History Characters / ArrestedDevelopmentTheBluths

* BigBad: She is the main antagonist of most of the episodes (most notably "My Mother, The Car"), and [[spoiler:is revealed in "Development Arrested" to be behind all of the corruption in the Bluth Company.]]
* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:All of the manipulation and deceit in the company is thanks to her. And she's been doing this for '''years'''.]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: His own actions often don’t line up with the things he judges the rest of his family for doing.

* BlondeRepublicanSexKitten: [[spoiler:Ends up becoming this in season 4 after abandoning her liberal ideals.]]

* ButtMonkey: Constantly gets mistaken for George Sr. by the cops, and is the victim of [[spoiler:two [[TwinSwitch Twin Switches]] by George Sr. so the latter can avoid prison.]]

* RunningGag: [[spoiler: His constant cryptic messages which imply he is Buster's true father.]]

* TwinSwitch: [[spoiler:George Sr. cons him into taking his place in prison.]]

* FrenchMaid: She dresses as one at the end of "Forget-Me-Now" at Bob Loblaw (whom she was courting)'s request, believing that the costume was for FetishFuel, but he was actually just asking for her to act as a housemaid.

* BadBoss: He treated many employees poorly and fired one for roasting him. He also cruelly shot down every idea Michael had to keep him looking for approval, even when he admits the idea was good, making him incompetent to boot.

* SanitySlippage: During Season 2, [[spoiler:he gets pretty stir crazy from being trapped in Michael’s attic for too long.]]

'''Buster''': Yeah, it’s starting to feel a little like it.

-->'''Lucille Bluth:''' You know, [Buster’s] damaged goods. He was born with a hole in his heart.
-->'''Lucille Austero:''' Well listen, Lucille, I’m gonna fill that hole, ’cause we’re in love!
-->'''Lucille Bluth:''' Oh, please! You’re no more in love with him than I am!

** When he's dating Lucille 2, he describes it as "[she's] replacing [his] mother".
** And later:

* RacistGrandma: Especially toward the hired help.

* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Poisoned two of his children’s teachers when they received failing grades.

* SanitySlippage: During season two, [[spoiler:he gets pretty stir crazy from being trapped in Michael’s attic for too long.]]

* DiggingYourselfDeeper: [[spoiler:He turns it into an ''art form'' in Season 4. [[spoiler:The season finale implies that it will indeed catch up to him.]]

* DiggingYourselfDeeper: He turns it into an ''art form'' in season 4. [[SubvertedTrope In the sense that, he does it as a performance (to come off as a risk-taker) and he continuously gets away with it by digging even]] ''[[SubvertedTrope deeper]]''. [[spoiler:The season finale implies that it will indeed catch up to him.]]

** Season 4 has him involved with a drug addicted former actress named [=DeBrie Bardeaux=]. A subtle hint is thrown out that she may really be a man.

** “Afternoon Delight” has two big ones: when he enters Lucille’s penthouse while [[ItMakesSenseInContext painted blue]], and she explains the situation to Michael thus: “There is a colored man in my kitchen.” And when Lindsay says that the name Tobias makes everyone think of a “big, black guy”, and Tobias admits that he is “not a big guy.”

%%* LazyBum

%%* ObliviousAdoption: [[spoiler:She's actually Stan Sitwell's child, and was adopted by the Bluths at a young age.]]

%%* TheSlacker

%%* {{Jerkass}}

%%* LargeHam

* ButtMonkey: He’s put through a hell of a lot of trauma.
%%* TheComicallySerious
%%* TheDanza: Sort of.

%%* HollywoodNerd

* NiceGuy: The only Bluth not to do anything horrible over the series. [[spoiler:Until Season 4.....]]

* TookALevelInJerkass: In Season 4. He's rude and entitled around his friends, and isn't much nicer to his father. Then there's the [[spoiler:Fakeblock]] storyline, which ends with him [[spoiler:committing massive fraud]].

%%* ButtMonkey

* ActorAllusion: While researching his would-be first role as “Frightened Inmate #2,” Tobias is accosted by Orange County prisoner [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast White Power Bill]], who uses the anti-Semitic slur [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kike “kike”]] against him. David Cross is ethnically half-Jewish, but identifies as an atheist.

* ButtMonkey

* CrossesTheLineTwice: In "¡Amigos!":

* LargeHam

* SmallNameBigEgo

* UglyGuyHotWife

!!!Played by: Creator/JessicaWalter

%%* TheChessmaster
%%* ControlFreak

%%* RichBitch
%%* SmugSnake

* TimeShiftedActor: In season 4, Young Lucille is played by Kristin Wiig in flashbacks.

%%* FunnyForeigner

* ActingForTwo: Is played by Jeffrey Tambor along with George Sr.

%%* EvilMatriarch

* WhiteSheep: Pretty much explicitly designated in that role by his family.

* {{Alcoholic Parent}} While not perhaps a straight-up alcoholic, she certainly likes a drink.

* [[spoiler: {{FaceHeelTurn}}: To an extent in Season 4. He's far from evil, but he becomes extremely petty towards numerous members of his family, and has a strong motive for the murder of Lucille 2.]]

* [[spoiler: {{Accidental Murder}} Ends up killing a considerable number of people for the army, due to his lack of knowledge that the drone was not a simulation. He is horrified upon learning the truth.]]

* TheUnfavorite: George Sr. and Lucille treat all their kids like crap, but Gob gets the worst of it by ''far''. While Lindsay and Buster are their respective favorites, both are well aware of how much they count on Michael and are even, occasionally, proud of him and express genuine love for him. They both just consider Gob a nightmare. It probably puts it into perspective how badly he’s treated when Lucille claims she treats Lindsay better—the one she calls fat at least twice an episode.

(''flashback to earlier that day'') I don’t care for Gob.
** In another instance:
--->'''Lucille:''' (to Michael) You’re my third-least favorite child.\\
(''later'') '''Narrator:''' (as Gob enters the scene) ''And then Lucille’s [[LogicBomb fourth-least favorite child]] showed up.''

'''Gob:''' I'm here, dad.\\

Michael's brother-in-law, Tobias is Lindsay's husband. He has trouble bonding with his daughter, and constantly makes homosexual innuendos in his speech, even though he insists he isn't gay. He is also a "Never Nude", a condition that prevents him from ever being fully naked. [[spoiler:While he gets temporarily cured from this in "Marta Complex", he turns back to his cutoffs when a picture of his scrotum, taken by accident on GOB's phone and uploaded to the Bluths email servers, is mistaken for a Iraq landscape and a crucial piece of evidence in the ongoing trial against George Sr, and is broadcast on international television.]] He and Lindsay are in an open marriage as of Season 2.

!!!Played by: Jeffrey Tambor

Michael's father, George Sr. is an abusive father and the initial head of the Bluth company. While he is sent to prison for embezzling investors in the first episode, he continues to run the company from prison. [[spoiler:He escapes from prison at the end of Season 1, and after a death scare and funeral in Mexico, is a harboured fugitive and remains in the model home's attic. He sends his twin brother to prison in Season 3 in his place, and remains under house arrest. It comes to light that Lucille was behind most of his actions, and in Season 4, she demands a real divorce.]]

* BookDumb: In her twenties, she doesn’t understand what “solve for X” is even '''''asking''''', let alone how to do it.
-->'''Maeby:''' C minus! ''C-M-I-N-E-S!''

!!Franklin Delano Bluth

->''"I don't want no part of your tight-ass country club, ya freak bitch!"''

GOB's politcally incorrect puppet.

* DemonicDummy: A comically racist variation of this.
* JiveTurkey
* LeitMotif: "Franklin's Brown Sugar", a little funk-esque track.
* NoIndoorVoice

!!Other Bluths
[[folder:Oscar Bluth]]
!!Oscar George Bluth
!!!Played by: Jeffrey Tambor

Michael's uncle, Oscar is George's brother and [[spoiler:Buster's real father. He has an affair with Lucille while George Sr. is a fugitive, but is eventually tricked by his brother into being sent to prison in his place at the end of Season 2.]]

* ActingForTwo: Is played by Jeffrey Tambor along with George Sr.
* ButtMonkey: Constantly gets mistaken for George Sr. by the cops, and is the victim of [[spoiler:two [[TwinSwitch Twin Switches]] by George Sr. so the latter can avoid prison.]]
* LukeIMightBeYourFather: [[spoiler:Believes he is Buster’s father and anvilizes this idea through the show.]]
* PolarOppositeTwins: With his twin brother, George.
%%* TheSixthRanger
%%* TheStoner
* TookALevelInBadass: Becomes much more assertive and commanding in Season 4, to the point that he fools everyone when he pretends to be George Sr.
* TookALevelInJerkass: In season 4, [[spoiler:where he gets fed up with George Sr.’s TwinSwitch act, and exploits it for his own ends instead. He also rekindles his affair with Lucille, but starts one with Lucille 2 at the same time.]]
* TwinSwitch: [[spoiler:George Sr. cons him into taking his place in prison.]]
** [[spoiler:George Sr. later pulls it again as a part of his Sweat and Squeeze scheme, but as Oscar’s self-confidence grows he ends up turning the tables on George Sr. and exploits this for all it is worth.]]
[[/folder]]

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* {{Fingone}}: [[spoiler:In "Sword of Destiny", Buster ends up slicing off his fingers with the titular sword. He gets them replaced, but with the index and middle fingers swapped.]]