Category Archives: Princess Pinky

My opening farewell

No, I’m not going anywhere, so you can stop hyperventilating right this minute. But the real life inspiration for Princess Pinky, that American icon of the Smithsonian institute, out there in the OTHER Washington, Bao Bao, daughter of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, has to leave for China next week. So, devastated as we are, we must say farewell to that adorable ball of fluff that we love so well. All this month, Fabulous Furry Friday celebrates her royal self. So here’s today’s plethora of Pinkys!!!!

Pinky is a STAR!!!!!

Princess Pinky helps with new years resolutions

You say you want a resolution, well, you know, it is hard to change a bear….

Could Mama Mei Xiang really be contemplating letting Pinky loose on the pandy kindy?

I keep hearing the song “bears on the Run” going through my head…the ski run, that is!

Never say “No” to a Pinky!

Those girls are a force to be reckoned with.

Tune in again on Sunday for the rest of the Book 7 cover reveal!

Panda On!
Bob T Panda

A Farewell to Pandas

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We knew this day was coming… the day when we would have to bid a fond farewell to the light and the hope of Washington DC, the inimitable Bao Bao. Here, in these pages, she is better know as Princess Pinky, the terror of Connecticut Avenue, purloiner of Banky Pigs, and tormentor of little brothers. I did not set out to make her a tyrant. It’s just how she evolved. And, I gotta say, she has been a blast to write and draw, and just because the actual Boa Boa is being sent to her ancestral homeland, it’s no reason that Pinky can’t remain here.

Sorry Bubba. She refused to go.

So, as she prepares for her journey later this month, let’s have a tribute to Princess Pinky!!!

Pinky tests her powers….

Pinky has always stood for…um…Pinky’s rights! Aw…this was a cake walk to what’s coming now.

National Zoo cub makes mom Mei Xiang disappear

Pinky gets her wand!

Princess Pinky is fooled by Mei Xiang at the National Zoo

Oh Princess Pinky, mom has a trick or two up her paw, I think…

Princess Pinky and her very first tutu, gifted to her by her big brother Tai Shan!

Pinky answers difficult questions from the press in her own way. So much for Fake News!

Don’t worry, we’ll bring you more of Pinky’s greatest hits all through February!

And hold on to your hats! Book 7 of The Panda Chronicles is making it’s way through production and will hopefully be available by the time of the Atlanta Cubvention! Stay tuned to this station. And in the meantime, make sure your library is up to date with all the other Panda Chronicles collections!

Panda On!
Bob T Panda!

Death and Taxes

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Accountability is always the question, isn’t it? Especially when it comes to paying taxes and Bubba is right to distrust the tax collector. Should Pinky required to hand over her tax returns? Certainly there are one or two other people around DC who might need to do that.

Meanwhile, I have been so heartened both by the contributions that are being made in honor of The Panda Chronicles (“And Mehitabel! Don’t forget Mehitabel!” said…um…Mehitabel.) and also by the nice notes people have sent me. It means A WHOLE LOT to me that these ‘toons mean a lot to you. I am honored that you spend part of your busy days reading what I do. Those comments really brightened my day, and that is no small thing in these perilous times. You can read about my project here.

Meanwhile, Pinky is up to her old tricks…

Uh oh…it’s the Pinky Revenue Service!

I’m trying not to think about the real Bao Bao leaving DC for China later this month. They haven’t announced the date, and I don’t think they will. She has one last party on February 11th, and sometime after that, a luxury limo will pull up to the panda house, she’ll gather her trunks and suitcases, kiss her mom and dad goodbye, poke her little brother, and head for the airport. But her alter ego is not going anywhere. I hope that will make the sadness of her departure be somewhat less. I know her real life friends Charlene, Maria, and Karen will visit her often.

Panda On and Keep Marching!
Bob T Panda

Day 28: 31 Days of Pandas

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We have what…3 more days of 2016? Can you wait to say Buh-BYE to 2016 and welcome (and I use the term loosely) 2017 into being? Not that I think 2017 is going to be all that much better, only that 2016 will be OVER! So, here is something to cheer you up: a short video of Canadian Panda Daddy Da Mao (I bet you thought I was gonna say Justin Trudeau) engaging in a little performance art. Who says Pandas aren’t creative?

Meanwhile, here is today’s brand new ‘toon!

Sad.

To be honest, 2016 wasn’t a totally sad year…I had a great experience in the Nevada SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) Mentor program, where I worked with my brilliant mentor who is now my brilliant agent, (am I sucking up? why yes, I am!), I spoke at the 2016 Pandamonium Convention in beautiful sunny San Diego, and got to see panda-daddy extraordinaire Gao Gao, maybe for the last time, as he is now living in retirement due to age related health problems.

I participated in several art exhibitions, and have not fallen down and hurt myself (which is good, especially if He Who Must Not Be Named cuts off my health insurance in the months to come) and Mehitabel is still alive, if not exactly lively. Hey, I just read about a cat who is 31, so quit your whining, Mr. Kitty! You’re a spring chicken.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for more Year in Review ‘toons, and then on Friday for the conclusion of The Twelve Days of CrispMoss! I am here for YOU!

Panda On,
Bob T Panda

Day 21: 31 Days of Pandas

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We have reached the darkest day of the year, in more ways than one. If not for pandas, I don’t know that I would be able to go on. But here are pandas, and here is Pinky and Bubba. You will be happy (or not) to know that Pinky has gotten over her bout of niceness and caring and is back to…um…being Pinky.

But first, here’s today’s travels of Mini Bob Photo!

Mini Bob hobnobs with one of the locals! She’s wearing a tiara! Could it be one of the Royals?

But now, let’s get right to our feature ‘toon!

surely you didn’t expect Pinky’s good behavior toward Bubba to last, did you?

It is encouraging to note that Bubba is getting wise to his sister’s ways, but he…um…still can’t resist getting wound up by her. He best keep a close watch on Banky Pig, just in case Pinky tries something sneaky.

Panda On!

We All Feel Like This

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Alas, poor Pinky. She so thought she was going to win. She had the perfect color of pink picked out to re-paint the White House, so it could be the Pink-y House. I don’t know WHAT she is going to do with all those hundreds of gallons of paint that is stored in the elephant house. We all feel for Pinky.

But what has Pinky been doing since the election?

Not even CUPPYCAKES????

CALL IN THE RESERVES!!!!

Panda On!
Bob T Panda

Coming soon! 31 Days of Pandas! Where in the world is Mini Bob?

A Very Merry Birthday

24 Replies

One* downside of only doing 2 cartoons a week, is that sometimes events slip through the cracks and I don’t get to them in a timely manner. All of the panda birthday events happen in a very short period of time (not quite as short as the panda season of love, but, you know, those events are connected.) But recent news of the upcoming birthdays of two much loved Pandarazzi of The National Zoo gives me the perfect excuse to post this new ‘toon now!

I am particularly indebted to those regular zoo visitor panda photographers that chronicle the real pandas that fuel my panda satire obsession. I am far from pandas and my opportunities to visit them are limited, so to all who share their photos and videos on Fezbook and Twidder, this one is for you too!

Happy Birthday, Merry and Allen R. I hope your birthday celebration is everything you hope it will be!

Bubba flunks “cake”

Up and away…..

Have a panful day out there, and for goodness sakes, have some CAKE!!!!!

Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

Thanks to @houseofcubs and @Marcelopachecop @gisela_smith @pinkypanda0823 @BaoBaoPanda @MommyMei98 @tiantianpanda97 @BooBooPanduh my twitter pals that alerted me to Merry and Allen’s birthday! Hope you guys enjoy this birthday surprise!

The other downside are the wails of despair when folks realize they have to wait another 4 days for a new ‘toon.

Where is Mittens

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Something happened at the debate between Pinky, Bob and Mittens and nobody will tell us what happened. Where IS Mittens? Investigations are now underway, in an attempt to get to the bottom of his mysterious disappearance. Pinky isn’t talking and Mehitabel is claiming debate moderator privilege. Is that a real thing?

Uh oh. Is Bubba about to rat someone out?

If you have any information leading to the return of Mittens, ~~we hope you’ll just keep it to yourself~~ call the #WhereIsMittens hotline at 1-800-BAD-CATZ

Bubba better hope that Pinky is not listening in on the Panda House Party line. I don’t think Pinky will take kindly to any perceived disloyalty.

If you are enjoying these cartoons and wish you could read a whole lot of them at once, even during a power outage, consider adding The Panda Chronicles books to your personal collection! you can find them here! Your book purchases help support The Institute for Contemporary Panda Satire! (That’s me!)

Be the Bear,
Bob T Panda

Mr. Bun Returns: Part 2

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I think it is a wonderful thing that Mr. Bun has returned to his rightful place, but I’m with Pinky on this one. I don’t think Mr. Bun wrote that letter any more than Pinky does. And the printing is way too neat and tidy for the twins to have written it. Perhaps, Unka Justin, Prime Minister and panda fan No. 1 of Canada wrote it for Mr. Bun. After all, he wants a reasonable panda to be commander in chief in his neighbor to the south.

Did Unka Justin write this letter?

I love that Bubba is still a believer in the powers of Mr. Bun. He believes that Mr. Bun could have written this letter and of course, he is in total agreement with the sentiments of being nicer to Bubba (and Unka Bob!)

So, what’s up next? I guess you’ll just have to come by and see. For those of you who follow me via Fezbook, you should be aware that the folks at FB are continually tweaking the algorithms (whatever the heck THEY are) so that posts go to fewer and fewer people who might want to see them. So even if you have signed up to see posts from me, you might not, depending on the whims or casting of animal entrails that they might do over there to determine who sees what.

So the only SURE way to make sure you don’t miss any Pandy Goodness, is to subscribe to this blog to have pandas appear in your inbox 3 times a week. The sign up is at the very top of the right hand column here. It says, Invite Pandas to Your Inbox. The second sign up right below that, is if you want to be on an email list that I may or may not send out additional pandynews on a very irregular basis. It is headed by Get Even More Pandas and when I have super pandy news, I use this email to let the inner panda circle know. You do want to be in the inner panda circle don’t you?

And for those of you on Twidder, I heard that Mr. Bun now has his own Twidder account. I can hardly keep up with all my characters getting their own Twidder accounts. Sigh…

Be the Bear,
Bob T Panda

Mr. Bun Returns

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I know it has taken a little too long for the return of Mr. Bun but in ‘toon time, it has been no time at all. And isn’t it wonderful that Pinky is so technologically tuned in? Do we know where Mittens has been poofed to? Do we care? No, all we care about is that Mr. Bun returns to the place he belongs…with Pinky.

Of course, if Pinky DOES become president, how will it look if she brings her stuffie bunny to the inauguration?

Oh, Mr. Bun! Where have you been?

As a side note, we’ve been having a few technical difficulties over here, which for the moment seem to have resolved themselves. (That’s how I usually resolve technical difficulties: shut down laptop, go to dinner, have a cuppycake and hope that whatever was wrong no longer is when I turn on the computer again. ) For some reason I was not able to upload today’s new cartoon, and I was afraid I was going to have to figure out some low tech work around – print and deliver personally to hundreds of people around the world, perhaps? But while that might have been lots-o-fun, the time required and the cost of world-wide personal delivery was beyond my resources. So I am happy to report that the problem seems to have gone away by itself. Huzzah!

We will have more from Mr. Bun this Wednesday, and then who knows what I will have prepared for you for next week. The Tour de France is coming up soon, so we will revisit the danger of selfies at the Tour, as well as other selfie hazards in Fabulous Furry Friday’s encore extravaganza!

Don’t forget to…

Be the Bear
Bob T Panda