Mr. Bogus



Mr. Bogus was an animated Saturday morning series that aired in the US in 1991. It is based on a series of Belgian Claymation-animated shorts featuring the titular character. These shorts serve as tie-ins to commercial breaks or returns from commercial breaks.

The series followed the adventures and misadventures of the eponymous character, Bogus, a tiny yellow-skinned gremlin who lives in the house of Tommy Anybody, a young boy who lives in a suburban neighborhood. Besides his adventures in Tommy's house, Bogus also went on various adventures in his native homeland called Bogusland, in which he came from by use of a bathroom mirror. During these adventures, Bogus was also occasionally joined up by his bratty younger cousin, appropriately named Brattus. Throughout the series, Bogus is best known for his clumsiness, his humongous appetite, and his penchant for doing good deeds.

The series was created by Calico Entertainment and Zodiac Entertainment, the same two companies that created Widget the World Watcher.

Recap page here.

This series provides examples of the following tropes:

 * Adorkable: Bogus himself
 * Androcles' Lion: A claymation short had Bogus come across a lobster tied up in some ropes on the counter, so he cuts the ropes, allowing the lobster to escape. Unfortunately, when Bogus is about to leave, he winds up getting tangled up in the same ropes that he freed the lobster from. Fortunately for him, the lobster comes back and uses its pincers to free him from the ropes in return.
 * Angrish: Bogus will very often indulge in this when really angry.
 * Balloon Belly: Happened several times to Bogus, whenever he ate a lot.
 * Big Eater: Despite his diminutive size, Bogus can actually pack away foodstuffs that are bigger than he is.
 * Bratty Half-Pint: Brattus
 * Butt Monkey: Bogus very often falls victim to this, despite being the main character of the show.
 * Call a Rabbit A Smeerp: Bogus very often ran afoul of living dust bunnies, which he called "Dirt Dudes".
 * Cheshire Cat Grin: Bogus grinned this way a lot.
 * Chest Insignia: The letter 'B' that Brattus has on the front of his shirt.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Bogus is a prime example of this trope, so it's pretty much unavoidable.
 * Cowardly Lion/Lovable Coward: Bogus isn't exactly the bravest one around, but when the chips are down, he will do whatever he can to make everything right again.
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Even in spite of his bungling, Bogus will use any kind of unorthodox method to solve a problem.
 * Dagwood Sandwich: Bogus dines on one of these in the episode "Bad Luck Bogus". However, in a rare example of the trope, Bogus actually eats the sandwich one layer at a time with a fork instead of the usual practice of devouring the entire sandwich in one bite. Considering that the contents of the entire sandwich itself are all bigger than Bogus, that's a pretty understandable matter entirely.
 * Dinner Deformation: One claymation short had Bogus devour an entire banana, taking on its shape.
 * Dripping Disturbance: Bogus was faced with the problem of a dripping faucet in another claymation short.
 * Expy: Possibly of the Aardvark from The Ant and The Aardvark.
 * Although, his yellow skin and his facial features make him look more like Grimm from the Mother Goose and Grimm TV series.
 * The Fool: Who do you think?
 * Four-Fingered Hands: Bogus, Brattus, and Baddus, along with every other denizen of Bogusland, have these.
 * Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: This has happened very often to Bogus.
 * Griping About Gremlins: Averted hard with Bogus, played straight with his enemy, Baddus.
 * Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: A rare non-animal example as the only article of clothing that Bogus wears is a pair of blue pants.
 * Hammerspace: Bogus seems to keep an astonishing amount of various items in his pockets, if the occasion happens to present itself.
 * The Hyena: Bogus will occasionally laugh maniacally when giddy or otherwise embarrassed.
 * Hypercompetent Sidekick: Brattus occasionally fills this role whenever he joins Bogus on his adventures.
 * Informed Species: A rare non-animal example; given his yellow skin, Bogus does not look very much like an actual Gremlin, and neither does Brattus. However, Baddus, on the other hand...
 * I Need to Go Iron My Dog: One time, Bogus tried to back out of facing Baddus by insisting to Brattus that he had "lots of foodies to eat, a Bogus beauty sleep to take, and gotta wash hair", the last one to which Brattus incredulously replies, "What hair?"
 * Jack of All Trades: Bogus is a pretty versatile character.
 * The Klutz: This is often the bane of Bogus's life, due to his tiny size.
 * Literal Metaphor: One episode had Bogus literally turn into a chicken when teased by Brattus about being too afraid to face off against Baddus.
 * Meaningful Name: Brattus. Also, Baddus.
 * Mouse World: The inside of Tommy's house, from Bogus's perspective.
 * Nice Guy: Bogus again
 * Nobody Calls Me Chicken: Bogus tries to invoke this when Brattus teases him about being chicken, subverted when Bogus literally turns into a chicken and starts clucking like one.
 * Noir Episode: "Bogus Private Eye"
 * The One Who Wears Shoes: Brattus
 * The Renfield: Mole, to Ratty.
 * Screams Like a Little Girl: Bogus screamed this way almost all the time.
 * Stock Sound Effects: The series will very often use Hanna-Barbera sound effects, despite the fact that the show isn't created by the company itself.
 * Third Person Person: Bogus very often referred to himself in the third person, calling himself 'Bogey' almost all the time. Brattus did this as well too.
 * Those Two Bad Guys: Ratty the rat and Mole the mole, Bogus's other two enemies.
 * Verbal Tic: Being that the show was created in the early 90s, Bogus often used words such as "mondo" as well as mispronouncing some words on occasion.
 * X-Ray Sparks: Happened to Bogus in the episode "The Bogus Invasion".
 * You Dirty Rat: Ratty
 * You No Take Candle: Bogus almost always talked this way.