Stinky Pete

**Stinky Pete** (or simply known as **the Prospector**) is one of the two main antagonists (alongside Al McWhiggin) of Pixar's third full-length animated feature film *Toy Story 2*. He is a vintage pull string Prospector doll from the 1950s, and inside his original box, his accessories include a pickaxe and a gold pan. He is voiced by Kelsey Grammer.

## Bio

Stinky Pete was never bought or played with by a child and spent a lifetime on a dime-store shelf, watching every other toy be sold to their new owners, which caused him to grow bitter, selfish, and angry. He was later sold to Al McWhiggin, who never took him out of the box for unknown reasons, which made him even more insane and angrier. Since Al was grown up, he planned to sell Stinky Pete to a toy museum in Tokyo. Stinky Pete found this to be good news, if kids didn't want him, they can't have him once they change their minds. However, Al learned that the museum wanted the entire Woody's Roundup Gang toys and went to collect them all, so Stinky Pete had to wait. After he met Jessie and Bullseye, Stinky Pete became their friend while they waited for Woody.

### Personality

When he first appeared, Stinky Pete was initially a kind, wise, well-spoken, and grandfatherly mentor-like character, giving support and advice to Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye throughout the first half of the film. However, this merely hid his true nature, which was intelligent, sneaky, and embittered. This was most likely caused by the years of emotional pain he had endured during a lifetime in a dime-store shelf and not being sold to any children due to their preference of space toys after the launch of Sputnik, as well as the fact that his character was the least popular *Woody's Roundup* member. Along with the shift of interest to space toys, the fact that this resulted in *Woody's Roundup* getting cancelled further contributed to his own hatred of space toys and children. Even while he shrouded his nature, he secretly planned to prevent Woody from returning to his owner Andy at any cost, sabotaging Woody's escape by secretly turning on the television to wake Al up and putting the blame on Jessie without hesitation.

When Woody finally decided he would return to Andy and take the other Roundup toys with him despite the warning Stinky Pete gave him about Andy outgrowing and forgetting him, this finally prompted him to snap and reveal his true nature and intentions. The fact that he was willing to spend years of eternity sealed inside a museum away from contact with children also showed that he had developed solitariness traits due to spending most of his time within his box. He was also hypocritical as he was willing to harm or tear apart other toys so his goal of toys escaping harm from children in the eternal museum life would be fulfilled, evidenced by him reopening the old rip in Woody's arm and threatening to tear him apart.

His own inexperience of being played with by a child, along with hearing Jessie's story of being outgrown by her previous owner Emily lead to him feeling that children were only destroyers of toys whose ultimate fate will be spending an eternity rotting in landfills. He also believed that rare, unpopular and collectible toys like him and the other Roundup toys were doomed to either always ending up in storage or remaining unsold to any children similar to his fate before Al found him. These beliefs further motivated his desire to spend an eternity in the museum, accepting it was the only salvation for all toys.

Despite his villainous nature, he has redeemable traits as the character stated in his online interview after the film that he liked his new owner Amy's face paint decorations even though he initially feared it after Andy's toys placed him in Amy's backpack. This can demonstrate that Stinky Pete was wronged by rejection and unappreciation and that he most likely would not have ever been bad if he had been owned by a child to start off with.

On *Woody's Roundup*, Stinky Pete was a regular recurring protagonist. Though depicted mostly as an accident-prone, stereotypical, simple-minded hillbilly and comic relief, Pete was established on the show as an overall good-natured friend and ally of Woody, Bullseye, and Jessie.

## Trivia

* He is only referred to as "Stinky Pete" twice in the film and only by Woody as a way of mocking him. Throughout the rest of the film, he is just called "Prospector" by the characters.
* He was a long-time member of the Roundup Gang on television and was often the butt of many humiliating jokes including having the sharp end of his pickaxe stuck in his rear end and not realizing it.
* In an outtake, when the Prospector tells Woody he can either go back to Andy or stay with them, he ruins the moment by farting loudly. He then remarks that was why they call him "Stinky Pete."
* Stinky Pete was marked by his severe hatred for "space toys", whom he had blamed for causing the cancellation of the show, which ran on television until the launch of Sputnik, which led to children's subsequent loss of interest in cowboy toys.
	+ This is somehow similar to when Woody was overshadowed by Buzz as Andy's current favorite in the first film.
* Though he appears to be kind and fatherly, some of his true nature is revealed early in the film when discussing the cancellation of *Woody's Roundup* due to the launch of Sput-nik and showing his resentment toward space toys and his feeling of being let down by children.
* Even though Al McWhiggin is the one behind the plot to sell the Roundup toys to the museum, Stinky Pete is the true main villain as he was a direct threat to Woody and had bigger plans than anyone else.
* Stinky Pete became the main villain of *Thomas and Twilight Sparkle's Adventures of Toy Story 2.*
* Stinky Pete appears in Thomas and Twilight Sparkle Goes to The Toy Shop to get revenge on Thomas, Twilight, Woody and their friends. He join forces with other toy villains, Master Jack, Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear and Emperor Zurg as well.