This is a list of characters featured in Darby Conley's comic strip, Get Fuzzy.
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The first character of the trio is twisted Siamese cat Bucky Katt: selfish, cynical, and lazy. His ears are nearly always drawn laid back flat on his head, a feline sign of defiance, aggressiveness and/or unfriendliness (regardless of Bucky's actual mood), unless he is forced to have them up, gets surprised, or has a bedhead. In certain color pictures of Bucky, his eyes seem to be a mix of sky blue and wisteria purple, rather than a plain sky blue. He has gray and black fur and one fang tooth and it has never been made clear why Bucky doesn't have the other fang.
Bucky was born somewhere in Hackensack, New Jersey but was apparently abandoned as a kitten, as the local Humane Society found him huddled on a trash can when he was a few weeks old and only weighed five ounces. He was taken to the local animal shelter where Rob Wilco adopted him. While Bucky's father has never been mentioned, Bucky gave his mother's maiden name on a credit card application as "Tricky Woo," a reference to the ludicrously pampered (but in fact good-natured) pet dog of that name in James Herriot's stories of his experiences as a vet. Bucky has been said to be named for Negro League baseball player Buck O'Neil (Satchel Paige, another great Negro League player, was the impetus for the name of the dog Satchel), though Rob also has said he got his name because of his one "buck" tooth. Bucky lives in a dresser located in the hall closet of Rob's apartment because he refuses to share a room with Satchel. It has also been mentioned that when they moved to the apartment, Bucky chose the closet because "it was the safest place in case of assault." Bucky spends much of his time watching television, especially early in the comic strip. Early on, it was said that Bucky spent at least half of his day watching television, though this was phased out as the author decided to make Bucky's schedule more nap-oriented. Many storylines have Bucky continually finding ways to antagonize and annoy Rob and Satchel, which he once called a hobby. On most outdoor excursions, when Rob is present, Bucky is carried in a strap-on "Bundle-O-Joy" baby carrier, referenced as a way of keeping the cat out of trouble. Rob has also been known to use a harness leash on him for the same purpose. Bucky also has an inexplicable fear of mice, though he does "mouse patrol" at night.
Bucky is frequently depicted as possessing an abundance of rather disagreeable feline traits, such as anti-social tendencies, delight in random destruction (at times bordering on vandalism) and violent behavior, hostility, and personal selfishness at a much higher level. Most of this is directed at Satchel, as he endeavors to wreck Satchel's optimistic outlook on life, but usually fails, as Satchel does not have enough intelligence for his rude sarcasm and is often unaware that he is even being insulted. Other foibles are that he is "ignorant, arrogant, selfish, hostile, and ha[s] many hygiene issues". Rob, who is more cynical and worldly-wise than Satchel, frequently jabs at him in ways calling him out on his behavior, once remarking that his cat's intelligence quotient was 1 after he got that score in a magazine intelligence test. Bucky is often shown to be a very poor fighter physically, often getting hurt or humiliated (or both) when he might pick a fight. Oddly enough, when Bucky does fight, his weapon of choice is a spork. He also claims to be able to "swing a mean sock of Legos".
Although he feels the need to maintain an "alley cat" image, Bucky occasionally reveals a kinder, kitten-like nature. Two examples of this are his finding and fixing of Satchel's watch after he lost it in an accident and after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, while Rob and Satchel left to donate blood, he decorated the apartment with thankful balloons and signs, and baked some cookies for them to show his appreciation. He also stood up to Satchel's father Copernicus after catching him berating Satchel.
Three obsessions dominate Bucky's life: his rivalry with next-door neighbor and ferret Fungo Squiggly, his desire to eat a monkey, and wanting a movie made either about him or in some way by him. None of these goals has any reasonable rationale behind it, and he fails brilliantly in his repeated attempts to fulfill these obsessions. Fungo routinely disrupts Bucky's schemes, the single encounter he had with a monkey in the zoo resulted in the chimp trying to peel Bucky (thinking he was a banana), and his movie schemes always end with a lack of funding after initial rejection by Rob to "invest" into the movie project. Earlier in the strip, Bucky mentioned several times wanting to have a statue made of him, but Satchel suggested a plaque so pigeons couldn't perch on him.
While Bucky has not done many notable things in his life, he is the proud Co-Owner/Senior Executive of his own anti-monkey based clothes line, called Monkeywhere?, with Satchel as Head of Shipping, Mac Manc McManx as Co-Owner, a set of various cats that are judges of shirts, etc. While Rob seriously doubted that they would get off the ground, they did become successful, with Rob being dumbfounded when he saw a guy walk past him as he walked home who had a Monkeywhere? shirt. He claims that the company is a subordinate of "Marmasoft." Bucky later bought Satchel's own shirt company, Wezel War (pronounced,"Weasel Wear"), since he didn't like having stuff sold to weasels and ferrets. He presumably gained all the profits of that company.
His attempts at intellectual superiority are undermined by his constant malapropisms and his habit of making ridiculous claims, which he never admits as being factually incorrect even when he knows they are, such as saying that owls, locomotives, England and Canada do not exist, even though Bucky has visited the latter. He also claims that Greeks don't exist. Bucky is furthermore frequently depicted as believing in absurd conspiracy theories, or absurd theories in general.
Bucky owns a miniature teddy bear named "Smacky," obtained by his refusing to exchange toys with Satchel at a "McDoodles" restaurant even though each had the toy the other wanted. It is one of the few objects he shows affection. As Christmas gifts, Bucky received two other bears which he named "Cracker" and "Punk," but they do not appear as often as Smacky. Bucky also owns a rag doll named "Ms. Pretty," similar to Barbie. Despite his lack of sensitivity, Bucky cares deeply for Smacky and Ms. Pretty, even though he has proven to not be above trying to use Smacky to get his way; once, when he found out that Smacky was a rare toy, Bucky tried to sell him only to be told that Smacky wasn't worth as much as he thought -- an incident ending with Bucky giving an appraiser the finger on live television.
Bucky claims to be a fan of the "Yankers," even wearing a Yankees cap throughout the series, though more to annoy Rob because he wouldn't let him wear his Boston Red Sox baseball cap (he calls it the "'B' is for 'Bucky' hat") than anything else. He taunts Rob when the Red Sox play poorly, but apparently knows little about baseball. Rob has both been frustrated by that, having flipped out on Bucky after the 2003 American League Championship Series when Bucky hadn't realized the Yankees had won, and happy at the same time, rubbing the Yankees' loss in the 2004 American League Championship Series in Bucky's face. Bucky also occasionally mocks Rob's obsession with Rugby Union rugby, although he did once inexplicably perform the Ka Mate haka made famous by Rob's favorite national team, the All Blacks of New Zealand.
Although he professes a lack of interest in the Harry Potter series, Bucky took part in a spoiler-filled discussion of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with Rob regarding the allegiance of potions master Severus Snape, and also uses the series' fictionality as the basis for his aforementioned claims about trains, owls, England and Canada. Bucky seems to like Slytherin because Satchel is a fan of Hufflepuff House. He also has the values Slytherin House hosts, being of great ambition and an evil cunning.
Bucky has been shown to hold extremely conservative political viewpoints throughout the strip, but these may not stem from actual convictions as much as a desire to antagonize Rob and Satchel, both apparent liberals. This theory is backed up by his lack of knowledge as to why he has these positions and of the activities of other conservatives. Bucky is also frequently shown to have francophobic and anti-Quebec sentiments (he regularly says words like frog and canuck, although these, like his politics and support of the Yankees, appear not to stem from racism or nativism but from the desire to antagonize Satchel for his background).
Bucky's religion is "Felinism", claims his Zodiac astrological symbol is "Volkswagen" and he once claimed to be a Freemason, wearing a collar with the Masonic symbols on the tag.
An overweight, naïve, friendly, and easily amused dog, Satchel Pooch is the second member of the odd "family". Satchel is Canadian by birth, having been born in Cheticamp, Nova Scotia. He is half Shar-Pei and half Labrador Retriever. His father, named Copernicus, is one of a long line of guard dogs and Army dogs and was disappointed that Satchel had changed his name from "Number 8" to Satchel and also that he had become a "house dog". He has been alleged by Joe, a friend of his sports fanatic "owner" Rob Wilco, to be named after baseball player Satchel Paige.
Satchel's jokes often involve him delivering either a pun comment or the strip's punchline, often preceded by his laughter. Often, strips will have someone else delivering the punchline, followed by Satchel delivering a second punchline.
Satchel was employed by Bucky as part of his shirt company . His positions are Head of Shipping and Model for the shirts. He also started his own shirt company, Wezel War (pronounced "Weasel Wear"), which Bucky disliked as he didn't want weasels and ferrets coming in the apartment every day. Bucky eventually bought his company through clever business trickery, even though it seemed that Satchel's company was much more profitable than Bucky's.
Satchel is kind, gentle, and sympathetic. These traits, coupled with his naïvete and gullibility, make him a natural target for the scheming Bucky. Satchel's personality serves as foil to that of Bucky's: easy to please, optimistic to the extreme, having (barely) less common sense than Bucky, and perfectly content to peacefully coexist with everyone. He is good friends with Bucky's nemesis, Fungo Squiggly, much to Bucky's dismay. In fact, they are such good friends that Rob had a ferret flap installed in Satchel's room so Fungo could come into the apartment and leave as he pleased. Although he often seems oblivious to his own exploitation, Satchel occasionally expresses frustration towards Bucky and his hostile attitude. He seems to have forgotten that dogs are traditionally the natural aggressor in relationships between dogs and cats, and in fact, intimidation appears to be completely alien to the affable and easygoing dog. Satchel sticking up for himself is a rare event, often after encouragement by Rob. Recent strips show Satchel becoming slightly more aggressive and less surrender-prone, and often fighting back verbally to Bucky's relentless insults. In some cases, Satchel reacts physically to Bucky. He has only directly threatened Bucky with physical violence once, and it was due to Bucky insulting Satchel's friends (he called them "Eurotrash" because many of their breed names have European nations in them), rather than anything aimed at Satchel directly (after which Bucky briefly became meek and timid). Satchel did forcibly grab Bucky once after Bucky had turned on every light in the house (as well as putting a sock in the toaster oven) in an effort to force Bucky to turn the unused lights off due to Satchel's concern over climate change. Satchel is normally unilaterally nice to Bucky, and usually receives no consideration whatsoever from the cat in return; rare exceptions to this lopsided relationship include Satchel's gift of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream to Bucky on his birthday, which elicited an unprecedented display of gratitude from Bucky (though this was probably due to Bucky believing the ice cream contained actual monkey).
True to his character, Satchel takes a neutral position in the ongoing Major League Baseball feud between professed New York Yankees fan Bucky and rabid Boston Red Sox fan Rob. Satchel occasionally expresses support for the Chicago Cubs--although he once was punished by being forced to wear a Cubs hat, dubbed the "hat of shame" in reference to the team's long record of futility. Satchel is also very proud of his Canadian and European heritage, taking the time to watch Queen Elizabeth II whenever the royal figure is on television. He is a Harry Potter enthusiast, and once the sixth book was almost "spoiled" for him because of a conversation between Rob and Bucky regarding Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. As a fan of the Harry Potter series, Satchel displays a Hufflepuff poster in his room, a house affiliation that naturally suits the loyal and friendly dog. Naturally, Satchel is also a supporter of animal rights, occasionally asking Rob for money to donate to PETA or Greenpeace. His musical tastes appear to be based in light pop, including Barbra Streisand, Kenny G and Michael Bolton as well as folk music, and is apparently a Christian based on some strips. In the storyline where Rob is trying to tell Bucky that owls, trains, England, and Canada exist, after Rob has argued with Bucky for a long time and looks terrible, Satchel claims he always wants Rob to look like a "ancient Greek soldier with bunny slippers."
Although Satchel cannot tell time, he wears a watch he calls "Handy". Though the watch was destroyed in an accident with a bicycle, it was later found and repaired by Bucky, who then gave it back to him as a Christmas present. Satchel also received a digital watch on the same Christmas morning that he dubbed "Dingy" (later renamed "Beepy"), though he is still unable to tell time with it (although at some point he did figure out how to tell time). In addition to the watch, Satchel names everything from the carpet ("Rugger Green") to a television ("World B. Shiny") to a lamp ("Lampy") after what they are. Rob has been slightly put off when Satchel talks to the objects, often referring to them by name. Eventually Rob at least slightly accepted Satchel's desire to name objects, if only for a second- he referred to the television as "Sammy Sung" and also made a reference to "Little Baby Tivo"; however, Satchel had run into them accidentally while chasing a mailman he saw on TV and broke both of them, one of the only times he and not Bucky actually caused some destruction in the house.
Satchel's sexual orientation has been jokingly questioned several times throughout the strip's run. However, this aspect of Satchel's personality has never been treated as anything other than a mild amusement, and is counterbalanced by his occasional tendency to fall in love with both human and canine females, usually seen on television. In the latter case, Satchel's primary female friend/crush is a black and white dog named Oreo, who has known him since they were puppies. However, in recent strips Satchel has become stressed over Oreo's liking of an FBI bomb-sniffing dog named Chaser and has gone out of his way to try to make himself more presentable to her, going as far as to take advice from Bucky. This led to an incident where Bucky glued Satchel's front legs to his body with spray adhesive, thinking it was Rob's deodorant, and Satchel had to get his entire upper body shaved and wear sweatshirts for several weeks. In the former case, Satchel was in love with a late night TV news anchor and had an obsession with the author of one of his favorite book series.
Although Satchel is usually the butt of Bucky's violent attacks, he has not suffered many severe injuries. The bicycle incident was the first, and caused him to have to wear a bandage around his arm. He also hurt the same arm trying to imitate a dog in a dog food commercial and had to wear a collar because he would not stop chewing the bandage.
Satchel was a guest at the 75th anniversary party of Blondie in 2005.
Rob is the "owner" of Satchel and Bucky. He serves as the straight man between Satchel's goofy naïveté and Bucky's cynical hostility, observing their antics and those of their various animal friends with bemusement, amusement, or both. In the Get Fuzzy universe, virtually all animals talk, a situation that no one seems to find odd.
Rob is portrayed as a bit of an everyman: a mediocre performer in a job he dislikes, not successful romantically, and an all-around relatively quiet guy with a poor haircut and chronic lower back pain. His passions, which often border on obsessions, include sports (particularly the Boston Red Sox and the New Zealand All Blacks), video games, and books. Rob is often shown reading, usually while in bed. He seems to particularly like the Harry Potter series, as does Satchel. Rob is occasionally depicted wearing a Gryffindor shirt in contrast to Satchel's Hufflepuff poster and Bucky's Slytherin poster. He is also a strict vegetarian due to what he feels are too cruel methods of killing the animals, despite eating meat products in earlier strips (including sampling a meatloaf recipe Satchel made).
Due to the relative emotional immaturity of Bucky and Satchel, Rob seems to have a care-taker relationship with his pets. This is further shown as both Satchel and Bucky have child-like behaviors (some examples are Satchel naming inanimate objects, Bucky and Satchel getting toys at McDoodles (a parody of McDonald's), Bucky and Satchel becoming upset when Rob washed their respective blankets, and Bucky carrying teddy bears and dolls around in a backpack). He refers to Satchel and Bucky both as his "pets" and his "roommates" throughout the strip.
Many of Rob's interests are displayed visually rather than mentioned. From the t-shirts, hats, posters, statements, and books variously seen and heard in the strip, it can be assumed that Rob also likes the New Zealand rugby union team, South Doyle High School Track-and-field team (Conley's high school in Knoxville, Tennessee), Irish Rugby Team, Quebec Nordiques (specifically Michel Goulet), St. Louis Cardinals (with a memorial to Darryl Kile inscribed on his hat), British fantasy author C. S. Lewis, Manchester United F.C. (and, oddly, also archrivals Manchester City F.C.), Otago, New Zealand NPC rugby team, Belgian comic character Tintin, MXC, the Public Broadcasting Service, The Da Vinci Code, Garfield, Dilbert, South Park, The Simpsons, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, former New England Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi, science fiction, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Peanuts, Dungeons & Dragons, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Weta Workshop, Family Guy, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the BBC television program Top Gear, the Marine Corps, the Evil Dead series, and blues, folk, and rock, specifically the music of Leo Kottke, The Ramones, Green Day, Dropkick Murphys, Ween, Pink Floyd, Sum 41 (as shown in a few strips where he wears a shirt which has Sum 41 across it,) John Lennon, R.E.M., Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Regina Spektor, Radiohead, The Strokes, and Sprouts (a reference to Conley's brother's band), among others.
At one time, Bucky, obsessed with a Persian (Le Beautifal) who was living in the building, attempted to grow his hair out with a bottle of Rogaine. After two bottles were used and Rob flipped at the long tufts of hair that sprouted from the cat's head and chest, Bucky mixed some "no hair cream" with Rob's shampoo that he intended to use later. However, Rob got to the shampoo first, and as a result was bald for several weeks. Afterward, Rob maintained a short haircut for a long period of time because he liked it better short, though in more recent years, he had been letting his hair grow out in a shaggier style, a style that often ends up the butt of Bucky's jokes.
Rob's back has put him out of commission for three extended periods in the strip's history. On all three occasions, Bucky used the opportunity to steal Rob's wallet and establish his own dominion over the household. On the third time, which was the longest period Rob's back was thrown out, it was noted that Rob was "loopy on pain killers", in Bucky's words, telling Satchel to "apologize to [Queen] Elizabeth". Bucky used the opportunity to trick Satchel into giving him half his food at every meal for three weeks, handing him a note supposedly from Rob saying so (Satchel noted the lack of similarity between Rob's handwriting and the forgery but dismissed it as the result of Rob's painkillers).
Rob is a sports fan, and it is alleged by his friend Joe Doman that he named both pets after stars of baseball's Negro Leagues – Buck O'Neil and Satchel Paige (despite, as noted above, Rob saying he did so because of his one fang). An alternate theory (probably untrue) is that Bucky is named after late-1970s New York Yankees infielder Bucky Dent who hit a game-winning home run against the Boston Red Sox in a tie-breaking playoff game to determine the American League Eastern Division champion in 1978. However, this has not been explored in the strip, though a joke about the words "Bucky dent" was used in 2001. Rob is named after two friends of Conley's graduating class at Doyle High School (now South-Doyle High School) in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Rob's t-shirts often carry messages of a political nature. In the July 3, 2007 strip, soon after the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in the Bong hits 4 Jesus case, Rob was portrayed with a shirt that read "Dumb Hits 4 Judges". The Sunday before this, July 1, Rob's t-shirt displayed the flag of the Republic of Vermont. Political activists at the time of the strip were making headlines by renewing awareness of the effort to have Vermont secede from the United States. He has also worn a shirt labeled "ExFed", a reversal of the Federal Express logo.
His religion was only mentioned once, and he said (when asked if he minded saying what his religion was) that he "kind of did mind". On occasion, Rob has quoted Scripture to Bucky, usually to try to set an example of how he should behave (including Matthew 7:12 - "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."), while other times, he has expressed uncertainty as to whether or not there is an afterlife, though says that he does hope to be there, eventually.
Early in the strip, Rob wore square framed glasses, though these were eventually phased out as the strip progressed. Sometimes Rob is still seen wearing glasses, usually while reading.
Toward the beginning of the strip's run, Rob had a girlfriend named Kellie. The two dated frequently for a few weeks, but through unexplained circumstances, they stopped seeing each other, most likely because Bucky frightened her (even though Rob assured her she was on Bucky's "friends list"). Immediately afterwards, Rob began dating his new neighbor, Laura, who took an instant liking to Bucky, after finding the "such a cute kitty" sleeping under her sofa in the hall as she was moving into her apartment. Laura was always sympathetic toward Bucky since Rob seemingly provoked his bad behavior, that is until Bucky bit her hand simply because she scratched his head, and perhaps like Kellie, was the reason why she and Rob stopped seeing each other as well, after a couple of weeks. Since then, Rob has been completely unsuccessful at romance, even becoming the butt of his father's teasing for not knowing who "J-Lo" is. In a 2004 strip, Rob suddenly announced he was going on a date, and asked for Satchel's and Bucky's opinion on his appearance (he had combed his hair, tucked in his shirt, and wore a tie), to which Bucky called him a "Classic Cracker", while Satchel inquired if he was attending a spelling bee; thirty seconds later, Rob untucked his shirt, unbuttoned the top buttons, and put on a backwards ballcap, to which Bucky said he was now a "Cheese Cracker". Later that same year, Rob admitted to Satchel that one of the things that depresses him is that fact that he "hasn't had a girlfriend in five years".
Fungo Squiggly is the pet ferret of the neighboring Garcia family, whom Bucky shares a rivalry with and hates intensely, whereas Satchel has befriended Fungo, and the rivalry he shares with Bucky still does not keep Fungo away from Satchel. In Fungo's debut strip, the Garcias moved in next door and introduced Fungo to Rob and his pets as their ferret, "Mr. Squiggly", in a tomato box. Fungo's first name was not revealed until later in the strip by Satchel, and for a time was only known as "Mr. Squiggly". From the minute the two were introduced, Bucky was rude and aggressive to Fungo for no given reason, but Satchel was kind and friendly to his new neighbor, resulting in a friendship shared by Satchel and Fungo. Fungo has the habit of chain-smoking cigars, frowned upon by both Rob and Bucky because Rob thinks it's annoying and it angers Bucky. Fungo does not have any audible speaking lines throughout the entire strip, but sometimes whispers into Satchel's ear.
Fungo and Bucky take the reason given by their rivalry as a chance to keep their hatred for each other going strong by setting traps for each other or playing tricks on each other. For instance, Fungo has kidnapped Bucky's stuffed bear Smacky twice in the series, and once, Bucky tried to set a trap that would send Fungo down a garbage chute, but the plan backfired and sent Fungo's mother down the chute instead, resulting in a pie fight that was broken up by Rob after Fungo filled a pie with tools and planned on throwing it at Bucky. On one occasion Bucky sued Fungo on Judge Judy for assault but lost because Judge Judy didn't think he had any case and he had threatened Satchel after failing to testify on his behalf, as well as his refusal to explain his placing a snare in the Fungo's home prior to the alleged 'assault.' The rivalry clearly does not prevent Satchel and Fungo from hanging around each other, for once Rob made a ferret door for Fungo so he could go in an out to visit Satchel as he pleased. Also, Fungo works at "Ferret TV" a television channel made specifically for ferrets' enjoyment and entertainment. Once a fight between Fungo and Bucky was broken up by an optimistic cat named Chubby Huggs (see Chubby Huggs below) who hugged them tight during a duel and refused to let them go until they made up.
The exact motive for Bucky's hatred of Fungo is unexplained, though he did seem somewhat aggressive in his first appearance. Bucky's hatred of Fungo apparently extends to all members of the weasel family. It has been suggested that Bucky may mistake the Mustelid for some sort of rodent, given their similar body shape and his calling Fungo a "rat", "rodent", or "stretched rat" at various times. It may be as inexplicable as his desire to kill and eat a monkey (he has also called Fungo a monkey). It may simply be a byproduct of Bucky's aggressive meanness. Regardless of the motive, Bucky is clearly the aggressor in most encounters, as Fungo does not seem to go looking for trouble.
When Bucky set up a contest with the reward being "a day with Bucky", Bucky was shocked to learn the winner was Fungo Squiggly. Bucky had made a gift bag for Fungo, but Fungo tossed it aside. He wanted to play Twister with Bucky, who refused to do so.
A portly, interminably cheerful cat who believes positive reinforcement (mostly through hugging) solves all problems, Chubby Huggs is referred to by Rob as the Dalai Lama of cats because of his peacemaking abilities. Once Chubby is locked in his hug position, he is unable to move for 10 minutes-a fact Rob used against him by tricking Chubby into hugging a teddy bear tightly so Satchel could carry him home. He is invariably loving and doting even to those who are indifferent to or detest him, even having a "little mouse friend" named Fowly who hates him and is vicious towards him (Chubby would take the death threats as words of kindness), à la Ignatz Mouse and Krazy Kat. Bucky later attempted to kill Fowly by giving him a used gerbil cage with a mouse trap buried under sawdust with a "leaky can of Cheez Whiz in it", trying to pass it off as a "dairy themed adventure park", saying the mousetrap was an exercise machine. Chubby is one of the few creatures that either Fungo Squiggly or Bucky is afraid of (not due to maliciousness, but due to the embarrassment and potential dangerous consequences of his constant hugging), as referenced during the attempted duel in the hallway which Chubby broke up by hugging both of them.
In a sequence that began September 19, 2006, Bucky met his cousin, Mac Manc McManx, otherwise known as Mac, M3, or M&M&M. Mac is a native of Manchester, England, although he lived with Rob, Bucky, and Satchel for nearly three and a half years. Mac speaks largely in British English slang. McManx explained that he and Bucky shared a common grandmother. Mac's father arrived in England during the First Gulf War from a place Mac only remembers being called "Otis", so Rob tells Bucky that his family is from Massachusetts, to which Bucky replies, "Blast! I'm a filthy communist!!!". (Otis Air Force Base is located in Massachusetts.)
Mac's mother is from Hartlepool. Mac reveals that all of his family hates monkeys, not just "cousin Gene". (This is a reference to "Monkey Hanger" a nickname for people from Hartlepool). Mac also claims to have a brother named Percy, who is a dog. According to Mac, he is a mix between a Manx cat and a tabby cat;[1] he tells Rob that "(his) dad's a McManx, (his) mum's a McTabby" when Rob asks why he has a big tail (as Manx cats do not have tails; Mac also has some orange coloring in his fur that some tabbies have). Despite Mac's generally cheery demeanor, his ears are laid back flat on his head like Bucky's which may indicate aggression runs in the McManx/Katt bloodlines, although Mac is usually seen wearing a toque on his head which would push his ears down. He revealed he either has a dinner plate or a teacup embedded in his head, the result of an argument with his girlfriend Julie over which football (soccer) team was better, rivals Manchester United or Manchester City (Mac is a huge Man City fan).
Mac was thought to have gone back to England several times over his stay with Rob. The first time came after he had disappeared following his initial visit, when Rob found out that he had been living in a pasta pot and had been using his sweater drawer as a litter box. The second time, Mac was detained at the airport by Homeland Security for a month after he had lost his ticket home and set off the alarms due to the plate/teacup embedded in his head; the airport police also couldn't understand him and found a mobile phone that his friend "Al Kayda" gave to him. The third time Rob bought him tickets to a Man United FA Cup game in order to get him to leave, but found him on the couch three days later. Mac didn't officially leave until December 28, 2009, after Rob bought him a business class ticket to England for a Christmas present; originally Bucky was going to ship Mac back to England in a box after Rob canceled an auction whose proceeds Bucky was going to use to buy Mac a plane ticket, but Rob used frequent flyer miles to give Mac a ticket. Rob also said that he liked the idea of someone else having to deal with Mac for seven hours; Mac has not been seen in the strip since.
Mac was also one of the animals involved in a story plot in which he, Chubby Huggs, and two other animals were staying at Rob's apartment. It is implied Rob let Mac stay at the apartment since he and Satchel never came up with a effective way of getting Mac to leave. During a brief period during which Bucky seceded and then plotted to take over the US, he recruited Mac to run in the 2012 presidential election, oblivious to the fact that he was ineligible to run, among other reasons because he was not a citizen, let alone a natural-born citizen, or even a human.
Buttercup is Rob's mother's cat. She is shy, but aggressive. Mrs. Wilco, who had adopted Rob's vegetarian lifestyle, took it to a level Rob hadn't with his pets (and definitely wouldn't consider with Bucky), and started feeding Buttercup vegetarian cat food. Buttercup didn't take kindly to that, asking Satchel to kill her and attacking Rob before he left, begging him to bring her tuna. Rob responded by giving her a barbecue take-out menu and $400, with which she ordered "fifteen number 5's with extra pig."
Foodar is a friend of Bucky's, a stray cat that has a bizarre radar-like sense (referred to Bucky as the "seventh sense", as he claims all cats have a sixth sense where they can tell if a human likes them or is afraid of them) that enables him to detect any meat or grain based food in the vicinity. Foodar is Canadian, and as such uses the metric system to determine his range. His ability was used against him in a plot to lure him out of the house, as Rob put a can of tuna with dry kibble on the sidewalk in front of the apartment building and Foodar left without anyone noticing.
Foodar's name is a portmanteau of the words "food" and "radar".
Other cats that have appeared in the strip include:
Rob's best friend and co-worker, Joe Doman is also one of the few people who gets along reasonably well with Bucky. His name may be a pun on the phrase, "You da man," and he is African-American. He has also pet-sat Bucky and Satchel a few times. From the beginning, Joe was popularly cast throughout the strip, usually either seen at work with Rob, or visiting Rob, Bucky, and Satchel for dinner, or to watch sports; over the years, however, Joe was slowly phased out of the strip, due to a new job in France. Joe often likes to offer commentary on the dynamics of life at Rob's, once remarking that the antics were like that of Diff'rent Strokes (with Rob likening Bucky to Gary Coleman. On occasion, Joe will pet-sit for Bucky and Satchel, and when he does, he usually treats them to his own cooking, as a change of pace from Rob's vegetarian diet. Joe is also a fan of rugby, having worn a jersey of the Scottish national team on a golf outing. In one strip from 2003, Joe visits Rob with an unidentified woman; Joe explains to her about telling her about the "insane" Bucky, while she refers to him as, "Sweetie", suggesting that Joe suddenly started dating, though the mystery woman hasn't been seen since. Joe was originally drawn with beady eyes and extremely short hair, but was later drawn with more detailed eyes (with a pupil and sclera) and he decided to let his hair grow out.
Rob's father, Francis Wilco is a retired firefighter and former member of the United States Marine Corps (1969–1974) who reluctantly pet sits Bucky and Satchel from time to time. Although he doesn't mind hanging out with Satchel, Francis does not like Bucky, and is willing to do a fair amount to keep him out of his hair. He has thinning hair and is usually pictured with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. Like Bucky, he generally calls Rob "Robert". It is also implied he is a Vietnam veteran, as when he was listing reasons he had earned the right to avoid Bucky, he mentioned that he had 'done two turns in the war' and later said he served in the Marines from 1969 until 1974. Once when Francis came over, Bucky had asked Francis who he had voted for. To this, Francis replied, "well, if it isn't little Buddy. That's not a polite question, Buddy," which suggests that Francis forgot Bucky's name (although it could have been done on purpose due to the two not getting along).
Rob's mother, who has not yet been given a name. She lives in an indeterminate place with her cat, Buttercup, and a dog named Chewie. Rob has visited her apartment on two separate occasions, once for Thanksgiving and once for Easter. The first time (Thanksgiving) Rob had to fly there, but the second time he was able to drive, implying she might have moved. She has joined Rob in adopting a vegetarian diet, and as noted above forced the diet on Buttercup.
Roger Wilco is Rob's "idiot brother" (according to Francis), who visited briefly in 2005. He made a previous, silent appearance at a memorial service to honor the firefighters killed in the September 11 attacks in 2001 shown shortly after the attacks. His first appearance, though, was in a color strip, a spoof of MTV's Jackass in which Rob allowed himself to be attacked by Bucky. The third time Rob's back went out he pet sat for Bucky and Satchel. His name is a pun on "roger, wilco", a phrase from 1940's naval radio code meaning "message received, will comply". Roger also visited the apartment after Rob's back went out, which is the longest time he has been in a strip, and the first time he had been shown speaking to Rob.
Rob's Marine cousin, called "Willie" by Satchel, who lost a leg in the Iraq War. An uncharacteristically serious story arc showed Rob meeting William's plane when he returned home. He notes that while on deployment he missed Guinness, crullers and The Simpsons. He was sad that Dunkin' Donuts no longer made crullers, a sentiment shared by Satchel.
Rob's boss made appearances early in the strip. He made a brief appearance in a strip after Rob lost his hair, asking him to remove his Red Sox hat, claiming that "[they're] trying to create an atmosphere of success." He also appeared in a brief story arc where he selects Bucky to be a mascot for a power tool company, which resulted in Bucky making a mess of various foods with the free sample tools he was given.
Satchel's mother, an unnamed Shar Pei. On their vacation to Canada, Mrs. Pooch was very happy to see her son. She told Rob, Bucky, and Satchel that her husband Copernicus had to go to Feline Acceptance Classes for a week because he bit their neighbors' nice cat. She is cheerful, like Satchel. None of Satchel's seven other brothers and sister have been mentioned.
Oreo is an old friend and love interest of Satchel's. She has the fur patterns of a Border Collie but is more terrier sized. Although she is Satchel's love interest, she is supposedly more interested in a bomb dog called Chaser.
Ira Chihuahua is a generally irritable (though not to the extent of Bucky) chihuahua who first appeared in Satchel's dog conference and appeared a second time. Ira prefers to go by his initial, I (as a play on the term "ai chihuahua"). In his second appearance, he was telling Satchel at the playgroup that he had worms in his stomach, soon, he made fun of Bucky after being beat up by a chicken (in his last appearance).
Motor is an old friend of Satchel. He is much more aggressive than Satchel when it comes to Bucky's insults, though this does not seem to deter him. He is 3/4 Belgian Tervuren and is offended when someone calls him a German Shepherd, though he looks like one.
Smoky is an old friend of Satchel's who has a smoked pattern to his fur.
Creiten Salad is Satchel's cousin from Prince Edward Island. Bucky misunderstands Creiten's accent and mocks him.
Shakespug is a small pug who wears a yellow dishwashing glove, and usually applies Shakespearean quotes to his language rather than using regular language, unless he cannot come up with a quote. He stayed at Rob's apartment for a while along with Mac Manc McManx, Foodar, and Chubby Huggs. Shakespug was the only one of those animals that Rob let stay in the house but was eventually forcefully removed from the house after he woke up Bucky while playing a game of Battleship with Satchel; Bucky threw him out while quoting the line "Out, damned spot, out I say!" from Macbeth. Shakespug also seems to understand Mac Manc McManx the best through his "britspeak". On one occasion, Shakespug did not speak in a Shakespearean quote, "O, Helter skelter, hang sorrow, care will kill a cat! Up tails all, and a pox on the hangman" (which Bucky pointed out was not Shakespeare, but was Ben Jonson) to apply it to Bucky, to which Bucky replied, "Charlatan".
One day Satchel caught Bucky "soap-bombing" a dog called "Filthy Frazier", who appears to be insane. He threatens to kill Bucky, but Bucky continues to soap bomb him, but the fight ended with Bucky mooning Frazier from the window. But then, contrary to what Satchel and Bucky believed, Filthy Frazier did get into the building and later attacked Rob viciously in the hallway. Filthy Frazier tells Rob, later, to put Bucky out there and that he'd make him into "gut-tar" (guitar) strings out of him. Soon Satchel and Bucky discover Frazier and Rob hugging and crying, due to Rob telling Frazier that he has to live with Bucky and his bad attitude. His last appearance was when Bucky caught him on a string around his muzzle.