Characters / Between the Lions

The "Mane" Family

Theo

• Big Eater: Loves eating meat more than anyone in his family.
• Good Parents: A great father to the cubs.
• Happily Married: Any scene Theo and Cleo share together is so wholesome. Even after having kids, their love is still so strong, they can't keep their paws off each other.

Cleo

• Shown Their Work: Most of Cleo's jobs, such as hunting, pouncing, and caring for the cubs are what lionesses do in real life.

Lionel

• Big Brother Instinct: He does whatever he can to help Leona when she's in trouble.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: His best friends are Lenny the Lizard and Gus the Rabbit.
• Straw Fan: Lionel loves the Cliff Hanger book series and is completely distraught when it almost comes to an end. He even goes so far as to call Cliff his idol.

Leona

• Annoying Younger Sibling: In Lionel's eyes at least, since she pesters him to be her designated reader, but they still love each other.
• Cheerful Child: A hyperactive and playful lion cub.

Library Residents

Click

• Nice Mice: Your friendly neighborhood computer mouse.

Barnaby B. Busterfield III

• Deadpan Snarker: Even when Walter and Clay aren't present, he will be making dry comments on the events of the episode.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": He does not like to be called "Buster", which is what Walter and Clay call him.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Despite being a sourpuss, Busterfield loves Fuzzy Wuzzy nursery rhymes and has a teddy bear he uses as a Companion Cube.
  • Sometimes, he is shown to actually value Walter and Clay as his friends. He likes to teach them different things.
• Put on a Bus: He vanishes after Season Four without a trace.
• Taken for Granite: The talking statue of the library.

Walter and Clay Pigeon

• The Ditz
• Only Friend: To Busterfield.
• Put on a Bus: They vanish after Season Four without a trace.
• Undying Loyalty: Despite Busterfield always getting annoyed with them, they take it in stride and do think of him as their friend.
• Vague Age: 'Farmer Ken's Puzzle' implies that the pigeons are roughly around Lionel's age, but their voices don't exactly match the standard seven-year-old child voice.

Arty Smartypants

• Ambiguously Absent Parent: His father is never seen or mentioned.
• Breakout Character: Not only did he get his own music video, he stayed with the series until the end, unlike most of the other puppet characters. He even starred in a Ready to Learn short with the Cookie Monster. It's hard not to mention the show without him.
• Cloudcuckoolander: His whole personality revolves around him performing magic tricks with his magic smarty pants, dancing and word labels.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Whatever he is, he's certainly not your typical preschool show puppet.

Marmy Smartypants

• Cool Old Lady: Marmy is just as eccentric as her sonny boy and hosts her own segment in later episodes.

Heath the Thesaurus

• Advertised Extra: Despite appearing in the intro and being labeled as a main character on the defunct website, he only appears in two songs, as an announcer for some sketches, and a few episodes in Seasons 2 and 3.
• Drop-In Character: Whenever a character wants to know the meaning of a word, Heath will randomly pop up to explain.
• Vocal Evolution: When Heath was voiced by Tyler Bunch, he had a deep, manly voice. When Peter Linz took over, his voice became nasally and high-pitched.

Information Hen

Gus the Rabbit

• Bunnies for Cuteness: He doesn't look too bad, we'll give you that.

Dr. Nitwhite and Watson

• Absent-Minded Professor: Nitwhite never gets his word discoveries right.
• Accidental Misnaming: Nitwhite is always accidentally referred to as "Dr. Nitwit" by other people.
• Berserk Button: Nitwhite does not take kindly to being referred to as "Dr. Nitwit".
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Kind of; Watson is usually the one who indirectly debunks Nitwhite's discoveries.

Characters from the Segments

The Vowelles

• Animate Body Parts: The Vowelles are different colored lips singing along with wigs.
• Animate Inanimate Object: The gloves and scarves are alive as well.

Martha Reader

• Ascended Extra: Was one of the lead singers in the music video, "We Are Family: A Musical Message for All." This was the only time she was seen outside her stage.

Johnny Consonatti

• Ascended Extra: Hardly appeared in season one, but then got promoted to the announcer for Martha's segments in the following season.

Cliff Hanger

• Butt-Monkey: No matter what, he always returns to the cliff, humiliated and defeated.
• Character Catchphrase:
  Cliff: Can't... hold... on... much... LONGER!
• Driving Question: How did he end up hanging from that cliff in the first place?
• Dumb Muscle: Some episodes feature him getting rid of things that could help him get off the cliff, such as a phone or a parachute.
• Punny Name: He is in a Literal Cliff Hanger. It's in his name and theme song.
• Victory Is Boring: The one time he got off the cliff and managed to stay off it, he found his retirement lacking in adventure to the point where he willingly returned to it.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: He never gets off that cliff. If he does, he'll always end up hanging from it again, whether he wants to be or not.

Chicken Jane

• Butt-Monkey: Butt Chicken in this case. Always getting hurt at the expense of saving her owners Scot and Dot from their obliviousness.
• Undying Loyalty: Will always protect Scott and Dott, no matter what happens to her.

Scott and Dot

• Children Are Innocent: They are completely oblivious to the obvious danger around them.
• The Ditzes: They are not very bright, which is why poor Chicken Jane has to save them in every episode.

Gawain and Knights

• Expy: The entire "Gawain's Word" segment is a big homage to the classic Saturday Night Live sketch, Wayne's World, right down to the surfer voice Gawain has, and the way the title card comes into frame.
• Surfer Dude: Gawain talks like this.

The Un-People

• For the Evulz: Their whole reason for terrorizing poor little Monica.

The Re-People

• Reset Button: These guys always save Monica from the Un-People to make everything go back to normal.

Monica Maxwell

• Black and Nerdy: She's quite precocious for a little girl.

Terry Bradshaw and Football Players

• Freeze-Frame Bonus: It's a hard-to-see detail even for the most eagle eyed viewer, but Terry Bradshaw's microphone has the series logo printed on the side of it.
• Iris Out: Each Blending Bowl segment ends this way before transitioning to the next segement.
• Large-Ham Announcer: As per the norm, Terry Bradshaw acts as one and does a fine job at it too.

My Favorite Word opera singer

• Broken Record: Because the only words he sings about consist of fabulous, humungous, and miniscule, his singing about the definition of said words can be considered as such.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: His outfit and hat in particular are a Shout-Out to Napoleon Bonaparte.

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