Turmoil in the Toybox · 3:32am May 25th, 2012

I try not to post to this blog too often, but I feel compelled to share this story.

I was watching the American Idol finale yesterday, and the winner ended up being Phil Phillips. Phil Phillips. Where had I heard that name before?

As a child, I remember my parents one day randomly telling me they weren't going to let me watch He-Man anymore. My vague recollection is that it didn't go over very well, and I ended up watching the show at a friend's house.

Later on in life, I was perusing my parents' books and stumbled across Turmoil in the Toybox, written by Phil Phillips (who coincidentally shares the new idol's name). I read through the book and quickly discovered where much of my parents' paranoia about the toys and cartoons I enjoyed stemmed from.

I did a Google search for Turmoil in the Toybox just now, and I discovered some interesting excerpts from reviewers.

A reviewer named David writes, "Yeah, I was a kid in the 70s/80s who's Mom bought into this kind of material. The quotes from the book speak for themselves: 'My Little Pony . . . Unicorns and winged horses, also known as a Pegasus, are derived from Greek and Roman mythology. . . . Because these toys are based on mythological creatures, they are occult. Mythology is in contradiction to God's Word. . . . The unicorn is a symbol of the anti-Christ, which the prophet Daniel described in his vision as the little horn which rises in the midst of the ten horns.'"

Another reviewer, going by the name JDP, writes, "Undoubtedly the greatest source of unbridled comedy. This book claims that my little pony is in league with the anti-christ. You can't make this stuff up!"

Source: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2011723.Turmoil_in_the_Toybox

Indeed you can't. Even though I had forgotten all about Turmoil and the Toybox, apparently the idea of it was floating around somewhere in the back of my head, and I believe that's how I ended up writing something as ludicrous as The Gospel According to Twilight Sparkle. As I mentioned in a comment, it is my version of grimdark. For me, the thought of Phil Phillips' insane conspiracy theory being correct is akin to horror (or comedy--take your pick).

Believe it or not, though, Turmoil in the Toybox was taken quite seriously at the time of its publication. The book was so influential, in fact, that a companion video piece was created for it, which recently surfaced on Youtube:

Turmoil in the Toybox: Part 1

Enjoy it, guys. I'm going to have to start using the phrase "zone of eternal evil" to describe the cartoons I like more often.

Vulpix

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