Character Page Cleanup

Voiced by Hugo Harold-Harrison (Julius), Kerry Shale (Reaper, "The Sucker"), Alex Jordan (Scythe, "The Sucker"), Simon Lipkin (Mowdown, "The Sucker"), Naomi McDonald (rotten cupcake, "The Weirdo" onward)

Debut: Season 2, "The Lesson"

Last appearance: Season 6, "The Sucker" (Reaper), "The Potion" (Rotten Cupcake), "The Inquisition" (Mowdown, Julius, Scythe)

A group of students at Elmore Junior High introduced as regulars in detention hall in "The Lesson", then shown sporadically elsewhere. Includes Julius Oppenheimer Jr.(a black-and-white 1920s cartoon character with a bomb for a head who is the leader of the group), Reaper (a tattooed human hand), Scythe (a rat in a hoodie), Philip/Mowdown (a giant teddy bear), and a rotten cupcake.

• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: The Rotten Cupcake has boots and gloves. Pretty sure Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal doesn't cover food.
• Action Bomb: Julius has a bomb for a head. Making him mad causes him to explode, incapacitating him while reducing his head to a much smaller size. Hmm. Maybe move to Your Head Asplode? His head exploding isn't intentional on his part, that's how Gumball and Darwin used him to break out of detention.
• Ambiguous Gender: The cupcake has been identified as both male and female. It's possible he/she is gender non-conforming. Keep?
• Ambiguously Gay: Scythe and Rotten Cupcake are a couple, despite the latter previously identifying as male. Hmm. If the Rotten Cupcake was identified as female in the same episode where it's revealed they're dating Scythe, then it isn't gay because they aren't the same gender anymore. On the other hand, the Rotten Cupcake is in the boys bathroom after this episode, so IDK.
• Animated Tattoo: Reaper is a hand which has a tattoo of a skull wearing a crown, which acts as his face, being capable of moving around and talking.
• Animate Inanimate Object: Reaper is a hand, and Phillip/Mowdown is a stuffed teddy bear. Julius may be this (a bomb for a head) or a Cartoon Creature (a humanoid body). Reaper is more of a Cartoon Creature than an Animate Inanimate Object. Mowdown better fits Killer Teddy Bear, not sure about Julius, but he might fit under Cartoon Creature.
• Anthropomorphic Food: One is a (rotten) cupcake.
• Barbaric Bully: They look more like prison inmates than middle school students, and most of their appearances have them beating or intimidating other students. In "The Pact", Julius, Cupcake, and Phillip were willing to kill Gumball and rip his head off. Keep, but get rid of Bold Inflation.
• Bears Are Bad News: Don't let Philip's cute appearance fool you. He is the opposite of a cute, huggable teddy bear. Move to Killer Teddy Bear.
• Captain Ersatz: Philip Mowdown's appearance is based on Care Bears, being pink like Cheer Bear, and the heart on his T-shirt is based on Tenderheart Bear.
• Cartoon Creature: Julius may be this (he has a humanoid body). Reaper may be the hand of one. Examples Are Not Arguable. "Reaper might also be the hand of one" feels speculative.
• A Day in the Limelight: Julius gets one in:
  • "The Lesson," where he, along with Gumball and Darwin, try to break out of detention.
  • "The Sucker," where he tries to mess with Darwin — only for it to backfire on himself.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: The cupcake guy's pink coloration, mouth that looks like it has lipstick on it, and heeled boots cause Darwin and Gumball to mistake him for a (very ugly) girl. From "The Potion" onward, though, the character actually is female. Maybe get rid of the retcon because they went back to being male in later episodes, or maybe say that this example is zig-zagged.
• Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Julius and Scythe. Phillip/Mowdown also wears a shirt, and the rotten cupcakes wrapper may count as clothing. Julius and the rotten cupcake aren't animals, Julius doesn't wear a shirt (to the best of my knowledge), and "the wrapper might count as clothing" violates Examples Are Not Arguable. I'm pretty sure it would be misuse anyway.
• Funny Animal: Scythe is a rat. Better fits You Dirty Rat!.
• Gender Flip: The Rotten Cupcake had to state he's a boy in "The Lesson" despite his appearance, but in "The Potion" she's a female (and implied to be Scythe's girlfriend). He gained a screechy female voice in "The Weirdo", but was seen in the boys' bathroom in "The Nuisance" which came after.
• Helping Hands: Reaper is a giant human hand and wrist covered in tattoos, one of which acts as his face.
• Gang of Bullies: They pick on and mug other students when they aren't fighting among themselves in detention.
• Jerkass: All of them. Aside from being a ZCE, it's already covered by Gang of Bullies.
• Killer Teddy Bear: Philip is a giant pink teddy bear who comes off as harmless at first until he squeezes Gumball's head and pops the cupcake guy's cherry. His body even plays as recording (of a different voice) that says "I love you" when you hit him.
• Meaningful Name: Julius is a living bomb, and his full name is Julius Oppenheimer, Jr., a reference to Julius Robert Oppenheimer, who helped develop the world's first atomic bomb. His first name itself, Julius, could also be a reference to the character Julius the Cat from Disney's Alice Comedies, considering the shorts are old rubberhose cartoons, just like the style Julius himself is inspired by. Move to Named After Someone Famous?
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Reaper.
• No Name Given: None are ever referred to by name until "The Sucker", over three seasons after their introduction. Even after then, Reaper and Scythe only gave nicknames, while the cupcake doesn't even have that. In relation to surnames, only Julius' is known.
• Non-Human Head: Julius has a cartoon bomb for a head, which is capable of exploding.
• Pet the Dog: Julius genuinely cares about his parents, and feels bad if they’re disappointed in him. He also seems to become friends with Darwin at the end of "The Sucker". Hmm. The part about Julius's parents could be moved to Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas, and the part about him being friends with Darwin could be moved to Reformed Bully. Thing is, Julius's parents are only briefly mentioned in "The Sucker", and they're never seen or brought up again after that. Julius being a Reformed Bully also doesn't stick because he goes back to being a Jerkass after that. That could just be a timeline thing/continuity error, but that feels speculative. Point is, I'm not sure if tropes like Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas are supposed to be a recurring thing or if they can still count if they're only briefly mentioned.
• Theme Naming: "Reaper", "Scythe", and "Mowdown" are just supposed to be generic scary nicknames, but Darwin points out they have an unintended agricultural theme.
• Twitchy Eye: Scythe has one.
• Vague Age: They're at most a grade older than Darwin or Gumball, but mostly seem like they're well into their teens or even adults. It's possible some of them have been held back a lot. Scythe was also seen driving a car in "The News". While the exact ages of the detention kids are never stated, they're definitely teenagers. They're classified as young offenders in "The Lesson" and Julius describes them as "older kids who have a reputation for being mean and manipulative" in "The Sucker".
• Suddenly Voiced: Philip and Scythe were silent for three seasons after being introduced, then spoke in "The Weirdo" to heckle Sussie. Scythe, Mowdown, and Reaper's voice changed in their appearances in “The Sucker”.
• White Gloves: Julius wears these, as part of his retro design.
• Would Hit a Girl: Mowdown, who is brown in this episode, fights with Alison in “The Roots”, and she wins despite him being strong. Pretty sure this can be removed. The Gumball wiki lists Mowdown and the brown bear as separate characters.
• You Dirty Rat!: Scythe is a rat with a facial scar that always wears a hoodie.