Babs and Buster Bunny

WBToonChar
name =Babs and Buster Bunny


image caption =Promotional images of Babs and Buster Bunny
first appearance =Regulars on "Tiny Toon Adventures" since the series premiere "The Looney Beginning".
created by =
voiced by =Tress MacNeille (Babs)
Charlie Adler (Buster, first through third seasons)
John Kassir (Buster, partial third season)
known aliases =
known relatives =
known pets =
known friends =Plucky Duck, Hamton J. Pig, Fifi La Fume, Shirley the Loon, Furrball, Dizzy Devil, Gogo Dodo,Li'l Sneezer, Bookworm, Sweetie Bird, Calamity Coyote, Little Beeper, Byron Basset, Fowlmouth, Concord Condor, Barky Marky, Melvin the Monster, Banjo Possum, Mary Melody
known rivals =Montana Max, Elmyra Duff, Arnold the Pit Bull, Gene Splicer
catchphrases =

Babs and Buster Bunny are cartoon characters from the Warner Bros. animated television series "Tiny Toon Adventures". They are the stars of the show—they both appear in the "Tiny Toons" logo, and the show usually begins and ends with gags performed by them. Buster is voiced by Charles Adler and John Kassir respectively. Babs is voiced by Tress MacNeille. Buster is a young, blue and white male rabbit with a red,long-sleeved shirt and white gloves. Babs is a young, pink and white female rabbit with a yellow blouse and purple skirt, and purple bowed ribbons near the tips of her ears. They attend Acme Looniversity and live in Acme Acres.

Babs and Buster are based on Bugs Bunny, who seems to be a mentor and favorite teacher to them both, although in the episode Fields Of Honey, Babs searches for a female mentor, someone to be her true one and only mentor (as she believes Bugs to be more of Buster's mentor as they seem to have more in common and are both male), and she finds one in the forgotten character Honey from the old Bosko and Honey cartoons. However, both Buster and Babs take after different aspects of Bugs. Babs seems to be based on the more frenetic and random Bugs who did many sporadic costume changes and voices, while Buster is closer to the more unruffled and cool Bugs. Babs seems to be mostly based off of Bugs's old sweethart Honey Bunny.

They were both like Bugs Bunny in their theatrical mannerisms, their general confidence in themselves, and in their ability to work well with other headline characters. They were unlike him in their naïveté, due to their young age. Also, they tend to seek adventure, rather than wait for it to be thrust upon them, are more inclined to help others (usually those close to them) and they seem to be aware that an audience is watching.

Their names merely reflect an old naming convention in cartoons; as frequently mentioned during their introduction, they have "no relation" to each other nor to Bugs Bunny. Babs and Buster are about 14 years old, since Babs gives this as her age in "The Looney Beginning." Like the other Tiny Toons characters, they attend Acme Looniversity where the instructors include Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig, as well as many other classic Warner Bros. cartoon stars. Their best friends are Plucky Duck, Hamton J. Pig, Shirley the Loon, Dizzy Devil, Fifi Le Fume, Calamity Coyote, Little Beeper,Fowlmouth, Gogo Dodo, and Furrball. Their rivals are Montana Max, Elmyra Duff, Perfecto Prep alumni and Arnold the Pit Bull.

Buster and Babs, together, have two end tags:

:1. Buster: "Say good night, Babs.": Babs: "Good night, Babs!" [These lines pay homage to the classic sign-off of "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show" as well as to "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In".]

:2. Both: "ALOOOOOHA!" (in reference to Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian)

Babs Bunny

Barbara Ann "Babs" Bunny (voiced by Tress MacNeille) is a female performer who will do nearly anything for a laugh. She is good at improvisational comedy, and is a comedic impressionist in the vein of Robin Williams; in "Born To Be Riled", her friends became annoyed with her accurate but unflattering impersonations of them and they retaliated by impersonating her in turn. Like Buster, Babs is usually willing to go out of her way for her friends, such as when she sabotaged a bunch of swan ballet dancers who were trying to thwart Shirley's debut. She also is capable of quick costume changes, often achieved by simply spinning around in a circle really fast.

Babs has also had her share of melting into puddle in some episodes. Once in Europe in 30 Minutes where she melted completely into a pink puddle after seeing the Royal Couple, and in It's a Wonderful Tiny Toon Christmas Special, after Buster kissed her on the lips as his Christmas gift to her, thus allowing her to melt though her clothes into a pink puddle, with her eyes and clothes left on top of her melted form.

Her mother (also voiced by Tress MacNeille), was heard but only shown from the waist down (similar to the appearance of Nanny in the animated series "Muppet Babies" and the characters of Mum and dad from Cow and Chicken). She has a father (also seen only from the waist down), who appeared in one episode as a monstrously large fellow who intimidated Buster when he dated Babs. However, in another episode ('Love Disconnection') where he drops Babs and her friends off at a party, Babs' father is portrayed differently as a goofy and clueless man who appears way out of touch with his daughter. Although Babs has been seen with dozens of brothers and sisters, only one was ever named: 'Mortimer'.

Even though Babs has impersonated or parodied many different actors and fictional characters, one of the most notable characters she parodied was Wonder Woman (she also parodied Supergirl on one occasion as SuperBabs). She did this on a few different occasions, known as Wonder Babs instead (a bunny version of Wonder Woman), and is part of The Just-Us League Of Supertoons (a parody of The Justice League). Some other examples would be impersonating the fictional characters of Charlie Brown, Popeye, Yogi Bear, Roger Rabbit and real people such as Joan Rivers, Groucho Marx and Madonna. Coincidentally, the publisher of Wonder Woman and The Justice League, DC Comics, is owned by WB (who also owns Yogi Bear).

In "Fields of Honey", Babs searched for a female mentor, as nearly all prominent classic Looney Tunes characters are male. She eventually found one: Honey, a forgotten character from the old Bosko cartoons. However it should be noted that in the 1996 movie Space Jam Bugs Bunny got a female counterpart, Lola Bunny. The relation between Bugs and Lola is very similar to Buster and Babs, so even through Babs Bunny was created much time before Lola, Lola Bunny can be considered Babs' adult counterpart.

Her official outfit includes a yellow blouse and a purple skirt, with matching bows on the tips of her rabbit ears, and her body is pink and white. Unlike Bugs and Buster, she doesn't wear white gloves.

Buster Bunny

Buster John Bunny (voiced by Charlie Adler and John Kassir) is the leader of the Tiny Toons gang, a street-smart, blue and white rabbit who had to deal with the challenges of a tough school curriculum, the machinations of former friend, present-day rich kid and local bully Montana Max and the advances of crazed and dippy animal lover Elmyra Duff. Like Babs, he will do anything for a laugh, though he is marginally more sane and calm than his female counterpart.

Buster's parents, like many of the main characters on the show, have never been seen on screen. It is known that Buster does live with his mother however, because in Tiny Toons commercials, she has been referenced and has even been spoken to on the phone, mostly as a way to tell Buster that she was on her way home when he was having a party.

Buster has an extreme fondness for Bugs to the point of often imitating his mentor, such as using Bugs' "slap dance" technique from "Bully For Bugs" (though with considerably less success). Although cool and collected for the most part, there are instances where other characters will get the better of Buster, or some unfortunate mishap will befall him, unlike his mentor Bugs, who for the most part was always on top of his game.

It is shown in "Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian" that Buster doesn't like riding on airplanes because he gets motion sickness. There he tried to persuade the script writers to make a rewrite regarding his disliking for air travel. Because they refused, he had no choice but to accept it.

Buster has parodied and portrayed many different characters and actors, from Superman (which he is a bunny version called Superbun) to Chico Marx of the Marx Brothers.

Buster's outfit is just a red shirt and white gloves, which brings up the question when he asked his creator in the pilot episode for some clothes "for the censors" even though he's completely pantless. But, due to being male, unlike Babs, he doesn't wear bows on the tips of his ears. His body is light blue and white.

Like their adult counterpart, Buster (and at times along with Babs) would begin any attempts at mischief with "Of course you realize, this means war." However, in order to make the line his own, Buster would then add "Buster (and Babs) style!"

Buster's sole end tag alone without Babs is "And that's a wrap!"

Romance

Babs is many times shown to have a crush on Buster; sometimes Buster will nervously retreat from her advances, sometimes he returns her affection, and sometimes he even goes out of his way to impress her: aside from taking her to the prom in one episode, towards the end of the series, in the episode Thirteensomething he shows that he harbors deep feelings for her, which he only realizes after she has left Acme, rescues her, and embraces a kiss from her at the end of the episode.

Early in the series, Buster is shown to be easily attracted to Babs when she does her sultry routine (such as her Jessica Rabbit impression in "The Looney Beginning") or just decides to fix herself up to look nicer (her dress and what not for the prom in "Prom-Ise Her Anything"). In the last episode, It's a Wonderful Tiny Toon Christmas Special, he discovers that her life would be trite and miserable without him, and towards the end of the episode, embraces a kiss (this time willingly of his own accord) and recognizes the value they have towards each other. Presumably after this, he would no longer retreat from her in any way at all. On another occasion, their Perfecto Prep rivals, Roderick and Rhubella Rat (also voiced by Adler and MacNeille) refer to Buster and Babs as "Mr. No Money Bunny... and his No Money Honey", indicating that others perceive Buster and Babs as a couple.

Trivia

*Buster Bunny is mentioned in a first chapter of a Junie B. Jones book "Junie B., First Grader: Dumb Bunny", along with Bugs Bunny from "Looney Tunes", the Bionic Bunny from "Arthur", Thumper from "Bambi", the Trix rabbit, the Velveteen Rabbit, and Peter Rabbit.

*In early development, Buster would have had the catchphrase "Hello Nurse!" This idea was dropped as they could not think of a good reason for him to say it; it later evolved into a character name on "Animaniacs", as well as a cry of lust from its main characters.

References

See also

* Tiny Toon Adventures
* Animaniacs
* Bosko and Honey
* Bugs Bunny

External links

*
* " [http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Warner_Bros_/Television/Tiny_Toon_Adventures/index.html Tiny Toon Adventures] " at the Big Cartoon DataBase
* [http://www.toonopedia.com/babsbust.htm Don Markstein's Toonopedia]