# Hobbes: Real when nobody is around or just imagined to real by Calvin?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 9, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927 "2014-02-09T21:51:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/21 "2014-02-10T02:28:40Z")
> [@Balance](#):
>
> Calvin is actually a member of a powerful alien race of reality-warpers. His irresponsible behavior forced his people to impose a period of reeducation upon him. His powers and memories have been suppressed, but break out for brief periods, particularly when he is feeling rebellious.
>
> Hobbes is his therapist.
I like this explanation best. Balance, you manifest your name.
Of course, Hobbes is real.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/22 "2014-02-10T02:42:07Z")
> [@Bootis](#):
>
> Aren’t there panels where Hobbes is left by himself and he says stuff? Like sometimes Calvin goes down the hill on the sled and Hobbes remains up top, and as Calvin is long gon, screaming going down the hill, Hobbes is left remarking about something or other? That would prove it to me, Hobbes is real- Calvin is not taking the time to imagine some witty remark that Hobbes is saying while he is screaming going over a cliff.
Even if you discount anything that Hobbes says, Calvin is still one very complicated kid. I very much would believe that he would imagine Hobbes having said some weird remark while Calvin races down the hill. It’s not as if imagination is stuck with the rules of time–you can imagine something having happened in the past. All Calvin has to do is think, “What would Hobbes have said while he watched me do that?” and that becomes what he did say.
I don’t really have a belief one way or the other, but I prefer Hobbes to not be real. I like that much better than there being some sort of creature that only Calvin can see, without any explanation for how such a creature could exist. I like filling in plot holes, but that’s a really big one.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/23 "2014-02-10T04:05:13Z")
Hobbes being a figment of Calvin’s imagination is not inconsistent with Hobbes being just as real as Calvin. In the context of the comic strip (the same context in which Calvin himself exists), figments can be real.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/24 "2014-02-10T05:14:13Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#):
>
> Hobbes is a real tiger in the jungle, who daydreams of living with a human named Calvin.
Nice answer!
But I’ll go with Hobbes is just a stuffed toy tiger owned by a very imaginative boy.
See this documentary, if you get the chance - I loved it: [Dear Mr. Watterson (2013) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2222206/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/25 "2014-02-10T06:34:16Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> But I’ll go with Hobbes is just a stuffed toy tiger owned by a very imaginative boy.
I’ll agree with that but also suggest sometimes Watterson liked to screw with his readers too. That satisfies me with how Calvin sometimes needed to be untied from a tree or a chair. It’s got to be hard to resist letting some surreality out of it’s cage.
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### Author:  [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/26 "2014-02-10T09:48:29Z")
Reading this thread really takes me back…specifically, to [May 30, 1989,](http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2010/07/08#.UviOSfZEAgE) when real!Hobbes and Calvin’s Mom appeared in the same shot.
Authorial intent and the spirit of the story and it’s artistry are all well and good…but so is that one, golden, teeny little overlooked moment where the script overlooked a plot goof. 😃
(For the record, I don’t consider that panel to be concrete, final evidence for or against any theory about Hobbes’ nature. I merely consider it hilarious. 😉 )
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/27 "2014-02-10T10:55:23Z")
I vote “real”
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### Author:  [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/28 "2014-02-10T11:28:19Z")
So you people who say real, does that mean that all the other stuff is also real. Space monsters and such. And if not, what’s the difference?
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### Author:  [@dasmili](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmili)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/29 "2014-02-10T12:02:40Z")
Of course Hobbes is real. He’s certainly more real to Calvin than the ‘real’ world he finds himself in. Whether he’s technically ‘alive’ or not is irrelevant.
Thinking about Calvin and Hobbes always makes me tear up a little. The comics page has never been the same since it ended…
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/30 "2014-02-10T12:36:48Z")
> [@mr.jp](#):
>
> So you people who say real, does that mean that all the other stuff is also real. Space monsters and such. And if not, what’s the difference?
Spaceman Spiff is clearly his daydreaming, but it does get fuzzy with the _Transmogrifier_[sup]TM[/sup], his _Time Machine_ and _Duplicator_. This was probably just his imagination or perhaps Calvin was actually a juvenile Time Lord being raised on Earth. That would fit **Balance** ’s theory well.
Hobbes did things though that cannot be explained away so easily as just imagination, Hobbes was probably a creature of the Faerie like a púca. This fits better than most explanations. It also explains how Calvin’s kid was able to interact with the same personality when [Hobbes](http://www.pantsareoverrated.com/archive/2011/05/10/hobbes-and-bacon/)came to her.
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### Author:  [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/31 "2014-02-10T12:46:11Z")
Hobbes is an ordinary stuffed toy owned by a boy with a wonderful imagination.
I’m still expecting to see Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs in the cereal aisle one day.
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### Author:  [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/32 "2014-02-10T13:01:38Z")
George Orwell covered this:
“Does Hobbes exist, the way you and I exist?”
“You and I do not exist.”
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### Author:  [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/33 "2014-02-10T13:03:42Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#):
>
> Reading this thread really takes me back…specifically, to [May 30, 1989,](http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2010/07/08#.UviOSfZEAgE) when real!Hobbes and Calvin’s Mom appeared in the same shot.
“Real” Hobbes also appeared in the same shot as Susie Derkins [three years earlier](http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1986/05/31#.UvjNrfZRF10).
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/34 "2014-02-10T14:11:53Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#):
>
> Most of his hair loved off? No.
> Eye(s) missing? No.
> Loose in the joints? Maybe.
> Very shabby? No.
>
> Therefore, only one quarter real at most! 😉
>
> CMC
I see what you did there.
> [@Flywheel](#):
>
> “Real” Hobbes also appeared in the same shot as Susie Derkins [three years earlier](http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1986/05/31#.UvjNrfZRF10).
That’s a great strip that shows that Hobbes is not real to the real world, but only to Calvin. When Calvin’s looking at him, he’s real. When Susie’s looking at him in panel 3, he’s not. (In fact, you can say that the first 2 panels are from Calvin’s perspective, the last 2 from Susie’s - and there we see that Susie doesn’t have much of an imagination, because Mr. Bun is still just a stuffed bunny.)
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### Author:  [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/35 "2014-02-10T14:19:51Z")
He’s both/neither real and/nor imaginary. Just enjoy the ambiguity.
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### Author:  [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/36 "2014-02-10T14:28:57Z")
Let me make sure I understand this. Some people believe that Hobbes magically comes to life?
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### Author:  [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/37 "2014-02-10T15:14:53Z")
> [@Munch](#):
>
> (In fact, you can say that the first 2 panels are from Calvin’s perspective, the last 2 from Susie’s - and there we see that Susie doesn’t have much of an imagination, because Mr. Bun is still just a stuffed bunny.)
OTOH, that could just be [Mr. Bun’s problem](http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1987/10/01#.UvjsKPZRF10).
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/38 "2014-02-10T15:34:52Z")
Hobbes is real.
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### Author:  [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/39 "2014-02-10T15:36:42Z")
My conclusion is that there is no difference between the two options, and it doesn’t matter which happens. Hobbes is real to Calvin when they are alone together, ergo it is an irrelevant and naively “scientific” point, whether Hobbes stays a stuffed tiger or turns into a flesh-and-blood tiger.
It isn’t a situation in which a concrete analysis has any validity.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [February 10, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hobbes-real-when-nobody-is-around-or-just-imagined-to-real-by-calvin/680927/40 "2014-02-10T16:06:36Z")
This has been around a while, but for those who haven’t seen it, it’s worth a look:
> **[If Calvin Was Medicated, There’d Be No Hobbes](https://lolzombie.com/1951/calvin-medicated-no-hobbes/)**
>
> Some things in life are better left un-medicated. Like Calvin for example. If he were given Ritalin, we wouldn’t have had have the fun loving Hobbes we all know of. Plus we’d have no aw…
It’s so sad!
There’s also one, that I can’t find right now, where Calvin is a (actual) murdering psychopath that blames everything on Hobbes. It’s clever, but deranged!
Oh, and I believe he is a figment of Calvin’s imagination, but that Calvin does not need to be medicated.
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