Spring Disney

 

You never know when a Disney character could spring into a conversation. I have no clue how a spring Pluto feels, but probably happy? Pluto is a pretty happy character. As long as chipmunks aren't hiding in the Christmas tree.

Explanation: Daisy, Donald, and Pluto are all classic Disney characters. 

Text:
M: That was refreshing.
L: Are you feeling like a spring daisy? Or a spring Donald?
M: More like a spring Pluto.

Horsey Video

 

More parental translating, like the last comic. It has become part of Ori's bedtime to watch "the horsey video!" which honestly is rather calming and peaceful and he's learning Greek mythology so that's something ("the rainbow lady is Iris!"). This section has centaurs and unicorns and pegasi as well as other mythological figures, but my kiddo has focused on the horse-like ones.
Fantasia made in on our list of low-peril movies (both the 1940's version and the 2000 version) with only minor edits, mainly we skipped the demon part at the end of the original because wow that gets intense. We also skipped the soundtrack personification part because my kids totally lost interest. I don't believe we skipped anything in the 2000 version. I should share a list of all the low-peril movies/shows we've found that are not terribly dull. It's a fine line - not intense but also something needs to happen. 

Text:
O: Watch the horsey video!
L: Pastoral Suite Part 5 from Fantasia, coming right up.

Silly Donkey Song

 

Happy early Birthday to my niece! I am blessed with many nieces and nephews, and tomorrow concludes this one's first trip around the sun. 

Oh, the many translations/connections you make when you're a parent. We went to the Disney On Ice Encanto/Frozen show earlier this year, and for the song "Surface Pressure" Luisa sang/skated about with a crew of backup dancers/skaters who were dressed as donkeys. My kids thought it was hilarious. They giggle every time the song plays because they're thinking of the ridiculous donkey skaters ("they should be on all fours, like Sven, not on two legs!") ((Sven was played by two skaters in a shared reindeer costume whereas the donkeys were all individual skaters)). I'm pretty sure most people don't think of "Surface Pressure" as a silly donkey song. 

Side-note, did you know that Luisa is the middle child??? I totally thought she was the oldest. Isabella (must be said with all the disgust Mirabel can muster) is the oldest, while Mirabel is clearly the youngest. You learn something new every time you google a random thing to spell-check your comics. (I couldn't remember if her name was Louisa or Luisa). 

Text:
R&O: Silly Donkey Song!!!
L: Uhhhh *remembers Disney on Ice Encanto* right, "Surface Pressure." 

Dropping Like Hotcakes

 

We have been to two ice skating shows recently (Disney on Ice then Stars on Ice) and for both performances I packed a large interior pocket full of glowsticks. I highly recommend doing this if you take kids to an ice show, as the stands are kinda dark and kids are often not ok with that. But definitely bring extras because kids will drop them and they will roll down the stands and yeah they be gone. 

Explanation: "dropping like flies" and "selling like hotcakes" are two different phrases that can be combined to "dropping like hotcakes", meaning something that is highly desired is quickly depleting. 

Text:
M: Wow, the kids still have glowstick bracelets after the performance!
L: Yeah, they were dropping like hotcakes but I brought twice as many as we needed and we have no extras now.

Magic Bagel

 

It's not the magician's fault if you word it so specifically and a pun lines up perfectly. 

Explanation: Seagulls live at the sea (allegedly) so clearly a gull for the bay is a baygull, or rather bagel. 

Text:
A: I love seagulls and want to be one but I don't want to move to the sea so can you make me a gull for the local body of water?
M: the BAY?!?!!! :) :) :)

Advanced Magic

 

Yep, that's the sorcerer's apprentice from Fantasia there (as a person, not a mouse). Where is the iconic hat? Well, that belongs to the sorcerer, and he'll be in the next comic (if I schedule these correctly...). Also, a throwback to a comic from 2012 wow. That's an oldie. Pretty close to when I started drawing these comics. 

Explanation: The king's request (which he thinks he's giving to the chef) is clearly to be given a fresh cup of coffee, but it's worded in a way that could be a request to be turned into a cup of coffee. Thankfully, the magician's apprentice is not skilled enough to transmute a person into an object. That seems complicated. 

Text:
K: Make me a cup of coffee.
A: That is advanced and I'm only the apprentice. 
K: ... you're not the chef.

Ariel Hunters

 

I thought this up while watching a nature documentary but I forget which one. For a while we were watching them with my toddler because she liked watching them with us and they're pretty calm and interesting so wins all around. The episode about the birds of prey was narrated by Anthony Mackie who plays the character Falcon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I thought that was humorously fitting since falcons are birds of prey. 

Explanation: Birds of prey (like hawks) can be called aerial hunters because they hunt from the air. The Little Mermaid's name is Ariel, which sounds like aerial. 

Text:
M: Look at those aerial hunters!
L: How do you know that those hawks are going after The Little Mermaid? 

Too Late for a Miracle

 

This is the only Disney movie my little one has seen, and she has seen it twice (once with each side of the family). I wrote this a while ago but realized I need to post it before everyone forgets about Encanto, which might happen when the next major kid movie drops. I like the estimated restocking time. 

Text:
M: 𝆕𝆕 Am I too late for a miracle? 𝆕𝆕
S: Yep, we just sold out. We should be restocked in five to seven business years.

Gaston in Valheim

So the game Mark is playing is Valheim and it's on his computer, not the Switch, but it was easier to draw him using the Switch rather than seated at a computer. It's a survival game so you have to build a house and boat, and hunt and gather food, and fight off the dwarves and trolls. When you hunt the deer, you can gather a hunting trophy from them sometimes which is their ANTLERS which I believe you can use in all of your decorating. There are birds in the game from which you can gather feathers - not sure if you can gather eggs which would allow you to make a proper breakfast every morning to help you get laaaaaaarge. Until you're roughly the size of a barge. Now that I look up the lyrics, I see the verse about hunting was just in the live-action version, not the animated original Disney version. Here's the live-action lyrics - they actually are a bit different but still carry the original theme strongly. 

And now I have that song stuck solidly in my head, but maybe you do too. 

Text:
M: *playing game which has deer hunting*
L: You should carefully aim for the liver. Then shoot from behind.
M: Is that fair?
L: I don't care.

Plague Doctor

 In the live-action Beauty and the Beast that came out a few years ago, there is a flash-back to Belle's childhood which was apparently during The Plague because there's a plague doctor shown. My niece had a misconception about this character but I didn't correct her. On a similar note, I've seen plenty of crochet patterns for making little plague doctors - I have not made one because that's just creepy. But it would be a good memento of 2020. Or rather, 2020 and beyond since we're well into 2021 currently. 

Text:
E: I know about the Plague - that's the name of the doctor in Beauty and the Beast, with the bird beak mask.
L: Sure, we'll go with that. 

SCALE

 

The characters are Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (not to be confused with Dominick the Donkey, who has average-sized ears), Jumbo Jr. (Dumbo), and Pascal.  Wow, how many hyperlinks can I include? The pun in there which I'm quite proud of is that the group's name has the initials 'SCALE' and is for cartoons with abnormally large ears, and Pascal has scales but no ears (since he's a chameleon). Will I make a follow-up about the group Pascal is headed to? No promises since I haven't thought up a proper pun for it yet. 

Text:
Banner: Society of Cartoons with Abnormally Large Ears
Nestor: Sorry Pascal - you're in the wrong group.

Lumiere

Happy Birthday to my grandma! I have many happy memories of staying the weekend at her house, watching movies and doing crafts and attending Awana at her church (my church didn't have that program) and coloring pictures through choir practice while she played the piano. I'm very grateful for the early exposure to arts and music that I got through my family! Having hobbies is great, especially when there are limits on where you can go and what you can do - I have yarn to crochet and pictures to paint and a violin to play (I should do that last one, I haven't in a while - the weather is nice so I can play with windows open and share with the neighbors).

In the song that the castle inhabitants sing to Belle, Lumiere sings "Be our guest, be our guest, put our service to the test", and this comic is imagining someone actually doing that. 

Text:
Lumiere (candlestick from Disney's Beauty and the Beast) : Dude, you are putting my service to the test.

Quarantine Comic

Obligatory quarantine comic. Seems like everyone is doing them. Well, I usually get my comic inspiration from those around me, and well it's just my husband and I at home. There is some virtual interaction with coworkers and church members, but it's just not the same. I hope everyone is staying healthy, washing their hands, physically distancing from others, and eating healthy. We have been doing so much cleaning in our house. Probably because the options are 1. walk around the neighborhood, 2. bum around the house. On the bright side, I have finished all the squares for my dinosaur blanket and now it's time to start sewing them together (my least favorite part) then I'll just need to stitch a border and it'll be done! It's taken a while. It should be king sized but who knows.

Text:
Seagulls shouting STAY INDOORS a boatload of times.

Man or Mouse Jessie

I can hear this in her voice. I debated who to use in this comic - originally it was going to be Rex but then since he is male he could be considered a man, though he is a dinosaur. Then I thought Bo Peep but yeah she's a little more intricate to draw. Jessie is nicely recognizable by her hat and braid. I thought about more fully drawing the character but (a) over-detailed and (b) difficult.
Is Hamm levitating? No, he is just further in the background. That's my story and I'm sticking too it.
Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTERRRR! Have a wonderful day wherever your RV takes you.

Text:
J: Am I a man or a mouse?!
H: You are neither.

Spineless Slinky

Well, he's right, a slinky does not really count as a spine as that needs to be more firm. Does that make Slinky Dog an invertebrate? Possibly. Did it take me a bunch of tries to get Slinky Dog getting remotely close to his big screen inspiration? Yes, yes it did. Also I tried drawing from memory and wow I watched Toy Story quite a while ago and I was rather wrong. Ended up getting a picture off a Google search and that turned out much better.

Text:
SD: Do you think I'm some spineless -
H: Yes.

Spork Dork

I'm doing that dangerous thing where I post using characters from a movie I have not seen. Yep, I have not seen Toy Story 4. I haven't seen several of the recent Disney sequels. The first are usually good, why keep going? Anyways, my work comes up with internal names for things (as previous companies I've worked with also did) and the name Dorky Sporky was introduced and then this comic happened. But not just this comic, this week of comics! It's all about Toy Story this week.

Text:
S: I am a Spork, not a dork!
H: You are both.

Remember Me

Not gonna lie, this song goes through my head nearly every time I pull up a login screen at work and hope that my login is saved and I won't have to recall whatever I set that login as. At work there are just so many things to have logins for, it makes sense to use some sort of software like LastPass (not a sponsor) to keep them all straight.
Also, I liked the movie Coco. I thought the animation style was great and colorful and the story line actually had a twist that wasn't obvious a mile away! Also taught me about the Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) Mexican holiday, which was something I knew little to nothing about.

Text:
* Trying to login to server *
* don't remember password *
* isn't auto-filling *
M: Remember me

Dream Mash Up

Happy New Year!
Nothing says holidays like watching kid movies with the nieces and nephews :) Tangled and Horton Hears a Who are great movies. Maybe shouldn't be combined.
I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year's and are ready to face the 2020 word with perfect eye sight (that's what happens this year, right? We all get 2020 vision?)

Text:
Rapunzel: *singing* I have a dream, I have a dream!
Katie: Where everyone eats rainbows and poops butterflies.
Flynn: ... Your dream is unique and I hope it never happens.

Thankful For Dinosaur Proof

Happy Thanksgiving! For what are you thankful? I'm thankful for my family (and also dinosaurs).
If you are not familiar with the villainous Royal Adviser Yzma, please go watch the masterpiece "The Emperor's New Groove" - it is infinitely quotable ("I've been turned into a cow, can I go home?" "You're excused.") and I like the art style. This is indeed an adapted quote from the movie when Emperor Kuzco introduces the viewers to his adviser.
I'm also considering adding a black border around my comics to show where they end and the page background begins. The thought is percolating. Who knows what will come of it.

Text:
I'm thankful for proof that dinosaurs once roamed the Earth.

Roughly the Size of a Barge

I'm not sure why one would describe their ideal man like that, but whatever floats your boat :) :) :)
I had a weird dream this one time in college and it was all about barges and the day before my roommate had been playing Disney music loudly in our dorm room.

Text:
Belle: How would you describe your ideal husband?
Claudette: Roughly the size of a barge.
Belle: ... oh.