Tim Timebuster

Deepl-translated 1998 concept summary from the original Danish page.

Concept

This concept applies to the episodes of Tim Timebuster after the Sept/Oct issue. It is based on guidelines from Lisbeth m. Jacobsen (Lego), Annmette Allerrup and Leif Kirkhoff (Courage).

Backstory

Tim Timebuster and his pet monkey Ingo live with his uncle Dr. Cyber, a rather dotty professor who has been researching time travel for many years. Together with Tim, who always helps in his workshop, Dr.Cyber has just finished his biggest project, a time machine.

By mistake Tim accidentally presses the start button and with a zap Tim and Ingo are off through time and space.

They land in the underwater world of Aquazone, here Tim rescues "The Hydronauts", a group of divers living on the ocean floor. In return, they give him their latest invention, a "microzapper". With this gadget, Tim and Ingo can now zap to other worlds.

For our two heroes, a seemingly endless series of action-packed adventures now begins, as they constantly zap from universe to universe...

Characters

Tim Timebuster

Tim Timebuster is an ordinary boy of about 12 years old. He is brave and therefore very adventurous. He often throws himself into the most dangerous situations, but not without fear. He is almost always aware of how dangerous the situation is and breathes a sigh of relief when he is safe again.

Tim is intelligent and quite creative. He often comes up with the most incredible rescue plans when things look bleakest.

He has no superpowers or supernatural abilities. You'd think so, since he's often flying through the air due to blasts from explosions or violent crashes over rocks, buildings and the like. He's also good at intuitively figuring out how to control spaceships, machines and the like.

Tim Timebuster is "tough" and can get a little cocky from time to time, as he has a lot of confidence. At the same time, he has high morals and always helps people in need or takes the side of the weak. He rarely plays pranks and is almost like an adult to Ingo the monkey (who is almost always causing trouble).

Ingo the Monkey

Ingo is the humorous element of the series. He is a trouble maker, and mostly just out to have fun.

There is almost nothing he is afraid of, he rarely has respect for the self-righteous villains they meet in the series. But can in tense situations have a slightly frightened or nervous facial expression as well.

Ingo is very curious and you often see him being very interested by small animals or objects that Tim doesn't see at all.

Ingo's best friend is Tim. Time and again Ingo has to rescue Tim from very dangerous situations, usually he does it in a funny way though.

In each episode, one or more drawn thought bubbles appear from Ingo that relate to the ongoing, often dangerous situation, from a humorous angle.

The Villains

The villains in the series have certain common features. They are based on classic villain clichés.

The villains often lead a group of bad guys. They are superior, power hungry, self-righteous, and even rather evil.

The villains often appear very menacing and dangerous. They are never seen killing or inflicting serious injury, but it may be implied that they have done so or are about to.

The Practical Setup of the Series

An episode in the series consists of four or six pages, depending on whether the Asian or European market is concerned.

Tim and Ingo find themselves in one world/universe for a six-page sequence, after which they zap on to a new world.

The series is continuous, but is often organised so that in each world a rounded story unfolds, so that a new one starts when they zap on to another world.

They never go back to old worlds and old characters are not revisited in later episodes. The reason for this is that the series started at different times in different countries, so certain worlds and characters were never introduced to a large group of readers. It also makes it easier for new readers to get into the series.

Story Structure and Themes

The main inspiration for each chapter is the Lego products and the universe descriptions. Often my depiction of the world changes slightly from the universe description, but maintains the same feel.

At the beginning there is always a summary of the previous chapter.

In the universe descriptions there is often a conflict described between an evil and good group. Tim almost always becomes an important pawn in the conflict, always on the side of the good guys.

There is a lot of emphasis on entertainment value. Thus, in each episode, there is a balance between the humorous situations, and exciting action sequences. Often the focus is on facial expressions.

Many unreal and fantastic elements appear in the series, taken from the product descriptions and products, including living skeletons, spaceships, dragons, wizards, magic, etc. In this context, it is important that the themes do not become too occult, religious, political or similar.

Each section always ends with a cilffhanger situation, and a "to be continued in the next issue." text box.

When Tim and Ingo zap from one world to another, it is often shown by the fact that in a single picture they are somewhere between worlds, a place that is often drawn rather psychedelicly. This is important to separate the different worlds.

They use a micro time zapper that can be placed on any craft, by activating the start button they are instantly zapped into a new world.

The Products

Each section always contains two to five (sometimes more) products from that universe. Unless otherwise communicated, I select the products, focusing on the most distinctive.

In the comic, the products can sometimes do more than the functions described in the product description, e.g. a spear is used as a laser weapon, submarines are used as time cruisers, or products are converted into something else entirely. However, these are minor additions and if the added features do not seem immediately natural they are always explained via the story.

The products are always drawn so that they are easily recognisable. This does not mean that all details are included, on the contrary, they are often very simplified precisely to appear more clearly in the series.

As for the characters, their appearance in relation to the products is very freely chosen in order to make them appear as vivid as possible in the comic strip.

Care is taken to ensure that the colours match the products exactly, with the exception that lighting effects in some images may give the product colours a different look.

The background moods are mostly based on the colour attitude applied to the boxes.

The Drawings

The drawing style is partly based on the new wave of American superhero comics, which place a lot of emphasis on extreme action and pacing in the pages. In addition, a cartoony element has been added to make the drawings more child-friendly.

Elements That Do Not Appear in the Series

No other toys appear in the series, with the exception of Ingo's drawn speech bubbles, where certain types of classic toys may appear. So far, beach animals, beach shovels and the like have appeared.

Candy also does not appear, although again with the exception of Ingo's drawn speech bubbles.

Death and illness are avoided as far as possible, although colds, dizziness and the like may appear. Likewise, blood is avoided in the series.

Tim's parents are never mentioned in the series.

Kim Hagen 18-05-98