| 1 | [[WMG:[[center:''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' [[Characters/{{Recess}} character index]]\ |
| 2 | [-[[Characters/RecessTheMainSix The Main Six]] | [[Characters/RecessOtherStudents Other Students]] | '''Faculty Members''' | [[Characters/RecessOtherCharacters Other Characters]]-]]]]] |
| 3 | ---- |
| 4 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 5 | |
| 6 | [[folder:Miss Muriel P. Finster]] |
| 7 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/character_finister.jpg]] |
| 8 | -->'''Debut:''' "The Break In" |
| 9 | |
| 10 | -->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AprilWinchell |
| 11 | |
| 12 | The school's lunch and recess monitor. She has zero tolerance for rule-breaking... but she does have a softer side she keeps hidden. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | ---- |
| 15 | * AnarchyIsChaos: She acts the way she does under the belief that if she did not then the school would devolve into anarchy. As it turns out [[JerkassHasAPoint she's right]]. Both times she was not able to dispense her authority (once because she was in a whirlwind romance with Hank and the other time because she [[spoiler: thought she]] had a broken leg) the playground looked like something out of ''Film/MadMax.'' |
| 16 | * BadassTeacher: She helps save the day in ''School's Out''. |
| 17 | * BlondeBrunetteRedhead: She was the redhead to Prickley's brunet [[spoiler:and Benedict's blond.]] |
| 18 | * BoxingBattler: In ''Recess: School's Out'', she's shown training on a heavy bag in her living room. She later puts these skills to good use leading the teachers to attack Benedict's operation, punching out TheDragon herself. |
| 19 | * BreakoutCharacter: She's surprisingly popular with the fanbase despite her earlier SadistTeacher characterization, to the point where later seasons go out of their way to humanize her. |
| 20 | * CharacterizationMarchesOn: She was a {{Jerkass}} in the first season, relishing the psychologically torturing of kids. From the second season and onward, while still a SadistTeacher, she became a SugarAndIcePersonality JerkWithAHeartOfGold and never went to the extremes she used to. |
| 21 | * ChildHater: To an extent in the first season, save for Randall. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] later on, when it becomes clearer that it's just a part of her job. Off the clock, she loves kids. It also turns out that in spite of her authoritarian nature, Finster will not hesitate to protect children (especially T.J. and his gang) from severe harm. |
| 22 | * CombatPragmatist: Despite being a talented boxer, when she figured out her ex had a plot to cancel recess and had an army of ninjas to boot, Miss Finster wasted no time in contacting the other teachers for assistance. She calls them "this army" with pride when bringing them to take down Benedict. |
| 23 | * CoolOldLady: On a good day, as Spinelli learns a few times ("Weekend at Muriel's" being an example). She even further tops it off in the movie when rallies the teachers to help the students in fighting off Benedict's henchmen; even TJ is extremely delighted to see Finster taking the ugly bald guy with her fistcuffs. |
| 24 | * ADayInTheLimelight: "To Finster, With Love", "Weekend at Muriel's", and "The Fuss Over Finster" |
| 25 | * DefrostingIceQueen: In some of the later episodes and in season two's "Weekend at Muriel's". |
| 26 | * DidYouThinkICantFeel: [[ImpliedTrope Implied]] in "That Stinking Feeling," when she tells Spinelli that most people don't expect "tough" people like the two of them to sense emotions like love and heartbreak. |
| 27 | * TheDragon / TheLancer: To Principal Prickly. She does most of the heavy lifting, and he only gets involved when things get too out of hand. |
| 28 | * EveryoneHasStandards: |
| 29 | ** Finster doesn't have much of a problem coming with harsh but fair punishments, but she thought Phillip Fitzhugh's decision of separating the Main Six permanently in other schools was too harsh. |
| 30 | ** While in season one she was more of a SadistTeacher, she makes it clear that no one hurts the kids on her playground, [[spoiler:as the Bald Guy learned this the hard way when he threatened T.J.]]. |
| 31 | ** She also was upset with Benedict in the film for wanting to destroy recess. [[spoiler: It was revealed in the film, she once had a relationship Benedict but broke up with him for wanting to ban recess, which would have put her out of a job.]] |
| 32 | ** She immediately steps in to defend T.J. when Principal Slicer mocks him and calls him "Captain Sappy," especially since T.J. had been trying to empathize with her over how depressed she's been since Prickly announced he was leaving the school. |
| 33 | ** In an episode where T.J. learns that no matter what he does, some people will always hate him, Finster [[ComicallyMissingThePoint thinks he is talking about her and makes it clear that despite their differences, she doesn't hate him]]. |
| 34 | * EvilLaugh: In a few episodes, most notably "The Box," "Rainy Days," and "Principal for a Day." |
| 35 | * EvilOldFolks: Not really "evil" (unless season one counts), but more of a [[HeroAntagonist strict authority figure]] towards the gang. |
| 36 | * FanDisservice: Is prone to this. Miss Finster still thinks she's sexy. She's... not, to say the least. |
| 37 | * FieryRedhead: She was a redhead when she was younger, but still very fiery. |
| 38 | * FriendToAllChildren: Believe it or not, she was one back in the 1960's, as shown in "The Barnaby Boys" and ''Recess: School's Out''. When Mikey reads about how well-liked she was by her students in 1966, TJ dismisses it as a misprint. |
| 39 | * FriendlyEnemy: Sums up her dynamic with the Recess Gang, and the 3rd Street School kids in general. Yes, she's a tough disciplinarian, but she does care about them and does her best to keep them safe; similarly, the kids seem to respect her as just doing her job, instead of being actively cruel. |
| 40 | ** It's most apparent in "The Fuss over Finster," when Muriel sprains her ankle and can't keep up with the children like she usually does. At first, T.J. is thrilled, because it means that they can all do whatever they want--but the Gang quickly realizes that it's [[NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction no fun]] pulling off schemes and pranks if there isn't an antagonist trying to stop them. T.J. then lampshades when he assembles the students to hold a playground-wide truce of perfect behavior, calling Muriel "a wounded lion" that he can't take advantage of anymore. The episode even ends with T.J. warning Miss Finster that once she's healed up, it will be "business as usual" between them--and Muriel is clearly happy about it. |
| 41 | * GirlyBruiser: On the surface, she's an old lady with prissy habits and a floral dress. But she's also a multi-martial arts master. This allows her to empathize with Spinelli. |
| 42 | * GodzillaThreshold: Finster does have emergency powers to outright cancel Recess for a limited time. Even kids that don't like her know that, severe disciplinarian she might be, she'd never enact this privilege without justification such as during ''That Girl Was Trouble'' when she finds evidence that a sudden spree of comprehensive junior delinquency was all performed by a ''single'' student. |
| 43 | * GoodIsNotNice: Keeps the playground in order for the children's own good as she considers them hopelessly lost "without her gentle guidance". The problems occur when her demand for discipline makes her [[WellIntentionedExtremist overstep her bounds and authority.]] Still, whenever she's temporarily out of commission (as when she sprained her ankle or when she was dating Hank), the playground dissolves into chaos and the kids end up [[WeWantOurJerkBack wanting her back.]] |
| 44 | * HeroAntagonist: Part of her job involves keeping the playground in check, which in turn clashes with several of the gang's schemes. |
| 45 | * HiddenDepths: At school she's an authoritarian taskmaster. Out of school, she's a friendly ReasonableAuthorityFigure. She also really wants to be seen as cool by kids, to the point of reaching TotallyRadical or NewAgeRetroHippie levels. TheMovie also shows that she's appalled by the notion of getting rid of recess. In addition, she enjoys wrestling. |
| 46 | * HoistByHerOwnPetard: She once confiscated so much candy her sack burst, and she slipped on the candies and sprained her ankle. |
| 47 | * IntergenerationalFriendship: With Randall. There are plenty of episodes that show that the two have a real friendship between one another. Randall even gives up being popular in one episode for her. Also has a slight one with Spinelli, as seen in "Weekend at Muriel's", "That Stinking Feeling", and ''Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade''. Ms. Finster has been known to give Spinelli advice and seems to respect her for her toughness. |
| 48 | * IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Occurs platonically in "Prickly is Leaving." Though she's clearly upset about the prospect of Principal Prickly moving on to a middle school job, she won't say anything about it. When the kids ask why, she explains that he's her friend, and friendship means supporting people in achieving their dreams, no matter your personal feelings. |
| 49 | * IWasQuiteALooker: In ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut'', she's proven to be this in the `60s (she has the same voice, however due to her voice actress using her "normal" voice for T.J.'s mom) |
| 50 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: She's not the world's nicest person (most notably in the first season), but she ''does'' have a soft side. When she was younger, she broke up with Benedict because she didn't like the idea of taking recess from kids. |
| 51 | * KindheartedCatLover: She has a cat that she adores (she's genuinely grateful to Spinelli for getting it out of a tree in "The Trial"), adopts [[spoiler: one of Stella's kittens]] in "Operation Stuart," and has a cat flap on her front door to let in stray cats. |
| 52 | * MamaBear: |
| 53 | ** In spite of her authoritarian methods of disciplining children, she actually does come to their need when they're in danger. For example, in the movie, she punched out the Ugly Bald Guy for trying to harm TJ. |
| 54 | ** It shows up in the series, too. In "The Library Kid," she goes into immediate panic mode upon seeing the title character trapped on top of a flagpole, summoning the fire department and generally taking charge of the situation before any serious damage was done. |
| 55 | * MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: She is the Masculine Girl to Prickly's Feminine Boy. |
| 56 | * MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: Though more a JerkWithAHeartOfGold, but she's not so bad once you get to know her. |
| 57 | * MysteriousMiddleInitial: We never find out what the "P" stands for. |
| 58 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "Finster" is German and means "dark", which is very fitting for her role. |
| 59 | * NeverMessWithGranny: As in spite of her old age, Finster is very skilled at boxing and that she will not hesitate to use her skills against those who would try to threaten her or any of the students. As in the movie, the bald guy ends up learning the hard way when he tries to beat up T.J. out of rage. |
| 60 | * NotSoAboveItAll: |
| 61 | ** Even Finster thought when Spinelli accidentally called Miss Grotke "Momma" was hilarious. |
| 62 | ** In ''Taking the Fifth Grade'', she reveals that she still dresses up for Halloween and goes trick-or-treating. It turns into AnAesop for Spinelli, who'd begun to think she was "too old" for celebrating the holiday--if you enjoy something safe and fun, you shouldn't let age or social convention dictate if you can or can't do it. |
| 63 | * TheOneThatGotAway: [[spoiler:Benedict calls her the only woman he ever loved, and when they meet again decades later, he immediately offers her a chance to be by his side again. Naturally, her response was a defiant but satisfied one: [[TakeThat "I'd rather eat playground dirt!"]]]] |
| 64 | * NotSoDifferentRemark: Invokes this trope with Spinelli in "That Stinking Feeling." While everyone is mocking the girl for having her first crush, Miss Finster takes her aside and offers some helpful advice, remarking that people don't expect "tough girls like them" to have feelings or fall in love. She's also shown to share Spinelli's love of wrestling and Halloween. |
| 65 | * PetTheDog: Does this a lot of times in the series: |
| 66 | ** In "The Trial", Spinelli rescues Finster's cat from a tree, and being a KindheartedCatLover, Finster gratefully tells Spinelli, "Good work, Spinelli, I owe you one." It was also shown in "Operation Stuart" that she happily adopted a kitten that was found in the school dumpster, and that in "Weekend at Muriel's", she has a cat door on her front door to let stray cats in so that she can feed them. |
| 67 | ** In "The Voice", she finds Mikey's singing voice to be extremely astounding; she even happily applauds for Mikey after his successful performance in the auditorium. |
| 68 | ** In "Operation Field Trip", Finster happily supervises the students field trip to MISOOE on the account that it helps them learn about the fields of knowledge covered in the museum. |
| 69 | ** In "Prickly is Leaving", Finster sympathizes with the students over their fear of Dr. Slicer taking over the school. She even tries to defend TJ when the latter is being unfairly punished by Slicer for expressing the students' feelings for Prickly. |
| 70 | ** In "The Coolest Heatwave Ever", she puts up a sign forbidding anyone to play on the monkey bars due to the scorching heatwave; she even told a girl (who burned her hands after touching the monkey bars) to splash some water and head over to the nurse. |
| 71 | ** Gives respect to Miss Grotke for her martial arts skills in TheMovie. Also shown when she's given Spinelli advice on more than one occasion. |
| 72 | * PlatonicLifePartners: With Principal Prickly. In the episode where he got promoted to being a middle school principal she became depressed because they've been working together for so long. Benedict once accused Prickly of stealing her from him, but they never show signs of being anything more than good friends. |
| 73 | * PunchClockVillain: Her iron fisted authoritarian attitude is purely to make sure the school ground doesn't devolve into anarchy. Off the clock she is one of the nicest people you could meet. |
| 74 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Not the best example, but if you got trouble and have proof, she will listen. Case in point when Gretchen pulled the fire alarm, Miss Finster was going to lecture her... until Gretchen pointed out that Library Kid was trapped on the top of the flagpole and screaming for help, making this a real emergency. Miss Finster goes OhCrap and contacts the fire department to get down Library Kid safely. |
| 75 | * {{Retcon}}: In one episode we see a picture of her classroom in the late 1960s where she looks to be in her 40s and is similar to her appearance in the present. In the movie however she appears in a flashback taking place in 1968 and is much younger and more attractive looking. A photo in the episode "Weekend At Muriel's" also shows her with her current short curly hairstyle back in the early 1950s, yet the movie shows her with long straight hair in 1968 – although of course she could have changed her hairstyle more than once over the decades. |
| 76 | * SadistTeacher: Though she was ''much'' more sadistic in season one. Back then she took great pleasure in punishing children and breaking their spirit. |
| 77 | * SkintoneSclerae: The only character with this trope in effect. |
| 78 | * SpitTake: In "My Fair Gretchen", after Gretchen tells her that she's finished her test in under five minutes. |
| 79 | * SternTeacher: She mellows into this later on. She's still a real hard ass, but she's more tough-but-fair. |
| 80 | * SugarAndIcePersonality: Mainly after the first season due to CharacterDevelopment. |
| 81 | * TheHeavy: Often plays this role in the series. Subverted in that she ''does'' have a nice side, and isn't even "evil" anyway (Well, with the exceptions of some instances in season one). |
| 82 | * TookALevelInCynicism: Like Prickly she started out as a highly idealistic hippie teacher. Compare that to her... current personality. ''Recess: All Growed Down'' reveals before the show started she was the kindergarten teacher, who while keeping her class on a very tight leash, still was overall nice. So what happened? [[spoiler: Gus transferred to his class (and left just as quickly because his dad had to move) and inspired the kids to act... well, like kids. Randall exaggerated that the kids had become anarchists, which was the catalyst for Ms. Finster's current personality]]. |
| 83 | * TookALevelInKindness: She's a ''little'' nicer to the kids as the series goes on, and has more reason to punish them than before. |
| 84 | * TwoGuysAndAGirl: She went to school and worked with Prickly and Benedict who, at the time, were best friends. It all fell apart when Benedict was fired and Prickly became the new principal. |
| 85 | * UndyingLoyalty: To Principal Prickly. She's been by his side at the school since the 1960s and while his seeming departure for the middle school leaves her in tears for days on end, Finster chooses to support Prickly's decision because it's what he wants and she cares about his happiness. |
| 86 | * UsedToBeASweetKid: An old photo shows her swinging from the statue of Thaddeus T. Third III when she was ten years old. |
| 87 | * VocalDissonance: ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut'' reveals that she's seemingly had the same voice for her entire adult life, even when she was much younger and more conventionally attractive in the '60's (likely because her voice actress already used her "normal" voice for T.J.'s mom). |
| 88 | * VillainousBreakdown: At the end of "The Box" when she freaks out over T.J. not being broken by her punishment. |
| 89 | * VitriolicBestBuds: With Miss Grotke. TheMovie and "Prickly Is Leaving" reveal that she and Prickly were pretty close as well. |
| 90 | * VocalEvolution: She didn't sound as sinister in the first few episodes. |
| 91 | * WouldRatherSuffer: In the movie, when Phillium Benedict tries to make amends with Miss Finster, Finster replies that she'd "rather eat playground dirt." |
| 92 | |
| 93 | [[/folder]] |
| 94 | [[folder:Principal Peter Prickly]] |
| 95 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/character_prickley.jpg]] |
| 96 | -->'''Debut:''' "The Break In" (Mentioned), "The Great Jungle Gym Standoff" |
| 97 | |
| 98 | -->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/DabneyColeman |
| 99 | |
| 100 | The apathetic principal, who isn't as stuffy as he seems. |
| 101 | ---- |
| 102 | * AlliterativeName: '''P'''eter '''P'''rickly. |
| 103 | * ApatheticTeacher: Most of the time, Prickly doesn't care about what happens as long as law and order are maintained. |
| 104 | * BlondeBrunetteRedhead: He was the brunet to Muriel's redhead [[spoiler:and Benedict's blond.]] |
| 105 | * BreakoutCharacter: In later seasons and the movie. |
| 106 | * TheChainsOfCommanding: There are several hints that Prickly used to be a lot calmer, happier, and more lenient before the pressures of being principal got to him. |
| 107 | * CharacterizationMarchesOn: In "The Great Jungle Gym Standoff", he's another SadistTeacher in the series, which isn't seen again for the rest of the show (with him being [[ApatheticTeacher apathetic]] instead). This could've been because the episode was one of the earliest ones made. |
| 108 | * ChildHater: In Season 1, Prickly ''thinks'' that he's this and that he would rather be a JuniorHigh principal than an elementary school principal. Later in the series, however, Prickly learns that [[SubvertedTrope he's neither of the above]]. In "Prickly Is Leaving," Prickly gradually realizes that he wouldn't want to run a middle school, since TeensAreMonsters, {{Goth}}s, or [[HormoneAddledTeenager hormone-addled]]. Finally, ''Recess: School's Out'' permanently shoots down the myth that he originally got into teaching for his own selfish interest, instead revealing that he did it [[FriendToAllChildren to help little children]]. |
| 109 | * ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Like Butch, Hustler Kid and Miss Grotke, he doesn't appear after "The Terrifying Tales of Recess". He comes back for ''Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade''. |
| 110 | * ClosetGeek: Is revealed to be one for Senor Fusion. |
| 111 | * ADayInTheLimelight: "The Hypnotist", "The Challenge", "Principal for a Day", "Buried Treasure", "The First Picture Show", "The Principals of Golf", and ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut''. |
| 112 | * EveryoneHasStandards: |
| 113 | ** He was horrified by Benedict's plan to eliminate recess; in the present day, he's even more disturbed by Benedict's obsession with how Prickly had humiliated him, which ultimately led to him to his plan of eliminating summer, calling him [[YoureInsane insane to his face]] and, after seeing how Benedict defaced his office wall with a disturbing amount of anti-recess graffiti, mutters that "I told 'em the guy was a nut." |
| 114 | ** In "The Biggest Trouble Ever", while he agreed that the Main Six deserved to be punished for destroying the statue of the town's founder, even he thought the Mayor's plan to do so was too far. |
| 115 | * ExposeTheVillainGetHisJob: In 1968, after telling the superintendent about Phillium Benedict's plan to abolish recess, Benedict was fired, resulting in Prickly becoming principal of Third Street School by the age of 21. |
| 116 | * FriendToAllChildren: He doesn't seem like one on the surface, but the movie reveals that like Miss Finster, Prickly got into teaching because he loved children. In fact, he thought that [[{{ChildHater}} Benedict's]] plan to get rid of recess was a horrible idea. |
| 117 | * HeroAntagonist: Similar to Finster, part of Prickly's job involves keeping the school in check, which in turn clashes with several of the gang's schemes. |
| 118 | * HiddenHeartOfGold: He gave up his middle school principal dream job to prevent Dr. Slicer from making the students and teachers' lives miserable. He insists it was solely because the pay wasn't high enough and that he's outta there the second he's made a better offer. |
| 119 | * HippieTeacher: He used to be one of these in the 1960s. |
| 120 | * HypnoFool: In "The Hypnotist", where he's accidentally hypnotized into [[ManChild thinking he's six years old]]. |
| 121 | * IntergenerationalFriendship: With T.J. as the series goes on. This finally gets brought to a head in the movie, when he and T.J. work together and T.J. learns more about his past. |
| 122 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He may be harsh on students, especially the Main Six, but he ended his friendship with Phillium Benedict for wanting to ban recess and joins in the fight to stop him. |
| 123 | * ManChild: Even without the hypnotism, many episodes show him as rather childish himself, he gets into arguments with his equally immature brother, Paul and he's rather petulant at times, especially when things don't go his way and is often doodling or playing with toys when he's alone in his office, he's shown also to be a huge fan of Senor Fusion as an adult. |
| 124 | * MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: He is the emotional Feminine Boy to Finster's stony-cold Masculine Girl. |
| 125 | * MeaningfulName: His surname is Prickly and his personality is prickly, even though he turns out to be a JerkWithAHeartOfGold. |
| 126 | * MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: He may be rather strict when it comes to rules and regulations, but he's willing to listen to the kids, and has even pulled a few {{Enemy Mine}}s with them. |
| 127 | * OlderThanTheyLook: Granted Miss Finster looks much older, but Prickly should at least in his fifties or sixties considering he became a teacher in the sixties and the show takes place in at least the nineties, but passes for 10 or so years younger since his hair hasn't gone grey with no indication if it he dying his hair or not. |
| 128 | * OneOfTheKids: At times. It's hinted that he's a bit of a ManChild because he misses his childhood so much. |
| 129 | * PapaWolf: In ''Recess: School's Out'', he protects the student body from [[{{EvilFormerFriend}} Phillium Benedict]] by leading LaResistance. And in ''Taking the Fifth Grade'', he saves TJ from falling off to his death from his own roof. |
| 130 | -->'''Prickly''': You've got no minutes left, Phil! This is ''my'' school and I want it back! |
| 131 | * PetTheDog: Just like Finster, Prickly too had his moments: |
| 132 | ** In "The Voice", he finds Mikey's singing voice to be extremely astounding; he even happily applauds for Mikey after his successful performance in the auditorium. |
| 133 | ** In "Operation Stuart", upon seeing that a homeless cat is taking refuge under the school dumpster while caring for kittens, Prickly calls in the vets to ensure of the kittens' well-being; he even takes one of the kittens home to raise him. |
| 134 | ** In "The First Picture Show", Prickly lays down a deal with TJ with a 10-question duel that will determine whether or not the students can go see the Señor Fusion movie during its premiere, and when TJ wins the duel fair and square, Prickly honors the deal. |
| 135 | ** In "Prickly is Leaving", Prickly was intending to leave for his new job as principal of a middle school, but upon hearing about Finster and the students' feelings for him and learning about Dr. Slicer's true nature, Prickly decides to remain as principal of Third Street so that Slicer won't have it. |
| 136 | ** He even does this a lot in TheMovie, as he aids TJ and the students in stopping Benedict from destroying summer vacation (even Finster and the teachers are more than happy to do the same as well); he even tried earlier to convince Benedict to release TJ when the latter was captured by Benedict's men. |
| 137 | * PlatonicLifePartners: With Miss Finster. In the episode where he got promoted to being a middle school principal she became depressed because they've been working together for so long. The movie also reveals that they’ve been friends since the 60’s. While Benedict insisted Prickly stole his girl, Prickly and Miss Finster never expressed any romantic interest in each. |
| 138 | * PunchClockVillain: He's usually only the antagonist because he's the principal in a show about kids. That said he does [[TookALevelInJerkass take a level in jerkass]] when appropriate. |
| 139 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He's a bit of a stern hardass, but is usually willing to listen to others. In "All The Principal's Men," he brings the gang into his office and tells them what little he knows about the disappearance of the playground balls, whereas all the other adults were giving them a runaround. |
| 140 | * SiblingRivalry: With his older brother Paul Prickly, the principal of 98th Street Elementary. They compete over everything and drag their students into the competition too. |
| 141 | * SitcomArchNemesis: He serves this role to T.J., always being comically irritated by the boy's mischief. |
| 142 | * TookALevelInCynicism: ''School's Out'' reveals he started out as a highly idealistic hippie teacher, but his years on the job turned him to the cynical stuffed shirt he is now. |
| 143 | * TookALevelInIdealism: By the end of ''School's Out'', he digs out his old hippie medallion and is reminded why he got into teaching in the first place - [[FriendToAllChildren to help the kids]]. He's a lot nicer and sympathetic towards them from that point onward. |
| 144 | * UnknownRival: Benedict apparently spent ''decades'' obsessing over Prickly's intervention against his no-recess plan back in 1968; Prickly never saw him again and stayed principal for years after, apparently not giving him much thought outside of Benedicts' brief stint as the U.S. Secretary of Education, until Benedict revealed himself as the mastermind behind Prickly's kidnapping. |
| 145 | * UsedToBeASweetKid: Implied in several episodes, and in the movie. For example, "Buried Treasure" implies that he, along with his friends and classmates, buried a chest full of toys when he was nine years old, for the sole purpose of allowing future generations of kids to play with them. |
| 146 | * WeUsedToBeFriends: Him and Benedict. |
| 147 | [[/folder]] |
| 148 | |
| 149 | [[folder:Miss Grotke]] |
| 150 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/miss_grotke.jpg]] |
| 151 | |
| 152 | -->'''Debut:''' "The New Kid" |
| 153 | -->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AllyceBeasley, Creator/TressMacNeille (Briefly in "Teachers' Lounge") |
| 154 | |
| 155 | The somewhat ditzy fourth grade teacher. |
| 156 | ---- |
| 157 | * AdultsAreUseless: Averted most of the time, as she's always on the kids' side and standing up for them. Though at the same time, she's also naive and gullible, and is prone to being oblivious to the gang's schemes. |
| 158 | * AllThereInTheManual: Her first name (while not revealed in the series) is Alordayne, according to the scripts. |
| 159 | * AmbiguouslyBrown: She has black hair and is dark skinned, but her last name is Eastern European. [[Creator/MilaKunis There are many dark skinned Eastern Europeans in real life.]] WordOfGod says she's supposed to be Indian, however, so her last name might be a married name from an ex-husband. Or else she could be mixed race. |
| 160 | * AscendedExtra: Only appeared in a few episodes of season one, and then appeared in every season two episode. |
| 161 | * BadassAdorable: As cute and harmless as she seems, she effortlessly takes out a group of trained bodyguards in TheMovie. Even Miss Finster is impressed. |
| 162 | * BadassTeacher: In ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut'', it's revealed that she's a martial arts expert. |
| 163 | * BreakoutCharacter: In season two. Then started showing up less in later episodes. |
| 164 | * BunnyEarsLawyer: She may seem like a clueless hippie at times, but she's an exceptional teacher, teaching her class far above their grade level with great success. In the climax of “Recess: School’s Out”, she also knows martial arts and is able to hold her own against the antagonist’s henchmen. |
| 165 | * CharacterCatchphrase: "Bummer..." |
| 166 | * ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: After "The Terrifying Tales of Recess" (the first episode of season six and the stories featured in the episode weren't canon, anyway), she's gone for the rest of the series until ''Taking the Fifth Grade'' two years later. |
| 167 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: While she is closer to Earth than the other teachers at times, she has a few moments where she goes off into Cloudcuckooland. |
| 168 | * ADayInTheLimelight: "Mama's Girl" and "The Secret Life of Grotke". |
| 169 | * DeadpanSnarker: "This Brain for Hire" shows that when she needs to be, she's probably the snarkiest character in the entire series. |
| 170 | * DemotedToExtra: She only appears two times in ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut'' and only has seven lines (and two of them are just her screaming), though this is justified as it was summer vacation. Though her parts in the battle scene were pretty memorable. In ''Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade'', she only has a few speaking lines and that's it. Justified, however, as the main kids weren't in her class anymore. |
| 171 | * FriendToAllChildren: She's very well liked by all of the kids. |
| 172 | * GoofyBuckteeth: Downplayed. She is a HippieTeacher with small buckteeth, but has CloudCuckoolander tendencies. |
| 173 | * GranolaGirl: She's very liberal, feminist, environmentalist, etc. and often shares her views while teaching. |
| 174 | * HiddenDepths: Sweet Ms. Grotke likes practicing stage magic on the side and studies martial arts. The kids are surprised when they see her perform, and she offers to teach them some of her tricks. |
| 175 | * HippieTeacher: Of the NewAgeRetroHippie variety, unlike Prickly and Finster, who were ''actual'' hippies. |
| 176 | * LetsGetDangerous: The movie showed that Miss Grotke is accomplished at martial arts. She came to help stop Benedict when Miss Finster explained that she needed an army. Miss Finster is impressed that she knocked out two {{Mook}}s while screaming at the top of her lungs. |
| 177 | * MamaBear: Do ''not'' threaten her students, former or current. She gave the Dudikoff a chance on seeing he was struggling with teacher training and took offense when Miss Finster badmouthed him. When T.J. gets prosecuted in court for using "Whomps," she brings in a SurpriseWitness to try and explain that he didn't do anything bad and kids make up words all the time so this is an overreaction. In the movie, she comes to help the kids stop the plot against recess, with her fists. |
| 178 | * MisplacedKindergartenTeacher: She has the voice, but otherwise averts this. Granted, that's her voice actress' natural voice. |
| 179 | * OutOfFocus: In the later episodes, due in part to Miss Finster and Prickly's BreakoutCharacter status. |
| 180 | * PerpetualSmiler: She almost never frowns, even when |
| 181 | * ParentalBonus: Responsible for several. She reads ''Beowulf'' in class (specifically the part where he rips Grendel's head off ) [[https://www.buzzfeed.com/adamdavis/recess-was-basically-the-most-progressive-cartoon?utm_term=.ifEw9nY9E#.ojWgelnea and, well...]] |
| 182 | * PoliticallyMotivatedTeacher: She has several times put her political and environmentalism ideas in her teaching, such as when she refused to call something a battle and tried to rile up her students to fight against the oil companies. |
| 183 | * QuirkyCurls: It's vaguely afro-like, suggesting it might be a perm. Fitting for her hippie personality. |
| 184 | * SecondEpisodeIntroduction: She's introduced along with Gus in the second episode. |
| 185 | * SoapboxSadie: Every once in a while, we see some of her lectures revolve a around social justice or environmentalism. |
| 186 | * SpitTake: In "The Dude", when Miss Finster comes up from behind her and bad-mouths Mr. Dudikoff. |
| 187 | * StageMagician: Revealed to be one in ''The Secret Life of Grotke'', named "The Mysterious Grotke." She's surprisingly good at it. |
| 188 | * StrawFeminist: Averted. Her teachings are implied to be genuinely feminist without sliding into stereotypical "women are great and men suck just because" thinking. She's shown gently asking why the Founding ''Mothers'' of America aren't given much focus in examinations of history, mentions to her students that their history textbooks are written from a "white male, Eurocentric point of view" and should be taken with a grain of salt, and spends the Thanksgiving season discussing how Native Americans were taken advantage of by backwards European colonizers. Yet she does it all without being portrayed as hypocritical or ignorant and more determined to ensure the kids are given a more multifaceted education. |
| 189 | * TechnicalPacifist: She says in the movie that she only will use martial arts in self-defense and for expanding the mind. Thing is that if her kids are in danger, she won't hesitate to knock out anyone threatening them. |
| 190 | * TokenGoodTeammate: Out of the four named faculty, she's the only one who's not an overly SternTeacher, or an ApatheticTeacher in the case of Miss Lemon. |
| 191 | * TookALevelInBadass: In ''WesternAnimation/RecessSchoolsOut''. She's shown to be a highly-skilled martial artist, much to Miss Finster's admiration. |
| 192 | * TotallyRadical: She like, totally speaks this way sometimes, cuz you know, it's way cool and far out! |
| 193 | * WomenAreWiser: Compared to Prickly, she's definitely the more mature and more reasonable. |
| 194 | [[/folder]] |
| 195 | |
| 196 | [[folder:Miss Lemon]] |
| 197 | |
| 198 | -->'''Debut:''' "My Fair Gretchen" |
| 199 | |
| 200 | -->'''Voiced By:''' Creator/TressMacNeille |
| 201 | |
| 202 | Principal Prickley's grumpy secretary. |
| 203 | ---- |
| 204 | |
| 205 | * ApatheticTeacher: She's just the receptionist, so it's somewhat more understandable. |
| 206 | * DeadpanSnarker: In some episodes, her entire dialogue will be snide remarks. |
| 207 | * FlatCharacter: Has the least amount of characterization of the faculty members. All that the series shows us about her personality is that she's borderline apathetic and grumpy, she never displays any HiddenDepths like her colleagues are shown to have. |
| 208 | * IntergenerationalFriendship: With her aid Menlo, who seems to be one of the few people she can tolerate. |
| 209 | * LetsGetDangerous: Despite being an ApatheticTeacher, Miss Lemon comes to help stop Benedict in the movie when Miss Finster needed an army. She even does a perfect split while wielding nunchucks. |
| 210 | * MeaningfulName: Lemon's the perfect name for such a sour lady. |
| 211 | * OnlyOneName: Her first name has never been mentioned. |
| 212 | * PerpetualFrowner: She smiles about as often as Miss Grotke frowns. Which is to say almost never. Usually Menlo is involved when she does. |
| 213 | * TheRival: Some episodes paint her as one for Miss Finster. |
| 214 | [[/folder]] |
| 215 | |
| 216 | [[folder:Hank]] |
| 217 | |
| 218 | -->'''Debut:''' "To Finster With Love" |
| 219 | -->'''Voiced By:''' Creator/JohnAstin |
| 220 | |
| 221 | The friendly janitor of Third Street School. |
| 222 | ---- |
| 223 | * AlmightyJanitor: He's a mathematical genius, but he's content to work as janitor because he feels if he got paid for his math prowess it would take the fun out of it. |
| 224 | * AmicableExes: With Finster at the end of "To Finster With Love". They still like each other, but felt that they couldn't be together without it interfering with their work. |
| 225 | * DitzyGenius: {{Downplayed}}. He isn't overtly silly, but he is quite light-hearted and doesn't take too many things seriously and is quite naive in certain areas. Case in point- he is a brilliant mathematician, good enough to start receive offers from government departments and top universities, but he genuinely had ''no idea'' how gifted he was, performing advanced math equations just because he found it fun. |
| 226 | * FriendToAllChildren: He's always friendly to the kids. |
| 227 | * HappinessInMinimumWage: Even though he is a mathematical genius, he loves being a janitor and in "A Genius Among Us," even when offered a number of very impressive jobs, he decided to stick with his current job. |
| 228 | * HiddenDepths: He is a mathematical genius who happens to be a janitor. |
| 229 | * IntergenerationalFriendship: With Gretchen as of "A Genius Among Us". |
| 230 | * InkSuitActor: He bares at least a passing resemblance to his actor John Astin, complete with moustache. |
| 231 | [[/folder]] |
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