Gus Griswald is the nicest member of the main group from Recess, as well as the newest member.
Personality[]
In the second episode "The New Kid", Gus moves to town and starts attending Third Street School. Because his father is in the army, he and his family often have to move to different towns. He also lived there for a brief period of time when he was in kindergarten, but moved a day after starting school.
Gus is the shyest member of the gang, and often gets frightened easily. Because he is naiver and more inexperienced, he sometimes messes up the plans made for the episode at times. Despite these qualities, he has been said to have the biggest heart out of everyone in the gang, and tries to get along with everyone, with mixed results. Despite being cowardly, he will often stand up to anybody troubling him, which was shown when he was in kindergarten.
When he was in kindergarten, he met the other five members of the gang. He seemed to be the group "leader" at first, being more outgoing and excited as opposed to his personality years later. The first kid he befriended in the gang was T.J., and he was the one who gave him his nickname. Gus also showed the other kids that Mikey was not a bully; Randall was just trying to set him up. He then tells the other kids to stop acting so shy and start having fun like kindergartners do, which introduces the characters' personalities they have in the show itself. After Randall tattles on him, he is put in the principal's office. This is the time when T.J. becomes the leader of the kids and has them work together to save Gus, and their plan worked. Gus moved the next day and did not come back until fourth grade. However (and perhaps because of his relatively short tenure in kindergarten compared to them), none of the kids seemed to remember him.
Trivia[]
Theresa "Cornchip Girl" LaMaise once developed a crush on him in the episode, The Army Navy Game", but their relationship did not work out due to the rivalry between her dad, who is in the navy, and his dad. For the rest of the series, it has been shown that Gus has a bit of an interest in Gretchen.
In the unaired 1996 pilot, he did not appear in any shown clips, implying that he originally was not going to be in the series. However, he was seen in the first drawing of the characters from late 1995/early 1996 (as seen in the DVD extras of Recess: School's Out) with a slightly different character design, implying that he was going to be in the series, then was dropped, and was added in again.
He shares a distinctly brotherly relationship with Hector, one of the Kindergarteners, who, on learning that Gus was protecting him from hurting himself by stopping him from playing on anything dangerous, nicknamed him 'Safety Man' - this is reciprocated when Hector pretends not to know him to protect them both in Recess: All Growed Down.
He is the only member of the main six who was not in the first part of the first episode; his introduction came in the very next episode.
He and Spinelli are the shortest of the main six kids.
He and Gretchen are the only members of the main six kids with glasses, and that they share double initials.
Gus, as well Gretchen, is one of the only members of the main six who is an only child.
A running gag is that Gus always goes to the bathroom at the wrong time.
Unlike the other main characters, Gus debuts in the second episode.
It is likely that his middle name, Patton, was named for an M60 Patton tank his father drove since he is in the military. The tank itself is named after General George S. Patton, the general best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II.
Gus was absent in the pilot episode, but was seen in the earliest drawings of the cast. It is implied that he was added to the cast, dropped, and was added back in.
In early recordings of the German dub and some comics, Gus was named Paul. This was later corrected.
Gus has a slightly different character design than the rest of the main six, as he has black dots for eyes rather than white circles with pupils like the others. The Library Kid, Becky Benson, and Scribe Kid use similar designs.
Gus has the third most amount of episodes focused on him than the rest of the gang, with Mikey in second and T.J. in first.
In the original version of "The New Kid", Gus' lines were recorded by Ryan O'Donohue. In the aired version of the episode, he was replaced by Courtland Mead.
In certain episodes, Gus' last name is misspelled as "Griswold".
Gus' third voice actor, Zach Ewing, is the younger brother of Blake Ewing, the voice of Menlo.
Due to his dad being in the military, Gus can identify any plane or vehicle when he sees it.
