BLT Zoo Animals/Characters

== Protagonists ==
=== Bacon ===
Bacon (Jim Cummings) is the strong, airheaded, dim-witted, and usually quite random lackey of the group who has little strands of hair. He has red skin. He is known to laugh a lot and is happy most of the time. Bacon has amazing physical strength, which is humorously worked into many of the show's plots. His mind is a subculture grab-bag full of comics and scary dinosaur movies, which he often confuses with reality, and which leads him to speak in non sequiturs almost all the time. Bacon (to the misfortune of many animals) is utterly at the mercy of his tyrannical older cousin Noah and is an easy target of his manipulations, with Noah threatening to tell his mother if he does not get his way.
Bacon is kindhearted, good-natured, and has a positive attitude towards almost everything and everyone, even to those who are not accommodating to him. He cares about the welfare of the other two. He often sacrifices himself for his two best friends, the other zoo animals, and even Noah, for whom he cares deeply, though he treats him badly. He is absentminded and naive, making him the perfect candidate to help Tomato with his scams, as Bacon hardly ever questions them. Even so, Bacon never feels abused by Tomato.
Bacon enjoys leaves, twigs, grass, roots, peanuts, comics and scary dinosaur movies. Much to the dismay of mysophobic Lettuce, he has poor personal hygiene, even to the point of being terrified of soap and liking the smell of stink bombs and sweaty boots. Though the threesome were outcasts throughout the series, in the series' TV movie finale BLT Zoo Animals: The Movie, the three become friends with all the zoo animals; even Noah starts treating Bacon nicely.
Creator Scott M. Gimple explained Bacon's inspiration saying, "Bacon is...me, following his own path and slightly dysfunctional, a daydreamer who while animals are doing one thing, will be busy thinking of another." He also described Bacon as "slow, living in his own world and he really doesn't fit in with the rest of the crowd," and explained that it was hard to decide who would voice him. Bacon ended up being voiced by Jim Cummings.
=== Lettuce ===
Lettuce (Tress MacNeille) is the smartest of the trio and the most polite, mature, curious, and considerate of the three. As a result, she is more socially accepted by the rest of the zoo animals than Bacon and Tomato, usually acting as a peacemaker or offering the rest of the zoo animals advice. Lettuce has a high IQ and is top of the class in most subjects at school, though she is the physically weakest of the threesome and despises P.E. and other sporting activities. As the most creative of the trio, she is able to construct things like planes, rocket cars, and roller coasters with junk she comes across and enjoys doing so. She also is able to play pedal steel guitar, but does not like to do so often. She often speaks using complex words and struggles to speak normally in high anxiety situations. She is the only one of the trio to be an only giraffe, and her parents leave sticky notes around her exhibit as a means of communicating with her.
Like the other two, Lettuce's personality is largely based upon series creator Scott M. Gimple, who has said "there's my Lettuce side, neurotic, analytical, must be organized. Also if Tomato and Bacon were not around, Lettuce would be happy with her own company, something that works for me too." Gimple has also explained that the habit of Lettuce's parents to communicate with her through sticky notes was based on a habit of his own parents.
=== Tomato ===
Tomato (John DiMaggio) is the self-appointed leader of the threesome. He is arrogant, self-centred, ignorant, loud-mouthed, immature, greedy, and hot-tempered. He loves money, lollipops (which he likes to spend his ill-earned money on), dirty magazines, his room, and Stony Puffs. Tomato ordinarily comes up with the plans for scamming animals, but they usually backfire, much to his frustration. Tomato will often, especially in the early seasons, slack off by suntanning or drinking water while his friends do all the work. His prized possessions include his magazines, king-sized bed, and disco ball. He also has a Barry White album and is a fan of Tom Jones. Tomato sometimes boasts about his older cousin and uses this to his advantage to gain respect. Like Albert, Tomato can be cruel and acerbic, with a tendency to tease his peers, but deep down, Tomato only wants to be liked by everyone.
== Supporting characters ==
=== Donny ===
Donny (Scott Menville), is a lonely hyena and considered by his peers to be a nuisance. Donny is often made fun of for his spots (Tomato usually refers to him as "Spot" or as a "spotty dog") and has a tendency of getting his body caught in bushes when playing. He talks a lot, and frequently gets on the other zoo animals' nerves. He is rarely seen without his imaginary friend, a bone named Bone. Donny seems innocent and gullible, and often forgives animals no matter what they do. He does not seem to mind the antics of the trio, and is often the most friendly out of all the zoo animals towards them. He is very protective of Bone, and will burst into acts of bravery or extreme aggression if Bone is stolen or harmed in some way. He does not seem to acknowledge that Bone is just an inanimate, silent, bone, and when asked for help with an imaginary friend, he claimed to have no clue what the threesome are talking about. He and Bone both have superhero alter egos (Giggler and Bone Wonder, respectively), which they assumed twice throughout the series; first in "Robin Hood" to thwart Tomato's "Doohickey" scam and to fight Tomato's own one-time only alter ego, Mr. Scam, and then in BLT Zoo Animals: The Movie to hunt down and get revenge on the threesome. After the movie, he and Bone become Captain Hyena and Bone the Dark Bone in order to take revenge on the entire zoo (although Bone reveals that there is no more time left in the movie at this point).
=== Billy ===
Billy (Brad Garrett) is an insecure and innocent wolf, with a propensity to cry, and Noah's best friend whom he is most often seen spending his time with. Billy is highly accident-prone, often seen sporting gear, and is considered the weakest wolf in the zoo. Though Billy has a gentle personality, he truly wishes to be strong and muscular, and many episodes demonstrate his desire for fame and stardom. He can be crafty when motivated, and had twice made scams that were very successful. Billy has shown how deeply attached he is to Noah when someone tries to take his away from him.
=== Noah ===
Noah (Jim Cummings) is Bacon's grouchy, abusive, spoiled, commanding, annoying, short-tempered, whiny, rude, and extremely selfish older cousin who acts cute and kind to the trio only when it suits him. He is commonly depicted with a disgruntled facial expression and treats him intimidated, trembling older cousin, frightened by his cousin's constant threats of tattling on him, with complete disdain. Imposing, Noah frequently orders animals (sometimes even those of higher rightful authority than her) around, and his desires often have to be met or else he will fling himself into a violent temper tantrum or threaten the animal in question. Throughout the course of the series, Noah has been shown to possess a friendship with Lettuce, but still occasionally subjects her to abuse due to guilt by association with the other threesome.
=== Albert ===
Albert (Rob Paulsen) is a stereotypical alligator. He is cynical, sarcastic and can be cruel at times. Albert has a den full of lollipops, due to the fact that his father works at a lollipop factory. He loves customizing his giant tree bark. When not riding his trusty tree bark, he usually hangs out with Rutt and Grace in the zoo. He hates the threesome to the point of paranoia, but his animosity towards them is mostly geared towards Tomato; the two are mortal enemies and often go entirely out of their way to humiliate or physically harm each other at the first opportunity (with Tomato referring to Albert as "Nero"). He tends to call the threesome "Tramps" and has a habit of coming up with words merged with "Tramp" to suit the situation. In some episodes, he is shown to have a great fear of Tomato's cousin; Tomato knows this and frequently uses his cousin as leverage against Albert.
=== Rutt ===
Rutt (Dee Bradley Baker) is a quirky, odd, and usually happy beaver of an undetermined origin and culture with odd customs (which he displays frequently, and it often involves a wide variety of plants and insects). Rutt is the son of a male, a fact in which he takes great pride. He works on his parents' dam within the zoo, and leads a scouting group called the "Wildlife Rangers," which includes Billy, Bone, and Donny. Rutt usually refers to himself in third animal. His faithful companions are three turtles (one of which is named Boris), a mouse named Mason, at least six lizards (two named Bernie and Lemony), a frog named Karen, and voles. He generally appears to be friendly with the threesome (whom he calls them in different animal names) unless they make a fool out of him or offend him in some way, in which case he is not afraid to use brute force. He seems to be very muscular, but this is usually only shown when he is angry. With his unusual customs and strange food, Rutt confuses the rest of the zoo animals to no end, and his inability to comprehend the culture and customs of his new home is a running gag in the series.
=== Grace ===
Grace (Alyson Michalka) is a good-natured, sweet, mature yet somewhat ditzy, fashionable chimpanzee who normally treats her peers (including the threesome) respectfully; however, when antagonized she will react violently to the cause of her agitation or partake in harming the trio as discipline for an alleged misdeed that they have committed. A majority of the male characters featured in the series are smitten with her, and an entire episode once chronicled their many failed attempts at wooing her. She also possesses a number of humorous eccentricities, such as the ability to yodel, substandard skills at playing a rather large hollow log and is often depicted with poor table etiquette. Lettuce seems to be the giraffe that Grace is closest to, as she was the first character she'd nuzzled in the series in "The Day the Earth Stood Still", took her trick-or-treating in the Halloween special, and got him to dance with her at the school dance in "May I Have this Dance?". She appears to have a crush on Albert, though he is mostly oblivious to this; he favors his tree bark more. Although one of the most mature of the zoo animals, she occasionally displays traits of the stereotypical chimpanzee.
== Other Characters ==
=== Refuge Animals ===
Lisa (April Winchell), Jamal (Jim Cummings), and Kay (Tress MacNeille) are three friends who serve as the main antagonists towards the zoo and its inhabitants. Lisa is a lioness, and the leader of the refuge animals, Jamal is a giraffe, and Kay is an elephant. They live in the nearby animal refuge. The mere presence of the refuge animals is enough to terrify the zoo residents, and they have been shown to have volatile and destructive tempers. While all the refuge animals supposedly like the threesome, it has been shown that Kay prefers Bacon, Jamal prefers Lettuce, and Lisa prefers Tomato. Throughout the series, each of the refuge animals repeatedly get the threesome and privately force themselves onto them with romantic intention, much to their horror.
=== Tomato's Cousin ===
Tomato's Cousin (Maurice LaMarche) is mentioned frequently throughout the series, mostly by Tomato, though his name is never revealed. Tomato mentions how his cousin taught him much about how to scam, and to be a con artist, and throughout the series many of the animals are shown to have a great fear and respect for him. He was previously an unseen character, but he finally makes an appearance in the movie BLT Zoo Animals: The Movie. Tomato's cousin at first seems to be everything the other zoo animals imagined, but it turns out that all of the folklore surrounding him was made up by Tomato to impress the other zoo animals, and in reality he is a sadistic individual who refers to Tomato as a "bozo" and bullies him mercilessly, which ultimately caused Tomato to become who he is. He works at the "Wacky-n-Kooky" amusement park in Africa, but his specific job is unknown.
Category:Characters