A characters page for Fangface.
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The Gang — General Tropes
Tropes that apply to more than one of the lead characters.
- Big Guy, Little Guy: Fangs and Puggsy, much like their inspirations (see below), have this dynamic.
- Busman's Holiday: The first few episodes have the gang called specifically to help deal with a supernatural situation, suggesting that this is their job, or at least, something they're known for. But in most other episodes, they simply happen to be passing by, or getting lost while on vacation, and they are sucked into the events anyway.
- Catchphrase:
- Puggsy's "Ehh, shuddup!"
- Kim spoofs Velma's "Jinkies!" by saying "Willikers!" In extreme cases, she may even upgrade to a "Willikers and double Willikers!"
- Fangs/Fangface's catchphrase is similar to Joe E. Ross' character Gunther Toody from Car 54, Where Are You?: "Ooo! Ooo!"
- First-Name Basis: Biff, Kim, and Puggsy don't have last names. Baby Fangs takes it a step further.
- Free-Range Children: Given that they're supposed to be teenagers, it's a bit weird that we never see their parents anywhere, and they are regularly on vacations together. Gets even stranger in season 2 when they're entrusted with the care of an infant, whose parents also never appear.
- Kid Detective: They're supposed to be teenagers, and they drive around solving mysteries.
- Limited Wardrobe: The only times the gang appear outside their normal outfits are when they're in disguise or for occasional one-off moments. For example, in "Snow Job Jitters" they all appear wearing winter coats.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Puggsy and Fangs are pretty overtly modeled on Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall, comedians best known for appearing in the Bowery Boys films of the 1940s and '50s. Puggsy's name in particular is likely modeled on Muggs McGinnis, the name of Gorcey's character in the East Side Kids series (their previous gig before forming the Bowery Boys).
Fangface / Sherman "Fangs" Fangsworth
Voiced by: Frank Welker
The main character. A werewolf, whose two identities don't know of each other's existence. As Fangs, he's a lanky, cowardly dimwit. As Fangface, he's an exuberant and boisterous werewolf, and also still pretty stupid.
- Alternate Identity Amnesia: Fangs and Fangface don't share memories, and it seems Fangs doesn't even know that he even has lycanthropy.
- Amazon Chaser: In "Begone, You Amazon", Fangface claims that "big mean Amazon-lookin' types are my specialty" and has a G-Rated attraction to a few of them.
- Berserk Button : Whenever Fangface sees his reflection in a mirror, he goes crazy, howling as loud as he can, hopping around, spinning on the floor like Curly, and then charging at the bad guys. Can be useful in a fight, but when they're sneaking around or there are no bad guys around, this tendency usually makes things worse.
- Chekhov's Hobby : Despite Sherman Fangsworth being a cowardly nitwit and a fraidy cat, one of his hobbies is collecting dirt. Thanks to said hobby, he can analyze soil and accurately find the geographic source of it! Fangs also demonstrates other abilities that make him a bit like MacGuyver, making him the show's resident Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass.
- Cooldown Hug: Rubbing Faceface's foot is the only way to calm him down and get him to stop trying to eat Puggsy.
- Cordon Bleugh Chef: Fangs eats a lot of moldy pizza. When he finally decides to stop, he promises that... "From now on, it's nothing but donuts and ketchup!"
- And upon eating, he starts hallucinating on the spot!
- Dirty Coward: As Fangs, he will consistently run and hide in the face of danger.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Played for Laughs. When Fangface sees food, or hears a word that sounds even remotely like food (let us = lettuce), he stuffs Puggsy between two HUGE slices of bread, puts him in a stew pot, or (most of the time) simply gobbles up Puggsy in one gulp — though he never swallows, leaving Puggsy squirming around in his mouth.
- In the Blood: The opening narration informs us that lycanthropy runs in his family, only manifesting every four hundred years.
- Involuntary Shapeshifting: He has no control over his transformations, but he doesn't seem bothered by them (or even aware of them), and his friends see no ethical dilemma in deliberately provoking them.
- Magic Pants: Fangs' shirt, sneakers and pants disappear when he changes into Fangface, and re-appear when he changes back. Only his orange baseball cap is consistent.
- Now That's Using Your Teeth!: Fangface routinely uses his main fang to perform all manner of Cartoon Physics feats. He never actually opens up a can of tomato juice, but in "The Invisible Menace Mix-Up", he uses it to open a can of red paint, which looks similar enough.
- Transformation Sequence: Any time Fangs sees the moon or Fangface sees the sun. It's accompanied by a barrage of cartoony sound effects and spinning around like a tornado.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: He resembles a bipedal, anthropomorphic wolf with cartoony proportions and a single white fang dominating his mouth. The moon does not need to be full, or even actually the moon, to set off his transformation, and likewise, anything resembling the sun will change him back.
- Why Did It Have to Be Spiders?: Fangs is always a coward, but spiders or spider-like monsters scare him even more than most things.
- Verbal Tic: Fangface tends to snarl between words.
- With Friends Like These...: Fangface has the tendency to attack Puggsy right after his transformation for no reason. The rest of the gang then has to remind him that Puggs is his pal.Fangface: "Ooh, Ooh! I'm sorry, Puggs. I don't know what came over me."
- You Sexy Beast: A kid-friendly invocation in "The Goofy Gargoyle Goof-Up". Fangface is flirting with film star Raquel Taylor (who thinks he's a normal man in an impressive werewolf costume). When she gets kidnapped by the gargoyle, Fangface dejectedly assumes that "she likes gargoyles more than werewolves" and left him.
- Again in "A Toothy Shark Is No Lark", when Fangface — after saving a cruise ship from the Monster of the Week — is seen enjoying the gratitude of a gaggle of swim-suited beauties.
Puggsy
Voiced by: Bart Braverman
A short, grouchy teen with a thick Bowery accent. He finds Fangs annoying and Fangface terrifying. Despite his snarky attitude, however, he's as brave as the rest of them, and never needs any personal incentive to help people who need it.
- Brooklyn Rage: Technically the Bowery is actually in Manhattan, not Brooklyn, but Puggsy still fits the image of the short-tempered working class New Yorker.
- The Chew Toy: Almost literally. Fangface regularly attacks Puggsy for no clear reason, usually as his first response after his Transformation Sequence. It gets even worse in the second season, when Fangpuss joins in.
- When out of werewolf mode, Fangs himself becomes The Chew Toy, with Puggsy taking his revenge despite Fangs having no idea what he did or even where he is.
- Deadpan Snarker: His general attitude towards everyone else, especially Fangs.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Puggsy isn't half as smart as he thinks he is.
- Malaproper: Puggsy is constantly saying wrong, but similar-sounding, words, or else just making up gibberish combinations of syllables in an attempt at Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness — for instance, his favourite insult is "ignopotamus". The joke, of course, is that he's a Know-Nothing Know-It-All.
Biff
Voiced by: Jerry Dexter
Apparently the leader of the gang, Biff is a pretty boring guy.
- Distressed Dude: Biff and Kim are frequently kidnapped by the Monster of the Week, leaving Fangs and Puggsy to rescue them.
- Expy: Of Fred Jones, though ironically, Fred's voice actor instead voices Fangs.
- The Generic Guy: He... exists.
- Implied Love Interest: He and Kim are occasionally seen holding hands but that's all we know.
- The Smart Guy: Biff is regularly the one who comes up with a plan to thwart whatever trouble is afoot.
- The Stoic: He rarely reacts to things, and delivers most of his lines in an earnest deadpan.
Kim
Voiced by: Sue Blu
The only recurring female character.
- Composite Character / Expy: She has elements of both Velma and Daphne.
- Damsel in Distress: Biff and Kim are frequently kidnapped by the Monster of the Week, leaving Fangs and Puggsy to rescue them.
- Genius Ditz: She's supposed to be pretty smart, but her Keet line reads and Captain Obvious dialogue make her come across as this.
- Implied Love Interest: Biff and Kim are occasionally seen holding hands but that's all we know.
- Keet: Delivers most of her lines as if it's the most exciting and interesting news in the world.
- Mr. Exposition: Kim's main role seems to be this, sometimes bordering on Captain Obvious.
- The Smurfette Principle: The only girl of the main cast. Her involvement in the actual plot is usually pretty minimal.
Baby Fangs / Fangpuss
Voiced by: Frank Welker
A character added to the second season, Baby Fangs is Sherman's infant cousin, and also a werewolf (despite the opening narration informing us that lycanthropy only manifests in the Fangsworth family every four hundred years). For some reason, he's allowed to come on adventures with them.
- Brainy Baby: Seems to have a much better understanding of his own lycanthropy than Fangs himself does.
- Cousin Oliver: A pretty textbook example: Fangs' adorable baby cousin who is added to the cast in the second season. He's surprisingly unobtrusive, though, and basically just mirrors whatever Fangs/Fangface is doing.
- Identical Grandson: His design (in both human and werewolf form) is identical to that of Fangs/Fangface as a baby in the opening title sequence.
Villains and Monsters
The various antagonists that have featured on the show.
- Animal Assassin: Grueller's weapon of choice: "This snake will take care of those kids!"
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: "Evil Guider of the Giant Spider" involves a super-growth serum that creates a Giant Spider... and an even bigger Fangface, to whom the spider is regular-sized. He ends up using the serum to grow a jar to giant size and trapping the spider in it.
- Bald of Evil: Very common among incidental villains, particularly those of the Mad Scientist variety.
- Captain Ersatz: The Heap is a pretty blatant spoof of The Incredible Hulk.
- Dem Bones / Skull for a Head: In "A Scary Affair in the Skullman's Lair", it's ambiguous whether the Skullmen are skeletal all over their bodies or just on their faces.
- Dramatic Unmask: The master criminal The Scorpion turns out to really be... Mr. Collins!
- The Scooby-Doo version of this trope is also inverted in "A Toothy Shark Is No Lark", when the fish man Emperor Neptune disguises himself as a normal human.
- Just as often, this trope is averted. The masked villains of "A Time Machine Trip to the Pirate's Ship" and "The Stone-Cold Dragon of Gold" are just bad guys who happen to wear masks, and there's no big reveal about who they really are beneath the mask.
- Easily Thwarted Alien Invasion: The gang deliberately exploit this trope in "Westward Ho to the UFO!", tricking the aliens into thinking the Earth holds a disease that would wipe them out. This prompts them to abandon their invasion plans.
- Energy Beings: Dr. Cybron is creating these in "The Shocking Creature Feature" to do his bidding.
- Eyepatch of Power: The master thief Grueller in "A Creep From the Deep" has an eyepatch. He's also way more evil than the eponymous creep, an Aztec mummy that just wants his sacred treasure back.
- Fish People: Emperor Neptune, the villain of "A Toothy Shark is No Lark!", who claims to be the last of the Atlanteans.
- The title character in "The Creepy Goon From The Spooky Lagoon" is one of these too, and a pretty overt stand-in for that other lagoon monster. Mad Scientist Dr. Blackmire uses a brain-switching device to put Fangs' brain into the Goon's body. Unlike Neptune, however, the Goon is a Non-Malicious Monster.
- Flying Saucer: "Westward Ho to the UFO!"'s aliens travel in pretty classic saucers. There's also an extra-large mothership saucer.
- Ghostly Goals: The mummy in "A Creep From The Deep" just wants his sacred tablet back.
- Giant Spider: Naturally, "Evil Guider of the Giant Spider" features one, as well as an evil guy who is guiding it. Also see Insectoid Aliens below.
- Hollywood Voodoo: Surprisingly averted in "Who Do The Voodoo", where aside from the title of the episode, voodoo is never mentioned. There's plenty of magic in that episode, but it's not given any particular Haitian flavour, and the villain has more of an Classical Movie Vampire type vibe.
- Human Popsicle: In "The Space Monster Mishap", the monster is first found floating in ice out in space.
- The Igor: Dr. Cybron's lab assistant in "The Shocking Creature Feature" is named Igor, although he's not a hunchback at all, but a muscular bald man more in the vein of Tor Johnson. Most other Mad Scientist type villains will have an assistant to boss around, too.
- I Have Your Wife: Mad Scientist Dr. Cybron kidnaps Prof. Kunia and his daughter, and forces the professor to help him develop his energy ray, with his daughter as a hostage.
- Inescapable Net: Seem to be the preferred weapon of the ape-men in "The Great Ape Escape", in what might be an homage to Planet of the Apes (1968), but then again, nets are generally fairly common on this show.
- Insectoid Aliens: "Westward Ho to the UFO!" has an invasion of rather spider-like aliens, who cover the city in webbing.
- Inn of No Return: In "The Shocking Creature Feature", the gang are forced to spend the night in Dr. Cybron's Old, Dark House. During the night, Puggsy and Fangface are nearly flattened by a Death Trap in their bed.
- Invisibility: In "The Invisible Menace Mix-up", the Sky Ghost has a ray that can turn him, his clothes, his Dread Zeppelin, and even Mount Rushmore invisible.
- Island of Mystery: The aptly-named Misty Islands in "The Great Ape Escape", although Kim suggests that they should be called "The Scary Islands".
- In "A Toothy Shark is no Lark", Emperor Neptune makes his base on one of these, as does the evil magician of "Don't Abra When You Cadabra". In the latter case, the characters even lampshade this as possibly the scariest island they've ever been on.
- Killer Gorilla / Frazetta Man: A kingdom of evil ape-men feature in "The Great Ape Escape". They practice Human Sacrifice and live on an Island of Mystery.
- Lizard Folk: "The Sinister Plan of Lizard Man" features one as a villain. Why, exactly, Lizard Man looks the way he does is never explained.
- Mad Scientist: Most episodes will have one as a villain.
- Dr. Arnos in "A Heap of Trouble". He returns to the university campus at night to get revenge on his old colleagues for laughing at his experiments.
- In "The Shocking Creature Feature", there's the even more ridiculous Dr. Cybron, who lives in an Old, Dark House out in the swamp, making Energy Beings with his assistant, Igor.
- Dr. Lazarus Webb, the title character of "Evil Guider of the Giant Spider" creates a Giant Spider and... guides it, evilly.
- In "The Creepy Goon from the Spooky Lagoon", Dr. Blackmire plots to kidnap the local lagoon monster, swap its brain out for a more easily-suggestible one, and then force it to mine for gold.
- "Dinosaur Daze" has Professor Braniff, who has found a way to control the Tyrannosaurus rex for his own evil purposes.
- Magic Pants: The Heap wears nothing but a pair of tattered pants. When he transforms back into Dr. Arnos, he is suddenly wearing his regular shirt and labcoat, which are fully intact, and wearing a different pair of pants.
- In "Where's the Wolf That's The Werewolf?" the evil werewolf struts around wearing only a pair of pants, but when he turns back into his human form, the rest of his clothes reappear.
- Malevolent Masked Men: A lot of the one-off bad guys. More common in season 2, which leaned more on Phantom Thief type villains rather than Mad Scientist types.
- Mentor Mole:
- In "Dinosaur Daze", The Professor turns out to be a Mad Scientist!
- In "A Toothy Shark Is No Lark", Prof. Carson reveals himself to the audience as actually the fish man Emperor Neptune within the episode's first few minutes.
- Monster of the Week: Basically all of them. None of these characters ever return.
- Non-Malicious Monster: A lot of the monsters — namely, the Aztec mummy, the Tyrannosaurus rex, the Threatening Shark, the giant cobra, the Energy Beings, and others — aren't really evil, but simply dangerous forces of nature, made more dangerous by human greed. Even the properly evil monsters like the gargoyle will often be working for a human villain, pulling the strings.
- Mummy: "A Creep From the Deep" focuses on a water-logged Aztec mummy.
- Mystical India:
- Swami Zorak, the villain of "The Cuckoo Carnival Calamity" is a bearded hypnotist in a turban. Probably one of the only ethnic stereotypes the show ever had as a villain, and somewhat justified since he's, you know, a carnival performer, and might lean into the stereotype for showmanship.
- In "Don't Get Mean With the Cobra Queen", the titular character lives in palace with a very Indian style of architecture, although it seems to be located in the United States, and she herself is white.
- Obviously Evil: A lot of the villains. Dr. Lupiter is a particularly unsubtle example; the moment he shows up we know who the bad guy is.
- Our Gargoyles Rock: There's been a gargoyle lurking under the Hollywood Hills for a hundred years, waiting for a special incense to be burned so it will know that it's time to seek out a bride.
- Our Giants Are Bigger: Abdul, the villain of "The Defiant Casablanca Giant", is about fifteen feet tall.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: The werewolf in "Where's The Wolf That's The Werewolf" is more of a classic "wolf man" type than Fangface's Funny Animal design. He also can't talk in werewolf mode, and his transformation is triggered by a potion, rather than the moon's influence.
- Phantom Thief:
- Grueller, a globe-trotting criminal mastermind, in "A Creep From The Deep".
- The Sky Ghost, in "The Invisible Menace Mix-up". He drives around in a Dread Zeppelin stealing things with his Invisibility Ray.
- "Snow Job Jitters" features a villain called The Scorpion, who flies around in a scorpion-themed helicopter and has a lot of branded merch apparently.
- Prehistoric Monster: The Tyrannosaurus rex in "Dinosaur Daze" seems to be a relentless killing machine, although it's nonetheless a Non-Malicious Monster, and ends the episode still alive, shrunken to cat size, and under the care of Prof. Ito, who will now be able to study it in peace.
- The Renfield: Count Drako, of "Who Do the Voodoo", has a lot of Dracula-ish trappings (despite being an evil wizard, not a vampire), and the clearest of these is his henchman, Winslow.
- Snakes Are Sinister: "Don't Get Mean With the Cobra Queen". The giant cobra itself is portrayed as just an animal, but the Cobra Queen herself — a human woman with a snake motif — is pretty darn evil.
- The snake listed above under Animal Assassin is portrayed as dangerous but not really evil. Both snakes end up being sent to zoos, so whichever zoo got a hold of a kaiju-sized cobra must be very pleased with the publicity.
- Stephen Ulysses Perhero: Dr. Lazarus Webb, the title character of "Evil Guider of the Giant Spider!".
- Taken for Granite: "There Is Nothing Worse Than A Stony Curse" is about a Gorgeous Gorgon turning the world's scientists into statues so she can sell them to the highest bidder.
- Threatening Shark: The shark in "A Toothy Shark Is No Lark", though he's a Non-Malicious Monster, and the episode ends with his peaceful return to the sea.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: In "Who Do The Voodoo", evil wizard Count Drako turns into a "mist monster" and drains people's "spirits". Everything is restored to normal at the end, though.
Other supporting characters
Assorted other characters who have appeared in one-off episodes.
- Ace Pilot: Su Chang, a friend of the gang in "The Invisible Menace Mix-Up", is introduced flying her Cool Plane, the "Super Su", in an aerial stunt show.
- Africa Is a Country: In "The Shocking Creature Feature", Professor Kunia is referred to as being from Africa, but exactly where in Africa we never learn.
- Amazonian Beauty: In "Begone, You Amazon", the gang find a hidden village of Amazon warrior women, and help the rightful queen reclaim her throne from her wicked cousin. Fangs finds the Amazons intimidatingly attractive, while Fangface more confidently asserts his Amazon Chaser tendencies. In a family friendly way, of course.
- All Amazons Want Hercules: Fangface distracts an Amazon guard with shadow puppetry of a big muscular man.
- Herr Doktor: A particularly on-the-nose example in "The Space Monster Mishap" with Prof. Werner, a rocket scientist.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed:
- The two safari managers in "Where's The Wolf That's The Werewolf?" are pretty overt parodies of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.
- "The Goofy Gargoyle Goof-Up" is set mostly at a party thrown by Hollywood celebrity Raquel Taylor — who seems to be a cross between Raquel Welch and Elizabeth Taylor.
- "Don't Get Mean With The Cobra Queen" involves the wealthy heiress Gloria Vanderfeller, whose surname invokes the fabulously wealthy Vanderbilt and Rockefeller families.
- The Professor: Some episodes will have a resident kindly professor type around, often in contrast with a Mad Scientist.
- Scary Minority Suspect: In "Dinosaur Daze", we're introduced to a pair of scientists - Professors Ito and Braniff. There are a few scenes in which Ito (who is Japanese-American) is made to look very suspicious, but he turns out to be a good guy, and the actual villain is Braniff (who is white).
