Indeed one of my most interesting takes of our loveable crew, here is mailbox himself- Eddie Tink! Standing as a moderate 5'8, by far, I took many liberties with my metal man and of course his last name is a nod to being made of metal. In Doghouse, Eddie is still our loveable mailman to our neighbors but at the same time he also has zany robot guy features to teach toddlers that technology is cool. Similar to that robot guy in Yo Gabba Gabba, but a mailman. I also made Eddie a bit older, possibly in his early forties or so to round out the age groups of our neighbors we have in Doghouse and make him a more humble older guy. Even so, he's still his clumsy, helpful and southern guy who's most likely can life two elephants if tested. He's made out of metal, after all.
In his design, I really wanted to change him in a drastic way- not just making him an animal like Julie or Wally, but rather into something that would make sense for his character and give even more charm to him, which lead me to making him into a mailbox. I know, crazy. And I know what you're thinking, he can eat letters and they can go into the storage compartment- because yes. Speaking of, he has two large compartments, one being in his chest to open him up and repair his engine to keep him running and the second being his storage compartment to hold packages. Roughly, his max capacity is holding a whole Julie and Wally combined. Yes, they have tested this and yes Eddie let them. Regardless, Eddie doesn't know who made him at all, but does know that he's made of the same metal as his office and has been sentient for over thirty years before joining the neighborhood. He can't remember the first ten years.
He's extremely close with Frank and Poppy, with Frank being thankful for the robot's services and maybe possibly finding him really nice to be with, since Eddie is a simple guy who wants to be helpful. He's down bad for the humble metal man, truly and Eddie is oblivious to this. Poppy, however, is the only person who can repair Eddie if his clumsy self gets damaged or overworks his system too much- she'll be right over, fix him up and sternly set him straight. She cares for him, in a mother son type way- since Poppy, fun fact, is the second eldest in the neighbor. Howdy beats her to it, being a ghost and haunting for many years. Eddie is the third eldest.
Julie and Sally also like to hang out with Eddie, Julie usually pulling him into their games and using his metal self in some way to enhance her little shenanigans. Like using his compartment as a spaceship, or using Eddie as a car- and even as a suitcase one time. He finds it endearing and enjoys it, even if it tires him out afterwards. With Sally, however, since she usually sometimes passes out during the day- Eddie makes sure she gets home safely by either picking her up or carrying her around in the storage compartment, if it's clear. Overtime, he's become like a father figure to our sleepy gal and is very protective of her. He's a big teddy-bear, just not very bright- even if he is a robot. With our spaniel, however, he has a tricky relationship with him.
Wally loves to chase him down the block if he sees him on the job, and tries to get him to fall over to take his hat. Eddie doesn't know why or how, but Wally thinks of it as a little game which totally doesn't short circuit our metal man at all. Totally. But he finds Wally to be nice company, and usually gives him the best scratches. Besides Barnaby, of course. He talked with Barnaby sometimes too, but they're not too close since Eddie also gets pranked by him a ton with Frank and Poppy. Him and Howdy are the same thing, but they do like talking about their lives before the neighborhood with each other at times.
Two more facts before I leave y'all, Eddie likes to get polished and thinks of it as pampering which Frank is an expert at. It's one of their bonding activities, and got them to talk more when our butterfly found him all dirty and dull one time. It's common to find them doing so, and usually at Frank's house. It's adorable. My last fact is about his 'sleep' mode. When Eddie gets ready for the night, he powers down and practically cannot wake up until the sun comes up- since he needs to charge for the day. However, recently, he's been finding himself wake up near DogHouse for random reasons and figures it's usually a bug or something in his system.
Anyhow, there's a ton about my Eddie Tink and I hope y'all enjoy my mailbox guy! A bit of lore, a bit of some cutesy stuff- but y e a h. A lot. Next will be my Poppy, so stay tuned!
