Amanda A Dream Come True Cartoon By Steve Strange Top < NEWEST >

At its surface level, Amanda: A Dream Come True follows a lonely cartoonist named Ben who draws a character named Amanda. One night, Amanda literally steps off the page into Ben’s cramped apartment.

However, Steve Strange subverts the typical "drawing comes to life" trope. Amanda is not a bubbly, helpful muse. She is fragmented—partially erased, conflicted, and aware that she exists only because of Ben’s sadness. The "dream come true" in the title is tragic. Ben’s dream isn't romance; it’s validation. He wants someone to witness his pain.

The cartoon’s most famous sequence—"The Ink Flood"—occurs when Ben’s subconscious breaks through. The black-and-white world of his sketchbook bleeds into the real world, drowning his furniture in ink. Strange animated this entire 45-second sequence on tracing paper without digital tweening, resulting in a fluid, nightmarish quality that feels organic.

Before analyzing the cartoon, we must understand its creator. Steve Strange (no relation to the Visage singer) emerged from the early 2000s Newgrounds and Bitter Films scene. Unlike the polished output of Disney or Pixar, Strange’s work was gritty, hand-drawn, and psychologically dense. amanda a dream come true cartoon by steve strange top

Strange vanished from public view in 2010, but before his disappearance, he released a trilogy of short films exploring memory, loss, and surrealism. Amanda: A Dream Come True is widely regarded as the crown jewel of this trilogy.

Before we dissect the cartoon, we must understand its creator. Steve Strange (no relation to the Welsh new wave musician of the same name) was a reclusive British-American animator who worked in the shadows of the major studios during the 1980s. While giants like Don Bluth were breaking away from Disney, Strange was operating out of a converted barn in Norfolk, England, using a hybrid technique he called "Emotion Capture."

Strange believed that mainstream animation had become too sterile. He argued that computer-assisted tweening killed the "soul" of a drawing. Consequently, his masterpiece, Amanda: A Dream Come True, was created almost entirely by hand, frame by agonizing frame, over a period of six years (1987–1993). At its surface level, Amanda: A Dream Come

The "Steve Strange Top" moniker that often follows the title is a fan-made distinction. Collectors rank his works by quality and emotional impact; the "Top" tier is reserved for Amanda, as opposed to his earlier, more esoteric shorts like The Clockwork Sparrow or Mildew Manor.

Unlike the saccharine plots of mainstream children’s cartoons, Amanda: A Dream Come True operates on a surreal, emotional wavelength.

Synopsis: The story follows Amanda, a young girl living in a post-industrial coastal town painted in shades of grey and sepia. Her father has disappeared at sea; her mother is a ghost of grief who stares out a rain-streaked window. Amanda suffers from "hypnagogic narcolepsy"—a condition where the boundary between waking life and dreams dissolves. Amanda is not a bubbly, helpful muse

The "Dream Come True" of the title is not a happy metaphor. It is literal.

One night, Amanda dreams of a "Top" (a spinning, golden toy top) that acts as a compass to a subconscious world called Verticolor. In this world, every forgotten hope, lost toy, and broken promise comes to life. To save her father, Amanda must spin the Top to stabilize her waking life, but doing so accelerates her illness, threatening to trap her in the dream forever.

The "Steve Strange Top" is the narrative MacGuffin. Fans debate its meaning endlessly. Is it a reference to the spinning tops used in Inception? (Strange predates Nolan by nearly two decades). Or is it a symbol of childhood’s frantic, futile attempt to stop time? Strange himself once said in a rare 1995 interview: "The top spins until it wobbles. That wobble is the moment you realize you are growing up. Amanda fights the wobble."