“The Army Mascot” is a 1942 Classic Disney Short, starring Pluto.
A starving Pluto passes by a military base and sees how well fed the mascots are. He sneaks in and tries to pass himself off as Gunther Goat, mascot of the Yoo-Hoo Division. Unfortunately, Gunther shows up and runs him off. Later, Pluto sees how much attention Gunther gets from the army men and decides to do him one better, but soon finds himself over his head.
Tropes:
- Ass in a Lion Skin: Pluto disguises himself as a goat by curling his ears to look like horns and putting a brush under his chin for a beard.
- Bottle Episode: The entire episode takes place at the military camp.
- Coincidental Dodge: When Pluto is out cold after swallowing the tobacco, Gunther lifts his hind end into an upright position while aiming to head butt him into the ammunition chamber. Gunther prepares himself for the feat by taking several steps back. As Gunther comes charging back, Pluto’s hind end collapses while he is still unconscious. By missing Pluto, Gunther goes crashing into the ammunition chamber where he gets blown away.
- Extreme Omni-Goat: When Pluto tries to pass himself as Gunther to get his food, he finds out the hard way that Gunther feeds on tin cans when a whole pile of them is dropped on him.
- Death Glare: An intimidating one by Gunther as he is about to run Pluto off.
- The Faceless: This being a typical Pluto cartoon, none of the humans’ faces can be seen, although you barely see the face of truck driver which is still hard to make out.
- Fiery Redhead: Gunther!
- Green-Eyed Monster: Pluto gets jealous of Gunther for all the attention he is getting from the soldiers. His eyes even glow green.
- And how about Gunther’s reaction when Pluto shows him up?
- Jerkass: Gunther the goat! He is understandably annoyed that Pluto is messing with his pile of cans. Other than that, Gunther harasses Pluto for his own pleasure. Worst of all, Gunther attempts to butt Pluto into the ammunition chamber which contains explosives.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Gunther’s attempt to butt Pluto into the ammunition chamber fails with Pluto unwittingly dodging Gunther, causing him to crash into said chamber. Then Gunther is blown into the sky, where he is hit by an airplane that carries him off. With him gone, Gunther is replaced by Pluto as a mascot.
- Oh, Crap!: After Pluto unknowingly dodges him, Gunther finds himself barreling into the ammunition about to crash into it.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Gunther’s eyes glow red when he sees Pluto mess up his pile of cans.
- Through a Face Full of Fur: Pluto turns green after swallowing a plug of chewing tobacco. He tries to swallow the green away, but it just comes back up. Later he turns other colors as well, including, yes, plaid. Even his tongue!
- Wartime Cartoon: This was one of several military-themed cartoons produced by the Disney Studio during World War II.
