Taffyta Muttonfudge

**Taffyta Muttonfudge** is a minor character in Disney's 2012 animated feature film, *Wreck-It Ralph* and its 2018 sequel. She is a prominent racer from the game *Sugar Rush* and a rival to Vanellope von Schweetz. She drives a pink, hard candy kart called "Pink Lightning", and her racing theme seems to be strawberry hard candy.

## Background

### Official Description

Taffyta Muttonfudge: The Hard Hitting Strawberry

*The lollipop-lickin' is a top-notch racer in the game* Sugar Rush*. She is a fierce competitor who keeps her eyes on the prize and isn't afraid to derail anyone who gets in her way. Though King Candy is* Sugar Rush*'s reigning racing champion, Taffyta always manages to give him a run for his money with her wicked driving skills.*
### Personality

Taffyta Muttonfudge is a skilled racer from the game *Sugar Rush*, where she is known to be second only to King Candy, whom she admires and respects. Due to her accomplishments, her ego and confidence have inflated and made her arrogant and cocky. Taffyta is also quite charismatic and can put on quite a charming front; she is evidently popular and the leader of the group of *Sugar Rush* racers, with Candlehead and Rancis Fluggerbutter being her closest friends. She tends to be bossy and somewhat crass to her competitors, likely because she does not see them as her equals. Taffyta's most frequent target for bullying is Vanellope, whom she believes is a glitch capable of getting this game unplugged. Being unquestionably loyal to King Candy, Taffyta takes it upon herself to stop Vanellope from racing, and even influences the other racers to join her endeavors, bullying Vanellope in a truly cruel and abusive manner as she was manipulated by him.

At the end of the movie, when Vanellope is revealed to be the rightful ruler of *Sugar Rush*, Taffyta is truly remorseful and immediately apologizes for her actions. She shows that despite her attitude, she is mature enough to admit her mistakes. Taffyta is also very dramatic in her emotions, especially in fear, sadness, or anger; she is prone to wailing and bursting into tears whenever she is upset. In the tie-in book, One Sweet Race, which takes place after the movie, Taffyta still apparently enjoys teasing others, which hints that she is just programmed to be arrogant.

By the time of *Ralph Breaks the Internet* six years later, Taffyta is openly mocking and hostile towards Vanellope as a result of their competitive roles, but is now unable to act against her, thus being more of a competitive rival than a bully to Vanellope, like she used to be. She appears envious of Vanellope's position as the most popular racer, yet she does not let her jealously get the best of her and instead treats Vanellope like an equal unlike before.

### Physical appearance

Taffyta is a small girl with Chibi-like proportions: she has a large head with a small body. She has tan skin, rosy cheeks, glossy pink lips, and short platinum lightly blonde hair in a bob-cut with low front bangs covering her dark brown eyebrows. She has a small rosy jellybean-like nose. Her deep periwinkle eyes are large and animesque. She has dark thick upper and lower lashes that are varnished in mascara. She is almost always seen sucking on a strawberry lollipop.

Taffyta's ensemble is almost entirely comprised of shades of pink. She wears a frosted magenta strawberry-themed cap (resembling that of *Strawberry Shortcake*'s, who is possibly the inspiration for her design) or helmet on her head that doubles as a visor when she's racing. Underneath her hot pink racing jacket, she wears a lighter frosted pink dress and white-and-pink-striped leggings with matching sneakers. She tops her outfit off with white racing gloves.

## Appearances

### *Wreck-It Ralph*

After a grand day of racing, the arcade closes and the racers of *Sugar Rush* prepare to pay their fee (one gold coin) to race in the daily Random Roster Race. The first racers across the finish line in the race will represent *Sugar Rush* as the following day's avatars. Being the second most successful racer in the game, Taffyta deposits her coin after King Candy. Suddenly, Vanellope, in disguise, uses a gold medal from a game-jumping video game villain named Wreck-It Ralph to get herself into the race. King Candy orders his security team, Wynnchel and Duncan, to capture her, but Ralph's accidental interference allows Vanellope to escape. When Taffyta notices this, she puts it into her own hands to prevent the glitch from racing.

Vanellope heads to the junkyard, where she puts the finishing touches on her makeshift, peddle-powered kart. Taffyta and the other racers arrive at the junkyard and command Vanellope to drop out, as King Candy told her glitches are unable to race. Vanellope refuses, and Taffyta begins to destroy her kart. The other racers join Taffyta in destroying the kart as well. In an attempt to make her stop, Vanellope pulls Taffyta away from the kart, but this angers her to the point she jabs her and pushes her into a mud puddle. Ralph comes and sees this and, even though Vanellope had stolen his medal but was unable to stand Taffyta bullying her, he chases Taffyta and the other racers away.

Taffyta is later seen at the Random Roster Race and is in second place, behind King Candy and ahead of Candlehead and Rancis Fluggerbutter. They see Vanellope with a new kart and try to run her off the track with cherry bombs. As they drive into a cannon, however, Vanellope suddenly glitches in front of them. This spooks the three into spinning out, and they miss the higher part of the course when they are shot out of the cannon, falling into a cupcake frosting below. Rancis is shocked, Candlehead freaks out over her candle being blown out, and Taffyta starts crying.

When the Cy-Bugs invade *Sugar Rush*, Taffyta (even though she was never seen) and the other citizens of the game retreat to Game Central Station. After King Candy is revealed as Turbo and is defeated, Vanellope crosses the finish line and Taffyta's memory is restored, turning out that King Candy has messed with Vanellope's programming and she is actually the rightful ruler of *Sugar Rush*, a princess. Horrified at what they have been doing, the racers apologize, blaming Taffyta for making them bully Vanellope. Taffyta apologizes as well, but Vanellope says she will have her and the other *Sugar Rush* racers executed for being mean to her, driving them into panic and causing Taffyta and the others to cry about their impending death. Vanellope reveals she is just joking and accepts her apology. Shortly after, Taffyta and the other racers gather around Vanellope, and Taffyta gives Vanellope a thumbs up as they reconcile and become friends. Taffyta makes a final appearance with the rest of the film's characters at the wedding of Fix-It Felix Jr. and Sergeant Calhoun.

### *Ralph Breaks the Internet*

Taffyta returns for the sequel, now voiced by Melissa Villaseñor, replacing Mindy Kaling. She is once again hostile towards Vanellope as a result of their racing rivalry, but is unable to act against her as she had before. She is first seen racing with the other racers and is second place, behind Vanellope. When the *Sugar Rush* steering wheel is broken and the game is unplugged, Taffyta is seen running away and crying in Game Central Station. Now homeless, she and the other racers are taken to Niceland, where no one volunteers to take them in. Empathetic and excited at the prospect of having a family, Taffyta and the racers are adopted by Calhoun and Felix. The Surge Protector warns the couple not to jump headfirst into parenting, and his cynicism is proven right when Taffyta and the racers ransack Felix and Calhoun's apartment.

At the end of the film, *Sugar Rush* is restored, and Taffyta returns to racing. As a result of her care under Calhoun and Felix, Taffyta has adopted a kinder and gentler disposition. She also takes part in weekly social activities hosted by arcade denizens alongside her parents and the racers.

### Once Upon a Studio

She appears in the short along with many other Disney characters.

## Printed media

### *One Sweet Race*

In the tie-in storybook, *One Sweet Race*, which takes place after the film, Taffyta is one of the best racers and has won cups for it, and teases Rancis because he never won a race, serving as the antagonist of the storybook. Rancis sells all of his possessions to buy the fastest kart the bakery can make, and Taffyta finds it interesting, but he ends up losing control of it and several racers are hit by it, but Taffyta avoids the kart and wins the race. Rancis and Vanellope then build a kart themselves, and Rancis drives next to Taffyta, who taunts the kart. But the kart proves to be much better than his previous one, and Rancis ends up knocking Taffyta's kart into the mud and wins the race.

## Disney Parks

### Walt Disney World

Since 2016, Taffyta and the other racers have been featured in *Mickey's Boo-to-You Halloween Parade* as dancers accompanying Vanellope's candy-themed unit.

### Disney Cruise Line

In Vanellope's Sweets and Treats aboard the Dream, Taffyta has a dessert named after her called "Taffyta Strawberry Milkshake".

## Trivia

* "Taffyta" is actually a portmanteau of "Tabitha" and "Taffy".
* Her name is made up of 3 different foods: taffy, mutton, and fudge. However, her last name sounds like "muffin", so she can also be considered a muffin-themed racer.
* Though her role in the film is relatively small, Taffyta was one of the most heavily marketed characters from the film.
* Her name sounds similar to taffeta, a kind of crisp fabric used to make dresses.
* During the time of the film's release, Taffyta's voice actress, Mindy Kaling, used a promotional image of Taffyta as her Twitter icon.
* Taffyta wears dark brown or black mascara, and it can be seen running down her face as she sobs during Vanellope's execution joke.
* When Vanellope pulled Taffyta away from smashing her crudely made kart, if you look close enough, Vanellope made Taffyta glitch briefly.
* Taffyta is the only female *Sugar Rush* racer who wears a dress beneath her racing jacket; all the other female racers wear a top and a miniskirt.
	+ She's also the only racer that wears gloves.
* In the film, she shares a similar role with Gene, who antagonizes Ralph, telling him that he will never be a hero as his only purpose is to wreck the building. Comparatively, Taffyta tells Vanellope she will never be a racer because she is nothing more than a glitch. At the end of the movie, both Gene and Taffyta make peace with Ralph and Vanellope, although Taffyta and Vanellope had developed a new hostile rivalry by the time of the sequel.
* Taffyta is the only returning character from the original film to get recast for its sequel.

## References

1. ↑ Ralph Breaks the Internet cast list Part 2

## External links

* Taffyta Muttonfudge at Wreck-It Ralph Wiki