Skeletal systems of cartoon characters

December 5, 2004 8:42 PM

Skeletal systems of cartoon characters

(All hail Waxy.org)
posted by 40 Watt (37 comments total)

Wow, incredibly creepy and grotesque. Great link.
posted by deafmute at 8:47 PM on December 5, 2004

ok fiiiiine, ill have to go and bookmark this waxy.org. sigh.
posted by GleepGlop at 8:49 PM on December 5, 2004

Holy crap, that Buttercup skeleton is nightmare material!

I am getting no sleep tonight.
posted by sourwookie at 8:49 PM on December 5, 2004

He missed a golden opportunity by not calling these skeletoons.
posted by hughbot at 8:51 PM on December 5, 2004

This reminds me of the Calvin and Hobbes strip that has Calvin as a walking skeleton. Watterson mentioned that Calvin's proportions make for a bizarre skeleton.

I love Buttercup's teeth.
posted by painquale at 8:55 PM on December 5, 2004

This is very, very good. And Shmoo to boot!
posted by Ufez Jones at 8:58 PM on December 5, 2004

oh yeah, this reminds me of dave cooper's drawing of the skeleton of one of the characters in dan and larry. i dont remember which one it was... it was either dan or larry.
posted by GleepGlop at 9:02 PM on December 5, 2004

Words cannot begin to describe how awesome and creepy this is. The vestigial arms of the Shmoo are particularly disturbing.

(painquale, that was the first thing I thought of when I saw the page.)
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:03 PM on December 5, 2004

[This is brilliant.]
posted by interrobang at 9:10 PM on December 5, 2004

MAD Magazine did this many years ago, using characters that were popular back then. Charlie Brown, Steve Canyon, Popeye, Nancy & Sluggo and Barney Google were some of the memorable ones for me.

It's good to see an update with modern stuff!

Um, but I don't think the Shmoo ever had a skeleton. Otherwise he couldn't flow under doors, etc.
posted by zoogleplex at 9:20 PM on December 5, 2004

I remember Mad Magazine doing this at least 20 years ago.

And zoogleplex saying the same thing about 10 minutes ago.
posted by bryce at 9:24 PM on December 5, 2004

The Mad Magazine one gave me nightmares as this one will. I seem to remember their Popeye was kind of frightening. For this one, I think its buttercup - I never thought of the implication of those eyes which now seem monstrous.
posted by vacapinta at 9:32 PM on December 5, 2004

oh ho ho ho. i like this.
posted by dougunderscorenelso at 9:33 PM on December 5, 2004

oh this is good, iluvit!
posted by kamylyon at 9:44 PM on December 5, 2004

This is awesome! Buttercup is real horrorshow.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:49 PM on December 5, 2004

Ah, what fun - though the references are a bit modern for me; what is "Shmoo" anyway?

I don't see the "horror" aspect - the skeleton diagrams just look like late 18th century medical illustrations.
posted by Mars Saxman at 10:03 PM on December 5, 2004

Nifty, yet really damned scary.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 10:06 PM on December 5, 2004

Mars Saxman, meet The Shmoo.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 10:12 PM on December 5, 2004

/oldfilter

I can remember Shmoo stuff at my grandmother's house. We could look, but not touch! I wonder if she still has any of that stuff?
posted by kamylyon at 10:18 PM on December 5, 2004

Yeh buttercup looks so evil. If I was being really picky I would say the birds should have bird skeletons- he gave them all human bone structures...
posted by phyle at 10:52 PM on December 5, 2004

Funny how the most post-modern cartoon has by far the scariest underpinnings...
posted by kaibutsu at 11:24 PM on December 5, 2004

Excellent!
posted by rushmc at 11:29 PM on December 5, 2004

This is bizarre and creepy.

I now have new computer wallpaper. (Buttercup is, by far, my favorite.)

Thanks for the link!
posted by spinifex23 at 11:30 PM on December 5, 2004

"If I was being really picky I would say the birds should have bird skeletons- he gave them all human bone structures..." Not exactly human... unless I've missed out on recent genetic reconfigs. Look at it this way, those "birds" don't even have wings in the fleshed-out prints, they look/act like human (as much as any cartoon is human), so it follows the skels are human-iod as well n'est pas?
posted by edgeways at 11:34 PM on December 5, 2004

Glad to know my nightmares are accurate.
posted by TwelveTwo at 11:45 PM on December 5, 2004

That background on the Schmoo is... strange.
posted by euphorb at 12:47 AM on December 6, 2004

Holy crap, I think that Buttercup skeleton is going to eat my face tonight.
posted by 235w103 at 1:07 AM on December 6, 2004

[this is beyond cool]
thanks, 40 watt.

I have to join in the "buttercup chorus"; it's creepy, but totally on the mark- she needs huge sockets to accomodate those huge orbs. and the teeth! freaky.

reminds me of prosimian crania.
posted by exlotuseater at 2:51 AM on December 6, 2004

Oh, man. I burst out laughing when I read this link title, and man, it's everything I thought it would be.

Now, let's take this a step further and analyze what ailments various cartoon characters would face in old age...

Reminds me of the fantastically pendantic insultingly stupid move physics.
posted by phrontist at 6:36 AM on December 6, 2004

I wonder what Pac-Man’s skeleton would look like... pretty round, I guess. With a highly developed jaw.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 7:10 AM on December 6, 2004

I love this stuff...I've been trying to come up with a way to standardize clay puppets (short of latex foam, casting, etc.) and this just gave me a million ideas. See you guys in a month...
posted by spaghetti at 7:36 AM on December 6, 2004

I {love} this.

(What gorgeous illustrations. Hey, furries. Notice how no one is grossed out about anthro art here? Hmmm...)
posted by digifox at 8:58 AM on December 6, 2004

I saw the link this morning, didn't have time to check it out, now the site's having trouble displaying images <sigh>
posted by PurplePorpoise at 12:05 PM on December 6, 2004

"I can remember Shmoo stuff at my grandmother's house. We could look, but not touch! I wonder if she still has any of that stuff?"

If she does, kamylyon, it's probably worth a massive crapload of money. You should introduce her to eBay...
posted by zoogleplex at 12:22 PM on December 6, 2004

appears to be 404'd. bandwidth, or just gone missing? entire site returns 404.
posted by caution live frogs at 12:38 PM on December 6, 2004

The buttercup drawing just emphasizes why the powerpuff girls make such great feminist icons: there's no body to sexualize. They're all brains and fists.
posted by jpoulos at 1:28 PM on December 6, 2004

Extremely odd, yet interestingly captivating!
posted by Ark_Light at 6:28 PM on December 6, 2004