Fun Personified



""Enough with the doom and gloom, let's dance!""

- Tippy Toe

""Hey, you know what this calls for? A PARTY !""

- Pinkie Pie, My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic

Not a serious character. Oh, they're officially in Canon, but no matter what exploits they accomplish, you won't see it referenced much. That's not what fans are looking for. These are "Funnybook" characters who are actually funny. Any use of them is usually restricted to their own book, where they can do wild and fun stuff. They are solely for positive consumption.

Sometimes the character isn't even used that often, but their presence fuels conversation within fandom. Often such characters become a meterstick for fans: One camp claims they're silly or insulting to continuity, while the other says comics can be fun and these fans should lighten up.

Actual writers seem to pick up on this, and don't usually dare more than cameos in "serious" books.

Beware trying to make these characters Darker and Edgier; you'll get flack from both the people who liked them, and the people who dislike them, and don't care how many guns or pouches you strap to them.

Anime and Manga
"Miria: Hey, Isaac!
 * Codename: Sailor V was a Fun Personified manga starring a Fun Personified character that slowly got more serious, but never to the level of its spinoff, Sailor Moon.
 * It should be self evident who in Baccano i--

Isaac: What is it, Miria?

Miria: Why aren't we on this page?

Isaac: Why would we be? After all, dangerous rogues such as ourselves would never be so silly!

Miria: Right! We are serious! Super serious! Aaaaaamaaazingly serious!"


 * Majin Buu from Dragonball Z is an evil version.
 * Lloyd Asplund from Code Geass, the only character in the series who seems to not have a care in the world.
 * Nia Teppelin from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, after.
 * Ladies and Gentlemen, Arsene Lupin III.
 * Not so much in Monkey Punch's original manga, though. He kind of toed the line between Lovable Sex Maniac and out-and-out rapist in those.
 * Chibodee Crocket and Sai Saici from Mobile Fighter G Gundam.
 * Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece. He has Monkey in his name!
 * This status has started to slip away from him as of late.
 * He's right back to this state post-Time Skip, though.

Comic Books

 * Although She Hulk is more prominent, Marvel's flagship character for this trope is Doreen Green, better known as Squirrel Girl, whose silly powers and low actual presence in comics nonetheless have helped her beat a number of supervillains. She actually defeated Dr. Doom once, which lead one writer to Retcon that as being Actually a Doombot which led another writer to have her defeat Thanos offscreen and then have Uatu the Watcher show up to officially proclaim it as "not a robot, clone, or simulacrum."
 * Just to show how the feud continues, subsequent comics have had Thanos reveal that he has perfected a means of creating weaker copies of himself that could fool The Watchers.
 * Cause, ya know, THAT'S useful...
 * Not really useful, but Thanos thought it was funny. It does help though if your home world's trial system includes mind melds.
 * Note that both She-Hulk's current comic and all of Squirrel Girl's recent appearances are written by Dan Slott, who pretty much epitomizes the "comics should be fun!" attitude. Slott wrote both the above mentioned items, thus feuding with himself!
 * Squirrel Girl is infatuated with Robert Baldwin, the superhero known as Speedball, who was also one of these for most of his career -- prior to turning Darker and Edgier as Penance. He's Speedball again now, but he's still not quite his old fun-loving self.
 * Irving Forbush (also known as his "superhero" persona, Forbush-Man) is an earlier Marvel character (circa 1967) who fits this trope. He was the main character of Not Brand Echh, a '60s superhero parody comic, and What The--!?, an '80s/'90s superhero parody comic.
 * Which makes the  in Nextwave all the funnier.
 * The DCU's Ambush Bug qualifies as well. He first appeared as a fairly standard supervillain, but within just a couple appearances had jumped into outright comedy, making fun of the fan obsessions of the day.
 * Marvel's Deadpool started out as Rob Liefeld' stand-in for DC's Deathstroke the Terminator. Nearly every other writer since has used him as a comedy character, to the point of having him become entirely aware of his nature as a comic book character. His Ultimate Marvel counterpart is (almost) entirely serious, but there are hints that might not have actually been him.
 * Mary Jane Watson of Spider-Man fame, before it was later revealed that this was all to cover up her insecurities and troubled life at home.
 * After Superman came Back From the Dead, Superboy stopped being as much of a Jerkass and became more of this type of character, until of course he became...you guessed it.
 * Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis's run on Justice League International/America veered between humorous and serious; this led to both Blue Beetle and Booster Gold taking on this role permanently.
 * It's rumored that Dan Didio, DC's current Editor-in-Chief, dislikes "silly" comics, which is why many ex-JLI members have died under his reign (well, the lucky ones died, anyway); it's more likely due to the fact that most of them haven't been in the public eye for years, leading to becoming C-List Fodder.
 * Meanwhile, Gold and Rip Hunter are actively exploiting Booster's reputation as a second-rate hero to let him fight time-traveling opponents who would smother Booster in his cradle if only they figured out he was the problem.
 * Keith Giffen also fathered Lobo with Roger Slifer, which is a Badass Biker coupled with professional wrestling camp and biker humor. The plot is always silly, including Lobo working as a mascot in a crappy amusement park, or the time the writer is wired to a jokes detector shocking him for each "adult joke", turning Lobo into Superbo, a Silver Age Superman ripoff to make him family friendly, or other nonsensical stuff as the crossover Lobo vs The Mask, or the mini-series Lobo's Back, about his failed resurrections.
 * Speedball, a cartoonish character with bouncing and invulnerability powers, used to be another Fun Personified character (see above).
 * DC's original Red Tornado, Ma "Hit 'em with a Frying Pan" Hunkel.
 * And when you have only these characters, you get something like The Tick.
 * DC also had a character called 'Mazing Man who fit this.
 * And the Legion has Chameleon Boy, who goes back and forth between the two extremes depending on who's writing them. The same is also true for Matter Eater Lad.
 * Bouncing Boy also counts. When he first joined the Legion, he became the team's self-appointed "Morale Officer".
 * Plastic Man was the original Fun Personified character, back in The Golden Age of Comic Books. The man's powers are essentially to be a Tex Avery cartoon.
 * Superman's inventors, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, also invented Funnyman, which ran for six issues.
 * One of Golden Age Superman's few recurring villains was Funny Face, a villain with a newspaper gag comic strip gimmick.
 * Nextwave is a Fun Personified series.
 * Marvel also had Slapstick, who is called a "living cartoon", and carries a Hyperspace Mallet.
 * In one issue of Avengers: The Initiative, he was shown brutally attacking Camp Hammond instructor, Gauntlet, for using the New Warriors name as an insult, nearly killing him in the process. This has been seen by some as an Out-of-Character Moment, though others see it as not really being far off from his normal cartoon-ish prankster nature and shows his loyalty to his teammates, who he he even tried admitting the act to, before getting interrupted. For now it seems that Iron Man villain Ghost has been blamed for the act.
 * And don't forget Peter Porker, the Amazing Spider-Ham.
 * Iceman, in an early issue of X-Men: First Class, calls himself "The Bringer of Fun", and throughout the series generally acts like a lovable dork.
 * In New X-Men this role is taken by both Santo (Rockslide) and Megan (Pixie). Megan who is just too cute and causes hallucinations of teddy bears and unicorns...to Wolverine. And Santo is the kind of jerk you gotta laugh at, roasting marshmallows over his classmate's head, or scaring his classmate worried about being killed by EXPLODING next to him on the sofa randomly.
 * The DCU also has Bart Allen, aka Impulse, later Kid Flash, who even in his more serious Kid Flash incarnation was still epically hilarious. Then, came his run as The Flash.
 * Stephanie Brown aka Spoiler, Tim Drake's girlfriend in Batman. Or at least she was, before being killed off (though she has thankfully been brought back through an Author's Saving Throw.)
 * A subversion of this kind of character comes in the form of Kid Devil. Joining DC's Teen Titans after Kid Flash left, he was made to seem like the comic relief member of the team. However, unlike most of these characters, he was neurotic, envious, and very self-conscious. He projected a fun, optimistic attitude to hide his insecurities and the fact that he had sold his soul to get his powers. These shortcomings did a lot to make him more than just Kid Flash's replacement. His teammate Miss Martian comes closer to the spirit of the trope.
 * Marvel has yet another fun personified character in the from of Morph from the Exiles.
 * The original Marvel Excalibur was an example of this trope until being reimagined as just another Dark Ages X-book.
 * Warlock of the New Mutants was (and since his recent resurrection, probably will be again) basically a walking scribble made of semi-organic circuitry, prone to bizarre behavior and random shapeshifting (the "can turn into anything" brand of shapeshifters are heavily represented in this trope).
 * Misfit of the Birds of Prey (who, in one possible future, ends up as Batgirl). DARK VENGEANCE!
 * Joker's Daughter of the Teen Titans, as well as her actual father Jokester. Both unceremoniously slaughtered for shock value in Countdown to Final Crisis.
 * The original Nightcrawler of the X-Men was goofier, liked having fun, and played pranks all the time. Some of later versions of him downplay this quality or remove it entirely, depending on who is writing it.
 * The Creeper. Just...TheCreeper.
 * Mini Marvels are notable in that their universe is this compared to the mainstream Marvel Universe. The kicker is, all the superheroes are Peanuts-esque kids, Secret Identity is not a problem whatsoever, and most surprisingly, The Good Guys Always Win. In particular, their versions of most Crisis Crossovers always end up as self-parodies, like Civil Wards, which pokes fun at the un-needed Conflict Ball present in the Marvel Civil War.
 * The Joker in his own, twisted way.
 * The Joker in his own, twisted way.

Film

 * The Genie in Aladdin.
 * Beetlejuice. Nuff said.
 * The Mask. (The original comic book version, not so much.)
 * The alarmingly flamboyant but still heterosexual Ruby Rhod from The Fifth Element.
 * Rodney Skinner, the Chivalrous Pervert Invisible Streaker in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. A stark contrast to Hawley Griffin, his counterpart in the original comics.

Literature

 * Harry Potter: Fred and George Weasley. Their goal in life is seemingly to make people laugh. In The Order of the Phoenix, their goal becomes making Sadist Teacher Dolores Umbridge suffer.
 * Marunde in Someone Elses War.

Live Action TV
"Eleven: Yes, Christmas Eve on a rooftop, and my whole brain went: "What the hell.""
 * Season 1 of Who Wants to Be a Superhero had Major Victory, a flamboyant, over-the-top Flying Brick type of character, who was eventually eliminated for not taking heroics seriously enough... oh, and for having once been a male stripper.
 * ...despite rescuing a crying girl, being helpful and nice to anyone and everyone, and walking across a backyard with a full-grown attack dog hanging from each arm without breaking character.
 * ...not to mention a picture of Stripperella on the wall behind Stan Lee while he was busy berating our should-be hero.
 * Season 2 had Hyper-Strike, a hilariously endearing young man who was prone to doing martial arts (and circus) movements at random, not to mention over-the-top acting.
 * The A-Team: H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock, who was literally Crazy Awesome.
 * iCarly: Spencer Shay.
 * Eric of Boy Meets World. You never know what you're going to get caught up in with him but you know that at the end of the (very long) day you're going to look back and say "That was fun!"
 * Vala of Stargate SG-1. Any angst she shows about anything (tragic past, constant danger, evil daughter) is within an episode trumped by her sense of humour and lack of attention span.
 * American Idol contestant Nick Mitchell/Normund Gentle, especially with his semifinal performance of "And I Am Telling You" from Dreamgirls.
 * Flabber from Beetleborgs. He's flabberific!
 * Subverted in a sketch on Important Things with Demetri Martin. "Bruce the Funny Dog" gives a glimpse of what it might be like to actually live with Fun Personified. Every time the camera cuts to Bruce the basset hound, he's wearing a different wacky outfit. This doesn't go over so well while his owners are dealing with a family tragedy.
 * Of all the Doctors in Doctor Who, Eleven is the best example of this. From his insistence that Bow Ties Are Cool to sliding down chimneys on Christmas Eve.

Music

 * Daft Punk. They take the enjoyment of their fans VERY seriously. Their iconic robot look is a way for fans to immerse themselves into the music and its themes.

Mythology

 * Dionysos/Bacchus can be this, Depending on the Writer (i.e. when, where, and by whom the myth you're hearing was recorded).

Professional Wrestling

 * This is more or less the gimmick for Percy Watson of WWE NXT season 2. He constantly dances, moves, laughs, poses and generally looks like he's out there to have a blast.

Video Games

 * Maria Renard of Castlevania is usually this, only being serious in Symphony of the Night, in Rondo of Blood she refers to Dracula as the "Bad Man", and basically treats defeating a man who rules Death as a walk in the park. In Judgement she's a Pettanko obsessed with breasts, and considers having large breasts a sacred gift.
 * Star Fox: Panther Caroso is somewhat showing characteristics of this, at least when compared to Wolf or Leon. In fact, he's usually the subject used in various Japanese meme vids.
 * Blaz Blue's Taokaka is despite her fearsome face, utterly adorable and possibly the only character without a hint of angst and tragedy. Her voice helps too. Not to mention the extra-strength Les Yay with "Boobie Lady". Bang comes close, but he's got his own baggage.
 * Makoto Nanaya seems to fill this role as well to a lesser extent, being a Genki Girl with a similarly cute voice and a propensity to utter completely silly things during a fight such as The Tick's catchphrase "SPOOOON!!" It helps that she happens to be an expy of Squirrel Girl.
 * Freedom Force vs The Third Reich has the Green Genie, who manages the impressive feat of being Fun Personified by comedy Silver Age Pastiche standards. She zooms around on a magic carpet, turning Nazis into flowerpots.
 * In Saints Row 2, one of the new Saints, token girl Shaundi, fullfills this role. Really Gets Around combined with Cloudcuckoolander combined with a New Age Hippy style set of interests makes her one of the most entertaining characters in the game. Sadly, this characterization isn't kept in the next game.
 * And to a leser degree, Johnny Gat takes the form of a Dark Humor styled one. Almost everything he does is either act like a lovable psychopath or do something inhumanly badass.
 * For every badass monster in Pokémon, there is at least one other monster that's meant to be just cute or silly or have a "gimmick" to them. They usually end up as Joke Characters or maybe as Lethal Joke Characters if they are lucky. Baby Pokémon are a great example.

Web Original

 * Chaka of the Whateley Universe really fits this too. She's anti-Wangst, and constantly getting into silly adventures (being attacked by Tigger while trying to go on a date?). In the serious adventures, she's one of the ones constantly throwing out one-liners.
 * Daisuke Saburo from One Piece: Parallel Works is this trope in shades. Even Word of God states that if Daisuke were real, he'd be very fun to hang out with.
 * Chuckles the Happy Clown, who not only lives up to his name, but was one of the most effective crimefighters in the history of the Global Guardians PBEM Universe. Donato Spinelli, the player of the character, was generally thought as being the greatest roleplayer anyone had ever met, or had the pleasure of interacting with. He was able to make a truly funny joke while in the middle of the dourest of situations without once ever becoming a Snark Knight.
 * Menelaos from Greek Ninja.
 * Tatjana in the Chaos Timeline (mostly).

Webcomics

 * The Cyantian Chronicles: Quinn, who (almost) never ceases smiling and trying to cheer everyone else up. Darius shows some of the requisite traits, though he's more prone to the not-happy side of emotions.
 * Grace in El Goonish Shive. Bubbly to the extreme, she is insanely happy for someone who was made in a lab and witnessed the entire research staff being murdered by someone who physically and emotionally abused her for several years before she ran away. She is capable of being serious (especially whenever any of those things are brought up), but for the most part she exists to be cute and funny, which is what makes her so endearing.
 * Lord Ikarion Daryil in Project Future, a DMFA fancomic. In the current arc (strip 170 and 171) he celebrates his ascension to tri-winghood by cosplaying as Jesus based on Ruling Class. If that doesn't catapult him immediately into this category, this troper has no idea what will.
 * The Jaegermonsters from Girl Genius, especially Maxim and Ognian. Being virtually indestructible Super Soldiers removes a lot of worries.
 * Molly the Peanut Butter Monster from The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob A fuzzy pink girl-thing with a peppermint-striped tail, and pom-poms growing out of her head. Cheerful and childlike, she enjoys building impossible machines and writing crack fanfics. She revels in the fact that she can run around naked because she's furry.
 * While Super Mega Comics has never been serious, it does poke fun at this trope with "Everybody Man".
 * Nobody in Homestuck is safe from drama (how can you be when even the main characters have died at least once?) but of all the kids and trolls, Nepata has the least amount of drama or emotional baggage, and pretty much exists to be fun and goofy while having little impact on the plot.

Western Animation

 * The Flash mostly takes this role for the DCAU, even in his (very, very slightly) serious moments.
 * Nightcrawler in X-Men: Evolution is this, matching up with how the original Nightcrawler was in the comics.
 * Beast Boy on Teen Titans. His comic self, while funny, could also be somewhat of a jerk too often to qualify as pure fun like Kid Flash, but his animated self definately qualifies.
 * Naturally, Kid Flash in his Season 5 appearance follows this trope too.
 * Subverted with Terra in the show, whose Fun Personified demeanor is to hide that she has BIG ISSUES.
 * Pepper Potts from Iron Man: Armored Adventures thinks that being a superhero is this and thus really wants to be one because of how fun it is; even when Rhodey tells her that Tony was almost killed last week, Pepper responds with 'See?!'
 * Who runs around in underwear? Freakazoid
 * The animated version of Beetlejuice, probably moreso than his original film version.
 * From Avatar: The Last Airbender, Aang started out as this - an interesting case, since he's the protagonist. He was bubbly fun personified - of course, as the series progressed, and the guilt mounted, this began to diminish.
 * In the 1987-1996 animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Michaelangelo [sic] is a party dude!
 * He's this in the 2003 series too.
 * Surprise from the original My Little Pony.
 * My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic has Pinkie Pie, who Word of God confirms is an Expy of Surprise. Her solution to every problem is to throw a party, and she won't hesitate to throw a party even if there's no reason to do so. Even in the episodes where she has real character development, she will readily defy reason and reality for the sake of a gag. She is also literally the personification (ponyfication?) of the Element of Laughter.
 * Spike, too, although he gets more development beyond the traditional sidekick.
 * T.J. Detweiler from Recess, most of the time anyway.

Real Life
""I like to live my life as part action hero and part cartoon character.""
 * Adam Savage of Myth Busters gives off this vibe.


 * Brian Blessed also has this feeling about him: Brian Blessed is Odin in disguise. He's wearing a fake eye. Seriously.
 * Robin Williams. The best application of this can be seen when Steven Spielberg would call Robin Williams from Poland to cheer himself up when filming Schindler's List got too depressing for him.
 * Michael Jackson wanted to be this; always trying to find ways to entertain people. He spent a ton of money converting his house into an amusement park.