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Calvin is a Fictional Character in the Comic Strip Calvin And Hobbes . He is one of the primary characters of the strip, along with Hobbes . HISTORY Calvin first appeared in the first strip of the comic and in the very first panel. The first dialogue in the strip which was also from Calvin was, "So long, pop. I'm off to check my Tiger trap". Calvin appeared in almost every strip that was printed and published. At first, he was an imaginative, hyper, and creative boy in the strip with lots of possiblities. He often was seen with Hobbes, his own "stuffed" tiger. He was seen causing trouble in school, misbehaving at home, annoying his next door neighbor, Susie Derkins , and spending his own time alone with Hobbes. He had no real friends, and had a difficult time in school, including his Teacher Miss Wormwood , failing many quizzes and tests, and struggling with Homework . But in the later strips, he was seen as an irritating, misbehaving, rude boy. But he also had a good side of him. He appeared in the last strip in December 31 , 1995 with only Hobbes going out to take a sled ride. In the very last panel, the last dialogue of the strip was, "It's a magical world, Hobbes, old buddy... Let's go exploring!".1 APPEARANCES One of Calvin's typical appearances was when he was wearing black pants and a striped red shirt which was similar to a Peanuts character Linus Van Pelt , who also wore a striped red shirt. Depending on the season, and Weather , he was also seen wearing his winter clothes, and his raincoat. Calvin would occasionally change into his Stupendous Man form by jumping inside the closet and changing, putting on his Stupendous Man hood and cape. He is small and short compared to the size as adults. At times, he would pretend or imitate other things like an Elephant , Dinosaur , Owl , tiger, an insect, a Computer , or Godzilla . His alter-egos are Stupendous Man, Spaceman Spiff , and Tracer Bullet . His appearances are also changed from his own invention, a Transmogrifier : a special device that can change the shape of a person or thing. But the effect seems to be only visible to Calvin and Hobbes. CALVIN'S ALTER-EGOS Calvin's hyperactive imagination leads him to imagine himself as other characters with different powers and goals; he sometimes vanishes into a fantasy to escape a difficult situation (like a school quiz). It is important to note that Hobbes is not seen taking part in the fantasies involving Calvin's Alter-egos , other than criticizing his choice of alternate personae. Upon several occasions, Calvin has appeared as either a larger or a smaller version of himself, wreaking havoc like Godzilla or crawling across a book page as "Calvin, the human insect". More frequently, however, his imagination transforms him into a being of a different kind. Stupendous Man Stupendous Man is a ), Babysitter Girl ( Rosalyn ), Annoying Girl (Susie), and Crab Teacher (Miss Wormwood). Despite his frequent use of various "stupendous powers," Stupendous Man has admittedly only won Moral Victories . Stupendous Man has displayed several "powers" throughout his existence:
The name "Stupendous Man" also serves as an acroynm to Calvin, although the acronym is never explained further to the readers than:
Although various elements of the Stupendous Man mythos are obvious tributes to pre-existing superheroes, this is clearly borrowed from Captain Marvel , whose powers come from the wizard Shazam (each letter of Shazam stands for a mythological character whose trait has been passed on to his champion). Occasionally Watterson seemed to use Stupendous Man to parody popular super-hero comics with his use of inhuman powers for useless plans, like rotating the Earth around to give Calvin another day off school. In another strip Calvin is seen reading a super hero comic and praising its greatness to Hobbes, who seems unimpressed by it, asking for example if Amazon Woman's super power is the ability "to fit into a suit like that". Spaceman Spiff Spiff, "intergalactic explorer extraordinaire", travels through space in a red Flying Saucer with a bubble canopy. In all but one strip, the saucer is tiny, with just enough room for Spiff and apparently little else. Yet, the craft is equipped with an astounding array of weapons, detectors and propulsion devices. Spiff wears square glasses, or Goggles , whose front openings change their shape according to his emotions. The galaxy is a cruel place where Spiff is often zapped by ferocious and disgusting aliens (who, in reality, are really people such as Calvin's Parents , Miss Wormwood, etc.), stranded on a desert planet, or both. The ''Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book'' provides background on Spiff's character. Watterson first conceived an earlier version of Spiff when he was taking a high school moustache who explored space in a Dirigible with his sidekick Fargle. The newspaper syndicates all rejected this early strip, and the present Spiff was finally born as one of the many imaginary alter egos of Calvin when the Calvin and Hobbes strip took off. Early in the strip's career, the alien planets Watterson invented were, in his words, "rather generic". As his work matured, Watterson brought the Spiff saga in line with his principle that "Things are funner when they're specific, rather than generalized", basing his alien landscapes on the rock formations of southern Utah , as well as the landscapes within '' Krazy Kat .'' Gradually, the monsters also took on more detail, becoming more than blobs of slime. The vocabulary, and in particular Spiff's array of high-tech gadgetry, offered a caricature of the "science" found in many science fiction books and TV series. Watterson himself described Spaceman Spiff as a Parody of '' Flash Gordon .'' The grand " Space Opera " style of Spiff's adventures may also point to a spoof of '' Star Trek '' and '' Star Wars ''. Since all the Spiff adventures have a lone protagonist playing with reality, they are close to the early work of Philip K. Dick and that of other writers who have featured lone individuals going to the edge of their perceived world. In the final years of ''Calvin and Hobbes,'' Watterson began to show an interest in information technology, often pitting the progressive and computer-savvy Calvin against his reactionary father, who comments, "It's bad enough to have a telephone." Watterson's satire of the personal computer and its effects spilled over into the Spaceman Spiff strips. For example, in one strip, Spiff's ship was depicted as having a computerized weapon control system that was so finicky and slow that Spiff was hit by the aliens before he had a chance to use any of his weapons. Spaceman Spiff's planets Spaceman Spiff visits a number of planets with names ranging from the generic sci-fi type to the absurd, sometimes concealing puns. They include:
Tracer Bullet Bullet is a tough-guy Private Investigator styled after '' Film Noir '' and Detective Fiction Stereotype s; consequently, he wears a Trench Coat and Fedora . He resembles Calvin, though the high-contrast art style Watterson uses in the Tracer Bullet strips obscures Bullet's features. Watterson considered this style dramatic but regarded it as time-consuming, so he drew relatively few Tracer Bullet strips (''Tenth Anniversary Book''). The name Tracer Bullet is a pun on Tracer Ammunition , a type of bullet used in machine guns to let the operator see where they are hitting. Watterson first used Tracer Bullet in a story where Calvin has Hobbes cut his hair because, "the barber never cuts it the way I like." This story turned out to be one of Watterson's favorites: the sight of Calvin's haircut was one of the few times his own work made him laugh out loud. The idea that the same story introduced Tracer Bullet made Watterson lament, "Would that I could write like this more often" (''Tenth Anniversary Book''). Others
CHARACTERISTICS Calvin's main attitudes and behaviors have changed over time. He has a good side that he rarely uses, and a bad side, which he frequently uses, getting him in trouble. He is very curious at times, and is mostly mischievous. He is very rude and likes to test peoples limits. But he has a tremendous imagination and it keeps him from getting lonely. His favorite animals are dinosaurs and tigers. He has a very hard time at school, in his work habits and cooperation, so rarely does he gets good grades, or positive feedback. He also lets Hobbes to do his own homework while he reads Comics , watches TV , or goes outside to play. At one time, Calvin created a duplicator which was viewed as an ordinary cardboard box. He then duplicated himself but later he realized his duplicates had the same behavior as him. In the later strips, he added an ethicator to make his duplicates behave. The options were either good or evil. Calvin's "good" duplicate, however, began to flirt around Susie Derkins, a girl which he mainly hates. Later, the duplicate evaporated when he was about to engage the real Calvin in a fight, and was dismissed by Hobbes as "another casualty of applied metaphysics" Calvin's Social Relationships His social relationships at home, in the public, with other children, and at school are not so stable. He has hard times socializing and has almost no friends. The only true friend he has is Hobbes. He hates to get along with other students, and he is frequently bullied by Moe, another classmate in Calvin's school. He also annoys his own babysitter, Rosalyn which often gets him in trouble by herself and Calvin's parents. He once planned to bring his Stupendous Man costume to school for his test, but was caught by Miss Wormwood. G.R.O.S.S. One of Calvin's created an anti-girl club known as G.R.O.S.S., an acronym for Get '''R'''id '''O'''f '''S'''limy Girl'''S'''. The clubs only members are Dictator-for-Life Calvin and President and First Tiger Hobbes. The club was mainly used to bug and bother girls in his neighborhood; its main target was usually on Susie Derkins. He would throw water balloons, snow balls, acorns, and crab apples at her. He once stole Susie's doll and asked for a ransom of $100 , but ultimately ended up having to ransom back Hobbes(this and other events later prompt Calvin to observe that Hobbes tends to be often captured by girls). Their missions usually end in failure followed by noble speeches, promotions and awards for both Calvin and Hobbes. Often Calvin and Hobbes fight and split the club over essentially procedural matters. They argue and degrade each other's rank during their fights, but afterward, they end in a truce and re-organize their club. At times, Hobbes considers asking Susie to join, much to Calvin's displeasure. CALVINBALL At times, mainly during the weekends, Calvin and Hobbes would go out and play Calvinball . According to Calvin, There are no rules and the only permanent rule is that you cannot play the same game twice. Participating people must wear Calvinball masks, which cannot be questioned, and you can make up the game as you go along, changing the rules as one pleases. The only participants were generally Calvin and Hobbes. In her last appearance, Rosalyn also participated in a brief game of Calvinball. It was on that occaision and on that occaision only that Rosalyn and Calvin agreed on anything; in every other appearance, Rosalyn did her best to scare Calvin into quietude, while he did his best to tease her. In the game of Calvinball, Rosalyn "picked up the nuances of this game fast", and soon wins outright. CARDBOARD BOXES During the strips run, Calvin was known to turn a cardboard box into various imaginary machines such as a time machine, a transmogifier and a duplicator. The box's function was determined based on what side it was on and what was written on the side of the box. Transmogrifier Calvin's first cardboard invention was his transmogrifier, which was the cardboard box when it had its bottom facing downwards. which was able to change any object or anybody into another object or another living creature. Calvin's first use was to try to bribe Hobbes into the machine by persuading him that he could become whatever he wants to be. After rejecting many times, Calvin was going to then transmogrify himself into a tiger. Although the transmogifier was a success, only Calvin and Hobbes were able to view the effects, while Calvin's mother was unable to see that Calvin was a tiger. Calvin then became disappointed with being a tiger and then changed himself into a boy again. Calvin then used his transmogifier many times. For example, he got bored for doing spelling homework, so he changed himself into an elephant and played with Hobbes all afternoon. However, he was caught off-guard when at dinner, Calvin's dad asked what words Calvin had memorized. Duplicator When the box was on its side, the it became a duplicator, which Calvin used to make multiple copies of himself. Calvin initially intended to use the duplicates to do his chores and homework. However, when Calvin's duplicates turned out to be as ill-behaved and uncooperative as Calvin, he was forced to transmogrify the duplicates into worms. Ethicator After his experiences with the duplicator, Calvin added a dial to the duplicator which allowed him to filter out one side of a duplicated individual's personality. Calvin used the device to make a good version of himself. However, after the good version's repeated overtures to Susie were rejected, the good Calvin got into a fight with Calvin and, after having an evil thought, evaporated, "another casualty of applied metaphysics." Time Machine When the box is face up, it becomes a time machine. Calvin has used the machine to go back in time to visit dinosaurs on multiple occasions. As with his other inventions, Calvin has attempted to use the device to get out of work and chores. On one occasion, Calvin had to write a short story due the next day. Calvin attempted to go into the future to pick up an already completed version from the future Calvin. Upon discovering that the future Calvin did not have the essay (because he had gone into the future also and come up empty handed) both the future and the past Calvin attempted to go to an intermediate Calvin and force him to do the assignment. Luckily for Calvin, during all these machinations, the various Hobbeses decided to write the assignment themselves. Ironically, they wrote about Calvin's attempts to get out of his assignment using the time machine. Calvin was unaware of this fact until he went to read the story outloud the next day in class. The assignment turned out to be one of the few in which Calvin ever received a good grade. TRIVIA
SEE ALSO REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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