Recess/Characters

The Main Six

T.J. Detweiler

Voiced by: Ross Malinger (Season one and first two episodes of season two), Andrew Lawrence (Season two to the end of the series), Myles Jeffrey (Direct-to-video movies), Axel Alba (Lilo & Stitch crossover), Randy Crenshaw (Singing (Credits of movie only))

• Accidental Hero: In the episode "The Shiner", T.J. gets a black eye and everyone thinks he did a heroic act to get it. However, he told everyone at the end of the episode why he got it, and that he was too embarrassed to tell: His parents put him in a youth group, and they had a square-dancing class, and during that, a girl accidentally punched him in the eye
• Acrofatic: He's a more subtle example. While he's not "huge", he's definitely chubby, yet can pull off some awesome stunts.
• Adorkable: While not as much as Gretchen or Gus, his optimistic nature mixed with his ditzy moments and sweetness comes out as this. And in kindergarten, he was a Shrinking Violet.
• Ambiguously Jewish: TJ has a nebbishy father and an overprotective mother, and once played "Harvey Hanukkah" in the school holiday pageant.
• Arch Enemy: He's this to Principal Prickly. He doesn't actually hate him, he just likes making fun of him.
• Art Evolution: In season one, he was a lot chubbier (and moreso in the more Off-Model episodes of the season) and had highlights in his eyes, which were gone by season two for unknown reasons (either because he was the only character that had them and it looked weird, or because the artists forgot to draw them 50% of the time anyway so they were removed)
• Badass Adorable
• Badass Normal
• Badbutt
• Berserk Button: Four words: Don't. Mess. With. Recess.
  • Or messing with his fun in general. Which is the reason why he went and thwarted the evil plans to get rid of summer vacation in The Movie.
  • And while he doesn't go "berserk" he gets very pissed if he's made to take his hat off against his own will, or called fat.
• Big Cute Boy: He's more heavy-set than the other main six (not to Mikey's levels), and he has the most fangirls within the fandom.
• Big Eater: While it isn't shown on-screen, "The Great State Fair" and "Omega Kids" hints that he can be one, and this was also hinted in some print material.
• Big Fun: He's not "huge", but he's a bit plump. As for "fun", you'd best believe it
• Big Man on Campus: Oh, yes. He's cool, street-smart, somewhat athletic, and rather cute.
• Blue Eyes: He has bright baby-blue eyes according to Word of God.
• Book Dumb: He got a C- on a book report because he used the book's cover blurb, thinks "spy" is spelled S-P-I, gets a 10.1% on a test, however, on the playground, he can pull of elaborate schemes (literally) under his hat.
• Break the Cutie: Happens after seeing one of his plans go wrong, hurting Gus in the process.
• Brilliant but Lazy
• Catch Phrase: "Ten-der!", as well as any use of the word "whomp" (meaning, "to be unfair" [used in the context of ""This stinks" or "This sucks"])
• The Charmer
• Cheerful Child
• Cute Shotaro Boy
• The Danza: His first name is changed to Tobias in the Swedish dub, and his voice actor is Tobias Sward.
• Deadpan Snarker: At times. This is more evident in the earlier episodes.
• Determinator: He doesn't give up that easy when on a mission.
• The Ditz: A subtle example at times in some of the later episodes. He gets a 10.1% on a test (out of 100%), and says that it's one of his better grades.
• Dub Name Change: His first name is changed to "Tobias" in the Swedish dub.
  • His named is shortened to "Jay" in the Greek dub.
• Dumb Is Good
• Embarrassing First Name: His first name is Theodore.
• Embarrassing Middle Name: His middle name is Jasper. No wonder he goes by his initials "T.J."
• Estrogen Brigade Bait: While unintentional, he apparently has more fangirls than any other male character.
• Fat Idiot: He's pudgy, though his dumb side comes out of laziness instead of actual stupidity. He's very street smart, just not book smart.
• Flanderization: At least his Book Dumb side. He starts off being a "C" student in school, but drops down to a "D" and even "F" student later on. "The Secret Life of Grotke" was an offender of this.
• Fun Personified
• Green Eyes: In the pilot
• Green Eyed Red Head: In the pilot
• The Hero
  • Guile Hero
• Heroic Blue Screen of Death: In "Lost Leader" (the final episode aired before the DTV movies)
• Elementary School Hustler
• Idiot Hero: Though again, his idiocy comes out of laziness instead of actual stupidity.
• Ink Suit Actor: Subverted, as it wasn't intended, but he does look a lot like his second voice actor, Andy Lawrence. Ashley Johnson lampshades this in the bonus features on the DVD of The Movie.
• It's Personal: He decides it's personal when he discovers that Dr. Phillium Benedict wishes to abolish recess. Even more so when he discovers that Benedict plans to destroy summer vacation.
• Keet: He has some shades of this.
• Kindhearted Simpleton: He may be a bit ditzy, but he's got a huge heart
• Kouki Uchiyama: In the Japanese dub, though Wasabi Mizuta voiced him in the first few episodes.
• The Leader
• The Messiah
• Moe Stare: He's able to give this to Gretchen to urge her to help him with his plan in "A Great State Fair".
• Nice Hat: He's hardly ever seen without it.
• Nice Jewish Boy: While slightly ambiguous given the events of the Christmas Episode, he's a sweetie
• Only Known by Initials
• The Other Darrin: He was replaced a number of times in the series. Ross Malinger played him in season one, Andrew Lawrence (who's considered the best of all the kids who did his voice) played him for the rest of the series and movie, and Myles Jeffrey played him in the direct-to-video movies released after the show ended. Axel Alba played him in the Lilo & Stitch: The Series crossover episode.
• The Pete Best: There aren't many fans who remember that Ross Malinger was the voice of T.J. in season one, and only remember him being voiced by Andrew Lawrence from the second season until the end of the series.
• Puppy Dog Eyes: Arguably his default set of eyes in season one.
• Rousing Speech
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Vince's blue.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Mikey and Gus' Sensitive Guy. (One of two)
• Shrinking Violet: When he was in kindergarten (until Gus came).
• The Slacker
• Snooping Little Kid: In The Movie
• Sweet Tooth: He enjoys candy.
• Tareme Eyes
• Took a Level In Dumbass: He went from being slightly Book Dumb to ditzy in the later episodes.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist
• Youthful Freckles

Vince LaSalle

Voiced by: Ricky D'Shon Colins

• The Ace
• Badass Adorable
• Balloon Belly: In "I Will Kick no More Forever", after being showed up in kickball and goes into a depression, which included binging out on root beer and donuts
• Black Best Friend
• Break the Haughty: In "I Will Kick no More Forever he actually has a Despair Event Horizon over one of the Ashley's kicking better than him.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Estrogen Brigade Bait: At least according to early One Saturday Morning ads, however this was never mentioned on-screen. As for some of the female fans of this show, they completely agree.
• Heroic Blue Screen of Death: In "I Will Kick No More Forever".
• The Lancer
• Lancers Want Redheads: Throughout the series, it's been hinted that he may have a crush on Gretchen.
• Lovable Jock
• Miyu Irino: In the Japanese dub; The Other Darrin for Taya Hayabusa.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to T.J.'s red.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Manly Man to Mikey and Gus' Sensitive Guy. (One of two)
• Small Name, Big Ego: A more low-key example, he occasionally develops an ego due to being The Ace.
• Sour Supporter: In the first few episodes. This was downplayed later
• Verbal Tic: Probably the only kid in the show that has one, man.

Ashley Spinelli

Voiced by: Pamela Segall-Aldon

• Action Girl: She's very strong.
• Ambiguously Brown: Spinelli's ethnic background has been called into question. Since she has almond-shaped eyes found on Asian girls in cartoons and light brown skin, many viewers have assumed that Spinelli was originally from somewhere in South Asia and was adopted by Caucasian parents. On the other hand, Spinelli's skin tone is also found on Southern Italians (Sicilians, specifically) and That Other Wiki has established that Spinelli's family (possibly her father's side, as he has really dark hair and almost the same skin tone as his daughter, and her mother looks like she could be white European) is Italian (right down to Spinelli's penchant for fighting, which comes from the stereotype of the hot-blooded Italian) so either Spinelli's mom isn't really her mom, Spinelli's mom being a redhead is an Actor Allusion to Katey Sagal [who played Peggy Bundy -- a redheaded housewife who wore tacky 1960s housewife clothes and has a big bouffant, like Spinelli's mom does -- on Married... with Children], Spinelli's mom dyes her hair, or Spinelli takes after her father more than her mother (which further reinforces Spinelli's aversion to all things she thinks are for girly-girls).
• Badass Adorable: She may look cute...but she shouldn't be underestimated because of that.
• Badass Normal
• Berserk Button: Don't ever refer to her by her first name.
  • Don't do what Prickly did and mess with her hat, even if you was temporary hypnotizes into the mind of a child. Prickly got lucky because he’s the principal and Gretchen happened to be there.
• The Big Chick : Not in terms of size, but in terms of character, yes.
• Brown Eyes: According to Word of God
• Bruiser with a Soft Center
• Brutal Honesty: This is why she wins at a beauty pageant...while she follows what Vince tells at her at first (and actually agrees with what the things he says), she eventually reveals what a tomboy she is.
• Cute Bruiser: She may be cute, but she's far from weak.
• The Cutie: Rather redundant to point out, but it's true!
• Deadpan Snarker
• Do Not Call Me Ashley: She refers to herself by her last name, as her first name is Ashley...like the mean girls at school.
  • Embarrassing First Name
  • Embarrassing Middle Name: Ashley Funicello... hence why she goes by Spinelli
• Dub Name Change: "Patricia" in the Portuguese dub.
• Hair Decorations: She wears two red bands (sometimes bows for special occasions) in her hair to keep her pigtails up.
• Hidden Depths: Occasionally, such as the episode that reveals her first name is Ashley.
  • Though she's not the most feminine girl in the world, she's actually a good artist.
  • Her personality traits (as well as the boots that she wears, since they protect her feet) make her an ideal partner for Mikey in ballet. For example, she enjoys spinning.
• Gasshole: At times.
• Girlish Pigtails: Subverted, as when it comes to "girlish", she's anything but.
• Grumpy Bear
• Hollywood Tone Deaf: According to the other kids.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Miss Grotke
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being quick tempered and violent, she's always rooting for the underdog and protecting her friends.
• Last-Name Basis: Justified in that her first name carries a stigma on the playground.
• Little Miss Badass: The toughest kid at her school.
• Little Miss Snarker
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Definitely more masculine than Mikey. She's also manlier than TJ, though TTJ himself isn't terribly girly.
• Older Than They Look: In the pilot, as she looked like she never left kindergarten...which is ironic considering that she does act a bit like the kindergartners do in this series.
• One of the Boys: One of her friends IS a girl though.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Gretchen's blue.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: As seen in "The Beauty Contest".
• Star-Making Role: Along with Bobby Hill, Spinelli was this for Pamela Segall-Aldon (in terms of voice acting).
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to Gretchen's (relative) Girly Girl.
• Tsundere
• Tsurime Eyes
• Waif Fu

Gretchen Grundler

Voiced by: Ashley Johnson, Anndi McAffee (Singing (Credits of movie only))

• Adorkable
• Alliterative Name
• Berserk Button: Never suggest that she's dumb. You may not be able to live to regret it.
  • Don't tease about for PDA either... Krust The Worst has this the hard way.
  • Took a Level in Badass
  • Beware the Nice Ones: This was certainly shown in "The Girl Was Trouble" and the film.
• Badass Adorable
• Badass Bookworm
• Brainy Brunette: In the unaired pilot, she had black hair instead of red
• Brown Eyes: Mentioned
• Child Prodigy
• Cute Bookworm
• Dojikko: At times
• Hair Decorations: She wears two pink baubles in her hair to keep her pigtails up.
• Gadgeteer Genius
• Geek Physiques: Of the really skinny variety.
• Girlish Pigtails
• Hollywood Nerd: Type A
• Hollywood Pudgy: In "The Ratings Game", a bunch of tall and skinny 5th-6th grade girls make fun of her for being chubby. Which is hilarious, considering that she's...
  • Hollywood Thin: The skinniest character (to the point where she looks anorexic) on the show.
• Huge Schoolgirl: She's one of the tallest kids in school
• Lovable Nerd
• Meganekko
• Morality Pet: She often has to become this to her friends when she’s normal.
• Nerd Glasses
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Spinelli's red.
• Red Headed Heroine
• Sickly Neurotic Geek: She has the voice, but that's about it
• The Smart Girl
• Specs of Awesome
• Team Mom: At times, especially towards T.J. and Gus.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to Spinelli's Tomboy, even if Gretchen isn't that girly. (She was considerably more so in the unaired pilot; as she's shown wearing some jewelry and lipstick)
• Took a Level in Jerkass: "Pharaoh Bob" shows this too well.
• True-Blue Femininity: Her signature baby-blue dress.
• Write Who You Know: One of the creators based her appearance after his wife when she was in elementary school.
• Youthful Freckles

Mikey Blumberg

Voiced by: Jason Davis (Speaking), Robert Goulet (Singing), Zach Shada (Lilo & Stitch crossover)

• Accidental Athlete: In "Soccer Boy"
• Acrofatic
• Adorkable: When the plot calls for it.
• Badass Adorable
• Badass Pacifist: With some help from the diggers, he successfully lures several of Benedict's men into a trap.
• Berserk Button: Believe it or not, Mikey has one -- don't ever mistake his kindness for weakness (as seen in the episode in which he becomes a goalie for Lawson and his soccer team).
  • Beware of the Nice Ones
• Big Eater: In the opening credits, he eats a Dagwood sandwich in one bite.
• Big Fun:
• Big Guy, Little Guy: The big to Gus' little.
• The Big Heart
• Cloudcuckoolander: Has shades of this
• Dumb Blonde: At times, though it's more "naive" than "dumb"
• Foil: To Spinelli in appearance and behavior.
• Gentle Giant: He's one of the most likable members of the cast.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Probably the nicest kid on the playground, followed by Gretchen. (Though Gretchen has gotten in trouble at school before.)
• Kindhearted Simpleton
• Large Ham: Almost all the time. Comes with the fact that he's into poetry and art.
• Likes Older Women: In "The Voice," Mikey falls for his vocal coach (who is an older woman).
• The McCoy
• The Messiah: Lampshaded in the episode "Nobody Likes T.J.," in which Mikey points out that there are people out there who don't like him because he's too nice.
• Non-Singing Voice: Robert Goulet preforms his singing voice, which leads to...
  • Singing Voice Dissonance: And he sounds nothing like his speaking voice. Rule of Funny.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Gus' blue.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy to TJ and Vince's Manly Man. (One of two)

Gus Griswald

Voiced by: Ryan O'Donohue (First episode), Courtland Mead, Zach Ewing (Lilo & Stitch crossover), Blake Ewing (Singing (Credits of movie only))

• Adorkable
• Alliterative Name
• Badass Adorable
• Balloon Belly: In Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade as a result of eating too much
• Beady-Eyed Loser
• Berserk Button: Don't hurt a little kid in front of him, ever.
  • Friend to All Children
• Beware the Nice Ones: The Dodgeball incident. There's a reason why he's called El Diablo.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: The little to Mikey's big.
• Black Bead Eyes: Probably the only character in the show with this eye style.
  • (With the exception of Becky Benson, Gretchen's rival in Science Fair).
• Blind Without'Em
• Breakout Character
• Butt Monkey: When the plot called for it.
• Catch Phrase: In the early episodes (and in a Toon Disney advertisement), he would often say "Sounds good to me", but this was later dropped.
  • He often says, "All my life, [insert something here]"
• Cowardly Lion
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He's a one-kid army at dodgeball.
• Cute Shotaro Boy: His broken base aside, Gus is probably one of the most adorable characters in the show. Doesn't hurt that his voice actor, Courtland Mead, was one.
• Dumb Blonde: He's not really "dumb", just very gullible.
• Friendless Background: Having moved from town to town all the time, not to mention being shy and somewhat dweeby, poor Gus hardly had any friends before moving to town, and meeting the main five.
• Hidden Depths: He's exceptional at dodgeball--to the point that a kid seeing him play guitar freaked him out and warned TJ and the others to flee.
• Hollywood Nerd: Type B
• I Was Just Joking: He's prone to this
• Keet: In kindergarten.
• Kid Appeal Character
• The Klutz
• Let's Get Dangerous: When his Berserk Button is pushed too far.
• The Load: To a few fans.
  • To be fair he isn't as crafty as TJ, athletic as Vince, smart as Gretchen, gentle as Mikey or tough-as-nails as Spinelli. However, he does has his moments.
• Lovable Coward
• Military Brat: His dad was in the Army and they moved around a lot because of it (Gus was in at least six schools before he moved to Third Street). Subverted in that he's actually a nice kid, unlike most military brats.
• Naive Newcomer: When he arrives at Third Street School in the beginning of the series.
• Nerd Glasses
• New Transfer Student
• Nice Guy
• Non-Standard Character Design
• The Other Marty: Ryan O`Donahue (who already was Digger Dave and Randall) played Gus in his first episode in the initial airing. Courtland Mead (whom some 1990s cartoon watchers may recognize as Nightmare Ned) dubbed over his lines for the reruns and played Gus since then.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Mikey's red.
• Second Episode Introduction
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Sensitive Guy to TJ and Vince's Manly Man. (One of two)
• Shrinking Violet
• Sixth Ranger: A rare example of one appearing during the second part of the first episode in the series (Gus first appeared in episode 1B, the other five debuted in episode 1A)
• Specs of Awesome
• Sweet Tooth: Especially with chocolate
• Took a Level in Badass: When he's leading the other kids to save T.J. in Recess: School's Out
• Trademark Favorite Food: Chocolate
• Unlucky Everydude
• Vocal Evolution: He had a slight lisp in the earliest episodes, but it went away. Justified, as his voice actor had one at the time.
• The Watson: He's usually the most confused about a certain school tradition (being a new student), which causes T.J. and the others to explain what's going on to him (and the audience)

Other Students

Randall Weems

Voiced by: Ryan O'Donohue

• Bearer of Bad News: Sometimes
• Bratty Half-Pint
• Catch Phrase: "Moist"
• The Dragon: To Miss Finster.
• Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: As a kindergartner.
• Even Randall Has Standards: He may be a snitch, but he won't do so to any student at a higher grade level than him, such as King Bob because he feels that's just naughty. In the film, he calls out on one of Benedict's henchmen for snitching.
• Friendly Enemy: When the plot calls for it.
• Gonk: He pretty much resembles a human/lizard hybrid..which is probably intentional.
• Hate Sink: He's not exactly the favorite kid on the playground. This makes him the opposite of TJ, since (almost) everyone likes him.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: In the episode "Randall's Reform"
• Insult Comic: In "Stand-Up Randall"
• Jerkass/Jerk with a Heart of Jerk
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk part is debatable, because a lot of times he was shown as Friendly Enemy of Recess Gang, genuinely wanted to be friends with them and especially TJ in "Randall's Reform" and genuinely respected Ms. Finster and looked up to her and had some Even Evil Has Standards moments. While he may be jerk and snitch, but deep down he is not that bad.
• Redheaded Bully: Though not in the normal way, as he has authority figures do his bullying work for him as he's too weak to do it himself.
• The Stool Pigeon: He's even called this in one episode.
• Teacher's Pet: Mrs. Finster's pet.

Menlo

Voiced by: Blake Ewing

• Control Freak
• Friendly Enemy: At times
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a prude, but is usually well-meaning and wants to do the right thing for the school.
• Nerd Glasses
• Super OCD
• Teacher's Pet

King Bob

Voiced by: Toran Caudell

• Big Ol' Unibrow
• Estrogen Brigade Bait
• Everything's Better with Bob
• Hot-Blooded
• King Bob the Nth
• Large Ham: Oh, yes.
• Pet The Dog: There are moments where Bob becomes the voice of reason.
  • In "Telltale Heart", King Bob was informed about Gus until Finster explained her actions for getting Randal busted. Bob realized that the Main Six, including Gus, kept quiet about. In fact, even if they did stitch, he might've just pardon Gus any else, due to amount you did stitch and the fact Randal was hated.
  • If you noticed a kid happening an accident and you do the same on purpose to keep the poor victim company, you have earned Bob's respect as he sees that as a sign of bravery. Vince, TJ, and Gus all ripped their pants to help Mikey in "Mikey's Pants".
• Put on a Bus: In Taking the Fifth Grade, he leaves for middle school. Though he makes one more appearance to set the new king straight in one scene.
• Reasonable Authority Figure
• Sophisticated As Hell
• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?
• Younger Than They Look: He looks like a high school student, yet he's only eleven.

Erwin Lawson

Voiced by: Erik von Detten

• The Bully
• Demoted to Extra: In The Movie, he only has a brief cameo and doesn't speak (however, he's still credited, hinting that he was going to have a speaking role, but his scene was cut)
• Don't Explain the Joke: Lawson ALWAYS explains his bad jokes when taunting somebody.
• The Ditz
• Friendly Enemy: While he often bullies the main six, he stated once that he doesn't hate T.J. and considers him an OK guy.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Lawson is |Sid Phillips!
• Jerk Jock
• Last-Name Basis
• Lean and Mean: In contrast to T.J.
• No Indoor Voice: At times.
• The Psycho Rangers: In the episode "Lawson and his Crew" (the last episode before the movie was released), he forms his own gang similar to the main six.
  • In fact, he pretty much contrasts T.J. in appearance and personality. Unlike T.J., Lawson is tall, lanky, wears his baseball hat with the visor in the front, and is mean.
• Rica Matsumoto: In the Japanese dub.
• The Rival: To both T.J. and Vince.
• Sitcom Arch Nemesis

The Kindergartners

Voiced by: E.G. Daily (Captain Sticky, Spencer, and Hector (In "Dodgeball City" and "Call Me Guy")), Kath Soucie (Hector ("Wild Child" and direct-to-video movies, Cindy, and Gilbert), Jason Davis (Tubby), Francesca Smith (Emma), Pamela Segall-Aldon, and Christine Cavanaugh

• Acrofatic: Tubby
• Blinding Bangs: Zedd
• Bratty Half-Pint: Almost all of them, though Tubby and Hector aren't as much
• Competence Zone: They usually act like wild savages.
• Cute Shotaro Boy: Hector
• Expy: In-universe, Captain Sticky is the kindergartners' Expy of King Bob
• Fan of Underdog: Hector looks up to Gus like a big brother, even calling him "Safety Man"
• Friendly Enemy: Captain Sticky, Spencer, Emma, Zedd, Jake, Tubby, Hector, and Cindy are all on good terms with the other kids (for a good 75% of the time)
• Hair of Gold: Brittany A. and Cindy
• Kath Soucie: The voice of Cindy, Hector, and Gilbert, among others.
• Kawaiiko: Cindy
• Keet: Spencer and Hector
• Motor Mouth: Gilbert
• The Other Darrin: A few cases:
  • Captain Sticky was voiced by Ryan O`Donahue in "To Finster with Love" (his first speaking appearance), and then E.G. Daily for the rest of the series.
  • Emma was voiced by E.G. Daily in "Wild Child" and then by Franchesca Smith in Recess: All Growed Down
  • Hector was voiced by Kath Soucie in "Wild Child", then he was played by E.G. Daily after that, until Recess: All Growed Down, when he was played by Kath Soucie again.
• Talking to Himself: Tubby with Mikey in "Kindergarten Derby", as both were voiced by Jason Davis.
  • All of the other kindergartners are voiced by E.G. Daily, Pamela Segal-Aldon, Ashley Johnson (sometimes), Francesca Smith (sometimes), and Kath Soucie, which leads to this trope.
• Tribal Face Paint
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Gilbert has blue hair while Zedd has pink hair.
• You No Take Candle: Often speak like this

The Diggers (Sam and Dave)

Voiced by: Klee Bragger (Sam) and Ryan O'Donohue (Dave)

• Digging to China: Their main goal.
  • And in the pilot (which was remade into the first episode), they actually do it
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin
• Heterosexual Life Partners
• Identical Friend ID Tag: Sam wears a red bandanna around his neck, while Dave wears a white mouth cover around his neck.
• Jerkass: Dave turns out to be one if Sam isn't around to balance him out.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Dave is the red oni to Sam's blue oni.
• Talking to Himself: Dave and Randall in any scene together, as both are voiced by Ryan O`Donohue
  • Sam ends up getting Dave's voice actor in Taking the Fifth Grade as well, due to his original voice actor, Klee Bragger, going through puberty. He does return to voice him at the end of the movie, lampshading his voice change.
• Those Two Guys
• Tunnel Kings

The Ashleys

Voiced by: Anndi McAffee (Ashley A.), Francesca Smith (Ashley B.), Rachel Crane (Ashley Q. and Ashley T. (First few episodes)), and Ashley Johnson (Ashley T.)

• Alpha Bitch
  • Lovable Alpha Bitch: Ashley A. shows hints of this sometimes, and on occasion they all can be this (like "The Great Can Drive" and "League of Randalls").
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Ashley A. (blonde), Ashley B. and Ashley T. (brunette), and Ashley Q. (redhead)
• Catch Phrase: "Scandalous!"
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Ashley A. (Pink), Ashley B. (Yellow), Ashley Q. (Blue), and Ashley T. (Green)
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Ashey Q. is surprisingly really good at kickball.
• The Danza: Ashley Johnson as Ashley T. is a bit of a subversion, as she replaced Rachel Crane as her voice actress.
• Deadpan Snarkers
• Dub Name Change: Their first names are changed to Patricia in the Portuguese dub. Their last names remain the same.
• Hair Decorations: Ashley A. wears a pink headband and Ashley B. wears two yellow barrettes.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: They're all named Ashley.
• Even The Ashleys Have Standards: Each of the Ashleys has a brother named Tyler. When each Tyler learned how to snitch and King Bob was among the targets, it was too scandalous, even for them since they were fair game.
• Fiery Redhead: Ashley Q.
• Four-Girl Band: All of them are Chicks.
  • The Heroine: Ashley A
  • The Lancer: Ashley B
  • The Smart Girl: Ashley T
  • The Big Girl: Ashley Q
• Four-Girl Ensemble
• Girl Posse
• Graceful Ladies Love Purple: Purple day.
• Hair of Gold: Ashley A.
• Jerkass: Pretty much all of them, but Ashley Q. is by far one of the meaner Ashleys.
• One Steve Limit: Completely averted (and Spinelli is also named Ashley, but she wants no association with them), as well as each one having a younger brother named Tyler and a little sister named Britney.
• The Other Darrin: Ashley Johnson played Ashley T. from season two onward, replacing Rachel Crane (who would continue to do Ashley Q., however).
• Pink Means Feminine: Ashley A.'s signature color is pink.
• The Quiet One: Ashley T. hardly gets any speaking lines on her own.
• Rich Bitches
• Satellite Character: Every member of the clique besides Ashley A.
• True-Blue Femininity: Ashley Q.'s signature color is blue.
• Tsurime Eyes: Ashley Q.

Hustler Kid

Voiced by: Michael Shulman

• Embarrassing First Name: His real name is Francis.
• Everyone Calls Him Hustler Kid
  • Do Not Call Me Francis: He prefers to called Hustler Kid.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: What do you think he does?
• Friend in the Black Market
• Hustler Kid Has Standards: Don't except him to sell anything that could get a kid in trouble despite being a cheapskate.
• Elementary School Hustler
• Honest John's Dealership
• Younger Than They Look: He's a fourth grader, yet he looks like he's in high school

Cornchip Girl

Voiced by: Francesca Smith (First few appearances), Ashley Johnson ("Weekend at Muriel's"), Aria Noel Curzon

• Ascended Extra: Started out as a nameless background character. Around season five, she became more prominent.
• Cheerful Child
• The Cutie: Being so cute, kind, sweet, and innocent, she more than qualifies for this trope
• Cute Bruiser: As seen in a few episodes, much to everyone's surprise.
• Meaningful Name: Her real name is Theresa LaMaize. It may also tie in with her Military Bratness as a nod to US Air Force Gen. Curtis LeMay.
• Military Brat: Like Gus, she's kind and sweet.
• The Messiah
• Moe Stare: Her default appearance
• Non-Standard Character Design: She has a slightly different character design than the other kids, giving her an appearance that wouldn't look out of place on Phineas and Ferb.
• Seventh Ranger: She's considered an unofficial member of the main six in the later episodes

Butch

Voiced by: Kath Soucie

• Bearer of Bad News
• Cross-Dressing Voices: He's one of the few boys in the show voiced by a woman.
• Disease Bleach: Said to get the white streak in his hair after seeing his brother make out with his girlfriend.
• The Eeyore
• Locked Into Strangeness: See Disease Bleach.
• Only One Name: His last name is never given in the show
• Perpetual Frowner
• Skunk Stripe

Gelman

Voiced by: Justin Shenkarow

• The Bully
• Bully and Wimp Pairing: With Gus on a few occasions
• Dumb Muscle
• Fat Bastard
• Heel Face Turn: In "A Great State Fair"
• Jerkass
• Last-Name Basis
• Redheaded Bully

Kristen Kurst (Kurst The Worst)

Voiced by: Mayim Bialik

• Big Eater
• Broken Bird: She actually doesn't take much pride into her mean acts and dislikes her nickname.
• Fat Bastard
• Fiery Redhead
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As seen in "Kurst the Not So Bad"
• Last-Name Basis: paired with the modifier "The Worst."
• Redheaded Bully

The Pale Kids

Voiced by: Eddie Deezen (Knarf), Pamela Hayden (Rodney), Kenny Blank (Steve), and Kath Soucie (Carl)

• Adorkable: All of them.
• Brainy Brunette: Rodney and Steve
• Catch Phrase: "Gondor primulon!"
• Cloudcuckoolander: Carl
• Dumb Blonde: Averted with Knarf
• Four Man Band
  • The Hero: Knarf
  • The Lancer: Rodney
  • The Smart Guy: Steve
  • The Big Guy: Carl
  • Fifth Ranger: T.J. for a brief moment when he had a broken collarbone and couldn't play outside.
• Hollywood Nerd: Type 1
• One of Us
• Proud to Be a Geek
• The Unintelligible: Carl always speaks in gibberish

Swinger Girl

Voiced by: Francesca Smith

• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: She's always on the swings, to attempt to go over the bar
• Fiery Redhead
• Satellite Character

Upside-Down Girl

Voiced by: Francesca Smith

• Berserk Button: Don't make her go right side-up.
• Expy: Of Helga Pataki
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Take a guess on why she's called that.
• Hair of Gold
• Modesty Shorts
• Satellite Character
• Tsundere: Type B

Guru Kid

Voiced by: Klee Bragger, Ryan O'Donohue (Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade)

• Does Not Like Shoes: In "Don't Ask Me", the kids find it unusual that he IS wearing shoes.
• Hermit Guru: Parodied.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Lampshaded in "Don't Ask Me" when the kids realize how unusual it is for him to be wearing a shirt...much like he doesn't normally wear shoes.

Gordy

Voiced by: Malachi Pearson ("The New Kid"), Erik von Detten ("I Will Kick No More Forever"), Klee Bragger ("Bad Hair Day"), Sam Gifaldi (Most episodes)

• Early Installment Weirdness: In "Wild Child", his name is Freddy.
• Satellite Character: He usually only appears in the background, and "Nobody Doesn't Like T.J." was the only episode focusing on him.
• Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: Him not liking T.J. for no reason is probably his only real characterization.
• Those Two Guys: With Willy, another boy in Miss Grotke's class who appears in the background.

Phil

Voiced by: Klee Bragger

• Scout Out: He's a member of the Woodchuck Scouts
  • Shout-Out: Which is most likely a reference to the Carl Barks Donald Duck comics, featuring the Junior Woodchucks.

Facuilty members

Miss Finster

Voiced by: April Winchell

• Badass Teacher: She proves herself to be one in Recess: School's Out, though strangely enough Miss Grotke can apparently still hold her own against her.
• Breakout Character
• Characterization Marches On: In the first season, she actually enjoyed punishing kids. From the second season and onward, while still a Sadist Teacher, she became a Sugar and Ice Personality Jerk with a Heart of Gold and never went to the extremes she used to.
• Cool Old Lady: On a good day
• Even Finster Has Standards: Finster may enjoy punishing TJ and his friends for accidentally breaking a statue but the idea of separating the kids into different schools that Mayor Phillip Fitzhugh wanted was too ruthless, even for her.
  • In the film, it was revealed she broke off the relationship she had with Dr. Phillium Benedict all because he wanted to outlaw recess and summer breaks for everyone.
• Fan Disservice: Is prone to this.
• Fat Bastard
• Fiery Redhead: She was a redhead when she was younger, but still very fiery.
• The Dragon/ The Lancer: to Principal Prickly, though Prickly doesn't exactly share her sadistic streak.
• Hate Sink: Zigzagged...sometimes she's unlikable, but sometimes she shows that she has a better side. Weekend At Muriel's is a good example of this.
• I Was Quite a Looker: In Recess: School's Out, she's proven to be this in the `60s (she has the same voice, however due to her voice actress using her "normal" voice for T.J.'s mom)
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's not always a sadist, believe it or not.
• Kujira: In the Japanese dub.
• Last-Name Basis: Justified… she’s a teacher, so it makes sense for students to call her Finster rather than Muriel, her first name.
• Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: She HAS been portrayed this way, as hard as it is to believe.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Finster would only punish students at the school if she has a valid reason and evidence, like a rule violation. If you got done nothing wrong, she won’t bother.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Miss Grotke's blue.
• Sadist Teacher: There's a reason why she's disliked by most students.
• Sugar and Ice Personality
• Vocal Evolution: She didn't sound as sinister in the first few episodes.

Principal Prickly

Voiced by: Dabney Coleman

• Apathetic Teacher: Most of the time
• Ascended Extra: He gets a bigger role in Recess: School's Out
• Adult Child: At times.
• Characterization Marches On: In "The Great Jungle Gym Standoff", he's another Sadist Teacher in the series, which isn't seen again for the rest of the show (with him being apathetic instead.) This could've been because the episode was one of the earliest ones made.
• Hippie Teacher: In the `60s.
• Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold
• One of Us: He's also a fan of the Senor Fusion comic series like the rest of the kids
• Reasonable Authority Figure

Miss Grotke

Voiced by: Allyce Beasley

• Adorkable: She's overly enthusiastic about almost everything she does, plus she's rather adorable physically.
• Ambiguously Brown
• Ascended Extra: Only appeared in a few episodes of season one, and then appeared in just about every season two episode.
• Badass Teacher: In Recess: School's Out, it's revealed that she's a martial arts expert
  • Badass Adorable
• Beware the Nice Ones
• Brainy Brunette
• Bunny Ears Lawyer: At times
• Catch Phrase: "Bummer..."
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: After "The Terrifying Tales of Recess" (the first episode of season six and the stories featured in the episode weren't canon, anyway), she's gone for the rest of the series until Taking the Fifth Grade two years later.
• Closer to Earth
• Cloudcuckoolander: While she is closer to Earth than the other teachers at times, she has a few moments where she goes off into Cloudcuckooland.
• Cool Teacher
• The Cutie: And how!
• Deadpan Snarker: "This Brain for Hire" shows that when she needs to be, she's probably the snarkiest character in the entire series.
• Demoted to Extra: She only appears two times in Recess: School's Out and only has seven lines (and two of them are just her screaming), though this is justified as it was summer vacation. Though her parts in the battle scene were pretty memorable.
  • In Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade, she only has a few speaking lines and that's it. Justified, however, as the main kids weren't in her class anymore.
• Foil: She's as affable as Ms. Finster is not.
• Foot Focus: She's usually shown wearing sandals
• Friend to All Children: Even the kindergartners.
• Genki Girl: Sometimes
• Granola Girl
• Hippie Teacher: Unlike Principal Prickly, she's still a hippie after the 60s.
• Hot Teacher: Arguably. She's more "cute" than "sexy". She's definitely better-looking than Miss Finster though.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Spinelli
• Masako Katsuki: In the Japanese dub
• Meganekko
• The Messiah
• Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher: She has the voice, but otherwise averts this. Granted, that's her voice actress' natural voice.
• No Name Given: Aside from numerous Fanon attempts (which have been going on since as long as the show premiered), she never got a first name.
  • According to Behind the Voice Actors: Disney's Recess her first name is Alordayne.
• Out of Focus: In the later episodes
• Perpetual Smiler
• Quirky Curls
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Miss Finster's red.
• Second Episode Introduction
• Sensei-chan: Has some hints of this (a rare example in western animation as well)
• Soapbox Sadie: In some of her lectures
• Token Good Teammate: Out of the four named faculty, she's the only one who's not an Apathetic Teacher or Sadistic Teacher.
• Took a Level in Badass: In Recess: School's Out
• Totally Radical: She like, totally speaks this way sometimes, cuz you know, it's way cool and far out!
• Tsundere: Believe it or not, she can be a type B.

Miss Lemon

Voiced By: Tress MacNeille

• Apathetic Teacher
• Perpetual Frowner

Other Characters

Aaron Kelso

Voiced by: Sam MacMurray

• Cool Old Guy
• The Mentor: Can be this to the kids in various episodes.

Becky Detweiler

Voiced by: Melissa Joan Hart (Recess: School's Out), Tara Strong (Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade)

• Big Sister Bully: Can be this way to T.J. sometimes, but to be fair, he doesn't make things easy for her.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter
• Burger Fool: Works at Floppy Burger. Though she's really enthusiastic about her job.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold

Chad LaSalle

Voiced by: Kenny Blank

• Black and Nerdy
• Expy: Of Steve Urkel
• Hollywood Nerd: Type 1

Dr. Slicer

• Knight of Cerebus: His episode is one of the darkest episodes of the series and every scene he appears in takes a darker turn. Not to mention, that unlike all other antagonists, his actions are played seriously and he is downright cruel (calling TJ sappy boy, just because he showed emotion and humiliated him in front of the school) and every other characters fear him, even TJ, who normally stands up to evils of adults.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name
• One-Scene Wonder: Despite appearing in one episode, he is the cruelest character in the entire series and is one of few antagonists of the series that can be called truly evil.
• Sadist Teacher: Put emphasis on sadist part.

Dr. Phillium Benedict

The Big Bad of the movie.

• Arch-Enemy: To Principal Prickly.
• Bad Boss: When he finds that his head scientist keeps failing to move the moon out of orbit, he decides to give him detention...which is implied to be solitary confinement.
• Big Bad: He's the main villain of Recess: School's Out.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He mentions that he dislikes violence, though he seems to get a kick out of humiliating Principal Prickly and hires the violent Kojak to do his dirty work.
• Evil Teacher: He gives his lackeys detention when they make him angry, as one particular scientist does.
• From Bad to Worse: He attempted to abolish recess and was fired for it. He then became secretary of education and attempted to abolish it nation-wide, but the president found out what he was up to and put a stop to it - you guessed it, by firing him. Then he decided that instead of just getting rid of recess, he would get rid of summer vacation instead, because it's basically the biggest recess there is.
• The Fundamentalist: His motivation for destroying summer vacation is to prove Principal Prickly wrong.
• Non-Action Big Bad: He's not a fighter, that would be his lackey Kojak. He manipulates others to do his dirty work instead. He DOES arm himself with a gun that sedates his victims, however.
• Never My Fault: The plot of the movie (which was started by his animosity towards Principal Prickly) could be avoided if Dr. Phillium Benedict would face responsibility for his own actions.
• Talking the Monster to Death: Gretchen attempts to do this, but he's too far gone to be reasoned with.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: It's jarring that there's a villain in this series that wants to put Earth in perpetual winter.
• We used to be Friends: He used to be friends with Principal Prickly. This all changed when Prickly discovered that he planned to get rid of Recess.

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