HYPOTHETICALWATCHER: "Apart from the fact that you drew it, why does this art look so bad?"
It's supposed to be scary, because October (I was going to make a better drawing, but time got away from me ...so y'all get this instead!). :P
N-E-way,
I've drawn Raindrop before, but this time I have a re-view to go with!
I managed to find one of the 'Raindrop' records, and gave it to my friend Groovy Entertainment to play on his YouTube channel for everyone's entertainment (that and because I don't have a record player).
Incidentally, Groovy's unboxing of my record was his 200th upload. :3
I had two of the 'Raindrop' records when I was very, very little, and I played them a good deal. For this reason, I have a soft spot for 'Raindrop', which is why I've done what I could to bring some modern-day attention to it.
For those who don't like links, the characters of 'Raindrop' are anthropomorphic weather people---think raindrops and clouds with faces. These characters were the creation of Christian missionary: Nancy Woolnough ...why one chooses weather to impart Christian values is anyone's guess.
Our story begins at the home of Mother cloud and Raindrop ...I'm going to presume Mother Cloud IS the home, as Raindrop is an actual raindrop (and rain comes from clouds ...clouds which are themselves just masses of water vapor (this can get pretty weird, so I'm leaving it here).
Anyway,
North Wind knocks at Mother Cloud's door (again, not questioning how this works), to see about taking Raindrop for a ride. ...I'm unsure what the age difference is between North Wind and Raindrop could be, but both Raindrop and Mother Cloud are cool with it, so I am too! ^^
As it turns out, Mother Cloud and North Wind have arranged something special for Raindrop today,
RAINDROP: "Hi, North Wind! Where are we going today?"
NORTHWIND: "A big secret, Raindrop"
RAINDROP: "Oh, tell me, please?"
MOTHERCLOUD: "It's more fun when you don't know where you're going ...and it takes more faith, too!"
I sense a Bible lesson is at hand. ^^
RAINDROP: "I've heard you talk about faith before, Mother---what is it?"
MOTHERCLOUD: "Faith is when your heart goes from itself, and rests only on God---it means you trust God for everything!"
That's ...a simplistic view of faith, and I feel it's somewhat misapplied here as this scenario requires Raindrop to have faith in Mother Cloud and North Wind here. Faith, to me, is less about believing God will get you through something difficult or strange (though it can be applied there, too) and more about exhibiting the courage to uphold that which one believes to be true in the face of resistance or oppression (something relevant today).
And so Raindrop is carried off by North Wind to a reservoir, whereat she's told to 'let go', ie., to rain down upon it.
So... did Raindrop travel with thousands of other raindrops, or is Raindrop somehow ALL the raindrops?
Either way, in a rainfall of faith, Raindrop becomes one with the waters of the city reservoir. While in the reservoir, Raindrop meets Dew Drop ...a water droplet that, along with Raindrop, has become one with the reservoir water (I think there's some sort of collective-consciousness thing that goes on among the water people when they merge).
Dew Drop is a friend Raindrop met in a previous record,
DEWDROP: "Where're you going today, Raindrop? You're always on some trip when I see you"
RAINDROP: "Why, I really don't know, Dew Drop---my mother sent me and North Wind brought me, and I was going to see what happens next"
DEWDROP: "I sure wish I was a raindrop---I always have to stick around here; I don't get to see the world like you do"
So, if water vapor forms a raindrop, it will always be a raindrop; or if dew, will always be dew? :o
The conversation between the two friends is interrupted by an alarm, signaling that water is being drained from the reservoir. Caught in the current of draining water, Raindrop is introduced to Water Pipe.
RAINDROP: "Where are you taking me?"
WATERPIPE: "Down to the railroad company. Doesn't that sound like fun?"
Raindrop wonders what will become of her at the railroad company, with her hope being that she will help power a train whistle (which, in those days, operated on steam).
Raindrop's journey through the water pipe ends in a faucet. Raindrop waits (mostly) patiently for someone to release her from the faucet. In the meanwhile, Raindrop meets another ...'water' in the faucet: Drizzle.
RAINDROP: "How long have you been waiting here to get out?"
DRIZZLE: "Hm... for a long time. I'm so small that other water [???] push past me a gets out first, and then I'm left"
Drizzle describes himself as 'rain in very small drops' ...not that he'd appear that way in the faucet, much less as a boy in a yellow raincoat as his image on the record album cover suggests. But, then, I don't know how water sees water. :P
A friendship is made in the faucet between Raindrop and Drizzle,
DRIZZLE: "I haven't many friends because I'm so small"
YOU COULD BE THE SIZE OF A LAKE, MAYBE EVEN BIGGER! D:
*calms down*
Anyway, Raindrop offers to hold Drizzle's hand when the faucet is activated, so the two can exit together (ensuring Drizzle won't be left behind again).
Some guy comes along and fills a 'pan' of water from the faucet. Raindrop and Drizzle are carried along in the pan for a ways. Drizzle is afraid, for he knows not where they are going. Raindrop offers some comfort,
RAINDROP: "Don't be afraid, just say this after me: Have faith in God"
DRIZZLE: "'Have faith in God'"
RAINDROP: "That's a bible verse! Just say it over and over until you learn it, and then it will help you"
Raindrop is referring to Mark 11:22, "'Have faith in God", Jesus answered".
That verse is from the story of Jesus and the fig tree, which was about the spiritual desolation of Israel. Jesus and His disciples happened on a fig tree which had no fruit (despite the fact figs were in season). Jesus cursed the tree, and He and His followers went on their way to the Jewish temple. There, Jesus discovered a marketplace had been wrongfully set up in the temple (and so Jesus set forth to chastise the moneychangers and overturn their tables). Soon after, Jesus and His Disciples took their leave and passed by the fig tree, which had died, thereby demonstrating Christ's authority and symbolizing the forthcoming destruction of Jerusalem (which had likewise bore no fruits that were pleasing to God).
...I think.
Anyway, Raindrop and Drizzle are poured into the train engine, specifically its steam boiler. As expected, the water begins to heat up. We get a lesson about at what temperature water boils before our friends begin to bubble,
DRIZZLE: "You know what: we're going to turn into steam right away! I've just got an idea that something very wonderful is going to happen ...you feel yourself being lifted?"
The train's whistle blows, powered in part by Raindrop and Drizzle. The two are blown out of the whistle in the form of steam,
RAINDROP: "Drizzle! We helped make the whistle! I got to be the whistle after all!"
DRIZZLE: "Now was it worth all the darkness down there in the boiler ...are you sorry now that you got so hot down there?"
RAINDROP: "Not at all, Drizzle! It was wonderful!"
It's here that Drizzle and Raindrop part ways, because Drizzle turned into a drizzle (yes, that's our explanation).
North wind carries Raindrop back home to Mother Cloud.
Raindrop tells Mother Cloud of her adventure (in faith ...I think). ^^
...and then I noticed I drew the head too far back. So, I told myself if I'm going to draw like an idiot, I may as well make it more obvious. So, out came the child's box of crayons. :3
The 'Christian' tags keep the Inkbunnies at bay. ;) In fairness to me, I started out making a less-
