Calvin converts the technology from his transmogrifying cardboard box into a water pistol, and wants to use it to transform into a Pterodactyl. Hobbes messes up, leading to an argument between the two that ends with Calvin stuck as an owl.
Tropes
- Accidentally Correct Zoology: An In-Universe example. Calvin wanted to be a giant pterosaur in the vein of Pteranodon or Quetzalcoatlus, but the word he used was "Pterodactyl," so Hobbes turns him into a Pterodactylus, which was a small pterosaur. This is particularly impressive because Hobbes barely even knows what a Pterodactyl is!
- Activating Artifact Tug-of-War: Calvin and Hobbes end up having a massive argument over the use of the transmogrifier gun that ends in the two of them using it on each other: Hobbes zaps Calvin into a pig, so Calvin snatches up the gun and zaps Hobbes into a chimpanzee, Hobbes gets the gun off him and zaps Calvin into a flower, Calvin zaps Hobbes into a crocodile, so Hobbes zaps Calvin into an armadillo, and so on until the two of them finally run out of puff, grumpily agreeing to give up on Calvin's original plan and restore each other to normal.
- Bittersweet Ending: Calvin wakes up as a human boy again, believing that the transmogrifying effect wore off overnight (even though he was just imagining), but now has to continue going to school much to his obvious dismay.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The third of three arcs that continues the story in the Sunday strip.
- Explain, Explain… Oh, Joy!: When it seems Calvin will be stuck as an owl forever, he gets upset because it means that tomorrow he's going to have to go to school as an owl, only for Hobbes to point out that owls don't go to school. Calvin is elated at the idea that he won't have to go to school anymore.
- Mr. Imagination: Calvin believes his transmogrifying experiment has turned him into an owl, but a few scenes from the perspective of Calvin's mom show that Calvin is still a human boy and the transmogrifying is just his imagination.
- No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Calvin's transmogrifying gun is the only one he has, and has no contingency plan for if the gun stops working. So when the gun breaks while Calvin is an owl, he has no ability to transform back.
- Placebo Eureka Moment: Calvin is freaking out about how he's going to live as an owl, concerned about how the other kids at school will react on seeing him. Hobbes points out that owls don't go to school. Immediately, Calvin starts singing, suddenly very happy about what he believes will be the rest of his life.
- Shapeshifter Showdown: Somewhat. In the first test of the transmogrifier gun, Calvin asks Hobbes to turn him into a giant pterodactyl so he can terrorize the neighborhood, so Hobbes zaps him into a (scientifically accurate) 2-foot Pterodactylus. Calvin, having thought that Pterodactylus was one of the larger pterosaur species, is none too pleased with this outcome, so he spitefully zaps Hobbes into a duck. In due course, Hobbes zaps Calvin into a pig, so Calvin zaps Hobbes into a chimpanzee, so Hobbes zaps Calvin into a flower, so Calvin zaps Hobbes into a crocodile, so Hobbes zaps Calvin into an armadillo... cut to "much later", where an owl and a hobgoblin are sulking and wondering who is which. (This is one of the very few Sunday Strips to take place in the middle of an ongoing Story Arc.)Owl: Great. Just great. Which of us is Calvin and which is Hobbes now?
Hobgoblin: Well, I hope Calvin is you, because his mom's going to have a fit when she sees this. - Shout-Out: When Hobbes points out that owls don't go to school, Calvin sings "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah".
- Terror-dactyl: Calvin wants Hobbes to use the transmogrifier to turn him into a pterodactyl so he can terrorize the neighborhood. At first, Hobbes turns him into a chicken instead because he was hungry; then he turns him into a pterodactyl... a small one, because "big dinosaurs give me the willies."Calvin: Say, when did you turn yourself into a 200-foot-tall colossus?
Hobbes: I didn't. Why? - Transformation Ray: Calvin's transmogrifier gun, which transforms anyone into whatever the wielder thinks of.