This is a list of characters on the animated television series The Mighty B!.
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Elizabeth Kajolica "Bessie" Higgenbottom,[1] voiced by Amy Poehler, is the 10 year old main protagonist and the most ambitious Honeybee scout in the troop. She speaks with a lateral lisp and is claustrophobic.[2] As a member of the Honeybees, Bessie wears her uniform every single day, puts tons of energy, zest, and zeal into everything she does, and has earned more Bee Badges than any Honeybee in history. She also has very poor eyesight and wears glasses. She believes that if she can collect every single Honeybee badge, she will become her alter-ego superhero known as The Mighty B, the superhero has abilities range from super strength to logic skills. The legend of The Mighty B may be told in pages 123-126 of the Honeybee Handbook, but the pages were torn out because some say they reveal too much. However, Bessie believes in the legend wholeheartedly and has thousands of badges to collect before the legend can come true, and she doesn't plan on stopping until she earns every single one. Her middle name, Kajolica, curses anyone who says it with unfortunate events. Poehler describes Bessie as "superoptimistic and a super spaz"[3] and "a bit bossy, but with good intentions".[4] She is based on a character Poehler had played during her time at improvisational comedy troupes Second City and Upright Citizens Brigade, but also girls Poehler looked up to when she was younger, which she called "the leaders".[4] Poehler was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for her performance as Bessie in 2009, and again in 2010.[5][6]
Happy Walter Higgenbottom,[7] voiced by Dee Bradley Baker, was a nameless, stray dog with a torn ear enjoying existence at the Fisherman's Wharf, until Bessie Higgenbottom found him and took him home.[2] Happy could have run away from the Higgenbottoms, but he grew to love his new family, except for Ben. Because of his past as a street dog, Happy seems like he always has something up his sleeve and occasionally engages in unethical activities, like gambling. In "Beenadict Arnold", Happy was put on a strict diet, resulting in temporarily leaving Bessie for Portia. In "An I See Bee", Happy was forced to be ridden by Penny as a horse, resulting in Happy to be painfully squashed. In "Ten Little Honeybees", Happy was one of the individuals interviewed after the sudden disappearance of Portia's locket. Bessie was quoted to mention Happy's "past", possibly referencing to the episode "Night Howl", when Happy participated in gambling for the first time on-screen. Happy's possible biggest role to date was in the episode "Hen and Bappy", when Ben and Happy accidentally switched bodies after eating the Hippie's magic taquitos by mistake. In "The Bone Identity", it was revealed that Happy used to be a top bite dog name 'Agent Stray' and worked for a organization called S.H.A.D.O.W. (Serious Hardcore Attack Dogs Operating Worldwide) under K.G. Bianca orders, on his last mission he was hired to bite his future owner Bessie as a warning to the honeybees from the Nougat lobby, but since he has this rule of not biting women and kids, he faked his own death but not before ripping his ear off for proof that he died, until Bianca realized that he quit the S.H.A.D.O.W organization.
Benjamin "Ben" Higgenbottom, voiced by Andy Richter, is Bessie's 7-year-old younger brother. He hopes to be Bessie's sidekick when she becomes the Mighty B. He isn't quite there yet, so Bessie often refers to him as her "trial sidekick" or says that she'd "possibly consider him for sidekick candidacy".[2] Ben had a fear of foods touching each other because Bessie used to mash his food together when Bessie was a toddler and Ben was a baby. In "Hen and Bappy", Ben and Happy switched bodies by eating the Hippie's magical taquitos by mistake.[8] In the episode O, Brother What Are Thou, Ben was briefly known as Bessie's arch-nemesis the Hurtful Hornet do to jealousy brought by Happy being Bessie's substitute training sidekick. He also has a teddy bear called Mr. Pants, which wears vintage orange plaid pants. Andy Richter, the voice of Ben, is also the voice of Mort on the Nick show The Penguins of Madagascar.[9] Richter talked about The Mighty B!, quoting: "[...] another dream come true, to be able to do cartoon voices. And, also, to get to do cartoon voices for [Ben and Mort] two really funny, cool cartoons that my kids love and that I'm proud to have them love. It’s pretty great."[10]
Hilary Higgenbottom, voiced by Megan Cavanagh, is the single hippie mother of Bessie, Happy and Ben. She owns and operates a coffee shop called Hilary's Café.[2] She can be bowled over by Bessie just as much as everyone else is, but tends to handle her role as a parent in a free-spirited way. She's always full of good karma and positive energy and lets Bessie and Ben's imaginations run wild; unless they make a mess in the house or put themselves in danger. She is absent in many episodes.
The Honeybees are a troop of scouts founded by Miriam Breedlove.[11] The troop the series focuses on is #828 in San Francisco, California.[2] Every spring, the Honeybee troop is assigned the task of selling taffy.[11] The leader of the troop is Mary Frances Gibbons, Portia's mother.[2] The scouts seem to be very widespread, as a girl named Sissy Sullivan is in a Honeybee troop in Boston, Massachusetts.[12]
Penny Lefcowitz, voiced by Dannah Feinglass, is Bessie's awkward, dull, obese best friend. Though Penny is friends with Bessie, she also sometimes assists Portia Gibbons and her friend Gwen in torturing Bessie, so she goes against Bessie sometimes. In the episode "Penny Hearts Joey" she befriends a robotic kangaroo named Joey from a Chuck E. Cheese's-parodying pizza restaurant/arcade called "Jumpin' Joey's" where Joey is the restaurant's mascot and spokesperson. Penny's low intelligence causes her to believe that Joey is alive, and it is revealed at the end of the episode that he does have some feelings and is aware of the activities Penny is doing with him. Penny can communicate with sea lions and has asthma, and she also seems to have a love for chickens, and this is shown through her being seen sleeping with a toy chicken at night and her father's nickname for her, which is "Chicken." Penny also loves Honeybee Scout taffy, which is what Honeybee Scouts sell in the spring, and she often eats more taffy than she sells. She also eats glue and is afraid to walk across the streets by herself. In "We Got the Bee", Penny played triangle as a member of the Pretty Pretty Princesses. She fainted due to stage fright, so Bessie had to step in and play drums for them instead. In "An I See Bee", it is revealed that Penny is 10 years old, making her 6 months younger than her mean, snobby friend Portia. It is said she once went undercover so well she got elected president of Venezuela.
Portia Gibbons, voiced by Grey DeLisle, is the main antagonist of the series and believes she should be waited on and treated like a celebrity.[13] She often addresses Bessie as "Messie" or just Bessie. She exercises her sense of entitlement on people like Bessie, who she knows would never do anything mean-spirited in return. As a stereotypical preteen socialite, she is interested in makeup, clothes, and Rocky.[14] She typically has Penny, when she isn't with Bessie, and right-hand woman Gwen at her side. Portia constantly belittles and attempts to humiliate Bessie, dragging Gwen and Penny into the schemes as well and often going out of her way to do so. Her schemes against Bessie vary from harmless such as attempting to ruin her chances of getting a badge, to downright evil, like luring Bessie into a tank of hungry piranhas when she misplaced her glasses. She also likes sushi and gelato, often seen going to gelato shops in her free time. It is revealed in "Dang, It Feels Good to be a Gamester" that she is very good at video games, hence facing off with a rival boys troop playing "Raspberry Shortcake Attack V". When Portia got laryngitis in "Woodward and Beesting", Bessie thought she was an alien for a short period of time due to strange behaviors she only exhibits in private, such as dancing weirdly to techno music, liking squishy stickers, having her meals blended in a blender and drank like a milkshake, and wearing an ugly green scarf to protect her neck. In "So Happy Together", Portia briefly went insane when she discovered that her pet chihuahua was actually a rat, hence the breed's nickname, "Rat". In "Ten Little Honeybees", Portia received a gold locket as a birthday present. But shortly after she put it on, the lights strangely shut off and the locket disappeared right from her neck. It was later found stuck on Bessie's back pocket. It is also revealed that Portia is 10 1/2 years old. She has a cousin named Chelsea, who is meaner and more stuck-up than Portia. She is the only character that Portia is afraid of. She was the lead singer of the Pretty Pretty Princesses in "We Got the Bee". The Pretty Pretty Princesses' only known song was "Running with the Rainbow Unicorn", being the first known song in the series, besides the title song. Grey DeLisle was praised for her performance as Portia by the Animation Insider, callig her "hilarious" and that Portia is "obviously meant to be an annoying character, but her posh, pure-blooded arrogance is as fun as it is absurd. Portia calls Bessie Higgenbottom "Messy Stinkinbottom".[15]
Gwen Wu, voiced by Jessica DiCicco,[16] Portia's best friend, is "totally tuned into hip hop and urban culture, music and fashion."[17] She has a plan of dominating the music and fashion worlds, as soon as she can get out of babysitting her four younger brothers.[17] Gwen is Portia's lieutenant, and does whatever she says. She's always equipped with a witty comeback, which usually entails calling Bessie a nerd or dork. Despite this, she has a much larger tolerance for Bessie than Portia does and is somewhat nicer to her when Portia isn't around. She has a head for business and very clever.[17] She played the guitar as one of the Pretty Pretty Princesses.[14] It is unknown if she is related to Mr. Wu, the man that owns a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. They might be related, hence them sharing the same last name. She also believes in unicorns
Mary Frances Gibbons,[15] voiced by Sarah Thyre, is the Honeybee troop leader and Portia's mother.[15] She forced Portia to join the Honeybees and considers the troop "a mother-daughter bonding activity". During troop meetings, she shows blatant favoritism towards Portia and gets frustrated with Bessie when her achievements, zest, and zeal outshine Portia's. She has a very low tolerance for Bessie's energy level, often getting very frustrated with her. It is revealed in "Something's Wrong with this Taffy" that Mary Frances has been eating two boxes of taffy every day for twenty years.[11] In "The Apprentice", Mary Frances hires Bessie as an apprentice, in the idea that her Patty Faye sales numbers will boost, but in the end, Bessie just winds up to be a big fat pain in the neck. In "Ten Little Honeybees", she gave Portia a golden locket as a birthday present.
Millie Millerson, voiced by Grey DeLisle, is a Honeybee scout with a slow way of talking, and loves shiny or reflective objects, such as tinsel or confetti.[18] She has a pet turtle named Chester Turtleton.[19] Millie is hypoglycemic.[18] She used to have braces throughout the show, but in the episode Children of the Unicorn, her braces were removed.
Miriam Breedlove, voiced by Niecy Nash, is the founder of the Honeybees. She once went to brunch with Bessie, after Bessie won a competition.[20] Miriam also confronts Honeybee taffy makers in San Francisco when Bessie contacts Miriam, telling her that the taffy is not being made with real honey.[11]
An elderly woman who was a former honeybee. She tried to win the Sock Hop Badge to steal away from Bessie, but Bessie decides to give her a chance to dance and gets the badge.