Foil / BoJack Horseman

BoJack Horseman

Foil in this series.

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• The group complements each other in divergence of personality, actions and flaws. It's expanded further in their personal pages but, as an appetizer:
  • For starters, there's BoJack Horseman and Mr. Peanutbutter being this to each other and about their influence on Diane's outlook, as detailed in their respective pages under Opposed Mentors and Opposing Combat Philosophies. It can be resumed as BoJack's Cynic vs. Mr. Peanutbutter's Wide-Eyed Idealist.
  • In terms of same gender and faced difficulties, Diane Nguyen and Princess Carolyn are not too dissimilar. Both have trouble starting in a society structured with little space for individuals, especially if they're women; both are unhappy with certain decisions in their lives. The key difference is that while Princess Carolyn's older and more experienced with handling these ventures, bordering in being The Chessmaster, Diane is a Fish out of Water whose quiet nature and sense of morality are no match for Hollywoo's resources, since she's more of an Ineffectual Loner.
  • Diane Nguyen and BoJack Horseman are quite similar, except where it matters: exactly how do they react to what they perceive as unfair? Diane's response is to make a stand For Great Justice, not always for the right choice but as an attempt, while BoJack's is indifference because he has Stopped Caring.
• BoJack Horseman and Mr. Peanutbutter are both stars that peaked in The '90s and as such, they're very much the same, but Mr. Peanutbutter chooses to occupy himself in every project he can get his hand on, while BoJack has absolutely no desire or energy except for things he truly cares about.
• Both Princess Carolyn and BoJack Horseman are unhappy about their love lives and try to fill the void in different ways. Princess Carolyn has her job and can focus her energy into something productive, while BoJack just wallows in self-pity.
• Diane Nguyen's biggest foil is BoJack himself. She zigzags between this and to be almost the Distaff Counterpart of him at times. He and Diane are pretty similar: Terrible childhoods, intellectual, quite cynical and Determined Defeatist attitude. Diane, cynicism aside, still believes in ideals and a better world, although not as dedicated as she used to be. BoJack has Stopped Caring and has a huge case of Bystander Syndrome.
• While both are slackers, Todd Chavez's somewhat comfortable with who he is and can still make his own thing, while BoJack Horseman loathes himself for not being productive in any sense and staying indoors, regardless of whatever he's doing outside.
• BoJack Horseman to Secretariat himself in a Spiritual Successor way. Both came from really shitty conditions to become famous superstars in horse racing and acting, respectively. Like Secretariat, BoJack has done a lot of sacrifices for his career, including leaving a loved one out to dry: in Secretariat's case, getting his brother Jeff drafted to 'Nam in his place; BoJack's, selling out his mentor Herb for a chance at playing Secretariat, and both are constantly haunted and feeling incomplete about their lives. The only difference is that while Secretariat allowed his fears and failures to consume him, BoJack has constantly bounced and learned from his while continuing walking in an uncertain road.
• BoJack Horseman to HANK HIPPOPOPALOUS of all people. Both are quite beloved figures from The '90s due to their respective shows and just as well both have an underlying dark side that can be cruel. Unlike Hank, BoJack's bad actions aren't done intentionally and are often the result of coping or just plain misguided good intentions and when putting his mind to it, he can do genuine good things with nothing to be expected in return.
• BoJack Horseman to his mentor, Herb Kazzaz. Both went into stardom in The '90s, working together on Horsin' Around and achieving notoriety. BoJack failed (in a way) to support Herb when he was blacklisted from Hollywood to achieve his dream project of playing Secretariat. Herb went to better things like charities, staying in touch with several people and generally living his life. BoJack has remained stuck in his past and has done nothing of importance besides H.A.. (at least in the beginning of the series).
• Princess Carolyn is an Older and Wiser version of who Diane Nguyen could become if she sinks into a job as a form of self-satisfaction without any sense of life outside of it. Especially notable in that while Diane is married and has no desire to have any children only to get pregnant and decide to terminate it, Princess Carolyn finds it increasingly difficult to hold out any hope of finding someone and starting a family. Lampshaded to hell and back in "Brrap Brrap Pew Pew" when Diane gets an abortion and accidentally tweets about it as if it was her client Sextina Aquafina who had done it: as their conflict draws to a confrontation, Princess Carolyn mentions how Diane's stand against her and Sextina's Fake Pregnancy scheme is kind of hypocritical given how she seemed okay as long as it was the way she wanted it to be and sarcastically responds how bad it is she's still able to have children and able to live outside of this kind of work.
• Mr. Peanutbutter is Diane Nguyen exact foil. Diane, being sour and pessimistic in a real down-to-earth way, is at odds with her husband with his happy-go-lucky attitude, soaring ambition and blindness to shortcomings. As their characters develop, their previous amiable marriage starts to crumble as their differences become more and more overt.
• Like Charlotte Moore-Carson, Diane Nguyen is also gentle, caring, a bit on the cynical side and can be resourceful on her own. The main difference is that Diane ultimately has the same ambition and underlying darkness as BoJack, choosing to stay in Hollywoo while trying to maintain her integrity. Charlotte, however, knows the score especially with having no business in L.A. and prefers the countryside without any major worries or grand dreams to hang on to. To say nothing of the most obvious parallel: their status for BoJack for The One That Got Away with Diane being in the middle of BoJack's relationship with women along Princess Carolyn.
• Beatrice Horseman to the rest of the matriarchs of the main characters.
  • To her mother Honey Sugarman. Both were raised during a time where women were expected to look nice, be supportive and not show any emotions, leading them to crumble under pressure when they were unable to handle the Emotion Suppression without any support. The key difference is in the details: Honey lost it because her son CrackerJack died and that made her put Beatrice in peril just to be free of such burdens; Beatrice had a more detailed list of grievances, two of them chief: Honey's subsequent lobotomy and her brother's death, who she wasn't allowed to grieve properly due to seeing the end result. She also kept BoJack at arm's length emotionally, creating a twisted love-hate relationship between them that would haunt both of them for the rest of their lives.
  • Ma Nguyen is her precise foil. Horrible mothers abound in the series, but these two are the most prominent because of their connection to two of the main characters. Both decided a long time ago to punish their offspring for their lives for slightly different reasons: Beatrice had mixed feelings for BoJack — not love per se, but something resembling maternal instinct. Because of her bitterness at life, inability to say "I fucked up" and memories of her mother being done in by her love to her brother (which BoJack resembled somewhat), she never came to love him oscillating between apathy and abuse. Neither she or Butterscotch would join during their abuse of their son, doing it separately. Ma Nguyen would prefer others do the abuse for her: Diane's brothers (and father) would often be happy to oblige, during which Ma would sit back, watch and do nothing, expecting her daughter to accept it and move on. Whenever she'd complain, Ma's response would be "It's your fault", "When have you ever done something for us?" or simply "You're secretly ashamed of us, aren't you?" implying a resentment to women who could achieve independence from the typical woman role, something Beatrice could surely sympathize with, even if she decided for a different approach with Henrietta. Ma Nguyen never truly hit or bossed Diane but her calm acceptance of the abuse and non-intervention made it just as complicit, even if she'd prefer to frame it otherwise. Beatrice at least wouldn't deny it completely.
  • Superficially, she's got a lot in common with Mother Carolyn, both being drunk matriarchs with not one ounce of concern for their children and being pretty much responsible for their screwed up psyches. Unlike MC, Beatrice never sunk to levels in which she couldn't function being a Functional Addict, even if she never worked like MC since she was a housewife; there's also the fact MC acted out with neglect, Beatrice, on the other hand, paid attention to her kid by emotional abuse.
  • Mama Peanutbutter would like to meddle in too. For introverted foils, look no further than an analysis of their parenting: MP very methodically expresses positive emotions and thoughts while suppressing all kinds of negative ones; Beatrice was better and worse equipped at the same time: she was honest about her feelings, problem was most of her happiness had died at that point and such she could only express herself through harm and emotional drain.
  • In some sense, she's this to her son, BoJack Horseman, as both are bitter, alcoholic, and the victim of some circumstances, however, she never admits her part any of those circumstances nor did she try to rise above them, while the latter learns to (eventually) and spends much of the series trying to be a good person.
• In season 4, Butterscotch Horseman to his son BoJack Horseman. Butterscotch and his son share several quirks and attitudes, but in season 4, it can be seen that, through the time, Butterscotch only got worse, more bitter about his married life and a kid only made him worse, with his affair resulting in a kid being something he is shameful of. To BoJack, Hollyhock as his unplanned daughter causes a large advancement for him personally, leading him to become better and reject doing things his father would probably do in the same situation.
• By a generation division, Butterscotch Horseman, and Mort Creamerman are connected by their personalities: harsh, spiteful, conservative and dismissive of their sons' ideas. One hails from a high-class background and industrialized wealth, the other comes from skid rows and working class parents and both of their sons are shown eventually being proven right and move to better things while they decay slowly due to their bitterness and stubborn cling to their ways.
• Hollyhock to both BoJack and Beatrice Horseman. Unlike them, she was raised outside of the family, and although she shows signs of depression, she holds no resentment or bitterness. She was raised by loving and supportive parents different from them and shows how good a family can influence a child's life.
• Hollyhock to Penny Carson. Penny was innocent, mature and knew when to call people on their bullshit but she was also quite impulsive and her desire to appear grown-up and independent led to impulsive paths, a clumsy attempt to lose her virginity and morally questionable decision-making. She was also a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and trusted BoJack. Hollyhock is a bit more childish in tastes but has a strong grasp on morality, knows better about the situation she's getting herself into, can be self-sufficient and is smart enough to not do anything on impulse or emotional burst: in other words, she's as mature as she seems. She also is a Nice Girl and doesn't completely trust BoJack.
• Hollyhock's Dads to Beatrice and Butterscotch Horseman. The Horseman couple only married because the former got pregnant out of wedlock and they grew to hate one another and take their anger and frustrations out on BoJack throughout his life, which is the main reason why he's so screwed up in the present; Hollyhock's dads are shown to have a healthy relationship with one another despite their wildly differing personalities and species, and gave Hollyhock all the love and care she wanted, which resulted in her growing up to be more emotionally stable than BoJack (though she still has most of the same self-hatred he has).
• Honey Sugarman to Eddie the dragonfly. Both characters take the death of a loved one extremely hard (even sharing a simultaneous Grief Song), but their respective breakdowns have different motivations. When Beatrice was trying to drive herself and her drunk mother home, Honey cried out that she "wanted to feel alive again" and stomped on the gas pedal, causing them to crash. Eddie tries to kill BoJack after being tricked into flying again, but after BoJack saves him from drowning, he starts crying that he doesn't want to live.
• CrackerJack Sugarman to Jeffretariat through a generational distance. Like Jeff, CrackerJack was the brother of one of the pivotal influences in BoJack himself during his childhood (Jeff being his hero Secretariat's brother, CrackerJack his mother Beatrice's), was drafted for a war (WWII and 'Nam, respectively) and their deaths cause their siblings' situation in life go From Bad to Worse. There's tragedy in both cases, albeit diverging: Jeff is essentially forced into service in Secretariat's place and CrackerJack, like many kids his age, doesn't realize the full extent of what he's signing for.
• CrackerJack Sugarman to BoJack's (possibly) unnamed paternal uncle. They're (apparently) from different sides of the family tree, both are the main character's uncles from mother and father's side and they both are (implied in the case of this uncle) nice guys in screwed up families. The main difference lies in the details: CrackerJack never got to meet BoJack since he died in World War II but it's implied he would have been a genuine Cool Uncle for BoJack if he had lived to meet and interact with him.
• Unnamed Uncle to CrackerJack Sugarman. They're (apparently) from different sides of the family tree, both are the main character's uncles from mother and father's side and they both are (implied in the case of this uncle) nice guys in screwed up families. The main difference lies in the details: CrackerJack never got to meet BoJack since he died in World War II but it's implied he would have been a genuine Cool Uncle for BoJack if he had, this guy lived to meet and interact with him. CrackerJack was the epitome of the American golden boy and implied to have old fashioned values regarding modesty, probably refusing to be the one to show BoJack sexual imagery; this guy was an avid pervert and regularly showed his nephew skin mags as a way of bonding which BoJack remembers fondly.
• Stefani Stilton to Diane Nguyen herself. Both are involved in feminism (sort of), both have strong beliefs (which they're willing to sacrifice for fame), but different mindsets (Diane genuinely believes her drive to support women comes from a genuine passion and desire for change while Stefani is cynical enough to know it's just another demographic to exploit and its importance is just based on how important it makes them feel). Furthermore, Stefani is an embodiment of what some could call corporate feminism, in that she supports the amoral Jessica Biel for Governor of California, only under the grounds that she can write about a female governor alongside gassing cockroach workers that tried to unionize. Meanwhile, Diane is thrown against numerous issues women face physically and emotionally, especially with the intersection of their class and race.
• Sarah-Lynn and BoJack Horseman have a lot of similarities; both of them are famously washed-up TV actors who starred on the same old sitcom; pretended to be wholesome people on-set, but actually lived very miserable personal lives; and who indulged in heavy amounts of sex, drugs, partying, and boorish behavior in order to cope with their depression, loneliness, and self-loathing.
• Angela Diaz to BoJack Horseman. She's basically what had he could have been if he stopped caring about trying to be good and just. Incredibly rich and successful but completely friendless and ultimately miserable.
• Kelsey Jannings to Pinky Penguin. Kelsey and Pinky are competent, reliable to do as they're told and are breathing Butt Monkeys whose lives worsen during the series' run. The main difference is their personalities: Pinky is a Nervous Wreck who's bad luck has taken a toll in his sanity and confidence, always devolving into a blubbering mess when things go wrong; Kelsey suffers just as much, but prefers to hide it and try to keep a calm façade, even if she still has a tendency to have a fury meltdown when reaching her breaking point.
• Abe D'Catfish to Kelsey Jannings. Kelsey is slender woman who wanted to makes an artistic merit from Secretariat and while she is at first mean to BoJack, they come to be friendly to one another; Abe is a fat man only wants to make the biopic for fun and profit and comes off as an affable person before showing his more bastard side after BoJack insulted his work.
• Flip McVicker serves as one for both Herb Kazzaz and Kelsey Jannings. While Herb and Kelsey were nice and kind to BoJack and rest of the cast and crew of their projects, Flip disregards him and others and is extremely selfish.
• Stewart as a contrasting replacement to Lora. Lora, while usually teetering between balance and collapse, was a reliable companion and trusting friend to Princess Carolyn, who appreciated her in return. Stewart, however, is just a simple worker with far less skill, disrespectful towards his employer and a bit more willing to nudge her when he can get away with it. No wonder Princess Carolyn barely tolerates him.
• Vanessa Gekko to Princess Carolyn. Both are top-notch female agents, morally ambiguous and prone to kicking as many puppies as they have to to achieve their goals, but Gekko manages to have a career, a healthy marriage and kids, something Princess Carolyn has never done. In addition to their opposing positions and philosophies, PC will loyally fight tooth and nail for her clients even if they're no longer hers or are a disadvantage. Gekko will remain a loyal friend up until you're no longer a profitable client of hers, in which case she'll be just as happy stabbing you in the back.
• Vanessa Gekko to Rutabaga Rabitowitz , as well. Both are now enemies of Princess Carolyn, have a rather twisted moral compass and are basically Evil Counterparts of her. While Gekko represents Carolyn if she had an actual life outside her work and was therefore more pragmatic and less sympathetic towards her clients, Rutabaga shows how Princess Carolyn would be if she didn't take anything seriously even at the cost of others' feelings. Needless to say, these two end up making a great team.
• Being a horse, it's natural that Dr. Champ would be one for BoJack Horseman. While BoJack is irritable, antisocial and unable to maintain any close relationships, Dr Champ is calm, outgoing and married. Deconstructed after Dr Champ develops a drinking problem, as unlike BoJack who is so accustomed to screwing up while drunk that he can always try to do better next time, Dr Champ feels like he's failed after one day of being drunk.
• Dr. Champ to BoJack's father, Butterscotch Horseman. Another horse with a drinking problem, but one who actually tries to stay sober for the sake of his spouse and child. Dr. Champ even Lampshades it:
  Dr. Champ: I remind you of your father so you simultaneously resent me and crave my approval.
• Woodchuck Coodchuck-Berkowitz to Mr. Peanutbutter. Both are running for California Governor, but couldn't be more different. Mr. Peanutbutter is an excitable celebrity who only decided to go into politics because he thought he'd be good at it and win because everyone likes him, his main method is Bread and Circuses, but he is ignorant over how to be a politician. Chuck is a stoic current Governor who has been one for many years and wants to still be one because he understands the current issues of the state, his main method is Boring, but Practical, and unlike Mr. Peanutbutter, Chuck is very smart when it comes to politics.
• Eddie to Honey Sugarman. Both characters have a mental breakdown (and even a simultaneous musical number) due to the loss of a loved one, but they react to their grief in different ways. While Honey caused her car to crash with her (and Beatrice) in it in an attempt to "feel alive again" after her son's death, Eddie attempted to kill himself (and BoJack) specifically because he didn't want to live after his wife's death.
• Eddie to BoJack Horseman. Like the horse, Eddie is struggling day to day to keep going even when he's reluctant to let go of the past; this made complicated by both guilty parties' roles in their own personal hell: encouraging others to partake in their excesses only for their loved ones to die because of it. An interesting example, since it's Eddie's exposure to BoJack makes the latter realize how meaningless and self-destructive it is to wallow in pity longer than it's needed, but it never does the same for Eddie who remains somewhat the same from beginning to end.
• Guy to Mr. Peanutbutter. Mr. Peanutbutter was a rich and famous Pollyanna who treated Diane like a princess, but this was ultimately an overcompensation for his inability to connect with her on a deeper level. Guy is much more down-to-earth, works in a blue-collar profession, and forms a genuine connection with Diane.
• Corbin Creamerman to Butterscotch Horseman. Butterscotch was a smooth talking, roguish type who clearly saw Beatrice as just another one-night stand but married her because he got her pregnant, ending up in a miserable marriage; Corbin was a stammering, awkward type who seemed to genuinely care about Beatrice, but did not marry her, something Beatrice regretted.