Goofy

Goofy is a protagonist and a member of The New Action Squad.

## Character Information

### Personality

Goofy, clumsy, playful, over-protective, good-hearted, charismatic, silly, comical, optimistic, heroic, sensitive, selfless, fatherly, naïve, innocent, brave, responsible, adventurous, confident, intelligent

## **BIOGRAPHY**

Originally dubbed **Dippy Dawg**, Goofy was conceived as a one-shot gag. However, the character was so popular amongst audiences and Walt Disney's staff (in no small part due to his signature guffaw, courtesy of Pinto Colvig) that he quickly became a recurring character in Disney short films. Animator Art Babbit would be largely responsible for developing and refining the Goof’s character. Babbit imbued Goofy with a good-natured and laid-back mien, while also establishing such traits as Goofy’s sloppy walk and baggy attire. Goofy would eventually receive his own series, starting with *Goofy and Wilbur* in 1939.

In the 1940s, Goofy famously featured in a series of “How To” cartoons, which saw a pantomime Goof participating in various recreational activities (mainly sports) at the behest of a posh narrator. Goofy was reinvented as an Everyman father in the 1950s—in a series of shorts that would inspire the 1992 animated series *Goof Troop*, in which Goofy served as the suburban single parent of his son and only child, Max Goof. Goofy would also become the first of Disney's classic characters to star in his own feature-length film, being 1995's *A Goofy Movie*.

## **APPEARANCE**

Goofy is a slender tall dog like creature. He is often seen wearing an orange sweater shirt, blue pants, brown shoes and a green hat. He also has white gloves.

## **PERSONALITY**

Clumsy, unintelligent, and humble are some of the words that describe Goofy, who speaks with a southern drawl. Living a rather simple lifestyle, Goofy tends to miss the obvious, act somewhat childish and absent-minded, and gets confused very easily. As a result of these factors, Goofy is rather accident-prone and is an easy target for trouble. Nevertheless, his blissfulness usually keeps him from any legitimate harm, as he tends to walk away from life-threatening danger with a smile and his signature guffaw.

Goofy's blissfulness and optimism can sometimes blind him from the feelings of those around him, however, most notably Mickey, Donald, and his son Max, who are often annoyed by Goofy's antics, as they typically receive the short end of the trouble that follows the Goof around. Despite this flaw, Goofy is extremely supportive and caring towards his loved ones. He tries his best to lighten their spirits when they feel down and selflessly sticks by them when they're in need. Goofy is also charming, somewhat infectiously; often at times when someone meets him for the first time, they are immediately taken by his welcoming aura.

Ironically, however, Goofy is aware of his fairly limited intelligence, and though usually self-loving, he does not always enjoy being goofy. In *A Goofy Movie*, for example, Max tricks Goofy into taking him to a concert in Los Angeles. After discovering the truth, Goofy became uncharacteristically upset and downhearted, feeling Max had such a low opinion of his father's capabilities and intelligence that he believed scamming him would be an easy thing to accomplish. This is one of the rare occasions where Goofy displayed genuine anger.

He has shown a level of intelligence, as he is shown to be a superb sports player in his "How to" cartoons, which requires the ability to follow tactics. He is also smart enough to raise a child as a single parent; Max's development into a mature and responsible adult proved that Goofy's parenting skills were completely reliable. Additionally, Goofy can be stern and no-nonsense when he believes necessary, most notably seen in his "George Geef" cartoons.

Goofy is also one of the most versatile Disney characters. Although primarily a good guy, the Goof has occasionally played antagonist roles in many cartoons, such as "Ye Olden Days", "Motor Mania", "Freewayphobia", "Goofy's Freeway Troubles", "Mickey's Christmas Carol", "Donald's Halloween Scare", "No Service", and in many of the sports-themed Goofy shorts of the 1940s.

## **TRIVIA**

* Goofy, Donald, and Pluto are the only characters from the Mickey Mouse gang to have a son instead of a nephew or niece. Goofy has Max as a son Donald and Daisy have a toddler son in 1959 short How to Have an Accident at Work and Pluto had Kids in Pluto's Quin-puplets and Pluto Junior.
	+ Also, Goofy is the only member of the trio to have a confirmed wife, although Walt Disney has speculated that Mickey and Minnie are married off-screen. However, they have no children of their own (*Mickey's Nightmare* does not count as it was only a dream at the time).
* In his 1930's cartoon appearances, Goofy commonly wore a black vest, blue pants, a turtleneck shirt (colored either red or orange), white gloves, extra-long brown shoes, and a very distinctive hat (either blue or green). This has been the character's iconic look ever since, even though it was seldom featured in cartoons after the 1930s.
* The only times Goofy is referred to being a dog are in early shorts, an episode of *Mickey Mouse Clubhouse*, a Toon Disney commercial for *Goof Troop*, *Who Framed Roger Rabbit*, by Hades in an episode of *House of Mouse*, and the episode *Dog Show* of the 2013 series.
* Goofy is currently the only member of the Classic Disney Shorts to have his movie.
* Even though Goofy has sometimes been paired with Clarabelle Cow and has dated a couple of women in the *Goof Troop* series, he does not seem to have a significant female counterpart, making him the only member of the original Disney trio not to have one in official Disney canon.
* Although Goofy's hat is usually colored green with a black line, it is usually colored blue in comics. In his appearance in *Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers*, his hat was a yellow-orange color. Sometimes his hat is green with a yellow line.
* The color of Goofy's vest has been somewhat inconsistent, in most appearances, it is officially black, in some appearances such as *Mickey Mouse Clubhouse*, his vest is a light brown, and in the Theme Parks and *Kingdom Hearts*, it is yellow.
* His original concept name was "Dippy Dawg" in cartoon shorts created during the 1930s; then his name was given as "George Geef" or "G.G. Geef" in cartoon shorts during the 1950s, implying that "Goofy" was a nickname. Contemporary sources, including the *Goof Troop* television show and *A Goofy Movie*, now give the character's full name to be **Goofy Goof**. The *Goof Troop* pilot also refers to 'G.G. Goof' on a diploma, likely a reference to the 1950's name.
* Goofy's exact height seems to be indeterminable:
	+ However, in the episode, New Shoes from the *Mickey Mouse* series*,* a lyric from Mickey's song hints him to be 6'7"
* While Goofy is famous for his trademark exclamation "Gawrsh!", he can sometimes be heard saying "Gosh!", which is the proper way to say said exclamation.
* Goofy's mother made an appearance in the Mickey Mouse Works cartoon *How to be Groovy, Cool, and Fly*.
* Some Disney movies use Goofy's holler, such as *Home on the Range* (where Maggie, Mrs. Calloway, and Grace accidentally hit Junior the Buffalo), *Cinderella* (when the King cuts the rope on the chandelier and he and the Grand Duke fall onto his bed), *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* (when Quasimodo caused some of Frollo's guards to fall from the Notre Dame cathedral into the nearby river), *The Rescuers* (when Orville takes off for the last time), and *Enchanted* (when the troll is flung over to the next kingdom while trying to eat Giselle).
* Goofy, Donald, and Mickey make a cameo in the opening Concert Hall sequence of *The Little Mermaid* as King Triton passes them on camera left. They are in the audience with the merpeople.
* Goofy is currently one of three major Disney characters with a full-length theatrical film featuring him as the protagonist, with the others being Donald Duck (*The Three Caballeros*) and Scrooge McDuck (*DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp*). (A film starring Goofy, Mickey, and Donald is currently in development.)
* Though "Goof" is Goofy's official last name, it is rarely used in most of his appearances.
* In *Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days*, Goofy's stat chart shows he has the second-highest Defense in the game, but if one takes notice and increase his Defense stat to the highest point possible, it will be shown his Defense reaches 211, one point higher than Lexaeus' Defense at max, who stat chart states he has the highest Defense stat. It is possible, but unconfirmed, that Goofy's Defense stat chart being the 2nd highest is a mistake.
* The color of Goofy's hands when his gloves are removed are inconsistent: In *Goofy and Wilbur*, a scene showing Goofy removing his gloves depicts him with flesh-colored hands, while in other times when his gloves are removed, they are black.
* Goofy's great-grandfather was shown to be still alive (at a *very* high age) in a 1961 Mickey Mouse newspaper comic.