vokavoca

[vokavoca]

Birds.

[vokavoca]

Y'know... Ever since Yoyo became a part of everyone's everyday lives... most of the toys, and even people who just happened to visiting the "Fairytale workshop", would just wonder about which kind of species he is. Sure, everyone knew that he was specifically designed to be an animal plush toy, but no one was quite sure about which species he is. Funny thing about all of this is that no one, perhaps even Yoyo himself, to this day knows the REAL answer.

The first theory that anyone had came up with, after their eyes would just simply lay up on him, was that he perhaps was a dog. Why? Well... because dogs have fluffy tails of course! And not just that, but each species had unique and quite silly shaped ears. And let us not forget that like most of the mammals, they have snouts too. But most importantly, dogs are forever known to have a vital, or better described as "lively", type of energy that just never seems to run out, no matter how many times you think they've ran out of it. And if I so do say it myself, every "basic" information I had just listed just simply checked out for him, but then... further theories just suddenly came out of nowhere.

Children are known to have the best imagination ever possible, and they would come up with all kinds of the answer. Yoyo was no exception when it came to that. Lots of them would ask: „What kind of animal is Yoyo?“, and when toymaker would not have the answer, these young thinkers would just come up with one. There were so many answer that they came up with: "He is a wolf! No, he is a fox! You're all wrong, he is a hyene!" etc. etc. But when you think about it... most of those mentioned animals all had a dog shaped look, despite being related to them or not. But then, one answer started to ring out more than any other answer: "Per...perhaps he is a coyote?“

A coyote?...

Many children were bewildered by the answer, there even was a puzzled expression on toymaker's face. This "coyote" was not a familliar creature and neither was a familliar word. But it is safe to say that no one minded their answer and had decided to move on. But... after that tour, the toymaker spent quite some time while researching about animals such as coyotes, and I must say, that the association with such creature was quite interesting.

Reading and learning through the books, while also listening to some answers, I had found out that the coyotes are also a type of dog shaped creatures, and that they were some kind of mixture between foxes and wolves. Even in Native American tales, coyotes were often described to be the very tricky and in some tales to be even playing role of heroes throughout the story. The more I learnt about coyotes, the more I saw Yoyo checking all the boxes that were on the list. While reading, I had found out about coyotes being known throughout wild west era, where it was known that the cowboys dominated over the western side of America. Plus, Yoyo mentioned something once about being a cowboy once, but it was never quite confirmed if that was true or if it was his wild imagination speaking.

Although... I was not quite sure if the theory could have been proven to be correct since after wearing that red hood of his, Yoyo had refused to take it off most of the time, and I could not for the life of me remember which shape of the ears he had. Not only that, but Yoyo also did not have a tail, only stitches that served as a cover up to a nasty torn area of where the suppost tail was suppost to be.

Feeling disappointed with myself, I had decided to let go of that silly little theory, but did not decide to abandon it. And while the time moved on, curiosity and imagination did not end there. The toys tried ask Yoyo if he knew what specie he was, but he would always look confused and would try to think of the answer, but the toys knew that it was pointless as the young plush toy would drive then nuts. And so, they stopped trying to ask. The toymaker tried to ask Yoyo the same question as well, but as you all are aware of... he did not get his answer back. Then one day, a new set of children came to the workshop's tour.

The proceedure went the same as usual. But then the toymaker started to introduce Yoyo to them, and I am sure you all can guess which question came after that... And you can guess even better about what came after that. Toymaker tried to think of an answer and quickly blurted out: „Coyote!“ A lot of kids looked satisfied with the answer and even began to accept it, but there were a few who did not think that was the case. Once again the children used their bright minds and started to come up with new crazy ideas.

While listing all of them, there was one species particularly that had gotten toymaker's attention... dormouse. It was not the usual animal to be heard of and it differentiated from basic mouse. It didn't help at all that the mention of dormouse immediately made the toymaker think of Alice in wonderland. Once the day was over, the toymaker decided to throw himself into another research, but this time he spent time reading all about dormice.

Being caught between two different mammal species, the toymaker was going through a toughest choise. That was... until he came up with an idea. The next time someone asked which animal was Yoyo was, the toymaker proudly said that he was a coyote/dormouse hybrid. With that, most of the people... and toys, became satisfied with the answer. Barely anyone asked any questions and this "mystery" was now left behind. And even though no one knew the real answer to the actual question, many had grown well to the proposed idea, even Yoyo himself.

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One fine evening, when Yoyo and I came back from the world of Simsala Grimm, I sat next to him. We talked... and talked... and talked; because even after all adventures we went through together, we still liked to talk about it for hours on end, and sometimes we compared the stories all together.

But then, Yoyo started to laugh. I looked at him confused as he snikered like a schoolgirl. „What is it?“, I asked him curiously.

„You... You know... It's fu...funny! After all these...these years and you sti...still haven't determined what kind of animal I...I am!“ Yoyo cackled. I just looked at him confused and then it clicked, „Wait... You knew this w-whole time?! Why d-did you not say so?“

Yoyo just looked at me straight in the eyes with that big smile of his as his eyes were screaming mischief, „I like keeping you all guessing.“

And with that he turned around and quickly fell asleep right after that.

That cheeky little devil...

[vokavoca]

Sitting down on one of the shelves, Croc was having a time of his life. The toy maker bought a new book from antique shop and then accidently had left it in his workplace... again. Now what does this have to do with doctor Croc again? Well I'm glad you asked because as Croc was know to not be the kind of toy to peak his snout into someone's bussiness, especially into personal belongings, he couldn't help but notice the picture on one of the pages. It was an image of Farinelli, one of toy maker's favorite castrato singers. Croc did heard of that name before, but he never had gotten a chance to learn about such famous virtuoso such as Farinelli.

Not being able to resist himself, doctor Croc dragged the book all the way to bottom shelf where he could read it in peace. Surely the toy maker wouldn't mind him keeping the book for himself for some time, right? Feeling quite content with himself, Croc sat and leaned on a pile of books and started to read.

A few hours into reading and nothing had yet happened. The toys were doing their own thing while those three birds were most likely flying around Germany, listening to some parents telling their children tales before going to bed, or perhaps they were sleeping too. No one is quite sure about what they did in their free time.

But, of course, this peace didn't last for any much longer, because in one key moment a very soft sound of a 'thud' was heard. It sounded like a plushy fell off the shelf, with its body crashing against the wooden floor. It didn't attract Croc's attention as much since a lot of these newer toys liked being wreckless like that. A little bit of pain never hurted anyone, especially if they were made of cotton and fur. Plus, most of the toys had came around the system where fear of falling off to somewhere didn't scare them as much anymore.

Although, after his "brain" finally caught up with the moment and remembered that a blue blur had just went by the corner of his vision, Croc quickly had let go of his book, rushed down from the shelf and quickly moved over to the blue plush toy that was lying face down against wooden floor. Not wasting any second further, Croc quickly helped the plush toy get back onto his paws.

"Oh m-m-my, that was q-q-quite the fall you had there, young Yoyo...", Croc tried to joke a little, trying to make the light out of the situacion, but unfortunately, it seems like it did not work as intended because Yoyo's expression and body language spoke quite differently. The taller toy's was already showing the signs of distress and was about to cry out non-existing tears. Although, as much as none of the toys were not able to completly express themselves (which made it much more harder to recognise when someone was happy or distressed), Croc was quite glad that the "Grimm brothers" were kind enough to use their magic to make each and every one of toys' eyes and mouths more expressive... in a way, despite which materials they were made out from, so the toys could feel and appear even more "human".

Although as mentioned before and above, doctor Croc knew that the newer toys were quite wreckless and were very aware that physical pain doesn't exist just doesn't exist when it comes to their bodies, but Yoyo (as far as Croc could remember) was just a month and a half old. The younger toy did not know any better and neither did he know how his body system worked. And not just that, but this was officially his first time of getting "hurt" so of course he would be showing signs of distress like that! And, of course, he was also going to "cry", but not from the pain that doesn't exist, but from fear and shock he just felt from that moment and onward. Those feelings are quite common with human children as well because it is not often the pain that makes them cry, it is the fear and shock they felt in that same moment.

Seeing as Yoyo was about to "cry", Croc wasted no time rushing the younger toy over to the bottom shelf and make him sit down next to few books so his body could be examined properly. "Now now, young Yoyo... I need you t-t-to sit still and let me ch-check your body. The wood can sometimes be quite tricky like that. I need to make s-s-sure that there isn't any tears in your body... We wouldn't want you to lose your cotton like that, now would we?", doctor Croc looked up at the taller toy and noticed the young one shake his head. The older toy smiled gently as he started to use his title of "doctor" in a good use.

While examining Yoyo's body, Croc was quite content with the younger toy not having any torn off fabric. The only tearing he found on Yoyo's body was his right wrist area which did not even look that bad, it was just a small cut, "Ahh, just a small cut, nothing to be afraid of." Croc was speaking in a light tone, trying not to make the younger toy panic, which luckily worked. Seeing the trick quite working, Croc took off his bag and started to search for a needle and some thread.

After a minute, the older toy finally found what he needed and then took it out of the bag before he tossed it to the side. Yoyo looked at the needle and thread with a bit of curiosity and fright, but was quickly assured by Doc: "There's no n-n-need to be afraid, young Yoyo... A little bit of sewing will help you get that tiny c-c-cut healed in no time. Now, h-h-hold out your arm for me, please." Yoyo nodded as he held out his right arm, while he tried to "wipe down" his non-existing tears.

"Ahh, there there, young Yoyo... There's no need for you to cry now... It's just a small cut, nothing more, nothing dangerous. Just a few rounds with thread and you will be like new.", doctor Croc spoke with comfort in his voice, "You know... First time getting hurt will always be the worst... But sometimes pain can be a great motivator, you know... It can teach you many things and gain experience... Without pain, we would not be here where we are now." To make the younger toy feel even further relaxed, he quietly started to hum a song that one of his previous toy makers was singing to hid grandchildren whenever the end of a tale was coming up.

"Ich nehm dich bei der Hand...

Zeig dir das Märchenland...

Wo Liebe und die Freundschaft zählt...

Und keinem was fehlt..."

Once the stitches were finally settled in and Croc had given a Green light, Yoyo gave his wrist a little shake, and which to his surprise, the stitches weren't loosing up. In fact, they were still there and still holding his wrist together. Yoyo bounced onto his paws and then jumped up in happiness when he was fixed. He then, to Doc's surprise, immediately picked Crocky up and hugged him tightly, to which he earned a soft like chuckle from the older toy, "You're very welcome, young Yoyo..."

After being put  back on the ground, Croc sat down on one of the books again offered Yoyo to sit down down with him. Perhaps after this little accident, the younger toy might want to take things slowly. Taking the offer, Yoyo sat down next to Crocky and looked at the pictures on the book that was in front of him and quietly listened to Croc's small rambles. Even though Yoyo didn't understand most of the words, he enjoyed listening to his older friend's sound of the voice.

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Croc remembered and cherished that moment like it was yesterday. Who would have thought that this mischievous and tricky young plushy that he had met years ago was once a very shy toy who was very afraid of his own shadow and deeply scared of getting hurt.

Nowdays, when both of them would come back from a roughed up adventures, Croc would always offer Yoyo some "medical" assistance, but the younger and taller toy would refuse the older and shorter toy's offer.

"No way, I want to show the other toys and our birdy friends these new scars first! Imagine how cool they will think they are!" Yoyo then run off to find everyone else and show off his new look while doctor Croc stayed behind and chuckled. The older toy knew that the young one will come over to get his stitches repaired eventually after he's done being a show off.

Crocky then turned his head off to the side, noticing the "Grimm brothers" looking at the situacion with a smile. With a half laugh each of the "brother" started to speak.

"Toys these days..." Jacobs started to speak while Wilhelm continued, "They grow up so fast, don't they?..." Croc just chuckled before he started to head back to his shelf.

[vokavoca]

Y'know... as a kid, I usually watched about 3 to 5 different cartoons and would pretty much refuse to watch anything else; since most stuff that was on television would get me either irritated and annoyed, or the channels would already be too into further into a random season, or would be missing a huge chunks of episodes where you had to pray quietly for the rest of the series to get updated (not just from original studios, but also dubbing studios) etc. etc... In other words, I was a very picky child... for a good reason.

One of those few cartoons I grew up with my eyes being glued to screen was none other than Simsala Grimm. It was a pretty simple cartoon that had its own DVD boxes and was also dubbed in different languages. And in my honest opinion, the cartoon would have been very boring and disinteresting if it weren't for two idiots who keep being launched and dropped by a literal book that would then fly away without any care in the world.

And I must say that their designs were, and yet still are, very peaked. They looked simple and yet detailed at the same time. Their voices (depending from which dub it was watched from) really fit them well. It was hard to choose which out of the two was my favorite one, along with what their relationship status was (brothers, friends, besties, lovers? Didn't help much even years after that.)

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And so, without yapping further adieu, I would like to share my own personal designs of the two, along with few re-drawn memes.

Ahem,

Simsala... Simsala... SIMSALA GRIMM!!!

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First character I would like to show design of is none other than the greatest adventurer himself, Yoyo!

At first, when I started to draw him, I wanted him to look close to his show's counterpart.

But then I started to think a little and then both remembered and realised that he's a toy, a literal toy that sits on the shelf.

Because of that I just said "screw it" and started to mess around with both his design and my artstyle. And so, I've decided to draw this as a result.

And here are small notes about his design!

Yoyo is a plush toy

he was created out of cotton and fake/faux fur to get that soft touch and realistic animal look

the only area that looks different from his whole body is his tummy area, which can be seen connected by stitches

since Yoyo is a plush toy, most of the times he would be extremely hard to find, mostly because his body cannot produce a sound, maybe a small "thud" if he fell from a high place

folowing the previous note, the toy maker decided to give Yoyo a his little red hood with two bells dingling on the side; one would think that it's a mere fashion design, but in reality it is to have him be easily found

(Yoyo doesn't know and neither has noticed any of that)

Yoyo used to have a tail, but after some... accident... he became tailess; there is also a stitch there as well

since Yoyo is at time wreckless, he would have to get patched more frequently, wait hours to get dry and so on; his hood has different patches due to its fabric getting ripped a few times

To differ from Crocky even further, his mouth is completly made out stitches, his eyes are made of buttons; and his feet are more shorter and paw looking

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Next on the list is doctor Croc; scholar, philosopher and virtuoso of......

Since I went along with "toy" idea when drawing Yoyo, I thought it would be only fair if I gave Crocky the same treatment.

It was hard to come by his design since his head was hardest thing to draw, but I did come to a peace and compromise with him in the end.

And now there's description about his design!

now, I know that the show depicts him as a plush toy too, but I've decided to take a small turn; in other words, I've decided to make him a wooden/porculan type doll (with a bit of stuffing?) that has his body be covered with a plushed outfit

there are stitches almost everywhere on his outer skin

since Crocky is made from different material, his every movement can be heard, and since he can make very loud sounds, the toy maker decided to put on plushed outfit to soften his movements and make the dropping sounds less booming

knowing how old and easily damaging his body can get, Crocky is extremely grateful for his new look, and for having a protection now

first few outer skins looked really stretchy and threatned to have his inner body fall out of it at any moment, but later on the toy maker decided to fix that issue and made tight fitting skin

to differ from Yoyo even further, Crocky's mouth has a hole that leads to inner skin, his eyes are doll and realisticly like, and his feet are bigger and more flat like

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Now that their designs had been explained, there's a bit of meme drawings with these two <3

That would be all for now folks!