Jimmy Five

"Jimmy Five" ("Cebolinha" – Portuguese for scallion, due to his scallion-like hair) is one of Monica's Gang main characters. He was created in 1960, and currently has his own printed comic strips, called Cebolinha, which were first released in 1973. [ [http://www.monica.com.br/personag/turma/cebolinh.htm Cebolinha at Turma da Mônica’s official website] ] . His English name is Jimmy Five due to his hair composed of only five strands. He is a funny and wise character, who is always plotting to steal either Samson or the title of "owner of the street" from Monica with his "infallible plans" (which were initially created by Specs), which always end in failure, mostly because Smudge accidentally reveals to Monica that she’s in a trap. On some stories he gathers the other boys of the gang just to pick on Monica. In some earlier stories, he devised background plans to find out the secret of her strength, but he always ended up beaten solely by her. Even with these frictions, Jimmy and Monica are still good friends to each other. So much, it's a common non-canonical statement between readers that they might have a "love affair". In the futuristic special edition stories, they are often portrayed as married or dating each other. Another characteristic of Jimmy is that he is incapable of pronouncing the sound of the "r" letter, replacing it with the letter "l", in the Portuguese comics, or with the letter "w", in the English version. Jimmy Five's best friend is Smudge. Mauricio says he based the character on a child he knew while growing up in Mogi das Cruzes. [ [http://hq.cosmo.com.br/textos/hqcoisa/h0158_mauricio70_1005.htm Maurício - 70 anos - MundoHQ] ] His family name is “Cebola” ("Onion" in Portuguese) , and he has a little baby sister called Mary Angela (in Portuguese, Maria Cebolinha, after her brother's name).

It was once revealed that Jimmy isn't the first one in his family to have his famous speech impediment and that it caused all his relatives (minus his father) to believe he'll never be able to pronounce 'r'. However, this is disproven in the alternate universe which has the Gang as teenagers in manga-like stories, where he is said to take up phonoaudiology sessions to correct his speech impediment; however, he reverts to mispronounciation when under stress or close to girls (especially Monica).

Related characters

* "Dona Cebola" "(Mrs. Onion)" – Jimmy’s mother. An avid housekeeper, her cleaning, washing, cooking and tidying abilities all make the house a pleasant place to live. She is always worried about her weight.
* "Seu Cebola" "(Mr. Onion)"- Jimmy’s father. He is nothing but an adult Jimmy, except for the fact that he’s able to pronounce the "r" letter. He’s very affectionate to his family and hard working with his job at a local business company.
* "Mary Angela" "(Maria Cebolinha)" – Jimmy’s little sister. Her baby mind makes her a very curious, active and bright person, which leads Jimmy to near-insanity, as he is the one to look for her when his parents are not home. Mary is based on Mauricio de Sousa’s oldest daughter, Mariângela. [ [http://www.monica.com.br/ingles/personag/turma/ma-cebo.htm Mary Angela at Mônica’s Gang official website] ]
* "Fluff" "(Floquinho)" – Jimmy’s dog. Due to his long hair, no one can tell his head from his tail, and vice-versa. This long hair caught many reader’s eyes, who pointed his breed as being Lhasa Apso. Apart from telling his head from his tail, another main cause of confusion in his strips is his long hair, famous for hiding plenty of objects (at one point hiding a missing airplane and its pilot, a missing cruise shi, a hot-dog vendor, and the mailman all at once).
* "Nutty Ned" "(Louco)" – Nutty is a former psychiatric hospital inhabitant, and no matter how hard the doctors try to get him, he always manages to escape. He often appears at Jimmy Five’s strips, and he loves to give Jimmy a hard time. He always calls him “Cenourinha” ("Little Carrot", in confusion with his Portuguese name “Cebolinha”). His strips are meant to be nonsensical and surreal. His crazy actions are based on funny word plays, confusions caused by Jimmy’s incapability to pronounce the "r" letter, or anything else.

References

* [http://www.monica.com.br/ingles/personag/turma/cebolinh.htm Jimmy Five at Mônica’s Gang official website]
* [http://www.monica.com.br/ingles/personag/turma/floquinh.htm Fluffy at Mônica’s Gang official website]
* [http://www.monica.com.br/ingles/personag/turma/ma-cebo.htm Mary Angela at Mônica’s Gang official website]
* [http://www.monica.com.br/ingles/personag/turma/louco.htm Nutty Ned at Mônica’s Gang official website]

External links

* [http://www.monica.com.br/ingles/index.htm Official Monica’s Gang website] en icon
* [http://www.monica.com.br/index.htm Official Monica’s Gang website] pt icon