The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

And why do they make toys for him?

isn't that obvious? he's their son

THEIR SON? Fred and Paul are married to each other?

I think 'their son' is a metaphor, man.

I don't remember where, but this was answered somewhere and I think the final answer is, "duh, Bob."
In other words, I don't think there's a real Bob associated with Bob in Toys for Bob.

Maybe it's the Bob worshipped by those aliens that Arthur dent lived with and made sandwiches for in Mostly Harmless. ( <- seems unlikely)

It could be an Acronym.
B.O.B.

Becoming Omnipotent Beings?

Toys for Becoming Omnipotent Beings?

After all, they've made Star Control 2 and it has elevated them to the status of deity-hood on this forum.

Or maybe it's a lot more literal. Maybe Star Control 2 is their version of the Ultron...

Not to ruin the fun of playing with people's heads, But :) .....From Fred Ford on PNF logs...

"Who is Bob? And why are you making Toys for him/her?

I wish we had a clever answer, but we don't. It just happened to be a name we both liked and, as we have found, everybody's curiousity is piqued as well."

http://www.classicgaming.com/starcontrol/history/fford2.shtml

And here too:

"Also, what is the significance of "Toys for Bob". Is it just a name for fun, or does it have special meaning that you would want to share?

There is no particular meaning. We just liked the name and it sure generates curiosity."

http://www.classicgaming.com/starcontrol/history/fford3.shtml

Who is Bob?  Other than a name?  Maybe he's one of those friendly Umgah pilots (look at the names, all of them have names like Brewz'k but one, which is named Bob).  Maybe there is a special significance somewhere....maybe an Umgah pilot visited them named Bob, told them of all these alien races in space we haven't been able to meet yet, and they made a wonderful fantabulous game out of what they heard?

;D

Oh and maybe the software company is named "Toys for Bob" because Bob is still hanging around looking for thanks...computer "toys"...

A slogan for the company...Toys For Bob, Better than Melnorme FunRoms  ;D

Bob is the guy who lives above the convenience store with the one-armed man who whipers into F & P's minds to kill people and burn things.

Be afraid.

If you want to find out more about Bob, go watch Twin Peaks.

The other theory is that Bob is one of those guys from Bungie's Marathon series, and Fred & Paul felt sorry for him getting blown up all the time, so they decided to make some toys for him.

That makes sense! Toys for Bob are toys for that Umgah!

which makes them tioys for me, at least according to Primat... Hmm, I wonder if I should change my name to "Umgah Bob".....

So, perhaps TFB did not consciously intend Bob to be someone they know.  We must move on and explore the following subjects:

1) On the level of Fred and Paul's subconscious, what does Bob represent?

2)Who is Bob to us, the fans of this game?  What is the meaning of  Bob to you?

3)What is the connection of Bob to the following phrase?

" In death, a member of Project Mayhem has a name. His name is Robert Paulson"

Bob = Robert Paulson?

1) Perhaps to TFB, Bob is the everyman, the non-gamer and gamer alike. We are Bob. You are Bob. TFB's toys are for you and everyone you know.

2) To answer who Bob, you must not be mearly fans of "this" (UQM) game but must understand all games associated with the Bob. The Bob's toys are StarControl, Archeon (sp?), Unholy Wars, Pandemonium, etc. (I don't think the disney title's exactly count. They were, I think, more of a contract, do-this-and-get-paid sort of thing). Then, extraploate who actually enjoys all these games and you will have Bob.

3) ...um. Yeah. (moves slowing away from you on the group W bench.)

PS, yes I know that was a quote from fight club, but remember that scene is said as Big Brested Bob's brians are making little splashing noises on the floor. Kinda an icky association to be making with TFB.

What's group W?

Please do!! ^_^

Unfortunately, I am unable. It would be to betray my kind.

HAR HAR HAR!

I was afraid that was a bit obscure of a reference. It was from a song called "Alice's Resutraunt" by Arlo Guthry, but don't quote me on the spelling. It was a war protest and when Arlo was being drafted his "criminal" history including a pile of garbage and a weekend at Alice's Resturaunt condemned him to sit on the Group W bench with all the other criminals. Father stabbers. Mother rapers. Mother stabbers. Father rapers. Father rapers, right there on the group W bench. And when he told them that he had been put there for littering, they all kinda moved away from him on the group W bench.

You aught to listen to it. It's funny.

Hmmm...Arlo Guthrie...lets see...

That makes you somewhere in the range of 40-50 years old?

Or just a nostalgic youth?

Well Titan A.E. had Planet Bob, so why should "Toys for Bob" have a meaning? Bob is just a marvelous name; How can you resist?

Maybe they're helping Bob while away his time when he's trapped, helpless to prevent Hexadecimal and Megabyte from taking over the mainframe despite the best efforts of AndrAIa and whatshisname*.

I bet you didn't know that Star Control is also secretly an antivirus program!

(which reminds me, I once used my wordprocessor to kill a worm by overwriting it -- something my file manager refused to do on its own)

* Enzo? Hmm.. that's the name of the mafia head in Snow Crash. Maybe they share their name. And Enzo isn't computer related. Oh well, I bet someone around here wil know.

Well cultured ... youth-ish. 26.

Lyrics to Alice's Restaurant.

http://www.arlo.net/lyrics/alices.shtml

Anyone, and I mean anyone, on this forum who will read the entire lyrics to Alice's Resturaunt first time, just to find out what I'm talking about when I mention the group W bench, is in my humble opinion, stark raving mad, and at the same time has my awe.

I mean, I'm reading it all the way through, yeah. But it's kinda nostalga for me.

Now, it's not entirely complete. It misses the part in the draft office where he jumps up and down yelling "Kill, KILL, KILL," but it's got the group W bench and the moving away on the group W bench, so it'll do.

The part in the draft office with KILL KILL KILL is in there...

This is one weird song.

Yeah, yeah it is. It was kinda a war protest song. You should hear it sung, or rather monologued, my Arlo. He pauses and studders so well. Not that that makes it any less wierd. Just funnier.

Yeah actually it's funnier to hear him perform it than to read it.  Not sure of where you could hear the whole thing easily though (it's around 17 minutes if I recall the last time I heard it - that would translate to a BIG MP3 if it were ripped down).   If anyone had any ideas it might be interesting just so people can hear what we're talking about.

I got to thinking there's really a lot of wierd songs from that time (the 60's, Vietnam, Protest songs, etc).  I'd have to think of all the good wierd ones...another one I just thought of was one by Country Joe & The Fish called "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag"

http://www.countryjoe.com/rag.htm
(you can actually listen to the song on this page using RealAudio)