Rocko's Modern Life/Characters

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Rocko

• Adorkable: He's a cute little wallaby with a big heart, has his socially awkward moments, and he's One of Us. D'aww.
• Audience Surrogate
• Australian Accent
• Badass Adorable
• Beware the Nice Ones: Occasionally. He has completely destroyed a motorcycle because of bagpipe music once.
• Born Unlucky: Literally, as the show's intro proves.
• Butt Monkey
  • Occasionally, an Iron Butt Monkey
• Catch Phrase: "X day is a very dangerous day..."
• Deadpan Snarker: At times he can be one. Particularly when he's annoyed.
• Depending on the Writer: He either grew up in O-Town or emigrated there as an adult.
• Fanservice: He seems to have this (or at least an In-Universe variant of it) as one of his running gags despite not actually being designed for it; especially notable examples include him being filmed walking down a staircase while also being naked (in "Camera Shy"), stripping himself naked in order to become able to enter a "nude beach" (in "Sand In Your Navel"), and even becoming an underwear model (in "Seat To Stardom").
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Subverted, but he does tend to snap a LOT when he's in a bad mood.
• The Hero: Sometimes The Smart Guy.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: According to the show's intro, at least.
• I Am Not Weasel: He's not a beaver, he's a wallaby.
• The Kirk
• Nice Guy
• One of Us: Works at a comic book store, and loves it there (despite his terrible boss).
• Only Sane Man
• Ridiculously Average Guy: In a ridiculously weird world.
• Sick Episode: He gets a very bad case of the flu in "Flu-in-U-Enza".
• Unlucky Everydude: Emphasis on "unlucky".

Heffer

• Ambiguously Gay: His relationship with Rocko, especially with scenes such as him sleeping in a love motel with Rocko (in "Road Rash") and him voyeuristically filming Rocko naked (in "Camera Shy") being a thing.
  • Ambiguously Bi: He does give himself a female love interest in "An Elk For Heffer", however.
• Big Eater
• Big Fun
• The Big Guy
• Cheshire Cat Grin: His "NAAAKEEED" face from "Camera Shy" is an especially major example of this.
• Cloudcuckoolander
• The Ditz
• Dysfunctional Family: His adoptive family is...interesting, to say the least.
• Extreme Omnivore
• Fat Best Friend
• Fat Idiot
• Happily Adopted: As stated above, he's a steer that was adopted into a wolf family.
• Heroic BSOD: Happens to just about every character in the series, but Heffer suffers it especially bad when his dad bans him from going to anymore Weasel Scout functions. He gets better, though.
• I Am Not Weasel: He doesn't like it when people call him a "cow".
• Irony: He is "the Patrick" of Rocko's Modern Life but is/was voiced by SpongeBob's voice actor.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Keet
• Large Ham: Largely due to how ridiculously over-the-top his Simpleton Voice is.
• The McCoy
• Raised by Wolves: Literally.
• Simpleton Voice: Courtesy of Tom Kenny, who ironically did not voice Patrick in the show's successor.
• The Slacker
• Straw Loser: Downplayed; despite being a lazy, unintelligent, immature slob who is almost completely incapable of acting like a functioning member of society, he actually has occasionally been shown to be surprisingly capable of applying himself.

Filburt:

• Adorkable
• Ambiguously Bi: Although he did marry Dr. Hutchison, he also has said considerably more than his fair share of weird things to/about Rocko in particular, such as "sausage is very seductive", "WITH NO CLOTHES ON" (in response to Heffer gleefully exclaiming that Rocko is naked), "I am now inspecting the patient's (Rocko's) feet...I mean, teeth", and even "sweetie". He also quite-literally married Rocko in "Kiss Me, I'm Foreign".
• Ambiguously Jewish
• Babies Ever After
• Born Unlucky: Heavily implied in "Fortune Cookie", in which he somehow manages to open an entire mountain of fortune cookies and find out that every single one of the fortunes inside said cookies is "BAD LUCK AND EXTREME MISFORTUNE WILL INFEST YOUR PATHETIC SOUL FOR ALL ETERNITY".
• Catch Phrase: "I'm nauseous."
• Coming of Age: In the episode "Born to Spawn", Filburt is angsting about becoming an adult as he is forced to go to Kerplopitgoes Island (his birthplace) for a Rite of Passage. Which turns out to be a theme party in honor of The Seventies, where all the nerdy turtles become temporarily cool.
• Happily Married: To Dr. Hutchison.
• Hollywood Nerd
• I Was Quite a Looker: Word of God says he used to be handsome and athletic, but a case of unrequited love sent him into a downward spiral, which entailed a stay at a mental institution and culminated in his present Nerd status.
• Large Ham: Quite frequently (especially whenever he gets angry), courtesy of Doug Lawrence.
• Manchild: Although he thankfully isn't quite as much of one as Heffer...usually, at least.
• Mistaken for Aliens: In the 'diary' episode, Heffer and Rocko find out that Filburt is an alien bend on taking over the world, but naturally it was just a misunderstanding from his novel called "Filburt's Secret Journal." or WAS IT?
• Nerd Glasses: Which get passed onto his sons.
• No Woody Allens Were Harmed
• Removable Shell: Occasionally.
• Sanity Slippage: His sugar trip in "Sugar-Frosted Frights" and his fight with Heffer in "Put Out To Pasture".
• Shout-Out: To Woody Allen...except without the whole Lolicon thing.
• Sickly Neurotic Geek
• Small Name, Big Ego: His "Mr. Cheese" character in/from "Wacky Delly".

Mr. Cheese: I AM THE CHEESE! I AM THE BEST CHARACTER ON THIS SHOW! I AM BETTER THAN BOTH THE SALAMI AND THE BALONEY COMBINED!

• The Smart Guy
• The Spock
• Straw Loser
• Turtle Power
• Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?
  • What Exactly Is His Job?
• Younger Than They Look: He's 38 in "Future Schlock", but looks more like he's in his 80's or 90's.

Ed Bighead:

• Butt Monkey
• Can't Get Away with Nuthin'
• Catch Phrase: "I hate my life."
• Cranky Neighbor
• Evil Old Folks: Especially when he gleefully sings about how much he hates environmentalism in "Zanzibar"...and, of course, attempts to literally wipe Rocko off of the face of the Earth in "Wacky Delly".
• Fantastic Racism: His imprisoning (and eating) of insects, as seen in "Rocko's Happy Vermin".
• Foil: To Rocko.
• Gonk: Due to a rather unfortunate combination of his cripplingly old age and his grotesquely over-sized head.
• Grumpy Old Man: Largely due to how much his Conglom-O job has utterly worn him out.
• Henpecked Husband
• Hypocrite: He views Rocko as his annoying neighbor but is actually Rocko's annoying neighbor.
• Hypocritical Humor: He belittles Rachel for wanting to make cartoons...while also being a cartoon character.
  • He also calls Rocko, Heffer and Filburt "idiots" while being a practically complete idiot himself.
• I Have No Son
• Irony: He seems to have a rather small brain in that extremely big head of his.
• Jerkass
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His reconciliation with his son Ralph earns him this.
• Largest Ham in The Series
• Meaningful Name: "Bighead", reflecting both his literal head size and the size of his ego.

Bev Bighead:

• Abhorrent Admirer: Of Rocko in "Leap Frogs", an episode in which she basically tries to get him to have sex with her.
• Cranky Neighbor: Though less so than her husband.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: A rather bizarre example of the trope; her voice actor is Charlie Adler, who is also Ed's voice actor.
• Fiery Redhead
• Gonk: A thankfully downplayed female version of the one that Ed is.
• Guile Heroine: In a couple of episodes.
• Hidden Depths: Despite being a housewife she very quickly rose up in Conglomo's ranks in Ed's place when he got sick.
• I Was Quite a Looker: As seen in a Flash Back from when she and Ed were first married some 30 years back.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Meaningful Name
• Mrs. Robinson
• Ms. Fanservice: She certainly does try to be one of these for Rocko in "Leap Frogs", but her attempt fails miserably.
• Sick Episode: She comes down with an amphibian throat illness from eating an infected mosquito...and winds up getting a nose intended for someone else.
• Tsundere

Dr. Hutchison:

• Affirmative Action Girl: Was put into the show because the higher-ups wanted more female characters.
• Babies Ever After
• Catch Phrase: "Kay?"
• Character Tic: She tilts her head when saying her Catch Phrase.
• Cute and Psycho: Subverted; she is actually significantly less crazy and creepy than she seems (ignoring the fact that she keeps a baboon heart underneath her pillow, at least).
• Happily Married: To Filburt.
• He Is Not My Boyfriend: Filburt worries about a guy he sees her with, but it turns out they are only friends.
• Hook Hand: The executives wanted a character with a hook. They got one.
• Hospital Hottie
• What Does She See in Him?: Constantly questioned (mostly by her family) about her relationship with Filburt.
• Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?

Gladys The Hippo Lady:

• Big Fun: Once Rocko gets to know her better
• Catch Phrase: See "Who Dares"
• Cross-Dressing Voices
• The Ditz
• Fat Girl: Though it doesn't bother her
• Fat Idiot
• Tsundere
• Who Dares?: HOW DARE YOU?!