Characters / Bottersnikes and Gumbles

The truly bizarre creatures from S. A. Wakefields' children's series Bottersnikes and Gumbles

Bottersnikes

Fat, lazy and cantankerous creatures that inhabit piles of rubbish thoughtlessly dumped in the Australian bush. They are the primary antagonists to the Gumbles, whom they capture and bully into doing whatever chores the 'Snikes can think of.

• Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: Bottersnikes will habitually disobey signs like "No Fishing", if it seems easy to do.
• Bizarre Australian Biology: And How. They shrink when wet, their ears turn red and get hot when they are angry (which is most of the time), their tails are like tufts of wire, they eat various forms of rubbish and occasionally get good ideas when hit over the head.
• Down in the Dumps: Their "natural" habitat, of the illegal off-in-the-wilderness variety.
• Fat Bastard: Slothful creatures with a preference for binge-eating and a generally sour disposition.
• Hidden Depths: Oddly enough, the Bottersnikes have a fondness for stories about animals - as long as the animal has a huge appetite and wins in the end, celebrating with a glutinous feast.
  • Bottersnikes in general are a bit more literate than you would expect from creatures so far from civilization. Presumably they read the newspapers and magazines that get dumped into their home.
• Lack of Empathy: 'Snikes might take no shortage of delight in the misfortunes of others, especially other 'Snikes, but they are rarely cruel for cruelty's sake. Instead, most of their mistreatment of the Gumbles comes from thoughtless selfishness.
• Lazy Bum: Bottersnikes are horrified at the prospect of work and will sleep for day or even weeks at a time.
• Made of Iron: 'Snikes are rarely more than inconvenienced by things like falling off cliffs or being poisoned by moldy birdseed. At least not moreso than a good nap can fix.
• The Generic Guy: Amps and Mudger, the only two named 'Snikes without any outstanding character traits.
• Wild Teen Party: G-rated, non-teen variety. The one time Bottersnikes get worked up and energetic is whenever The King declares that it is his birthday and demands a party. These can go on for up to three days, getting rowdier and rowdier until there is nothing left to throw.

The King

King of the Bottersnikes, largely because he's the most competent among them and can bully the others into line.

• The Ace: By 'Snike standards. He's the fattest, bossiest, meanest and most gluttonous among them - and the only one to consistently come up with clever plans. That actually work.
• Bad Boss: A demanding tyrant who rules with an iron fist. No one misses him when he seemingly dies during Summer. He repays the favor by pelting his band with pebbles once he's recovered.
• Catchphrase: "Sit on his head!" in a very Queen of Hearts--like fashion.
• Only Known By His Title
• Pet the Dog: He will issue praise and head-pats to subjects who manage to please him, usually Smiggles. That is, when he's not taking credit for their achievements.
• Put on a Bus: Spends most of Summer incapacitated after eating stale birdseed, triggering a Succession Crisis among his band.
• Verbal Tic: Whistling, as a result of swallowing a whistle at a birthday party.

Chank

Self-proclaimed smartest Bottersnike.

• Dragon Ascendant: In Summer, until Tinkingumble makes a fool of him.
• Too Clever by Half: Whenever he does have a good idea he'll inevitably ruin it by over-thinking.

Gubbo

Chanks' lackey and the 'Snike equivalent of a village idiot.

• Butt-Monkey: Usually mistreated by the other Snikes. His brief stint as king gets him absolutely no respect from the others and ends with him run up a flagpole and used as a forecasting device.
• Dumb Is Good: One of the less-malicious Bottersnikes. He still mistreats Chank first chance he gets.
• Hidden Depths: Wants to be Chief of a Fire Brigade. He thinks this means he'll get to light the fires. In the Australian summer.
• The Fool: Snikes aren't the brightest creatures in the world but even among them Gubbo is a standout.

Glob and Snorg

A pair of would-be rivals to Chank, Glob being particularly cunning while Snorg being the laziest of the Bottersnikes.

• Heavy Sleeper: Snorg. He's the only Bottersnike known to be capable of sleeping while standing up or while hanging upside-down by his tail.
• The Rival: To Chank. Glob moreso than Snorg, as he's just too lazy to bother.
• Smug Snake: Glob. The one time he's in charge he falls for a Gumbletrick and gets both him and Snorg thrown into a dam.
• Those Two Guys: Always appear together, usually working to undermine Chank.

Smiggles

The dreamer. His dreams become, not real exactly, but solid enough. Of course they disappear whenever he falls asleep to make room for the next one, which causes its own set of problems.

• Butt-Monkey: Being one of the more useful 'Snikes opens him up to all sorts of abuse and mistreatment from the others whenever they want something. Whenever he's dreamed something useful standard procedure is to hang him up by the tail to prevent his dream disappearing.
• Demoted to Extra: Only gets a passing mention in Summer.
• Reality Warper: The objects he dreams about become real, at least as long as he's awake.
• Required Secondary Powers: Smiggles actually has to know how what he's dreaming about works, otherwise it'll be little more than a prop.

Glag

The Bottersnike's resident artist and sculptor.

• Demoted to Extra: Doesn't have much to do in Summer.
• Giftedly Bad: His attempt at painting a direction sign leaves the other Bottersnikes unable to tell if they are coming or going.
• Hidden Depths: He can create a rather stylish and practical dwelling out of rubbish, when he has the motivation and materials.

The Weathersnike

A forecaster and one of the oldest and wisest Bottersnikes. He's usually right, which gets him a bit more respect then the average 'Snike.

• Agony of the Feet: His ultimate and underlying method of telling when rain is coming is the aching of his corns. Willigumble exploits this by befriending a local yabby.
• Grumpy Old Man: Is mentioned to be the oldest (and deafest) of the Bottersnikes. The others will usually blame him for bad weather and grumble whenever he makes a prediction for rain.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Has little horns growing on the top of his head, so he never has his head sat on.
• Only Sane Man: One of the only Bottersnikes to not get caught up in the various shenanigans the rest of the band gets up to.
• Parasol of Pain: Has an old umbrella that both protects him from the weather but can also be used to bludgeon some respect into the others.
• Put on a Bus: Doesn't make an appearance in Guard.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: To Chank during Summer.

Gumbles

Cheerful, good-natured creatures on friendly terms with most of the bush wildlife.

• Bizarre Australian Biology: Gumbles, as their name suggests, are curious creatures somewhere between a sack of flour and a lump of bread dough. They are squishy and malleable and can be squeezed and smeared into all sorts of shapes without hurting them like putty, although if squished down hard enough they can become stuck and cannot get back to their original shapes without help.
• Idiot Ball: Downplayed, but whenever the Gumbles "go giggly", get their curiosity piqued or are otherwise having enough fun to let their guard down is usually when the Bottersnikes can spring a trap on them.
• Nature Hero: In contrast to the Bottersnikes and their rubbish piles, Gumbles love the bush and go out of their way to protect it.
• Nice Guy: Polite and always happy to lend a hand.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: Despite being thrown around, smeared on walls and frequently stuffed into jam tins, none of the Gumbles are ever particularly hurt over the course of the books. They are even too squishy for predators to bother with.
• The Worm That Walks: On a couple of occasions the Gumbles have banded together to form a single much larger creature big enough to manhandle the Bottersnikes.

Tinkingumble

The Smart Guy and ideas-man among the Gumbles

• Idea Ding: His defining trait; a bright clear "tink" he makes whenever he has a good idea. It occasionally stops working, such as when Tink is under an iron roof, or intimidated by something like Fox.

Willigumble

The youngest of the Gumbles and the most naive of them.

• The Baby of the Bunch: The littlest, although not by much. This usually means he has the more outlandish ideas or gets left behind or overlooked by accident.

Happigumble, Merrigumble and Jolligumble

Three of the larger Gumbles who interchangeably act as leaders of a sort, usually making the final call when decisions need to be made.

• Closer to Earth: Often acting as the voice of reason among the Gumbles. Downplayed as most of the time the Gumbles aren't stupid - although when they are Happi, Merri and Jolli are usually going along with them.
• The Generic Guy: None of them have any real standout personality traits.

Tootingumble

A Gumble who makes an involuntary tooting sound whenever he, consciously or otherwise, detects danger.

• A Day in the Limelight: Gets a lot more pagetime in Trouble.

Fixingumble

A Gumble with a knack for machines, toolwork and building things.

• The Engineer: As close as the bush-dwelling Gumbles get to one, anyway.
• Mr. Fixit
• Remember the New Guy?: Only appears in Trouble, which is, not coincidentally, the only time the story comes close to anything mechanical that isn't rubbish.