diff --git a/code/__HELPERS/text.dm b/code/__HELPERS/text.dm
index ddaf73e00ea..ac392a72090 100644
--- a/code/__HELPERS/text.dm
+++ b/code/__HELPERS/text.dm
@@ -420,3 +420,8 @@ var/list/binary = list("0","1")
 	t = replacetext(t, "\[/list\]", "</ul>")
 
 	return t
+
+/proc/char_split(t)
+	. = list()
+	for(var/x in 1 to length(t))
+		. += copytext(t,x,x+1)
diff --git a/code/game/objects/items/toys.dm b/code/game/objects/items/toys.dm
index 390ab2612bd..7ab9b6001ac 100755
--- a/code/game/objects/items/toys.dm
+++ b/code/game/objects/items/toys.dm
@@ -384,12 +384,12 @@
 	dat = ""
 
 /obj/item/toy/crayon/proc/crayon_text_strip(text)
-	var/list/base = splittext(lowertext(text),"")
+	var/list/base = char_split(lowertext(text))
 	var/list/out = list()
 	for(var/a in base)
 		if(a in (letters|numerals))
 			out += a
-	return jointext(out, null)
+	return jointext(out,"")
 
 /obj/item/toy/crayon/Topic(href, href_list, hsrc)
 	var/temp = "a"