Remember a week ago when I said that I had three different comic ideas about Toy Story 3? I realized after uploading today’s comic that my idea for the third comic had completely evaporated from my mind. So unless I get kicked in the head by a mule or the idea comes to me again in some other random fashion, this might be it for Toy Story 3 comics for a while. I hope you enjoyed it!
Thinking about the Toy Story movies, I was always a little bit mystified by the absence of Andy’s father. Where is he? Did he move out? Did he and Andy’s Mom divorce? Is Andy’s Mom a widow? Maybe she went to a fertility clinic? The world may never know!
More likely than not, the animators of the original Toy Story didn’t want to design, model and animate ancillary characters that didn’t advance the plot. For example, I don’t think we ever see the face of the Pizza Planet delivery guy. It makes sense, if you think about it. Why go to the trouble of creating a “Dad” character when there isn’t much he can say that wouldn’t be mirrored by the “Mom” character.
That, and it’s a story about toys. So who really cares about the Dad?
Although, now that I think about it, didn’t Sid – the kid next door that tortured toys in the original movie – have both a Mom AND Dad?
Granted, we only hear the Mom off camera. But I think we see the Dad (or at least the Dad’s arm) when Buzz sees his television commercial for the first time and realizes he’s a toy.
As I recall, the Dad was also fast asleep in his armchair and it was fairly early in the morning. From that, I think you can infer that he maybe fell asleep in front of the television the night before. But I prefer to imagine that he was a raging alcoholic that passed out in front of the television. He’s an absentee father and that’s why Sid tortures toys – because no one is their to guide him.
Clearly I think about these things far too much.
Of course, you’re also dealing with a guy who tried to unravel the existential meaning of being a sentient toy. What does the passage of time mean in this context? Does consciousness come and go? Also, how and when do the toys officially become self-aware? When they’re manufactured? Or only after they’ve been packaged and “brought to life” by imaginative play.
Clearly these are questions for the ages.
Something else I’ll say, I don’t want people to assume that I am promoting the idea that a single mother can’t raise two well-adjusted, college-bound children with today’s comic. I’m just saying it would be challenging. I have two kids barely out of diapers and I feel like I’m screwing them up all the time. Thank goodness I have Cami to bounce things off of. If you’re a single mom, you have to have serious stones to keep kids on the right track.
So, in other words, hooray for single moms!
Did that sound creepy? Maybe a little forced… No. Definitely creepy.
I’ll stop talking now. You pick up the slack. Toy Story 3 comments? Leave ’em below!
Buzz and Woody were great. But the REAL hero of that story is Andy's Mom!
Andy's Mom? Why?
A single mom raising two well-adjusted kids and sending one off to college?
...now THAT'S an adventure!
I always thought the same thing about Sid’s dad. Speaking of Sid, did anyone else catch that he was the garbage man?
Toy Story 3 is my favorite movie so far this year. I don’t have kids, it’s just me and my wife that get graced with these movies. But I feel that the plot was great, it really helped wrap up that whole universe, and it was a good change from the super-sad UP.
The cameo’s by Boo (Monsters Inc.) and Totoro were a real treat as well.
Jessie also holds a special place in my heart, her pseudo-psychotic grins and abundant energy make her possibly the most unique character in my opinion.
I doesn’t hurt that she’s voiced by the idiosyncratic Joan Cusack. Impeccable casting, if you ask me.
No doubt. The entire cast was excellent. They have a lot of cast interviews on DisneyPixar’s youtube channel right now, they’re real interesting to watch.
Also, R.I.P. Jim Varney… wasn’t the same without him.
It makes far more sense for Andy to be fatherless, otherwise he wouldn’t necessarily be so absorbed in his toys and in love with Woody (who is his imaginary father figure). It would suggest that Andy’s father is deceased though, they never mention him at all but the total lack of mentioning suggests he’s passed.
I haven’t gone to see Toy Story 3 yet, but I will for sure catch it in the next week or two. I didn’t really enjoy two that much, maybe I just got annoyed with the jessie character though the horse’s sheer hilarious animation did make up for a fair bit.
Woody is a father figure? I never thought of it that way before.
Maybe not a father figure, but an authority figure? He’s a Sheriff. He represents the law. Buzz Lightyear represents law and order in a similar fashion.
I can see maybe being annoyed with Jessie because she’s like a walking ball of facial tics. But, boy, that montage dedicated to her in the middle of the movie… If you don’t tear up at that, you’re not human.
Woody at the very least represents the male figure in Andy’s life. Buzz represents a similar position but if anything Woody would represent the male adult authority, buzz the adolescent authority. In the first movie to the second Woody takes in the reality that he doesn’t need to be “Andy’s favorite” to feel special though he always will be. In essence it’s the idea of placing Andy before himself and thus becoming a better relinquishing father.
I’m afraid that toys are probably sentient as soon as they are finished. I remember from Toy Story 2 that Stinky Pete yells about how he was left in his unopened box in a dime store, while all the other toys were sold, and he had never been owned by anyone except Al the Collector. And of course, Buzz is presumably a new toy, and he’s sentient as soon as he comes out of his box, albeit with the mindset of his character. Which leads to the horrible thought of toys who are discarded without EVER being let out of their box
I think single moms would be happy to hear that. I think this is a take on a movie that I don’t think they ever thought of. So the comic really got to me. plus I think it’s funny too. So I have to say your comic was great. Plus props for the design too. it takes skills to draw. not every body has skill and comedy rolled in to one. best of luck.
Samuel
Thanks, Samuel. I appreciate that. I’m glad you found the comic funny. But even if it wasn’t laugh-out-loud, I figured I was pointing something out about the movie maybe others hadn’t considered.
Just trying to offer a different perspective!
Or only after they’ve been packaged and “brought to life” by imaginative play.
Stinky Pete was conscious while mint in box in toy story 2, along with other Buzz lightyears.
That’s right. I forgot about that.
Then, yes – going back to the Stranger’s observation – what kind of life must these unopened toys be living trapped inside their packaging?
We can only assume that time passes differently for toys when they are in this state. They must have some kind of external awareness that allows them to animate their bodies when people have left the room.
We’re unraveling again. Lol
I was on youtube and I found the ultimate find. For those who love being spoiled, Here is the ending of TS3. One of the saddest, most heartwarming thing you will see in quite awhile. Please pass the tissue…
Only for those who want to see how it ends: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li_JonqIwW8&feature=popt01us15
“Goodbye Partner”
Seriously… pass the tissue!
Wait! Hold on! How can the mom be a role model when just at the beginning she nearly threw the toy bag away! Don’t you guys remember Andy punching the wall in anger afterward and probably letting a tear out?
But i admit, raising two kids and sending one of them to college IS impressive.
This was such a cliche, infuriatingly trite strip that it made me think about dropping this comic a little. (I think the voting reflects my sentiments, though not the extremity of course)
Wow. Tell me what you really think!
What have you got against single Moms? ;D
What’s your problem?
Never saw the movies, so sorry i can’t add much in way of that thread. Did want to say I think it’s funny Tom how you have a “real tears” motif going with your toy story comics .
That’s true – and something I hadn’t really noticed until you pointed it out. But, yeah. Whenever Toy Story gets name-checked around here, invariably I start talking about crying.
It’s a good thing! Let the tears flowwwww…
I thought the implication was that not only was Andy’s Mom a widow, that Woody was actually his dad’s toy. Or at least that’s what I remember hearing a while ago. I could be mistaken.
I believe Andy’s Mom described Woody as a “family toy” in Toy Story 2 when he got caught in the garage sale. That could mean anything, really. But it’s nice to think he belonged to Andy’s Father.
My favorite part was seeing the adventure of Andy playing with his toys from the first movie in his mind’s eye.
“My dinosaur eats force-field dogs!”
Absolutely awesome.
The movie was great. I was really jaded on the idea of this movie. I figure it’d be more of the same Woody/Buzz aren’t we great friends thing, but it went way beyond that.
The only reason I saw TS3 was because my brother (a bit of a movie snob) recommended it. So I caught it yesterday between The Karate Kid and The A-Team.
Gotta say, didn’t exactly get moved. Oh, it had it’s funny moments, a bit of suspense with the fate of the toys, and a believable antagonist. I could even accept the redundant “Buzz thinks he’s a real Space Ranger Part 3” gag (’cause, hey, I sat through four “I’m an OGRE” flicks, thank you DreamWorks). I just didn’t see why, according to EW, it “made grown men cry”. Well, not this guy. And I got misty-eyed at Pursuit of Happyness, Up, and almost cried when Batman interrogated Flass in Batman Begins.
Seriously. That was a beautiful scene.
SPOILERS! EEK, RUN! (the moment when they’re in the trash dump and headed for the inferno and for the first time… they just stop fighting. and they just all reach out and grab hands and accept the end together, as a family– bawled)
I went to go see this movie with my little cousin, who has been a little down lately owing to that his big brother will be moving out in August to head for college and halfway through, I thought that, surely, I had made a tremendous mistake. My little cousin was crying and I was absolutely horrified, I thought maybe Andy’s storyline had just hit a little too close to home at just a little bit too much the wrong time. I was so terrified that I had contributed to the breaking of my little cousin’s heart until we walked out of the theatre and I kind of timidly asked him if he was okay and he said that he loved it and wanted to know if I could rent the first two movies for him to see again. In the end, I think seeing that real families can’t be changed by distance or time, by trials or tribulations, I think it helped him feel better.
When a movie can do that for someone, reach out in that personal a way, and help them deal with something in their own lives– well, I always thought that was supposed to be what sets “art” apart.
hey Gabs, I am right there with you, that ending was a tearjerker! We went and bought the first two the night before we saw it, and then the next weekend we took different friends! Our favorite movie this year.
“Look out! The ghosts are throwing pies! *splat splat splat!*”
I was so tempted to buy the first two movies when they came out on Blu-ray a month or two ago.
But then I realized they’ll probably package all three films together in time for the holidays.
I want whatever super-deluxe edition of that collection they plan on producing. I’ll pay top dollar for it. It will be worth it.
RE: The Inferno…
Something that Pixar does very well is give you that sense of true peril – even though, in the back of your head – you know it’s a Disney film and everything is going to work out fine in the end.
I was biting my nails during that conveyor belt sequence!
That scene…The Inferno…. the entire theatre was transfixed… biting nails…holding their breath… when suddenly… from about five rows back… a tiny voice, maybe 5 years old yelled… “Nooooooooo….!”
Everyone looked at each other and smiled sympathetically… knowingly
Couldn’t agree more, Tom.
I remember back when I was in early elementary school, those climactic cliffhanger moments in movies felt so real to me. I genuinely wondered if the heroes would get out of the jam alive, how Luke could possibly defeat the Emperor–it felt like fates really hung in the balance. But as I was exposed to more movies, it became less a question of whether, and more a sense of “I’m looking forward to seeing what they do to win this one.” Good movies entertained me with the climax. Bad movies just tacked on a resolution.
But with the incinerator scene, for the first time in almost two decades, Pixar sold me on it. The movie drew me into its reality so fully that I simply could not believe the heroes would get out alive. And when rescue did come, it felt so incredibly genuine that I couldn’t help but cry from relief.
I just watched this movie and I went in expecting to cry- I first started tearing up when they mentioned a few toys that had been given away.
I liked all the throwbacks they had to the first movie, but they did start to get a little stale once you reached the end.
But the ending! If I had been with a large group of like-minded people, I would have bawled my eyes out. As it was, I just had a few tears streaming down my face and let other people get out of the theater.
Also, who didn’t love the Spanish version of You’ve Got a Friend in Me?