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aka: Bojack Horseman The Horse Himself

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The main protagonist and the eponymous horse himself from BoJack Horseman


BoJack F. Horseman

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bojackh.png
Click here to see BoJack as a colt
BoJack in his youth during his Horsin’ Around years
BoJack from S 6 E 07 onwards
Voiced by: Will Arnett
Debut: "The BoJack Horseman Story: Chapter One"

BoJack: Everything comes so easy for you.
Mr. Peanutbutter: Oh, and it doesn't for you? You're a millionaire movie star with a girlfriend who loves you, acting in your dream movie. What more do you want? What else could the universe possibly owe you?
BoJack: I want to feel good about myself. The way you do. And I don't know how. I don't know if I can.

A misanthropic, bitter, severely depressed horse who once starred in the 90s sitcom Horsin' Around. While he began as a young, bright-eyed actor, he has since become a complete grouch and often wallows in self-pity, committing acts that devastate those around him. BoJack struggles to find happiness in his life and move on from his abusive childhood and long list of dirty deeds.


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    Tropes #-D 
  • '80s Hair: Back when he was a sitcom actor, he had what seems to be the horse equivalent of a mullet.
  • Abusive Parents: His parents were cruel people who were always displeased with everything he did and hated the fact that he existed. BoJack was also a downplayed example towards his surrogate daughter, Sarah Lynn. Flashbacks show the horse being a massive asshole towards her, despite being the closest thing to a father figure in Sarah Lynn's life.
  • Addled Addict: Come Season 5, he's been trying to cut back on his drinking, only to get prescribed opioids after he injures himself in a stunt. The drug abuse takes a huge toll on his sanity, ultimately resulting in him becoming Lost in Character as Philbert and trying to strangle Gina in a violent fit of rage. After he recovers from the effects, he checks himself in to rehab.
  • Affectionate Nickname: When they were friends, Herb called him "BJ".
  • The Alcoholic: The biggest one in the series. Despite this trait being a regular sight in Hollywoo, it speaks a lot about the quantities he needs to drink just to qualify for that title. While a big part of it is because he's in a constant downer mood and hates himself; being a horse, he really needs to drink gallons before feeling the effects of the alcohol.
    Todd: Are you drunk?
    BoJack: Todd, I'm a horse, it takes a lot to get me drunk.
    (the camera shows the entire room filled with empty bottles and kegs)
    BoJack: Yes.
  • All for Nothing: One part of his Start of Darkness in his current personality was that he ultimately abandoned Herb who got his foot in the door of the entertainment industry when it came out he was gay and Angela, one of the producers of Horsin Around, gave him an ultimatum to fire Herb to keep the show going or stand by him in his time of need and both suffer the consequences. Years later, when BoJack meets with Angela after his name has been tarnished upon the reveal of Sarah Lynn's death, Angela reveals she was bluffing at the time and had no real authority to cancel it, the show was still fairly popular and would've survived the backlash, meaning BoJack lost an important friendship for no reason other than believing someone else's lie.
  • The Aloner: One of his major problems and worries is being alone. Being the kind of person he is, he's often alone in his house, in his life and in his private time. Part of his Character Development is to be more outgoing and easy with people as well as being comfortable should this happen.
  • Always Someone Better: No matter how much he tries, BoJack can never break into mainstream fame and when he tries, there's always someone more famous or powerful than him. He's no Hank Hippopopalous. According to Jurj Clooners, Bread Poot and Leornerner DiCapricorn are Household Names, BoJack isn't. He's just the fifth wheel in the Oscar race.
  • Anti-Hero: BoJack is an abrasive, lazy, bitter older man that resists any attempts to change himself for the better when he can help it. But deep down, especially when he's sober, he's a surprisingly intelligent and thoughtful guy that really does care for the few people he can consider friends. Of course, in BoJack's case, it's given a revisionist spin.
  • Arbitrarily Large Bank Account: While Bojack has many problems, finances have never been one of them. It's never been revealed how much money BoJack has, but he made enough from his Horsin' Around royalties that he could live in a gated, mountaintop mansion for almost two decades without any need to work and he could also impulse buy restaurants and yachts without it straining his bank account.
    • After starring in Secretariat and restarting his acting career, he donated his Horsin' Around royalties to charity with no obvious effect on his income.
    • After entering celebrity rehab, he reacted to the $100,000 entrance fee with all the annoyance of someone being told their fast-food order is 50 cents higher than what they originally thought. He then proceeds to reenter rehab an additional five times and would have stayed indefinitely if he had his way.
    • Finally subverted in the final season, when his accountant informs him that a looming $100,000,000 lawsuit is more than he can afford, and he ends up forced to sell his house as a result.
  • Ascended Fanboy: A childhood fan of Secretariat, he achieves his lifelong dream of starring in a Biopic about him in Season 2.
  • At Least I Admit It: For all of his flaws and unsavory moments, BoJack never hides completely what he is or holds fantasies about what kind of person he is, being open about his addictions, problems and attitude about things.
  • Ax-Crazy: He's not this normally, but his opioid addiction in Season 5 eventually results in him going into a psychotic rage, which nearly kills Gina when he strangles her on set.
  • Bastard Angst: BoJack was an unplanned child and the main reason his parents ended up together. They each blame him for how miserably their lives turned out. Even to this day, he's still haunted by the very abusive childhood he had.
  • Bastard Bastard: He was born out of wedlock and is often an antisocial jerk.
  • Became Their Own Antithesis: More than twenty years ago, BoJack Horseman used to be a caring, somewhat friendly, if still flawed individual who would do his best to help out anyone. In the present, BoJack is a bitter, uncaring and sad individual who seems resigned to the way things are in Hollywoo.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: BoJack latches on to anyone who's even remotely nice to him, due to growing up without love or support. It's one of the main reasons why he becomes romantically obsessed with Diane, since she's the only one who knows everything about him and largely accepts him despite it.
  • Beneath the Mask: He looks at first glance like a grade-A douche washout, especially if you're involved with him in some capacity. Once you get past that though, BoJack reveals himself as a far more caring person who's not only undermined by his own flaws and egocentrism, but also by the circumstances and society surrounding him. And he's all too aware of it.
  • Beyond Redemption: invoked Word of God states that anyone who says the 'F-word' to BoJack is because he committed a transgression that they can never forget nor absolve him of. Though Todd is a small exception to this, he too tries to distance himself from him near the end of the series.
  • Big Eater: He can down a whole box of muffins in one sitting.
  • Birds of a Feather: With Diane. They both come from horrible homes and Diane sometimes can be just as cynical as BoJack. Deconstructed in season 3 when Diane explicitly states they bring out the worst in each other because they're so alike.
  • Broken Ace: Famous actor with a fancy house, millions of royalties, a great agent and a part on one of the most beloved sitcoms in the '90s. Underneath it all, he suffers from depression, loneliness and big regrets.
  • Broken Bird: For a couple of reasons, the first being his Stage Mom and generally emotionally-abusive upbringing and the other being his betrayal of his best friend to keep his career. Because of this, he has a pathological need to have the public's approval above everything else. According to his mother, he was born to be a broken mess.
    Beatrice: You're born broken, it's your birthright. You're BoJack Horseman. There's no cure for that.
  • Broken Hero: BoJack was born and raised in an unhappy family, so much of the resentment deriving from his birth and the ensuing rushed wedding between two radically different and horrid people who warped his innocence into a major ticking time bomb. However, his ability to remain dedicated to his dreams of stardom and fame gave fruition when he was cast as The Horse in Horsin' Around per his friend Herb Kazzaz's request, becoming an overnight famous and renowned celebrity with all the luxuries, status and reverence anyone could ask. However, this sudden rise gave leeway for him to vent his pent-up anger, unsolved issues and become a rather demanding, entitled person. Gone were the days were he was a Humble Hero. As his eventual decline into obscurity happened, BoJack found himself hollow having alienated his closest friends with only the receding public to count on. His guilt and bad string of decisions eventually led him to become a recluse that stayed indoors for more than 18 years up to the beginning of the series.
  • Brutal Honesty: BoJack will never filter or sugarcoat what he wants to say, ever.
  • Butt-Monkey: Frequently at the end of his rope, receives little to no respect on the few occasions he deserves some, has several Break the Haughty moments, more often than not has a penchant for losing and hits new lows with each passing season. Deconstructed given that some of the bad things that happen to him are hubris of his own making and since his constant mishaps (though no doubt partly of his own doing) have led him to develop a deep anxiety whenever something is going his way, fearful of losing it or just being a plain setup for a worse situation causing it to become so.
  • Byronic Hero: He is a deconstruction of this. He's self-centered, introspective, troubled, reflexive, impulsive with a Dark and Troubled Past, Troubled, but Cute status and Reclusive Artist shades. But instead of coming off as charming, mysterious and tragic, his demeanor gives the impression of him being arrogant, vain, pathetic and abrasive with no one being interested in digging deeper, and when they do, his issues prove to be too much to handle.
  • Calling the Old Woman Out: It is made apparent through flashbacks that the instant BoJack was old enough to no longer fear his abusive mother, he routinely made clear via Passive-Aggressive Kombat what an unsupportive, unpleasant harpy he considered her to be raised under. Granted Beatrice, already broken, couldn't care less if one other person in her life hates her back. A key plot point during Beatrice's senility is BoJack regretting never going full throttle with this trope beforehand.
  • CamelCase - The "J" in "BoJack is capitalized.
  • Character Development: While BoJack knows he can always experience Emotional Regression, he gets much better in the series finale "Nice While It Lasted":
    • One of his big flaws was using his friends as a Living Emotional Crutch, including Princess Carolyn to feel better about himself. This episode features him letting each of his friends go, with individual scenes for Mr. Peanutbutter, Todd, Princess Carolyn, and Diane, who have found happy endings.
    • BoJack in the first two seasons acted as if the world owed him for his shitty life. He was a hedonist that sleeps with anyone, regardless of the consequences. The first sign that things changed was when he refused to sleep with a drunk Diane after she divorced Mr. Peanutbutter, saying she would hate herself when sober if they went through with it. In "Nice While It Lasted", prison has helped him stay sober and live without usual material comforts, addictive substances, or warm bodies for sex. He's mellower, as a result.
    • Finally, BoJack...tries honeydew. For most of the series he proclaims to hate it, yet at the wedding, he tries some and finds it's not bad. It shows that he can change, if something he despised is now okay, then maybe other things will be.
  • Commander Contrarian: Tell him to do something and he'll do the opposite. He'll argue over it. Even if he doesn't mean to. Or thinks it's a good idea. Maybe he's just bored. Bottom line: try to make a Plan B just in case.
  • Commitment Issues: At first it's just hinted, given his reaction to Princess Carolyn's (mild) suggestion that they have a baby. It's finally confirmed in season 2 as his first steps to get close to Wanda involve having to open up and, even then, he continually self-sabotages unconsciously to drive her away.
    Bojack: I'm not afraid of commitment, I commit to things all the time. It's the following through with that commitment I take issue with.
  • Condescending Compassion: Whenever BoJack expresses empathy and understanding towards someone else, it's hindered by his desire to overcompensate as well as his bitter cynicism and fatalistic attitude, resulting in coming off as arrogant, smug or entitled when doing a favor or being done a favor.
    Wanda: BoJack, this is our first show and it is very important that things run smoothly tonight. I mean, do you even care about this at all?
    BoJack: (with an understanding smile on his face) Sweetie, no. I think this is stupid and a waste of everybody's time. But you're my girlfriend and I care about you.
  • The Corruptible: As a kid, he was exposed to several negative influences, such as his parents fighting while he tries to watch his tv show, often resulting in him turning up the volume, being forced to finish smoking a cigarette after being caught and being pushed into being the best by his mom. As an adult, he also became susceptible to alcohol and drugs while living in L.A. and constantly shows weakness when it comes to addictions.
  • Crazy Jealous Guy:
    • When he had a crush on Diane, he had a Cock Fight with Mr. Peanutbutter in order to impress and then tried to sabotage their wedding.
    • As reluctant as he is to admit it in the first place and correct as he is about Vincent, BoJack eventually admits in private that one of the reasons why he so desperately tries to break Vincent and Princess Carolyn's relationship is cause as much as he doesn't take their relationship seriously, he does feel hurt he can't recur to her anymore for comfort.
    • When Alex, a guy, shows interest in Wanda due to their similar background, BoJack goes berserk with jaundiced eyes.
  • The Cynic: One of his defining traits, BoJack is incredibly pessimistic ever since he started being the washed-out actor that's generally despised by everyone in Hollywoo.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: He doesn't like to talk about his childhood or his parents.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Due to his aloofness, pessimism and abrasive personality, he often mouthes off everyone in hilariously obnoxious fashion, even those who are close to him like Todd mainly.
  • Determined Defeatist: For a guy who certainly believes the worst of everything and has little hope about improving his broken life, he still shows an inordinate amount of energy and determination to keep going, even if he bitches or complains all the way through.
  • Dirty Old Man: BoJack is in his 50s, yet he often tends to sleep with women who are half his age.
  • Does Not Like Spam: Professes an undying hate for honeydew melon on "Hank After Dark". Later on the episode, he finds some support from Princess Carolyn in their mutual hatred of the fruit.
  • Don't Explain the Joke: He had a propensity for doing this up until Herb talked to him over it in their standup days, which stemmed from his childhood. While he doesn't do it constantly anymore, it still pops up from time to time.
    Dick Cavett: (Reading BoJack's letter to Secretariat) "When I grow up, I want to be just like you, and I think I'm on the right track. Get it? Track, because horses run on tracks, and you are a horse, and I am a horse. Do you get it? Do you get my joke about the track?" Okay, there's a whole page of this.
    Secretariat: Should I write him back, and tell him I get it?
  • Drives Like Crazy: BoJack has no scruples about driving under the influence or while watching videos. As a result, he is a terrible driver who causes traffic accidents on a near daily basis, and his Cool Cars tend to pretty quickly be reduced to The Alleged Car.
  • Driven to Suicide: He teeters on this in the series, mentioning several times he thought about it and nearly does go through with it in season three. But manages to find ways to keep going in some form or another. However in the latter half of the final season, he nearly does in his drunken stupor by almost drowning himself in his depression after the reveal of Sarah Lynn's death comes out, Hollywoo turning against him and him losing everything. Luckily he survives and it's this experience that ultimately gets him to get his life back on track for good.

    Tropes E-I 
  • Easily Forgiven: Played With. While BoJack does make decisions or say things that do hurt or completely sever his relationships with people he cares about, the people he's closest to find themselves accepting him back into their lives soon enough. It's only in Season 6 that Diane and Princess Carolyn decide to firmly place a wall between themselves and him and end their friendship and professional relationship respectively. All of Hollywoo plays this straight, though part of it is due to not caring about him as a person and more as an icon.
  • The Eeyore: He could give the Trope Namer a run for his money. BoJack has an uncanny ability to make people around him depressed.
  • Elemental Motifs: Water. BoJack repeatedly describes his depression as a kind of "drowning", and the opening sequence of each episode features him falling backwards into his pool. In the penultimate episode, he attempts to drown himself for real.
  • Emotionally Tongue-Tied: Has a hard time expressing his emotions, particularly love or guilt.
  • Empty Shell: He sometimes seems to be falling apart. The cocktail of drugs and booze haven't done any favors to his spiritual state. Nor has his inability to achieve any sort of peace with himself and his actions.
    "Nothing in the inside. Nothing in the outside."
  • Enraged by Idiocy: Already a bitter person, BoJack has little patience for people with interesting ways of looking at life, plain stupid or just irrational. This extends not just to people like Todd or Mr. Peanutbutter, but also to media, celebrities and people he encounters. Telling them is just part of his Brutal Honesty.
  • Entitled Bastard: Several times, sometimes openly, others more subtly. One of the worst was his stubborn demand to Herb that he forgive him for not supporting him, as if his forgiveness was a natural outcome rather than an earned result.
  • Ephebophile: BoJack's lust for younger women that seems to stem from a desire to relive his years of fame and innocence. It reached its extreme conclusion when he attempted (though failed) to have sex with 17-year-old Penny Carson, exploiting the fact that it was legal in New Mexico, and Penny was willing to do it with him. Though when Penny's mom Charlotte puts a stop to it, BoJack is immediately shamed as a pervert and kicked out of their home.
  • Establishing Character Moment: BoJack's first actions on screen after being announced on The Charlie Rose Show, as established above, pretty much tell you all you need to know about him. To elaborate, he was late, he parked in a disabled parking space, is incredibly drunk, is quite crude for what should be a serious interview, states that he's doing a good job at the interview, showing his insecurities, narcissism and need for acceptance. Finally, when Charlie asks him what has he been doing since the show ended, BoJack fails to come up with an answer, proving that he's stuck in his past and hasn't moved forward, and as the series progresses, how much is he at a loss of how to do it.
  • Even the Guys Want Him: Subtle, but it’s there, whether he wants it or not. Just ask Herb, Mr. Peanutbutter and that one guy in Vigor who saw him naked.
  • Evil Pays Better: This is how BoJack was convinced by Angela that standing for Herb was a bad idea around the 5th season of Horsin' Around: Everything he's worked for up to this point would be taken away, plus being chased by the public as a result of the ensuing controversy, getting him fired as well as the people in the show; cast and actors included. Playing nice and letting his friend be fired would ensure the prizes would remain and everything would continue flowing smoothly and even allow him to get what he wants. 20 years later, it turns out she was right: he got everything he wanted out of life, but as luck would have it, his conscience and guilt for all of the horrid things he's done to reach that spot have kept him from enjoying it. What's worse, he finds out that sacrificing Herb was could have meant nothing; Angela later admitted that she was bluffing, and would have had to capitulate if BoJack stood up for him.
  • Exhausted Eyebags: One of the glaring signs he's getting old. That and less expanding hair.
  • Experienced Protagonist: Unlike newcomer Diane, obliviously functional PB or ruthlessly victory-assuring PC, BoJack knows the drill of how everything goes in Hollywoo and can safely play it cool if his mind is clear. Of course, because of his intelligence and tendency to play friends with everybody, he may be too outstanding, clever and self-destructive to be a successful player of the fame game.
  • Expressive Ears: He pins them back tightly whenever he's distressed and perks them forward when alert or interested.
  • Fair-Weather Friend: He seems to prefer such, given he dislikes getting close to people. Surprisingly, he subverts it by being a loyal, if reluctant, supporter of Diane's, Todd's, Princess Carolyn's and even at times Mr. Peanutbutter's causes and dreams.
  • Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: BoJack can’t stand Mr. Peanutbutter or anything related to him and it’s not hard to see why: his good luck, better social skills and great life serve as reminders of his inability to be the same despite having the chance to do so. Gradually, it’s downplayed as BoJack (reluctantly) accepts PB as part of his life one way or another, even if he still prefers to spend as little time with him as possible.
  • Feigning Intelligence: As a strategy to avoid showing his true self to Diane, his biographer; he tries to pretend to be an intellectual, often musing nonsense about some of his possessions, such as paintings, like the one in his office, or sculptures he owns.
  • Fish out of Water: When out of Tinseltown territory, it becomes clear why BoJack has never been able to subsist in normalcy.
    • He's this in "Escape From L.A." He's the Only Sane Man in Hollywoo, but when it comes to fitting in normal everyday life in Tesuque, he's at a loss about what to do or how to behave.
    • A more literal example occurs in the appropriately named "Fish Out Of Water", when BoJack ends up promoting Secretariat in the Pacific Ocean City Film Festival. Not only is he lost when it comes to money, customs and direction, he also ends up causing a major controversy when he gives the "okay" finger to people, which basically means Flipping the Bird underwater.
    • When in a fugue state during season 4, BoJack has trouble keeping his head down and passing as someone else, especially when annoying fans pick at his crest with innocuous comments about "this BoJack Horseman" and any stupid comment they make. He's also useless as a handyman, which is quite an inconvenience when the dilapidated Sugarman summer house is used as temporary residence.
  • Five Philosophy Ensemble: The Cynic of the group. Curiously, he can also fit The Apathetic or The Conflicted depending on the situation.
  • Fleeting Passionate Hobbies: Be it memoirs, a dream role or just plain trying to be friendly with people, BoJack clearly knows he won't find peace and happiness with any of them.
  • Fond Memories That Could Have Been: His Imagine Spot in "Downer Ending" hints at the life that he could have had with Charlotte. Later on, he expresses sadness and remorse at not having given it a try when he could.
  • Fool for Love: When love's involved; BoJack has a track record of making stupid and rash decisions: he stole the "D" from the Hollywood sign as a symbol of love towards Diane and later tries to sabotage her wedding with Mr. Peanutbutter, stalks, sabotages several job opportunities and fires Princess Carolyn just to have a chance of dating again and spouts needy, jealous behavior towards Wanda at the beginning and end of their relationship. This can also blind him to the reality of the relationship in its current state; namely how fragile it is, how sometimes manipulation runs on both sides or simply how much he can affect with his gestures.
  • Formerly Fit: Back in the glorious Horsin' Around days, he had a physique similar to PB's. In the present, he has a gut and is quite often teased for it.
  • Freudian Excuse: His parents resented him for the simple reason of being alive, with his mother, Beatrice, creating his Inferiority Superiority Complex. His father, Butterscotch, would constantly shame him for doing things incorrectly no matter how affecting it was, even forcing him to start from square one if he didn't approve of the process. Thus a sense of dread in messing up as well as disappointing people counting on him was instilled. What was born out of such abuse was his desire to prove his value to other people whose approval he desperately seeks.
  • Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: In season 3, Todd calls him out on the fact he keeps blaming his very Dark and Troubled Past for his faulty behavior and expects everyone, especially Todd, to just forgive his actions based on it. While his story is bleak and BoJack himself is suffering from depression, Todd is right that having that story doesn't make him unaccountable for the damage he causes to others, no matter how self-destructive he has become because of it.
    Todd: You can't keep doing this! You can't keep doing shitty things, and then feel bad about yourself, like that makes it okay! You need! To be! Better!
    BoJack: I know. And I'm sorry, okay? I was drunk, and there was all this pressure-
    Todd: No! No. BoJack, just... stop. You are all the things that are wrong with you. It's not the alcohol, or the drugs, or any of the shitty things that happened to you in your career, or when you were a kid. It's you, alright? It's you. ... Fuck, man. What else is there to say?
  • A Friend in Need: Several times:
    • "Prickly Muffin": When Sarah Lynn almost kills herself in a store, he lets her stay with him.
    • "The Telescope": He decides to visit Herb just for the sake of trying to mend the bond they had.
    • "The Shot"/"Yes And": When Diane returns from Cordovia earlier than expected and is afraid of returning home defeated with Mr. Peanutbutter, BoJack offers her his house to stay in.
  • Friendless Background: Implied in "Downer Ending" when a Flashback shows a teenage BoJack sitting on a bench alone and feeling pretty miserable.
  • Friendly Enemy: With Mr. Peanutbutter, although it's more vitriolic on his part.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: Deconstructed. BoJack does have noble qualities, but a combination of his childhood and past mistakes, led him to be an emotionally troubled person who often takes his frustrations out on the few people who genuinely like him, causing them to feel a mixture of anger and pity towards the horse.
  • Friendship Denial: No, he's not friends with Mr. Peanutbutter and he won't admit that he cares for Todd. At least until the 2nd season finale.
  • Friends with Benefits: Enters one with Ana, but he wants more from their relationship then sex.
  • Friend to Psychos: His relationship with Character Actress Margo Martindale. It speaks volumes of how unhinged Martindale is that BoJack comes across as the sane one in the relationship.
  • Functional Addict: For a definition of "functional", at least. He's snorted, drank and porked every substance he would encounter, but he's one of the most level-headed characters in the series, which says a lot about the chaotic world he lives in. Finally Subverted in Season 5, where he's prescribed opioids and becomes an Addled Addict.
  • Furry Reminder: While having sex with Sarah Lynn, he neighs in arousal. Plus, he has an obvious "horse" face. He also mentions seeing a bag in the window once and getting spooked.
  • Giftedly Bad: BoJack has had a few stabs at writing, both for Horsin' Around and his memoirs. While he can act his way out of a top hat, his prose is noticeably terrible. Horsin' Around ended with the horse dying and his kids sent to foster care, which made the audience scream in horrified protest. As for his memoirs? When BoJack gets past choosing the font, it's so saccharine that his imagined version of Butterscotch smacks him.
  • Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: Is the miserable, washed up, misanthropic Grumpy to Mr. Peanutbutter's always peppy Gleeful.
  • Glory Days: BoJack seems to hold a special reverence for the '90s due to his participation in "Horsin' Around" and his friendship with Herb going great. Of course, this being BoJack, it becomes clear that he's letting out several untidy aspects out.
  • Goal in Life: When asked what he wants out of life, BoJack responds that he wants to feel good about himself. The trouble is that BoJack is His Own Worst Enemy in this regard, as his self-destructive behavior, rampant abuse of alcohol, and spiteful mean streak prevent him from making any sort of meaningful change.
  • Grand Romantic Gesture: Of the overly exaggerated kind. The reason why the "D" of the Hollywood sign is missing is because BoJack stole it as a "symbol" for Diane.
  • Grass is Greener: One of the problems he constantly faces. BoJack always has to idealize the unobtainable for him, craving an idealized version of what he thinks he needs...and always being let down when reality sets in.
  • The Greatest Story Never Told: How BoJack stole the 'D' from the Hollywood sign from under everyone's nose shall remain The Unreveal.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: After decades of snidely denying it, he ultimately admits that he's this to Mr. Peanutbutter during "Let's Find Out."
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Due to his bitter personality, he has a tendency to lash out at others when he gets defensive.
  • Happily Failed Suicide: Zigzagged. While he is grateful to be alive in the Series Finale, he still has to deal with the consequences of attempting to drown himself. This includes serving time in prison, seeing his friends have happy endings without him, and facing the unknown of his future.
  • Happy Place: His Imagine Spot of a quiet lakehouse in Maine in "Downer Ending".
  • Harmful to Minors: His bad advice and lousy treatment toward the cast of "Horsin' Around" and his actions towards Penny's friends in "Escape To L.A. show that he isn't the best around children.
  • Has a Type: BoJack has a thing for strong and driven women given the specific women he has had a romantic interest and/or relationship with.
  • Hated by All: Played With. While BoJack becomes the most hated person in all Hollywoo due to some of the bad things he has done especially being the one that was responsible for Sarah Lynn's death, there are still a few people who support him, such as Mr. Peanutbutter, Vance and an anti-feminist/incel college student. It also ultimately doesn't last in the long term, since his successful film and people just flat out forgetting about his past transgressions due to time and other things taking precedent causes him to begin to rise out of it.
  • Hates the Job, Loves the Limelight: He wants fame and recognition, but despises having to deal with showbiz minutia and the whims of others. Best exemplified during the opening minutes of Season 3 when he finally gets popular enough to be regularly approached for interviews only to grow increasingly frustrated and sarcastic towards the nigh-identical questions asked of him.
  • Heel–Face Door-Slam: In season 6, after Diane drives him to rehab, he finally starts picking up the pieces of his life and takes a position as a college acting teacher. BoJack agrees with Hollyhock about setting boundaries in their relationship, but is still in contact with her. Then two reporters find out he was involved in Sarah Lynn's death, and all of that comes crashing down.
  • Hero-Worshipper: He adores Secretariat, although he doesn't put him on a pedestal and acknowledges him as flawed.
  • Hidden Depths: Oddly, he has his moments of political and philosophical insight when prompted, giving a reply to a fan's question about Palestine in "Hank After Dark" and appearing to get at least far enough into an essay about feudalism to make a thesis statement in "Let's Find Out."
    Ana: Apparently, the French do not care for you ever since you said that thing in the press.
    BoJack: Hey, I stand by my critique of Sartre. His philosophical arguments helped tyrannical regimes justify overt cruelty. Also, the French smell and I hate them.
  • Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Zigzagged. In the first season, BJ's memories of his horrid childhood are darkly comic with Beatrice and Butterscotch’s insults and abuse of him being Played for Laughs. However, later seasons take the dysfunction, dread, melancholy and domestic violence of his memories and play it for drama.
  • His Own Worst Enemy: BoJack both has serious problems with keeping his uglier impulses in check, but is also the first to endlessly beat himself up mentally for his failures in doing so. The end result is that he is stuck in a constant spiral of self-loathing and self-destructive behavior.
  • Hollywood Heart Attack: The catalyst for BoJack to hire Diane as a ghostwriter is this happening to him. Twice. On the same day. His doctor reveals it's a panic attack, caused by anxiety.
  • Homosocial Heterosexuality: Most of the interactions and fights BoJack has with Mr. Peanutbutter over Diane are done with only them in the knowledge of what's going on. She's not present in most of their fights and wasn't even aware of both of their emotions until BoJack kissed her. The more details are given, it seems less like a fight over a girl and more like a battle of egos. It's taken even further when in "Let's Find Out",BoJack and Mr. Peanutbutter get into a heated discussion sparkled by Diane's mention that slowly drifts to a discussion about their...."complicated" relationship.
  • Hope Crusher: He destroys Todd's chances at success, just to keep him from moving.
  • Ignorance Is Bliss: During his first encounter with Diane, he takes one look at Mr. Peanutbutter and calls him an "idiot who doesn't realize he's miserable" ... and he envies that.
  • I Just Want to Be You: In "Let's Find Out", BoJack admits that he envies and wishes that he could be just like Mr. Peanutbutter.
  • Important Haircut: In Season 6, after making amends with her he has his old hairdresser Sharona give him a haircut, where it’s revealed to the audience he’s been dying his hair for 20 years, and the finished result is a shorter grey style.
  • Incompatible Orientation: During the excitement of a network picking up "Horsin' Around", Herb tries to kiss BoJack. He declines, citing that he's heterosexual.
  • Inferiority Superiority Complex: Best encapsulated in a Deconstruction-filled line in "Chickens".
    Kelsey: Can we have one conversation that isn't about you? I don't understand why you need me to like you so much.
    BoJack: I don't need you to like me! It would be fun if you liked me, because then I could prove to myself that my parents were wrong to never support me, because I'd now earned the admiration of a surrogate-authority figure, thus proving that I have intrinsic worth, but it's not like it's a big deal or anything. Jeez.
  • It's All About Me: His mindset and cause for every unsavory thing he has done, ranging from the very scathing speech he gave Diane in "Downer Ending" to his actions in "Escape From L.A.". Justified since BoJack has shown to have a very fragile ego that he tries to counterbalance, and Deconstructed by the fact that this mindset has done nothing more than damage to everyone close enough to him. He seems to slowly be getting better, though.

    Tropes J-N 
  • Jerkass Has a Point: He may be an alcoholic, grumpy, narcissistic TV star, but sometimes he makes valid arguments (especially when he’s sober). For instance:
    • In “Bojack Hates The Troops”, he has every right to call out Neal McBeal, the navy seal, for abusing his power as a navy troop to get everything he wants, including some muffin that he just left them among the vegetables in good view instead of putting them in a cart or carrying them with him, leading to BoJack to take them.
    • In “Live Fast, Diane Nguyen”, he rightfully tells Diane that expecting that her abusive family would change themselves for the better is stupid, and that she should cut the ties with them for good, as staying with them is not worthy.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: BoJack is set up as an example of this, being portrayed as genuinely sympathetic despite the following: his actions, pettiness, selfishness, his harshness on anything he doesn't like, and the fact he's a tough person to like in general. The show's own Netflix description references this trope, saying BoJack has "a heart of... not quite gold... but something like gold. Copper?" This trope is later brutally deconstructed, when BoJack begins to rely on this self-perception to justify his actions, and ends up outright begging to tell him that he's a good person at heart.
    BoJack: I know that I can be selfish and narcissistic and self-destructive but underneath all that, deep down, I'm a good person and I need you to tell me that I'm good... Diane... tell me, please, Diane, tell me that I'm good...
  • Just Eat Gilligan: As Princess Carolyn points out, most of BoJack's problems could be easily solved if he didn't insist on making them worse with convoluted sitcom antics and stopped obsessing over whether or not people like him.
  • Karmic Shunning: In the final season, once all of his bad deeds come to light, his personal friends cut ties with him and he's become a pariah in Hollywoo.
  • Kick the Dog: Enables a teen's drinking and abandons her at the hospital with very probable alcohol poisoning. He also destroys Todd's chance at success just to keep him from moving out.
  • Ladykiller in Love: Deconstructed. BoJack sleeps with numerous women to temporarily escape his own sadness. And in the moments he wanted a real romantic relationship with someone (i.e., Diane, Wanda, Charlotte) it doesn't work out for a number of reasons - the woman already being in a relationship (Diane), differing personalities (Wanda), or already married and not having a romantic interest in him anymore (Charlotte). And besides those other reasons, it's BoJack's own subconscious drive to destroy his close relationships in the belief that he doesn't deserve them. He also tends to put his crushes on a pedastal, then becomes disillusioned or loses interest when it becomes clear that they cannot live up to the idealized version in his head.
  • Large Ham: When he gets worked up, he becomes something of a Drama Queen which makes sense because of his extreme anger issues and the fact that he was a sitcom actor growing up.
  • Leitmotif: "BoJack's Theme" by Patrick Carney, a deceitfully upbeat Blues Rock song with underlying sadness and hopelessness, used as the opening theme for the show and in a Dark Reprise montage at the end of "Escape From L.A.".
  • Like Parent, Like Child: Like his parents, BoJack can be abusive, hurtful jerk who pushes his problems onto his past life while having an All Take and No Give mentality. Unlike them, BoJack slowly, but surely gets better.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Gray jacket, blue knit sweater, jeans and red sneakers are usually a good way to recognize him in a crowd. Only occasionally does he wear something different: smoking, his Horsin' Around wardrobe. He does get a new outfit in The Face of Depression.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: As it turns out in season 4's "Underground", Diane drunkenly admits BoJack's one for her, as she is to him, and was devastated when he left without a trace for 6 months. Of course, she kind of flip-flops on this when sober.
  • Lonely at the Top: Despite having everything a person could want from life, BoJack is shown to be very lonely and desperate, with the relationships that mattered him the most virtually destroyed and alienated by circumstance and his own flaws and the few friendships he's got left being constantly put to the test.
  • Lonely Together: In a romantic (and disastrous) way with Princess Carolyn, and in a platonic sense with Diane.
  • Longing For Fiction Land: Given how his life was much easier and happier in his fictional sitcom home, it's no surprise that he truly wants to invoke its rules in real life.
  • Lost in Character: In Season 5, BoJack temporarily loses his grip on reality under the influence of opioids and starts acting like his character, the jaded detective Philbert, in real life. So when BoJack has to film a strangling scene for the show, he actually strangles someone.
  • Lousy Lovers Are Losers: Despite the fact he Really Gets Around, BoJack being an unsatisfying lover is a Running Gag in the show, as he lacks staying power and doesn't really care about helping his partners achieve their own orgasms. This is better illustrated in "Zoes And Zeldas" where his two sex scenes with Princess Carolyn end with him orgasming before he even penetrates her.
  • Love Hungry: A lot of BoJack's stupider decisions can be traced back to BoJack desperately craving some sort of positive recognition or approval from others, which leads to him doing increasingly drastic things that he thinks are good ideas but in reality ends up screwing himself over more often than not.
  • Lying to Protect Your Feelings: His unreliability when explaining his childhood, his past as a stand-up comedian and his parents, especially to Diane as a ghostwriter on his memoirs and unintentional therapist in their interactions, is initially because he's trying his hardest not to open old wounds, despite his failure to confront them hindering him and any progress he might make.
  • Mad Libs Catch Phrase: Back in Horsin' Around, his catchphrase was "I've heard of (x), but this is ridiculous!"
  • Manchild: One of the major issues holding him back is that he's got the mindset of a teenager. This is especially an issue with his relationships with women, since he tends to date women younger than him but they eventually mature and grow tired of his immature behavior. Compared to Mister however, he's more of a Psychopathic Manchild, due to how his immaturity tends to hurt people.
  • Misanthrope Supreme: At his worst, he seems to have a hatred of everything and everyone. The few lasting exceptions seem to be his friends like PC, Todd, and Diane.
  • Murder by Inaction: He waited seventeen minutes before calling an ambulance when Sarah Lynn overdosed because he was trying to think up a good alibi for his behavior before making the phone call. Had he called sooner, she might have lived. It's one of the things he gets grilled over in the second half of Season Six.
  • Must Have Lots of Free Time: Indeed, he has. Being a constant unemployed actor and having a fortune in royalties from his former sitcom is not a combination for productiveness. Adding to that is his isolation from everyone, loneliness, not-friendly attitude, Dismotivation tendencies, constant grumpiness and desire almost to the point of obsession of wanting something, be it just a drink, a vacuum or a companion with whom he can have a normal conversation. This attitude only makes him even more miserable since all his free time has made him dwell on everything he's seen, done, been and achieved. He's concluded he doesn't like it one bit.
    • Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you realize that out of the main cast, there's not a single completely happy person, but BoJack stands out as the one who proclaims it because unlike the rest of them, who happen to have some form of distraction in the form of love or work, BoJack's loner status means he has had more time to look at himself introspectively. Hmmm...
  • Must Make Amends: Upon finding out Herb has rectal cancer, he travels to his house to reconnect with him. It fails.
  • My Greatest Failure: Depressingly, he gets one once a season.
    • Season 1 - His betrayal of Herb and its consequences, culminating in the Rejected Apology.
    • Season 2 - Almost sleeping with Charlotte's daughter, Penny, after being rejected by Charlotte herself.
    • Season 3 - After going on a months-long bender with Sarah Lynn, she dies of an overdose while they're at the planetarium. This, notably, is what pushes BoJack over the Despair Event Horizon.
      BoJack: The funeral was huge. There were so many people there. I kept thinking "I did this to her." And everyone was just standing around like "Well, this was bound to happen," but... it wasn't bound to happen.
    • Season 4 - This is actually averted, as he manages to avoid irrevocably ruining anything or anyone. Though he is still haunted by the failures of previous seasons, particularly Sarah Lynn's death.
    • Season 5 - Nearly choking Gina to death on-set of his TV show because of being hopped up on drugs. It's this incident that convinces him to enter rehab for drug addiction after he realizes that he can't beat this on his own.
    • Season 6 - It is revealed through phone records that BoJack waited 17 minutes before calling an ambulance for Sarah Lynn while she fought for her life before dying at the hospital. Even BoJack hates himself for this, and when trying to apologize to a dream-Sarah Lynn he accepts her telling him to be quiet. On a grander scale, network executive Angela Diaz spitefully tells BoJack that she manipulated him into abandoning Herb. BoJack is predictably quick to blame his life's downward spiral on this revelation.
  • Mysterious Middle Initial: A quick moment in "Stop the Presses" shows the first letter of his middle name is "F", but it's left a mystery what the "F" stands for.
  • Narcissist: As an egotistical horseman, he is often portrayed as a self-absorbed individual, with a very inflated opinion of himself combined with an inordinate need for tribute from others, as well as a constant search for others' love and respect, envy of those who are better than him and contempt toward those who he feels are beneath his attention. Overall, his attitude fits more with those of compensatory narcissists, due to his objectives being less of an intricate sense of entitlement and more of a need to establish some self worth courtesy of his lack of self esteem and deep insecurities. Nevertheless, BoJack deviates from the rule in that, in a similar vein to Tony Soprano, he realizes that his actions and personality are damaging to the people around him and, unlike Tony, he actually has the sense and capacity to make a turnaround.
    Princess Carolyn: Remember that book you're pretending to write? Well, Penguin wants an update on your progress. Does Tuesday work for you, or are you gonna be too busy this week masturbating to old pictures of yourself?
    BoJack: I told you, that's not what was happening that time. I was masturbating to what the picture represented.
  • Never Grew Up: BoJack is, and has always been, a teenager at heart, having stopped growing at a certain point in his young adulthood. This is one of the reasons why he's able to understand Sarah Lynn's plight and why he starts bonding with Charlotte's daughter, Penny. The drawback is that he also embodies a lot of the negatives of being mentally a teenager at heart, such as his reckless behavior towards others, or himself, oftentimes with dire consequences later down the line. One of the central conflicts of his arc is having to grow out of this stunted emotional state.
  • Never My Fault: He knows a lot of things are his own fault, and chews himself up with self-loathing, but if there's some kind of excuse that will get him out of it, like his childhood or bad time in Hollywood or being drunk, then he'll take it. Todd and Diane eventually get sick of this, and need some time away.
  • Not Me This Time: For all the damage BoJack causes to people directly or indirectly, the one person he never actually affects is Hollyhock, as what he believed was his fault was actually the fault of his mother suffering dementia. Ironically, when she does cut him out of her life, it's due to what he did to other people, not her personally.

    Tropes O-S 
  • Obliviously Evil: invoked Most of BoJack's actions in "Escape From L.A.", including almost sleeping with Charlotte's (technically legal) teen daughter Penny weren't, according to Raphael Bob-Waksberg, done with malicious intent since he has the mind of a teenager and doesn't realize that he's doing something wrong.
  • Older Than He Looks: Given his Funny Animal biology, style of dress and especially the way he acts, it's easy to forget that BoJack is in his early 50s. By the middle of Season 6 he finally starts looking closer to his age due to no longer dying his grey hair.
  • Old Shame: In-Universe: The BoJack Horseman Show. While the original concept could have been a successful comeback for him, after a night of drunken rewrites with showrunner Mr. Cuddlywhiskers, the end result became a show that people only remember for how hilariously shitty it was, to the point that BoJack practically excised it from his memory.
  • One of the Kids: Deconstructed. BoJack has an uncanny ability to bond with younger characters because of his own mental immaturity. However, this makes him much more susceptible to screw up instead of behaving like a responsible adult should. "Escape From L.A." just drives this home: He's still his usual self, but by interacting with people closer to his emotional age; a.k.a. teenagers, he comes off less as a lovable loser and more as a creepy, pathetic old man.
  • Only Sane Man: While BoJack can be an impulsive and self-destructive manchild, he can be very rational and is intelligent enough to make excellent points about the way he views about celebrity culture and life in general.
  • Parental Substitute:
    • Even though they were just actors playing characters on television, BoJack was viewed as a father figure to Sarah Lynn, due to playing her stepdad when she was very young on that show. But when BoJack and Sarah admit that they're not even real family, it changes into a more sexual relationship.
    • BoJack, in his capacity as Todd's much older roommate and financial caretaker, often acts like a nagging single father towards him.
  • Perpetual Frowner: It's hard to see BoJack with a smile on his face. Most of the time, you will most likely see him with a miserable, depressed frown. Then again, it's hard to blame him.
  • Pet the Dog: BoJack can be cruel, selfish, abrasive and horribly needy, but he can perform genuine acts of kindness to show that he's not without a heart. Probably one of the best examples is going through with a skit of Mr. Peanutbutter's "crossover episode" that BoJack himself brings up. It's done with no ulterior motive or sarcasm, despite the tentatively rocky relationship they've had in the past.
  • Phrase Catcher: "Aren't you/Isn't that the horse from Horsin' Around?"
  • Playboy Has a Daughter: Played with in Season Four, where after months of self-imposed exile at his family's old house, BoJack returns home to meet Hollyhock, who believes herself to be his daughter and, while Happily Adopted, wants his help to locate her birth mother. While it ultimately turns out that she's actually his half-sister (the product of an extramarital affair between his dad and his mother's maid), his erstwhile belief that he's a father actually gets him to clean up his act for once. Alas, eventually, she finds out about his previous bad behavior and cuts him out of her life for good, and he finally hits the Despair Event Horizon.
  • Playing the Victim Card: While he has suffered, he dials it up in Season Five, telling Diane that he's the one who has suffered the most because of his own actions. Season Six calls him out on it, showing that all the women he traumatised and tried to move on from, are still suffering more than he is.
  • Politically Incorrect Hero: BoJack has said some rather unpleasant things about people from Alaska and France.
    "Please, we're going to Alaska. How am I going to offend a bunch of inbred Eskimo blubber-munchers?"
    "Hey, I stand by my critique of Sartre. His philosophical arguments helped tyrannical regimes justify overt cruelty. Also, the French smell and I hate them."
  • Practically Different Generations: He was already a grown man when his half-sister Hollyhock was born. When he learned about her existence and that they were related for the first time, the age gap was so big that everyone just assumed that he was her father.
  • The Prima Donna: As the eventual success of Horsin' Around starts to inflate his ego, BoJack becomes demanding and selfish towards the cast and writers, arguing that his wishes should be the order and he is the star, after all.
  • Really Gets Around: BoJack sleeps with different women a lot. One episode has a list of statistics mention that he's had sex with over 100 women. But, it's mentioned time and time again that one of the main reasons he has random sex with random women is to fill his loneliness, which doesn't.
  • Relationship Revolving Door: BoJack and Princess Carolyn are always going back and forth between seemingly breaking up for good and returning to give it one more shot. Justified since, as he explains himself, they're not really in love, just craving to communicate with someone, basically hanging onto each other since there's no one better around until around midway season 1 when they both agree they don't belong together. Then, again, there may have been some actual love in-between the masochism and hurt, but it has clearly become too toxic by the time season 3 nears its end.
  • The Resenter: To Mr. Peanutbutter, for being happy and comfortable in his own skin. Eventually, he lets go of this.
  • Retargeted Lust: During "Escape From L.A.", BoJack increasingly bonds with Penny Carson, Charlotte's daughter, because of their similar thought process, problematic issues that no one seems to understand or help them with, impulsive yet innocent behavior and hidden vulnerabilities. Moreso from BoJack's part, as Penny looks exactly like her mother and gets along with her as her previous relationship with Charlotte starts crumbling away. After a failed attempt to get Charlotte to elope in a romantic whim, BoJack presumably takes Penny's naive offer for sex as a sort of rebound from Charlotte. As she found them before they would do anything, he's still tormented about whether he would have gone ahead with it.
  • Ridiculous Procrastinator: He constantly postpones writing his memoirs, perhaps because he doesn't really wants to talk about his past. It's so bad that Pinky's company hires Diane as a ghostwriter to complete it.
  • Role-Ending Misdemeanor:invoked Subverted. You would think, BoJack nearly killing Gina would have cancelled Philbert, but it doesn't. What does cancel the show, however, is a sex robot harassing its employees.
  • Romantic Runner-Up: In the Love Triangle between himself and Mr. Peanutbutter for Diane in season 1. Zigzagged the more the series goes on since in spite of failing, he and Diane still form a strong bond bordering on pseudo romantic.
  • Rose-Tinted Narrative: His attempts at writing his long-overdue memoirs, after dismissing Diane, are hindered by this. His significant alteration of his Abusive Parents into Good Parents just for the sake of trading reality with a more comfortable lie shows him as that unwilling to make his dark past public.
  • Sanity Slippage: While he's not the most realistic person at the best of times, Season 5 has him descend into an opioid addiction, which causes him to become completely Lost in Character as Philbert. In Episode 11, this comes to a head in a full-blown psychotic breakdown where he violently strangles Gina Cazador. Luckily for everyone, he recovers.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: The only reason why the police lets Diane, Todd and Irving go after breaking into Gentle Farms is because BoJack knows Drew Barrymore.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Famous!: As a Hollywood celebrity, he at least believes he can get away with illegal misbehavior.
  • Self-Made Man: Throughly deconstructed as BoJack would attest himself, since he could tell people one or two things about how difficult, pain-staking and ultimately hollow such an ideal is, what with all the broken relationships, alienation from any sense of self, pressure from everyone to give your best and how your success relies on the people's opinion of what you do and how marketable it is.
  • Self-Serving Memory: Played for Drama and some dark laughs. He fabricates an alternate vision of his life and actions for the sake of avoiding responsibility or guilt over a problem he has caused. He also applies this logic to his very tragic past and high insecurities to appear more well-adjusted than he truly is.
  • Serial Homewrecker: BoJack was cheating on Princess Carolyn regularly and seemingly tried to sabotage her relationship with Vincent. It's revealed he broke up Bradley Hitler-Smith's parents by sleeping with his mother. He even tried to steal Diane from Mr. Peanutbutter with a Grand Romantic Gesture, something that even Mr. Peanutbutter could not overlook. Even so, Princess Carolyn has agreed to keep their relationship professional, and Bradley at least is willing to work with him on a new sitcom. It's not these that make BoJack realize he has to stop doing this: it's his nearly sleeping with Penny, who was seventeen and a friend's daughter, that starts his Heel Realization.
  • The Show Must Go On: The reason why BoJack refuses to help Herb when Herb was fired for his homosexuality is that he feared their show would ultimately be Overshadowed by Controversy and canceled, with the cast and crew and himself getting fired and forgotten by fans and viewers.
  • Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Having had a pretty horrible childhood and quite a crappy life, BoJack's life Koan involves the certainty that no one cares about him and as such, he should have little consideration for others. And has no problem telling this philosophy to anyone who'll listen. This mindset often makes him have derision for everybody who can be happy with their lives; e.g. Mr. Peanutbutter, since he secretly would wish to be part of such a group.
  • Single-Issue Psychology: Subverted. A lot of BoJack's problems can be traced down to his parents but his real problem is repeating and constantly being part of a self-destructive cycle, constantly ignoring real chances to make amends or change himself. In short, while his parents are to be blamed by his eventual condition, it's the aftermath and ramifications of the abuse that eventually drove him to be as screwed up as he is right now. But it's clear that BoJack suffers from depression, alcoholism, and several narcissistic traits.
  • Sinister Suffocation: In season 5, he becomes addicted to opioids, which causes him to lose his grip on reality. This eventually results in him getting Lost in Character as Philbert, so when the time comes for Philbert to strangle Gina's character, Sassy Malone, an enraged and drug-addled BoJack actually strangles her. If not for Mr. Peanutbutter's intervention, he could have killed her.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: Even with the great competition.
  • Sit Comic: The show Horsin' Around was made in part to boost BoJack's and Herb's career from stand-up comedians to actor and writer respectively. Of course, by the end, only BoJack had managed to make his dream come true. And even then barely.
  • Sliding Scale of Unavoidable vs. Unforgivable: Being a full-blown Anti-Hero, BoJack constantly toes the line in this department. It's highly debated between fandom, critics, creators and the characters themselves where he does stand.
    • For starters, there's his actions regarding Herb's dismissal. Was it really correct to leave out a dear pal out in the sun just for the sake of pleasing the network and continue the journey in the money train? Or was it Necessarily Evil that allowed thousands of people to remain in their cushy jobs, stopped the show from being canceled, and was therefore a tough but necessary choice? Then again, the main reason for their fallout was not the firing but that they remained out of touch for the next 20 years, yet exactly how much was in both parties is left up in the air: while Herb is hurt and mad at BoJack for dismissing him all those years without any concern for his health or life out of the business, evidence suggests the horse figured out Herb wouldn't want to see him again, since from his perspective Horsin' Around meant just as much to both of them and his inaction led to his firing, with his refusal to meet implied to include ignoring calls or even mentions of him. Basically, "you abandoned me when I needed you the most, that you can't figure that as the reason why I hate you now makes it even more unforgivable" vs "I thought you were mad at me for what I did to you and you wouldn't want to talk afterwards, that's why I didn't bother", as a brief summary.
    • Then, there is his treatment of Todd that can range from just harmless nudging to plain abuse to even harmful psychological bullying, even if BoJack certainly cares about him. There are two specific actions that cross a certain line, though: in season 1, there's his sabotage of Todd's rock opera to stop him from moving forward in life and stay with him; then, in season 3, he ends up sleeping with his would-be girlfriend Emily when offered an opportunity, although this one stands in a morally grey area: while BoJack's lack of impulse control, as well as subconscious self-sabotage make him the culprit in taking the decision, Todd's reluctance to open up to Emily about his asexuality and Emily giving up on trying to figure out what Todd wants and despondency about it also contributed to the disaster. Nevertheless, his refusal to accept responsibility and admit to what he did lights the petard that kaputts the friendship.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: Deconstructed. His ego is the result of his severely low self-esteem, resulting in often wanting the validation and love of others to valorate himself. Tellingly, he switches between loving and hating himself.
  • Sore Loser: He doesn't enjoy the way he's losing in "Let's Find Out" and acts very bitter about it. There's also his reaction at the end of the episode. Justified since the game seems to be rigged for guest Daniel Radcliffe to win and him to lose.
  • Sour Outside, Sad Inside: With how assholish BoJack behaves, it's easy to forget that his actions are fueled by resentment, bitterness and deep sadness, mostly due to his lack of any real happiness or purpose outside Hollywoo or stardom.
  • Sour Supporter: He's this to Diane in "Hank After Dark", initially. He does support her, but he's still mad about her writing "One Trick Pony". Once they talk about it and bury the hatchet, he subverts the trope by standing behind her, though he also makes no secret of the fact that he thinks she's fighting a lost cause and that it would be in her own best interest to just cut her losses.
  • Species Surname: He's a horse and his last name is Horseman.
  • Star-Making Role: In-Universe. "Horsin' Around" made BoJack Horseman a household name in The '90s.
  • Stepford Smiler: Back in his early acting career on Horsin' Around he seemed much more cheerful, but he was still really miserable even back then. Now in the present day, he's dropped any pretense and is very open about how cynical and depressed he is.
  • Stepford Snarker: Don't worry, most of his snark is genuine, but it's clear that he uses snark usually as a form of protection and self-defense.
  • Stopped Caring: Years of abuse at the hands of his parents, as well as a long decline into washed-out middle age during which his only credit was to star in a 90s sitcom which, while beloved, isn't that great of an accomplishment, followed by a gradual loss of his circle of friends, some of it his doing, and the realization that the dream machine called Hollywood will just as easily toss him out as receiving him in with open arms has certainly ensured that BoJack not only doesn't care about important emotional or moral issues, but that when he does, he prefers to avoid caring too much.
  • Straight Man: To Todd and Mr. Peanutbutter's antics. Otherwise, well....see below.
  • Straight Man and Wise Guy: The Wise Guy to Princess Carolyn, Diane and The Straight Man to Todd and Mr. Peanutbutter.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: BoJack looks almost identical to his maternal uncle, Crackerjack, inheriting the pink spot/white snippet on his snout and fur color from him. He also bears a bit of resemblance to his father Butterscotch, his father; specifically, the mane color and the voice are identical. He also inherited his diamond marking from his mother and her side of the family, although Butterscotch said his mother also had a diamond marking.
  • Superior Successor:
    • To Secretariat. Low as he can fall, BoJack just refuses to be kicked to the ground and simply take the easy way out and keeps trying to see any kind of silver lining, unlike his hero who allowed his bottled emotions to drain him out of any will to live.
    • To the whole Sugarman/Horseman family:
      • Beatrice's horrid childhood, rebellious young life and subsequent lack of wealth left her jaded, volatile and self-serving without any concern toward those around her other than the injustices she endured as a result of giving all of herself to her son without any regards for personal choices. BoJack does have a sense of dissatisfaction about the way his life is headed and has caused many clusterfucks worthy of being lynched, but has enough sense to know how damaging these are. Recently, he's gotten better at acknowledging his mistakes and mending them, something Beatrice could never figure out how to do.
      • Butterscotch's sense of idealism was broken by being cast out of the life he thought was promised him: the Beat generation dismissed his ideas and his sense of hurt pride made him an uncompromising man whose prose never got better as a result. BoJack has a desire to achieve greatness but has had enough experiences to know how unfulfilled hanging on to aspirations leave you, so he's learned to curb those flights of fancy.
      • Honey Sugarman's feisty and fun-loving nature was traded with her future grandson's depression and mood-swings caused by her son CrackerJack's death. Eventually, such despair consumed her to the point where she agreed to a lobotomy to live in ignorant bliss away from pain. BoJack due to living in the modern era has access to help and while not willing to go to therapy has shown a bigger commitment to fixing himself.
      • Joseph Sugarman, BoJack's grandparent, was a kind, accessible person...at least for the time of 1940. Still, the inability to understand deeper emotions or any sort of nuance from anyone made him a horribly pragmatic person. With the condonation from society, Joseph drifted into outright abuse toward his family through a warped sense of righteousness. BoJack is abrasive, unapologetic and brutally honest, which makes society dismiss his more noble qualities. Nevertheless, BoJack shows a keen understanding of his friends and loved ones' psyche and when push comes to shove, he can be there for them.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: BoJack is a cynical person with many issues but deep down wants to be loved.
  • Sympathetic P.O.V.: Since he's our protagonist, for a measure of it, he's portrayed with a surprising depth and vulnerability that makes him a complex and at times redeemable character. Also deconstructed, as he does frequently objectively shitty things that are hard enough for his friends to rationalise/stand by, and it's very easy to see why he comes off as an abusive predator to others.

    Tropes T-Z 
  • Tall, Dark, and Snarky: He's the tallest of the main cast, has a dark mane and hide, and usually uses strong colored garments; the snark part should be obvious by now.
  • Taught by Television: BoJack's life has always been influenced by TV, even when he was little, and more often than not, most of his knowledge comes from it. Unfortunately, this constant interaction combined with the time he spent working on Horsin Around, has caused him to constantly try to play life like a TV show, seeing as the conflicts and complexities of life can often be portrayed as easier in the aforementioned media; much to the detriment of the people who come into contact with him. He finally acknowledges this in Free Churro, where he points out that so far, it hasn't worked out.
  • Team Dad: He tries to act the part when the cast of Horsin' Around reunites at Herb's funeral, but Bradley, Joelle and Sarah Lynn know him better. Still, he is the one who acts as a mediator and stops them from killing each other.
  • The Teetotaler: Before he entered showbiz, BoJack did not drink, possibly due to the effect alcoholism had on his family. This did not last long into his career, as he is seen using booze to cope at most a few years afterwards.
  • Therapy Is for the Weak: As revealed in "Stop The Presses", he seems to hold this opinion. In a bit of irony, the person he's telling this is the closest thing to a therapist he's had and is clearly unaware of it, implying that his reasoning is more out of pride and fear than outright dismissal. By season 5 however, he is ultimately convinced to go to rehab by Diane to get help. While he resists at the start of season 6, he eventually opens up and begins to get better. Even admitting in a letter to Diane that he was stupid not to do it sooner. Ironically when Dr. Champ falls off the wagon due to an unintentional mishap of BoJack, his trying to help him (though sadly failing when Champ can't see his own problems and blames BoJack for what happened) is the breakthrough BoJack needs and he realizes where he can best his talents: Namely helping others.
  • Thousand-Yard Stare: He's sporting this in the intro credits.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: After three seasons of unsuccessfully trying to become a better person, BoJack ends the fourth season in a much better place than he was at the end of last season by reconciling with his half-sister Holly Hock and finally forming a genuine relationship with someone that he didn't irrevocably destroy at some point. BoJack's face in the final scene of the season says it all.
  • Token Adult: Downplayed. He's at best 27 years older than the youngest character, Todd. Still, he's the oldest in the main cast, so he still qualifies. His fellows and cast members treat him as such, at least.
  • Token Evil Teammate: Zigzagged. The least moral of the main characters, BoJack's deep exploration of his psyche as well as his (often) sympathetic motives goes a long way in softening and understanding the motivation behind some of his most heinous actions, even if not quite justifying them. The shifting morality and BoJack often ending as A Lighter Shade of Black compared to more amoral characters does its job as well.
  • Took a Level in Cheerfulness: As part of his self-proclaimed change of attitude in season 2, BoJack tries to remain calm and cheerful through his day, even as the cracks start to show. It completely falls apart by the end of the first episode.
  • Toxic Friend Influence: Sooner or later he tends to wind up hurting those closest to him. He laments this, saying after Sarah Lynn's death that he feels like there's poison inside him that spreads to every one of his friends.
  • Tragic Hero: Swinging the full scale from Comedy to Tragedy, often overlapping. There's enough evidence to suggest that should BoJack rise from his neuroses, flaws and egocentrism, he would be a great man. Yet his flaws and misunderstandings of how the world works lead him to fall lower and lower each time.
  • Tsundere: Rare Male Example. BoJack is abrasive, a stubborn jackass, rude, cynical, brutally honest and an unpleasant person in general. He's also dynamic depending in the situation and once the many layers are removed, he's emotionally needy, caring and a big ol' softie.
  • Turn Out Like His Father: Bitter about the way his life has gone, resentful of those more fortunate than himself, takes out his anger on someone who looks up to him....Yep, Generation Xerox has kicked full gear for BoJack, on both parents' sides. The only two difference is that BoJack is not as bad as either of his parents in this department and still has the opportunity to change.
  • Unable to Cry: In public, at least. In private, however…
  • The Unapologetic: Part of what makes it difficult to reconcile with anyone he’s hurt: he stands by his choice, but he’s not happy with the results or having hurt someone, yet doing so won’t ensure the relationship will be mended nor that the situation will improve nor that everything will be the same as before. So he does nothing. And time passes.
  • Unknown Rival: There's no way he could make his hatred of Mr. Peanutbutter any clearer, yet the dog never seems to be the wiser. Or so it seems. As "Let's Find Out" reveals, he knows BoJack doesn't like him, but goes along with it, because he truly believes they can be friends. Later on, they do get something resembling an actual friendship.
  • Unreliable Expositor: Due to Diane, his ghostwriter, having to be the vessel in which BoJack has to pour all of his memories of past and present for her to write his memoirs; BoJack often struggles to appear sophisticated, well-balanced and with no baggage or in the case of traumatic and hard experiences, avoid the issue altogether. Diane doesn't fall for it.
  • Unrequited Love: He eventually develops a crush on his ghostwriter, Diane Nguyen, who couldn't be more uninterested or oblivious to it. Also, she's also dating BoJack's rival, Mr. Peanutbutter. Then again, she may not be as unreciprocal to such feelings as she seems..
  • Unstoppable Rage: He literally almost kills Gina because of his painkiller addiction that hurts his sanity.
  • Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist:
    • Is it even a surprise at this point? It should be. You’ll still sympathize with him because of his bad actions and even question if you’re that good of a person to begin with.
    • The end of season 3 with Sarah Lynn's death and season 4 introduces a Long-Lost Relative in Hollyhock, the trope ended up shattered as BoJack finally broke but as a result was able to confront his problems head-on. The end of season four and throughout season five show him succeeding in treating people better rather than just trying to erase his own self-loathing.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
    • Usually, BoJack's actions, well-intentioned or not, have serious repercussions for everyone around him. Some examples go from accidentally making Corduroy fall Off the Wagon and return to Erotic Asphyxiation, which causes his death and getting Kelsey fired for trying to be artistic in the Secretariat Biopic as well as (indirectly) causing another one of her movie projects to fall apart through Princess Carolyn .
    • He surely has a hand in Sarah Lynn's issues: he spend her entire childhood giving her awful life advice, by 2007, when they meet again with her on the edge of starting her current self-destructing personality, when they meet again, she is happy, but he reveals that he just went to see her to ask her to guest star on his show, ultimately, in the season 3, he calls her to a bender doing hardcore drugs, which leads to her overdose and ultimate death.
    • The finale of season 3 plays this for laughs. The entire situation that arises is instigated entirely by actions BoJack has taken in earlier episodes
      • Margo Martindale is on the lam because of BoJack involving her in various criminal schemes and capers. She's in the boat he bought in New Mexico as a flimsy excuse for visiting Penny. And by this point in the series she's sufficiently unhinged by her involvement with BoJack to play chicken with a cargo ship
      • The pasta is being shipped to LA because Sandro is starting a new restaurant and requires a supply of authentic Italian spaghetti. The only reason he's doing this in the first place is because BoJack (accidently) fired him from his restaurant a couple of episodes earlier
      • The pasta starts to cook because of sunlight reflected off the blimp that was carrying a mirror to advertise BoJack's Secretariat movie, a leftover from his failed Oscar campaign.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Child: In Flashbacks to his childhood, little BoJack is often shown to be kind, considered, well-behaved and a decent kid, almost the complete opposite of how he is nowadays, which makes it even more heartbreaking knowing what happened to him.
  • Used to Be More Social: Considering his more outgoing attitude in The '90s and his close circle of friends, this is certainly a major contrast to attitude as of the first episode, when he's nearly a shut-in with no close relationships to speak of.
  • Upper-Class Twit: Oscillates between this and Upper-Class Wit. He constantly overestimates himself and can be quite immature and impulsive.
  • Upper-Class Wit: Oscillates between this and Upper-Class Twit. At his best, he can have a better grasp of society and can be quite intelligent and even charming on occasion. His put-downs are also quite witty.
  • Villain Protagonist: Enforced, zigzagged and constantly explored. As hard as it is to not sympathize with BoJack's horrible past, his desire to be a good person, and his struggle (and usual failure) to reign in the more toxic parts of his personality, he's arguably one of the main driving forces for some of the most catastrophic events in the series. These events have resulted either from some sort of selfish desire on his part or are side effects of his obliviousness to his bad advice.
  • Was It Really Worth It?: At the end of season 1, BoJack looks back and realizes that despite gaining the role for Secretariat, not only is he still not happy, he has caused most of his relationships to crumble.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Even at his adult age, he can't stop wanting his parents to be proud of him. The 2nd season premiére reveals that he invited Beatrice to attend the taping of Horsin' Around 's pilot. When his father, and later his mother, died, he was saddened both times not because he actually loved them, but because it meant the slim hope that his parents would ever show kindness towards him died with them.
  • We Used to Be Friends: BoJack and Herb had a falling out after he was fired from Horsing Around and BoJack failed to support him. Years later, they meet again and it seems like they will bury the hatchet, only for BoJack to demand Herb in a passive way to forgive him. Things just escalated from there. Sadly, they never reconcile and Herb passes away hating BoJack.
  • What Have I Become?: His frequent opinions of himself and depression speaks volumes about his unhappiness in terms of lifestyle.
  • When He Smiles: At the conclusion of Season 4, as Hollyhock tells him that she doesn't need a dad... but she's never had a brother.
  • White-Dwarf Starlet: A rare male example; as of the start of the series BoJack hasn't really worked on anything of note in nearly 20 years. The only thing he's known for is a cheesy 90s sitcom that's gradually fading from the public memory and wasn't all that highly regarded even at its height, and his only other creative endeavour, The BoJack Horseman Show, was such a complete and utter flop that even he has pretty much forgotten about it. The first season follows his attempts to claw back the fame he's lost over the years through the book Diane is ghost-writing for him.
  • White Sheep: Calling BoJack this may sound weird, but considering that his grandmother Honey went mad with grief and was lobotomized as a result, his grandfather Joseph saw nothing wrong with this and was a pretty sexist guy with retrograde ideas that twisted Beatrice, his uncle Crackerjack was killed in the war, his mother Beatrice was raised to be a Baby Factory and rebelled by eloping with a hopeless dreamer like Butterscotch, only for both to end miserable due to her unplanned pregnancy with BoJack and failed dreams; BoJack is by comparison a guy with depression and narcissism. Not to say he’s completely functional, just slightly less screwed up. He shares this role with Hollyhock, who actually plays this straight as an arrow.
  • Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Whenever something good or helpful or someone with heavy empathy happens upon BoJack, his own problems, egocentrism or plain bad luck will cause that person to be alienated or the good luck streak to be undone. Several characters, and even BoJack himself, lampshade it on more than one occasion.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: He started as something akin to this in Hollywood, before he went off the deep end.
  • Worst Aid: In "Escape From L.A.", BoJack, acting as chaperone, decides to leave one of Penny's friends at the entrance of the hospital after suffering an alcohol poisoning, fearful of having to explain where the bourbon came from.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: His defining characteristic, as well as the reason he keeps screwing up his professional and personal lives, is his impression that real life operates on the same principals as a sitcom, with easily-resolved conflicts and zany schemes that actually work. He's been called out on this more than once.
  • You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In their first meeting, none other, Diane gives one such speech to BoJack regarding his work in Horsin' Around by comparing his career to Robert Reed from The Brady Bunch. Although BoJack being BoJack, the analogy backfires.
    Diane: Hey, do you know the story of the dad from The Brady Bunch?
    BoJack: Do I know his story? If I recall correctly, he was bringing up three boys of his own.
    Diane: Right, but—
    BoJack: They were four men living all together, but they were all alone. That is profoundly sad.
    Diane: No, the story is that the guy who played the dad hated being on The Brady Bunch because he was a real actor, and he considered it beneath him. Sound familiar?
    BoJack: That's not all that was beneath him. Gay joke. Sorry, I'm better than that.
    Diane: Most people don't even get to do The Brady Bunch version of the thing they want to do with their lives. You're actually in a really good position now, because you can pretty much do anything you want. You're responsible for your own happiness, you know?
    • In return, when Diane's family has driven her to breaking point, BoJack calms her down by giving her a letter from her pal "Leo".
      Diane: (reading) "Dear Diane, it's me, your old pen pal Leo. This definitely isn't BoJack Horseman writing this."
      BoJack: Keep reading.
      Diane: "You're a good person, Diane, and that's the most important thing. Even if no one appreciates you, it's important that you don't stop being good. I like how you always bring your own bags to the grocery store, and how you're always organized to go places. I like how you chew gum on the airplane so your ears will pop. A lot of people might not appreciate that about you, but I do. Yours forever, Leo." That's the best letter he ever wrote me.
    • And again in Season 3 after Sarah Lynn's funeral and BoJack's Despair Speech about being poison to everyone.
      Diane: When I was a kid, I used to watch you on TV. And you know I didn't have the best family. Things weren't that great for me. But, for half an hour every week, I got to watch this show about four people who had nobody, who came together and became a family. And, for half an hour every week, I had a home, and it helped me survive. BoJack, there are millions of people who are better off for having known you.
    • And he returns the favor by telling her what she's been trying to deny the whole season.
      BoJack: I know you don't want to hear this, but you're too good to be writing Instagram captions for celebrities. (Diane tries to make it seem a little more important than it is) I'm sorry, but you are. You know you are.
      Diane: Okay. Thank you.
      BoJack: And I wish you didn't get so distant after you moved out.
      Diane: I'm sorry.
      BoJack: You know me better than anybody, and you can't not be a part of my life.
  • You Can't Go Home Again: Once BoJack starts getting his act together after talking to Diane for his biography in Season 1, getting Secretariat's role in Season 2 and being nominated for an Oscar in Season 3, BoJack hasn't had as much time as in the early episodes to just slack off and wander around his house doing nothing, becoming less and less accustomed to it the more time passes. By the end of Season 3, when Horsin' Around and friends have stopped being part of his life, especially after Sarah's death, he returns to his home once more, now completely broken and messy, to find out he doesn't want to be there either and the effect it had on him of soothing his pain or distracting him from real problems no longer works. In other words: there are no more placebos to distract him from real life.
  • You Remind Me of X: He says to Penny, Charlotte's daughter, that she looks just like her mother.
  • Zany Scheme: Has one nearly Once per Episode. The reasons to put it in action vary, usually when BoJack tries to overstep or avoid a harsh fact of life, event or action to obtain a more comfortable reality. His determination towards these have proven to be pointless, since whenever they work, it's not in an intended way.

Alternative Title(s): Bojack Horseman The Horse Himself, Bojack Horseman The Horseman Himself

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