I’ve recently started watching (and enjoying) The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy on the Cartoon Network. It seems that several times Mandy has been asked if she really is a girl. It seems obvious to me that she’s a girl. Is there a running joke that I’m unaware of regarding her? Please let me know. Thanks!
Yeah, I’ve seen two episodes where someone asks if she’s a girl. In the one with Shnissugah both Shnissugah and the Secret Snake Club members ask her. In one w/ Skarr, he asks her the same question as well.
(Yep, MI. Grew up in Rochester, now in TC. I should update my location because TC ain’t too rural.)
General Skar: What are you?
Mandy: I’m just a cute little girl.
Marc
I’m just a pretty little girl.
But why did he ask? Just 'cos she was so intimidating to be an actual girl (i.e., human as opposed to, say, a monster)?
I don’t watch the show that much, but Mandy just seems to be the antithesis of “girly-” she’s dark, sarcastic, and doesn’t like things girls are supposed to like. (Granted, there are girls like that, but rarely do you see them in televison cartoons.) In one episode, My Fair Mandy, she does do something girly- during a talent show, she wears a dress while singing Over the Rainbow, and actually smiles! This surprising event causes a hole in the time-space continuum or something and Grim, Billy and Mandy end up becoming the Powerpuff Girls. It seems to me that Mandy is a girl- she just doesn’t act like one.
Skarr’s met Troupe Terror. He knows little girls can be scary. Scarier than the monsters that occasionally come out of Major Dr Ghastly’s labs.
Mandy has a whim of steel.
Also, Mandy has no nose.* She’s not just drawn that way- characters in the stories have commented that she has no nose.
*no external nose anyway. The title credits show her skeleton with a nasal opening
Heh. I suspect that’s a self-reference similar to when remarks are made about the Powerpuff Girls having no fingers and huge heads. Besides, she does have a nose…::makes fist w/ thumb sticking out::…see? That was great when she did that to the nosemancer (or whatever he was).
A question for the cognoscenti:
Is this the same show that was “Grim and Evil” or is it a spinoff of such? Was “Grim and Evil” too politically incorrect somehow?
According to Wikipedia, they dropped the Evil and just made it about Grim & Billy & Mandy.
Grim and Evil consisted of 2 segments: “The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy” (a dimwit and a cynic end up with the Grim Reaper as their pal due to a bet) and “Evil Con Carne” (a evil military group led by a mad genius who, due to an accident, is now just a brain and stomach inside a performing bear’s body). The two were soon split up into seperate shows. Although “Grim” is still on the schedule, “Evil” segments now only appear as part of the omnibus Cartoon Cartoon Show, although characters from “Evil” show up in “Grim.” I don’t think there was anything “politically incorrect” about “Evil-” the only thing I can think of that they needed to work on with it was one episode in which Con Carne (the mad genius-in-a-bear) comes up with a powerful stench weapon, then unleashes it on the world. The original version of the show, according to reports, featured a shot of New York City, where people jumped off of buildings- including the World Trade Center- due to the stench. However, the September 11 attacks occured before the episode went to air. In the version that ended up airing, the shot was changed to one of Kansas City, Missouri, with no one jumping off of buildings.
In the episode Scythe 2.0, Grim takes Billy & Mandy to see F, their equivalent of Q, the gizmo guy. F sees Mandy and says something to the effect, “She isn’t one of ours, is she?” So, I’m thinking maybe it is an issue of her being preternaturally tough, imposing, &c. That’s my official guess.
She also never ever smiles (actually she smiled when she was twiterpated with that beatnik kid) and when she tried to do so at a beauty contest the universe itself collapsed as a result.
Yep, good old reality completely unravels. I saw the episode for the first time this weekend. It was great. Mindy was hilarious on that float, especially the way she kept running over all the kids at school. At the risk of becoming an überdork, I thought her rendition of that song was actually a bit moving.
I liked the episode where Billy meets Con Carne’s henchman, who is apparently retired and living in their neighborhood. And then badgers him into being a bad guy again 