Hub Squad;Teamwork is Magic Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Barbara Anne "Babs" Bunny is a cartoon character from the Warner Brothers

Babs Bunny

animated television series, Tiny Toon Adventures. She is the main character of the show along with her best friend, Buster.


Biography[]

Babs is a young, pink and white female rabbit, who wears a yellow blouse, purple skirt and purple bowed ribbons near the tips of her ears. She attends Acme Looniversity and live in Acme Acres. In Fields of Honey, Babs searches for a female mentor, as nearly all prominent classic Looney Tunes characters are male. She eventually finds one, Honey; a forgotten character from the old Bosko cartoons. Unlike Bugs and Buster, Babs does not wear gloves with her primary outfit. However, she will wear gloves if it is required for her disguise. Examples include episodes involving "The Vanderbunnys", the Cinemaniacs! episode segment, SuperBabs, the wraparounds for the episodes, The Acme Acres Zone, Strange Tales of Weird Science, and several others. Babs' tummy fur is pink, which can be seen when she isn't wearing her primary outfit, but is instead, wearing swimwear (though some animation cels have mistakenly given her white tummy fur like Bugs and Buster). Also, unlike Bugs and Buster, Babs does not have a pointy tail, she instead has a white cottonball-like tail (although occasionally her tail would be pointy due to animation errors).

Babs lives with her parents and many siblings in a rabbit hole near a hill with flowers and stepping stones by a creek.


Personality[]

Babs is a female performer, a funny bunny who will do nearly anything for a laugh. She is good at improvisational comedy, and is a comedic impressionist in the vein of Robin Williams. In the Buster Bunny Bunch episode segment, Born To Be Riled, her friends become annoyed with her accurate but unflattering impersonations of them and they retaliate by impersonating her in turn. Like Buster, Babs is usually willing to go out of her way for her friends, such as in the Music Day episode segment, Loon Lake, when she sabotages a bunch of swan ballet dancer bullies who are trying to thwart Shirley's ballet debut. She also is capable of quick costume changes, often achieved by simply spinning around in a circle very fast. Babs is our new "star;" a cheerful, hyperactive, lovable and irrepressible ham. She's sassy, but with a distinctly feminine flair. Babs is a high energy impressionist and comedienne who doesn't know when to quit. Buster's best friend and co-host, Babs is a one-rabbit entertainment center. Babs is a teen-age rabbit actress, a natural performer, a long-eared clown. She bubbles over with non-stop energy, and is always jumping into a new celebrity impersonation. She uses this skill to amaze her friends, confuse her enemies, or simply to entertain herself when there's no one else around.

Occasionally, Babs goes too far with her impressions. Buster may start a conversation with Babs, only to finish it with Barbra Streisand, Princess Di or whomever else Babs happens to "be" at the moment. This can get on Buster's nerves. Also, Babs may unwittingly hurt her friends' feelings by adding them to her repertoire of impressions. She enjoys shopping, talking on the phone (sometimes to her unseen friend, Harriet), helping Buster pull a fast one, or doing anything else that could lead to some fun. Turn offs include study hall, sitting still and drama critics. Her biggest fan is Buster, her co-host and comedy partner. Like her best friend Buster, Babs feels sympathy for characters in need, and will rescue someone from an enemy by posing as a well-known celebrity or authority figure.

Babs is one of Acme Looniversity's most promising young performers. Despite getting in trouble now and then for doing dead-on imitations of pompous faculty members (like Elmer Fudd), Babs is easily the most popular girl in the school. Voted "most likely to do anything," her favorite class is "Advanced Class Clowning." Babs' ears come in handy as props while doing her impressions. She can frizz them out to create a Tina Turner effect, pull them down around her head like a scarf for a woebegone little waif, or twirl them around her head in an elaborate turban.

Babs also has her share of melting into a puddle in various episodes. In Europe in 30 Minutes, she melts completely into a pink puddle after seeing the Royal Couple, and in It's a Wonderful Tiny Toon Christmas Special, when Buster kisses her on the lips as his Christmas gift to her, she melts though her clothes into a pink puddle, with her eyes and clothes left on top of her melted form.

Even though Babs impersonates or parodies many different actors and fictional characters, one of the most notable characters that she parodies is Wonder Woman. She does this on a few different occasions, known as Wonder Babs instead (a bunny version of Wonder Woman), and is part of The Just-Us League Of Supertoons (a parody of The Justice League). Some other impressions in Babs' repertoire include Charlie Brown, Popeye, Yogi Bear, Roger Rabbit, and real people such as Joan Rivers, a cockney, Scarlett O'Hara, Rosanne Barr, a youthful and an elderly Katherine Hepburn, Jane Fonda, Marilyn Monroe, Groucho Marx, Billie Burke, Dolly Parton, Margaret Thatcher, Mae West, Madonna, Cher, Dr. Ruth...Babs is a one-woman show.


Relationships[]

Friends Buster and Babs are best friends, and have been for a long time. Someday they may get a romance going; but they're still a little young for that now. Any amorous by-play between the two of them is strictly for a laugh. When Buster and Babs introduce themselves as Buster Bunny and Babs Bunny, they say in unison, "No relation." Like any good comedy team, Buster and Babs play off each other. Babs is a wild, free spirit who gets her laughs by pulling out all the stops. Buster coolly hangs back and gets the big laugh by raising a knowing eyebrow or making a sly comment to the camera, or by quietly, secretly upstaging his energetic costar. Although each of them is quite unpredictable, particularly when together, Buster and Babs do have a number of running gags. When Buster gets irritated with Babs, he calls her Barbara Anne Bunny, which she hates. The pair often appears as "The Vanderbunnys," rich preppies who have "just dropped in from the Hamptons." They act bored and indifferent about everything. This bit always works on Monty, who is convinced they're as rich as he is.

Babs and Buster have their occasional disputes, but always remain best friends, even through some of the most dangerous and difficult situations. An example is the episode, Hare Raising Night, where Buster tricks her, Plucky and Hamton to going with him to rescue animals held captive by Dr. Gene Splicer (Buster told them that they were going to the Emmys). Babs suspects that Buster has lied to her and gets him to confess, which causes her to be upset and not want to speak to him. Buster and Hamton get chased by Melvin the Monster, one of Splicer's failed experiments, and they meet up with Babs while running from him. Buster warns her about the monster, but she doesn't believe him and walks around the corner, bumping into him, much to her surprise. Instead of inflicting any harm to Babs, Melvin gains a crush on her, but she dismisses his advances, informing him that she has made it a rule not to date outside of her own species. When Babs causes Melvin to inadvertently slam into Dr. Splicer around the other side of the hallway, she overhears Splicer verbally abusing the gentle giant, so she peeks around the corner out of concern for him. Splicer puts locks around his wrists and threatens to give him an "attitude adjustment," as Babs suggests to the others that they rescue him, much to their disapproval.

Babs is the only one who sees Melvin as more than just a monster, as Buster remarks to her that he does not want to stay to help save her "mutant boyfriend," which might indicate that he is somewhat jealous of Melvin. When they get captured by Splicer, who has brainwashed Melvin into dipping them into his gene pool (which will fuse them all together if they are dunked in it), Babs uses Melvin's crush on her to get through to him and rescue them. She also uses it to convince him to resist Splicer and help her. Melvin goes with his new friend and turns against Splicer, knocking the mad scientist into the gene pool (but also knocking himself unconscious in the process). Babs remarks that all Melvin ever needed was a little love and then she gives him a big kiss, reviving the friendly (and ecstatic!) monster. In the end, Buster and Babs (along with Plucky and Hamton) are finally together at the Emmys and apologize to each other (as Melvin wins the award for "Best Supporting Actor in a Cartoon," which Plucky assumed he would win).

Besides Buster, her other best friends are Fifi La Fume and Shirley the Loon, and she is also close friends with Plucky and Hamton (as the six of them have many wild and fun adventures together). She gets along well with many other toons and is always good for a laugh, never boring. Gogo Dodo relates better to her than any other toon outside of Wackyland, as they both have a somewhat similar sense of humor. Babs also has an unseen friend named Harriet, whom she occasionally talks to on the telephone from her home.

Family Babs come from an extremely large family, she being the oldest of dozens of smaller brothers and sisters. They all live with their exceptionally tolerant mother and father in a flower-ringed hole in Acme Forest. Her mother (also voiced by Tress MacNeille), is heard but only shown from the neck down (similar to the appearance of Nanny in the animated series, Muppet Babies, and the characters of Mum and dad from Cow and Chicken). She has a father (who's only shown in silhouette or from the waist down), who appears in one episode as a monstrously large fellow who intimidated Buster when he dated Babs. However, in another episode (Love Disconnection) where he drops Babs and her friends off at a Church for social bingo (they are actually going to a Perfecto Prep party nearby), Babs' father is portrayed differently as a normal-sized, yet goofy and clueless dad. Although Babs has dozens of siblings, only one was ever named (Mortimer). In the Pledge Week episode segment, It's All Relatives, Babs is also revealed to have a grandmother, whom she refers to as "Nana". Like her mother, she is only shown from the neck down. In It's All Relatives, as she and Babs' mother have a nice conversation, Babs' mother asks Babs to do "that funny thing you always do", and Babs spends the whole day doing impressions, but none of them are the one she wants, until the end, where she says, "I've fallen and I can't get up.", which both Babs' mother and grandmother find amusing. It is never said whether Babs' grandmother is the mother of her mother or her father.

Romance

Buster

Babs is many times shown to have a crush on Buster Bunny. Sometimes Buster will nervously retreat from her advances, sometimes he returns her affection, and sometimes he even goes out of his way to impress her. In the Season 1 episode, Prom-ise Her Anything, when Babs hints around to Buster about asking her to the prom, he retreats from her, not because he doesn't want to go with her, but because he doesn't know how to dance. He goes down to the Acme Loo film vault to learn some dance moves from the Bugs Bunny cartoon, "Hot Cross Bunny," while Babs waits impatiently and anxiously in her burrow for him to ask her out. When Buster finally does arrives at Babs' burrow, he apologizes to Babs for keeping her waiting and gives her a rose as Li'l Sneezer plays the saxophone. Later in the episode, he escorts her to the prom. In the episode, Thirteensomething, he shows that he harbors deep feelings for her, which he only realizes after she has left Acme Acres for an acting job elsewhere. He goes to rescue her and receives a kiss from her at the end of the episode. In the Wacko World of Sports episode segment, Miniature Goof, their Perfecto Prep rivals, Roderick and Rhubella Rat (also voiced by Adler and MacNeille), refer to Buster and Babs as "Mr. No Money Bunny...and his No Money Bunny Honey," indicating that others imply Buster and Babs as a couple. In some episodes, Buster calls Babs "Babsy" or "Babzinsky," which shows he holds a soft romantic spot just for her.

Early in the series, Buster is shown to be easily aroused by Babs when she does her sultry routine (such as her Jessica Rabbit impression in The Looney Beginning) or just decides to fix herself up to look nicer (her dress and what not for the prom in Prom-Ise Her Anything). In the Season 3 finale, It's a Wonderful Tiny Toon Christmas Special, he discovers that Babs' life would be trite and miserable without him, and towards the end of the episode, gives her a kiss (this time of his own accord) and recognizes the value they have towards each other. Presumably after this, he would no longer retreat from her in any way at all.

Montana Max

In the Spring in Acme Acres episode segment, Love Among the Toons, Buster and Babs argue after Buster falls off a ladder that she was supposed to be holding steady for him while he paints a sign for the Acme Looniversity Spring Picnic. Concord Condor, who is filling in for cupid, tries to fix the problem, and although the first arrow succeeds in hitting Babs, the second arrow that was meant for Buster accidentally hits Montana Max, who gets in the way because he's in a grumpy mood. As a result, Babs and Monty fall in love with each other. Buster begs her to stop, as Monty is neither her type nor her species, but she is too lovestruck to listen. Cupid is forced to take his job back and fix Acme Acres, as Babs is about to get married to Monty at the Acme Acres Church and Buster is unable to stop her. Cupid throws anti-love arrows at them, causing them to go back to their normal (and not so loving) feelings for each other again.

Perfecto Prep Seniors

In the Love Disconnection episode segment, The Amazing Three, Babs grows tired of Buster's immature ways (such as playing the lunchtime game, "Will Dizzy Eat It?") and wants to date older, more sophisticated boys. Fifi La Fume has received an invitation to the senior prom at Perfecto Prep, as she, Babs and Shirley use the Acme Li'l Wonder Makeup kit to look sophisticated and go to Perfecto Prep in search of the perfect dates. Their search goes unsuccessful and they decide to, in Babs' words, "Act our old immature ages a little while longer." They go to Weenie Burger and Babs feeds the Acme Lil' Wonder Makeup kit to Dizzy Devil, which causes him to look feminine and get chased by the Perfecto Prep alumni that they were trying to date earlier.

Rivals Babs is normally at odds with Montana Max and the Perfecto Prep students (especially Rhubella and Roderick) as well as Elmyra and Arnold, who have been some of the biggest antagonists to the comedic and charismatic pink bunny, but like Buster (and sometimes along with him), she is able to outsmart and trick them into just about anything. Dizzy Devil Babs is sometimes at odds with Dizzy Devil, as the rowdy, gluttonous, beanie-wearing beast has made several attempts to eat or bully her. Much like with her other antagonists, she is able to trick or talk him into anything, normally causing him harm instead of her. In the segment, Debutante Devil, from You Asked for It, Babs is tunneling her way through the earth and accidentally ends up in Tasmania (she is trying to go to the Kalamazoo Carrot Convention). Taz shows Dizzy (back at the classroom at Acme Loo) a projector image of Babs in Tasmania and instructs him to go there and eat her. Dizzy asks, "Is bunny yummy?," as Taz tells him that she is "yummy" and proceeds to gobble down the projection screen with her image on it. Dizzy travels to Tasmania by spinning like a mini tornado and finds Babs right away (who has made herself comfortable there). He spins into her, knocking her over as well as her lawn chair and umbrella. Babs is upset at him and he shows the pink bunny his I.D. card (which states in fine print that he can eat rabbits), so she flees as he chases her. She gets his attention (posed as a television host inside an empty television set) to "help" him become more sophisticated and well-liked by sending him to "Lady Babsy's Charm School" (where Babs now poses as a school teacher).

Babs tries to "teach" him how to knock before entering a room (setting a door up in the middle of the grass), how to have proper posture (stacking books and several other objects on top of his, including a boat and a space shuttle, causing the objects to smash him into the ground when she tops it off with a single piece of paper) and giving him "voice lessons" (putting pebbles, rocks and a large boulder into his mouth and making him repeat, "The walls in the mall are totally, totally tall"). She sends him spinning onto the edge of a cliff, which breaks and causes him to plummet, sending him crashing into Acme Loo (where Taz sends him right back for another round, spinning his beanie's propeller and sending him out of control through the air and slamming into Babs' door). Babs informs him that he doesn't want to be late for his graduation and promptly dresses him in a graduation ceremony gown and hat. She takes him to a small wooden stage with a podium and congratulates the "Charm School Graduate", then leaps off and lights a fuse that leads directly to the stage where he is still standing. Dizzy notices too late that there are four small lit rockets tied to each corner, which ignite and sends him blazing through the sky. An explosion is heard and the sky lights up, as Babs relaxes back on her lawn chair and (in her Audrey Hepburn impersonation) says, "It's a lovely day for a picnic. Really, it is."

Advertisement