History Characters / CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers

** Captain Planet seems to have a permanently jocular demeanor and talk only in public service announcements and wisecracks... until a villain sinks to a level that even he has to take seriously, or poses a threat that he cannot easily deal with. He'll be all business then, which is a sure sign that [[LetsGetDangerous the stakes have been raised amazingly high.]]

* AbusiveParents: Wheeler's alcoholic father is the whole reason he left home.

* ButtMonkey: Disrespected by the villains, constantly butting heads with his teammates; Wheeler gets it rough. To some degree, [[KarmicButtMonkey the universe's tendency to pick on him seems intended as a punishment for his flaws]]. He takes it all in stride for the most part, but even he has his limits.

* NiceGuy: Incredibly nice, even to the villains. He also never resorts to direct violence, instead using his powers to foil the bad guys' plans and correct the ecological damage. The exceptions, of course, are Captain Pollution and Zarm, who really don't give him much choice.

* DubNameChange: Rodirogna (lit. "Mange Gnaw") in the Italian dub.

* InexplicablyAwesome: We get no explanation for where he came from (outside of a throwaway line about how he was "born and raised in toxic waste") or why he is rat man, and none of the other characters ever really questioned it. While other rat people appeared as his henchmen, Skumm having the means to turn normal humans into RatMen indicates that the rat people are Skumm's creations, and not an actual species that is he is but one member of.

* BareYourMidriff: She has her midriff exposed in at least 2 episodes, notably "Teers in the Hood".

** Gaia, being the anthropomorphic personification of Earth, naturally loves its creatures, even ones that aren't especially appealing. She's often low-key upset by the problem of the week and during "No Place Like Home", she even jeopardizes her own safety by leaving Hope Island to help a suffering coyote family.

* EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes: Gaia and Captain Planet are friendly, incredibly patient sorts (given that they are physically harmed by human carelessness quite regularly), but even they don't like [[TheSociopath Zarm.]]

* BruiserWithASoftCenter: Wheeler is a former street teen with enough fighting experience to scare crooks. However, his aggression is usually channeled into protecting others, and multiple times during the show, Wheeler gets soft moments with one of the other heroes who's suffering physically[[note]]"[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS2E23HateCanal Hate Canal]]"[[/note]], emotionally[[note]]"[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS4E22TeersInTheHood 'Teers in the Hood]]"[[/note]] or both at once[[note]]"[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS2E1MindPollution Mind Pollution]]"[[/note]].

* {{Eagleland}}er: Wheeler is the "mixed" variation. He perpetually holds the StrawmanBall, is the most prone to fighting, and incorrigibly hits on most attractive women in the vicinity (especially Linka). He's also deeply good-natured (in "Two Futures", Ma-Ti even praises the amount of heart he ha) and fiercely protective.

** Gi. She believes in the innocence of people ([[RousseauWasRight before they grow up]]), loves animals, and is one of the most calm and collected of the group. That doesn't mean you should make her mad. She almost drowned a gangster for shooting her friend, only stopping thanks to Wheeler talking her down.
** Ma-Ti. He's gentle, friendly, patient, and practically incorruptible. However, when he got to meet the guy who was apparently to blame for the deaths of his parents, [[EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes the gloves were off]].

** Ma-Ti likes just about everyone on sight; he's even the only member of the team Wheeler has not managed to accidentally drive crazy. If he ever dislikes or even distrusts someone, it's a sure sign that person is horrible, especially because his ring makes it impossible to lie to him. The first time he ever did this, it was with the team's ArchEnemy, Zarm, Gaia's EvilCounterpart who is outright sociopathic.

* ParentsInDistress: Captain Planet and Gaia take on a parental role towards the team (3 of whom have lost one or both of their biological ones), and while they're often more capable of handling the threat than the kids are, there are exceptions; has anyone even counted the times when Captain Planet needed the Planeteers' help? Not to mention the instances where Gaia's life (or at least her immortality) was at stake.

** Obviously, the Earth is one to the 7 main characters (Cap and Gaia included).
** Speaking of the Planet-team, they're ''all'' one another's protectorates. Mess with the Planeteers, and you'll have to deal with [[PapaWolf Captain Planet]] and/or [[MamaBear Gaia]]. Mess with either of the latter two, and [[ExtremelyProtectiveChild the Planeteers]] will make sure you don't get away with it. Don't think you're getting off easy if you attack just one or two members (especially [[EveryonesBabyBrother youngest member Ma-Ti]]) either; you'll just get the remaining Planeteers on your doorstep for a rescue mission, with whatever damage to your lair that involves.

* SadlyMythtaken: How the powerful titaness of the Earth from the Myth/GreekMythology became an entity that relies on others to do her work. Maybe she's just lazy? In the myths, Gaia was lazy and created monsters to do the work. Also in the myths, she couldn't care less if the humans polluted or destroyed the planet.

* MandatoryLine: In later seasons. There are some episodes where he would only say the {{Invocation}} and then "Earth!"

* StandardizedLeader: Even though Cap himself took over when the powers combined, Kwame was technically the unofficial leader of the crew when the mullet wasn't around. The thing is, poor Kwame doesn't have nearly as much personality as his teammates and gets less CharacterDevelopment. This especially stood out next to the team's other teenage guy, Wheeler, who was better developed as a character, had a "never say die" attitude, but was apparently a little too gung-ho and non-level-headed enough to be leader of the Planeteers. Kwame was basically there to be superior to Wheeler and... that's about it. He was not helped by the fact that he had very few lines in many late episodes, apart from StockFootage. Levar Burton got popular and expensive, and they used him less and less, but his character was still there, following the others around like a ghost until it was time to call Cap.

* {{Eagleland}}er: Wheeler is the "mixed" variation. He perpetually holds the StrawmanBall, is the most prone to fighting, and incorrigibly hits on most attractive women in the vicinity (especially Linka). He's also deeply good-natured (Ma-Ti even praises the amount of heart he has in one episode) and fiercely protective.

* GracefulInTheirElement: He's not exactly well versed in the environmental problems that most episodes cover, but in the "special" episodes relating to city problems like Drug use, HIV, and gang violence he's usually the one most understanding and on top of things.

* LastNameBasis: According to [[WordOfGod Showrunner Barbara Pyle]] Wheeler's first name is actually James.[[note]]via a post on the ''Captain Planet and the Planeteers'' Facebook page in January 2012[[/note]] Given that a group of people from his neighborhood also refer to his father by "Wheeler", it's seemingly his surname, but for whatever reason, he prefers to go by that and is never referred to as anything else (barring the various insulting names the eco-villains have for the Planeteers).

* PickOnSomeoneYourOwnSize: While one could say that the immensely powerful adult Captain Planet is the eco-villains' ArchEnemy, he's around relatively rarely, and it's no secret that they absolutely hate the Planeteers. Most of the group are teenagers (Kwame, Linka, and Wheeler) or children (Ma-Ti). Gi, who is implied to be in her early twenties[[note]]in "Two Futures", the thirty-years-older future Gi describes herself as over fifty[[/note]] is the only exception. None of this keeps them from doing nasty things to their underage nemeses (up to and including attempted murder) constantly.

* VagueAge: Is she an adult, or a teenager like her teammates? It's surprisingly unclear depending on different sources, as her character description from the comic books and toy advertisements claim she's around fifteen, but she rents a jeep in one episode, which one has to be over the age of ''twenty'' in most countries to do. Furthermore, in "Two Futures", Wheeler jumps thirty years forward and the future Gi describes herself as over fifty. It probably doesn't help that ''Captain Planet'' doesn't have the best continuity on any subject.

* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Melancholic and The Guardian (Kwame), Choleric and The Artisan (Wheeler), sanguine/melancholic and The Rational (Linka), phlegmatic and the Idealist (Gi) and in the middle and the Idealist (Ma-Ti).

* RecoveredAddict: In "Mind Pollution", she becomes horrifically addicted to the destructive drug "Bliss" (which turns addicts into heroin/meth zombies). Given that Linka kicks the addiction by the next episode and never falls [[OffTheWagon into relapse]], most viewers and fans forget that the Planeteers then have a former drug addict on their team from that point forward.

%%* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: The Sensitive Guy to Wheeler's Manly Man.

* ButtMonkey: Let's face it – if anything could happen to Sly Sludge, it would. Every episode he's in, he's either comically injured or just plain humiliated...[[KarmicButtMonkey probably to punish him.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:In his final appearance in "No Small Problem", he FINALLY wises up and realizes he can make a fortune by running an honest recycling facility rather than being a villain.]]

* RecoveredAddict: In "Mind Pollution", she becomes horrifically addicted to the destructive drug "Bliss" (which turns addicts into heroin/meth zombies). Though Linka kicks the addiction by the next episode and never falls [[OffTheWagon into relapse]], most viewers and fans forget that the Planeteers then have a former drug addict on their team from that point forward.

* AsianAndNerdy: Though her perfect, unaccented English lessens the impact.
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Gi occasionally uses bits of Japanese (in which Creator/JaniceKawaye ''is'' fluent), but otherwise (after the pilot episode) has no discernible accent. Her name, however, could be either Korean ("Brave") or Japanese ("Righteousness").
** There are many individuals living in both Korea and Japan with mixed Japanese/Korean ancestry.

* TheChick: She takes much more of a passive role than Linka does, and acts as a calming influence on the other planeteers.

* MeaningfulName: The name "Gi" means "brave" in Korean, and "righteousness" in Japanese.

* MeaningfulName: The name "Gi" means "brave" in Korean, and "righteousness" in Japan.

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Gi occasionally uses bits of Japanese (in which Creator/JaniceKawaye ''is'' fluent), but otherwise (after the pilot episode) has no discernible accent. Her name, however, could be either Korean ("Brave") or Japanese ("Righteous").

* MeaningfulName: The name "Gi" means "brave" in Korean, and "righteous" in Japan.

A college student of marine biology from East Asia (probably South Korea, given her name), Gi is skilled in high-tech equipment and, like Linka, is a computer expert. She is very passionate and protective of both ocean life and her friends and family. Gi's ring was the element of water, used to control any water source, creating small squirts to waves and water spouts depending on the size of the source.

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Gi occasionally uses bits of Japanese (in which Creator/JaniceKawaye ''is'' fluent), but otherwise has no discernible accent. Her name, however, is actually [[http://www.meaning-of-names.com/korean-names/gi.asp Korean]] This isn't impossible, as there are many individuals with mixed Japanese/Korean ancestry.

* MeaningfulName: Gi means "brave" in Korean, and she's certainly far from being a coward.

* MotherNature: Literally. She's the benevolent spirit of the Earth, whose health and life is [[{{Synchronization}} closely tied to the condition of the planet]]. Bonus points for her being a [[ParentalSubstitute motherly figure]] for the Planeteers.

* MotherNature: Literally, seeing that she's the spirit of the Earth.
* NoodleIncident: So... what exactly happened that resulted in Zarm hating her?

* SadlyMythtaken: How the powerful titaness of the earth from the Myth/GreekMythology became an entity that relies on others to do her work. Maybe she's just lazy? In the myths, Gaia was lazy and created monsters to do the work. Also in the myths, she couldn't care less if the humans polluted or destroyed the planet.

* BruiserWithASoftCenter: Wheeler is a former street teen with enough fighting experience to scare crooks. However, his aggression is usually channeled into protecting others, and multiple times during the show[[note]]examples include, but are not limited to, "Rain of Terror", "Mind Pollution" and "'Teers in the Hood"[[/note]], Wheeler gets soft moments with one of the other heroes who's suffering physically or emotionally.

* HotBlooded: He has the most easily triggered temper out of all the Planeteers.

* {{Retcon}}: Created during the brief rapprochement between Russia and the United States, Linka is one of the precious few unambiguously heroic Russian characters in American media. The evidence suggests she's not actually Russian, or at least her family isn't; she was a Soviet citizen, though. Before the Soviet Union fell, the opening would say "Linka, from the Soviet Union", and then after it fell the writers changed it to say "Eastern Europe". The episodes before then weren't changed, and the first episode has her saying to Wheeler, when he mentions that he loves her accent and asks her if she's Russian, she replies "SO-VI-YET!" as close to his face as possible to make it clear. "Please... go avay".[[note]]Linka was indeed Russian. See "Mistaken Nationality" above.[[/note]]
* SensualSlavs: A G-rated version of a sexy Eastern European woman. It's a hit with men in-universe, but especially with Wheeler.

* AudienceSurrogate: Much like Wheeler, he's meant to be relatable to the target audience, largely in view of feeling powerless due to his age.

* AllYourPowersCombined: He's created from combining the powers of all the Planeteers' rings. TropeNamer[[note]]Sort of. The actual phrase was "By your powers combined"[[/note]].

* HeartIsAnAwesomePower ->WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: TropeNamer and [[TropeCodifier Codifier]]. "Heart" seems like a stupid power when compared to the ability to create earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, and fires at will. However, Heart is actually potentially the most powerful of all of the elemental powers.

* HotScientist: She's an extreme MadScientist and pretty gorgeous until you see what's underneath her PeekABangs. Even then, she's still one of the most attractive of the eco-villains.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: He's friendly to all animals, especially elephants.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: She's good with animals, especially birds.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Dolphins are the animals she especially loves.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Even before getting his ring, he was nice to animals. In fact, he found his ring to begin with after saving [[TeamPet Suchi]] from a jaguar.

* BruiserWithASoftCenter: Wheeler is a former street teen with enough fighting experience to scare crooks. However, his aggression is usually channeled into protecting others, and multiple times during the show[[note]]examples include, but are not limited to, "Mind Pollution" and "'Teers in the Hood"[[/note]], Wheeler gets soft moments with one of the other heroes who's suffering physically or emotionally.

-->'''Wheeler:''' Looks like that project was DOMED to failure.\\

* HypercompetentSidekick [=MAL=] is more competent as a villain than all of the Eco-Villains and their sidekicks put together. He's always the brains behind the operation when he's involved. His only flaw is that he's loyal to Dr. Blight and will follow her orders even against his better judgment. Also, Argos Bleak is far more effective when he's operating on his own in "The Predator" than he is when working for Looten Plunder.

* GoodIsNotSoft: She's usually gentle, soft-spoken and motherly... and didn't have a second thought about getting violent with her EvilCounterpart when he messed with her Planeteers too much.

* ParentalSubstitute: She's a surrogate mother of sorts to the Planeteers.

* CaringGardener: One of Kwame's major passions is planting trees. He's digging holes for saplings when he gets summoned by Gaia; the number of new trees he can plant is one of the first things he mentions when he gets the Earth ring and [[WeAreStrugglingTogether he gets into an argument with Linka and Gi]] over the necessity of it during "A Mine is a Terrible Thing to Waste". He's also one of the team {{Nice Guy}}s...unless you make the mistake of threatening the environment, directly or indirectly. The eco-villains and [[InnocentlyInsensitive Wheeler]] have both raised his ire this way.

* BullyHunter: Wheeler dislikes people who pick on weaker targets. His EstablishingCharacterMoment shows him as a kind of unofficial guardian of his neighborhood (given that the mugger he interrupts is scared to death of him) and at least once, he tells one of the eco-villains to "pick on someone [their] own size."

* TheWatson: Wheeler's role largely consists of being the one member of the group who doesn't know anything about saving the environment so that his teammates have someone in-universe to explain to. It's occasionally subverted; in "Ozone Hole", the entire team learns something about air-conditioner chemicals and in episodes where the problems are city-based (e.g., "'Teers in the Hood"), Wheeler is the one who knows what he's talking about while the others have a limited grasp on the situation.

** SpeaksFluentAnimal: He can communicate with animals.

* LovedByAll: Pretty much the only people in the show who would consider harming Ma-Ti, physically or emotionally, are the eco-villains. He doesn't have much trouble with people in general, outside of a few anti-racism episodes. His older teammates all have a massive soft spot for him (including Wheeler, who bickers with almost everyone) and Gaia seems closer to him than she is even to the other members of the team.

* SpeaksFluentAnimal: At least his power allows him to communicate with them telepathically.

* HurricaneOfPuns: Any scene he's in is going to be a perfect storm of puns on just about everything. If he ''isn''t playing with words while doing battle, something is ''very'' wrong ...

* ParentalSubstitute: He sometimes serves as a father figure to the Planeteers.

* PungeonMaster: Every single word out of his mouth is some sort of pun, except when giving exposition or [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness when the stakes are high enough.]]
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: "The Conqueror" implies Cap was around back when Zarm was getting banished – ages ago. Suffice it to say, he's older than he looks.
* SaveTheVillain: He's had to keep the Eco-Villains from meeting their doom many times, which is occasionally {{Lampshaded}}, and according to Dr. Blight: "It's in [his] hero's manual!"

* SpaceWhaleAesop. [[DefiedTrope Defied.]] There's a reason why his catchphrase is "the power is ''yours''" and he won't get called in unless there's an emergency. First and foremost, he's there to remind kids that there is no Captain Planet in real life to fix environmental damage, and that they'll have to do the hard work themselves.

[[WMG:Eco Villains]]

* CruellaToAnimals: The episode "101 Mutations" shows Dr. Blight running a puppy mill, being cruel to her guard dogs, and otherwise showing that her lack of concern applies to animals too.

* NotSoStoic: While Kwame isn't unemotional, he's usually the calmest of the team, but even he has his limits. "[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS1E4SkummLord Skumm Lord]]" sees him starting to hyperventilate upon discovering that Ma-Ti, who was piloting while Skumm was on their tail and their infected teammates were in the back, hadn't actually driven the cruiser beyond a single simulation on Hope Island.

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: "The Conqueror" implies Cap was around back when Zarm was getting banished – ages ago.

* LargeHam: He tends to be hammy at times, the most notable instance being when he hollers "You'll pay for this, Captain Planet!" in "Last of her Kind".

* AntiVillain: He's certainly not malicious. Just very, very careless about where he dumps garbage. [[spoiler:Which he ultimately abandons.]]

* ButtMonkey: Let's face it – if anything could happen to Sly Sludge, it would. Every episode he's in, he's either comically injured or just plain humiliated.

* GagNose: It evokes a rat-like snout.

* AffectionateNickname: "MAL-Baby" for her computer assistant MAL.

* CruellaToAnimals: The episode "101 Mutations" proves this in spades.

* LikeBrotherAndSister: This is the dominant dynamics among the Planeteers.
** Kwame has it with Linka and possibly Gi. Possibly, because early episodes would drop an occasional ShipTease for them.
** Wheeler has it with Gi.
** Ma-Ti has it with both of the girls.

** On a more meta level, if Wheeler is ever allowed to play the voice of reason to one of the other Planeteers (e.g., "[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS2E1MindPollution Mind Pollution]]" or "[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS4E22TeersInTheHood 'Teers in the Hood]]"), it shows his teammate is in a massively messed-up state.

** Speaking of the Planet-team, they're ''all'' one another's protectorates. Mess with the Planeteers, and you'll have to deal with [[PapaWolf Captain Planet]] and/or [[MamaBear Gaia]]. Mess with either of the latter two, and [[ExtremelyProtectiveChild the Planeteers]] will make sure you don't get away with it.
** The Planeteers don't take well to any member of the team being threatened, especially [[EveryonesBabySister youngest member Ma-Ti]].

* ShipTease: Occasionally with Gi, though they never become an official couple.

* BruiserWithASoftCenter: Wheeler is a former street teen with enough fighting experience to scare crooks. However, his aggression is usually channeled into protecting others, and multiple times during the show, Wheeler gets soft moments with one of the other heroes who's suffering physically or emotionally.

* ClingyJealousGirl: She claims not to be interested in Wheeler, but shows obvious jealousy when he shows interest in any other girl. On one occasion, she complained that Wheeler was acting like a ''durak''[[note]]"idiot" in Russian[[/note]], causing Kwame to remark that Wheeler wasn't the only one who was acting stupidly. She snapped (unconvincingly) that he didn't know anything.

* HurricaneOfPuns: Something had to be ''very'' wrong when he ''wasn't'' dishing out lame puns...

** Though Dr. Blight often treats MAL better than the other villains treat their lackeys, "A Good Bomb is Hard to Find" sees her leave him behind on a crashing ship. He tells the Planeteers about her latest scheme in revenge.

* RedIsViolent: He wears just as much red as his counterpart, with the bonus of [[EvilRedhead red hair]] and [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]]. Unlike his counterpart though he's evil.

The various henchmen for the Eco Villains that include Rigger, Greedly's YesMan (well "yep" man); Argos Bleak, a mercenary soldier, and leader of Plunder's private army; Oakey and Dokey, Plunder's two unintelligent lumberjack employees; Ooze, Sludge's whiner sidekick; Tank Flusher III, Sludge's strongman garbage collector; Leadsuit, Nukem's cowardly errand boy; the Rat Pack, Skumm's part man, part rat thugs who eventually dwindle in size into just one rather competent nameless henchman; and MAL, Dr. Blight's evil high-intellectual supercomputer.

* ADayInTheLimelight: Plunder's henchman Argos Bleak went solo in the episode "The Predator" to hunt Basking Sharks and was a ''very'' competent and effective villain.