Junior Asparagus

**Junior Asparagus**, or simply known as **Junior**, is the tritagonist of *VeggieTales* franchise.

He is a young and curious boy, often getting himself into mischief. But at the end of the day, all Junior wants is to do what’s right and prove that little guys can do big things!

## Bio

Junior made his first onscreen debut in *VeggieTales'* first show *Where's God When I'm S-Scared?*. He stars in the show's first segment, *Tales From the Crisper*, where he stays up late to watch a scary movie about the fearsome Frankencelery. Junior ultimately gets scared and has trouble falling asleep, only to be visited by Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber as they teach him that God is bigger than all his fears and has nothing to be afraid of.

Since then, Junior has gone on to appear in many VeggieTales shows, often portraying himself among a vast list of titular character roles. Such roles include the biblical David in *Dave and the Giant Pickle*, the benevolent Lyle in *Lyle the Kindly Viking*, Riccochet in The League of Incredible Vegetables, and the wooden toy Pistachio in the show of the same name.

Junior lives in a suburban home with his mother and father, Lisa and Mike Asparagus, respectively. He is very close to his parents, especially his father. Junior loves spending time with them and is always willing to listen and learn from them.

Junior is best friends with Laura Carrot and good friends with Annie Onion and Percy Pea. Later series depict him making even more friends, including Callie Flower and Gary Garlic. Junior is also very close with Bob, Larry and the rest of the *VeggieTales* cast. At one point, Junior had a negative relationship with a bully named Gourdon. Junior eventually stood up for himself and even tried to befriend the bully, but Gourdon gave up, realizing he couldn’t bother Junior anymore and started leaving him alone.

According to his official bio — if he weren't an actor, Junior would've been an aerospace major at Veggie Valley Grade School.

## Personality

Junior can be described as curious, courteous, and naive. He's always eager to try new things and learn something along the way. Junior ultimately functions as the surrogate child to any children watching the show(s). Like most kids, Junior faces many challenges that are crucial to a child's mental and emotional development, like learning how to forgive, dealing with bullies, and learning how to treat others with love and respect. Nevertheless, he's still a fun, caring and lovable kid.

## Physical Appearance

Junior is a green little asparagus. He has large child-like eyes and a tiny green nose. He has a small green spear atop his head, which is usually covered by a yellow baseball cap with a red brim. In later appearances, he intermittently starts to wear a tan and red striped polo shirt. Junior often smiles and speaks out of the side of his mouth, especially when he's feeling or acting sheepish.

When Junior made the jump from 3D to 2D animation while appearing in *LarryBoy: The Cartoon Adventures*, he gained a more simplified and cartoony design based on his 3D counterpart. To reflect his new role as a grade-school reporter for *The Daily Bumble*, Junior starts wearing a yellow sweater and loses his baseball cap for a large gray fedora with a press pass lodged into the hatband. He also carries around a camera to be ready to take pictures of anything newsworthy.

During the run of *VeggieTales in the House* and *in the City*, Junior was given a major redesign like the rest of the *VeggieTales* cast. For these series, Junior was given amber irises and small black eyebrows. He also stoped wearing his cap, now sporting a new spear that is stylized to look more like spikey hair.

For *The VeggieTales Show*, Junior reverted back to his original design. The only difference, however, is he stops wearing his yellow cap.

## Voice Actors

* Lisa Vischer: *VeggieTales* (1993-2014), *VeggieTales Live!* (2002-2014), *LarryBoy: The Cartoon Adventures* (2002-2003), *Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie* (2002), *The VeggieTales Show* (2019-present) and various other projects
* Mike Nawrocki: *The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment! (bridging segments only*), *More Sunday Morning Songs with Bob & Larry* (*brief speaking part during I Will Sing of The Mercies of the Lord Forever/Leaning on the Everlasting Arms only*) and select tracks of *Christian Hit Music*.
* Tress MacNeille: *VeggieTales in the House* (2014-2016) and *VeggieTales in the City* (2017)
* Kira Buckland: Very Veggie Silly Stories (2022-present)

## Fun Facts

* Junior's voice is based on a cutesy voice Lisa Vischer used when she was a kid to try and convince her parents to do something she wanted.
* Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki both initially thought they could provide the voice for Junior, but soon realized neither of them had the ability to do a believable child-like voice. Wanting to help her husband, Lisa Vischer asked Phil if she could audition for the role. Reluctant to potentially reject Lisa's voice, he gave in and ultimately agreed to hear her audition. As soon as she did the voice, Phil was astonished and cast her on the spot.
* Junior is one of the few characters to be given a specific age. Initially five years old, later episodes and series imply he is around eight years old.
* Junior is shown to have a dog named Kreme during the "My Day" song in *The Wonderful World of Auto-Tainment!*
* In *God Wants Us to Make Peace*, when Larry asks Junior why he's at the auditions instead of school, Junior reveals he's home-schooled.
* In *The Loco-Motion* cover featured on the *Bob and Larry Sing the 70s* album, Junior states that he's a vegetarian.
* Junior is one of few characters to have died in a story, dying as Edmund Gilbert in the timeline of the bad future seen in *An Easter Carol*.