Antsy lives with his Italian American family in Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn. Although his given name is Anthony, thanks to his family’s Brooklyn dialect which drops some vowels and the “th” sound in words, people pronounced his name “Antny,” which got switched to “Antsy” when he was little. Antsy has an older brother, Frankie, and a younger sister, Christina. As a middle child, Antsy often feels overlooked. Antsy’s dad is an executive in product development at Pisher Plastic Products—famous for its popular urinal strainer. Dad brings home a life-size mannequin and declares it is made from unbreakable plastic. Frankie utters a skeptical cuss word and gets smacked by Antsy’s mom. Dad charges Antsy with trying to break the dummy. Antsy is proud to help; he names the dummy Manny Bullpucky—substituting the “pucky” part for the blunter part of Frankie’s word.

Antsy’s two friends, Howie Bogerton and Ira Goldfarb, help him test Manny. Howie throws Manny off a bridge while Antsy watches from below and Ira films the event. Manny lands on the rocks and loses his head. Antsy hears a stranger’s voice and, for an instant, sees Manny’s head hovering in the air, then he notices a boy holding it.