Total is a major character featured in the 2020 Disney+ original film Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made. He is a polar bear who serves as Timmy Failure's partner.
Background
Personality
Total is a 1500-pound polar bear who serves as Timmy's imaginary friend as well as being his partner for Total Failure. Despite his massive size and being an animal used to cold weather, Total is capable of being friends with Timmy who lives in Portland, Oregon, often following him wherever he goes or whether he is at home or in other situations. In spite of this, Total occasionally becomes distracted in certain situations where Timmy is absent, such as the case where he leaps into a pool and interacts with an inflatable seal (which Total mistakes it for food) or when he enters the back of a fish truck to get fish for his meal.
Like real-life polar bears, Total is capable of swimming underwater, such as the case where he swims in the underwater viewing area so that he could find Timmy so that he could free him from the zoo or during the part where he pounces on an inflatable seal toy on a pool in the neighborhood. Despite not being able to talk and his dialogues only going through roars, he also shows affection to Timmy in certain situations, showing that Timmy cares for him.
Physical appearance
Total is shown to have the common characteristic of what a real polar bear has, specifically having a large amount of white fur all over his body with black fur located beneath the white fur. He is shown to walk on all fours like what real polar bears do.
Role in the film
Total is introduced at the beginning of the film where he was described as a 1500-pound bear where Timmy Failure describes him about his adventures at Stumptown, explaining that he was the one who founded the Failure family's house. As Total approaches Timmy, he feeds him a bowl of cereal just before Timmy made his bear a partner of Total Failure Inc. Throughout Timmy's adventures, Total follows Timmy wherever he goes throughout his adventures with Total himself being his imaginary friend wherever he hangs out with him throughout his life, despite his massive size. However, one day, Timmy tells his imaginary friend to stay, due to a no-bear policy at school. Later at recess, Timmy sits with Total who is sitting next to a fence where he engages in a private conversation with him.
The next day, Total follows his pal Timmy planning to find the Failure Mobile so that he would continue solving the case in addition to one of Timmy's classmates Corrina being revealed to be of Russian descent. One night during dinner with Patty and Crispin, the latter offers Timmy if he would be interested in going around the precinct, which Timmy denies, telling Crispin that he has a polar bear as his sidekick. A flashback sequence shows Total approaching Crispin in his office where he sweeps away the computer monitors, much to Crispin shocked to see a polar bear inside his office.
The following day, Total rests his head on a bench while Timmy passes him. Total is later seen walking with the streets where he interacts with a tree swing, ripping it off. During the part where Timmy and Rollo are on their way to the bank, Total appears as Timmy's backup partner who would protect him, which the former sneaks into a fish truck to eat fish. Timmy engages in a backup plan to send Total to protect him from the officers. Later during an imagination montage of finding the missing Failure Mobile, Timmy narrates that he told Total to avoid spotlights, steer clear of obvious entrances, or keeping away distractions, but the bear did not listen. Timmy told him to find the Failure Mobile with caution, albeit Total's size being too massive.
Later, when Timmy is at the Bonneville Dam, he tries to get Total for help, but gets no response from Total. After Timmy was suspended from school along with his agency being shut down, he allows Total to be sent to the Oregon Zoo, sad that his life became miserable without an imaginary friend to accompany him. Timmy remembers the good moments he had with Total just before he enters the polar bear enclosure at the zoo, causing Timmy to lay off his partner. Furthermore, when Corrina tricked Timmy into giving him a cookie with a listening device, he plans to get help from Crispin that he needs to find Total and rescue him from the zoo. As Crispin asks a cashier at the zoo entrance to know where the polar bear exhibit is located (which he tells him that the zoo's polar bears are off exhibit, due to their enclosure being refurbished), Timmy arrives at the Gateway to the Arctic section of the zoo - unaware that the exhibit is temporarily closed due to it under renovation - so that he could find Total and reunite with him.
As Timmy arrives at the polar bear underwater viewing area, he finally finds Total, who is happy to see his partner back as he swims towards Timmy in a reunion just before the latter returns to Crispin who reveals that he freed the bear. Total later appears sitting on the back of Crispin's truck during his plan to stop the purse snatcher while Timmy decides to let him take care of the robber, only for Timmy to back away to hit a pole when an elderly woman requested him to pass, due to Total blocking her way.
Furthermore, Total is seen supporting Timmy Failure during the Animal Awareness rally at Cathedral Park organized by the Carverette Elementary School. As Timmy delivers his speech about allowing imaginary friends (especially polar bears) to the attendees at the event, everyone becomes happy that Timmy made a big impact to the world just as Total happily roars. Later when Timmy believes that Mr. Crocus is missing and that Corrina "captured" him, Total follows alongside Timmy to help him in his plans to "rescue" him.
Trivia
- A running gag in the film is whenever Total interacts with an object in a minor plot point showcasing him in certain scenes where people are absent, Timmy would occasionally say "That's a demerit".
- Although the CGI effect was provided for certain scenes where Total appears, the Timmy Failure creative team also hired Canadian actor Michael Adamthwaite who wore a polar bear costume for Total's movements in many scenes.[1]
- Adamthwaite was not directly credited as portraying Total and was credited as "Creature Reference"; nevertheless, he was confirmed to have been portraying the polar bear through the use of motion capture.[1]
- There is lots of debate about this in the Timmy Failure fandom, but there is no evidence in the books or the movie that Total is imaginary. In the book, Total is able to interact with physical objects - such as when he breaks a desk. In the movie, the closest thing to evidence is Crispin telling the zoo ticket attendant that Timmy was "under the impression" that his partner was at the zoo.
References
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