Kopa and Speck: Kindred Spirits

[Akril]

I recently rediscovered a Disney character who is in many ways very similar to Kopa: Speck. Who is that, you might be wondering? Well, remember at the end of the original Toy Story movie, where Andy gets a puppy for Christmas? That puppy is Speck.

"But wait," you're probably thinking, "In Toy Story 2, Andy's dog is named Buster, not Speck!" And you'd be right.

However, back in 1996, shortly after Toy Story first came out, there was a comic published in Disney Adventures magazine. It took place after the events of the first movie and featured Andy's new puppy, who is named Speck. I remember reading this comic when it first came out, and though I couldn't find any scans of the comic online, you can read a Flash version of the comic here.

Notice how Speck looks considerably different than Buster: Speck's body shape doesn't look dachshund-like at all, he has a much more cartoony face and his coat is tan with a brown streak running along his head, and a large brown patch on his back, brown ears and a brown tail. It pretty difficult to say that these two dogs are one and the same, and like Kopa, the only way of reconciling these differences is either to say that A), Kopa/Speck met tragic ends in between movies and were consequently "replaced"; or B, Kopa/Speck exist only in non-movie material.

Just something I thought was interesting and worth sharing. It inspired me to draw this.

[changa]

That was cute! Thanks for sharing, Akril!