10 Funniest Calvin and Hobbes Comics Starring Calvin’s Imaginary Inventions

Summary

• Calvin and Hobbes
  showcase a child’s imagination with clever inventions like the Transmogrifier and Duplicator, leading to hilarious adventures.
• The comic strip explores existential questions through imaginary inventions, such as cloning and smart-enhancing devices like the Cerebral Enhance-O-Tron.
• Calvin’s creativity shines in Calvinball, a sport where the rules change every time, reflecting the endless possibilities of his imagination.

Calvin and Hobbes is famous for its ability to capture what life is like through the eyes of a child, as it follows six-year-old Calvin and his (allegedly) imaginary friend/anthropomorphic tiger, Hobbes. The two of them get up to no shortage of mischief together, from disobeying Calvin’s parents to pulling pranks on each other. However, the majority of their play takes place entirely in Calvin’s imagination.

Hobbes isn’t the only product of Calvin’s creativity in Calvin and Hobbes, which is something that’s shown with Calvin’s increasingly clever imaginary inventions. Calvin has come up with a great number of awesome gadgets and gizmos throughout his comic strip history, ones that make some of his more fantastical adventures possible – like traveling through space and time, and shapeshifting into animals. Here are 10 of the funniest Calvin and Hobbes comics starring Calvin’s imaginary inventions!

10 Hobbes is Impressed by Calvin’s Transmogrifier (for the Wrong Reason)

Calvin and Hobbes – March 23, 1987

In the comic strip that debuted Calvin’s Transmogrifier, the six-year-old excitedly shows it to Hobbes. He explains that his new invention can transform anyone into anything, from animals and bugs to even dinosaurs. However, it’s not the device itself that impresses Hobbes, but what it’s made out of. Hobbes takes a good look at the Transmogrifier and says, “It’s amazing what they do with corrugated cardboard these days“.

Given that the Transmogrifier is an imaginary invention, the ‘device’ is actually just made of cardboard, and can only transform someone with the power of imagination. However, Hobbes decides to take the invention literally, choosing to believe that Calvin could actually make such a high-tech piece of machinery out of cardboard – which is as ludicrous as it is hilarious.

9 Calvin Transmogrifies Himself into a Mini Hobbes

Calvin and Hobbes – March 28, 1987

After showing Hobbes his new invention, Calvin decides to show him how well it actually works. So, Calvin goes inside the box, moves the knob to ‘tiger’, and lets the technology do its thing. The result is Calvin ‘transmogrifying’ himself into a mini Hobbes – and it’s as adorable as it is hilarious. Except, Hobbes doesn’t seem to think so…

“Words fail me” is all that Hobbes had to say after seeing Calvin as a little tiger, seemingly disturbed by this successful test run of the Transmogrifier. What’s interesting, though, is that Calvin is disappointed too, despite the fact that his machine worked perfectly. It seems one anthropomorphic tiger in between the duo is plenty, even though ‘Hobbes and Mini Hobbes’ sounds like a spin-off series with incredible marketing potential.

8 Calvin and Hobbes Experience the Existential Horrors of Cloning First-Hand

Calvin and Hobbes – January 10, 1990

Using the ever-versatile cardboard box, Calvin invented the Duplicator which – as advertised – has the power to duplicate anyone who steps foot in the box. So, just like with the Transmogrifier, Calvin decides to test out his new invention on himself. Hobbes is skeptical, as he often is, but Calvin pushes him to start the device once he’s inside the box – and it works! While that would be worth celebrating, things started to get dark almost immediately.

When Calvin praises himself for being a genius, the voice of his duplicate calls him a liar, saying that he was the one who created the Duplicator, and that the first voice was the clone. This is the same existential horror that rears its ugly head in practically every ‘cloning story’, and Calvin and Hobbes are experiencing it for themselves.

7 Calvin Comes to a Stark Realization When He’s Face-to-Face with His Clone

Calvin and Hobbes – January 11, 1990

After releasing his clone, Calvin reveals the reason he created him to begin with: to clean his room and do his homework so he and Hobbes could go out and play. When Duplicate Calvin hears this, he immediately rejects the purpose of his creation, and instead sprints outside before Calvin can make him do any of that. When Duplicate Calvin is gone, Hobbes comments, “He’s a duplicate of you, all right“, to which Calvin indignantly replies, “What do you mean? This guy is a total jerk!”

Calvin is a bit of a brat, that much is clear from practically every comic strip, and it’s hilarious that he doesn’t realize it until he experiences his own behavior himself. Because the truth is, Hobbes is right, the way Duplicate Calvin reacted is exactly what Calvin would do. And, in Calvin’s own words, he was “a total jerk“. In fact, it’s this problem that leads to Calvin creating an add-on to the Duplicator, the Ethicator (which is perhaps something that Calvin should use on himself).

6 Calvin and Hobbes’ Bed-Making Robot Actually Works (but Not as Expected)

Calvin and Hobbes – September 2, 1989

Unlike some of his other inventions, the Bed-Making Robot that Calvin made is actually real, as in, it’s a physical robot that is able to literally carry out its purpose without the addition of Calvin’s imagination. However, that shouldn’t imply that it’s functional. In this story arc, Calvin is told to make his bed, so he designs a robot to do it for him to get out of making his bed himself.

Calvin and Hobbes spent all day creating this robot, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t get it to work. Just as they were throwing in the towel, it was Calvin’s bedtime. In other words, by spending all day creating a Bed-Making Robot, Calvin got out of making his bed, meaning the robot technically fulfilled its purpose – just not as expected.

5 Calvin’s Cerebral Enhance-O-Tron Makes Calvin Look Ridiculous (& Cosmically Intelligent)

Calvin and Hobbes – November 19, 1993

When Calvin needs to be smarter for school, he decides that instead of studying, he’s just going to invent a device that will make him more intelligent with the push of a button: the Cerebral Enhance-O-Tron. Made from a cardboard box and a pasta strainer connected with string, Calvin’s ‘Thinking Cap’ works a little too well. Not only does it do as-advertised and makes him more intelligent, it also enlarges Calvin’s head to a comical degree.

While his head does look hilariously ridiculous after using the Cerebral Enhance-O-Tron, that’s a small price to pay for how insanely smart it made him. It’s later confirmed that Calvin understands all the natural laws of the universe, reducing them to a simple equation. Calvin becomes cosmically intelligent thanks to this imaginary device (but he still looks ridiculous).

4 Calvin Threatens to Rip a Hole Through Space & Time… to Get Out of Doing Homework

Calvin and Hobbes – May 23, 1992

Calvin has always despised doing homework, and will find any excuse to get out of it – including fracturing the very fabric of existence. Calvin decides to build a time machine (surprise, out of a cardboard box) and plans to go forward a few hours in time to steal his completed homework from his future self, and bring it to the past. As any fan of time travel-based science fiction knows, this would create a paradox that could potentially rip the universe apart – good thing it’s imaginary.

What’s perhaps even funnier about this comic than the idea that Calvin is willing to potentially doom the universe just to get out of homework is Hobbes’ reaction to the whole thing. He knows that there’s something off about Calvin’s logic, but decides that the oddest thing about the situation is that he’s sitting in a box, which is strange, given that Hobbes is a big cat and should enjoy Calvin’s box-based inventions.

3 Calvin and Hobbes Get Into a Shapeshifting Battle with the Transmogrifier Gun

Calvin and Hobbes – February 14, 1988

While the Transmogrifier worked exactly as Calvin designed it, the six-year-old decided to upgrade the invention by making it more portable. So, he creates the Transmogrifier Gun, which can turn anyone into anything when they’re shot with it. And, in true Calvin and Hobbes fashion, the two use this advanced technology to mess with each other, which leads to a hilarious shapeshifting battle.

Hobbes turns Calvin into a tiny pterodactyl, so Calvin turns Hobbes into a duck. Both are displeased with what the other has done, so they snatch the Transmogrifier Gun back and forth from each other while transforming the other into increasingly absurd things, like a talking pig and a sentient flower – and it’s utterly hilarious.

2 Calvin Creates a Surprisingly Violent Imaginary Alter Ego: the World’s Most Powerful Computer

Calvin and Hobbes – July 6, 1993

While most of Calvin’s inventions are tools made for a specific purpose, the World’s Most Powerful Computer is actually more of Calvin’s alter ego – one who is surprisingly violent. When Calvin introduces himself as the World’s Most Powerful Computer to Calvin (wearing a cardboard box over his head with drawn-on robotic features), he claims that he can answer any question. So, Hobbes asks why the World’s Most Powerful Computer wears little red sneakers, at which point, Calvin throws the cardboard box off his head and chases Hobbes down.

It seems this imaginary invention couldn’t answer any question, or perhaps – to Hobbes’ question meant specifically to annoy Calvin – violence was the only answer. In which case, this invention works perfectly.

1 Calvinball is Calvin and Hobbes’ Greatest (& Most Chaotic) Invention Ever

Calvin and Hobbes – May 5, 1990

Calvin’s inventions primarily consist of decorated cardboard boxes that function entirely in Calvin’s imagination, like the Transmogrifier, Duplicator, and time machine. However, this invention might be the greatest of them all, as it’s less of an ‘invention’ and more of an all-new sporting activity: Calvinball. The rules of Calvinball are simple: the game cannot be played the same way twice. That means the objective of the game changes every time it’s played, and even while Calvin and Hobbes are playing it, making it a masterclass in imaginary play.

With every one of these inventions, it’s clear that Calvin’s creativity truly knows no bounds, and watching his imagination flourish in these comic strips makes for some of the funniest in the entire Calvin and Hobbes franchise, with these 10 being some of the greatest standouts among the comics starring Calvin’s imaginary inventions.