Swiper

**Swiper** (theoretical full name: **Ferris Swiper Carlson**) is the overall main antagonist (and sometimes the anti-hero) in the television series and the secondary antagonist of Dora and the Lost City of Gold and appears in almost every episode. He is a 10 (9 for the first 50 episodes)-year-old sneaky orange fox who is easily recognized by his blue mask and gloves and his love for swiping anything that he happens to come upon. As his name implies, Swiper swipes or attempts to swipe key items that help Dora on her adventures. Clever as he is, Swiper never manages to take Dora completely by surprise; a whisking sound is (almost) always audible just prior to his appearances, due to leaves or other objects that may collide with him.

To prevent Swiper from succeeding, Dora must repeat the phrase, "Swiper, no swiping!" 3 times. Usually, she prevails, and Swiper slinks away, snapping his fingers and saying, "Oh, man!"; in some occasions, Swiper, however, gets to the item before Dora has a chance to repeat the phrase. He then gloats, "You're too late! You'll never find it/them/your/the/that/those [swiped object(s)] now!")

## Looks

Swiper's pelt is primarily an orange burgundy creme, with highlights on his eyebrows, the top of his snout, undercarriage, and the end of his tail. His white eyes and black pupils are concealed behind a blue do-rag/mask, matching his gloves.

## Description

### Bad Side

Swiper's motive for theft is patently childish; he never seems actually to want the object he takes, since he almost immediately throws it away to hide the item from Dora (prompting her to ask the audience to help her find it). Until recently, it was unclear if he swipes merely for the joy of swiping, or from a desire to annoy and/or frustrate Dora. Compounding the confusion is the fact that, given the right reason, for example, that the item in question is a present for Dora's puppy, he'll return items he has taken, no matter how much effort he went through to get them. It's also shown that he rarely knows the full importance of what he's taken; for example, he had no idea the aforementioned gift was for Dora's puppy. In the episode "Dora Saves the Mermaids", he revealed that he "likes swiping." He has a New York accent and lives in a burrow on top of Blueberry Hill.

Swiper is very fast, agile, and somewhat of a master of disguise. He has a great deal of technical knowledge, as he's built a variety of vehicles and gadgets (including a remote-controlled robot butterfly) to help him swipe things. Most of the time, however, he simply relies on his natural stalking abilities (sometimes with the aid of a costume, he would always give himself away as his Signature tail constantly pops out of the costume) to sneak up on Dora. In the early episodes he often "hid" by curling up into a ball, which neither Dora nor Boots ever recognized as Swiper; he apparently doesn't do this anymore.

He has only been seen once without his mask when the robot butterfly he built to swipe from Dora and Boots (in the episode "Dora's Got a Puppy") apparently malfunctioned; after they stopped it, it stole his mask and gloves and kept them from him for a few humorous seconds.

He was 9 years old in earlier episodes but in the Season 2 episode, "Whose Birthday is It?", he turns 10. He has a young voice, appearance and he has a living grandma. Swiper's relatives were only seen once (and twice mentioned), his grandmother has been mentioned in 2 episodes: "A Letter for Swiper" and "Swiper the Explorer", and she appeared in Swiper's Favorite Things.

### Good Side

Over the course of the series, it's shown that there's more to Swiper's character than an urge to swipe things. In one episode it was revealed that Swiper has a soft spot for puppies, and in another that he likes Cowboy cookies. In a few episodes, he expresses feelings of joy with a fox-like cry, "Yip-yip-yippee!" In the episode "A Letter for Swiper", Dora and Boots filled in for a delivery bird whose glasses were broken; They delivered stickers to Swiper (which were sent by his grandmother), and he thanked them for bringing him his mail without trying to swipe anything. In the episode "Swiper the Explorer", Swiper helps Dora on her quest to help Baby Fox (acutely, it’s the same species as Swiper) find his mommy, and Swiper carries the baby fox almost all through the episode. Also in that episode, it's revealed that Swiper doesn't speak Spanish, and wishes that he did.

The interaction between Dora and the antagonistic fox also reveals the kindness and grace of Dora's character. In one episode, "Dora's Dance to the Rescue", Swiper took pity on a Dancing Elf who was caught in a magic bottle, similar to a genie. The elf tricked the sympathetic Swiper into removing the bottle's cork, thereby releasing the elf and his talking cane. Unfortunately, the wily fox was thereby entrapped in his place. Stuck and desperate, Swiper called out to Dora and Boots. The remainder of the episode chronicled an epic adventure involving most of the land's creatures, eventually ending with the release of Swiper after a dance contest. The episode was atypical as it involved many dances and songs, demonstrated a close, un-conflicted relationship between Swiper and the other creatures, and had Dora refer to the elf in an uncharacteristically judgmental way ("Mean Elf").

In this and several other episodes, Swiper finds himself captured, trapped, or in some sort of trouble. Despite his history of mean-spiritedness towards Dora and Boots, she demonstrates that the fox is her friend (which he doesn't find out until "Dora's World Adventure!") and will always unquestioningly help Swiper just as she would her other friends, Benny, Isa, Boots, and Tico. If Swiper needs her help, she’ll come to his aid in the same manner.

In "Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure", another atypical episode, Swiper's love of swiping ends up getting him on Santa's naughty list, when he fails to heed Santa's warnings about swiping on Christmas. At first, everyone dismisses what has happened, but Dora immediately insists on helping Swiper. After asking Santa if she can do something, Santa sends Dora and Swiper on an epic quest through time to help Swiper get off the naughty list. Upon coming back, Swiper initially fails his quest, but everyone then expresses that Swiper is their friend and that they want to share their gifts with him because they care about him, despite all the things he's done. It’s at this point Swiper learns the true meaning of Christmas and tries to give Dora his most prized possession, a stuffed bunny he had since he was little. Dora refuses to accept it but suggests that they can share it, and Swiper shares his bunny with her. Upon seeing him share his bunny, Santa returns and puts Swiper back on the nice list. It’s then revealed that Swiper shared his gifts and didn't swipe anything every Christmas after that.

Swiper is far from being unable to feel guilty for his actions. In the episode "A Present For Santa", Swiper returns the present that he swiped, upon discovering that it was for Santa.

In the episode "Dora's World Adventure", Swiper helps Dora return the friendship bracelets he had stolen all over the world and is shown to feel guilty once he discovers the magnitude of what he'd done and what he had swiped. During this time Swiper gets a taste of his own medicine, so to speak, as each country they visit has its own "Swiper", only of different species, who tries to swipe the bracelets: Fifi the skunk in France, Sami the hyena in Tanzania, Fomkah the bear in Russia, and Ying Ying the weasel in China. All of these animals act and dress nearly identically to Swiper (including blue masks and gloves) and are stopped in the same way he is by saying their name, followed by "no swiping" three times. Then they run off, saying Swiper's catchphrase, "Oh, man!" in the local language. Their entrances are also precluded by a sound, only with local music, e.g., Ying Ying has a chau Gong playing.

## History

Swiper was born around the same time as some of the child characters, but Swiper has seemingly aged at a faster rate possibly because of his species difference. Swiper spent a lot of his childhood with his Grandma Fox. As for his swiping, the only known reason he does it’s for fun but the writers didn't want to give Swiper a detailed backstory on his swiping because they thought the show would be cleaner that way.

## Quotes

* "Oh, man!" (when he fails to swipe something, gets unlucky, and at the end of his Character Finds)
* "Hahahaha!" (his laugh)
* "You're *too* late! (sometimes followed by a snicker) You'll never find it/them/the/your/that/those [swiped object(s)] now! (sometimes followed by another snicker)"

## Appearances

Swiper appears in almost every episode. His first appearance was in "The Legend of the Big Red Chicken". The very first episode that he didn't appear on was "Te Amo".

Swiper also appeared in nearly every episodes of *The VeggieTales Show*.

## Trivia

* In the Japanese version, Swiper is voiced by Junichi Kanemaru, the current Japanese voice of Sonic the Hedgehog.
	+ Funny enough, Sonic's best friend/sidekick (Miles "Tails" Prower) is a fox.
* Throughout Dora's history, Swiper's sneaky expression is incorrectly rendered to him look angry all the time rather than sneaky. So sometimes, it is rendered correctly to give him a sneaky yet serious look on his face.
* Swiper isn't considered a true villain in the show. He's just sneaky and tends to reveal his good side in some episodes.
	+ He has later equivalents known as the Bobo Brothers, the mischievous spider monkey twins (and the Honking Edmontosauruses from "Diego's Great Dinosaur Rescue") both from "Go, Diego, Go!".
* Viewers that look very closely will notice that whenever Swiper is about to snap his fingers as he says "Oh, man!", he poses his fingers incorrectly by pressing his index finger and thumb together. However, in the Season 3-6 intro and "Dora's Jack-in-the-Box", he actually does it correctly by pressing his middle finger against his thumb.
* Swiper is similar to Saci from the Portuguese book and TV series *Sítio do Picapau Amarelo.*
	+ Both like to do random stuff to things.
	+ Both are always seen wearing stuff that reflects on them.
* Swiper is also similar to Mr. Sniffles, the mascot for the Australian brand of Medicine called *Demazin*.
	+ Both are sneaky.
	+ Both have disorders.
	+ Both like their favorite goal (Swiping for Swiper and sneezing for Mr. Sniffles).
	+ Both like to get their hands on stuff.
	+ Both can be stopped.
	+ Both have cartoonish accents.
* He’s also similar to Horrid Henry, the horrid boy and the main protagonist from the same name in the TV Series.
	+ Both like their favorite goal (Swiping for Swiper and being horrid to other people for Horrid Henry)
	+ Both have their catchphrases ("Oh man!" for Swiper and "Noooo!!!/It's Not Fair!" for Horrid Henry whenever they're both defeated and "You're too late! (You'll never find/get it/them/the/your/that/those [swiped object(s)] now!/I got it! I got it '''I got it!''')" for Swiper and "Nah Nah Ne Nah Nah" for Horrid Henry whenever they beat their opponents)
	+ Both likes to get their hands off from anyone
	+ Both can be stopped (Swiper can be stopped if one says "Swiper, no swiping!" 1-3 times, while Horrid can be stopped if one)
* Swiper was born with a disorder with a blue mask and gloves where people with that whisk, swipe, and throw stuff, and people stop them by saying "[name], no swiping" 3 times, and then they snap their fingers and say "Oh, man!", and other animals (Fifi, Sammy, Fomkah, and Ying-Ying) have it, so that could mean he could be named after the syndrome.
* In "Bark Bark to the Play Park", it's revealed that he’s the owner of Perrito's Twin.
* He’s considered to be one of the most hated antagonists to appear in kids' shows.
* Swiper manages to throw stuff into really high places, including into a volcano (as seen in Bouncing Ball and Roberto the Robot) and to the top of a mountain (as seen in Star Mountain)
* Swiper lost one of his gloves in the episode "The Lost City" but he got it back.
	+ But in Dora's Got a Puppy, he lost both and his mask to his robot butterfly.
* In both Dora's World Adventure! and Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure, Swiper travels with Dora (without Boots).
	+ Coincidentally, both of these are double-length episodes.
* Pinto, the Pony Express is the first episode in which he is on his good side as he was happy that Dora, Boots, and Benny gave him a cowboy cookie. However, he never even said "Thank you" when they gave it to him or after he ate it.
* In Whose Birthday is It?, he’s on his good side without any swiping since it is his birthday, and Dora and her friends celebrated it, which he really appreciates.
* Swiper's dialogue is usually limited to his "Oh, man" or "You're too late" catchphrases, but there are instances where he has extended dialogue as well.
	+ Grandma's House is the first episode where Swiper has extended dialogue.
	+ Swiper's Favorite Things is the first episode where he mentions his grandma more often.
* When he was introduced, Nickelodeon for some reason did not like him. They thought he was bad modeling and unsettling to kids, but when the creators felt strongly about the inclusion of a villainous character, he came in.
* Swiper has interacted with various characters to show his good side.
	+ In the episode, "Swiper the Explorer", he interacted with not just Dora and Boots but with Map, Backpack, Benny, and Diego.
	+ In the episode, "Dora's Dance to the Rescue", he interacted with Tico, Isa, Pirate Pig, and the Pirate Piggies.
* When Swiper appeared on "Dora In Wonderland", his role was the Knave of Hearts.
* Swiper makes his return on the Dora and Friends episode "Return to the Rainforest", where he manages to swipe Backpack and Map from Boots as he was taking them to visit Dora and her friends in Playa Verde, only to end up being blown away by a strong wind, before he can hide them. After being confronted by Dora over his theft and explaining what happened, he joins Dora and her friends (past and present) in helping find Map and Backpack.
* In "Swiper the Explorer", it’s revealed that Swiper does not know Spanish, but he lives on Blueberry Hill, and in order to get in, one has to say "abre", which is Spanish for "open". It’s possible that it is the only Spanish word he understands, or if not, either the gate to his home just opens on its own but only for him or he would jump over the fence.
* He also appears in the Dora and Friends: Into the City! episode, "Dora's Rainforest Reunion".
* Swiper doesn't want anyone else swiping from Dora but him.
* Swiper was most likely raised by his grandmother.
* In Dora's Got a Puppy, it's the only episode Swiper is seen without his mask and gloves.
* There are a few episodes where Swiper doesn’t appear at all, such as Te Amo, Save the Puppies!, Big Sister Dora, Catch the Babies, and Dora and Diego to the Rescue.
	+ However, in some episodes where he doesn’t appear, another villain takes his place as the antagonist (e.g. El Mago and Dog Catcher in Te Amo and Save the Puppies respectively).
		- This also applies to episodes like Dora's Dance to the Rescue, where he is on his good side without any swiping, and another villain his replacement as the antagonist.
* Sometimes Swiper can be found on his good side in some episodes, but he's mostly swiping almost throughout the series.
* Swiper never makes an appearance in Go, Diego, Go!, nor he was ever mentioned.
	+ However, the Bobo Brothers (and in Diego's Great Dinosaur Rescue, their prehistoric counterparts, the Honking Edmontosauruses) take his place.
* In some episodes, such as Dora Saves the Prince, A Present for Santa, Quack! Quack!, Dora Had a Little Lamb, To the South Pole, Journey to the Purple Planet, Dora Saves the Mermaids, he somehow found a way to sneak into wherever Dora and Boots are going.
* Dora and Boots don't like it when Swiper is sometimes swiping from them, but like it or not, that's his job which he seems to not care, but sometimes he tries not to swipe anyway even though he really likes to.
* In Beaches, Swiper makes his whisking sound as soon as Dora and Boots finish the Travel Song the first time.
* Swiper doesn't seem to ever be seen crying throughout the series whenever he gets sad about something. However, in Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure, he **almost** cries, but Dora made him feel better.
	+ Additionally, another species of fox (that being Baby Fox) from Swiper the Explorer cries, meaning that he is the only fox to be seen crying.
	+ Also, the Bobo Brothers (the Go, Diego, Go equivalent to Swiper) were seen crying, meaning that they are the only major antagonists to be seen crying.
* Both Map and Swiper have never gotten other voice actors throughout the series unlike all the other characters getting new voice actors and voice actresses, they're the only ones that have always been voiced by Marc Weiner.
	+ However, in Dora and the Lost City of Gold, Swiper has a different voice actor.
* Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure is the first episode Swiper says Swiper, no swiping! to his future self which doesn't work due to Older Dora telling him that they stopped having their Christmas Eve party because of him going on swiping no matter what after he got on the naughty list which makes them still too late whether they like it or not, it wouldn't work for him anyway when he's too old.
* Also in Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure, it’s revealed that when he got older, he moved from Blueberry Hill to a castle.
* In Beaches, Dora and Boots sing part of the Travel Song while Swiper is on to him sneaking behind every booth because Dora tells the viewer to watch out for him while they're singing.
	+ During the song, Swiper hilariously trips, flails, and stumbles in the background over objects.
* Sometimes Swiper doesn't make his whisking sound when he's around, sometimes Dora and Boots immediately just mention him coming out and to watch out for him.
* In Three Little Piggies, Swiper doesn't swipe anything even though he's trying to but he sometimes says "You're too late", but when Dora and Boots are singing We Did It!, there was one line where they technically steal his catchphrase and say HE is the one who is too late trying to swipe the pigs' blue ribbons (the line goes: "Swiper tried to take the ribbons, but he was too late!")
* Sometimes Swiper travels with Dora instead of Boots whenever he's on his good side or even with both of them in some episodes because Boots is sometimes busy and unable to travel with Dora or she sometimes travels alone without anyone.
* Swiper has gotten a few major roles in some episodes whenever he has ideas on swiping, or if he's ever on his good side.
* Swiper's Favorite Things is the last episode in which he is on his good side the entire episode, however, in Dora's Thanksgiving Day Parade, he appears at the end of the episode and he's on his bad side for a short time almost about to swipe the pie, but he turns to his good side right away when he feels sad about getting left out and everyone inviting him to the Thanksgiving Dinner Party.
* In Rescue, Rescue, Rescue, Dora and Boots zoom past Swiper in Tico's rocket car while he's approaching and they don't even see him coming just as they're getting to the Gooey Geyser as fast as they can to save Benny.
* Swiper had the most Character Find segments than any other character. There were 11 episodes where he had Character Find: Hic-Boom-Ohhh!, Surprise!, Sticky Tape, Lost Squeaky, Click!, A Letter for Swiper, Swiper the Explorer, Dora and Diego to the Rescue!, Dora's Dance to the Rescue, Dora's First Trip, and Dora's World Adventure!.
* In the video game *Dora the Explorer: Journey to the Purple Planet*, it is possible for the player to have a negative Space Gem counter if they fail to stop Swiper while the counter is at zero.
* Swiper appears in every episode of Season 2.
* Swiper is a master of disguises.
* Swiper never swipes on his birthday.
* In Dora Saves the Three Little Pigs after Swiper gives Cinderella back her glass slipper, it’s revealed that he has a crush on Cinderella.
* Dora and Boots get mad or upset when they don't stop Swiper on time before swiping something from them, but there are times that they would still like him anyway and consider him as a friend whether or not he frustrates them.
* Swiper never swiped anything in double-length episodes, unless one counts:
	+ Dora Saves the Mermaids, where he swipes Mariana's crown, but Dora and Boots immediately stopped him telling him it belongs to Mariana and how important it is to her.
	+ Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure, where he swiped the Christmas Tree star, but the viewer helped Dora and her friends catch it and put it back on the tree.
		- But he never throws items away and hides them in double-length episodes.

* In Diego's Great Dinosaur Rescue, the Honking Edmontosauruses are prehistoric counterparts to him and the Bobo Brother
* It is unknown how Swiper snaps his fingers with sound when he has gloves on. In real life, when one is wearing gloves over their hands, snapping their fingers would not make any sound at all because gloves would avoid the hand sounds being heard.
* Usually, when Swiper swipes an item, he throws it to a location where Dora or her friends won't be able to find it, so he makes sure the item is lost forever, but in Dora and the Lost City of Gold and Storytime Live!, he instead runs away with the swiped items.
* Usually, Swiper can be swiped when Dora or her friends say "Swiper, no swiping!" three times. However, in Dora and the Lost City of Gold and Storytime Live!, Swiper can also be stopped if Dora or her friends say "Swiper, no swiping!" once or twice.
* Swiper does not snap his fingers when saying, "Oh, man!" in Dora and the Lost City of Gold.