Bonkers D. Bobcat is the titular protagonist of Disney's 1993-1995 animated television series of the same name. Originally featured on Raw Toonage, he is a former star for cartoon shorts at Wackytoon Studios, an extremely energetic, yet hyperactive, out-of-work, Toon bobcat who works in the Toon Division of the Hollywood P.D.
Background[]
Personality[]
Bonkers mostly has the same personality as Roger Rabbit as both gets insane in and out of Toontown. Bonkers is not the brightest or the most thinking cop in the station. However, there were some moments where he shows some intelligence.
Though Bonkers means well, he usually messes up cases for his fellow officers due to his lack of experience in law enforcement and his wild, exaggerated, cartoony nature. He even tells Lucky at one point that he is not good at logical police thinking because he is a Toon. It is interesting to note that not only does Bonkers make a design change between the 'Lucky' and 'Miranda' episodes, but his personality was also slightly tweaked as well. Despite being a police officer, Bonkers is unarmed. However, he still carries a badge.
In the 'Miranda' episodes, he's portrayed as a rather clumsy, somewhat foolish character who ends up being the shows' punching bag. In the Lucky episodes, he's less of a buffoon and more of an Inspector Clouseau-type, in control of himself (though still hyperactive), and carries extensive knowledge about the Toons and their behavior, which is an asset on cases dealing with rogue Toons (Lucky would very rarely acknowledge this, although he knows it deep inside). The joke is his lack of law enforcement experience and procedure is still his "Achilles' heel."
Physical appearance[]
The evolution of Bonkers' design.
As suggested by his surname, Bonkers is an anthropomorphic spotted orange bobcat with a red nose. In the Raw Toonage shorts, he was typically dressed in a green sweater. In the Bonkers series, his design is noticeably different between the two different sets of episodes. In the Raw Toonage shorts and the Miranda Wright episodes, Bonkers has large-knobbed ears and a spotted tail with a white tip, is shown to have blue eyes, brown-colored spots on his fur and entirely tan feet. In the Lucky Piquel episodes, his ears are now antenna-like, his spots and eye pupils are black (though they are shown to be blue again throughout "New Partners on the Block"), his gloves have three lines on the back, his tail is striped, somewhat resembling Tigger's, and only his toes and the bottom of his feet are tan, resembling Bugs Bunny's feet. In addition, his police uniform is different as well; in the Miranda episodes, Bonkers wears a smaller police cap with a different-looking badge than the one in the Lucky episodes, and most noticeably, the uniform is in two different shades of blue as opposed to the single shade of blue it was colored in the Lucky episodes.
Appearances[]
Bonkers[]
Once a big star for a series of cartoons known as "He's Bonkers!" at Wackytoons Studios, Bonkers was a knobby-eared, Toon bobcat who was in love with his leading lady, Fawn Deer. He was almost never without his trusty companion, Jitters A. Dog, and usually facing the threats of his arch-rival, Grumbles the Grizzly. Behind the scenes, his other friends included: Fall-Apart Rabbit (who served as his stunt-double), the Mad Hatter and March Hare (who served as his makeup artists), and his pet dog/horn Toots.
Sadly, however, Bonkers was fired due to his show being bumped out of first place in ratings. He was then introduced to law enforcement when he unknowingly saved cartoon celebrity Donald Duck from a dangerous park mugger, mostly due to the help of officer Lucky Piquel, and was given full credit for the mugger's capture. For his actions, he was given the Citizen of Valor award by the Chief of Police, Leonard Kanifky. Bonkers, while soaking in the praise, told the chief of his experiences starring in a cop cartoon series which helped in the capture of the mugger. Chief Kanifky believed his story, taking it for granted, thinking that Bonkers would be a benefit to the police force, and asked if the Toon would like a job working for the Hollywood PD, which Bonkers accepted. Bonkers then requested Lucky Piquel as his partner and the two established the beginning of the Toon Division. However, in the meantime, all of Bonkers' old Toon friends mysteriously began disappearing, being kidnapped and brought into the hands of the evil Collector. After solving the case, Bonkers' boss, W.W. Wacky, was impressed and offered Bonkers his job back, but Bonkers refused, stating that he wanted to stay with Lucky, and thus, the Toon Division began. When Bonkers first came home to Lucky's house, he was treated as a sort of adopted son to Lucky.
After the rescue and many other strange cases with Bonkers, Lucky moved to Washington, D.C. in order to become an FBI agent. Bonkers later worked alongside the police officers Miranda Wright and Sergeant Grating, still remaining under Chief Leonard Kanifky.
Other appearances[]
Genie from Aladdin impersonated Bonkers in the TV series spin-off episode Snowman is an Island.
Bonkers in DuckTales (2017).
Bonkers' most recent appearance on television to date was a brief appearance in the reboot series of DuckTales, in the episode "Let's Get Dangerous!". In the episode, when Darkwing Duck, Launchpad, and Gosalyn are looking at the supervillains that came out of the portal through the computer, Bonkers is seen being hurt by each of the villains. While his design is similar to his appearances in the Lucky Piquel episodes, he has a black nose much like early promotional art for the character.
In Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, Bonkers appears among the bootleg toons that are released, here Bonkers is fused with the body of a walrus. Bonkers is also seen in the movie on a billboard advertisement advertising a game called "Afternoon Fight Fest".
Disney Parks[]
Bonkers made appearances at Disneyland and Walt Disney World between 1993 and 1996, most notably starring in the Disney Afternoon stage show at Mickey's Starland in 1993 through 1996 and appeared in Disneyland Paris until 2000. Bonkers has not been seen in the Disney Parks for many years after the initial airing of his show on the Disney Afternoon and is currently retired.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Bonkers shares a considerable amount of traits with Wander from Wander Over Yonder:
- Both characters are colored orange.
- Both are very naive, hyperactive, zany, and happy-go-lucky.
- Both characters are constantly annoying a grumpy old guy (Lord Hater for Wander and Lucky Piquel for Bonkers)
- Both characters have also female partners that are much smarter than either of them (Sylvia for Wander and Miranda Wright for Bonkers).
- The Disney+ description of Bonkers misspells his name as "Bonkers T. Bobcat" rather than "Bonkers D. Bobcat".
External links[]
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