Tayo
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Tayo is a young blue bus who is the show's namesake. As the series progresses, episodes feature him less and focus on other characters. This can be confusing for new viewers who watch the later seasons.
- All-Loving Hero: Generally-speaking, he doesn't have a real mean part in his body for most anyone.
- Blue Is Heroic: Obviously.
- Cheerful Child: To a lesser extent than Lani, but definitely still this.
- Cute Machines: He's a city bus, and moments of Toilet Humor aside, he can be very cute. Especially when he's turned toy-size in the episode "Tiny Tayo".
- Expy: He can be considered a mashup of Thomas and Roary. He has the former's blue color, involvement in public transport, and occasional dim moments, and the latter's on-roads physical nature, kind heart, endearing appearance, and young age.
- Fatal Flaw: His naïveté is his biggest one early on, though later episodes throw in other flaws like his curiosity, his over-eagerness to help without thinking things through, and his impatience and impulsiveness.
- Friend to All Children: Tayo in general loves playing tour guide and role model to the little kids, as well as to other vehicles younger than him, like a baby van named Bong Bong.
- Gasshole: Seems to blast a cloud of white stuff out his exhaust at least a few times a season.
- Idiot Hero: It generally depends on the episode, but thanks to a fair few faults of his, Tayo does tend to be a a rather dim bulb on at least a few occasions. Though, to be fair, he's pretty young.
- Keet: Rogi is this more than him, but he's still pretty energetic.
- Kid Hero: Very clearly a 'kid', and the main protagonist of the story.
- Lord Error-Prone: Very well-meaning, but there are times where his attempts at helping often do anything but help.
- Naïve Newcomer: Initially. He gets better.
- Nice Guy: While he does have his moments of selfishness or insensitivity, he's still generally friendly and eager to help.
- Nice Mean And In Between: The In-Between one with Gani's Nice and Rogi's (sorta) Mean.
- No Sense of Direction: Gets lost quite a few times at the beginning of the series. He grows out of it, though.
- Rookie Red Ranger: Starts out as this at the beginning of the series but very quickly progresses.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He and Rogi are generally the Manly Men to Gani's Sensitive Guy.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Averted, surprisingly. While Tayo is the main character of the show and as such gets the most appearances of any character, plenty of episodes, especially later on, feature other characters either as well or instead.
- Vague Age: His age isn't ever stated, but he's implied to be the equivalent of someone roughly 7 to 10 years old.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Rogi.
Rogi
Rogi is a green bus who often argues with Tayo. Despite their conflicting personalities, they're best friends.
- Butt-Monkey: Tends to get into embarrassing situations more often than the other buses do.
- Collector of the Strange: Has a thing for collecting random stuff he finds. Much to the consternation of the others.
- Determinator: Exemplifies this when playing detective.
- Great Detective: Fancies himself as one and even gets an entire episode to do detective work.
- Green and Mean: Sort of, but he's the only one of the four little buses not to be colored with a primary color, and while he's still generally well-meaning, he can be rather selfish and insensitive, and has more of a tendency of such than the other buses do.
- Hot-Blooded: Can be pretty passionate.
- Hiccup Hijinks: Gets put through the wringer with this trope after hogging a lot of fuel to himself.
- Idiot Hero: Similarly to Tayo, though his is specifically because of his impulsiveness, impatience, and lack of tact.
- Innocently Insensitive: He tends to have a bit of a problem with this trope, often being more self-centered than he intends to be.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Okay, so he's still generally nice, but he has a somewhat more notable frequency to be insensitive and self-centered than the other buses do.
- Keet: The most energetic of the little buses alongside Lani.
- Kiddie Kid: His voice's sound implies that he could possibly be the equivalent of a young teenager (or, at the least, an older adolescent boy). That being said, he doesn't act any more mature than the other little buses do.
- Large Ham: Definitely has his moments of this.
- Nice Mean And In Between: The (sort of) Mean one to Gani's Nice and Tayo's In-Between.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He and Tayo are generally the Manly Men to Gani's Sensitive Guy.
- Vague Age: It's implied that he could be the equivalent of either a young teenager or an adolescent who had his voice deepen early, though he acts no more mature than Tayo, Lani, or Gani.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Tayo.
Lani
Lani, a sweet young yellow bus who was at the bus garage before Tayo.
- Cheerful Child: Very cheerful.
- Genki Girl: And very energetic, too.
- Cute Machines: She's a city bus, and she's adorable.
- The Cutie: Can certainly be this, being the smallest and cutest of the four little buses.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Well, "paint of gold", but she definitely fits this with her yellow paint and her very friendly, fun-loving personality.
- Nice Girl: Usually, though she does have her moments of being insensitive and selfish.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: While having her girly moments (like wanting to be a princess in one episode), she's otherwise very much One of the Boys with the other little buses.
- Vague Age: Seems to be roughly Tayo's age.
Gani
Gani is the oldest bus of all the foursome. He's red, quiet, and a hard worker.
- Ambiguous Disorder: Gani shows a couple of moments of this, ESPECIALLY in his two introductory episodes, "Our New Friend Gani" and "Hana and Gani". In those, he's seen avoiding eye contact, speaking very quietly and flatly (even through the rest of the series he doesn't talk a lot and has issues with social interaction), not changing much in facial expression. Most of these sort of are forgotten by later episodes, but are still there. There's too many to list almost.. Even in the first episode he shows up in, this conversation is seen:Tayo: There's something strange about Gani. He's new, but he does everything perfectly and knows everything.Hana: You know Tayo, he seems like an ordinary bus to me. Just like the rest of you.
- Broken Ace: He's very good at being a city bus and doing his job at one, but he tends to get his nerves afray if under particular pressure.
- Fatal Flaw: His neurotic, fearful nature that he often displays tends to get him into trouble whenever it surfaces.
- Gentle Giant: The largest of the young buses, and also the nicest.
- Nervous Wreck: He tends to be a fair bit more fearful and neurotic than the other buses. This often leads to problems for him and others. He's still very sweet, though, and it doesn't stop the other from liking him.
- Nice Guy: Generally the most consistently nice of the four buses.
- Nice Mean And In Between: The Nice one with Rogi's (sorta) Mean and Tayo's in-between.
- The Quiet One: He's generally the least vocal of the little buses.
- Red Is Heroic: Again, like with Tayo, kinda obvious.
- Sensitive Guy: The Sensitive Guy to Tayo and Rogi's Manly Men.
- Shrinking Violet: Compared to the other buses, he can be rather shy.
- Socially Awkward Hero: Tends to have more issues with social interactions than the other buses do.
- Vague Age: Easily the vaguest in the whole story. On the one hand, he doesn't seem to be any more mature than Tayo, Rogi, or Lani, and he certainly sounds like he's roughly Tayo or Lani's age. On the other hand, he was built with the memory chip of an older bus named Wandie, which would technically make him not only the oldest of the young buses, but perhaps older than even Citu.
