Tinribs
Encyclopedia
Tinribs is a character in the British adult comic Viz.
He is an alleged "robot
" constructed for schoolboy Tommy Taylor by his "brilliant professor" father. The strip is loosely based on Brassneck who appeared in The Dandy
from 1964 to 1968. However, whereas Brassneck was a fully functional humanoid
robot capable of many tasks including fighting crime, Tinribs consists of a small wooden tray mounted on a skateboard
, two baked bean cans supporting a rod for his arms with small gloves on each end and a Barbie
doll electronic voice box. His face is drawn on to a slightly inflated balloon tied to the rod for his arms. Tinribs is pulled along by his owner by a piece of string. He repeats the continuous phrase of "Hi, I'm Barbie. I love you very much."
The majority of the strips take place within the school environment where Tinribs always saves the day. Tinribs's abilities are based on what his component parts are capable of i.e. Tinribs "performed surgery" when his owner used one of Tinribs's baked bean cans' serrated lid as a crude cutting tool. Despite the pathetic and dysfunctional results of Tinribs' "actions", they always draw delighted praise from the other pupils. No one ever alludes to or even notices Tinribs' pathetic construction, and even the antagonists assume him to be a genuine robot.
The process of "saving the day" frequently involves Tommy Taylor using Tinribs's parts to perform painful mutilations on his teacher, Mr Snodworthy. Far from defending his subordinate, the school's headmaster supports Tinribs's owner's ingenuity and positively encourages Snodworthy to submit to mutilation. Snodworthy accordingly hates Tinribs, and many of the strips centre around his schemes for its destruction, which invariably backfire. The headmaster is also fond of humiliating Snodworthy even if Tinribs is not directly involved; for example, one strip concludes with the headmaster ordering Snodworthy to stand on the roof of the school and masturbate over the school playground
so that his ejaculations will simulate snowfall.
He is an alleged "robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
" constructed for schoolboy Tommy Taylor by his "brilliant professor" father. The strip is loosely based on Brassneck who appeared in The Dandy
The Dandy
The Dandy is a long running children's comic published in the United Kingdom by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. The first issue was printed in 1937 and it is the world's third longest running comic, after Detective Comics and Il Giornalino...
from 1964 to 1968. However, whereas Brassneck was a fully functional humanoid
Humanoid
A humanoid is something that has an appearance resembling a human being. The term first appeared in 1912 to refer to fossils which were morphologically similar to, but not identical with, those of the human skeleton. Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it...
robot capable of many tasks including fighting crime, Tinribs consists of a small wooden tray mounted on a skateboard
Skateboard
A skateboard is typically a specially designed plywood board combined with a polyurethane coating used for making smoother slides and stronger durability, used primarily for the activity of skateboarding. The first skateboards to reach public notice came out of the surfing craze of the early 1960s,...
, two baked bean cans supporting a rod for his arms with small gloves on each end and a Barbie
Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....
doll electronic voice box. His face is drawn on to a slightly inflated balloon tied to the rod for his arms. Tinribs is pulled along by his owner by a piece of string. He repeats the continuous phrase of "Hi, I'm Barbie. I love you very much."
The majority of the strips take place within the school environment where Tinribs always saves the day. Tinribs's abilities are based on what his component parts are capable of i.e. Tinribs "performed surgery" when his owner used one of Tinribs's baked bean cans' serrated lid as a crude cutting tool. Despite the pathetic and dysfunctional results of Tinribs' "actions", they always draw delighted praise from the other pupils. No one ever alludes to or even notices Tinribs' pathetic construction, and even the antagonists assume him to be a genuine robot.
The process of "saving the day" frequently involves Tommy Taylor using Tinribs's parts to perform painful mutilations on his teacher, Mr Snodworthy. Far from defending his subordinate, the school's headmaster supports Tinribs's owner's ingenuity and positively encourages Snodworthy to submit to mutilation. Snodworthy accordingly hates Tinribs, and many of the strips centre around his schemes for its destruction, which invariably backfire. The headmaster is also fond of humiliating Snodworthy even if Tinribs is not directly involved; for example, one strip concludes with the headmaster ordering Snodworthy to stand on the roof of the school and masturbate over the school playground
Playground
A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...
so that his ejaculations will simulate snowfall.