Part of the fun of being a fan is reimagining your favorite characters in a variety of ways. What if your favorite cuddly creatures were epic superheroes? What if your favorite superheroes were regular dudes in a college dorm? What if your favorite movies took place years ago, or years into the future?
This is the beauty of fan art, as all of these types of questions can be explored thanks to the imagination of those who love the movies the most. Some redesigns take serious characters and make them sweet and light. Others go dark, imagining brutal alternate realities featuring our favorite animated characters.
This collection of eye-catching fan art takes iconic Pixar characters and imagines them in a whole new light.
The Parr family go from the brightly colored world of The Incredibles to the crushingly dark and brutal dystopic society of the future. Riley, of Inside/Out, hangs out in her young adult bedroom, playing a rousing video game with her feelings.
Not every iteration creates a brand new story. There are are also mashups that merge our favorite Pixar characters with other franchises.
From The Good Dinosaur to Mike and Sully of Monsters Inc., here are the 20 Pixar Fan Redesigns Way Better Than The Movies.
The Incredibles Grown Up
DeviantArt member MabyMin created this imagining of Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack all grown up and ready to take on the world.
The title indicates that perhaps the family business has been passed down. Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl may be retiring, but saving the day will be kept in the family - literally.
Jack-Jack sports a cute Beast Boy aesthetic, while Violet channels a combination of Supergirl and Psylocke.
Dash, the speedy middle child, is obviously none other than DC’s The Flash. With his shaggy hair, face mask, and circular chest logo, Dash is a perfect recreation of the WB’s geeky and charming Barry Allen.
MabyMin didn’t provide a story for this updated version of the Parr family, but it’s easy to reimagine our own.
Coco And The Gems
MeL0-MeL depicts a version of Hector and Miguel that’s somewhat reminiscent of the beloved Cartoon Network modern classic, Steven Universe. Miguel’s large, round eyes and easy smile are quite similar to the facial expressions seen in young Steven.
However, the artist provides a softer take on the Steven Universe aesthetic, with more of a sketched look to the art.
The plaza location is a wonderful callback to Coco’s ethnic aesthetic. A row of buildings stands behind these two newfound friends, while bright, orange flowers adorn the bush behind them.
Miguel and Hector have obviously never been happier than when hanging out with each other. It’s quite an upbeat display for one of the saddest Pixar movies in recent memory.
Buzz And Woody Get Serious
This updated version of Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story is like a video game come to life.
Woody boasts the appearance of the central protagonist. He’s the guy with a plan and a million of nameless, faceless enemies. His cocked hip and dirty bandanna are a sure sign that he means business.
Buzz is clearly the Sheriff’s right-hand man. This big, hulking bodyguard doesn’t look like he has much to say, but he won’t be letting anyone give his buddy Woody a hard time.
Enemies will have to go through Buzz first, and by the looks of his serious face and quiet confidence, he is ready to rumble.
The bright sun and red sky behind the pair are perfect for a Mars landscape or a Wild West desert.
Wall-E And EVE Are Hardcore Heroes
SgtHK takes two sweet robots and turns them into lean, mean warrior machines.
Wall-E is much, much bigger, with large treads and a big weapon perched on his shoulder.
While the sweet, child-like version of Wall-E protects the Earth by recycling, this version of Wall-E would defend the Earth with much more violent means.
EVE is given a huge overhaul. A high-powered beam is attached to her wrist, and the usually cylindrical droid actually has legs.
Her normally narrowed eyes take on a whole new meaning with this action-adventure turn of events. Obviously, with a face like this, EVE is ready for business and will take on just as many baddies as Wall-E.
Together, Wall-E and EVE make an unstoppable team.
Merida Goes Glam
Iaihoshi depicts Merida from Brave as a Mongolian archer. This should make the red-haired, wild child even more unruly. However, Merida only manages to look somehow even more glamorous in this iteration.
Her fashionable coat, with its fur trim and rope detailing, is truly befitting of a princess no matter how much of a tomboy she may be.
Merida’s facial features are softened and her naturally uncontrollable hair is tamed by two matching pieces of twine that accentuate her ensemble.
Iaihoshi does a wonderful job with Merida’s eyes, creating a soft but confident expression.
The background of the piece is equally commendable, with the trees and snow slightly out of focus.
Inside Out Video Games
Jenolab depicts Inside Out’s Riley as a more mature teenager who is possibly attending college.
The image has all the obvious signs of a college student - a messy bed, a backpack hiding in the background, a few books, and video games.
It’s the perfect evolution for the tomboy who is in love with hockey and hanging out with her friends.
Each individual feeling can also be seen reacting to the game in a manner befitting their emotions. Joy is all too happy to share a controller with Sadness, who seems less impressed. Rage is, well, very angry and intensely into the game. Meanwhile, Fear is freaking out and Disgust is so over the whole thing.
More than just an adorable revamped version of Inside Out, this image hosts a wide range of Pixar Easter eggs, just like the actual movies.
Mr. Incredible Meets Wolverine
In this fan redesign, Instagram user Warrick Wong imagines Mr. Incredible as Old Man Logan, aka the grizzled, elderly version of Wolverine.
This Old Man Incredible seeks vengeance for his kidnapped children and misses his possibly deceased wife.
Fans of Wong’s work suggested a surprise twist ending to pull on the unsuspecting hero: Elastigirl is alive and well, but with no memory of her life as a hero, as she’s now a villain.
It’s a grim idea, but one that perfectly suits this tattooed, red-eyed, and angry version of the superhero dad.
According to Wong’s initial post, Bob Parr was the second most requested character for his reimagined series. The most requested Incredible family member was actually the shy teenage Violet.
Monsters Inc. Enters The Labyrinth
Big furry monsters with horns and rocks with faces on them? There’s no mistaking this loveable Monsters Inc./Labyrinth mash-up.
Sully channels the gentle Ludo, the friendly monster who ends up scaring others but doesn’t really want to. These two misunderstood characters have a lot more in common than most fans thought.
Mike Wazowski is reimagined here as a rock with a face, much like the dangerous rocks seen toward the end of the movie.
The origin of this cute mash-up seems to have been lost to time and the internet. A Geek Art Gallery post indicates someone named Nik Holmes created the image, but the website is no longer available. For a while, the image was available to order as a T-shirt design online.
Remy And The Eiffel Tower
Everyone knows that Ratatouille’s sous chef rat, Remy, dreams of good food and good friends. However, he also dreams of the glamor and romance of the Eiffel Tower, as seen in this photo.
Remy lounges in the foreground, a happy smile on his face as he stares at the stately tower in the distance.
Of course, his love of food can’t be eclipsed by the view, and therefore a handy menu sits nearby.
DeviantArt member Temiree created the image for their portfolio. A real photo of the Eiffel Tower was used to get the details just right. The artist traced it to help get the intricate designs to look the same as the real thing.
Temiree was instructed to take an existing poster and make it their own. The romantic, laid back vibe of this imaginative offering certainly accomplished that.
Toy Story At The End Of The World
What if Woody and Buzz Lightyear lived in a dystopian society? What if it were the end of the world, but with toys? This is what this dark fan reimagining of the iconic Toy Story duo seems to explore.
Woody is portrayed as the classic, epic cowboy of cigarette ads of the past. He’s a Marlboro Man with a rugged jawline and dirty boots. Beside him, Buzz Lightyear looks shockingly similar to his animated version. He just happens to be a little more muscular and defined.
We can also see some other Toy Story characters here.
Slinky the Dog appears in the background, looking like a lot like a real dog.
Rex looms large in the background, a dark, sharp-toothed shadow.
There’s no chance that Sid would have dared to mess with these guys.
Elastigirl Is Alive And Well
With this piece, Warrick Wong imagines a future in which Elastigirl has been torn apart from her family for years. Helen Parr is kidnapped, separated from her husband and children, and experimented on with cybernetics.
This is a brutal alternate reality for such a sweet-natured animated character. After 14 years, Helen is finally able to escape and is prepared to make her way back to her family.
This dark imagining of the Incredibles family doesn’t stop at just Elastigirl, however.
As we can see above, Mr. Incredible has also been hardened with age and is on a path of vengeance as he searches for his wife and children. Fans of Wong suggested in the comments of Wong’s Mr. Incredible post that Helen endure the rough journey that Wong eventually wrote for her.
Carl and Russell Get Up To Some Adventures
Batman and Robin, similar to Carl and Russell, are simply inseparable. Though the two didn’t get along much at first, once Carl finally opened his heart to little Russell after accidentally taking him on a balloon-fueled trip in Up, they became good friends.
Similarly, despite the fact that Batman can be rather harsh on his sidekicks, he cares about Robin a great deal.
This colorful iteration of the Up duo by ArtistAbe puts them in the spandex super suits of Batman and Robin.
Carl looks serious, while Russel is clearly having the time of his life as the pair prepares to rush into battle.
Brave Meets The Avengers
If Black Widow and Hawkeye had a daughter, and then shipped her off to the Hunger Games, what would that teenager look like? We imagine that she would something like Brianna Cherry Garcia’s epic version of Brave’s resident princess archer, Merida.
With so much confidence in her fierce demeanor, Merida is completely transformed in this fan redesign.
This reimagining of the unruly character features Merida’s iconic rat’s nest of a head of hair.
Her face holds the same quiet intensity we see in the animated movie, but it’s her armor that is updated drastically here.
Her new and improved outfit has spandex, leather, and buckles galore. Merida looks like she’s ready to save New York from the invading Chitauri all the while blowing up a field of landmines with a single shot.
Riley’s Home For Imaginary Feelings
This artsy rendition of Joy and Bing Bong from Inside Out invokes two beloved animated titles. These two friends stand in a recreated scene from the innocent and friendly My Neighbor Totoro, with Bing Bong playing the part of the cuddly spirit.
Poor Joy looks surprisingly disappointing to be out in the pouring rain.
Hoerbrt, the obvious recreation of Totoro’s iconic scene isn’t the only homage going on here. The art style is also incredibly reminiscent of Cartoon Network’s Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends.
The big, round eyes and lack of black outlines is a total callback to the art of the beloved franchise. It’s a good fit, considering how emotional Foster’s could be at times.
Mack certainly loved Bloo as much Riley loved Bing Bong, he simply refused to let him go.
The Incredibles Meets The X-Men
Victor Hugo Queiroz imagines little Jack-Jack Parr as one of the most powerful mutants in the history of Marvel. Magneto, the sometimes nemesis, sometimes best friend of Professor Charles Xavier, is a true threat and powerhouse in a world overrun with mutants.
You don’t rip iron out of the blood of a random security guard without an excessive amount of power.
Similar to Magneto, Jack-Jack holds untold powers. The little baby is frequently showing off abilities that even his parents aren’t aware he has.
There’s really no reason not to assume that the youngest Parr boasts the ability to move magnetic materials with his brain - if only because we really have no idea just how many talents Jack-Jack actually has.
On Dinosaurs And Gophers
What if very good dinosaurs were more like very good dogs? This seems to be the case here in artist HighbridMonkey’s reimagining.
In this adorable fan art of Good Dinosaur characters, Arlo and his friends gather around a friendly gopher to say hello. Spot looks particularly happy to meet the tiny creature.
There’s no telling what sorts of lighthearted adventures Arlo and Spot may have gotten up to on their journey to find Arlo’s long-lost family.
Stopping to check out a random rodent is certainly something we can envision two young characters doing in their spare time.
Maybe they would even keep the little gopher as a third friend in their gang.
Dory And Her Squishy
She was only a side character at first, but the unforgetful Dory quickly became one of Finding Nemo’s most popular characters, if not one of Pixar’s most popular characters of all time.
While she always meant well, Dory’s forgetful nature continuously landed her in a lot of trouble. Maybe this is what made this beloved fish so relatable.
Cryptid-Creations proudly shared this simple painting of Dory with her very small Squishy. She loves the jellyfish so much that she just wants to take it home with her forever.
However, the oblivious Dory had no idea that jellyfish could sting.
Cryptid’s version of Dory is innocently retro, taking Dory back to the Renaissance days of Disney rather than the computer-generated era of Pixar that we have come to know and love.
Deadpool’s Brain, Personified
This fan redesign by Sean McFarland imagines what the inside of Deadpool’s brain looks like. Joy is happily going nuts with her high-powered accessories. Disgust is… well, kind of disturbing, actually. She must be Deadpool’s vulgar side.
Sadness is clearly the part of Deadpool that doesn’t mind working as a hitman but really prefers not to talk about it. Rage, naturally, is the largest emotion in the Merc with a Mouth’s brain.
Meanwhile, Fear is bound and gagged because, obviously, Deadpool fears nothing.
The serious expression that seems to lie behind Deadpool’s mask is extremely different from the Deadpool we see on screen and in comics, who always seems to be ready with a witty reply.
Wall-E Meets R2-D2
Everyone’s two favorite droids come together in this imaginative mash-up. The sassy R2-D2 of Star Wars fame is perfectly blended with the kindhearted Wall-E.
Wall-E’s big eyes peer over from the top of R2-D2’s round body. It’s a combination that’s almost too cute to bear.
Wall-E’s huge eyes almost make the normally full-of-attitude R2-D2 look sad and sympathetic here, which is quite a departure from R2-D2’s usual demeanor.
According to a post at the website Design Crowd, a user named IcyAll first posted this image as a submission in a Photoshop contest. The contest, appropriately dubbed the “Star Wars Extravaganza” took place in 2012. The contest was meant to be a design project for an Australian business.
Little Mike And Sully
BenByrdArtwork takes a family-friendly movie, Monsters Inc., and makes it even more snuggly.
This cuddly version of Mike Wazowski and his good friend Sully would be right at home in a preschooler’s picture book. The soothing pastel colors, soft lines, and even softer faces would capture the imagination of any passing toddler.
In this sweet image, Sully stands before little Boo’s flower-covered door. A happy Mike Wazowski hangs out on his shoulder, giving the thumbs up and with a big grin on his face.
It’s honestly impossible to think that any child would be frightened of these two if they saw them in real life. They are simply too adorable to actually be scary.
What do you think? Would you have prefered to see any of these Pixar fan redesigns on screen? Sound off in the comments!
