The Fischoeder Family

General

A wealthy yet extremely eccentric family that lives in Seymour's Bay.

Ax-Crazy: All of them are prone to violent outbursts, some more than others.
Big Bad Ensemble: The three members we meet in the show all take the stage as a major antagonist at some point. Calvin takes the role more frequently, while Felix and Grover only take it once, but the latter two are much more threatening than Calvin, whose schemes are rarely treated seriously.
Big, Screwed-Up Family: On top of being so dysfunctional they make the Pestos look wholesome, pretty much every known member of the family is a criminal in some way. It's to the point that Calvin is the only member who hasn't been convicted of a crime, and even that's only because he's a Karma Houdini.
Cain and Abel: Calvin and Felix have this dynamic, with Calvin being the Big Brother Bully to the Butt-Monkey Felix. Looks are deceiving, however—Felix is the Cain while Calvin is the Abel, with Calvin never escalating beyond bullying while Felix has more than once put Calvin in danger.
Laughably Evil: Even at their worst, they still keep their usual eccentricities. Sometimes this keeps things from being too serious, but other times it just makes them seem even more unhinged.
Sharp-Dressed Man: Their main outfits all consist of a fancy suit.
Walking Spoiler: The depth of their dysfunction and the true nature of some of their members makes it hard to discuss some of them at length. In particular, they play such a major role in the movie that it's hard to discuss that they're in it without mentioning how.

Calvin Fischoeder

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mr_fischoeder.png

"Hello, Belchers. Just here for the monthly rent. I say 'monthly' because there seems to be some sort of confusion about that."

Voiced by: Kevin Kline

An Eccentric Millionaire who serves as the owner and proprietor of Wonder Wharf, as well as landlord to about half the population of Seymour's Bay (including both Bob and Jimmy). This in turn makes him by far the most powerful man in town, which he is content to exploit whenever he feels like it.

Affably Evil: Downplayed — "evil" is kind of a stretch with him, but it's clear there's basically nothing stopping him from just doing that. He's rarely even directly antagonistic to Bob, but still regularly gets Bob in trouble, not counting rent problems.
- "The Oeder Games" reveals he invokes this. He wants to be a landlord everyone can be friends with even while he's trying to bleed them dry of their money for petty self-gain.
The Alcoholic: Once drank so much schnapps that his memory has a gap throughout all of 1996, and in the present day he still seems to love his alcohol (namely scotch and especially bourbon).
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Calvin sometimes gets distracted by Bob's arm hair when talking to him, apparently because it reminds him of his father.
Ax-Crazy: Has more than once used a firearm as part of his shenanigans. Special mention to "Torpedo", where he actually tries to shoot Bob directly and only stops after running out of ammo.
Bad Boss: He undervalues and underpays his employees, who have to live in a trailer park because of how low their salary is. He's mentioned as having been the cause of many worker uprisings in the past, and the movie indicates that his employees almost universally dislike him.
Big Bad: Despite his affable nature towards the Belcher family, he does have a number of questionable ventures and schemes that are hinted at. He owns most of the properties in the city as well, and could have the Belchers thrown onto the streets with a snap of his fingers. He's easily the most powerful antagonist in the show... well, he would be, were he to ever actually be more antagonistic.
Big Brother Bully: He treats Felix like a little child (which, to be fair, he acts like) and is generally not that great towards him.
Buy Them Off: After Felix's actions in the Season 4 finale nearly get the Belchers killed, Bob is about to tell the police everything and get Felix arrested. Calvin immediately starts offering thousands of dollars to keep him quiet, which convinces Bob to at least reconsider. While we never see the results, the fact that Felix walks free and nobody mentions his actions ever again suggests that Calvin did in fact pay Bob something.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Wonder Wharf is rife with rigged games and safety issues, and is apparently staffed exclusively by criminals. He flagrantly breaks union laws as well, enough to be successfully blackmailed over it by the Belcher kids. His other business ventures are implied to be even worse—he once implied that he employs children as coal miners, and from there, things get...darker.
Bob: What if you found out that someone you knew was doing something sort of bad, and you were helping them do that sort of bad thing?
Mr. Fischoeder: Is it me? Is it abortions?
Deadpan Snarker: Has no shortage of jabs towards just about anyone, no matter how inappropriate the situation.
Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: In Dawn of the Peck, he asks Felix if anyone got out of the wharf after they locked it down to prevent the mad birds from escaping. Felix confirms that there are still people trapped inside, though it's not like anyone would believe them anyway... except they were still on live TV when they were confirming this.
- This is a common problem of his: he regularly and openly tells people (mostly the Belchers) of his less than legal actions at the drop of a hat. The kids exploit it in "Sexy Dance Healing" to blackmail him into getting Jairo his studio back, and Calvin lampshades that he needs to stop it.
Early Installment Character-Design Difference: In "Sheesh! Cab, Bob?", his debut episode, his eyepatch is black instead of white. Considering the episode was actually produced after "Burger Wars" (which introduces his white eyepatch), it's unclear why this episode was the oddball.
Eccentric Millionaire: Is by far more "eccentric" than actually "evil", and you get the feeling that his immense wealth and power has insulated him from normal human behavior. Making things worse is that he tends to hang around other Eccentric Millionaires.
Even Evil Has Standards: Although he is rather apathetic towards Bob whenever he and his family are in a dire situation, Calvin never tries to inflict harm on the Belchers himself. This best shown in "Escape from Which Island" where, despite joining his friends in using Bob as bait, he backpedals and immediately frees him.
Eyepatch of Power: He wears a white eyepatch and is the richest man in the city, owning most of the properties as well as the biggest money-maker in town.
Eye Scream: His eye was cut out by his younger brother Felix. A photograph featured in the movie shows that he's had the patch since he was at least a teenager.
Given Name Reveal: His first name of Calvin wasn't known until the Season 1 finale.
Gun Nut: Never give him a gun, because he will find an excuse to use it.
Hidden Depths: He's a pretty talented singer and an excellent piano player, as shown in "The Nice-Capades".
Hypocritical Humor: He calls Bob the one with the Loose Lips in "Copa-Bob-bana", even though Calvin himself tends to say things he shouldn't to people he shouldn't.
Jerkass Has a Point: His belief that Felix can't commit to anything in his life has a lot of evidence backing it, even if he uses that point to be a Big Brother Bully.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a bully who looks down on people who are poor and is a Bad Boss who exploits his workers. However, he seems to have a genuine liking to the Belchers. He gives Bob many opportunities (granted, he does it push his own goals in mind) to help pay or lessen his rent and gives the Belchers a lot of slack when it comes to actually paying. He's also not an Ungrateful Bastard; when the Belchers exonerate him of murder and save his life in the movie, Calvin thanks them by paying off their loan and implicitly waiving that month's rent.
Karma Houdini: Due to his status, he tends to be able to foist off his actions without any repercussions.
- Averted at the end of "Dawn of the Peck", when some of the mad turkeys break into his home and attack him and Felix.
- Zigzagged in "Beach, Please". Louise tries to blackmail him with proof that he's caused the beach to be covered in trash, which he easily circumvents by hiring his workers to clean the beach and preserve his reputation. However, the entire mess was caused in the first place because he didn't want to do that because volunteers usually clean the beach for him—he avoids being blackmailed and potentially having his reputation run through the mud, but he still has to pay out of pocket to clean the beach, which is what he'd been trying to avoid the entire time.
- The movie touches on this further. Namely, it reveals that one source of Calvin's wealth (besides the wharf) is a family inheritance trust that can only be accessed by Fischoeders who haven't been convicted of a crime. Calvin hasn't been convicted, but it's not because he's innocent of any crimes—it's just because he's never been caught, which Calvin openly brags about when his cousin Grover complains about it.
Lack of Empathy: Played around with. He does have moments of genuine kindness, but most of his interactions with Bob and the rest of the cast demonstrate he has no real idea how to understand other people because he spends most of his time around other eccentric and horribly sheltered rich people. To him, a real world problem worthy of sympathy is something along the lines of "getting your money washed and waxed", and anyone with a different problem can go shove it.
A Lighter Shade of Black: Despite being a Bad Boss Corrupt Corporate Executive with illegal business venues, child labor, and disregard for safety regulations, he's somehow better than the rest of his family—Felix has attempted murder, and Grover has actually gone through with it.
Manipulative Bastard: Not above manipulating others to serve his own ends. "The Oeder Games" sees him break up a town-wide rent strike just by convincing them that they have a chance for one tenant to get lower rent, and it's indicated he's done something similar before with his wharf employees.
Meaningful Name: A businessman with questionably legal practices whose last name is "Fischoeder," which sounds like "fish odor"—or in other words, "Something smells fishy."
Money to Throw Away: He and Felix regularly have "money fights" that involve throwing wads of cash at each other.
Morality Pet: The Belchers, especially Bob. Calvin almost seems to think of them as his extended family, and most of his more benevolent acts are either towards them or influenced by them in some way.
Mushroom Samba: In "Comet-y of Errors", he attends the comet watch party while tripping on mushrooms. This leads to him attempting to threaten the cloudy sky into clearing up and attempting to tickle the comet when the sky actually does clear up.
The Nicknamer: Bob is the only Belcher he consistently calls by name; every other Belcher gains a nickname either in relation to Bob or the restaurant (such as "Female Bob", "Lady Burger", or "Burger Children"). He refers to the collective family as "Burger People".
Not Me This Time: While he's definitely a criminal, he didn't murder Cotton Candy Dan. Ironically, the one crime he didn't do is the one crime he gets arrested for.
Obviously Evil: His shady and certifiably insane nature are immediately obvious due to his fashion sense and overall demeanor. Louise cites his lack of a Right-Hand Cat as the only reason he's not a supervillain. This causes him problems during the movie; he's so untrustworthy that almost nobody believes he's innocent of Cotton Candy Dan's murder.
Old Money: It's mentioned in "Ambergris" that the Fischoeder brothers inherited their money from their parents. The movie elaborates on this, revealing that Calvin's father gave him both an inheritance trust as well as Wonder Wharf. This is actually a sore spot among Calvin's employees; at one point they complain that they have to do all the dirty work just to barely scrape by while Calvin lives like a king without having worked a day in his life. It's also a sore spot for Felix, who got nothing of note in comparison.
Only Sane by Comparison: He's much more composed than his younger brother, and the movie makes it clear he's also more stable than his cousin, but at the end of the day "Calvin Fischoeder" and "sane" do not belong in the same sentence.
Pet the Dog: He's borderline sociopathic, but if there's one consistent way to bring out his good side it's the Belchers. "Burger Wars" shows him planning to evict Bob for his rent problems, until he tastes Bob's "Meat-siah", and immediately extends his lease because it's that good. In the movie, he considers withholding rent payment so the Belchers can pay their loan; after they exonerate him of murder, he not only goes through with that but pays off the loan himself out of gratitude. It's implied that he gives Bob copious amount of slack due to the quality of his burgers and/or personal liking for the Belchers, rather than using the restaurant space for a more lucrative business. He also gives the Belchers several chances to earn free rent, and as shown in "Copa-Bob-bana", he's willing to still give them free rent even when his plans go awry. All in all, he could've thrown the Belchers on the streets many times over, but he simply likes them too much to do that.
Punny Name: His last name sounds like fish odor.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In "The Deepening", he leaves town the instant the mechanical shark gets loose, though not before throwing Bob under the bus for good measure. He returns at the end of the episode... then sees the damage the shark caused to the restaurant and bails again.
The Sociopath: Played With. Between his aloof, uncaring attitude towards others and his disregard for everyone's safety (even his own), he ticks quite a few of the boxes. He doesn't seem to be entirely sociopathic (see Pet the Dog above), but he's on the edge for sure.
The Stoner: "Bob Fires the Kids" indicates he uses weed, and "Comet-y of Errors" has him show up to the comet watch party tripping on mushrooms. He also has access to LSD, as mentioned in "To Bob or Not to Bob", but no indication is given on if he personally uses it.
Took a Level in Jerkass: He seems to have more and more disregard for Bob's well-being as the series progresses. "Seaplane!" is a good example — it's made very clear that he could have very easily helped Bob directly and his neglect nearly gets the Belchers killed, but he's the only reason Bob knew to rescue Linda at all.
- Zig-zagged in "The Oeder Games". He seems to be willing to raise everyone's rent, and then just wants to cause great trouble for the Belchers, until it's revealed that he just feels slightly abandoned by Bob and wants to be friendlier. The rent hike, on the other hand, really was him being greedy and wanting to install a pool on his estate to attract women, but he's also willing to "postpone" that for a year or two.
Tyrannical Town Tycoon: Downplayed. He's a corrupt businessman who practically owns the town, including various buildings, businesses, and the local amusement park (the last of which happens to be the town's major source of income). However, he rarely actually abuses his power and seems fine with just leaving his tenants alone until it's time to pay rent. The one time he actually tries to pit them against each other, he simply gives up after having a genuine conversation with Bob.
Verbal Judo: What keeps him from being properly evil is his openness to being talked down, typically by Bob.
Villain in a White Suit: Maybe not a "villain," but he's a duplicitous fellow who always wears a white suit with matching white eyepatch and white-on-gray wingtips. Louise lampshades it, noting that all he needs to complete the ensemble is a Right-Hand Cat.
Villain with Good Publicity: He's known around town as a good-humored businessman. The few people who know better aren't in much of a position to argue otherwise.
- In "Beach, Please", Louise attempts to blackmail him with proof that he's the cause of the litter left all over the beach. Mr. Fischoeder realizes what's going on and immediately decides to pay his employees to clean the beach, preserving his public image.
You Remind Me of X: He apparently likes Bob so much because Bob reminds him of his father, a "swarthy, hardworking immigrant" with "magnificent arm hair".

Felix Fischoeder

"I'm not being dramatic! I just feel like I'm gonna throw up my heart and my head will fly away like a bird!"

Voiced by: Zach Galifianakis

Calvin Fischoeder's even more off-kilter younger brother.

Alliterative Name: Felix Fischoeder.
Always Someone Better: His brother Calvin is rich, he's powerful, he's got enough influence to turn half the town on each other, and everybody knows him. Felix is known not for his own merits, but because he's Calvin's younger brother, and he has none of the money or influence Calvin does. Both Fischoeders are aware of it, and it causes Felix no end of frustration.
Ambiguous Situation: The movie reveals that Calvin and Grover (prior to the end of the movie, at least) are the only Fischoeders who haven't been convicted of a felony; a felony being what disqualifies a Fischoeder from the family trust. It's never clarified if Grover simply forgot to mention Felix (like many people do)—or, if he didn't forget Felix, what Felix got convicted of that would disqualify him from the trust.
Big Bad: Of the two-part Season 4 finale; he attempts to orchestrate the sale of Wonder Wharf for personal gain and later attempts to kill Bob and Calvin when that falls through. His guilt keeps him from going all the way and he tries to save his brother and Bob, which causes his girlfriend Fanny to turn on him and snatch the position from him for the last five minutes of the two-parter.
Big Brother Bully: It's implied that Calvin was this to him when they were kids and, from what we can see, it didn't help him any.
Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: Prone to childish insults.
Butt-Monkey: His schemes against his brother always fail, and he almost always looks like a fool in the process.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: His grasp on sanity makes Calvin seem almost well-adjusted.
Early-Bird Cameo: His debut appearance in the subplot of "Ambergris" serves primarily to set him up for his much larger role as the Big Bad of the Season 4 finale a few episodes later.
Easily Forgiven: Even after the incidents of "How Bob Saves/Destroys The Town" (See the Sanity Slippage section for more details) his relationship with his brother is exactly the same in the following episodes and his attempt to murder his brother and Bob is never mentioned again in the series. While Calvin's reason for forgiving him is unknown beyond Big Brother Instinct, it's implied that the reason Bob never brings it up is because he was paid by Calvin to keep things quiet.
Epic Fail: Twice has Felix been put in charge of something, only for his desire to go past expectations cause him to make mistakes that end up ruining what he was supposed to do.
- "Ambergris": He was supposed to get a plumber for Bob, only for him to try and remake the bathroom, while hiring a DJ and attempting to get burlesque girls to join. Not only does Bob hate the renovation, but Felix didn't even get a plumber.
- "Dawn of the Peck": He was supposed to only get 500 turkeys. Because he waited too long and ordered them the day before Thanksgiving, he gets more than just turkeys, namely chickens, ducks and geese, which causes the birds to become more violent and attack everyone.
Eye Scream: Is offhandedly revealed to have stabbed out his brother's eye.
First-Name Basis: The second character to consistently call his brother by his first name of Calvin, and the only recurring character to do so (the first, Shelby Schnabel, is a one-off character who only beat Felix to the punch because she debuted an entire season before he did).
Fleeting Passionate Hobbies: In "Copa-Bob-bana", he opens a nightclub named Jazzaret. However, Calvin doesn't even bother with important legal procedures because he knows it won't last long, because Felix has had a lot of fleeting hobbies.
Felix: You never believed in Jazzaret!
Calvin: You have never finished anything in your Jazza-life!
Freudian Excuse: Being treated as second-best to Calvin his entire life hasn't done him any favors, nor has Calvin directly mistreating him.
Gasshole: Farts in his sleep (called "sleep fart-nea"), to the point that Calvin kicked him out of the manor and forced him to live in a treehouse on the Fischoeder estate.
Heel–Face Turn: Has second thoughts about leaving Bob and Calvin to drown and goes back to save them.
Hypocritical Humor: After he admits he gets angry over being called degrading nicknames, he immediately follows it up by referring to his girlfriend Fanny with a degrading nickname.
Ironic Name: Felix means lucky, even though he's anything but.
Leave No Witnesses: Felix doesn't actually have a grudge against Bob, but because Bob knows about Felix's plan to kill Calvin he's tied up under the pier anyways.
Manipulative Bastard: Uses Bob's desire for a nice burger joint to manipulate him into trying to get Calvin to sell Wonder Wharf.
Money Dumb: The reason he's living with (and financially dependent on) Calvin is because he blew through his half of the brothers' inheritance.
May–December Romance: On the December end with Fanny. Fanny is explicitly 29, while Felix is in his late 50's/early 60's—over twice Fanny's age.
The Napoleon: He's of below-average height (his official wiki article lists him as 5'5"), and "Dawn of the Peck" depicts him as too short for his feet to reach the floor when he's sitting on a chair. As for the temper/ego problems required for this trope, he absolutely has them.
Noodle Incident: It's implied he's made serious attempts on Calvin's life before. The movie also implies he's been convicted of a felony before.
Not Me This Time: While the Season 4 finale showed him trying to inherit Calvin's wealth and wharf through illegal means, when it seems like he's doing it again in the movie it turns out he's actually innocent and had nothing to do with Cotton Candy Dan's murder (which Calvin has been accused of). Louise, who had him pinned as the prime suspect for half the movie, is shocked.
Psychopathic Manchild: He's in at least his fifties but acts like he's five times younger, and as the Season 4 finale shows he could give Calvin a run for his money in the "crazy" department.
Sanity Slippage: Granted he wasn't really sane to begin with, but Bob convincing Mr. Fischoeder not to sell Wonder Wharf causes him to hold them both at gunpoint and tie them under the pier to be drowned by the tide.
Saying Too Much: In the Season 13 premiere, Calvin accuses him of stealing a trophy given to Calvin by the brothers' father on his deathbed. Felix ends up accidentally confessing by asking why Calvin is so confident he did it when he hasn't even figured out where he stashed the trophy. He then proceeds to reveal exactly where he stashed it through Suspiciously Specific Denial.
Sibling Yin-Yang: He's a weird case with Calvin. While Calvin is eccentric and has questionable ethics, he's more controlled, while Felix, as mentioned above, is more off-kilter and his buttons are easily pushed.
The Unfavorite: Strongly implied from his resentment toward Calvin. Not to mention that while Calvin inherited the family mansion, Wonder Wharf, and a special trophy from the brothers' late father, Felix didn't receive anything of note. Calvin claims in "Ambergris" that he was their mother's favorite, but given it's a song to cheer him up after a temper tantrum the legitimacy of this claim is dubious at best.
Unusual Pets for Unusual People: Felix owns a pet wolf named Lulu.
Vague Age: Calvin is in his sixties, but it's not clear how much younger Felix is. They seem to have grown up together, meaning there's not much time between them (maybe a decade at most), but it's never stated one way or the other. However, Felix's hair is noticeably not gray like his brother's (though it's entirely possible he dyed it).
Youngest Child Wins: Inverted. He can never best his older brother. Part of his motive in the Season 4 finale is to finally become the Mr. Fischoeder.

Grover Fischoeder

"Business dreams are about business. They're not about dreams."

Voiced by: David Wain

Debuting in Season 9's "Roamin' Bob-iday", Grover Fischoeder is the less-known, less-rich cousin of Calvin and Felix, as well as their lawyer. In contrast to his cousins, Grover is calm, rational, and at the very least nowhere near as morally dubious as they are... or so it seems at first.

Ascended Extra: After playing a very minor role in the show, he has a significantly bigger part in The Bob's Burgers Movie. More specifically, he goes from having only a handful of lines to being the Big Bad.
Amoral Attorney: Implied; while he's never seen doing anything amoral, the fact that he's the personal lawyer of Calvin Fischoeder doesn't speak wonders about him. The movie not only erases any ambiguity, but shows that he's fairly amoral independently of Calvin's own actions (in fact, Calvin almost seems like a good person compared to him). It's revealed that he killed a carny six years in the past to frame his cousin, and while Grover does take up Calvin's defense he all but states later on that he wasn't exactly aiming to get Calvin acquitted. As if that weren't enough, he later attempts to kill both his cousins and the entire Belcher family, as well as burn down Wonder Wharf so he can build a megapark in its place. And as if that wasn't enough, once he's done he intends to bulldoze the entirety of Ocean Avenue to accommodate parking and gift shops for said megapark, leaving numerous people both homeless and jobless.
Beneath Suspicion: He's so unmemorable prior to the reveal that Louise never considers him a suspect in Cotton Candy Dan's murder, even though she knew he existed from the news report on Calvin's arrest and her logic for suspecting Felix applies just as much for Grover due to him also being a Fischoeder. He also counts on this trope working in his favor later on; he outlines his plan to kill his cousins before explaining that nobody would even think to suspect him of doing so despite having the most to gain from their deaths.
Grover: Now, if something unfortunate happens to Calvin and Felix, whom will they suspect? Not me, no, no, no. Why would they?
Big Bad: Of The Bob's Burgers Movie. He murdered Cotton Candy Dan six years prior to the series, and that's not counting everything he does during the movie itself.
Boring, but Practical: How he contrasts between his cousins. While Felix and Calvin lean towards the Awesome, but Impractical in their financial schemes, he encourages simplicity and practical investments like a parking garage or a series of gift shops. It's also deconstructed. His plan to change the wharf and surrounding area into a mega-park shows how his "simple" park idea would trample over normal homes and businesses. By comparison, Calvin is willing to leave local businesses alone as long as they pay on time or provide decent quality.
Butt-Monkey: In the movie, his cousins treat him with no respect, often make jokes at his expense, and look down on him for simply being poorer than them. Much of Grover's hatred for his cousins stems from this.
Card-Carrying Villain: At the end of his Villain Song, despite insisting throughout that he's "not that evil", he eventually concedes that he's sure feeling evil.
Caught Monologuing: Calvin baits him into going on a rant as he forces Calvin and Felix into the submarine ride, distracting him long enough to allow the Belchers a chance to escape.
Chekhov's Gunman: In the movie, he only appears twice at the beginning, and in both scenes he has only a couple lines each. He reappears at the end of the second act, just in time for the reveal that he's Cotton Candy Dan's murderer.
Clothing-Concealed Injury: His pink suit hides a nasty bite scar on his arm. Louise matching the scar to one of Cotton Candy Dan's teeth is the final piece of evidence revealing that Grover murdered Dan.
Didn't Think This Through: Despite seeming well-planned on the surface, Grover's murder of Cotton Candy Dan, his ensuing Frame-Up of Calvin, and his attempt at covering everything up all have several holes that, once poked at, cause the entire plan to fall apart. Most prominently, he has a bad case of "out of sight, out of mind" that leads him to move on from certain phases of his plan before they're complete (leaving these phases' success up to chance), neglect preparing a backup plan in the event something unexpected happens, or focus so much on certain details he completely overlooks other, smaller details.
- He effortlessly hides the bite scar Dan gave him (since all he has to do is wear clothing that would cover it), but doesn't concern himself with the cufflink Cotton Candy Dan swallowed in the process, even though there's photographic evidence it belongs to him. Sure enough, the police are able to retrieve the cufflink from Dan's corpse and Louise compares it to the aforementioned photograph to confirm he's the killer.
- His alibi nearly falls apart because he didn't think anyone would move the table he needed to sneak back into the gym, and he's barely able to work around its absence.
- His method of dealing with the Belchers is rushed and improvised and he nearly lets them escape because he incorrectly assumes they'll stay still while he's focused on the Fischoeder brothers. Furthermore, once the Belchers are Buried Alive he completely puts them out of mind and fails to consider how they're still in a loud vehicle pressed against a plastic water pipe, ultimately allowing the Belchers the chance to finally escape and report his crimes to the police.
- He's savvy enough to block the side of his face so that nobody in Jimmy Pesto's can see him burying the Belchers, but he neglects to do the same for Mort's funeral home—which would've screwed him over even if the Belchers hadn't escaped, since "The Bleakening" previously confirmed Mort has security cameras.
The Dog Bites Back: His plot against Calvin is his response to years of abuse and mistreatment at his cousin's hands. Grover himself certainly views it as perfectly-justified retribution, even as he gets more innocent people hurt and/or killed.
The Dog Was the Mastermind: Remember Grover, that very minor character from the series whose only purpose was to be the Voice of Reason to his cousins? Turns out that not only is he the Big Bad of the movie, but he's also by far the worst of the Fischoeders we've seen thus far.
Evil All Along: His appearances in the show imply that, aside from whatever illicit cover-ups he does by virtue of being Calvin's lawyer, he's the White Sheep of the Fischoeder family. The movie reveals that this was all a facade — he murdered somebody six years before his first appearance in the show, and has been biding his time for the corpse to resurface so that he can blame it on Calvin.
Evil Counterpart: To Louise. Both are the Black Sheep of their families in different ways (Louise because of her constant troublemaking and Grover for being born in a less well-off branch of the Fischoeders family. However, while Louise does cause her family headaches, it doesn’t go far beyond simply annoying them for laugh, though she has some delinquent tendencies and is shown to genuinely love them. For Grover though, he only acts like a bumbling doofus to deceive his cousins and is willing to commit murder just to rid himself of them.
Faux Affably Evil: He seems like the most polite and rational person in his family, even though he's implicitly an Amoral Attorney. Unlike his cousins, however, it's all an act; he's a greedy, cold-blooded murderer who manages to rack up (in addition to the murder) seven counts of attempted murder (three of them children, no less) and one count of attempted arson by the time he's finally arrested.
Foil: To his unhinged cousins. Grounded in reality, dorky and unassuming, and capable of holding normal interactions with the average public, but nonetheless tied to some shady business practices. Compared to Calvin and Felix, he's straight-forward and practical. But while Calvin and Felix are Affably Evil and can be fairly open about their crimes, Grover notably insists he's a "good person" after murdering Cotton Candy Dan and attempting to kill the Belcher children for the sake of simple profit, whereas even at his worst Felix never considered harming the kids. While he can function among the non-rich, he's arguably worse than his cousins.
Freudian Excuse: Grover's dislike of his cousins comes from a valid place—they look down on him just for being part of the poorer branch of the Fischoeder family, they regularly bully him, and his entire family has neglected him to the point that he had to buy himself a graduation gift because nobody else did. That said, it hardly justifies his murder of Cotton Candy Dan and attempted murders of his cousins and the Belchers, no matter how much Grover himself believes it does.
Harpoon Gun: Wields a spear gun in the climax of the movie. While its low ammo count makes it impractical for actual use, it's very effective for taking hostages, and Grover even gets around the ammo issue by using his one shot to damage a tire during the Belchers' attempted escape, allowing him to catch up to the Belchers and nearly kill all five of them.
He Knows Too Much: With Calvin, Felix, and the Belchers aware that he's Cotton Candy Dan's real killer, he opts to drown his cousins and bury the Belchers so that they can't tell the police.
Hidden Disdain Reveal: While he gets along fine with Calvin and Felix in the show, the movie reveals he's always resented being in their shadow, loathes them for their constant bullying, and had planned to get rid of Calvin in particular as long as six years before the start of the series.
Hoist by His Own Petard: He shoots out the Belchers' front tire during the movie's chase scene. This leads to his downfall—after being Buried Alive, Bob is able to use the exposed metal wheel to rupture the water main and create a high-pressure jet of water that launches the Belchers out of the sinkhole.
Hypocrite:
- Grover complains about Calvin being a serial Karma Houdini, which would be a valid grievance if not for Grover himself having gone under the radar for a crime he committed six years ago with the intention of committing and getting away with even more crimes.
- You'd think that, being from a poorer part of the Fischoeder family and the Butt-Monkey to his cousins' antics, Grover would sympathize with the carnies, Belchers, and Calvin's other tenants—both they and Grover work hard just to survive and endure plenty of abuse from Calvin. However, Grover sees them not as kindred spirits, but as expendable, and he'll gladly bump them off to further his own goals. Despite complaining so much about his suffering at Calvin's hands he's more than willing to perpetuate that abuse towards other people who suffer from Calvin just as much if not more than he does, all while acting like he's the victim.
Just Between You and Me: His Villain Song has a call and response section just to ask his hostages if they want to hear his master plan. He has to ask a couple times, though, since everybody initially stays silent.
Knight of Cerebus:Once he's outed as Cotton Candy Dan's killer, the movie becomes significantly shorter on levity, especially once Grover starts actively trying to murder the Belchers, at which point he turns the lighthearted comedy into a borderline slasher film.
Knight Templar: He sees himself as a heroic underdog working to defeat his jerkass cousins and create a business venue that would allow a struggling tourist town to thrive—there's a reason his Villain Song is called "Not That Evil". Never mind that he's willing to commit murder in the name of that goal, or that his plan would displace an entire neighborhood's worth of people, or that he ultimately doesn't care about anything or anyone but himself.
Laughably Evil: For a brief while (at least before his attempted murder of the Belchers turns him into a bonafide Knight of Cerebus) he retains the nebbish, awkward traits that made him a Butt-Monkey even after his true colors are revealed. Particularly emphasized during his villain song where he breaks into falsetto and generally tries to involve his hostages in his villain song—with very mixed results.
Grover: (singing) Would you like to hear my master plan?
(dead silence)
Grover: (a little more desperately) ...Okay, could you answer faster 'cause I asked you 'would you like to hear my master plan?'
Long Game: Played with, in that he intended to have Calvin arrested for Cotton Candy Dan's murder immediately. When Dan's corpse went missing, however, he couldn't exactly go around asking where it was (which he lampshades), so he had no choice but to wait for it to resurface on its own before putting his plan back into motion. This took six years, and his patience is completely gone by the time Dan's corpse is finally unearthed.
Man Bites Man: What ultimately helps Louise identify him as the real murderer of Cotton Candy Dan years ago. He lost one of his signature banana-designed cufflinks into Dan's stomach when he bit him during their scuffle, with it later being recovered from his corpse when it's unearthed years later, and upon recognizing him wearing it in a photo, Louise takes a closer look at his arm and sees a bite scar there, with a certain part of the scar perfectly matching a crooked tooth she pocketed as a curiosity from Dan's body when it fell on her. Once he's exposed as the killer, Grover makes a comment on how Dan was a biter.
Mask of Sanity: While his cousins are distinctly self-absorbed and unhinged, Grover can pass in normal society as a functional person. His Motive Rant, Villain Song, and terrifying (not to mention borderline animalistic) pursuit of the Belchers reveal just how much more malicious he can be once he lets that mask drop. It's implied that being unaware of where Cotton Candy Dan's corpse was located for six years didn't help matters, as he comes very close to losing it when asked why it was found buried near the restaurant (which he genuinely hadn't planned for).
Motive Rant: In the movie, he gets one as part of his Villain Song to explain why he killed Cotton Candy Dan and why he's framing Calvin specifically.
Near-Villain Victory: In the movie, the final step in his plan is to rig a fuse to set Wonder Wharf on fire. The Belchers prevent this by mere seconds.
Oh, Crap!: One can see the light leave his eyes as he triumphantly leaves the gym, confident his alibi is secure, only to come face-to-face with Sergeant Bosco and an entire police squad.
Only Sane Man: Of the Fischoeders, he seems to be the only one with his head on straight. This ends up getting subverted hard in the movie.
Out of Focus: Of the Fischoeder family. Calvin and Felix are both recurring characters who serve as powerful antagonists or ineffectual allies, and have been part of the show since its earlier seasons; Grover doesn't appear until Season 9, he's kind of just there, and very little is known about him. While Calvin and Felix appear regularly in significant roles; Grover has only appeared twice in the show — both times in very minor roles. This gets subverted hard in the movie, where he initially seems to play this role again but then turns out to be the Big Bad behind the murder plot. The movie even uses this trope as the base of Grover's motivations — namely, he's always resented being in his cousins' shadows. Additionally, the trope seems to be justified—the show needed to establish him prior to the movie (otherwise he'd be introduced out of nowhere and his status as the Big Bad would be extremely easy to figure out), but it also couldn't make him too important (or else the series wouldn't be able to easily write him out). Giving him a handful of small appearances lies perfectly in the middle of that.
Pay Evil unto Evil: Played with. On paper, his plan seems like it's just giving Calvin and Felix what they deserve after all the illegal and immoral crap they've gotten away with. However, Grover oversteps the line by murdering an innocent man, and many more innocents would've been harmed had his plan succeeded.
Psycho Pink: Always wearing a pink outfit. As for the "psycho" part, he's an Amoral Attorney who's committed murder and is willing to do it again.
Put on a Prison Bus: He's arrested at the end of the movie for his crimes. The fact that he's wearing a prison jumpsuit in the end credits sequence suggests he's not showing up again any time soon.
Shadow Archetype: The movie reveals that he's what Felix would be if he had no sense of morality. While Felix previously attempted to obtain Calvin's fortune for himself through criminal means, he also ended up showing remorse for it and pulling a Heel–Face Turn. Grover attempts a similar plot, but makes it clear he has every intent to see it through to the end.
Sharp-Dressed Man: Notably, the movie reveals that his suit isn't just for appearances—the sleeve hides a bite scar on his arm that proves his role in Cotton Candy Dan's death.
Sissy Villain: He shows a lot of flamboyant mannerisms, especially in the movie where he's revealed as a murderer. He is often seen wearing pink. He has a rather high-pitched voice, and he even starts out his Villain Song in falsetto. In his song, he also does a ridiculous dance with outrageous movements like shaking his butt. The other characters claim that his alibi of being at the gym won't work because he doesn't "have a three-hour gym body" and he's "too pasty."
Small Role, Big Impact: In "Copa-Bob-bana", he plays a minor role as always, but he's the one who mentions the nearby sewage pipe to Felix, which plays a big role in the climax of the episode when Felix attempts to rupture it to get back at Calvin.
The Smart Guy: He's the brains of the Fischoeders' operations, and he seems well aware of it.
Smug Snake: Played for Laughs. He brags to his cousins and the Belchers about his plan to kill them, burn down the pier, and take over the town—except his plan has barely even gotten off the ground. It takes all of one small question from Louise to make him go from "nobody move!" to "bursting out into a falsetto Villain Song and goofy dance detailing every aspect of his master plan." It comes to a point where he actively tries to involve his captives in his Villain Song by getting them to ask about his Evil Plan, only for his captives to respond with nothing but confused silence.
The Sociopath: The movie reveals that, unlike Calvin, who is at least capable of genuine kindness on occasion, Grover is completely lacking empathy and is outright willing to murder people (including children) with an upbeat smile on his face.
Trapped in a Sinking Car: His method of attempting to kill his cousins is by trapping them in a submarine-themed ride and launching it into the ocean. He attempts to do the same to the Belchers before they escape, leading him to try and bury them alive instead.
Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: For a guy who insists he's not that evil, he's easily the most despicable villain in the entire series, having murdered an innocent man and with his attempt to murder the Belchers being nearly devoid of lighthearted moments. Even Fanny, the previous contender for the trope, at least had some humorous moments.
Villain Has a Point: Despite the blatant hypocrisy, it's hard to say Grover's wrong about Calvin being a criminal who's gotten away with far too much.
Villain Song: The movie gives him "Not That Evil", which serves to touch upon his motives for killing Cotton Candy Dan and framing Calvin, as well as additional details about his plan.
Walking Spoiler: It's basically impossible to discuss him at length without bringing up that he's the Big Bad of the movie.
White Sheep: The only moral, well-adjusted member of the Fischoeder family. He himself notes that he and Calvin are the only Fischoeders who have never been convicted of a felony. That's partly because, like Calvin, he just hasn't been caught until the movie; in reality, he averts this trope hard by being even crueler than his cousins.
Would Hurt a Child: He holds the Belcher kids hostage when he realizes that Louise has figured out he's Cotton Candy Dan's murderer, and later buries them and their parents alive in an attempt to Leave No Witnesses.

Characters / Bobs Burgers The Fischoeder Family

The Fischoeder Family

Calvin Fischoeder

Felix Fischoeder

Grover Fischoeder

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / Bobs Burgers The Fischoeder Family

Edit Locked

The Fischoeder Family

Calvin Fischoeder

Felix Fischoeder

Grover Fischoeder

Previous

Index

Next