History Characters / DrCraftyPepperAndPickles

* {{Expy}}: Throughout their writings about her, Blue-Paint-Sea is very upfront about Pepper and Pickles' inspirations, of which there are primarily three:
** According to her [[https://www.deviantart.com/blue-paint-sea/art/Dr-Crafty-Fan-OC-Concept-Sheet-705832767 initial concept art's biography]], Pepper's core design was very much inspired by Marina of ''VideoGame/Splatoon2:'' Both of them are sweet-natured and reserved octopus creatures with long, draping tentacle hair, eyebrows that are downturned by default, and are very tall among their respective casts. They're both dressed in outfits that expose their midsections, and their bodies have colour schemes that are associated with different hues of green.
** Thanks to AuthorAppeal on Blue-Paint-Sea's part, Pepper and Pickles function as a pastiche of mascot platformer duos, primarily [[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Banjo and Kazooie]]. Both are inseparable pairs of animal friends who experience many zany misadventures, with the smaller member taking refuge somewhere on their larger companion (be it Pepper's tentacle hair or Banjo's backpack), and both duos have a member who's personality contrasts with their partner (Pepper and Banjo are kindhearted, easy-going and level-headed, while Pickles and Kazooie tend to be snarky, quick-witted, and combative).
** The duo has some inspiration rooted in WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit's dynamic. Like Wallace, Pepper is an extremely pleasant and mild individual who uses her skills to try and better the world. Meanwhile, like Gromit, Pickles is a nonverbal, surprisingly smart, and snarky animal companion that is more of a loyal best friend to his owner than a pet.

** Even after she grows more outwardly confident with herself, [[DeconstructedTrope her innate introversion sometimes causes her to make questionable decisions]], especially when she doesn’t act appropriately in the present moment.

* BareYourMidriff: A consistent detail across Pepper's outfits is that her tops leave most of her large belly bare; they almost always sit above her navel. The description of [[https://www.deviantart.com/blue-paint-sea/art/Warm-and-a-Little-Bit-Snug-778243295 this piece]] explains that her bare belly isn't completely intentional; it's just that her clothing tends to be slightly undersized, with their hems always rising back up despite her attempts to pull them down. This detail is corroborated by a few of Pepper's reusable ''Dr. Crafty'' poses, in which she's visibly tugging her apron down over her tummy with both hands.

Before being hired into Crafty Industries, Pepper was a well-traveled nomad, one that gained a vast amount of culinary knowledge over a long period of time. Her most recent job prior to joining Crafty was that of a waitress at a seafood restaurant: The Fish'n'Fish. During his vacation between Seasons 1 and 2, Crafty visited said restaurant and he easily picked up on how miserable Pepper was in her position. He immediately made arrangements for her to work with him--not just as the ''Chara-Cafe's'' co-host, but as the lair's head chef, and the Crafty Crewmates have been enjoying her meals ever since.\\

* CharacterTics: If she's particularly happy or content and her arms are unoccupied, Pepper holds her lower arms aloft, with her hands folded into gentle fists. It's a frequent sight between both [[https://www.deviantart.com/drcrafty/art/Concoction-Eternal-Apprentice-783006680 Alex's]] and [[https://www.deviantart.com/blue-paint-sea/art/When-a-Cook-Explores-the-Dungeons-870390134 Blue-Paint-Sea's]] takes on her.

* DependingOnTheArtist: There are quite a few noticeable differences between how [[https://www.drcraftyart.com/crafty-gallery?pgid=kqsz2tco-3d311cc6-6ea8-4a41-aac7-38967bf6c14c Alex]] and [[https://www.deviantart.com/blue-paint-sea/art/Pepper-And-Pickles-Profile-Model-Sheet-official-805172532 Blue-Paint-Sea]] draw Pepper.

** The tentacles on Pepper's hips see some variation between the two art styles. For her ''[[https://www.deviantart.com/drcrafty/art/Crafty-Concoction-Pepper-Pickles-Model-Sheet-784968609 Dr. Crafty]]'' [[https://www.deviantart.com/drcrafty/art/Crafty-Concoction-Pepper-Pickles-Model-Sheet-784968609 design]], Alex sometimes plays with the number of hip tentacles in certain pieces, but the minimum is seven, with one sprouting from her rear like a tail. [[https://www.deviantart.com/blue-paint-sea/art/Pepper-And-Pickles-Profile-Model-Sheet-official-805172532 Blue-Paint-Sea's design]], meanwhile, keeps the number of hip tentacles capped at six. Combined with her legs, she maintains a complete set of eight tentacles on her lower body, thus completing its vague resemblance to an octopus in and of itself.
** Blue-Paint-Sea's art generally makes a point to emphasize Pepper's size a lot more. She's heavier set than Alex's design and her belly weighs upon the web of skin surrounding her hips. This grants her tummy a fully rounded shape at rest, whereas Alex has Pepper's belly pile up on top of that web of skin, giving her a perpetual muffin-top.
** Pepper's mantle differs between the two artists; Alex has her wear it up as though it were a ponytail. It's also nearly twice its original size, and because she wears it up, it takes up a good chunk of her height. Consequentially, if she were to wear her mantle downward, she'd actually stand only a little over 6 feet tall. The original design, however, has Pepper wearing her much smaller mantle downward. Here, her height is capped off by the top of her skull. But she remains 7 feet tall, meaning that her original design is a full head taller than the ''Crafty'' design.

* DependingOnTheArtist: Like Pepper, Pickles is subject to some considerable differences between Blue-Paint-Sea's and Alex's artwork.
** In Alex's renders, Pickles is drawn very simply, with his entire body being a solid green and having a smaller tongue, whereas in Blue-Paint-Sea's art, Pickles has darker green spots covering his body, and his spines/pegs are colored a lighter hue similar to Pepper's neck warmer & ribbon from her default casual outfit.

''[You can pinpoint the'' second ''Pepper's heart rips in half, a feeling that continues with Nurse's next words.]''\\

''[You can pinpoint the'' second ''that Pepper's heart rips in half, a feeling that continues with Nurse's next words.]''\\

** In both "New Season, New Friends" and "Salt and Pepper"--the former being her debut on ''Dr. Crafty'' and the latter being the debut of her spin-off segment--an in-universe audience showers her with overwhelming applause and cheers at Crafty's request. Crafty's knowing smile both times implies that he expected his audience to find Pepper endearing.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Nurse [[DiscussedTrope initially suspects]] that Crafty hired Pepper to replace her in "New Season, New Friends." The superficial similarities that they share do not help — they're both green, fat monster women. [[SubvertedTrope However, Crafty stresses that Pepper is merely an addition to the cast]], being the first of the show’s spin-off hosts to be introduced, and that Nurse is here to stay in her current position. Nurse still isn’t very thrilled by the episode’s end, but she thankfully comes around to accepting Pepper by "The Beachles," dropping the suspicion entirely.

* HiddenDepths: A quiet, persistent aspect of Pepper's character is her interest in bikes and familiarity with vehicular machinery.

** [[https://www.deviantart.com/blue-paint-sea/art/Delivering-With-a-Smile-750097685 A certain piece]] made to supplement some ''Dr. Crafty'' trivia shows off Pepper's old, beat-up, slightly undersized scooter as her primary means of transportation. It's notably one of her only keepsakes from her past, being a goodbye gift from her coworkers during her old, beloved pizza delivery job. It's implied that she learned how to maintain it herself, explaining how she developed the knowledge she did.

* ArtEvolution: Blue-Paint-Sea went on to simplify certain elements of Pepper's design that influenced how she appears in subsequent ''Dr. Crafty'' artwork. The most prominent changes were made to her hip tentacles — they were thinned out to match her head tentacles' proportions, but to keep them distinct, they're now conjoined by webs of skin, which maintains their resemblance to a skirt. The green portions of her design were redistributed to emphasize her yellow skin, as well. During it's development in "We're Back! A Crafty Story," Pepper's Season 4 promotional artwork consolidates some of these changes into her ''Dr. Crafty'' design. It’s also in this episode where Pepper’s pose set became scaled up slightly. This makes her height above most everyone else more apparent.

** Using air, ink, or water, she can inflate her belly and boost her defensive prowess. It's apparently rather difficult for her to use it voluntarily; more often, she balloons up accidentally when under sufficient stress, as seen in "A MERMAID MELODY FANDUB." The same episode demonstrates that, when expelled, the excess air can propel her forward with great force.

* BerserkButton: Under normal circumstances, it takes a lot to make Pepper angry. But one thing that is guaranteed to set her off is petty bullying, especially when it's directed towards a loved one. Her strong distaste for such behavior is first shown in "Pirates VS Doctors," during which a visiting Davy Jones quickly loses his (minimal) patience for Crafty and starts whaling on him. By this point in the show, Pepper has grown more confident in herself; thus, unlike other times where Crafty gets attacked in front of her, Pepper sticks up for him. She's still rather nervous, but her disposition is still noticeably more forceful and stern than ever before.
-->''[The final piece is presented on-screen. In the background, Davy Jones can be heard absolutely whaling on Crafty. Pepper arrives and tries her best to ignore the commotion.]''\\

** Nurse decides to go over her latest physical on Pepper with her in "Dumb Dingies," midway through Pepper’s chibi drawing’s production. Messi also listens in and grows loudly turned on by Nurse’s observations; her aroused cries are strongly balanced out by Pepper’s clear discomfort at hearing Nurse’s report read aloud. Capping it off, Nurse tries ending their interaction with a pun, to which Pepper politely asks her not to and prepares for Crafty to do the same when the art is completed.

** Tellingly, for the hypothetical High School Alternate Universe that the Crew makes in "Late for Crafty School," Pepper and Crystelle are the only Crewmates who become adult staff members, with Pepper becoming a lunch lady. Pepper also admits that she only has memories of traveling, with no recollection of her childhood or any potential educational background.

** Tellingly, for the hypothetical High School Alternate Universe that the Crew makes in "Late for Crafty School," Pepper and Crystelle are the only Crewmates who become staff members, with Pepper becoming a lunch lady. Pepper also reminds her coworkers that she's traveled so long that it's all she can remember. She still has no recollection of her childhood, let alone any potential background in public education.

** [[https://www.deviantart.com/blue-paint-sea/art/Delivering-With-a-Smile-750097685 A certain supplementary piece]] shows off Pepper's old, beat-up, slightly undersized scooter as her primary means of transportation. It's notably one of her only keepsakes from her past, being a goodbye gift from her coworkers during her old, beloved pizza delivery job. It's implied that she learned how to maintain it herself, explaining how she developed the knowledge she did.

* HiddenDepths: [[https://www.deviantart.com/blue-paint-sea/art/Delivering-With-a-Smile-750097685 A certain supplementary piece]] reveals that Pepper uses an old, beat-up, slightly undersized scooter as her primary means of transportation. It's a remnant from her time as a pizza delivery girl, one of her most fondly remembered previous jobs. While it seldom appears on ''Dr. Crafty'' proper, the scooter and Pepper's ability to maintain it and other vehicles are alluded to a few times.

* PunnyName: Alongside their respective meanings, Pepper and Pickles' names, were also chosen to loosely reference the term "Pickled Peppers" when paired together.

* JigglePhysics: [[https://www.deviantart.com/blue-paint-sea/art/Dr-Crafty-Fan-OC-Concept-Sheet-705832767 As explained in the biography tied to her concept art]], Pepper's body jiggles fairly easily whenever she moves because to her soft, stretchy skin, flexibility, and all the fluid she retains. Messi mentions that this uncontrollable jiggling is something that she has in common with Pepper in "Player Select."
* {{Leitmotif}}: Pepper's theme tune is the ''Chara-Cafe'' theme, which changed twice before settling on the third iteration midway through Season 3. The final song is a jazz tune like the main show's theme, but this time, the strings take the lead with the trumpets backing them up. The strings give the song a hesitant edge, fitting Pepper's shyness.
* MeaningfulName: Pepper's name references how [[https://www.deviantart.com/blue-paint-sea/art/Dr-Crafty-Fan-OC-Concept-Sheet-705832767 her color scheme is based on green bell peppers]], a common vegetable used in many different meals. Bell peppers also happen to be very mild, exactly like Pepper's personality.

* PunnyName: Pepper and Pickles' names loosely reference "Pickled Peppers" when paired together.

* AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance: Pickle's lengthy tongue evokes a regular sea cucumber's expelled Cuvierian tubules... which come out of their anuses. Fittingly enough, Pickles only ever speaks by making pooting noises.

** While both artists use oval dots to represent Pickles' eyes, Blue-Paint-Sea tends to also give him a variation of comma eyes deliberately (reminiscent of characters like WebAnimation/HomestarRunner) as a means of providing Pickles expressions that don't swivel his face.

* BikerBabe: [[https://www.deviantart.com/blue-paint-sea/art/Delivering-With-a-Smile-750097685 A certain supplementary piece]] reveals that Pepper uses an old, beat-up, slightly undersized scooter as her primary means of transportation. It's a remnant from her time as a pizza delivery girl, one of her most fondly remembered previous jobs. While it seldom appears on ''Dr. Crafty'' proper, the scooter and Pepper's ability to maintain it and other vehicles are alluded to a few times.
** When the Crew's bus crashes in "Host Club Hysterics," Stylene calls upon Pepper to help her repair it off-screen. They don't have much to work with, but the repairs are successful; after sputtering a bit, the engine starts again and the bus is back in working order.
** For "Crafty Horror Picture Show," the Crewmates all dress up as "Rocky Horror" characters while performing a "Sweet Transvestite" parody. Pepper dresses as Eddie; the one immediate thing that the two share in common is their use of bikes. Pickles even dons motorcycle handlebars on his head to complete the homage.

[[Characters/DrCraftySupportingCharacters Supporting Characters]] | [[Characters/DrCraftyAntagonists Antagonists]] | [[Characters/DrCraftyMinorCharacters Minor Characters]] -]]]]]

* TheConfidant: As they grow acquainted with each other, Messibelle starts turning to Pepper whenever something serious is on her mind. Seeing as the former has so little life experience compared to the latter, combined with the latter's gentle nature, it's no wonder why Messi views her as approachable. For example, in "We're Back! A Crafty Story," Messi discovers a Journal in Crafty's possession, one that has a section dedicated to [[spoiler: the Infinium relics]]. She ''immediately'' seeks out Pepper to discuss her disturbing findings; Pepper herself is quick to lend an ear.

* BerserkButton: Under normal circumstances, it takes a lot to make Pepper angry. But one thing that is guaranteed to set her off is petty bullying, especially when she's grown confident with her present surroundings. Her strong distaste for such behavior is first shown in "Pirates VS Doctors," during which a visiting Davy Jones quickly loses his (minimal) patience for Crafty and starts whaling on him. By this point in the show, Pepper has adjusted greatly to Crafty's castle; thus, unlike other times where Crafty gets attacked in front of her, Pepper actually sticks up for him--''sternly,'' at that.

* BerserkButton: While her tolerance level is impressively high, "Pirates VS Doctors" reveals that she holds deep contempt for bullying. It's one of the few things that can induce her into ''going on the offensive,'' as Davy Jones finds out when Pepper tosses a jar of dirt at him, causing him to melt.

* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: The tentacles encircling her hips evoke bottom-wear, but it's nonetheless very noticeable that Pepper never wears pants. According to her in "Journey to the Forbidden Water Temple," she has trouble fitting in them.
-->''[A CutawayGag shows Pepper hidden within a dressing room, trying on some pants.]''\\
'''Pepper:''' Uh, okay! ''Come oooonnnn!'' I'm sure these are right...\\
''[[[WardrobeMalfunction There's a very audible RRRRRRIIP!]]]''\\
'''Pepper:''' .... ''Siiiiiiiiize!''\\
''[Pepper starts sobbing.]''

* BareYourMidriff: A consistent detail across Pepper's outfits is that her tops leave most of her large belly bare; they almost always sit above her navel. The description of [[https://www.deviantart.com/blue-paint-sea/art/Warm-and-a-Little-Bit-Snug-778243295 this piece]] explains that her bare belly isn't completely intentional; it's just that her clothing tends to be slightly undersized, with their hems always rising back up despite her attempts to pull them down. This detail is corroborated by a few of Pepper's poses in the show, in which she's visibly tugging her apron down over her tummy with both hands.

* BareYourMidriff: A consistent detail across Pepper's outfits is that her tops leave most of her large belly bare; they almost always sit above her navel. The description of [[https://www.deviantart.com/blue-paint-sea/art/Warm-and-a-Little-Bit-Snug-778243295 this piece]] explains that her clothing tends to be slightly undersized, with their hems always rising back up despite her attempts to pull them down. It's a detail corroborated by the show itself; in a few of her poses, Pepper's visibly tugging her apron down with both hands.

* BareYourMidriff: A consistent detail across Pepper's outfits is that her tops leave most of her large belly bare; they almost always sit above her navel. The description of [[https://www.deviantart.com/blue-paint-sea/art/Warm-and-a-Little-Bit-Snug-778243295 this piece]] explains that her clothing tends to be slightly undersized, with their hems always rising back up despite her attempts to pull them down. It's a detail corroborated by the show itself; in a few of her poses, she's visibly tugging her apron down with both hands.