Mr Men books and their sadistic lessons

[Borisisabanana]

I tried to post this in a different fashion but MN thought it was serious and deleted it - as an AIBU from the point of view of the villagers in “Mr Nosey”, who stage increasingly violent interventions on Mr Nosey until one villager is standing behind a fence, presumably to saw off his nose if he is nosey?! (It doesn’t come to that, thank god, because Mr Nosey had learnt his lesson, having had his nose hammered previously)

anyway the Mr Men books. My children are obsessed. Anyone care to discuss the most maniacal one they’ve encountered?

Mr Woke
Mr Beard
Mr Gammon
Little Miss Recycle
Little Miss Dance
Little Miss Elsa

And of course

Mx Gender

I loved Tom and Jerry only the old ones though nor the modern remakes.

Does anyone else remember Mr Uppity? Stuck in my mind because as a child I had never heard the word.

My youngest loves Mr Mean and Mr Rude.

Mr Manbun

I was raised on Hilaire Belloc's Cautionary Tales! Being burned to death for telling lies, anyone? (Matilda)

Most of the popular fairy tales are fairly sadistic. And Beatrix Potter isn't all fluffiness and happy endings.

I don’t like the invisible guy, Mr Nobody. It gives me really bad vibes.

Here’s a description:
Mr. Happy finds somebody who is nobody. Mr. Nobody is literally not much of a person.
Mr. Happy tried to make Mr. Nobody in to somebody by bringing him to the Wizard.
This wizard makes a potion in order to turn him into a somebody.

What diseased mind comes up with that idea for a children’s book?!

Mr Mischief is the best surely? What about the others? Which ones do people recommend?

Mr Fussy likes everything in a very particular order. Mr Clumsy his cousin from Australia (? everyone else seems to be from made up lands) arrived unannounced for a two week stay. He's fuming, doesn't learn a thing and once Mr Clumsy leaves Mr Bump turns up. Poor sod. Sounds like a real Mumsnet AIBU

He also looks like a green cartoon Hitler.

My toddler hoots with laughter when we read it. I love that no one really learns a lesson in the Mr. Men universe unless they're very rude, it's the only real sin!

Loving this thread. I had Mr Men pillow case, waste paper basket, bedroom door name sign ... mostly Mr Messy as I recall.
DS also was similarly obsessed and gave all of us, plus grandparents, cousins and favourite nursery staff, Mr Men names. They were alarmingly appropriately attributed for a 3/4 year old!

We did aaaaalllll the voices for the Mr Men books, they had the sort of sly humour an adult enjoys reading, too. We thought Mr Small getting a job as a desk helper for the author was very cute. Maybe punishing an overeater by forcing him to finish a giant’s meal is going a bit far…

And 20+ years later we still say: ” Whenever anything got lost or broken or splintered or chipped or snapped or cracked or torn or burst or wrenched or crunched or split or slit…. DC1 got the blame!” (Mr Bump)

Tom and Jerry is not the same - Tom never actually kills Jerry. They are frenemies.

many of the Mr Men characters would have AIBU threads about them and people would be going wild

My point exactly!!! MN threads all over the place if real people.

also Mr Rude’s insults are hilarious and I have to try not to laugh every time I read them

Mischief is 100% the best he is essentially just my second child and we now always say at the end “can you see someone giggling into the night” and we all point at him.

i agree with PP that Mr Nobody is dark. He doesn’t even pick his own colour, Mr Happy essentially picks it because he likes it. And then he’s made into a copy of Mr Happy.

there are seldom any morals. People are just teaching people lessons but they don’t often learn anything

HA!

Omg! I REMEMBER MR UPPITY!!!!!

haven’t read Mr Mean. Worth it?

yes there are many other mean books but I’m currently stuck in a hell of these. They aren’t quick either. If you’re reading 15 of them before bed every night they get old, very quickly. Mr I need a drink.

www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-star/20210513/282046214981321

That was Henry. Talk about sinister. He refused to go out in the rain so they bricked him up in the tunnel for always and always.

I bought the box set of all the Mr Men books for my DS when he was 3, I was feeling very nostalgic and couldn't wait to enjoy them with him. I'm not sure how I didn't realise just how awful they actually are until we started reading them. First up was Mr Tickle - such an uncomfortable read. And then Mr Noisy, nice bit of psychological abuse to make someone conform to society, yeah why not?

DS bloody loved them, at 3 I don't think he understood (or at least I hope he didn't). They're awful!

As a very very small child I could name all of the mr men by sight, except Mr Uppity as I didn't know the word, I called him Mr Brown 😂

There are at least 2 in the Mr Men and Little Miss books with the same meta ending... the character ends up starring in the book you're currently reading. My eldest loves these

Sometimes the author just isn’t even trying

My childrens favourite one is Mr Noisy who clomps about Wobbletown slamming doors and screaming in everyone's faces until the butcher and the baker pretend that they can't hear him one day and he goes home from the shops empty handed and hungry!

I’D LIKE A PIECE OF MEAT!

That used to make my DS laugh his head off, strange child 😂

to be fair, that is quite funny

What about Smudger? Turned into a beverage and who knows what happened to him?

Another engine was left abandoned in a shed, Hiro was left on a siding and forgotten about...

No wonder Sir Topham didn't want the engines unionising!