I’ll admit, Toy Story has warped my brain.

I can’t help imagining stories for the toys my kids own sometimes. For example, there’s a little farm set we have, and Tristen let one of the boys take the brown cow to the bath one time, where it stayed for several days.

In my mind, the cow knew it wasn’t a bath toy and wanted desperately to get back to the farm to be with the farmer, the horse, the pig, the white cow, and the gorilla. Yes, there’s a gorilla because it’s similar in size and make to the farm animals, and since it’s an animal and has nowhere else to go, it became part of the farm.

The other farm toys were also worried about the cow, of course, but nobody was able to get in or out of the tub because it’s too tall and slick.

So one day while I was in the bathroom and saw the cow just lying in the tub, I took pity on her, shook as much water that had leaked into her out as I could, and returned her to her farm family. And there was much rejoicing.

Now Iron Man…

For Christmas someone, I think my parents, got the kids a set of Marvel superhero car, the kind you pull back then let loose to make them go. I name them when we play with them because, I mean, it’s me… there’s no way my kids won’t know some superheroes.

One day a couple months ago when I was taking the twins to play at Torrie’s house, someone walked out the door with the Iron Man car. They might have had another one too; I know the Hulk car ended up at their grandparents’ house at some point and made it back (because I saw it and wanted to keep them all together. I’m a completionist).

One time more recently when we were over there I saw the Iron Man car and decided to bring him home. After all, they had Captain America to lead them, but they still needed Iron Man’s guidance and ingenuity.

When we got back and I wound him back to make him go however, the wheels seemed to kind of stick. It would wind back, but it sounded like it was already wound to the max, and the wheels would hardly turn. They wouldn’t even budge if you put it down on anything.

All the other Avengers, Captain America, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, and the Hulk, were concerned for their pal. They were glad he was back, of course, but he couldn’t go. His wheels stuck even if you were just pushing him without winding him up. And he felt useless, of course, which is not a good thing for a recovering alcoholic. (Tony Stark battles alcoholism a lot in the comics, for those of you who don’t know. That’s not the kind of backstory I’d assign my kids’ toys. Well, I could see me coming up with that, but I didn’t invent that in this case.)

I was thinking I could fix him. I didn’t know what was wrong exactly, but I couldn’t help thinking about Wheezy, the squeaky toy penguin from Toy Story 2 whose squeaker was broken and feared he was going to be thrown away. And Tristen is always looking to declutter, so I knew Tony Stark wasn’t going to last long in the condition he was in. (Sorry, babe, but you’re the villain in this story. ?)

So today I decided to take action to save him. I had the idea a few days ago that if I could just open him up I could figure out what was wrong with his mechanism, but the screws are really small and I didn’t know exactly where our glasses repair case, which contained some small screwdrivers, would be.

I thought about fixing Iron Man off and on for a few days, and finally today I decided to look through the junk drawer. I’m always a little hesitant to just rifle through there because it’s decently organized for a junk drawer. Fortunately I didn’t have to make a mess because, for whatever reason, the glasses repair kit was right on top!

I took Iron Man apart and his mechanism dropped right into place as soon as I lifted the top shell of the toy. I didn’t even have to do anything! I tested it out before putting him back together, and he would and sped just like new, if not better! I put him back together and Tony Stark zoomed off the dining room table to be played with every now and then like the rest of the Avengers!

And that is the story of how Toy Story has warped my brain I saved Iron Man.