Calvin has a balloon. Suddenly, with no particular prompting or explicable reason, it takes him up into the air, higher and higher above ground, leading him on yet another bizarre adventure.
Tropes
- Bigger on the Inside: Calvin's transmogrifier gun is clearly much bigger than his pockets given how small his legs are, so there's no other explanation for how he could possibly fit it in there.
- Call-Back: Calvin's transmogrifier gun from a prior story shows up again at the end of the arc, when Calvin is free-falling back to Earth and checks his pockets for a potential way to survive. He's able to use it to transmogrify into a light particle and zip back home safely.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: Calvin tries to tie the balloon string on his belt loop so he can rest his hands. He ends up flipping upside down, the balloon pulling his pants down (up), exposing his underwear. Luckily, no one can see him, although he is concerned about a potential plane flying by.
- Dream Reality Check: While falling, Calvin realizes this is probably a dream, and tries to force himself to wake up by looking down at the ground and gasping. It doesn't work.
- I Fell for Hours: Once Calvin's balloon pops, he has time to wonder if he's just dreaming, ponder if he'll see his life flash before his eyes when he hits the ground, check his pockets for gum, find his transmogrifier gun, accidentally use it to turn into a safe, and then turn himself into a light particle.
- Literal Genie: While preparing to use the transmogrifier gun to survive his fall, Calvin points it at himself and declares happily "I'm safe!". The gun fires, and Calvin is transformed...into a safe, still plummeting at breakneck speeds towards the ground.
- Skewed Priorities: On being lifted up high into the air by the balloon, Calvin's immediate concern is Hobbes reading his comic books while he's not there. Only after that does he think about letting his parents know what happened to him.
