2025

Bullseye

admin July 20, 2025

Bullseye is a vintage, stylised, ragdoll horse toy, who features as a supporting character in the multi-billion dollar ‘Toy Story’ franchise, created by Pixar Animation Studios. He is first introduced in ‘Toy Story 2’ (1999), but also appears in ‘Toy Story 3’ (2010), ‘Toy Story 4’ (2019) and the television special ‘Toy Story Toons’ (2014).

A bay horse, with a pink muzzle, and equipped with a detachable Western saddle, Bullseye was a main cast member in the fictitious television show ‘Woody’s Roundup’, in which he was the horse belonging to the lead character, Sheriff Woody. However, by the time of ‘Toy Story 2’, he is – along with former fellow co-star, Jessie, the yodelling cowgirl – in the possession of Albert ‘Al’ McWhiggin, a greedy, middle-aged toy collector, and has been kept in storage for many years. Stolen by Al, a.k.a. the ‘Chicken Man’, during a yard sale, Woody is reunited with the former members of the ‘Roundup’ gang and discovers his heritage.

Unlike Woody and Jessie, Bullseye has no pull-string and consequently no voice, as such, although he does have soulful, expressive eyes and neighs and whinnies, as might be expected of a horse. Bullseye is, nonetheless, a highly animated character, whose behaviour is often more akin to that of a dog than a horse. He is fiercely loyal and affectionate towards other characters, not least Jessie and Woody, and is known for his carefree, playful spirit, and his gentle, sweet, if rather sensitive, disposition. Bullseye is not short of courage, but does tuck, or clamp his tail, and hide, often behind Jessie, when anxious or afraid. At the lighter end of his emotional scale, his doglike behaviour extends to licking the other characters when he is excited. At such times, he can also be delightfully uncoordinated.

Woody often tells his trusty steed, “Ride like the wind, Bullseye!” and in the airport scene in ‘Toy Story 2’ Bullseye does just that. In the first instance, he catches up with a baggage train, while carrying both Woody and Buzz Lightyear and, in the second, somehow manages to keep up with an airliner approaching take-off speed.

BoJack Horseman

admin July 20, 2025

As his name suggests, BoJack Horseman is a bipedal, anthropomorhic horse, who is the titular character of the animated television of the same name, created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg. A Netflix original series, BoJack Horseman was screened exclusively on that platform for six seasons, comprising 76 episodes in total, between 2014 and 2020.

Voiced by Canadian-American actor and comedian Will Arnett, BoJack Horseman had previously portrayed ‘The Horse’, a young, bachelor horse in the popular situation comedy ‘Horsin’ Around’, which purportedly premiered on ABC in 1987 and lasted for nine seasons. However, in the wake of the show, living mainly on royalties rather than new projects, he has become a bitter, misanthropic, curmudgeon, self-loathing and, often, self-destructive, yet nonetheless prone to wallowing in self-pity.

Arnett once said that he was drawn to the BoJack Horseman character because of his ability to be “lovable and unloveable at the same time”. A largely unrepentent narcissist, depressive, alcholic and drug addict, BoJack struggles to form, and maintain, positive relationships with the people around them. Indeed, he is frequently guilty of selfish, cowardly, and wicked acts that make him easy to hate. However, even so often, despite his struggles, Bojack demonstrates that he is, at heart, an intelligent, throughtful and sympathetic person, who does actually care deeply about the few people he calls friends.

Bojack Horseman deals with dark, adult themes, as well as sexual content, but balances the gloomier moments with outrageous, often hilarious, humour. The stark reality of its existential narrative is tempered by a genuinely satirical look at the city of Hollywood, California and its culture, celebrity status, or lack of it, and so on. Indeed, the series has been critically acclaimed for all these reasons, plus its character development, animation style and the profundity of the voice performances, not least that by Arnett.

Various real-lif celebrities, including Matthew Perry, Chris Farley, Bog Saget, Tim Allen and David Letterman, have been suggested as providing inspiration for the BoJack Horseman character. However, Bob-Waksberg has said that he is, in fact, a composite archetype, based on numerous celebrities who found fame during the era in which the fictional ‘Horsin’ Around’ series was set, in the late eighties and early nineties.

Mr. Horse

admin July 20, 2025

As his name suggests, Mr. Horse is an anthropomorphic horse, who makes various cameo appearances in the ‘Ren & Stimpy Show’, an animated comedy television series that was created by John Kricfalusi and originally screened on Nickleodeon for five seasons, and 52 episodes, between 1991 and 1995. For the uninititiated, the titular characters are Ren Hoek, a neurotic chihuahua, and Stimpson ‘Stimpy’ J. Cat, a dopy, but obliviously joyful, and harmless Manx cat. Mr. Horse was voiced by series creator John Kricfalusi for the first two seasons and thereafter by Billy West, who also took over the role of Ren Hoek.

Routinely bipedal, but occasionally quadrupedal – when depicting a regular horse – Mr. Horse is a rather eccentric, but nonetheless straight-talking, thoughtful character, who acts as a foil for Ren and Stimpy in some of the diverse, often bizarre, plotlines. The Ren & Stimpy Show is characterised by surreal, often disturbing, content, dark humour and satirical themes. However, Mr. Horse appears in a wide variety of smaller, intermittent roles, often unconnected to the main plot, in which his dry, sarcastic wit and deadpan delivery provide provide a perfect contrast to the main protagonists, thereby emphasising their absurdity. His oft-repeated catchphrase, “No sir, I don’t like it,” usually uttered after weighing up a product, or situation, is a recurring joke throughout his various appearances.

As such, Mr. Horse is one of the most popular recurring, supporting players in The Ren & Stimpy Show. His various roles include a tester for kitty litter, a soldier, a spokesman for the United Nations, a dog show judge, a pilot and a party guest, to name but a few. In ‘Rubber Nipple Salesmen’, which is the fifth episode of the second season, Mr. Horse plays a prospective customer who, it is strongly implied, keeps a captive walrus as a sexual slave. In the break with the norm, he displays panick-stricken paranoia, believing that Ren and Stimpy are, in fact, FBI agents. Having realised his mistake, and turned down the offer of rubber nipples, Mr. Horse produces a distressed walrus from behind his back, who implores the pair, “Call the police.”