but hobbes is real!
February 21, 2007 12:14 PM   Subscribe

The truth behind Calvin and Hobbes and this strip are the saddest things ever
posted by petsounds (57 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Kind of old, swear it's been posted before



 
If by "saddest" you mean "stupidest" or "most seen around the web in the past year", then sure.
posted by interrobang at 12:16 PM on February 21, 2007


And do you have diarrhea of the post, or what? Every single day!
posted by interrobang at 12:18 PM on February 21, 2007 [2 favorites]


The original "joke" was rubbish, and dragging it out for 1.5 minutes didn't do anything to improve that.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 12:22 PM on February 21, 2007


I guess the pills aren't working yet because that was terrible.
posted by smackwich at 12:24 PM on February 21, 2007


OK well I hadnt seen it before and.. and.. i use the internet a lot. But yeah this is like my fifth post in as many days.. should I be apologizing for that? Maybe I should get my own blog
posted by petsounds at 12:24 PM on February 21, 2007


BURN HIM.

BURN HIM.
posted by Stynxno at 12:25 PM on February 21, 2007


Well. Leaving aside the Robot Chicken / Youtube video, I thought the retouched strip was culturally relevant and, yes, sad.
posted by Bokononist at 12:26 PM on February 21, 2007


Previously.
posted by EarBucket at 12:27 PM on February 21, 2007


Well I hadn't seen the video, so cheers for at least posting it from me.

I'd always found the idea of a C&H cartoon interesting, but think this show's that it would actually be a bad idea

Well back to reading the box set, still my favourite set of books
posted by lloyder at 12:28 PM on February 21, 2007


I hadn't seen it either. Now I'm bummed out. Thanks.
posted by hypocritical ross at 12:29 PM on February 21, 2007


OK, sure: petsounds has been participating plentifully, the "Robot Chicken" clip is heinous, and the post would have benefitted from some more actually interesting "Calvin and Hobbes"-related info. But in all fairness, that second link to the edited cartoon strip is pretty amazing and poignant.
posted by Help, I can't stop talking! at 12:30 PM on February 21, 2007


anybody else here read mafalda as a kid? that shit was bomb.
posted by phaedon at 12:31 PM on February 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


The reactions to this seem far more hostile than the post itself warranted. It doesn't break any of the guidelines. I really think ya'll might want to consider going on medication.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:32 PM on February 21, 2007


What about the "Fight Club: The Return of Hobbes" article? That was pure genious.
posted by Memo at 12:32 PM on February 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


Ohhhh, its the living in a van question guy. How is that working out?
posted by R. Mutt at 12:33 PM on February 21, 2007


The reactions to this seem far more hostile than the post itself warranted. It doesn't break any of the guidelines. I really think ya'll might want to consider going on medication.

I agree. People, come on, it's a sunny, 70 degree day today. Go outside and enjoy the day.
posted by NoMich at 12:35 PM on February 21, 2007


It was a joke.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:37 PM on February 21, 2007


"pure genious". I love it.
posted by phaedon at 12:37 PM on February 21, 2007


The second link is a smug slap in the face to every bright, imaginative kid that has committed the grave social sin of seeking treatment for his painful neurological disorder.
posted by Simon! at 12:37 PM on February 21, 2007 [10 favorites]


And by 'genious' I meant 'genius'. :(
posted by Memo at 12:37 PM on February 21, 2007


I did find the strip moving in a way.

Sometimes i think about my old teddie bear, still sitting in a closet at my parents' house, and I catch myself thinking how sad and lonely he must be, and I can't help but feel terrible and guilty.
posted by Bookhouse at 12:37 PM on February 21, 2007


I agree. People, come on, it's a sunny, 70 degree day today. Go outside and enjoy the day.

Not in canada.
posted by delmoi at 12:38 PM on February 21, 2007


thanks for the link to the strip, petsounds. that was amazing. i don't know what all the venom is about. i hadn't seen it before, so doesn't that mean metafilter worked?
posted by ambulance blues at 12:38 PM on February 21, 2007


I read Mafalda. All of them. Pure genius. Did you read it in English phaedon?
posted by micayetoca at 12:39 PM on February 21, 2007


im going to throw this out there with absolutely no evidence to back up. there is no way those are the original bubbles for that strip.
posted by phaedon at 12:40 PM on February 21, 2007


The last Calvin & Hobbes strip
posted by keswick at 12:40 PM on February 21, 2007 [7 favorites]


How well does Mafalda work in English anyway?
posted by Memo at 12:41 PM on February 21, 2007


Sometimes i think about my old teddie bear, still sitting in a closet at my parents' house, and I catch myself thinking how sad and lonely he must be, and I can't help but feel terrible and guilty.

Awwwww. I have to go hug my bear now.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:45 PM on February 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


Jesus, keswick. That's just horrible.

(And I laughed, but i felt really bad while i did it.)
posted by Bookhouse at 12:46 PM on February 21, 2007


There's treasure everywhere!

(except here)
posted by LordSludge at 12:46 PM on February 21, 2007


I always have a visceral negative reaction to that fake strip. It's sad, it's wrong, it's mean, it's just ... everything the strip itself was not.
posted by pardonyou? at 12:46 PM on February 21, 2007 [2 favorites]


Thanks for that, keswick!
posted by interrobang at 12:47 PM on February 21, 2007


Everyone knows that the saddest thing is a little girl who is told by her mother and father that she will never be pretty. And then they open the front door, and on the porch is a little white suitcase with all of her things in it.

Everyone knows that!
posted by Plutor at 12:48 PM on February 21, 2007


mica: no actually i read them in greek, it works really well - they were really popular over there
posted by phaedon at 12:49 PM on February 21, 2007


See, keswick's is funny. I'm not even sure I understand why I can laugh at that and just despise the other "last strip."
posted by pardonyou? at 12:50 PM on February 21, 2007


I find this Hobbes theory more plausible. And in my heart, the strip ended this way.
posted by Phlogiston at 12:50 PM on February 21, 2007 [2 favorites]


"And then they open the front door, and on the porch is a little white suitcase, with all of her things in it."

I don't get it. Damn, I must be stupid.
posted by bhouston at 12:52 PM on February 21, 2007


What cheeses me is the total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints pissing on my Chevy truck.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:55 PM on February 21, 2007


achewood can not be explained. achewood simply is.
posted by joeblough at 12:59 PM on February 21, 2007


TULIP!
posted by konolia at 12:59 PM on February 21, 2007


The thing that worries me most is that this thread may get used as fodder for the eternal "bad post, good discussion" argument in favour of bad posts.

Calvin as Hamlet: brilliant. Someone should have linked to that.

This post: The Rozencrantz of the web.
posted by GuyZero at 1:03 PM on February 21, 2007


Not in canada.

Actually, half my snow melted today. The local fishwrap referred to the above-freezing temperatures as "t-shirt weather".

But it's definitely above 70 in Australia.
posted by GuyZero at 1:04 PM on February 21, 2007


But it's definitely above 70 in Australia.

And in North Carolina.
posted by NoMich at 1:09 PM on February 21, 2007


Forget hugging my old teddy bear; now I need to go and hug my kids.

who are in day care playing with other kids and having a lot more fun than I am right now, thank you very much
posted by davejay at 1:10 PM on February 21, 2007


!
posted by Mister_A at 1:11 PM on February 21, 2007


See, keswick's is funny. I'm not even sure I understand why I can laugh at that and just despise the other "last strip."
posted by pardonyou? at 2:50 PM


I'm in the same boat, and also can't explain why.
posted by COBRA! at 1:13 PM on February 21, 2007


GuyZero: This post: The Rozencrantz of the web.

Metafilter: Do you think death could be a post?
posted by 1f2frfbf at 1:16 PM on February 21, 2007


I'd love to see a bunch of Calvin and Hobbes strips with Hobbes' dialogue removed, and the imaginary Hobbes images replaced with the stuffed animal (sort of like these reimagined Garfield strips).

I think that would go a long way toward illustrating the necessity of Calvin-on-pills.
posted by Guy Smiley at 1:16 PM on February 21, 2007


Heh. Was gonna post the previous discussion, but EarBucket's on it already. Thanks.

Note also that the version of the strip used for this FPP was the one bugbread made for that thread.
posted by First Post at 1:18 PM on February 21, 2007


Robot Chicken is really hit and miss for me.
Mostly it makes me smile a little.

Stuff like this and the Voltron breakdance thing just seem a bit....I dunno....obvious. Not really as edgy as it thinks it is.

Sort of like a few years ago when everyone thought that anything with a Scottish accent = Hilarity.

The Darth phone call to the Emperor one was pretty rad though.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 1:29 PM on February 21, 2007


I thought this was funny. I wish people would stop crapping in the thread.
posted by grouse at 1:30 PM on February 21, 2007


I'm in the same boat, and also can't explain why.

I think it's the difference of the deaths. In the "sleddng accident", we get the absurdist reversal of the strip in the form of a good death—Calvin goes down, however horrible a proposition that may be, doing what is essentially Calvinist. (So to speak.)

In the ADHD strip in the main post, the very idea of Calvin is stripped down and ruined in four panels. It's just as plausible a fate for Calvin-the-real-life-analogue, but it's a complete rape of the idea of Calvin and Hobbes. It's too plausible and too darkly cynical to work in the same way—it cuts too close to the bone.
posted by cortex at 1:35 PM on February 21, 2007


Simon!, I wish I could favorite your comment a bzillion times.

Romanticizing mental disorders is bad enough. When kids are involved, it's abusive.
posted by roll truck roll at 1:36 PM on February 21, 2007


I grew up on heavy doses of Mafalda (from my anti-american, castro admiring, father's side) and Calvin and Hobbes (from my 'nothing beats shopping at a Texas mall' mother). Calvin and Hobbes gave me a wish for snowy days (Where I come from it has snowed twice in 200 years, for a few minutes), Mafalda instilled in me a lasting distrut of the police. Both very healthy for a 7 year old.

Neither works when translated from/to Spanish/English. ("The little stick of ideology denting"????)

I am happy to learn Mafalda works in Greek :)

And back to the post: I did like the video. It made me laugh when I saw it on TV a long time ago. And the first first few times I saw it linked somewhere. That it did not make me laugh today says more about me than about the inherent quality of the video.

The strip is kind of funny. A lot less funny than the randomized Garfield panels. Less funny even that Garfield with blank bubbles. But not as bad as that time I bit the inside of my lip, and for days afterwards would accidentally and painfully bite on the little flap of loose skin, and it got so bad I could no longer enjoy eating.
posted by Dataphage at 1:38 PM on February 21, 2007


It's just as plausible a fate for Calvin-the-real-life-analogue, but it's a complete rape of the idea of Calvin and Hobbes

Yes, I think that's exactly it. Well said.
posted by pardonyou? at 1:45 PM on February 21, 2007


Echos of Brazil, or An Occurence At Owl Creek Bridge
posted by Flashman at 1:46 PM on February 21, 2007


Another alternate ending to C&H. I don't know where I found this image.
posted by boo_radley at 1:48 PM on February 21, 2007


« Older "It was just six years of my life."   |   "We're an American Bund" Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments