Concise profiles of Arnold the Fuzzy and supporting cast
So I thought, with the number of named Fuzzies increasing almost daily, I could pull together descriptions of each one somewhere so we don't get them all confused. No particular reason why it's on LJ, but at least I can find the post again through tags if I forget the URL.
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First, let's make the distinctions between different types of Fuzzy.
Regular Fuzzies are the originals. A ball of fluff, two antennae, two eyes, and not much else. If they existed in real life, we'd estimate them to stand at about 10cm high at adult height. They are capable of holding things, despite lacking limbs They have no visible orifices for eating, speaking or for anything else; nobody else can tell which gender a particular Fuzzy is, and the Fuzzies themselves seem happy to leave it ambiguous. Never mind the question about where baby Fuzzies come from, although a few illustrations have depicted them hatching out of eggs.
Notable regular Fuzzies: Arnold, Travis, Herman Hirwin, Steve Hirwin.
Umbrella-head Fuzzies are slightly larger than regular Fuzzies - 15cm at adult height, 25cm including the umbrella. Their antennae are smaller proportionately than those of regular Fuzzies, they've got mouths and... other holes, and they have two feet instead of none. The umbrella is a unique defense mechanism evolved to protect the Umbrella-head Fuzzies from the harsh conditions of their homeland. It provides shade both from the heat and the sun's dangerous UV flares, as well as being a deterrent to predators and an important part of their mating ritual (quote from original design sheet: "look how big mine is!"). They're notable for being the only Fuzzy variant that appear to have a vaguely plausible anatomy. More details are available on our original design sheet.
Notable Umbrella-head Fuzzies: Ed, Li'l Anus, Stencil Clifford, Makina.
Meeps are either mutated Fuzzies, evolved Fuzzies or devolved Fuzzies - the distinction isn't entirely clear. They lack antennae, and have dark triangular beaks as well as visible tails. And they're only capable of saying "meep". In all other respects, they're identical to regular Fuzzies, right down to the ambiguous genders.
Catfuzzies are Fuzzies with cat-ears; depending on the Catfuzzy, they may also have bushy tails and/or whiskers. They're noticeably larger even than Umbrella-head Fuzzies, at around the size of an average housecat. They're carnivores, and prey on several of the other Fuzzy variants. However, some are domesticated, and are even capable of limited speech. Although they have actual ears, they retain their antennae.
Other variants on the Fuzzy template include Flowerfuzzies, Elefuzzies, Potahto Fuzzies, Fat Fuzzies, Fuzzy Crossdressers, Fuzzycils (pencil-shaped Fuzzies) and basically anything else I think up on the spot. But none of them have been considered cute enough to get their own personalities. Such a shame.
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Anyway, here are the actual profiles, roughly in the order that they were thought up:
Arnold the Fuzzy
- A regular Fuzzy. The first to be given an actual name. His personality came a little while after. For convenience's sake we call him male, but like with all regular Fuzzies it's impossible to be sure about that. Travis is his mother-slash-father.
- He looks about as generic as regular Fuzzies can get, but he has the most accessories of any Fuzzy-related character which he uses to look slightly more notable. Among these are an eyepatch (on the cover of the second Arnold book, but not featured in the actual story), a pirate hook, a backpack, a propeller cap, a katana, a ninja mask, a "university hat" (I have no idea what the proper name is) and a pair of goggles. His map is also technically an accessory, but it's never actually on him at any given time.
- He's voiced by me, so his voice is effectively mine pitched up about an octave. Meaning, squeaky. In his earlier incarnations he had an American accent, but this Brit found said accent difficult to imitate consistently and it was eventually dropped.
- His background is as follows: he used to live in Fuzzyland, and left for an unspecified reason. He can't make his way home right now because his map keeps getting blown away by the wind, which does this out of spite. His adventures consist of him trying to retrieve said map, and the characters he encounters along the way. Oddly, these adventures almost always dump him in the vicinity of Mansfield, Notts.
- His personality tends towards being exasperated, but he's polite towards people he isn't familiar with and he can also be surprisingly insightful. Unfortunately, these insightful moments tend to be sidetracked after a couple of sentences. He scares easily, for example if he hears a loud noise behind him or if he sees a spider.
- He's the lead singer of the band Arnold and the Fuzzies, who mainly perform squeaky covers of songs from Chicago.
- In his spare time, he presents the radio show Fuzzypill Hour. Its tagline is "the show which doesn't last for an hour". It's also billed as a music show, but the presenters spend all their time screaming at each other and hosting phone-in contests.
Travis
- Arnold's mother-slash-father. Technically a regular Fuzzy, but really we think Travis stands in a category of his own. Also referred to as male for convenience, but he switches between genders randomly depending on the time of day and whether he feels like it.
- He wears a large black apron. Because it's about four times as long as he is tall, he sits on a striped stick to stop it dragging along the ground. Nobody wants to know what the stick is actually sticking into. The stick itself is stationary, but Travis himself moves either by randomly popping out of the ground or teleportation. This is never actually seen, though; he just happens to be present wherever characters go. He's been witnessed actually getting off his stick and shuffling around, but he doesn't like it much.
- When Travis isn't wearing his apron, he's described as "naked". Although, when he's not wearing his apron he looks like every other Fuzzy out there apart from the stick, and none of them are ever described as naked.
- He owns a van, on the side of which is painted "CANDY" in very bad handwriting. When he's in a paedophile mood, this is what he tries to lure young Fuzzies into. But because he's reluctant to leave his stick, he can't actually drive the van, or even move to close the door behind the little kids. Because of this, they all eventually get bored and leave, making the entire exercise pointless.
- He changes colour. Apparently, certain colours correspond to certain things - for example, if he's orange and not wearing his apron, he's male and in a paedo mood. A full list of Travis's colours has yet to be drawn up.
- His voice also depends on what gender he is. When he's female, he sounds like a TV going in reverse, although when his voice doesn't feel like doing that he just communicates through a series of high-pitched "meep"s. When he's male, his voice is slow, clear and deep. At least, as clear and deep as a teenage girl attempting a deep voice can be.
- When his voice is in fact comprehensible, his personality consists of yelling abuse at anyone who so much as breathes in his presence. With this in mind, it's probably understandable why Arnold left.
- We've deducted from a series of logical steps that Travis is not only Arnold's mother-slash-father, but everyone's mother-slash-father. He's got a lot of love to go around, see.
Lauren
- A zombie, but definitely human. She used to live in Mansfield. Her murderer, Frank, claims that she owed a lot of people money, and that was the only reason why they all showed up at her funeral.
- Not based on a real-life person. No, seriously.
Frank
- A man wearing a cap. He murdered Lauren and later turned up at her funeral.
- He has a flag on his nose. The flag itself changes from scene to scene, because we couldn't decide on just one.
- He seemed to derive a lot of pleasure from describing to Arnold creative ways of killing people.
- Currently on the run from the Fuzzy Mafia, and hiding out in London. They're chasing him because they wanted to kill Lauren first.
The vicar
- Performed the service at Lauren's funeral. Sort of. We never actually saw him do much.
- Turns evil (wings, glowing red eyes) when Arnold suggests that Lauren might not be dead.
- Presumably eaten by Lauren once she revived.
Herman Hirwin
- Another regular Fuzzy. His distinguishing feature is his hat, which has a load of corks hanging off the brim. You know, stereotypical Aussie kind of thing?
- Married to Steve Hirwin. Neither of them are actually Australian, and everyone else in Fuzzyland sounds English, so why either of them keep up the Aussie thing is a mystery.
- He is most probably a girl, but we call all of the other Fuzzies "he" so we might as well do the same for him.
- The hat is not, in fact, his. It's Steve's, and because Steve isn't quite dead yet, his will (which left his hat to the stingfuzzy) hasn't come into effect. So Herman is, ahem, looking after it for the time being.
- His voice is very similar to Arnold's, but slightly lower, and with a really bad Australian accent. Generally all he says is "G'day, mate!". He's a Fuzzy of few words.
Steve Hirwin
- The Fuzzydile Hunter.
- He was stung by a stingfuzzy - a Fuzzy with stingray fins and a tail. He was not actually in water at the time, and was stung only because the stingfuzzy could fly and didn't like the look of him.
- He has a voice identical to Herman's, but there's not much opportunity to confuse the two, because...
- ...he's currently lying on a stretcher in the middle of the Fuzzyland prairie. He was given an oxygen mask, but it's not hooked up to anything so it isn't much help. Next to his stretcher is an electrocardiogram machine which reports a stable flatline, but it isn't hooked up to him either.
- He has no distinguishing characteristics in particular. He used to have his hat, but now Herman is going around with it instead.
Tibbles
- A domestic Catfuzzy. He technically belongs to Arnold, who rarely pays any attention to him except when kicking him out of the kitchen.
- He's a ginger tom.
- He's only really capable of saying "mrowf", and similar sounds.
- He has no whiskers, unlike some Catfuzzies.
- His tail is detachable and stuck on with Velcro.
Ed
- All that's known about him is that he's an Umbrella-head Fuzzy and may or may not be bald.
- Named after Katie #37. We asked him for permission first, honestly.
- Possibly Fuzzypill Hour's only avid listener, s/he guesses all of the Travis-based phone-in competitions correctly, but never wins anything because s/he always calls in just as the show is ending.
- Voiced by KT, and therefore is not quite as squeaky as other Fuzzies.
Makina
- A baby Umbrella-head Fuzzy who was taken away from his parents at birth and sold as a pet. :'(
- We had a really hard time coming up with a decent name for him.
- "Makina" was supposed to be a female version of "Mack". But Makina is male.
Li'l Anus
- Another abducted pet Umbrella-head Fuzzy.
- His name was chosen because it rolled off the tongue easily.
- Often gets lost. When he is, his owner puts up posters all over town reading "Have You Seen My Li'l Anus? Photos Available On Request." Surprisingly, this usually works.
Stencil Clifford
- Named because I liked the sound. So there.
- An Umbrella-head Fuzzy born with feet larger than average. He belongs to the same social group that Makina and Li'l Anus were taken from.
- He has a pair of tap shoes. They make stars and sparkly dust appear whenever they hit the ground.
- Stencil is a tapdancing Fuzzy. He only has one very simple dance routine, but he's capable of keeping it up for hours. And the sparkles make it look more impressive than it actually is.
- Left, right, up, spin, down!
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That's all for now. I get way too much fun out of this kind of thing, I swear.
---
First, let's make the distinctions between different types of Fuzzy.
Regular Fuzzies are the originals. A ball of fluff, two antennae, two eyes, and not much else. If they existed in real life, we'd estimate them to stand at about 10cm high at adult height. They are capable of holding things, despite lacking limbs They have no visible orifices for eating, speaking or for anything else; nobody else can tell which gender a particular Fuzzy is, and the Fuzzies themselves seem happy to leave it ambiguous. Never mind the question about where baby Fuzzies come from, although a few illustrations have depicted them hatching out of eggs.
Notable regular Fuzzies: Arnold, Travis, Herman Hirwin, Steve Hirwin.
Umbrella-head Fuzzies are slightly larger than regular Fuzzies - 15cm at adult height, 25cm including the umbrella. Their antennae are smaller proportionately than those of regular Fuzzies, they've got mouths and... other holes, and they have two feet instead of none. The umbrella is a unique defense mechanism evolved to protect the Umbrella-head Fuzzies from the harsh conditions of their homeland. It provides shade both from the heat and the sun's dangerous UV flares, as well as being a deterrent to predators and an important part of their mating ritual (quote from original design sheet: "look how big mine is!"). They're notable for being the only Fuzzy variant that appear to have a vaguely plausible anatomy. More details are available on our original design sheet.
Notable Umbrella-head Fuzzies: Ed, Li'l Anus, Stencil Clifford, Makina.
Meeps are either mutated Fuzzies, evolved Fuzzies or devolved Fuzzies - the distinction isn't entirely clear. They lack antennae, and have dark triangular beaks as well as visible tails. And they're only capable of saying "meep". In all other respects, they're identical to regular Fuzzies, right down to the ambiguous genders.
Catfuzzies are Fuzzies with cat-ears; depending on the Catfuzzy, they may also have bushy tails and/or whiskers. They're noticeably larger even than Umbrella-head Fuzzies, at around the size of an average housecat. They're carnivores, and prey on several of the other Fuzzy variants. However, some are domesticated, and are even capable of limited speech. Although they have actual ears, they retain their antennae.
Other variants on the Fuzzy template include Flowerfuzzies, Elefuzzies, Potahto Fuzzies, Fat Fuzzies, Fuzzy Crossdressers, Fuzzycils (pencil-shaped Fuzzies) and basically anything else I think up on the spot. But none of them have been considered cute enough to get their own personalities. Such a shame.
---
Anyway, here are the actual profiles, roughly in the order that they were thought up:
Arnold the Fuzzy
- A regular Fuzzy. The first to be given an actual name. His personality came a little while after. For convenience's sake we call him male, but like with all regular Fuzzies it's impossible to be sure about that. Travis is his mother-slash-father.
- He looks about as generic as regular Fuzzies can get, but he has the most accessories of any Fuzzy-related character which he uses to look slightly more notable. Among these are an eyepatch (on the cover of the second Arnold book, but not featured in the actual story), a pirate hook, a backpack, a propeller cap, a katana, a ninja mask, a "university hat" (I have no idea what the proper name is) and a pair of goggles. His map is also technically an accessory, but it's never actually on him at any given time.
- He's voiced by me, so his voice is effectively mine pitched up about an octave. Meaning, squeaky. In his earlier incarnations he had an American accent, but this Brit found said accent difficult to imitate consistently and it was eventually dropped.
- His background is as follows: he used to live in Fuzzyland, and left for an unspecified reason. He can't make his way home right now because his map keeps getting blown away by the wind, which does this out of spite. His adventures consist of him trying to retrieve said map, and the characters he encounters along the way. Oddly, these adventures almost always dump him in the vicinity of Mansfield, Notts.
- His personality tends towards being exasperated, but he's polite towards people he isn't familiar with and he can also be surprisingly insightful. Unfortunately, these insightful moments tend to be sidetracked after a couple of sentences. He scares easily, for example if he hears a loud noise behind him or if he sees a spider.
- He's the lead singer of the band Arnold and the Fuzzies, who mainly perform squeaky covers of songs from Chicago.
- In his spare time, he presents the radio show Fuzzypill Hour. Its tagline is "the show which doesn't last for an hour". It's also billed as a music show, but the presenters spend all their time screaming at each other and hosting phone-in contests.
Travis
- Arnold's mother-slash-father. Technically a regular Fuzzy, but really we think Travis stands in a category of his own. Also referred to as male for convenience, but he switches between genders randomly depending on the time of day and whether he feels like it.
- He wears a large black apron. Because it's about four times as long as he is tall, he sits on a striped stick to stop it dragging along the ground. Nobody wants to know what the stick is actually sticking into. The stick itself is stationary, but Travis himself moves either by randomly popping out of the ground or teleportation. This is never actually seen, though; he just happens to be present wherever characters go. He's been witnessed actually getting off his stick and shuffling around, but he doesn't like it much.
- When Travis isn't wearing his apron, he's described as "naked". Although, when he's not wearing his apron he looks like every other Fuzzy out there apart from the stick, and none of them are ever described as naked.
- He owns a van, on the side of which is painted "CANDY" in very bad handwriting. When he's in a paedophile mood, this is what he tries to lure young Fuzzies into. But because he's reluctant to leave his stick, he can't actually drive the van, or even move to close the door behind the little kids. Because of this, they all eventually get bored and leave, making the entire exercise pointless.
- He changes colour. Apparently, certain colours correspond to certain things - for example, if he's orange and not wearing his apron, he's male and in a paedo mood. A full list of Travis's colours has yet to be drawn up.
- His voice also depends on what gender he is. When he's female, he sounds like a TV going in reverse, although when his voice doesn't feel like doing that he just communicates through a series of high-pitched "meep"s. When he's male, his voice is slow, clear and deep. At least, as clear and deep as a teenage girl attempting a deep voice can be.
- When his voice is in fact comprehensible, his personality consists of yelling abuse at anyone who so much as breathes in his presence. With this in mind, it's probably understandable why Arnold left.
- We've deducted from a series of logical steps that Travis is not only Arnold's mother-slash-father, but everyone's mother-slash-father. He's got a lot of love to go around, see.
Lauren
- A zombie, but definitely human. She used to live in Mansfield. Her murderer, Frank, claims that she owed a lot of people money, and that was the only reason why they all showed up at her funeral.
- Not based on a real-life person. No, seriously.
Frank
- A man wearing a cap. He murdered Lauren and later turned up at her funeral.
- He has a flag on his nose. The flag itself changes from scene to scene, because we couldn't decide on just one.
- He seemed to derive a lot of pleasure from describing to Arnold creative ways of killing people.
- Currently on the run from the Fuzzy Mafia, and hiding out in London. They're chasing him because they wanted to kill Lauren first.
The vicar
- Performed the service at Lauren's funeral. Sort of. We never actually saw him do much.
- Turns evil (wings, glowing red eyes) when Arnold suggests that Lauren might not be dead.
- Presumably eaten by Lauren once she revived.
Herman Hirwin
- Another regular Fuzzy. His distinguishing feature is his hat, which has a load of corks hanging off the brim. You know, stereotypical Aussie kind of thing?
- Married to Steve Hirwin. Neither of them are actually Australian, and everyone else in Fuzzyland sounds English, so why either of them keep up the Aussie thing is a mystery.
- He is most probably a girl, but we call all of the other Fuzzies "he" so we might as well do the same for him.
- The hat is not, in fact, his. It's Steve's, and because Steve isn't quite dead yet, his will (which left his hat to the stingfuzzy) hasn't come into effect. So Herman is, ahem, looking after it for the time being.
- His voice is very similar to Arnold's, but slightly lower, and with a really bad Australian accent. Generally all he says is "G'day, mate!". He's a Fuzzy of few words.
Steve Hirwin
- The Fuzzydile Hunter.
- He was stung by a stingfuzzy - a Fuzzy with stingray fins and a tail. He was not actually in water at the time, and was stung only because the stingfuzzy could fly and didn't like the look of him.
- He has a voice identical to Herman's, but there's not much opportunity to confuse the two, because...
- ...he's currently lying on a stretcher in the middle of the Fuzzyland prairie. He was given an oxygen mask, but it's not hooked up to anything so it isn't much help. Next to his stretcher is an electrocardiogram machine which reports a stable flatline, but it isn't hooked up to him either.
- He has no distinguishing characteristics in particular. He used to have his hat, but now Herman is going around with it instead.
Tibbles
- A domestic Catfuzzy. He technically belongs to Arnold, who rarely pays any attention to him except when kicking him out of the kitchen.
- He's a ginger tom.
- He's only really capable of saying "mrowf", and similar sounds.
- He has no whiskers, unlike some Catfuzzies.
- His tail is detachable and stuck on with Velcro.
Ed
- All that's known about him is that he's an Umbrella-head Fuzzy and may or may not be bald.
- Named after Katie #37. We asked him for permission first, honestly.
- Possibly Fuzzypill Hour's only avid listener, s/he guesses all of the Travis-based phone-in competitions correctly, but never wins anything because s/he always calls in just as the show is ending.
- Voiced by KT, and therefore is not quite as squeaky as other Fuzzies.
Makina
- A baby Umbrella-head Fuzzy who was taken away from his parents at birth and sold as a pet. :'(
- We had a really hard time coming up with a decent name for him.
- "Makina" was supposed to be a female version of "Mack". But Makina is male.
Li'l Anus
- Another abducted pet Umbrella-head Fuzzy.
- His name was chosen because it rolled off the tongue easily.
- Often gets lost. When he is, his owner puts up posters all over town reading "Have You Seen My Li'l Anus? Photos Available On Request." Surprisingly, this usually works.
Stencil Clifford
- Named because I liked the sound. So there.
- An Umbrella-head Fuzzy born with feet larger than average. He belongs to the same social group that Makina and Li'l Anus were taken from.
- He has a pair of tap shoes. They make stars and sparkly dust appear whenever they hit the ground.
- Stencil is a tapdancing Fuzzy. He only has one very simple dance routine, but he's capable of keeping it up for hours. And the sparkles make it look more impressive than it actually is.
- Left, right, up, spin, down!
---
That's all for now. I get way too much fun out of this kind of thing, I swear.