Mistakes Were Made

In an illustration, Timmy Failure and his blank-eyed business partner, a polar bear named Total, are in a car that Timmy has driven straight into the living room of the wrong house. Timmy points out that driving a car into someone’s living room is harder than it looks.

Timmy Failure comes from a long line of Failures—the family name was once Fayleure, but this was changed at some point in past generations. Timmy is small and wears a “distinctive scarf.” His polar bear, Total, wandered south in search of food and ended up in Timmy’s house. The family cat didn’t survive the incident, but Timmy has a polar bear now instead.

Timmy presents this book as a historical record of everything he has experienced and learned about working as a detective for his and Total’s investigative agency, TOTAL FAILURE, INC. According to Timmy, there are four main obstacles to his work: his mom, his school, his best friend (whom he refers to as an idiot), and his polar bear/business partner.