By The Kansas City Star Editorial Board

Oh boy, even Mickey Mouse needs ’tude these days.

It shouldn’t be a surprise. When Winnie the Pooh books are being updated, complete with a new character, Mickey seems a natural next step.

So, in about a year, expect to see the Mouse’s “dark side.” Not so much Mickey Mouse as a good-natured, naïve, sweet little guy, as Mickey Mouse, action hero. The transition is expected to be released in a video game, Epic Mickey, but the re-imagining will apparently go beyond that title.

Walt Disney’s iconic happy-go-lucky Mouse — whose real-life inspiration was a Kansas City mouse known to nibble pencils and sit with the artist in his garage studio — isn’t hip enough for the new generation. Specifically, the mouse with the high-pitched voice is in danger of losing American kids. The New York Times notes that domestically, kids today “know him, but may not love him.”

Mickey stuff still brings in $5 billion a year for Disney but more than 80 percent of that comes from overseas. In fact, Disney is preparing to open a new theme park in Shanghai, where Mickey Mouse is still adored by Chinese kids, just as his popularity remains solid in many other places.

In the United States, though, on-line gaming, constant texting and a flood of edgier cartoon characters have made Mickey a bit tame.

We’re not sure we like this trend, given that Mickey is a local boy, after all. Even so, we wish him well in his new adventures.