List of Monica's Gang characters

Characters of Monica's Gang franchise, and relative Mauricio de Sousa's works.

This is a list of characters from the Monica's Gang franchise, created by Brazilian cartoonist Maurício de Sousa. Note that only characters from the main series are detailed here. For characters from related publications, check the navigation box at the bottom of this page.

De Sousa's initial characters were all male. He was once called a "misogynist" for this, which led him to create his first female characters, inspired by some of his own daughters.^[1]

Main characters

The four main characters of Monica's Gang are:

• Monica (Mônica)

• Jimmy Five (Cebolinha)

• Smudge (Cascão)

• Maggy (Magali)

Minor characters

• Franklin (Franjinha) - The child prodigy of the gang. He is a scientist who creates formulas, time machines and several fantastic devices in his laboratory that often fall into the hands of their friends creating serious problems. Sometimes he comes to serve as minion of Jimmy Five using his inventions to defeat Monica. He owns of the puppy Blu. He is blond with a black bangs covering his forehead. His best friends are Bucky, Jeremiah and Manezinho. He has a secret love for Marina.
• Sunny (Xaveco) – Jimmy Five and Smudge's best friend. The main characteristic of this boy a lack of any defining features. He is always referred to as "the secondary character", and the main characters always make fun of his apparent uselessness. He constantly attempts to elevate his rank to that of a main character, a trait which he transfers to his teen version in the spinoff series Monica Teen. He is also the only of the gang to have divorced parents.^[2]
• Denise - A gossipy friend of Monica and Maggy, but sometimes acting as a rival to them when being with Carmen. Like Sunny, before she was a minor character with regularly changing hair colour, until it was revealed in a story that the character was played by several girls. Currently she has appeared in stories with a more fixed look of brown hair. She also gains greater importance in Monica Teen.
• Junior (Dudu) - The younger cousin of Maggy. A spoiled, troublemaker and selfish 4-year-old boy who loves to tease the boys of the neighborhood, mainly Jimmy Five. He tends to be the opposite of Maggy, while his cousin is glutton and has a voracious appetite Junior hates eating all kinds of food. He proves to be very intelligent for his age.
• Bucky (Titi) – Franklin's best friend and one of the older boys in the gang. He is an arrogant, narcissistic and flirtatious boy. Bucky has teeth as big as Monica, but his friends hardly make fun of that. Bucky dates Annie, but hangs around with any girls he sees,^[3] just like Curly. He sometimes ends up alone and hated by his ex-girlfriends, because he dates so many girls that it becomes impossible for him to hide one from the others.
• Marina – First introduced in 1994,^[4] she is one of the few characters whose English and Portuguese names are equal. She was based on one of Mauricio's daughters, Marina Takeda e Sousa.^[4][5] Both Marinas love painting and drawing.^[6] Marina caught Franklin's eye, and became the subject of his unrequited affection (although she does date him in the spinoff series Monica Teen).
• Jeremiah (Jeremias) – One of Bucky's best friends, and one of Mauricio's few Afro-Brazilian characters. At first, he was drawn in a strong black color, but nowadays, his color is a softer brown.
• Nick Nope (Do Contra) – As his Portuguese name implies ("do contra" can be translated as "against", "contrary"), he likes to avoid the mainstream and do everything in reverse to the normal way.^[4] His running gag is liking for strange foods, like salty ice creams or rice with chunks of watermelon. He is Nimbus' brother. Like Marina, he is based on one of Mauricio's children (Mauricio Takeda e Souza).^[4][6][7]
• Nimbus – Another of Mauricio's few characters whose name remains the same in both Portuguese and English versions. He is very interested in meteorology,^[4] and fears thunders and storms, just like Smudge. The only difference is that he still likes water. He is also a magician,^[4] and all girls find him cute. He is Nick Nope's brother.^[8] Like Marina and Nick Nope, he was also based on one of Mauricio's sons (Mauro Takeda e Sousa),^[4][8][9] who also showed some interest in climatology since a young age.^[6]
• Crystal (Xabéu Lorota) - Sunny's teenage older sister, portrayed as an active and jolly teen girl.^[10] Being the oldest and attractive girl in the Limoeiro she is often passion target of every boy, mainly Jimmy Five and Smudge. Usually is seen working as a nanny in the neighbourhood, mainly for Junior.
• Angel (Anjinho) – As the name suggests, he is the guardian angel of Monica's Gang. He lives on the clouds high up above (presumably heaven). Acting more like a superhero, he is constantly called to help children under his guard, including Monica and all her friends. He also works like an advice-giver to the gang.^[11] It is impossible for him to protect all the kids from the scrapes they get into, and he most likely becomes involved in the chaos. His recurring gag is the many different ways that the gang will use to call him down (most usually Monica), often getting Angel injured or scared.
• Specs (Zé Luís) – The oldest of the gang. He was the Jimmy Five's best friend in the very first strips before the appearance of Smudge and Sunny. When Monica first appeared, she was said to be his little sister, but as she gained more notability among the gang, she earned her own family. Specs likes reading and studying, but also finds time to hang with his friends.
• Manezinho - Another of Franklin and Bucky's best friends. He is an immigrant from Portugal who now lives in Brazil. Has a young brother called António Alfacinha.
• Hummer (Humberto) – Hummer suffers from muteness, which means all he can do to communicate is to murmur "hmm-hmm". In some strips, it is stated that he is also deaf, and that he reads people's lips to understand what they are saying.^[12]
• Mary Angela (Maria Cebolinha) - Jimmy Five's baby sister.
• Toddy (Quinzinho) - The humble son of a baker. He is of Portuguese descent and often helps his father in his work, baking and delivering bread. Although he is Magy's boyfriend, she is usually shown to like him only due to his ability to satisfy her need for fresh baked goods.
• Dustine (Maria Cascuda) - Smudge's girlfriend. In the early stories was a dirty girl as her boyfriend (easily being a female counterpart of Smudge), but in modern stories appears as a clean and organized girl. She is a great friend to Monica and Maggy, often feel jealous to see her boyfriend with other girls.
• Annie (Aninha) – Bucky's (main) girlfriend. She discovers his many betrayals, but in the end, she forgives her unfaithful boyfriend. She is very jealous of him, but Bucky still manages to date other girls while Annie's not watching over him.
• Carmen (Carminha Frufru) - A preppy rich girl and Monica's main rival. Among boys she is considered the most popular girl in the neighborhood, and often the target of jealousy from other girls. She often hangs out with Denise to try to humiliate Monica and her friends. Similar to what happens to her also occurs to Fabinho, the most popular boy among the girls.
• Bloggy (Bloguinho) – This more recently introduced character is a computer-obsessed young boy.^[13] His speech balloons are written with internet slangs and emoticons.^[13] Lately, he also began to express himself through meme faces. He was introduced as Teveluisão's little brother,^[13] who is a television-loving adolescent (see below). In addition, his hair is a simple "@".
• Doreen (Dorinha) – Introduced in 2004, she is a blind girl inspired by blind philanthropist Dorina Nowill.^[14] As she is blind since birth, she doesn't know the shape of things, so she often just imagines.^[15][10][16] Her remaining senses are very precise, though.^[15][10][16]
• Luca – Also called "Da Roda" (of the wheel, due to his wheel chair). He was introduced in 2004 as a paralytic boy.^[17] He is very active, though. He plays basketball,^[18] and performs tricks on his chair, just like a skateboarder. His chair is also equipped with several gadgets set by Franklin.^[18][19] The girls find him a very cute boy, especially Monica.^[18][19]
• Mr. Bill (Seu Juca) – A running gag, this character appears doing a different job every strip. He changes jobs so frequently because Monica and her friends always try to "help" him with his work. Bill's attempts to stop them invariably result in disaster, and Bill's loss of his job.
• Nutty Ned (Louco) - He is a completely nonsense and unreasonable character. Apparently lives in a hospice nearby to Jimmy Five's house. Often disturbs the boy with surreal adventures that lead him to madness.
• Teveluisão (a portmanteau of the Portuguese words "Televisão" (Television), "Luís", and "Luisão" (Big Luís)) – As his name suggests, he is addicted to television, and spends all day watching it. His friend Specs always tells him that this is not healthy, and forces him to go outdoors. He is Bloggy's older brother.^[13]
• Marcelinho (literally Little Marcellus) - Inspired by Maurício's youngest child, Marcelo Pereira de Sousa was created in 2015 and is described as a "7-8-year-old boy who likes to do everything the right way, don't like wasting resources and knows how to save money".^[4]
• Fabinho Boa Pinta - A beautiful boy who lives down the street. All the girls are in love with him, mainly Monica. Often he was replaced by another similar boys in several episodes, all with names and look similar to him.
• Carmem da Esquina (lit. Carmem from the Corner) - An old, fat and grumpy lady that lives in Limoeiro. She is known to hate every children from neighborhood because always have her flower garden destroyed by them, besides having a horrible haircut.

Villains

• Captain Fray (Capitão Feio, lit. "Captain Ugly") – The villain appears that most of the enemy Monica and Smudge. He is a polluter lord with powers to control the garbage and dirt, with the ambition to make the world your garbage disposal.
  • Sewer creatures - The Captain Fray's minions. They are beings of trash, and usually are stupid and incompetent.
• Lord Big Rabbit (Lorde Coelhão) – One of the gang's most famous -and harmless- enemies. First appeared in the movie A Princesa e o Robô (The Princess and the Robot). He is a satire of Darth Vader, hailing from the planet Cenourando (a joke with the Portuguese word for carrot, "cenoura"). He commands a great army of "coelhoides" (a portmanteau from the Portuguese words "Coelho" (rabbit) and "Androide" (Android). His main assistant is "Zoiudo" (a Brazilian slang for "big-eyed"), a flying being who does nothing but repeat the orders given by his master and spy on the gang.
• Professor Spada/Doctor Spam (Professor Spada (an Italian-descent surname meaning sword)/Doutor Spam) – The most recent enemy of Monica's gang, introduced in 2005,^[20] he is the only character with two personalities. When he is Professor Spada, he is a gentle, happy computer technician. But if eventually hit by a short circuit (most often caused by an accidental bashing from Monica's bunny), he becomes the evil Doctor Spam,^[4] who can travel through the internet, which means he can be in any part of the globe in within some seconds to disseminate computer viruses. He is based on Maurício's son Maurício Spada e Sousa, while his double personality disturb was inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.^[4] His good alter ego is called Professor Spada because Mauricio likes to teach.^[21] Maurício Spada e Sousa died on 2 May 2016 of heart attack.^[22]
• Dr. McClean (Dr. Olimpo) - One of the main villains of Smudge, almost a paradox of Captain Fray. He is a mad scientist neurotic about cleanliness that only cares about wanting to transform the world into his lair cleaning. His main target Smudge for not supporting their dirt, and is also the archenemy Captain Fray, despite both being villains who want to defeat the Smudge. Is always aided by his henchman Sapóleo, although in more recent stories also have the help of twin sisters Cremilda and Clotilde.
  • Sapóleo - Dr. Olimpo's henchman. A stupid shorty man, sometimes ruin the plans of his boss.
• Cremilda and Clotilde - Are a pair of fat twin sisters, who like Dr. McClean are neurotic about cleanliness. Often appear creating plans to bathe Smudge, but their plans always fail and the boy manages to escape unharmed of the water. They are not necessarily evil (although they are in frequent contact with other villains), and also Smudge never showed any negative feelings for them always seeing them as friends. They have twin nieces called Lara and Luiza.
• Tonhão (literally: Big Tony) - A bully boy who often fight with the boys from the Limoeiro. Picky, grumpy and often thick stands behind the boys, but always lose a fight to Monica. He lives on a street below the Limoeiro, and has a counterpart of the same name who lives up the street. He also appears in the spin-off Monica Teen as one of the villains, rival of the Jimmy Five.
• Viviane - A young and beautiful witch who lives in Limoeiro. She has her powers derived from the moon and often creates plans that involve summon the moon power to rule the world. She is the enemy of the neighborhood kids, especially Maggy who ironically is responsible for ruining their plans to conquer the moon. Is always accompanied by her black cat pet Bóris. In Monica Teen she has a daughter named Ramona.
  • Bóris - Viviane's talking pet black cat.
• Tomba World's Aliens - They are a mysterious alien race that made some appearances trying to abduct people. It has been revealed in some stories they are Smudge's clones.
• Capitão Picolé (literally: Captain Popsicle) - A recurring villain who appeared in a miniseries that parodied the American series Lost. He was the first character created by Mauricio de Sousa, during his childhood, however he was forgotten and rebelled against the other characters capturing them and imprisoning on an island (including characters who have been forgotten in the first strips, like Nico Demon and Zé Munheca). He was defeated by Monica, but escaped.
• Cabeleira Negra - A young and beautiful female space pirate who was the villain in the film Uma Aventura no Tempo. She is captain of a squad of space pirates known for various crimes in space, besides being a descendant of Blackbeard. In the film was the Bubbly's rival and also love interest. It is revealed in the film she is also bald and wears a wig. Her last appearance was in one of the first editions of Monica Teen.

Animals

• Blu (Bidu) – Franklin's pet dog. He was originally the first main character of the franchise, along his owner Franklin. In the Monica's Gang stories he usually appears as a normal dog who does not speak. However he is usually seen talking and acting like a human being in their own stories, where he works as a cartoon actor, along with Glu and Manfred. He has the ability to talk to inanimate objects like a stone.
• Vanilla (Mingau) - Maggy's pet cat.
• Chauvy (Chovinista) - Smudge's pet pig.
• Ditto (Monicão) - Monica's pet dog.
• Fluffy (Floquinho) - Jimmy Five's pet dog.
• Radar – Doreen's guide dog, Radar is a Labrador.^[16] She obtained him in a small tournament after unsuccessfully trying to buy him in a pet store of Jequitibás, the city in which she lived before she moved to Bairro do Limoreiro.^[16]
• Duke (Duque) - Blu's best friend. He is another dog.
• Rufus (Rúfius) - An aggressive and furious dog that often scares the neighborhood children. He is known by the title "The angriest dog of street". His owner is unknown, although it is believed that he belongs to Tonhão.
• The Six Cats - As it is known the Vanilla's family. They are a total of five siblings (Vanilla is the sixth cat) each with his own characteristic. Matias is the adventurous cat who lives in a pier, Tita is a hillbilly female cat who lives on a farm, Nestor is a stray cat, Lili is a rich female cat who lives in a mansion, and Percival is a black cat belonging to a witch. Their owners are also unknown.
• Leleala - They are a strange squad of three troublemakers angels pigs. Usually appears to try to protect the animals, especially pigs, but they live to cause chaos and problems where fly.
• Napoleão - He was the first Monica's pet dog, before Ditto. He appeared in only one story.

Recurring characters

• Garotão (literally Big Boy) (Appeared only in the first few strips) - A giant child, friend of Jimmy Five. He has a very formidable height for his age. Due to his size he often seen with giant toys and doing absurd things like crossing the Mediterranean Sea or causing earthquakes by jumping.
• Bernardão (literally Big Bernard) (Appeared only in the first few strips) - A sad boy, friend of Jimmy Five. Always dressed in black clothes and a down look he is known for often makes bad luck for people who approach of him, mostly Jimmy Five, though he always get away from bad luck. By always jinx your friends it is a very lonely boy.
• Leonardo (Appeared only in the first few strips) - An artistic boy, named after Leonardo da Vinci. Like Marina he has an incredible talent with paintings and sculptures. He is a friend of Jimmy Five and has a passion for Maggy.
• Estrelinha Mágica (literally Magic Little Star) - A magical star who became friend of Monica after she losing his forces and fall in your room at night of Christmas. She was the protagonist of the 1988's movie "Monica's Gang The Magic Star". With the success of the film in the year the character appeared in some comics and sold a toy manufactured by Tectoy. A similar character to she also appeared in Chuck Billy 'n' Folks.
• Robozinho (literally Little Robot) - A coelhoide with emotions, he was the main character in the 1983 animated film A Princesa e o Robô. He had a strong love for Princess Mimi and became rival with Lord Big Rabbit, fighting for the Mimi's love.
• Princess Mimi - The princess from the Cenourano planet. A pink anthropomorphic alien rabbit and the love interest of Robozinho and Lord Big Rabbit. She appeared as a teenager in one of the sagas in Monica Teen.
• Aunt Nena - Maggy's baker aunt.
• Uncle Pepo - Maggy's toymaker uncle.
• Capitão Pitoco - A fictional parody super-hero, very similar to Superman, Space Ghost and Batman. He is the favorite superhero of all the boys from the neighborhood, mainly Jimmy and Smudge.
• Ursinho Bilu - A fictional teddy bear and cartoon character in the comics. He is a cute bear very popular among the neighborhood kids.
• Tikara Sasaki (Brazilian way of saying "Chikara" (力), Japanese word that means power, strength) - This Japanese Brazilian character was created by Mauricio to be the mascot of the "Comemoração do Centenário da Imigração Japonesa no Brasil" (Celebration of the Centenary of the Japanese immigration to Brazil). He appeared in Monica's strips in May and June 2008.^[23]
• Keika Takeda The female Japanese Brazilian character in the comics. She entered in the comics with her brother Tikara, in May 2008's Monica comic as the commemorative mascot for the 100 year anniversary of Japanese immigration to Brazil.
• António Alfacinha - Manezinho's younger brother and friend of Jimmy Five. A Portuguese descendant who often speaks with a Portuguese accent. He also is good friends with Monica.
• Vanda and Valéria - based on Mauricio's twin daughters, the first is described by herself as an "authentic and strong" person, while the latter, also according to herself, likes to cook.^[21]
• Bug-a-Booo (Penadinho) - A ghost who was Jimmy Five's friend in a few of the first strips. He became protagonist of his own comic in 1965.
• Thunder (Jotalhão) - A big and shy green elephant that is Monica's friend. He lives in the forest, but appears occasionally in the Limoeiro to meet with the kids.

References