History Characters / RegularShowMainCharacters

** Subverted in " Maellard's Package" when he's shown daydreaming about being a pilot. Later in the episode, he says to Rigby " What are we doing... No, with our lives man... then how are we ever going to own our own airline?"

* HopelessSuitor: With Margaret. When he ignores her ([[ItMakesSenseInContext due to being mindless]]) in "Brain Eraser", she suddenly finds him attractive. Deconstructed later on in the series until it's reduced to nothing.

** [[spoiler:Starts dating Margaret after they their first (mutual) kiss in "Meteor Moves" and Mordecai asking her to be his official girlfriend in "Steak Me Amadeus". Unfortunately, she tearful turns him down because she got into her dream school. Afterwards, they decide to stay friends.]]

* {{Foil}}: Mordecai is considered the much cooler and more responsible part of the duo as he is naturally sociable and friendly, but he has a hard time expressing his feelings, especially when it comes to his romance life. Ironically, he has also been shown to be a ChickMagnet and have two main love interests; Margaret and CJ. Rigby, on the other hand, is considered the irresponsible ButtMonkey of the duo, being considerably more jerkish and anti-social yet more honest with his feelings. And as for romance, he has been shown to have mild interest in women but entered into a real relationship with Eileen.

* ButtMonkey: If bad luck isn't happening to Mordecai and Rigby, it's probably happening to him. Benson is rigid and stubborn, and can be a real jerk at his worst, but he's is also a very lonely and insecure loser that hardly gets any respect by anyone, even his demanding boss.

** He (an anthropomorphic gumball machine) and Audrey (a human).
** He (an anthropomorphic gumball machine) and Pam (a human).

* PrematurelyBald: A flashback revealed that a younger Benson was humiliated on a game show, and the stress was so intense that he instantly lost all of his brown hair.

* VagueAge: The creators revealed that Benson is anywhere between the ages of 25 and 35.

** In a nice bit of MythologyGag [[spoiler:during the final battle with Anti-Pops, he gets flung into said cartoon short much to his confusion. It's also, in a way, a BookEnds to his development cycle. Bringing Pops full circle from JG's student film]].

** In his CharacterOverlap above, he [[spoiler:wipes the floor with three guys. One them the size of a wall.]]

** Killing Rigby in an arm-wrestlign competition in "Over The Top".

** [[invoked]] Played straight with [[spoiler:Margaret. When Margaret returns from college, there's very much some serious lingering feelings between the two, to the point where they share a kiss while Mordecai was with CJ. After Mordecai breaks up with CJ, he and Margaret play around getting back together, but ultimately decide that they're BetterAsFriends. WordOfGod is that they still keep in touch after going their separate ways.]]

* HiddenDepths: "The Dome Experiment Special" reveals that he actually has a natural talent for being a leader. He's able to get the other park workers to their jobs rather easily, unlike [[BeleagueredBoss Benson]] most of the time.

* HiddenDepths: He actually has a natural talent for being a leader.

* SatelliteCharacter: Hi-Five Ghost is excluded from a lot of the park group's activities, serving mostly as an accessory to Muscle Man. [[http://calwong.tumblr.com/post/27389172738/tobyjones-hope-you-enjoyed-fancy-restaurant A cut gag from one ending storyboard lampoons this.]] "Exit 9B" actually had to have brand new scenes when his memory was restored, because he's so ancillary.

** Calvin Wong's Formspring also spoiled (by accident) that [[spoiler:he's a huge fan of rock music, in particular "Foghat, Hall and Oates, Asia, Toto, and Phil Collins".]]

** Overall, as the series progresses Mordecai becomes more aware of his ClassicalAntiHero tendencies and tries to outgrow them, though it takes a while. Eventually resulting in his [[EarnYourHappyEnding]] in the finale.

* AntiHero: He's as lazy as they can come, selfish, and [[{{Jerkass}} rude]], but Rigby is willing to stand up for something if interested enough and willing to do the right thing.

* AdultsDressedAsChildren: Type A in "Fuzzy Dices". When the park workers need a kid to get inside a SuckECheeses center, they have Rigby wear a hoodie, a fanny pack, and a backward cap due to his size.

* IWasQuiteALooker: Downplayed. Muscle Man has had a consistent physique over the years, but ''was'' a little cuter as a child due to it more resembling babyfat, and briefly entered a period of body building as a teenager where he one ''heck'' of a muscular body if only offset by his mop of hair.

** [[invoked]] Played straight with [[spoiler:Margaret. When Margaret returns, there's very much some serious lingering feelings between the two, to the point where they share a kiss while Mordecai was with CJ. After Mordecai breaks up with CJ, he and Margaret play around getting back together, but ultimately decide that they're BetterAsFriends. WordOfGod is that they still keep in touch after going their separate ways.]]

* AmicableExes: {{Zigzagged|Trope}} [[spoiler:with Margaret. When they broke up with her returning and him being with CJ, it is awkward, as Mordecai has complicated feelings over seeing her again while being in an official relationship. Things gets messier after they share a kiss. And while they have no ill will for one another, Mordecai's awkward nature initially causes some problems, but they manage to work it out]].

* InsecureLoveInterest: Rigby eventually comes to believe that isn't smart enough for Eileen, so he goes back to high school while also keeping her in the dark about it. When Eileen finds out, she assures Rigby that she loves him regardless of his intelligence, but he decides to stay in high school not just for her, but also for his own self-improvement.

** Both of them are often a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who suffer from pride, stubbornness, short tempers and being absolute jerks at their worst, but show that they have kind sides to their personalities that pushes them to undergo CharacterDevelopment (Rigby learns to become more responsible and mature by returning to high school, Benson gains a better grip on his temper and learns to not make everything about his job).

* HairTodayGoneTomorrow: In his younger years (apart from a flashback to his childhood) he was shown to have hair, but due to genetics lost it (also due to being humiliated on a game show). However, he has been shown to grow a full head of hair like in "Sandwich of Death" or in "The Dome Experiment", and in the time skip in the finale he grows a full head of grey hair worn back in a pony tail.

* JackOfAllTrades: Benson is very knowledgeable about simple chores and can do almost anything similar to Skips, but he is only a master of Stick Hockey, drumming, and [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits managing the park crew.]]

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: At his worst, Benson's temper can lead him into becoming irrational, extremely intense and overly aggressive. At his best, however, when he's in a good mood he'll treat his employees very well (even Mordecai and Rigby), and he considers all of his employees to be friends. On a couple of occasions, Benson has claimed that [[ToughLove he does something tough on Mordecai and Rigby out of concern for their future and wants to instill some sense of responsibility in a pair of rambunctious workers]]. He also gets along just fine with Skips and Pops, and only gets mad at Muscle Man when he acts obnoxious.

** He may be an avid prankster, but Muscle Man does not like to do things that can genuinely hurt people for laughs, or commit senseless violence in general. He was ashamed of himself when Pops nearly died from one of his pranks (to the point of temporarily giving up his craft), and he later almost moved out of the park after his sleep-fighting caused him to attack his friends.

* FanDisservice: PlayedForLaughs. He is noted to be quite ugly due to his {{Gonk}} appearance.

* IWasQuiteALooker: Downplayed. Muscle Man was still a {{Gonk}} back then, but ''was'' a little cuter as a child and had one ''heck'' of a muscular body as a teenager.

* KavorkaMan:
** Despite his {{Gonk}} physical qualities, Muscle Man is surprisingly popular with the ladies.

* {{Gonk}}: The most consistently unattractive man in the cast.

** Mr. Mallard is a pretty mean boss to Benson. While this is eased up after "Benson Be Gone", there are still moments when Benson is forced to deal with Mallard's unreasonable antics. And this isn't even reaching the stress of dealing with all the crazy things happening in the park, as well as the others' mishaps.
** Also, several other episodes show that Benson suffered quite a lot in his life. He has: [[MyGreatestFailure lost his dear friend Dave in a stick hockey match]], been kicked out of a successful band solely because [[GreenEyedMonster his bandmates were jealous]], was humiliated on national TV and lost a chance for a fortune, and ended up being dumped by several women.

** He yells a lot and constantly threatens to fire his employees, but it is fairly clear that he runs a tight ship. Furthermore, he claims that his aggressive attitude is him trying to [[ToughLove hammer a sense of responsibility into Rigby and Mordecai]]. Although he once makes it pretty clear he has no respect for them when Mordecai ask why they are paid cash in plastic bag instead of check even though they had been working harder on their jobs.

* ThePerfectionist: Greatly implied considering in one episode, he claimed that the grass that Mordecai and Rigby had just mowed as being "an inch to tall".

* CharacterDevelopment: While slower to develop them Mordecai, once he does so, he gets this ''hard'':

* CharacterDevelopment:

* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** He and Rigby are (in)directly responsible for a ''lot'' of the really weird things that happen during the show. Though, unlike Rigby, he usually knows when to play and when to be serious when things hit the fan, quickly leaping to straighten things right if it's in his power.
** Perhaps the ''biggest'' example of this so far is during the episode "It's Time" when he accidentally kills Rigby and has to go back in time to save him.

** [[DisfunctionalFamily His family yelled at each other all the time]], with [[AbusiveParents Benson's dad]] encouraging Benson's temper in childhood. Not to mention how he discouraged Benson's dreams as a drummer, [[KicktheDog to the extent of saying that he "had no talent".]] And that's not even getting into how Benson's dad apparently still yells at him in modern times.

** Also, several other episodes show that Benson suffered quite a lot in his life. He has: lost his dear friend Dave in a stick hockey match, been kicked out of a successful band solely because his bandmates were jealous, was humiliated on national TV and lost a fortune from it, and ended up being dumped by several women.

* GuiltByAssociationGag: Usually blames Mordecai and Rigby combined for a mishap even if it was only Rigby's fault.

* MrFixit: According to "Skips vs. Technology", he's been fixing things for literal centuries, and is in charge of basically any repair work needed around the park, a role he fills quite well... at least, when it comes to physical stuff. Fixing a malfunctioning computer seems to be a bit beyond him.

* BirdsOfAFeather: With Celia. They love the same coffee shop, down-tempo electronica, the same music album, watching animals in the aquarium, and they don't like the food in Wing Kingdom. But unfortunately, none of them had cellphones back then.

* IntangibleMan: At least when he wants to be. Usually demonstrated when someone tries to punch him. He'll let it pass through, then strike back. Oddly enough, he fails to escape after being gripped by the evil living pumpkin in "Terror Tales of the Park III", despite Mordecai even shouting out: "Fives! Just phase through, man!"

** His family yelled at each other all the time, with Benson's dad encouraging Benson's temper in childhood. Not to mention how he discouraged Benson's dreams as a drummer, [[KicktheDog to the extent of saying that he "had no talent".]] And that's not even getting into how Benson's dad apparently still yells at him in modern times.

** To Benson in particular. Several episodes show Benson holding his hand or trying to protect him. And it's very rare that Benson gets legitimately angry at Pops.

* UndyingLoyalty: Has this for Benson and the Park in general. He always completes his tasks without question, and is always willing to drop everything to help out if things go wrong. This is especially highlighted in the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue, where it's revealed that he and Benson are the only ones to still work at the park.

** Also, several other episodes show that Benson suffered quite a lot in his life. he has: lost his dear friend in a stick hockey match, kicked out of a successful band solely because his bandmates were jealous, been humiliated on national TV and lost a fortune, and dumped by several women.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: He seems to have a soft spot for animals. It's established that he's a cat lover, and he's extremely loving to his new pet pig, Applesauce ([[spoiler:Leeroy]]) in "Benson's Pig". He also takes a liking to a bird in "The Dome Experiment Special".

** Despite how he acts, Benson does eventually come care about Mordecai and Rigby. Several episodes like "Blind Trust" and "Gamers Never Say Die" show this best. Likewise, he will show legitimate care for the other park members as well, to the extent of spending 12 grand for Muscle Man when everyone thought he was dying in "The End Of Muscle Man".

* JackOfAllTrades: Benson is very knowledgeable about simple chores and can do almost anything similar to Skips, but he is only a master of Stick Hockey and drumming.

* UncannyFamilyResemblance: {{Implied|Trope}}. In "Skips' Story", Skips' old high school principal bares a striking resemblance to Benson — similar face, similar body type, and even the same voice. It's implied that Bennett is Benson's distant ancestor.

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: In "Really Real Wrestling", it turns out he used to {{wrestle|r In All Of Us}}. Turns out he's still pretty good at it too.

** Pops is friendly and kind-hearted to a fault, but even he can't tolerate Quips' terrible jokes.

* InnocentlyInsensitive: For all of his virtues, Pops is a loony with NoSocialSkills and is dreadfully prone to making social faux pas. Examples include straight-up tackling Mordecai and throwing him onto the floor in "Really Real Wrestling" without knowing that Mordecai was just play-wrestling, and accidentally pelting handfuls of sand at beach-goers in "Catching The Wave". In "Win That Prize" he unintentionally ruins the cooking show of a Gordon Ramsay expy by running onto the set and eating all of the bacon, and he also came ''very'' close to making a borderline ableist remark about a makeup artist's prominent limp.

* KindheartedSimpleton: The guy's a total flake (and also somewhat of a crybaby), but is easily the nicest character in the whole show.

* ManipulativeBastard: Briefly becomes one in "Win That Prize", although a benevolent example, resulting in him becoming a KarmaHoudini in said episode.

* WorthlessCurrency: One RunningGag of the show is his attempts to pay in lollipops, thinking they're legal tender.

* KryptoniteFactor: Even with his immortality, it turns out that an excess of stress without proper management is the only thing that can potentially kill him. [[spoiler:[[AnthropomorphicPersonification Unless he kills it himself.]]]]

** While Skips often doesn't care much for competition, his repeated losses against Rigby in arm wrestling rattle the guy so much, he gets ''pissed'' upon losing, and challenges Rigby to a rematch that ultimately results in his death due to him not realizing he was cheating.

** In "Return of Mordecai and the Rigbys", Skips takes offense to Benson criticizing him for his bass playing, which is what results in him agreeing to expel him from the band.

* RageBreakingPoint: When Klorgbane had a hand in Mona's death, Skips sent him flying. Also when Rigby constantly beat him in arm wrestling to where he killed him.

* UndyingLoyalty: Has this for Benson and the Park in general. He always completes his tasks without question, and is always willing to drop everything to help out if things go wrong. This is especially highlighted in the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue, where it's revealed that he's the only one of the park employees to remain there after everyone else moved on with their lives.

** He may be an avid prankster, but Muscle Man does not like to do things that can genuinely hurt people for laughs, or commit senseless violence in general. He was ashamed of himself when Pops accidentally got sent to the hospital from one of his pranks (to the point of temporarily giving up his craft), and he later almost moved out of the park after his sleep-fighting caused him to attack his co-workers and boss without realizing.

* JerkassToOne: Originally, Muscle Man was much more of a {{Jerkass}} to Mordecai and Rigby than to anyone else, culminating in "My Mom". Afterwards, he usually picks on [[TheSixthRanger Thomas]] the most.

* EveryoneHasStandards: While he's okay with some of Muscle Man's pranks, he doesn't like the pranks he pulls during "The White Elephant Gift Exchange" and he even goes along with the other park staff to get revenge on Muscle Man.

* HiddenDepths: He actually has a natural talent of being a manager.

* CharacterDevelopment: Most of them have their fair share of development. Benson begins to tolerate Mordecai and Rigby, Muscle Man becomes more friendly towards the duo after they save his life, and the main duo themselves learn to grow up. {{Subverted|Trope}} with Skips, Pops, and Hi-Five Ghost, who have more of a HiddenDepths side.
* TrueCompanions: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] at first. At the beginning of the show, they're mostly VitriolicBestBuds; Benson is TheFriendNobodyLikes and only hang out with because he's their boss, Muscle Man is ThePrankster that annoys almost everyone, and Mordecai and Rigby cause problems for the lot of them, but they have had their moments of this. Played straight starting from season 6, as they started to act more friendly towards each other, have more downtime activities together, attended Muscle Man's wedding and Rigby's graduation ceremony, and not only [[spoiler:helped Pops prepare for his fight with Anti-Pops, they even joined in! Eileen also counts since she was part of the crew in season 8]].

** ''Don't'' call him a slacker.

** More noticably, he appreciates Rigby more by the end of the first season or so (only punching him when he says or something stupid or insensitive instead of for no reason, for example).

* HisHeartWillGoOn: It takes him a bit, but he eventually moves on from Margaret with CJ.

* IllKillYou: He yells this to Rigby in "It's Time". [[NiceJobBreakingItHero And he ends up going through with it.]]

* RageBreakingPoint: [[spoiler: In the Regular Show Movie, Mordecai's patience for Rigby's dishonesty runs out when he learns Rigby had been lying to him about him about being rejected from College University. He's understandably angry about this revelation, especially when two factors are considered. The first is that Rigby outright refused several times to confess the truth and only did so after Ross threatened to kill Mordecai. The second is that instead of apologizing or taking responsibility, Rigby justifies himself (claims he had to as Mordecai would've gone to College U without him), downplays his actions (saying it was 'only one lie), and says that it was a good thing (stating that even though they were both stuck in a dead-end job, at least they were stuck together). Finally having enough of Rigby's dishonesty and selfishness, Mordecai ends their friendship.]]

* BadLiar: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. Rigby is perfectly capable of telling a convincing lie, but Mordecai is better than him at lying. The difference is that he's more ''willing'' to start lying.

** He was a lot less of his normal hyperactive, energetic self and more sulky in the Pilot (really noticably when you compare how he acts with the new scenes added in the Director's Cut episode "First Day" and the pilot scenes).

* TheUnfavorite: {{Justified|Trope}}. Rigby's father prefers his young brother, Don. This has some merit since Rigby is a slacker who lies and does other things to get out of work while Don does the exact opposite. This also seems to be the case when it comes to anyone who isn't Mordecai or Eileen, which the latter two actually enjoy his company and don't ditch him for someone else. In rare cases, Mordecai has done this but will instantly regret it once he realizes how badly it hurts his feelings and learns not to treat him this way.

* AxCrazy: His HairTriggerTemper is so extreme, it can reach a psychotic behavior many times.

** In 'Eggscellent' Mordecai punches Benson in the face after he makes an insensitive comment while Rigby is in a coma. [[JerkassHasAPoint Benson's comment was badly timed, but he wasn't wrong that Rigby was a massive troublemaker and partook in a challenge that involved food he knew he was deathly allergic to, landing him in a coma in the first place.]] However, Mordecai calls out Benson on his insensitive attitude and that Rigby being in a coma was a result of him simply wanting to win a hat, not because he was causing trouble nor neglecting work.

** He's noticeably more tolerant of Mordecai and Rigby after "Benson Be Gone", not getting as angry at them for when they mess up. It shows in "Jinxed" when he subverts his rant-inducing slight because they apologized for slacking off, where before he'd not have given them the time of day. He ''did'' lose it earlier in the episode when Rigby was intentionally enraging him trying to break his jinx, but Benson didn't take it out on Rigby and instead vented his rage elsewhere.
** Newer episodes even had him lead the group in downtime activities, like a weekly game night and paying for everyone at a bar, even Mordecai and Rigby. He also oftentimes pulls out a BigDamnHeroes on them, being the one who leads TheCavalry.

* ControlFreak: Benson tried to be the literal boss of everything and doesn't like it when someone takes control of a situation unless Skips is the one to do so. Even then everyone is very annoyed with him doing so and often have to plot behind his back.

** While he's quick to veto any of Mordecai and Rigby's crazy schemes, he quickly gives them full permission for one certain scheme which involves entering a music contest. Not that because the reason why they wanted to enter was to win the natural turducken as a grand prize due to screwing up the upcoming Thanksgiving dinner, but because the winning song would also legally replace "Happy Birthday", which he absolutely detests.

** His HairTriggerTemper causes him to easily lose his cool and causes a great amount of distress to the people around him. Example such as Mordecai and Rigby who are always victims to his temper as he's always losing his cool around them but it leads the duo to have a lack of respect towards him and they often have a tendency to go behind his back due to the fact they don't want Benson to get involved with their own issues.
** His pettiness. He always seems to take things way too far, that normal people would let slide but not for Benson. He's very exaggerated in many of his actions over simple things and doesn't have the stable mental condition to just leave some things alone without taking things to epic proportions. Examples such as eating both of Mordecai and Rigby's food multiple times for simply taking his one sandwich, attempting to spoil a TV show for them for not vacuuming the floors, giving them cruel punishments, and often threatening to fire them for very small mistakes and unimportant reasons.
** Finally, his inability to let go of his insecurities from the past or within himself as it is basically what fuels his other fatal flaws. This is mostly what drives Benson to do the things he does and it more often works against him as it makes him very unlikable and frustrating to deal with as barely anything will ever get through to him.

** Both are anthropomorphic creatures (Rigby is a raccoon, Benson is a gumball machine).

* FreudianExcuse: "Think Positive" implies that Benson is so quick to raise his voice because his father told him, "You'll never get anything you want in this world if you don't yell for it". This does not justify anything he's done for extremely petty reasons, but it does a good job of giving Benson a reason for why he has trouble keeping it down.