Tim Swanson
Portrayed By: Dov Tiefenbach (TV)
The main protagonist. He desperately wants to be a magician like his idol, Amazo, and will do drastic actions in order to do so.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: In the TV episode, he's more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. He genuinely cares about Ginny herself when she turns into a rabbit, instead of fearing that he'll get in trouble with his parents for it in the book. Also, he sympathizes with El Sidney over his sob story of being turned a rabbit by Amazo and helps him turn back, even though he was lying.
- Ascended Fanboy: Yes, he becomes Amazo's assistant, but not quite in the way he wanted, but he's still happy about it nevertheless.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: He, at one point, wishes so much to be Amazo's assistant. And he does, but as a rabbit to perform in his tricks. Then again, Amazo did tell him that he would like for him to be his assistant for his magic tricks.
- Blatant Lies: He does this constantly, especially when his sister, Ginny, catches him trying to sneak out of the house and to Amazo's show. She asks him where he's going, and he replies that he's going into the garage to practice some magic tricks. She doesn't buy it for a second.
- Can't Take Criticism: He cannot stand the way people call his magic tricks lame, and especially not the way Ginny does.
- Disappointing Older Sibling: Ginny thinks he's a major disappointment, being egotistical, doing lame magic tricks, and being a fraud. So she exposes most of his tricks to the audience, and she beats him up at times because she likes to show off her karate skills.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Ginny regularly practises her karate skills on him, basically beating him up, which her parents allow and condone. This would never pass if Tim tried to beat up Ginny.
- Forced Transformation: At the end, he's transformed into a bunny, just like his sister Ginny was.
- Gag Nose: He has a long and curved nose, to which Ginny likes to tap and say "boing" as she does this. Tim's actor in the TV episode has a nose that fits this description.
- It's All About Me: He tends to be very self-centered. He doesn't care much about his sister, and when she gets turned into a rabbit thanks to a trick from Amazo's magic kit, he worries that he'll get in major trouble with his parents if they find out about this, instead of worrying over Ginny's well-being.
- Jerkass: Not only is he very self-centered, he is also obnoxious to Ginny and Foz. He doesn't care much about the rabbit of Foz's sister that he loses or when Ginny gets turned into a rabbit, only that he himself will get in major trouble if these things happen. He also has quite an attitude.
- Laser-Guided Karma: He threatens to turn his sister into a rabbit in a Big Brother Bully way. And in the end of the story, he gets the same treatment.
- Literal-Minded: At one point, he wants to get an elaborate prop for a magic act in a store. He asks the owner how much it costs, and he replies two-fifty. Tim thinks he meant that it cost $2.50, only for Foz to point out that he meant $250.
- Loony Fan: He is this to Amazo, to the point that he even steals his magic kit full of tricks mainly to be just like him.
- Small Name, Big Ego: He is very much this trope. Even when he is bad as a Stage Magician, he still thinks and proclaims of himself as a person of potential and worthy of attention. To be fair, he doesn't have enough money for more impressive magic tricks.
- The Un-Favourite: His parents highly favour Ginny over him, thinking that she's very impressive for being intelligent and being great at karate, while he's a failed Stage Magician. They also allow Ginny to beat him up whenever she likes because "girls need to know how to defend themselves", even though she's basically assaulting him without cause.
- Unreliable Narrator: He paints himself as a Butt-Monkey who is unappreciated by most people around him. In reality, he is a self-centered nuisance and the people around him really just see him as the pathetic loser he is.
- With Friends Like These...: He isn't a very good friend to Foz. When he asked him to bring his sister's pet rabbit as part of his magic act, he ends up losing said rabbit, and he almost gets eaten by a cat while Tim and Foz have to get him back.
Ginny Swanson
Portrayed By: Tabitha Lupien (TV)
Tim's younger sister, who frequently beats him up for no reason other than to show off her skills in black belt karate.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Her hair is described as wavy-blonde in the book, but she has dark hair in the episode.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Towards Tim, from bossing her brother around to forcing Tim to take her along to the magic show... and later threatening to rat out Tim for sneaking out at night. Not to mention that she likes to use her karate tricks on him.
- Big Brother Bully: Inverted — she's a little sister bully to her brother.
- Cute Bruiser: According to Tim, people say that Ginny looks like an angel, and she is also quite skilled in karate.
- Forced Transformation: She gets briefly turned into a rabbit after chewing on a magical carrot, which she mistook for a snack.
- Jerkass Has a Point: As rude as it was to spoil the shows that Tim provided for an audience, she is absolutely correct in that they are flimsy scams.
- Little Girls Kick Shins: She is fond of doing this with her brother. Tim is astonished that she even does this while in rabbit form.
- Pet the Dog: She helps Foz rescue his rabbit when it is nearly attacked by a cat after it escaped.
- The Stool Pigeon: She threatens to be this to Tim when he is wanting to sneak out in the middle of the night to Midnight Mansion unless he takes her with him. And even afterwards, she still wants to tell on him to their parents.
Amaz-O
Rabbit Form
Human Form
Portrayed By: Mike Carbone (TV)
A renowned magician with real powers, and a foul attitude off stage. Turns out he's got a good reason for this, since he's trapped in the form of a rabbit and needs to appear human with an automated dummy.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the TV show, he doesn't have a foul attitude nor is he a rabbit. Those traits are taken by El Sidney, an evil magician Amazo trapped in rabbit form to stop.
- Adaptational Villainy: He's more explictly evil in Goosebumps HorrorTown. He offers Dustin a similar deal that he did with Tim but tries to force it and threatens him.
- Anti-Villain: Definitely not a good person (or rabbit) but he's really just angry and antisocial because of his condition. The most evil thing Amazo does is have Tim take his place as stage rabbit, which Tim surprisingly seems to appreciate.
- Breakout Character: Was similar to Cuddles in that he was prominent in the 1990s merchandise based off the series, and like Cuddles was Demoted to Extra when the series was rebooted by Goosebumps Horrorland. Bad Hare Day has yet to be reprinted.
- Broken Pedestal: Tim, his biggest fan, is so disgusted with his behavior that he steals the guy's magic box and eventually calls him out on his jerkassery. Amazo does make it up to him, though... on his own terms.
- The Cameo: He showed up in the 2000 series book Return to Horrorland and performed a few tricks.
- Deadpan Snarker: His sarcastic streak is a result of Tim and Foz being rather obtuse of his obvious transformation.
- Decomposite Character: In the book, Amazo is the rabbit, with his human self being a robotic duplicate he uses on stage. The TV episode has Amazo being a human magician, with the talking rabbit revealed to be a separate character named El Sidney.
- Forced Transformation: He's been transformed into a rabbit by an old rival, and as Tim finds out, he's really ashamed and bitter about his situation.
- Hair-Raising Hare: He's actually not as terrifying as the cover would have you believe, but he's certainly not someone to be trifled with.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Amazo's not a pleasant or friendly critter backstage, but considering he's trapped in a form he hates, with lots of pestering from fans like Tim for his dangerous magic tricks, it's hard to blame him.
- He is also rightly furious when he finds out that Timothy stole his magic kit.
- Surrounded by Idiots: His attitude towards Tim and Foz when they keep asking him stupid questions.
