinderella sees her stepsisters cutting into their own feet to “ensure” that they can fit the glass slipper.
The Little Mermaid is no different.
The original tale isn’t nearly as sweet and innocent as we’re lead to believe. Ariel may receive her happy ending in the Disney film but things are a lot darker and unforgiving in the original plot. Ariel ends up suffering through some horrible afflictions and then loses the “love of her life” to bad luck, of all things.
Source: Wooden Plank Studios
7 A Fishy Situation
There is something attractive and mysterious about a mermaid. Sailors and dreamers alike have been sharing tales of these underwater beauties for centuries. It doesn’t matter if they have scales like a fish and a giant floppy tail, their human halves are said to be exceedingly beautiful. Ariel was quite the sight to see in The Little Mermaid, so it’s no wonder that Prince Eric was immediately infatuated with the red-haired princess.
We can’t imagine he would have been so smitten had her mermaid halves been reversed. In fact, we’d wager he’d run screaming at the sight. Reverse mermaids are anything but beautiful. There is nothing alluring or attractive about a bug-eyed fish walking around on human legs. Nothing at all.
Source: Adam Ellis
6 You Can Take The Girl Out Of The Sea…
But you can’t take the sea out of the girl (or some other variation of the old adage). The point is, at the end of the day, Ariel is still a mermaid. Sure, she ended up trading in her gills for lungs and her tail for feet, but she never swapped her mind and she definitely hasn’t lost her memories. So this begs the question, did Ariel revert back to her fish-like ways, even after moving in with Prince Eric?
According to this comic, yes.
It’s easy to see why their marriage would be on the rocks if Ariel has resorted to doing her business anywhere and viewing babies as a food source. To her, all of this is just a natural part of the ocean kingdom where she grew up. In reality, dry land has a much different ecosystem than the ocean, and no amount of human legs can change that.
Source: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
5 Planning Ahead
We’ve already talked about how obsessive Ariel can be. She spends a lot of her time looking through her vast collection of trinkets and human items. We also know that she’s a graverobber, thanks to her assorted human bones. To be fair, Ariel isn’t keen on the subject of human mortality, so it’s not like she’s aware of funerary practices and the like. But still, at some point, you have to wonder why she needs THAT many bones…
Prince Eric wonders, apparently enough to confront his new beloved about it. We don’t blame him, we can’t imagine that a pile of skulls makes for very good castle decor (maybe in Game of Thrones). Thankfully, the princess is willing to toss out her collection. That is, so long as she gets to horde Eric’s bones when he’s gone.
4 Is There An Off Switch?
In order to obtain the legs she so desires, Ariel must give up a rather important part of her identity. The Little Mermaid entices the audience with a beautifully sung musical number before deciding to sign a contract with the sea witch Ursula. Because of that, it’s much harder to see her bargain away her magical voice with the cantankerous old villain.
Thankfully, Ariel can regain her voice if she manages to receive a kiss from her beloved Prince Eric.
Unfortunately for Eric, Ariel regaining her voice might be a little more than he’s prepared for. After all, the mermaid is sure to be extraordinarily chatty when she realizes she can talk again. We can only imagine the slew of questions that Prince Eric will be forced to field on a daily basis.
Source: The D Continuum
3 Our World Isn’t Really That Great
We already sort of explored this concept with the earlier comic about Ariel swimming through plastic bags, soda rings, Crocs, and all of humankind’s other mistakes. The world is so much different in the modern age. Back when ships sailed the seas and people wore puffy shirts, there wasn’t much to worry about other than surviving. People may have been friendlier and communities may have been stronger. We aren’t sure, we didn’t live during those times.
But we do live during these times and we do know that some people nowadays can be a little…much. Just imagine Ariel trying to become part of this world? If the verbal lashing didn’t turn her off to the idea first, we’re sure the crazy technology and rampant social media would.
Source: Pandyland
2 Be Careful What You Wish For
There are tons of stories and legends out there that warn about the dangers of wishing and how a lack of details can seriously derail your plans. These stories usually revolve around someone wishing for something and forgetting to explain exactly what they wanted, only to end up in a situation that is more depressing and painful that they could have possibly imagined. This comic explores a similar scenario for The Little Mermaid.
Thankfully for Ariel, it’s not nearly as devastating as it could be.
We’re sure she meant she wanted two human legs and to keep her mermaid tail (which would look insanely weird in its own right). A lack of details splits the difference and gives her two tails to flutter through the sea with.
Source: Imane Imagination
1 It’s Better Down Where It’s Wetter
To close out this fan comic fest we thought we’d take one more dig at the modern world. It’s not our fault that society has spiraled so far out of control that we communicate through memes and short Internet videos. Okay, it’s partially our fault, but still. Can you imagine what it would be like if Ariel got her hands on an iPhone? Well, not an iPhone, but maybe a waterproof Samsung Galaxy.
Whatever the device, she’d be able to access Youtube, which is filled with a multitude of videos that would make anyone question the sanity of the human race. One quick look at Gangnam Style is all it would take to turn Ariel off to the idea of ever dancing with humans.
Source: Jen Lewis
