sɪʟʟʏ sʏᴍᴘʜᴏɴɪᴇs - ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ ʙᴀʙɪᴇs

'Water Babies' by Jessie Wilcox Smith, 1916

Silly Symphony - Water Babies (1935)

I've been puzzling over these Care Bear poseables on Taobao, which definitely aren't from the 80s because 80s Share Bear had a milkshake symbol, not lollipops. It's possible they're bootlegs, but the seller is a wholesaler (sells extra goods from various factories) so they could be legit.

Anyway, by happenstance I saw a picture of a Care Bears Water Babies doll from 2003:

And they came with a poseable figure! And Share-Bear-with-lollipops is pictured on the back of the box.

So with the year, brand name, and company, I figured I could easily google the information. It turns out, NO. It kind of shook me because information was definitely being compiled and tracked by collectors at the time. But probably on Angelfire and Geocities pages, which are now dead.

So now the information is . . . not totally lost, I guess, because the merchandise from that era still exists, but you have to stumble on it, like a lost artifact; it's not compiled anywhere. (That I know of. If you know of a Care Bears website with all the merch, point me to it!)

I think one of the issues is few people have personal websites anymore, but personal websites are the best way to catalogue information. Not Instagram, not Reddit, not Twitter, not even Tumblr, because they all encourage a constant flow of new information which supplants old information. Whereas to catalogue What Was you need the same information to remain static and findable year after year. (I know this is a difficulty people run into searching for comics on my blog.)

Just some reflections. Anyway, there was a Share Bear figure from this line, so maybe that is where she comes from. Naturally I ordered the Taobao one to find out! :)

Water Babies

1863

Artist : Joseph Noel Paton

One of The Most Underrated Non-Disney Movies that I saw long ago in my Childhood. Given the fact that I haven't watched this film is so long ever since I've grown, I showed this Movie to my Parents and they actually really liked it. Although despite myself not reading the Original Book that the Movie was based on, but I have heard of the Racism behind the Original Story itself and how it was against Irish, Americans, Jews, and even Catholics (shame that the Original Story and its Concept felt Interesting despite some Old Stories having some controversial tones). Here we have is Tom (The Main Protagonist of this Story) and Toby (his Dog) swimming with their Sea Creature Friends (Claude The Swordfish, Jock The Lobster, and Terence The Seahorse). The Water Babies (c) Charles Kingsley

Bernard Cribbins RIP

If Kacchako had a son/daughter what would u want or think their quirk would be?

Hmm 🤔 I’ve only drawn Kacchako babies once as merbabies to go with my Mermay Kacchako art. They’re Kaien and Mizuki, my friends on discord named them for me 😁.

As for quirks, they obviously be a clever mix of their quirks. Like one of them could have like a “super nova” quirk that gives them blasting, but also floating abilities. Another I imagine would be like making things heavy or explode when putting their hands together. Probably not very original, but it’s all I can think of.

And omg i am SO sorry for the late reply 😱 I thought I posted this weeks ago but it went into the drafts instead. 😭😂

"He crept away among the rocks, and got to the cabinet, and behold! it was open."

The Water-Babies A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby By Charles Kingsley. Illustrated by Warwick Goble. 1922. First Published 1863.

From the Library of Congress exhibit Drawn to Purpose: Golden Age of Illustration.

Jessie Willcox Smith employed her keen ability to imagine and evoke the angst and innocent wonder of a child in this breathtaking underwater scene, one of twelve large, lavish drawings that she produced for The Water-Babies, a Victorian story of redemption.

The drawings belong among her most admired works and upon her death in 1935, she bequeathed them to the Library of Congress.

Over her long career, Smith illustrated many classics of children's literature.

Some colored illustrations from the home university bookshelf

Silly Symphony - Water Babies (1935)