History Characters / HeyArnoldHelgaGPataki

** For most of the show, Helga snarks at Gerald like she does most of the kids, and is implied to see him as a rival for her attention. But in the Jungle Movie, she desperately [[SayMyName screams his name]] and saves him twice, showing that despite their animosity, she does care about him.

* VitriolicBestBuds: Type 1 with Phoebe; Helga is abrasive and domineering, while Phoebe [[ExtremeDoormat allows Helga to boss her around]]. The two have a close friendship despite this.

** Also done with Phoebe, since many episodes imply that Phoebe is more of a slave to Helga than a friend, but sometimes, such as the majority of episodes that Phoebe stars in, Helga will show that she really does care about Phoebe.

* CatchPhrase:
** "Football Head."
** "Criminy."
** "Bucko!"
** "One side, moron!"
** "Doy!"
** "How I despise him! And yet, I love him."

* ProgressivelyPrettier: For most of season 1 she is pretty ugly with an ape-like face, a thicker unibrow, a big nose, and a big overbite. From season 2 onwards her features are toned down and she gets cuter as a result.[[http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/heyarnold/images/1/10/Tumblr_oaxr1e2M091qfqa3so1_1280.png/revision/latest?cb=20160805022045 See for yourself]].

* OhCrap: Usually has this reaction in the form of a loud scream whenever she does something that will reveal her true feelings for Arnold.

* DirtyKid: There are ''many'' moments that show that Helga is horny for a nine-year-old child. In one of her poems, she proclaims that Arnold made her "girlhood tremble".

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/helga_7.jpg]]

[[caption-width-right:349:[[labelnote:Helga as she appears in ''The Jungle Movie'']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gallery_1469202606_helga.jpg[[/labelnote]]]]

* GenderConcealingVoice: In TheMovie, Helga secretly helps Arnold under the identity of "Deep Voice", using a voice distorter to make her voice sound like a man's.

* NiceMeanAndInBetween: Of the main trio, she's the Mean to Arnold's Nice and Gerald's In-Between. She's TheBully and the most cynical of the trio.

* StalkerWithACrush: To Arnold. She has a shrine, a statue made out of his chewed bubblegum, and has written several books of poetry dedicated to him. She also carries around a heart-shaped locket with his picture in it.

* FourTemperamentEnsemble: The Choleric. She's very ill-tempered and often takes a hands-on approach to things.

* DirtyKid: There are ''many'' moments that show that Helga is horny for a nine-year-old child.

* TheyDo: WordOfGod says Helga and Arnold eventually get married as adults.

** "Pataki" is a Hungarian surname that means [[http://www.surnames.behindthename.com/name/pataki "creek, brook",]] originally given to people who lived near creeks.

** Mostly averted (such as the instances of SlapstickKnowsNoGender), but played straight in "Girl Trouble". She pushes Arnold to the point where he snaps and throws paint on her. Arnold is given detention, yet Helga receives no punishment whatsoever.

* SlapstickKnowsNoGender: She has fallen victim to comedic injuries and misfortunes pretty often, from getting crapped on by flying birds to getting into a bumper car accident to suffering two beatings from Big Patty in the same episode. Half of her slapstick moments are [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] in "Helga on the Couch".

* PassionateSportsGirl: Befitting her tomboyishness, Helga really likes sports and appears to take them pretty seriously. She's regularly shown playing baseball and football, and at one point she assumes the role of coach (a rather aggressive one) towards the other kids when they wind up having to play a football game against the 5th graders. Additionally, she mentions in "Road Trip" that Miriam constantly forgets to pick her up from soccer practice, and she's an avid wrestling fan.

* PassionateSportsGirl: Befitting her tomboyishness, Helga really likes sports and appears to take them seriously. She's regularly shown playing baseball and football, and at one point she assumes the role of coach (a rather aggressive one) towards the other kids when they wind up having to play a football game against the 5th graders. She mentions in "Road Trip" that Miriam constantly forgets to pick her up from soccer practice, and she's also an avid wrestling fan.

* NoMoreLies: In the episode '''"The Big Scoop,"''' Arnold and Helga argue about how to run the school newspaper. Helga wants to tabloidize it and run big juicy stories that run deeper than the truth, while Arnold wants to stick to the facts and tell the truth. Helga eventually left with her best friend Phoebe to make her own newspaper. Helga finds success in her newspaper by posting fake stories and half-truth stories, while Arnold struggles to compete with her by just posting the truth. Helga is shown to be willing to steal Arnold's stories and add lies to them. Eventually, Arnold and his best friend Gerald heard that Helga planned to post a story that said the school would be torn down and an amusement park would be built in the school place. Arnold and Gerald investigated and asked Principal Warts, who revealed that while the school was going to be torn down because walls were going down, no amusement park was going to be built in its place. Walls would be torn down because they would add to the school, building more classrooms. After getting a quote that confirms Principal Wart's story, Arnold and Gerald posted the story, and when Helga tried to post her version of the story, their classmates angrily said that's not with Arnold's stories said, and with Principal Wart's confirmation no one believed Helga story. And when Arnold tells Helga that no one believes anything in her paper, she tries to save face by telling more gossip and reducing her paper's price, only for her classmates to say no more lies. When Helga asks why everyone is so upset, she wants to tell good juicy stories that delve deeper than the truth; Arnold answers that she pushed the truth too far. Helga closes down her paper and rejoins Arnold's paper, reporting the weather.

* PoisonousFriend:
** Though she often means well in situations where she is made to help others, her idea of the right way to do something is a little... skewed to say the least. In episodes where she gives advice or puts down a plan of action, chances are that plan will be harsh, immoral, and ultimately not helpful. She lampshades it in "Deconstructing Arnold" while explaining to Arnold why he is the right person to give advice and she... isn't.
-->'''Helga''': ''[cheerfully]'' Look at me! [[AdviceBackfire I'm terrible at helping others]]. I'm the worst! [[BlatantLies I have no moral conscience whatsoever]].
** She sometimes treats Phoebe unfairly, occasionally manipulating her to do dishonest things.