55 Penny Gadget

## Penny Gadget

**Agent Penny Brown** (referred by the Chibiusa Transit Authority as **Penny Gadget**) is Inspector Gadget's niece and one of the main protagonists of the franchise. Penny secretly helps out her Uncle Gadget with his missions and does all the work, but she lets him get all the credit in the end.

## History

### *Inspector Gadget*

Penny secretly does all the work during Inspector Gadget's missions, despite him always taking all the credit afterwards. She usually uses her computer book and video watch to help her solve the cases. It is not stated where Penny got them or why she has them in the first place, but given Penny's super intelligence, she probably built it herself.

### *Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas*

She joined her uncle to the North Pole to save Christmas from Dr. Claw. While Gadget was oblivious to the fact that Santa Claus was trapped in an ice cave, Penny did all the work and stopped the toys.

### *Live-Action films*

In the first movie, she doesn't have much of a role, but she is the one who convinces Sykes to turn against Dr. Claw and clears her uncle's name.

In the second film, Penny wants to be given a chance by her uncle to become a fellow detective and come with him on his missions, but he would never let her as she is too young. She does so, but ends up in danger and its up to Gadget and G2 to save her. However, at the end of the film, she is awarded a medal by Gadget for being a junior detective.

### *Inspector Gadget's Last Case*

Penny doesn't have much of a role in this movie, although she does try to get Gadget and the Gadgetmobile to reconcile after their falling out. When Claw (disguised as Devon Debonair) sends Gadget on a unreal mission to get him fired, she has Brain secretly follow him. Penny later helps Gadget discover that Devon Debonair and Claw are the same person and takes Chief Quimby to apprehhend Claw.

### *Gadget and the Gadgetinis*

In this series, Penny is 12 years old and is the creator of Fidget and Digit, the titular Gadgetinis after Brain was retired from active duty. She builds them other gadgets and features to help them when they go on Gadget's missions. She now uses a laptop instead of a computer book.

### *Inspector Gadget's Biggest Caper Ever*

Penny is now 16 years old in this movie, although she does never do much, except for help Loony Purkle regain his confidence. A running gag is her wanting to go to an opera concert.

### *Inspector Gadget (2015 TV Series)*

Penny now joins Gadget on his missions and is an agent in training. Despite being Gadget's new assistant, and that Gadget is now aware of Penny's capabilities, he still doesn't pay attention to her and does what he wants instead.

## Personality

Penny is precocious, intelligent, brave, cute, tomboyish, resourceful, and anonymously solves the cases for her Uncle Gadget, something which he is totally oblivious to. Penny also loves her uncle very much and looks up to him. It is not stated if she and/or Gadget have any other family members in the TV series, movies, or spin-offs, but Gadget seems to be the only family she has got. Penny foils Dr. Claw's plans, leaving Gadget to get all of the credit for doing so, even though he didn't do anything at all. This makes sense because Penny would be in serious danger, if she got the credit.

Penny often stares around M.A.D.'s hideout or setup location to find out what they are up to; however, she usually ends up getting caught by Claw's henchmen and she either escapes by herself or calls her loyal pet dog Brain to rescue her. But when she and Brain are both captured, Gadget becomes exceptionally useful and competent and goes out to rescue both of them. Gadget loves Penny more than anything and he sees acting like a pretty girl. Penny is also very knowledgeable; for example, in "Clear Case", when she and Brain are in a laboratory of a diamond mine in South Africa, she knows how M.A.D agents are making invisibility suits to scare off miners by making them think they are ghosts. Quoting: "Diamonds refract light. They discovered a way to grind them into a powder and make a diamond cloth. It's like a coat made of mirrors: It deflects light so you can't see it."

Penny is also very patient and progressive, particularly when putting up with her uncle's clumsiness and stupidity.

In the 2015 series, she is now a junior agent. She is a lot more weak and active. She acts like a typical teenage girl when she's not on duty. She is right-handed and very intelligent in addition to her cuteness and beauty and is capable of hacking into almost any computer-based system. Despite being fearless and a genius, Penny does have her weakness.

It is shown in episodes such as "Claw's Nephew", "Gadget 2.0", and "Eye of the Dragon" that she has a strong weakness for boys and gets nervous when they're near her. She might be in love with Dr. Claw's nephews, Billy Thaw and Talon.

## Appearance

Penny has shoulder-length blonde hair styled in pigtails. In the first live-action film, she was depicted as a brunette (with her hair down), though in the sequel, she is depicted as a blonde like in the cartoon. Her eyes are greenish-blue. In *Gadget and the Gadgetinis* and *Inspector Gadget's Last Case*, her eyes are violet-blue.

Penny's age throughout the original animated series is 10 years old. Two years later, she is 12 years old in *Gadget and the Gadgetinis* and *Inspector Gadget's Last Case*. 3 years later, she is 15 in the 2015 series. A year later, she is 16 years old in the 2005 film *Inspector Gadget's Biggest Caper Ever*.

In the original cartoon, Penny wears a red short-sleeved T-shirt with a thick white stripe in the center, olive green pants with light green knee pockets, alongside red and pink sneakers. In season 2, she wears a blue and white sports jacket. She was seen in a bikini three times, two of them red and the last is blue.

In *The Gadgetinis*, Penny wears a red crop top over a green hoodie, khaki pants, brown belt with silver buckle, and red sneakers. Her pigtails are also very sleeky. Like the original series, she wears a red bikini at the beach.

In *Biggest Caper Ever*, she wore a red and white short-sleeved shirt, blue jeans with a belt, and black sneakers. She also no longer has thick cut bangs.

In the 2015 series, she wears a red and white hoodie, blue jeans, red boots with white laces, and red fingerless gloves, though occasionally she can be seen in her outfit of the original cartoon. On two occasions, she is seen wearing a similar uniform, except it is black with neon blue stripes on both sides, and the boots have neon blue laces, as shown below. Penny's swimwear is also different, as it now consists of a colored tank top and beach shorts after her original outfit.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Martial Arts/Combatant** : Penny has incredible hand to hand combat skills. She is seen training a lot throughout the series, and seen taking down talon and her foes with ease.

## Trivia

* Penny's last name is unknown. While Inspector Gadget's last name is "Brown" in the live-action film, the animated series strongly implies that Gadget is his real last name. While one can assume Penny's last name is Brown or Gadget, she frequently calls him "Uncle Gadget," suggesting that Gadget might be her maternal uncle or that he had his gadgets before Penny was born or before she met him, or if Gadget and Penny are related at all.
* It is not stated why Penny is with Gadget and for some reason, the only subject of Penny's parents are never brought up at all.
* According to the book *Go-Go Gadget: The Creation of Inspector Gadget* by Andy Heyward, Penny was originally "capable of prodigious feats of strength". While this feat was never kept in for any incarnation of Penny, it's possible that her temporarily adding super strength in the episode "Old Man of the Mountain" was used as a homage.
* According to "You Know the Drill", she is claustrophobic.
* Penny was Cree Summer's very first voice acting role. Summer reprises her role for the cut-scenes of *Inspector Gadget: Gadget's Greatest Gadgets*, the *Robot Chicken* episodes "Adoption's an Option" and "Triple Hot Dog Sandwich on Wheat", and the Nostalgic Critic review of *Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas*.
* Coincidentally, Cree Summer and Tara Strong (2015 series only) are best friends and both Canadians.
* Cree Summer was unable to reprise the role of Penny for Season 2 of *Inspector Gadget* and is replaced by Holly Berger.
* In the first version of the Polish dubbing, her name is Lilly, and she is dubbed by Halina Chrobak. In the second version, she has the original name (Penny) and is dubbed by Krystyna Kozanecka (1983 series).
* In the episode "Midnight Madness", she has Gelotophobia (afraid of being laughed at).
* Her Arabic name is Dania in the 1983 series.
* The only time where she does not appear is in *Inspector Gadget's Field Trip*.