Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes)

Calvin is a fictional character in the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson. He is one of the strip's primary characters, along with Hobbes. Calvin is most remembered for his "dastardly plots" (most of the time against girls) his humor and his extended vocabulary. Calvin first appeared in the first strip of the comic and in the very first panel, as well as the last panel of the last strip. The first dialogue in the strip was Calvin's line, "So long, Pop. I'm off to check my tiger trap". His last line of dialogue was also the strip's final line: "It's a magical world, Hobbes... Let's go exploring!" Calvin appeared in almost every strip that was printed and published.

Personality

Named after 16th Century theologian John Calvin, (founder of Calvinism and a strong believer in predestination), Calvin is an impulsive, insubordinate, imaginative, energetic, curious, and somewhat intelligent six-year-old, and is often very selfish. Calvin's last name was never given by Watterson. Though Calvin is usually shown as caring only about himself, he has appeared otherwise on occasion to have a deep care for animals, such as the time he found an injured baby raccoon. He got his parents to try to help it, and then threw a tantrum when it died. He also mourns the loss of a bird that died when it hit a window. Although he once rambled about birds not being able to write memoirs, many strips have him commenting on the pettiness of humans and shows him envying animals.

Despite his low grades, Calvin has a wide vocabulary range (with the irony making it funnier) that rivals that of an adult as well as an emerging philosophical mind, as seen in this anecdote:

Calvin: "Dad, are you vicariously living through me in the hope that my accomplishments will validate your mediocre life and in some way compensate for all of the opportunities you botched?"

Calvin's father: "If I were, you can bet I'd be re-evaluating my strategy."

Calvin (later, to his mother): "Mom, Dad keeps insulting me."

He has also said, "You know how Einstein got bad grades as a kid? Well, mine are even worse!" In school, he typically does almost no work; for a project on bats, he writes a brief poem that describes bats as "unspeakable giant bugs", and for his "scientific illustration", he "traced the Batman logo and added fangs".

Or on another occasion when he has to write a report on the mythology of Mercury (with Susie), he writes a short statement (5 minutes before it's due) about how Mercury was the god of flowers and gardens and is the reason for being the registered trademark of FTD Florists, and concludes with 'Why they named a planet after this guy, I can't imagine' (thus infuriating Susie and failing him).

He appears to have some disdain for learning, as he once brags that he was successfully able to resist being taught anything. However, when he is once reluctant to go to the library to learn about snakes, he then realizes that learning is fun if it is not enforced. His difficulties in school may thus stem from the style of teaching, which may be why he imagines it as a prison or similar facility, and fantasizes about destroying it or fighting his teacher, Miss Wormwood.

Miss Wormwood also notes that if he put half as much energy into his work as he did into his protests, he might do well. He also tries many inventive ways to avoid his schoolwork. For example, in one test he answers "I cannot answer this question for it is against my religious principles", or answering "I don't know" for every question in his homework once. He never tries to get any real help and almost always turns to Hobbes. Despite his need for help, Hobbes does not really help at all (sometimes he makes Calvin get an even lower grade).

To him, Hobbes seems very intelligent, since Calvin does not realize his (Hobbes) errors. For example, on many occasions he does Calvin's simple math problems in a ridiculously advanced way (like thinking the "numerator" is Latin for "number eighter", when he only has to add 3 to 8) thus always resulting in the wrong answer, or wrote Atlanta, Georgia for the answer of one math problem. Another occasion highlights his problem with math: Once Calvin made a bet with Susie Derkins that the person who gets a low grade on their math test will have to pay the person who got the higher one 25 cents. As usual, Calvin fails miserably, and now has to pay Susie. He does, and later when he is with Hobbes, he reveals that he cheated her, giving her three dimes instead (not knowing that instead of cheating her, he gave her 5 cents extra), much to the amusement of Hobbes.

He commonly wears his distinctive red-and-black striped shirt, black jeans, and magenta sneakers. Watterson has described Calvin thus:

• "Calvin is pretty easy to do because he is outgoing and rambunctious and there's not much of a filter between his brain and his mouth."
• "I guess he's a little too intelligent for his age. The thing that I really enjoy about him is that he has no sense of restraint, he doesn't have the experience yet to know the things that you shouldn't do."
• "The socialization that we all go through to become adults teaches you not to say certain things because you later suffer the consequences. Calvin doesn't know that rule of thumb yet."

The subject of Calvin's grades was addressed in another strip, where Calvin's father points out that he loves to learn, and "has read just about every dinosaur book ever written". He then asks, "So why aren't you doing better in school?" to which Calvin replies, "We don't read about dinosaurs".

Calvin certainly doesn't hesitate to speak his mind. In one of his various silly money-making schemes, Calvin is shown standing behind a box with “SCIENTIFIC NAMES: $1.00” written on it:

Hobbes: "Scientific names?"

Calvin: "Sure. Scientists think up all these cool, wacky theories, but then give them dull, unimaginative names. For instance, scientists think space is full of mysterious, invisible mass, so, what do they call it??? Dark matter! DUUHHHHHH!!! I tell you, there’s a fortune to be made here!"

Hobbes: "I like to say ‘Quark!’ Quark, quark, quark, quark!"

Calvin: "Instead of making a fool of yourself, how about going and finding me some scientists?"

Calvinistic predestination as a philosophical position basically entails the idea that the human action affecting a person's ultimate salvation or damnation is predestined beforehand. Calvin's consistent gripe is that the troublesome acts he commits are outside of his control: he is simply a product of his environment, a victim of circumstances. He does frequently escape from his environment into elaborate fantasy worlds; one of the strip's recurring devices is the humorous juxtaposition of Calvin's fantastic perception with the quotidian viewpoint of other characters. On many occasions, Calvin sees himself in an alternate guise; as the astronaut and explorer Spaceman Spiff, the superhero Stupendous Man, the private eye Tracer Bullet and many others (see Calvin's alter-egos).

In addition, Calvin has a highly developed artistic streak for his age. This is evident during the winter when Calvin indulges in constructing highly creative, if typically grotesque, snowmen and related tableaux.

Both Calvin and Hobbes seem to be fans of Batman, which is the only "real" superhero Calvin likes, although he is never seen reading any of the comics. There have been a few references in some strips, one such is when Calvin begs his mom for dinosaur merchandise at the museum gift shop, and then he uses a trick, saying that the toys are educational for him.

After his mom buys the toys, Calvin says: "I wonder if we can get any Batman junk this way!", stating that his mom probably won't buy him any Batman merchandise, which could be a reference to the critical reaction toward the film Batman Returns for its dark nature, which was believed to be inappropriate for children at the time. Another reference is when Calvin and Hobbes are talking about why superheroes won't battle more realistic, subtle supervillains in comic books, not "evil maniacs with grandiose plots to own the world".

Hobbes agrees, and thinks that superheroes could send letters to the editor and pursue civic involvement rather than crime fighting. He then shouts: "Quick, to the Bat-Fax!", which is a parody of Adam West's famous catchphrase: "Quick, to the Batmobile!" from the 1960s Batman television series. Calvin loves a cereal called "Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs" to the point of obsession. Hobbes, on the other hand, despises the cereal, describing it as "like eating a bowl of Milk Duds."

Calvin's alter-egos

Main article: Calvin's alter egos (Calvin and Hobbes)

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.

On 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. He also daydreams at school as "Spaceman Spiff". He creates different water scenarios while taking a bath. He occasionally transforms into the super hero "Stupendous Man."

Inventions

Calvin occasionally makes machines (usually made out of a box), which normally lead to disaster. Here is a list of all of his inventions:

• Transmogrifier: A box with the open part down. It has a dial on the side with various creatures labeled. It morphs the subject(s) under the box into whatever the dial is set to, usually to some sort of animal. (For example, Calvin morphs into an elephant in order to memorize his homework.) If the subject does not want to morph into an animal or object that is on the dial, he can simply write the name of a new object on the box.
• Portable Transmogrifier, a.k.a. Transmogrifier Gun: A squirt gun that fires a burst of light. It transforms the target into whatever the shooter is thinking of, usually an animal of some sort. However, it often has unintended consequences; when Hobbes turns Calvin into a pterodactyl, he comes out far smaller than he thought, and is disappointed enough to shoot Hobbes with the gun, starting a shooting war that uses up the ammunition before Calvin can revert to a human (but he somehow turns back on his own; Calvin presumes the effects simply "wore off."). On another occasion, while free-falling after his balloon popped high up in the atmosphere, Calvin shoots himself with the gun with the idea of making himself "safe", and transforms into a safe. Then he transforms into a light particle.
• Duplicator: A box that is sideways with a button on it. It can clone whoever is inside it; Calvin cloned himself in an attempt to get his chores done. However, the clone rebelled, running off to play before creating four additional clones, all of whom got Calvin into trouble and left him to take the blame. Calvin eventually turned the clones into worms while they were hiding under the Duplicator, which he turned into a Transmogrifier by writing on it with a marker. (It was later turned into a duplicator again, but he added an "ethicator" to make the clone all good or all bad. It still eventually backfired).
• Upgraded Duplicator, with Ethicator: This is the original duplicator, but with an "ethicator" added (really just an arrow that points to either "Good" or "Bad"). Calvin uses this to create a "good" version of himself to perform various chores and go to school; it initially seems as though Calvin has undergone a significant personality change before Calvin reveals what is going on. The "good" version has hair that is combed flat, is extremely helpful and responsible, is quite even-tempered, and, unfortunately for Calvin, has a heavy crush on Susie Derkins. However, when Calvin discovers that the "good" Calvin loves Susie, and when the duplicate learns of Calvin's reputation (through Susie), he becomes angry, and when he threatens to rip Calvin limb from limb, he is destroyed for having an evil thought (which Calvin describes as a "built-in moral compromise spectral release phantasmatron"). Because of this, Hobbes points out how even his good side is "prone to badness".
• Time Machine: A box with the open side facing up. Calvin initially planned to take himself and Hobbes to the future in order to take back a future invention to be rich, but they were facing the wrong way and ended up in the past. On another trip, they took photographic proof, but his dad thought they were toy dinosaurs. The dinosaurs that Calvin and Hobbes saw were all from the Late Jurassic period (Diplodocus, Stegosaurus and Allosaurus). Calvin also attempted a smaller-scale time travel; he went from 6:30 to 8:30 one night to pick up an assignment, but learned from the version of himself at 8:30 that he had never done the work. While the 6:30 and 8:30 Calvins fruitlessly attempted to get the 7:30 Calvin, whom both of them blamed, to do the work, the 6:30 and 8:30 Hobbeses finished the work, writing an essay about Calvin fighting with the other 2 Calvins while time traveling.
• Box of Secrecy: In one strip, Susie had to stay at Calvin's house for a few hours. Horrified by this idea, Calvin called an emergency meeting of G.R.O.S.S. to deal with the situation, but there wasn't time to get to the regular HQ (Calvin's treehouse). As a result, he and Hobbes crawled underneath the cardboard box to hold an emergency meeting. The name "box of secrecy" is a take on the "cone of silence" from the television series Get Smart.
• Cerebral Enhance-o-Tron: A colander that is worn on one's head, attached by three strings (input, output, and ground) to a cardboard box. Calvin uses this to make himself super-intelligent so that he can think of a topic for a "persuasive argument"-style paper he has to do for homework. As a side-effect of its use, his head becomes much larger (apparently "[his] brain swelled"). Both the swelling and the super-intelligence are temporary.

The Noodle Incident

A running gag that was introduced slightly later on during the comic is the Noodle Incident. Whenever a character, usually Hobbes, mentions it to Calvin, he immediately gets very defensive about it. We never see the Noodle Incident itself, nor do any of the characters ever explain what events occurred. Watterson mentioned he kept it this way to leave it to the reader's imagination. These are the only facts we know about the Noodle Incident:

• It happened a little before November 1990.
• Miss Wormwood knows of it, which suggests that the Incident took place at school.
• Calvin never told his parents about the incident. Once, when Calvin's mother returned home from meeting Calvin's teacher, Calvin immediately asked if she had been told about the noodles.
• It was a while ago, and therefore, must have been a very serious incident for it to still be remembered now.
• To try and prove innocence, Calvin apparently thought of a cover story, the creativity of which impressed Hobbes. Calvin, however, even now claims that it was the "unvarnished truth". Like the incident itself, we are never told exactly what Calvin's excuse was.
• It is not exactly stated one way or the other, but it seems to be implied that Calvin was caught, therefore his cover story was not believed.
• According to Calvin, although apparently caught, no one can prove he did it. However, considering Calvin may just be defensive about it makes such a statement questionable.
• The fact that Hobbes repeatedly brings it up (as did Santa Claus in Calvin's imagination once), seems to imply the memory still haunts Calvin to this day.
• Although it is not certain, it is believed that the Noodle Incident had to do with an occasion when Calvin was sent home early. "Did it have something to do with those sirens around noon?" Hobbes asks. Calvin immediately gets defensive and says he does not want to talk about it. The strip that those quotes are in is directly preceded by one in which Calvin states he will "go for the gusto" at school.
• Calvin claims the incident was a result of "temporary insanity" at one point.
• This may have happened when Calvin brought noodles to school for his report on the brain.
• Calvin claims he was framed, suggesting a number of possible things
• A "Salamander Incident" is also mentioned once.

Grades

Calvin also explains his poor grades to Susie Derkins, when Miss Wormwood gives everyone their test back:

Calvin: What grade did you get ?

Susie: I got an A.

Calvin: Really? Boy, I'd hate to be you. I got a C.

Susie: Why on Earth would you rather get a C than an A?

Calvin: I find my life is a lot easier the lower I keep everyone's expectations.

It should also be noted that he received an 'A' on one of his tests, as the panels panned to a grand-scale image of a parade thrown in Calvin's honor. Much to his dismay, Miss Wormwood immediately returned to the lesson plan, completely disregarding the anomaly. Also, Calvin got an A+ on the assignment that Hobbes from one point in time, and the same Hobbes from two hours later in time, completed for him.

Christmas

Every year at the beginning of December Calvin forces himself to start being good. He seems to be convinced that no matter how bad he has been the other eleven months of the year, as long as he is good right before Christmas Santa will bring him presents. Every Christmas season Calvin endures major internal struggles as to whether the presents are worth being good. One quote from a series of Christmas stories really exemplifies this struggle: "Throwing these snowballs will give me instant and assured gratification, while being good will give me delayed and unassured gratification."

Bumper Stickers

A likeness of Calvin appears on a set of decals with an arrow to signify urination. It usually indicates a concept the individual has extreme dislike over, such as racecar drivers or terrorists. The image of Calvin is here used in reference to his mischievousness. This constitutes one of the many copyright violations the strip has generated.

External links

• Official Calvin and Hobbes Publicity site at Andrews McMeel Publishing