Rampaging toilet terrorizes children

Susannah Breslin is a guestblogger on Boing Boing. She is a freelance journalist who blogs at Reverse Cowgirl and is at work on a novel set in the adult movie industry.

Apparently, Colorado's Denver Water is trying to get people to make sure that they don't overuse their toilets, or some such thing. No running toilets. No excessive flushing. No leaky toilets. That's what I gather, at least.

So, I guess they have some kind of toilet mascot? The "Running Toilet"? That pretty much amounts to a man in a toilet suit? Which sounds sort of unpleasant?

According to The Latest Word, Mr. Toilet got all crazy last weekend and bum-rushed a big water fountain where a bunch of kids were playing, spreading its "Use Only What You Need" toilet message hither and yon, while the kids were trying to play.

I don't think the toilet meant to scare them, but you have to admit that a giant toilet appearing out of nowhere and running through the fountain is a bit weird.

Agreed. Don't let the toilet terrorists win, kiddies, or we all lose. (Via Copyranter. Image via The Latest Word.)

Bonus link dedicated to Xeni "MJFan4RVR" Jardin: Toiletman moonwalking.

• [Anonymous]

  Everybody here should go to New Delhi and visit the International Museum of the Toilet — it is a real place and way more interesting that you might think. India’s best No.2 attraction…

• [bitslayer]

  Eleven years ago, my sister-in-law had this exact same idea while working as water conservation planner in Savannah, GA. She recruited my brother, who became Les Waters, the Running Toilet Person. Les would show up at all the Savannah Sand Gnat baseball games and race kids around the bases. Perhaps his biggest moment of fame was when he appeared on The Daily Show. Sadly they didn’t mention the water conservation angle. The best part about Les is how much the kids loved him. I can’t find any pictures, but here is a brief mention in the NY Times.

• [Anonymous]

  the sign on his back says “stop running toilets, fyi”

• [deejayqueue]

  if the person wearing the costume has to pee…
  and he pees in the suit…

• [Anonymous]

  That fellow sure has a good head on his shoulders.

• [nanuq]

  Having their children being chased by a toilet isn’t the usual sort of thing that parents worry about.

• [glace neuf]

  he escaped from south park’s island of misfit mascots…

• [TroofSeeker]

  I seen this guy, and, under intense rectal pressure, I chased him for three blocks into an alley, where he turned and pulled a scroungy toilet bowl brush on me. Unsympathetic bass turd! I ended up dumping behind a dumpster. Then some guy inside it starts yelling at me. Sheesh!

• [Anonymous]

  Oh man. Can you imagine if they did that while there were toddlers playing in the fountain? They’d be starting potty training all over again from the psychological trauma.

• [nosehat]

  @#2: I had the same thought, that this could be a disaster for toilet training.

  Which is why I’m laughing so hard at this.

  My hat is off to you, scary running toilet man!

• [Takuan]

  kind of hope he trips

• [Red Leatherman]

  Tommy toilet says “A clean asshole is a happy asshole”

• [TheMadLibrarian]

  Potty bad!

• [FLG]

  New Batman movie – The Dark Wipe.

• [TJ S]

  I feel like I should post a link to Denver Water’s conservation site: http://www.useonlywhatyouneed.org/

  They’ve also done art-installation type advertisements. For example, stacking hundreds of orange painted oil drums at one corner of a busy intersection, with large white text driving the point home that we all use that much water for…something.

• [Takuan]

  can’t find it, but Ted Richards’ The Forty Year Old Hippie in Child Person and the Potty Monster would be opposite here.

• [Takuan]

  http://www.eatliver.com/img/2008/3674.jpg

• [IamInnocent]

  As a summer job, this guy didn’t pull a royal flush.

• [Evil Jim]

  I want that job. Terrorizing children is my forte.

• [Stefan Jones]

  #8 Put a lid on it!

• [EH]

  I think there needs to be a battle between the Denver Toilet and Hard Gay.

• [Anonymous]

  Where’s Captain Underpants when you need him?

• [Xeni Jardin]

  AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH

• [Lorre]

  He looks a bit top heavy in that thing…hopefully he is adequately insured. But I love the ‘running toilet’ thing…it works!!

  Celebrate Life – Chase a Toilet!

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    Lorre,

    Please don’t include your e-mail in your comments. Thanks.

• [Anonymous]

  I totally was at the Black Arts Festival this weekend and saw this exact toilet run past me. We danced with each other for a while, but then it jogged off. It needed to be RUNNING to prove its point, after all.

  -I definitely saw it again later in the day. It was a sure conversation stopper. Everyone in the group that I was in stopped talking and just stared at it for a while. At first in disbelief, then just to watch others’ reactions.

  I really like that it is eye catching. Denver Water has some really exciting and motivating campaigns.

• [Chuck]

  I live in Denver, and I have yet to encounter this creature. (May need its D&D wandering monsters stats for running toilets so I’ll know how to arm myself … or something … however that stuff works.)

  I know that one or two of the people who used to wear the Chip costume at CU-Boulder had a tendency to misbehave around children (another groped me during a football game). Now I’m wondering if certain costumed pervs found a new job.

• [ackpht]

  We had a walking toilet in our 4th of July parade this year- something about water conservation.

  We also had Santa Claus and Elvis and the Arabian horse club and a cement mixer decked out in red-white-and-blue bunting, but we have those every year.

  No belly dancers or marching vertebrae or mariachi bands riding in Pinzgauers this year, tho.

• [Anonymous]

  There was a toiletman on the 4th plinth last week (see http://www.oneandother.co.uk)