Arnold Shortman | Helga G. Pataki | Students of P.S. 118: Mr. Simmons' Class, Other Students | The Adults: Part One, Part Two | Other Kids
WARNING: There are plenty of unmarked spoilers throughout (spoilers from Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie WILL be marked as necessary), so read at your own risk.
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Older Children
Wolfgang
Wolfgang
"Well, well. If it isn't the Football Head."
Voiced by: Toran Caudell
The leader of the fifth graders and bullies the fourth graders around.
- '80s Hair: Sports a mullet.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Even though he is one of the largest and toughest kids in school, he's completely dwarfed by Torvald.
- Barbaric Bully: He's no stranger to using physical force on his weaker targets.
- The Bully: He's a much worse bully than Harold and Helga, and unlike them he is never given any depth or explanation for his behavior beyond just being a jerk.
- Genius Bruiser: He's surprisingly crafty, from devising plans for Trash Can Day to making sure Chocolate Boy doesn't eat chocolate for two weeks.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: He attends Arnold's Geek Party, and can be briefly seen from the chest down in the crowd during the sneak peek of The Jungle Movie. At the very least, he's developed a begrudging respect for Arnold.
- Hate Sink: Debuted around the same time that Helga and Harold started becoming more fleshed out, and he's a worse bully than both of them could ever hope to be, making it very easy to dislike him.
- Heel–Face Turn: Implied in The Jungle Movie as he was seen in the background cheering Arnold on.
- Hidden Depths: He mentions that he needs to take oboe lessons after school.
- Hypocritical Heartwarming: Subverted. In "New Bully on the Block", he starts taking up for the fourth graders once Ludwig enters the scene, claiming that they're his "fourth grade wussies". However, as he becomes genuine friends with Ludwig during the football game, they both turn on the fourth graders.
- Jerkass: One of the biggest jerks in the series. Practically all he ever does is pick on the fourth graders and any redeeming qualities he has are very scarce.
- Jerk Jock: His primary role is to be an unpleasant jock, especially "Longest Monday".
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed but there are moments where he can be nice to the other characters and sometimes even Arnold and his friends.
- Karma Houdini: Most of the time, he and his fifth graders succeed without punishment.
- Laser-Guided Karma: One of the few times he gets his karma is when Arnold's grandma sicced black cats at him as payback for messing with Arnold and Gerald in Friday The 13th.
- No Full Name Given: His last name is never revealed.
- Not So Above It All: He's very superstitious as shown in "Friday the 13th" and attended Arnold's Geek Party.
- Pet the Dog: He's among those in attendance of the video screening and cheering for Arnold when it's announced he's won the trip to San Lorenzo. He's also shown interacting positively with other characters at Arnold's geek party. He also was very welcoming to Phil when he went back to school for his elementary school degree after making a pretty good kick during kickball.
- The Rival: Acts this way towards Arnold and the other fourth graders when he isn't being a bully or ally of convenience. He's also rivals with Ludwig up until they become friends.
- Reformed Bully: Implied. In The Jungle Movie he is seen happily cheering for Arnold, suggesting he has gained some level of respect for him and has grown beyond bullying younger kids.
- Top-Heavy Guy: He has a large, muscular upper body and tiny legs.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Edmund. Wolfgang often yells at him and gets annoyed by his stupidity. Edmund on the other hand often rubs salt in the wound or snarks when Wolfgang loses in an episode.
- Vocal Evolution: The character was created in order to keep Toran Caudell (Arnold's first voice actor) on the show after his voice broke. Even as Wolfgang, his voice just kept dropping. Even in his first appearance, Wolfgang sounded a bit like an older Arnold.
- Would Hit a Girl: He and Ludwig beat up Helga (along with the other 4th graders) in "New Bully on the Block".
- Younger Than They Look: It's hard to imagine a real fifth grader having the appearance, voice, and mannerisms of a high school student.
Edmund
Edmund
Voiced by: Tim Wiley
Wolfgang's best friend/sidekick
- Bumbling Sidekick: He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he does have his moments.
- Butt-Monkey: He's more or less Wolfgang's plaything.
- Deadpan Snarker: Is prone to doing this at Wolfgang when the fifth graders lose.
- The Ditz: He's very dim-witted and ignorant for a fifth grader much to Wolfgang's annoyance.
- Dumb Blonde: He's dumb and has blond hair.
- Dumbass Has a Point: He questions Wolfgang's reason for wanting to attend Arnold's Geek Party. Wolfgang claims that they're so cool that even if he goes to an uncool party, they'll still be cool. Edmund buys this.
- Hidden Depths: The one exception to his Satellite Character status, he is seen (role-)playing The King Rules with Gerald in "Gerald's Game".
- Karma Houdini: Even when he actively helps Wolfgang prank Arnold and Gerald in "Friday the 13th", at the end of the episode the black cats completely ignore him in favor of solely scaring Wolfgang. To be fair though Edmund wasn't superstitious like Wolfgang.
- Never My Fault: He often places blame on Wolfgang when they lose against Arnold and his friends, even when he and the other fifth graders collectively lose.
- No Sympathy: He never seems to care when Wolfgang gets comeuppance.
- Simpleton Voice: He has a deep, dumb-sounding voice.
- Satellite Character: His interactions with Wolfgang are really all there is to him.
- Token Good Teammate: He's the only fifth grader who isn't a Jerkass — he's more stupid than intentionally mean. This usually doesn't prevent him from helping Wolfgang bully the others though.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Wolfgang often yells at Edmund and gets annoyed by his stupidity. Edmund on the other hand often rubs salt in the wound or snarks when Wolfgang loses in an episode.
- Youthful Freckles: He has freckles.
Ruth
Ruth P. McDougal
A sixth grader who is Arnold's first crush.
- Accidental Misnaming: Calls Arnold "Alfred".
- Back for the Finale: In the first season, she was just a generic love interest for Arnold, but as Arnold grew more of a personality and realizes that Ruth was duller than an old knife, she made a few background appearances before eventually fading out of the show without any explanation. She returns in The Jungle Movie, albeit as a Living Prop with no lines - in what seems to be a brief roundup of Arnold's past love interests, as she is shown immediately after Lila, who also has no lines.
- Distaff Counterpart: Probably one of the reasons why Arnold likes her so much is because she resembles a female version of him. They both have oblong-shaped heads, she wears a blue shirt with a red plaid skirt that mirrors Arnold's blue sweater and red plaid shirt.
- The Ditz: She thinks Arnold's secret note to her is from a famous poet, named Anonymous (not understanding that "Anonymous" is what people are referred to as if they choose not to or don't want to be named) and that Arnold is a waiter rather than her date.
- Everyone Has Standards: Arnold is partially drawn to her for her perceived kindness for giving up her seat to an elderly woman on the bus. Seems she might have just been feeling generous that day.
- It's All About Me: She seems interested in very little besides herself based on her dialogue in "Arnold's Valentine".
- Mysterious Middle Initial: We never find out what the "P" stands for.
- Pubescent Braces: Part-and-parcel with being a sixth grader.
- Satellite Love Interest: Her only role in the show is to be Arnold's crush early on. Effectively disappears after Arnold finds out that they have nothing in common.
- Ship Tease: With Sid, in at least two episodes ("Operation Ruthless" and "Hey Harold!") though unlike with Arnold she seems a bit annoyed with his advances.
- Sixth Ranger: She's been seen interacting with Maria and Connie once or twice, but doesn't appear to be a member of their Girl Posse. She's also seen with Helga and the other main girls in the opening, but never hangs out with any of them in the main show.
- Stealth Bye: At the end of "Love and Cheese" and in one of her last onscreen appearances, Ruth appears with a date walking along past Arnold and Lila, the former discussing if Lila really likes him. Probably due to realizing somehow that Arnold was a good guy, just not a good match, and seeing him off with someone probably more appropriate, she characteristically flashes a smile watching over the two as she passes by.
- Younger Than They Look: Despite being a sixth grader, she has visible breasts more like an eighth grader or a high school student.
Big Patty
Patricia "Patty"/"Big Patty" Smith
Voiced by: Danielle Judovits
An ill-tempered sixth grade girl who becomes one of Harold's friends.
- Always a Bigger Fish: Helga is absolutely terrified of Patty, despite being pretty tough herself.
- Brawn Hilda: She's big, plain-looking, speaks in a monotone voice and beats up anyone who crosses her.
- Big Ol' Unibrow: Like every third character in the series.
- The Bully: Subverted; Helga calla her one, but unlike Wolfgang, Harold, and Helga herself, Patty never goes out of her way to antagonize people, and only beats them up when they cross her first. Averted in "Helga vs. Patty", it seems like she's gonna beat up Helga. Instead, she assures Helga she won't actually do it, and instead applies makeup to make it look like she did it.
- Bullying a Dragon: She tends to be on the receiving end of this a lot with predictable results. You'd think that given her reputation people would leave her alone.
- The Dreaded: She's one of the toughest kids in school, and has been known to beat up students who cross her.
- Dull Surprise: She speaks softly and unsurprised all the time. Which contrasts Harold who is very dramatic and hammy.
- Early-Bird Cameo: She made her debut as a nameless character in "Ms. Perfect", being the accidental victim of Helga's mean-spirited pranks aimed at Lila. Helga got two ass-kickings from Patty for her troubles.
- Hidden Depths: Underneath that tough championship arm wrestler outer shell is a polite girl who volunteers at homeless shelters and knits.
- Huge Schoolgirl: She is easily the largest girl at P.S. 118.
- In-Series Nickname: Overlaps with Embarrassing Nickname. Most kids call her "Big Patty" even though, as Harold says, "Her name isn't Big Patty, it's Patty!" Once people get to know and respect her, they drop the "Big."
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She may be aggressive and violent but despite this she can also be nice and polite as long as no one messes with her.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: She is twice as tall as both of her parents, who appear to have dwarfism.
- No Guy Wants an Amazon: Played with. Sid and Stinky mock Patty because of her size, saying if they had to dance with someone like her, she'd probably crush them. But Harold, no small fry himself, likes Patty, not because he's an Amazon Chaser but because they have a genuine connection, one that leads to them spending all night just talking.
- Odd Friendship:
- She's Lila's first female friend at PS-118. One might not expect "Big Patty" and "Miss Perfect" to get along, but they both seem to enjoy eating lunch together and hanging out. Patty's also the only girl who's not initially jealous of her.
- She bonds with Rhonda in Polishing Rhonda when both of them are sent to a school that teaches them how to behave properly.
- Proper Lady: Shockingly yes, if she would stop beating kids up. Then again she apparently only goes after people who have provoked her.
- Secret-Keeper: Implied — In "Helga vs. Patty", she makes an offhanded comment about Helga seeming fond of Arnold. When Helga angrily denies it, Patty just smiles knowingly.
- Small Parent, Huge Child: Patty is much bigger than her parents, who both have dwarfism.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She is tough, but can be a Proper Lady as shown in "Polishing Rhonda". She also regularly wears a skirt and blue hair bow.
- True Blue Femininity: Generally wears blue clothing.
- Vocal Dissonance: Her voice is rather soft and gentle, considering her Brawn Hilda appearance.
The Sixth Grade Girls
Connie, Maria, Cookie and Simone
L-R: Simone, Cookie, Maria, Connie
A group of sixth grade Alpha Bitches.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Maria and Connie admit to this in regards to Tommy and Burt. They also befriended Phil when he joined their class, but only after he began acting like a teen rebel.
- Alpha Bitch: They are more than willing to take advantage of those lower on the totem pole than them, as Arnold, Gerald and Phoebe found out the hard way.
- Ambiguously Related: In "Best Man" Tish Wittenberg mentions her cousin Connie. Given that Tish and Connie both have blonde hair and somewhat similar faces, it's possible that both Connies are the same character.
- Bubblegum Popping: Cookie's defining, and only, characteristic.
- Girl Posse: Of the mean variety.
- Karma Houdini: They appear to not get comeuppance for using Phoebe in "Phoebe Skips", but Helga is implied to have gotten some off-screen payback on them.
- Lipstick Mark: Connie and Maria each give Gerald and Arnold a kiss on the cheek, intentionally prolonging it to ensure a lipstick mark is left.
- Manipulative Bitch: Taking advantage of others is their stock and trade.
- Sixth Ranger: Ruth has occasionally been seen with Maria and Connie.
- Smooch of Victory: To make it up to the boys for using them to make their boyfriends jealous and to thank them for taking to the dance, Connie and Maria give Gerald and Arnold a kiss on the cheek. They even go the extra mile by intentionally making sure their kisses left lipstick marks on the boys' cheeks.
- Spicy Latina: Maria barely avoids being a walking stereotype.
- Token Black: Cookie is the only black girl in the group.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Connie and Maria. In "6th Grade Girls", while they were using Arnold and Gerald to make their boyfriends jealous, they feel guilty about using them, genuinely liked them and let them down easy, even giving them both a kiss on the cheek. In "Phoebe Skips", they show no remorse for what they did to Phoebe.
- Vocal Evolution: Maria's accent is toned down in "Phoebe Skips".
- The Voiceless: Cookie doesn't talk nor does she have a credited voice actress.
- Younger Than They Look: Despite them being only eleven/twelve-year-olds, they can easily pass as high school students.
Younger Children
Chocolate Boy
Chocolate Boy
Voiced by: Jordan Warkol
A young boy with an unhealthy obsession with chocolate.
- Big Eater: As long as it's chocolate, he'll eat tons of it.
- Cerebus Retcon: Before his day in the limelight, Chocolate Boy was just a comic relief character obsessed with chocolate. In "Chocolate Boy", his chocolate addiction is potrayed as being similar to a junkie.
- G-Rated Drug: He's obsessed with chocolate like a crack addict. Until the end where he gets addicted to radishes.
- Hidden Depths:
- In his spotlight episode, he reveals the reason he's so addicted to chocolate is because he misses his nanny. His parents told him chocolate was bad for him, but his nanny secretly gave him some until she had to leave.
- Plus in "Oskar Can't Read?" he's shown to be able to read through an excerpt of A Tale of Two Cities with no trouble, even for someone seemingly in kindergarten.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: When Arnold tries to wean him off chocolate, one of the things he attempts to use is the healthier and similar substitute of carob... Chocolate Boy broke out in a huge rash from eating it.
- Off the Wagon: He seems to be cured of his chocolate addiction at the end of "Chocolate Boy", but Hey Arnold! The Movie, "April Fool's Day" and The Jungle Movie show us that he has relapsed.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Everyone calls him Chocolate Boy, even after he gives up chocolate. His real name is never revealed.
- Serious Business: His obsession with chocolate is so bad that it makes him do stupid things just to get some. He once went two weeks without eating any chocolate so he could win a ten-pound bag of the stuff. And he eats it all in one sitting, then dances like a monkey for malted milk balls. And in "Buses, Bikes, and Subways" he sneaks onto a field trip to the chocolate factory.
- The Pig-Pen: Often has chocolate stains all over him.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Just in case it isn't obvious, he's crazy about chocolate. It gets deconstructed in "Chocolate Boy", as despite his love for chocolate, eating too much of it can cause unhealthy side effects.
Timberly
Timberly Johanssen
Voiced by: Avriel Epps
Gerald's little sister.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: She is sometimes a pest to Gerald, especially in "Ransom" (where she stages the kidnapping of her stuffed toy to try and extort candy from her older brother) and "Chocolate Turtles" (where she eats all the chocolate turtles they were supposed to sell for the Campfire Lass scouts in one sitting because she thought Gerald said she could).
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Develops a crush on Arnold in "Timberly Love Arnold" because he allowed her to tag along with he and Gerald on a day out, and he showed her how to throw a Frisbee. She later developed a crush on Sid for similar reasons.
- Big Eater: She eats forty boxes of chocolate turtles in one sitting. Take that, Chocolate Boy!
- Black-Hole Belly: Eating forty boxes of chocolate turtles in one sitting makes no visible change to her waistline.
- Children Are Innocent: In spite of her unintentionally hindering Gerald and Arnold, she's a kind child.
- Cuteness Equals Forgiveness: No one could be mad at her for eating the chocolate turtles because she's a sweet naive little girl. Gerald decides to use this to make money.
- Diabolus ex Machina: She causes the dilemma of "Chocolate Turtles" by inexplicably eating all forty boxes of candy Gerald and Arnold had to sell in a matter of minutes. They even lampshade the impossibility of it. She insists she was very hungry.
- Hypocritical Humor: In "Ransom", she sobs that she only staged the kidnapping of her toy to get Gerald to play with her. When she find out Gerald only left a decoy ransom however, she is outraged at being cheated. She still wanted to fleece a huge sum of candy out of him via the trick.
- Improbable Hairstyle: Looks similar to Didi Pickles' hair, though smaller in the middle.
- Karma Houdini: She has twice gotten away with her misdeeds. The first time was in "Ransom" where she staged a theft of her favorite toy causing Gerald and Arnold to go around town questioning potential suspects. The second time was in "Chocolate Turtles" where she ate 40 boxes of chocolate turtles Gerald and Arnold planned to sell, then she ruined the replacements they baked by putting a bunch of salt in them. Both times she avoids consequences simply by crying.
- Nice Mean And In Between: Of her siblings, she's the Nice to Jamie O's Mean and Gerald's In-Between. She's mostly innocent and less likely to do anything questionable.
- Precocious Crush: She develops a crush on Arnold in "Timberly Loves Arnold" even though he's considerably older than her. She later develops one on Sid.
- Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: Never physically ages, but she was stated to be four years old in "Gerald Comes Over". In "Timberly Loves Arnold", she's in the first grade, meaning she'd have to be six or seven at that point. Every episode of the series (supposedly) takes place in the same year. It's possible that she was aged up so that her crush on Arnold would be less inappropriate.
Campfire Lass
The Campfire Lass
Voiced by: Francesca Marie Smith
A Scottish Red-haired girl who leads a group of Girl Scout knockoffs known as the "Campfire Lasses".
- Art Evolution: In earlier episodes she looks a few years younger and wears a lighter-colored tam-o'-shanter, however in "Chocolate Turtles" she now looks to be around Arnold and Gerald's age and has a darker hat.
- Boys Have Cooties: Averted with her. When she learned that Arnold and Gerald were interested in becoming fellow scout members (even though they were only pretending in order to get their candy turtles at a lower price), Campfire Lass was delighted, saying that it would be very interesting to have boys in a mostly girls scout group, even adding that the two can be campfire “lads”.
- Fake Scot: Invoked. Arnold and Gerald think she is one due to her over-the-top Scottish accent, though it isn't confirmed either way.
- Fiery Redhead: Double Subverted, she's normally very nice and even-tempered, but if you make her mad, she'll send the entire Campfire Lass squad to kick your ass, as Helga found out the hard way. She also didn't take too kindly to Arnold and Gerald pretending to join their Spear Counterpart group with the intent of using their chocolate turtle money for personal gain, though in that case she let them off with a scolding and simply took the money they owed her.
- Funny Foreigner: Her primary purpose on the show seems to be a form of comic relief who happens to have a Scottish accent.
- Mugged for Disguise: Done to her by Helga in "Helga Blabs it All". She gets her revenge at the end however.
- No Name Given: Her name is never revealed and to others she's only known as "the Campfire Lass".
- Redhead In Green: She's a redhead and the Campfire Lass uniforms are green.
- Scout-Out: The entire purpose of her group is to have a girl scout troop in the show.
- Vague Age: She is presumably younger than Arnold, but she is drawn as older looking in "Chocolate Turtles" compared to her previous appearances. She looks to be around the same age as Arnold there.
- Violent Glaswegian: As noted above, she and all of Campfire Lasses chased Helga offscreen in "Helga Blabs It All", likely with the intention of beating her up.
Big Gino
Big Gino
Voiced by: Cameron Van Hoy
P.S. 118's Loan Shark, whom Sid temporarily gets involved with.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: He wears a gray suit and he is in charge of what is essentially a kid mafia.
- Big, Thin, Short Trio: He's the short kid with two lackeys (a Fat and Skinny one) backing him up.
- Brooklyn Rage: Subverted. He has the accent, but he is rather affable and calm.
- The Dragon: To Gerald in "Gerald's Game".
- Faux Affably Evil: He seems affable at first. Until he asks Sid to give Arnold a swirlie for no reason other than to prove his loyalty. Sid refused, and he was the one to be on the receiving end of the swirlie instead.
- Hidden Depths: "Gerald's Game" shows us that he has a geeky side, being an avid player of "The King Rules".
- Ironic Nickname: Big Gino is quite small. All of his "henchmen" are bigger than him.
- Loan Shark: He loans candy to kids, but one should be careful when dealing with Big Gino unless you're absolutely sure you'll be able to pay him back, because he has eyes and ears everywhere, and he's not afraid to make things messy. Something Sid found out the hard way.
- Mister Big: Small of stature, commands "goons" who are bigger than him.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: His "real" name is never stated in the show.
- Oral Fixation: He is usually seen with a lollipop in hand or mouth.
- Pet the Dog: In "Gerald's Game" he loyally served Gerald throughout the game and constantly spoke highly of his skills.
- Vague Age: It is unknown how old he is or what grade he's in, but he looks to be around the same age as the fourth graders, give or take.
