Characters / Wayside

Characters from Nelvana's Wayside.

Students

Todd

Voiced by Michael Cera (pilot), Mark Rendall (series)

• Audience Surrogate: He's the nice and unassuming everyman that helps to ease the audience into an absurd setting.
• Butt-Monkey: He often just can't catch a break.
• Child Hater: Downplayed. He doesn't dislike the kindergarten children, but finds them needlessly annoying, loud and gross.
• Childish Tooth Gap: To better represent how innocent he is.
• Composite Character: Seems to be a composite of his character in the books and Sue from Sideways Arithmetic, being a new student who doesn't really understand how Wayside works.
• My Greatest Failure: Accidentally destroying some kindergarteners' toys at his old school. The sound of their crying still haunts him, which is why he hates taking a bus full of them every day.
• New Transfer Student: Left his previous school because of a mistake he wasn't able to get over.
• Nice Guy: He's a kind, caring boy who will help anyone out when needed.
• No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Todd is friendly with Maurecia, but not romantically attached. On the occasions she isn't actively pursing him, he tries to get her attention back.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: With Maurecia.
• Red Is Heroic: The redheaded lead of the series.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Again, with Maurecia. The one time he admits he feels a similar way about her is the one time no living person is around to hear it.

Maurecia

Voiced by Denise Oliver

• Abhorrent Admirer: To Todd, who considers her a good friend, but is put off by her constant aggressiveness and straightforwardness.
• Adaptational Badass: Kind of. The books claim she can beat up any other kid in the classroom, but this is more of an Informed Ability. Her animated namesake is an actual Action Girl from the get-go. Further illustrating the point, the children collectively defeat Mrs. Gorf in the original story, whereas the animation explains that Maurecia single-handedly took her down.
• Cardiovascular Love: Beams hearts all over the place when she's around Todd. Once, out of her ears. If he rejects her, they all break in two.
• Character Catchphrase: She has two: "Hi, Todd" and "Oh, Todd".
• Character Tic: Punching Todd to express her love for him.
• Cool Helmet: She's always wearing a very sporty looking skating helmet alongside other safety gear.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The pilot showed her as having red hair and a lighter complexion, and her name was pronounced a little differently.
• Magic Skirt: She's the most animated and action-oriented of the main characters, but her skirt never falters no matter how she's moving.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Downplayed, as she only has 6 brothers. It's still bigger than in the books, where she just has two brothers and a sister.
• Not Good with Rejection: Goes into Ocular Gushers when Todd's rejections get a little more explicitly clear.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: With Todd.
• Pink Means Feminine: Subverted; she's a tomboy, though pink is on her skates and helmet. Played straight most of the time in the flashbacks in "Mrs. Gorf", where her skirt and bow were pink.
• Punched Across the Room: How she shows affection to any love interest, including the mysterious knight.
• Rollerblade Good: She never moves anywhere without them.
• Smarter Than You Look: Sure, the honors class was a mess, but Maurecia was still smart enough to get into it, claiming she didn't even try that hard on the test required for it.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She's a fiery and often aggressive sports lover, but does have a sweet side, and she also wears a skirt and has her hair in a ponytail as well.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: Sports one that sticks outside of her helmet.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Mrs. Gorf transforming her friends and pet into fruit made her change from a Southern-accented goody two-shoes to a considerably tougher and more resourceful rollerskating action girl.
• Tsundere: She's Type B. She's sweet in general, even when she's punching out Todd.
• Wingding Eyes: Usually hearts when she's around Todd.

Myron

Voiced by Martin Villafana

• Adaptational Personality Change: According to "Mrs. Gorf", Myron was once the heroic and selfless boy he was in the book, but his fear of the substitute and instinct for self-preservation made him the selfish and cowardly person he is now.
• Batman Gambit: He pulls off a very cunning one in "Le Race", where he tricks Le Chef into handing him an effortless victory for the school by taking advantage of his Challenge Seeker tendencies by tricking him into carrying him to the top of the school on his back just by challenging him to do so, jumping off of his back and landing on the School's roof before he could.
• Blind Obedience: Adores Kidswatter's prestige and power with a passion, even in spite of their All Take and No Give-style relationship.
• Character Catchphrase: Vote for me!
• Drunk with Power: Part of the reason the other kids refuse to give him any authority is because they know exactly what he'll do the moment he gets it.
• Everyone Has Standards: Despite being determined to be class president even he refuses to become principal for the day in "Principles Of Principals".
• Fake Twin Gambit: In "Myron vs. Normy". Normy's the nice twin, so everyone likes him better by default.
• Fat Best Friend: He's this for Dana.
• Fat Idiot: And how!
  • It's sometimes Subverted though, as he's shown to be surprisingly clever at times, like his gambit in "Le Race" which ends up saving the school from the hands of Le Chef by tricking him into carrying him all the way to the top of the school then jumping off of him before he can even touch the top of the school.
• Irony: The one thing he can't remember—what a light switch is (never mind how it works)—is the reason he can't be the one thing he wants to be: the class president.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: He's still a goof-up, but less so when he's working for his hero, Principal Kidswatter.
• It's All About Me: His top priority is almost always getting elected class president.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sure, he's often self-centered and rude, but he has shown that he cares about his friends time and time again.
• Nice Guy: When he pretends to be his imaginary brother Normy, he is very kind and helpful towards his class.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Dana.
• Race Lift: His ethnicity was never stated in the books, but he was always illustrated as white (with the exception of Tim Heitz's illustrations), while here, he's African-American.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Holds big dreams of being class president, and often expects to be treated as though he already is it.
• Token Minority: Out of the main four kids, he's the only black one.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: He is good friends with Todd and Maurecia, but they both often get annoyed by his antics.

Dana

Voiced by Lisa Ng

• Character Catchphrase: "Enough with the fun!" This follows her Signature Laugh.
• Ditzy Genius: Goofy as all get-out, but likely the smartest in the class.
• Go-Getter Girl: Adores discipline and her academics, and falters at the implication that she might not be as smart or meticulous as she could be.
• Great Big Book of Everything: Keeps one around at all times to explain the rules and world of Wayside.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Myron.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Dana has 16 siblings in her family, some of which are her half-siblings.
• Rules Lawyer: She carries a copy of the rulebook everywhere and is more than happy to enforce it. Note that she's never (intentionally) obnoxious or mean about; she just likes rules that much.
• Signature Laugh: She has a giddy giggle.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: She wears glasses and is intelligent.

Stephen

Voiced by Terry McGurrin

• Adaptation Dye-Job: He had green hair in the books (though, with the black-and-white illustrations, you'd only know that by reading the text), but here he has reddish-orange hair.
• Break the Cutie: When he reads Kidswatter's message telling him not to lead the parade on School Spirit parade in "Be True to Your Elf". He gets better later on thanks to his friends.
• Companion Cube: He has Mr. Pumpkin, who is strangely sentient, though still needs Stephen to do his talking.
• Nightmare Fetishist: He's interested in the creepy and paranormal.

Joe

Voiced by Peter Oldring

• Eyes Out of Sight: His afro covers his eyes. In "Cabbage, My Boy", his siblings are revealed to have orange, curly, eye-covering hair as well, as shown in his models of them.
• Nature Lover: In "Joe n' Fro," he transforms his hair into a wildlife refuge for the animals displaced by Mr. Kidswatter's yard beautification project.

John

Voiced by Terry McGurrin

• Adaptational Nice Guy: He and Joe liked to tease Dana in the books, while here he's really good friends with her.
• Flanderization: In the books, he could originally only read when the text was upside down or he stood on his head, but that was fixed in his titular chapter. Here, he does EVERYTHING standing on his head, and apparently even his parents and sister do too given that the portrait of them he brings in in "Cabbage, My Boy" is just a picture of their legs in the air.

Leslie

Voiced by Lisa Ng

• Childish Tooth Gap
• Girlish Pigtails
• Magic Skirt: In "Extra-curricular Ridicular" when she walks upside down on stilts.
• Perpetual Frowner: Played with in that she often looks angry when she otherwise wouldn't be. It's probably an animation problem.
• Pink Means Feminine: Her blouse and bow are pink.
• Prehensile Hair: She can play the bongos with her pigtails.

Bebe

Voiced by Denise Oliver

• Artsy Beret: She's an artist and always wears a beret.
• Magic Skirt: As revealed when she stood on one hand on top of a bouncing ball in "Louis Gets Some Class".
• Token Minority: She's the only black girl in Mrs. Jewls' class.
• The Voiceless: In most instances, she communicates with her artwork. The one time she is heard talking on her own is in "Music Lessons", when she compliments Leslie's bongo playing.

Shari

Voiced by Lisa Ng

• Asleep in Class: Her whole schtick.
• Little Miss Badass: When she's out of school (and awake), she and her family spend time with each other by driving monster trucks, doing martial arts, skateboarding, and skydiving.
• Spell My Name With An S: "Sharie" in the books, "Shari" here.

Jenny

Voiced by Denise Oliver

• Action Girl: She's a daredevil.

Rondi

Voiced by Denise Oliver

• Perpetual Smiler: She usually has a big grin on her face.
• True Blue Femininity: She wears a blue dress.

Eric Fry

Voiced by Ricky Collins

• The Ace: He is the most athletic kid in school next to Maurecia.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: He's the thin member.
• Token Minority: He's the only black Eric.

Eric Ovens

Voiced by Peter Oldring

• Big, Thin, Short Trio: He's the big member.

Eric Bacon

Voiced by Terry McGurrin

• Big, Thin, Short Trio: He's the short member.
• I Just Want to Be Special: He sometimes strays from the other two Erics because he feels underappreciated compared to them.

Staff

Mrs. Jewls

Voiced by Kathy Najimy (pilot), Kathleen Laskey (series)

• Cloudcuckoolander: She's pretty eccentric, with plenty of strange rules and lessons.
• Graceful Ladies Like Purple: She wears purple pants and is a great acrobat and figure skater.
• Pink Means Feminine/Rose-Haired Sweetie: Her hair is hot pink, and she has a bubbly personality to match.

Louis

Voiced by Sergio Di Zio

• Adaptational Hairstyle Change: His facial hair is changed from a mustache of many colors like in the original books to a blue goatee.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: He has blue hair when the books described him as having a mustache of many colors.
• Blue Is Calm: He's very laid-back, and has a blue afro and goatee.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: In the pilot, his cap had the initials "WS" on it. This is never shown again in the rest of the show.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Kidswatter is practically helpless without him, as shown in "Louis Gets Some Class" when Kidswatter begs Louis to pass his final exam so he can rehire him.
• Mellow Fellow/Nice Guy: He's very friendly, helpful and relaxed. It's no wonder the kids all love him.
• Never Bareheaded: He always has his cap on.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's the most competent member of the faculty, and he often understands Todd better than Mrs. Jewls does.
• Totally Radical: Downplayed. He sounds like a Surfer Dude, though uses little slang at a time.
• You Don't Look Like You: While the designs of the characters in the books' illustrations varies between artists, he's always described in the text as having a multicolored mustache. This version of Louis has no mustache whatsoever, instead having blue hair and a blue goatee.

Principal Kidswatter

Voiced by Kedar Brown

• Accidental Misnaming: Is incapable of addressing anybody by their actual name. The one execption seems to be Louis, who he relies on pretty heavily.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Originally an intimidating Child Hater, here he's more eccentric and wacky. He also has a soft spot for Todd and Myron.
• Ascended Extra: His presence is considerably more pronounced in the series as opposed to the books, often getting his own A-and-B-stories.
• Bearded Baby: "Louis Gets Some Class" shows that he had his mustache since he was a child.
• Character Catchphrase: He usually starts his PA announcements with "Attention, students, attention."
• The Chew Toy: Suffers a lot of Amusing Injuries.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Even more so than Mrs. Jewls. He insistently refers to Todd by his address, for crying out loud!
• Comedic Underwear Exposure: In "Be True to Your Elf", this happens 3 times: the first two are in flashbacks of him being tormented by leprechauns, and the last time is when he gets pantsed by his supervisor, who looks like a leprechaun.
  • Also, in "Myth of Nick", one of the Nick flashbacks shows a younger Kidswatter splitting his pants while dancing.
• Funny Afro: Used to have one when he was younger.
• Goofy Print Underwear: He has been shown in both heart-print boxers and shamrock-print boxers.
• In-Series Nickname: Is often called "Mr. K" by Louis, and sometimes by one of the kids.
• Insistent Terminology: He calls doors "goozacks" and Todd by his address, 344 South Fairview.
• Is This Thing Still On?: He often forgets to turn off the PA system after his announcements.
• Manchild: The least mature member of the faculty.
• Prone to Tears: Usually Played for Laughs. The slightest inconvenience is almost guaranteed to make him bawl like a baby.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Regularly enjoys professional dancing and figure skating, and happens to be very competent at both.

Miss Mush

Voiced by Jayne Eastwood

• Big Fun: Fairly heavyset, and very easygoing.
• Foreign Queasine: Like you wouldn't believe. Her octopus stew, which would already be Foreign Queasine to a lot of people, doesn't even have any octopus in it, but wood chips.
• Funny Foreigner: From the mamaland!
• Reasonable Authority Figure: About as amiable as Louis in her interactions with the kids.
• You No Take Candle: She speaks in broken English.

Other Characters

Sammy

• Companion Cube: To Miss Mush.
• The Voiceless: Obviously, since he's dead.

Fluffy

• Canon Foreigner: Doesn't exist as Maurecia's pet in the original stories.
• Everyone Has Standards: He shows concern for Todd in "Principles Of Principals" when he finds out that he joined the principal for the day contest.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Mainly when he's jealous of Todd.
• Green-Eyed Monster: He's often jealous when Maurecia pays more attention to Todd.
• Informed Species: His long pointed snout makes him look more like a hedgehog than a porcupine.
• Ironic Name: He's a porcupine, which are well known for being one of the many opposites of the word he derives his name from due to their spikes.

Le Chef

Voiced by Peter Oldring

• Canon Foreigner
• French Jerk: He has a heavy French accent and has a sour and hostile demeanour and a lack of manners, as well as being unpleasant to his duck waiter.
• Non-Human Sidekick: His pet duck.
• The Rival: To Miss Mush. He's very hostile towards her and she returns the sentiment.
• Supreme Chef: He's great at his job, so this comes natural.

Mrs. Gorf

Voiced by Julie Lemieux

• Adaptational Job Change: In the first book, she was the original teacher for the class on the top floor. Here, she was just a substitute teacher while Mrs. Jewls was sick.
• Ambiguously Human: She has pointy ears, and a forked tongue, plus her magical powers, old age, conservative dress, and preference for dealing with children by turning them into apples invoke the timeless and classical image of child-eating witches.
• Secondary Color Nemesis: Wears a purple dress and stockings in two different shades of purple.
• Spared by the Adaptation: She's Eaten Alive in the book, but her post-apple fate is left ambiguous in the series.
• Starter Villain: True for the original book (as the first character introduced and subsequently done away with) and the series (chronologically, according to the Backstory Dana tells).

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