Prior to becoming a parent, I had never heard of, let alone watched, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (MMC). Its disembodied head has eyes and a mouth, the latter of which was introduced during the third season as part of an 'upgrade.' He/she/it is a rainbow-colored entity shaped like Mickey Mouse that is often divided into quadrants. To execute their mission, the characters call on Toodles for help (“Oh Toodles!”), and it retrieves a tool of some sort - things like a fishing rod or a rain tarp or a shoelace end - requiring the gang to get creative to solve the problem. Each episode follows the characters as they congregate at their tricked-out clubhouse and solve various real-world problems, such as how to file for a tax extension or negotiate for a raise despite the persistence of the gender pay gap (JK, they do things like retrieve coins at the bottom of a lake). Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a computer-animated cartoon featuring Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, and sundry minor Disney characters - the same gang you loved in your own childhood, but brighter, happier, higher-DPI, and marginally more educational. It’s a lot like how adults watching Law and Order: SVU will turn to their partners and gleefully sing “chung-CHUNG!” the second they see that New York city skyline shot, or exclaim “ he did it!” when they see a semi-recognizable sitcom actor, like the guy who played the dad on Family Ties, come on screen. I know this because they will yell at their TV, on command, “Oh TOOO-DLES,” at the designated moment in the show. Toodles is a character - or more accurately, a floating omnipotent being - on the Disney channel, and kids love him. Since becoming a parent, I've been besieged with profound questions about the universe: how does one teach a toddler the meaning of consent? How, exactly, did I manage to create life? Why is it that throwing a ball at a group of toddlers on the playground has the same effect as tossing a human carcass into a crowd of George Romero zombies? Yet the question that is foremost on my mind at almost all times is the following: Who or what is Toodles, the thing from the Disney Junior TV show Mickey Mouse Clubhouse?
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