Mikey Simon

Mikey Simon is the main character of Kappa Mikey.

Profile

Michael Alexander Simon is an American, from Cleveland, Ohio, 19 years old, and is the only American main character on the anime show, "LilyMu". The main joke of the show is that, while Mikey is drawn in a typical American cartoon form (thicker outlines, round eyes, large head, only eight fingers), his Japanese co-stars are drawn in a traditional anime style (thinner outlines, more detail, small eyes and mouth, all ten fingers; use of various face-faults). In addition to this, Mikey is aware of his castmates' face-faults, and once tried to mimic them without success. Likewise, his "LilyMu" outfit is more like an American superhero's than a Japanese one, with a cape and trunks. On "LilyMu", he often uses the same set of defense weapons that recur throughout the show, which include his own motorbike that was given to him by a biker gang called The Chums, a flying orb that can defeat an enemy and then fly back to its owner, a sword that works like a lightsaber, and a shield with a big 'M' on it.

Off-camera, though, Mikey is far from the heroic character he plays on television. He has a rough time adjusting to this new lifestyle, according to the episode "Lost in Transportation"- he doesn't have any room in the battlewagon or Lily's punchbug, and he doesn't even have his own actor's chair. Curious and optimistic, yet naive, egotistical, and a bad listener, Mikey often gets himself and his co-stars into strange disasters, which often leads to Ozu firing and rehiring them. His precociousness and failure to adapt reflects many children's experiences of trying to adjust to living in a new country, or any kind of life change. He has no clear recreational hobbies except for video games, which is only referenced in two episodes. In fact, off-work, he is very lazy- his apartment is often a mess. According to the episode "Camp!", Mikey is afraid to perform live on-stage, due to a traumatic childhood experience that resulted in a big wedgie, though, he has seems to get over this fear. He also used to be afraid of heights, until he conquered that as well.

In "The Wizard of Ozu", Mikey plays the part of Dorothy, and his smelly sneakers fill in for the part of the ruby shoes.

Appearance

Since he's drawn in a different style than the other characters, Mikey's head is bigger in proportion to his body than to his friends. He has bright orange hair that curls upward at the front. He wears a blue T-shirt over a tan shirt, and green khakis, with brown shoes.

Relationships With Other Characters

As a member of the "LilyMu" crew, Mikey is friends with the other four main cast members, and frequently joins in with Gonard in gross and juvenile activities. While he remains on decent terms with his friends, they often express anger and resentment towards his habit of causing disasters. Mitsuki sees the good in Mikey, mainly because she has a crush on him and doesn't want to hurt his feelings - she's always the first one to accept his forgiveness.

Mikey Simon had a crush on his castmate Lily earlier in the series, but she hates him, and cannot usually bear his company. He also has a secret admirer, Mitsuki, but he is usually too clueless to notice her. As the episodes go on, he begins to notice the real bitterness in Lily's personality, consequently losing most of his interest in her. At the same time, he begins to show affection for Mitsuki, such in the Christmas special, "A Christmas Mikey", and "Mitsuki Butterfly". Their friendship appears to be have entered the next level by the end of "Live LilyMu", but since it is the season finale (or near to it), it is unknown how they will act toward each other after it.

Troubles

Throughout the series, Mikey gets himself into various predicaments, which include:

* Constantly ruining a shoot by either destroying the set, improvising away from his lines, etc...
* Unknowingly making the lives of Lily and Mitsuki miserable after moving in with them, and soon getting them kicked out of their own apartment
* Accidentally destroying Ozu's prized Bonzai tree, a tree that Ozu loves more than any living human, and destroying the replacement Bonzai later in the episode (though it grew back)
* Mistakenly trading Gonard for a pirated copy of the "LilyMu" video game
* Letting Mitsuki's favored photo album lose its pictures (which were shown all over the news), and eventually losing Mitsuki's trust when Mikey only spends the day with her to retake the lost pictures
* Remodeling himself as a 'bad boy' to avoid suffering a fate similar to that of his childhood hero after seeing him in a humiliating public performance, and setting a wrong example for his viewers, and ends up starting a riot
* Taking embarrassing pictures of his friends, in order to save his own reputation due to a pimple on his face
* Taking the Japanese government's invisible coat, out of curiosity, getting arrested, and running on the lam in Gonard's room
* Lying about his life to an American journalist about his friends, and later, trying to get them to play along with his lies, thereby skipping their vacation
* Calling Ozu "just a medium-sized softie, and a pushover", which causes Ozu to put the entire gang in lock-down in the studio so they finish the "LilyMu" clip show... and probably miss their vacation
* Putting fart powder in the ice cream that was supposed to be for Gonard, but accidentally having Mitsuki eat it instead, causing everyone's reputation with the audience, and their friendship, to be in jeopardy
* By saying that karaoke is for squares, thus, insulting the Karaoke Genie, who puts a curse on them all, so they can only sing
* Accidentally colliding with a Sumo-wrestler who thinks Mikey's aim was to defeat him and who decides on a duel. Despite the fact that he usually messes things up, he rarely does it on purpose. This is annoying especially to Lily, who is jealous of the star status that used to be hers, and the fact that in the end, he usually always winds up fixing the problems without getting punished.

Catchphrases

*W'ever - a contraction of "whatever". First used in "The Good, The Bad, and the Mikey", as a byproduct of remodeling himself as a badboy. He now uses it in succeeding episodes, so much that the cast has been using it as well.
*Chillax - a combination of "chill" and "relax". Usually uses it as a commentary on the main story conflict, which he often first ignores.
*Pshaw - Mikey first used this in the episode, "The Clip Show". The word probably means "yeah right", similar to his other catchphrase, "W'ever". Used again in "Tin Putt".

Karaoke Character Song

In the hour-long special, "Kappa Karaoke", the song that epitomizes Mikey is "I Feel Super!", a energetic rock n' roll song, where he sings about how great he feels when he wakes up in the morning. This song was selected for the preview in the official website.

About The Voice Actor

Michael Sinterniklaas is a frequent ADR actor and director under 4Kids Entertainment, and owns NYAV Post, the recording studio for "Kappa Mikey". He usually voices as least one character for all of Animation Collective's shows, and directed the voice performances for "Three Delivery". As Mikey, he uses a toughed-up version of his "dorkish" voice, also used for Dean Venture from The Venture Brothers. He also voices Suave Mikey, the umpire from "Mikey at the Bat", and various children.