September 2018 Wallpaper: Toybox
Shaenon: I don’t work in bright, primary colors enough. This palette was taken from vintage toy packaging, but it also reminds me of OshKosh outfits my mom dressed me in back in the ’70s.
As always, if you make a donation in any amount to the Skin Horse Tip Jar, or contribute any amount to our Patreon, we’ll give you a link to this wallpaper. Patreon contributors will continue to receive new wallpaper for the length of their contribution.
You’ll also get this bonus wallpaper from the archives, featuring the giant cast illustration I did when I got back from my maternity leave:
Channing: For a second there, I thought “Wouldn’t it be cool if this were the final panel of the comic, and all these stories have just been a small child playing with toys all along?” And then I thought “That would be a pretty friggin’ weird kid if so.”
Channing: Isn’t that the finale for “St. Elsewhere?”
My thoughts exactly.
That, or that old Twilight Zone, Five Characters in Search of an Exit. One of my favorite episodes.
U.N.I.T.Y. here remind me of those really old reversible dolls with the dresses. Never remove the dress or everything becomes a bit….human centipedy.
Hmmm, this drawing reminds me of a conglomeration of the front and back cover by Dick Martin of Eloise Jarvis McGraw’s “The Forbidden Fountain of Oz” published in 1980 by The International Wizard of Oz Fan Club. But …. um… obviously not.
Barbie-Tip needs something to make him a bit more gender-ambiguous. Not quite sure what though. GI Joe biceps?
I think the lack of Barbie’s … um … most prominent characteristics … makes the point somewhat.
I was thinking the same thing.
I love Raggedy-Ann Unity hugging Beanie Babie Sweetheart! And Barbie Tip is so much cooler than my original.
Channing: Yeah, the only saving grace of the “It was just a kid playing with toys all along” ending would be the fact that it would mean the kid her- or himself was pretty weird. I’m not cheering for an ending like that, but you and Shaenon could probably get away with it in Skin Horse for exactly that reason.
Otherwise it would be little different from the “It was only a dream” trope that only Newhart was able to handle in a way that didn’t earn my undying contempt. {makes “I’m looking at you” gesture at writers of last episode of The Brittas Empire}
(TUNE: “Bad Boys”, Inner Circle)
Old toys, old toys,
Where will they be stored?
Where will they be stored when the kids get bored?
Old toys, old toys,
Are they put away?
Are they put away when the kids don’t play?
You got a toy ro-bot,
You got a boy who’s hot,
A puppy dog that snaps,
And a dolly made of scraps!
They wanna all be real,
To talk and think and feel!
The wisest one, of course,
Is the ancient Skin Horse!
Old toys, old toys … (etc.)
Old toys, old toys,
Make an impression with bold toys.
Mechanical windup and high-heeled shoes,
Ready and able to pay their dues.
Unity sewed out in calico,
Arm placed around her Beanie beau,
And Barbie (or Ken) saying, “No way, no!”
When they were dolls.
The representation of these characters as toys upthread makes more sense than my immediate reaction, which was: does this make Tip Dorothy?
In terms of the Oz analogues, it was made fairly explicit a few weeks ago that there may be more than one correspondence. Unity counting for both Patchwork Girl and Scarecrow, for example. I have no problem with Tip being both Ozma and Dorothy.
I want a rag doll Unity!