Cuphead

**Cuphead** is the titular main protagonist of Studio MDHR's 2017 video game of the same name, and the game's DLC, titled *The Delicious Last Course*, as well as one of the two main protagonists (alongside Mugman) of the Netflix-animated series, titled *The Cuphead Show!*.

Cuphead is Mugman's irresponsible older twin brother, Monika's impulsive best friend and like the rest of his family, lives on Inkwell Isle. He is typically the playable character by the first player and as a result, was the default character for Player One before the update in April 2019, after which the first player can choose whether to play as him or Mugman.

In-game, he is voiced by Luke De Ayora for one specifically line when being revived and saying "Thank you!" similar to his brother Mugman. In *The Cuphead Show!,* he is voiced by Tru Valentino in English and Natsuki Hanae in Japanese.

## Description

### Physical appearance

As his name suggests, Cuphead's head is a wide cup with milk inside, topped with a red and white striped straw. His face consists of eyes that are near each other together with black pie-cut pupils (referencing the designs of the characters' eyes depicted in early cartoons around 1920-1930), and a small red nose. He typically has a determined expression in the face of danger.

He is typically depicted wearing a black, long-sleeve shirt, white gloves, red shorts and brown shoes. To emulate the manner that characters were drawn in the game’s timeline, his coloring is inconsistent; he is sometimes depicted wearing red or yellow boots, and/or yellow gloves instead. As an anthropomorphic cup, he is a light gray cup and his is made out of either ceramic or porcelain. Upon receiving damage, Cuphead will separate at the waist, with his straw breaking 20% of the direction up from the bottom to the top, although both Cuphead and his straw will pull themselves back together.

His ghost still has the cup-like head and gloves, but his appearance is now a ghostly blue. His shorts and legs are now replaced with a ghost tail, his straw is now a halo, and his expression is that of melancholy. In the center of Cuphead's ghost's chest, there is a pink heart which can be parried to resurrect him. As a Super Art, his ghost is muscular and his expression is determined.

If accepting to deliver the Devil the soul contracts before beginning the final battle—triggering the bad ending—his appearance dramatically changes. As a demon, his red coloration is replaced with purple, and he now has a bitten straw and evil-looking yellow eyes with black and red pupils, a maniacal smile, and sharp teeth. In some artworks, he is also shown to have fire rising out of his head.

Overall, Cuphead's appearance is reminiscent of characteristic designs from classical 1930s cartoons, of which the game's genre of art is designed around.

### Personality

Cuphead is typically a nice person and "kidult" alongside his younger brother Mugman, enjoying an easygoing and good life, but is relentlessly optimistic and overall problematic, but he is shown to immediately regret it when dealing with the consequences. Although his confidence and drive for adventure can lead him to appear reckless or get him into trouble, at his core, he is a kindhearted and friendly soul who wants to perform good actions—but has the tendency to leap before he looks.

Cuphead seems to be a daredevil. He is shown to be the more confident, entertaining, fun-loving and slightly cheeky type. He (in contrast to his twin brother) often takes quite the amount of risks. His personality was mostly inspired by the "charming, yet trouble-making" epitome, as depicted in the protagonists of early cartoons. As seen in the introduction, Cuphead seems to have a somewhat greedy personality, apparently willing to risk anything to get what he wants, causing the infamous bet which he nearly cost him both of their souls despite Mugman's pleading for reconsideration. Despite his flaws, however, he seems to be kindhearted and has good intentions overall, such as in the good ending, where he and Mugman burn all the soul contracts, setting everyone free.

Cuphead also seems to have a vengeful side to him. As seen in after Chef Saltbaker mourns the destruction of his bakery, Mugman and Chalice showed some sympathy for him, while Cuphead, on the other hand, angrily states he got what he deserved, as he was still upset that Ms. Chalice/Mugman/he was kidnapped for the wonder tart, and deceived by the chef.

Cuphead loves his family and friends, especially the Literature Club. He has a heightened level of loyalty to them, despite his flaws, and will perform everything he can to protect and retain a relaxing and satisfying atmosphere to them, especially Sayori; her depression led to Cuphead into a heightened level of concern and, as such, sympathizes for her the most among the rest of the Indie Cross, as he rap battles with Sayori in his attempt to cheer her up, although his own impulsiveness often leads himself into a hybrid of anger and fustration, which can lead into a series of diastrous events; in particular, Cuphead even kills Sayori at the end of Doki Cross Takeover: BAD ENDING, as well as Yuri, Girlfriend and Natsuki (while Boyfriend cries over the loss of them), alongside Bendy and Sans, before the game terminates itself and everyone else gets deleted.

## References

1. ↑ https://cuphead.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000092786/r/4400000000000419117#:~:text=But%20in%20the%20game%20they,kidults'%20and%20are%20over%2018.
2. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/mickmick247/art/Rushed-wardrobe-Origin-by-Pika-Robo-984330740
3. ↑ https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PieEyed
4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU-WJ9NVOrg&t=32s
5. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/mickmick247/art/Doki-Cross-Takeover-BAD-ENDING-End-of-HOME-978931621