Gelman is an overweight bully from Recess.
Appearance[]
Gelman is a tall, fat ten-year-old boy with messy red hair and freckles. He wears a black t-shirt, gray pants, and sneakers.
Personality[]
Gelman is always looking for kids to bully for no reason. His previous target was a boy named Stemple, until he moved away. Since then he started picking on Gus. Out of every kid he bullied Gus was his main target. After the other kids stood up to him, he decided to pick on other kids, namely by forcing him to fork lunch money over to him. However, in "A Great State Fair", he starts being a little nicer to Gus and stops bullying. Presumably, his stopping his bullying nature was the result of a close-call from Gus's trap in "Gus' Fortune" where he nearly got sealed in a makeshift cage that traumatized him to such an extent that he started becoming very terrified of the people he formerly bullied. He apparently has a degree of respect for authority figures, as he acted submissive towards Ms. Finster when she tried to scold him for his bullying (though after she was gone, he resumed his bullying of Gus and threatened to do worse if he ratted on him again), and later when Gus suggested getting his dad to sign his permission slip to go to the fair, although he initially didn't see the point, after Gus's father insisted that his father will sign it, he was quick to obey him and even tell him "yes sir" before promptly boarding the chopper.
He does not seem to have any true friends, but on a few occasions he hangs out with Lawson and his gang.
He is the most feared bully in Third Street School. Everyone is scared of him. Though this situation changes after the episode "Gus' Last Stand" and especially "Gus' Fortune".
He is shown departing for Wrestling Camp in School's Out, implying that he may aspire to become a wrestler. At one point, he fought Spinelli presumably as training for wrestling at the camp, although he was losing, and was crushed by Spinelli's flying press (or rather, would have been crushed, had TJ, Mikey, Vince, and Gretchen not interfered to retrieve her in order to investigate suspicious activity going on at Third-Street at the last second, causing him to humorously look around and then shrug in confusion after she disappeared.).
Trivia[]
- It remains unknown whether Gelman is his first name or last name.
- He apparently came from a fairly abusive or at least strict household, as he mentioned that his father doesn't believe in permission slips when explaining why he didn't go to the fair, and also didn't even believe in otters when Ms. Finster told him off for not dancing the Otter Dance, which is implied to have had a definite effect on his negative outlook (as when admitting he did want to go to the fair and his dad's refusal to even look over, let alone sign the permission slip being the only reason he didn't go, he was about to beat up Gus in an apparent fit of rage over his father's refusal before Ms. Finster quelled the confrontation).
