Rocko facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Rocko |
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| Rocko's Modern Life character | |
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| First appearance | Trash-O-Madness (1992) |
| Last appearance | Nickelodeon: Pixel Town (2019) |
| Created by | Joe Murray |
| Voiced by | Carlos Alazraqui |
| Information | |
| Species | Wallaby |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation |
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Rocko is the main protagonist of the animated television series Rocko's Modern Life and the comic book series of the same name. Carlos Alazraqui provided the voice of the anthopomorphic wallaby. His catchphrase is "Day is a very dangerous day."
Character
Rocko lives in O-Town. Raised in Australia, Rocko later emigrated to the United States after he graduated high school. Murray suggests that Rocko's interest in the United States began with a vacation with his family as a youth; during the trip he met his future sidekick Filburt. Murray allowed for directors to create inconsistencies, reflecting how friends possess different and varied, nostalgic memories of the past. For instance, in the episode "Put to Pasture" the writers portray Rocko, Filburt and Heffer Wolfe as students at O-Town High School. Murray received many pieces of mail regarding the storyline inconsistencies.
Rocko wears a blue shirt with purple triangles and orange shoes. He is known for being a loyal friend, not venturing outside his comfort zone and is known to say when a situation isn't going well: "_____ day is a very dangerous day." In "Trash-O-Madness", a family photograph depicts Rocko with a mother, father, and a younger sibling. "Wimp On the Barby" shows Rocko's family again, revealing that his younger sibling is a sister. Murray created a narcoleptic older sister character named Magdalane "Maggie" in the episode "Wake Up Maggie" about her, but chose to never air the episode and never use the character. Magdalane was created as a mother with 2 children.
Although personally hygienic, Rocko is almost an pathological tendency to neglect his living space; several episodes, such as "Unbalanced Load", involve Rocko attempting to rectify severe messes or lapses in maintenance.
Rocko enjoys collecting comic books and likes rainbows.
Nickelodeon South East Asia's website describes Rocko as "generally very polite and sometimes shy" and that provocation can lead Rocko to become "determined and forceful." Jean Prescott of The Sun Herald described Rocko as a "pudgy little wallaby star" who tries to "do what's right" and is devoted to his friend Heffer and dog Spunky. Prescott has called the character "lovable."
Common Sense Media reviewer Andrea Graham, whose review is posted on Go.com, describes Rocko as "paranoid and obsessed with cleanliness" and that he initially perceives his neighbors to be "loud and messy." Graham describes Rocko as accepting of his neighbors' faults and seeing the positive qualities within them.
In an early character profile presented to the networks Murray described Rocko as "a young anthropomorphic Woody Allen, who has just moved away from his home into a surrealistic adult world."
Careers
In the television show, in his day-to-day life, Rocko works as a cashier at a local comic book shop called Kind of a Lot O' Comics, which is owned by Mr. Smitty and sells mostly Really Really Big Man comics until he is currently unemployed in Static Cling. Rocko worked at Mega Lot-o Comics owned by chairman of Conglom-O, Mr. Dupette, Ed Bighead's boss. In the television show, his other jobs include tattoo artist, plumber's assistant phone operator , a product tester at Conglom-O, a tow truck man, an underwear model and a cartoonist for the program Wacky Delly.
In the official comic book, Rocko works as a comic book dealer in Issue #7's "Conned Again", working for "Humongo Con."
Neighbors
Rocko's neighbors are Ed, with whom he has a semi-rivalry, and Bev Bighead. Bev considers Rocko a very sweet neighbor. He and his dog Spunky, who often eats the neighbors' salmon bushes, are a source of constant annoyance to Ed. In the episode Skid Marks, Rocko's drivers license reveals that Rocko and the Bigheads live on "Boogie Blvd," with Rocko's address being 1172 Boogie Blvd.
Friends
Rocko's best friends are Heffer Wolfe, a steer who eats a lot and was adopted and raised by a family of wolves, and Filburt, a bespectacled turtle with neurotic Woody Allen-esque mannerisms, who often feels nauseated.
Love life
In early concept sketches Murray indicated that Rocko bears a strong crush on a character named "Melba Toast". Rocko expresses this trait in Season One, bearing a crush on the unseen character until he discovers that Melba has a serious boyfriend named Dave in "Love Spanked". Melba has only been mentioned once since.
In subsequent episodes, Rocko bears crushes for other characters. In "S.W.A.K.", Rocko has been vying for the attention from the pretty kangaroo mail-lady that comes to his door every day; he writes her a love note that he is too scared to send so Heffer does it for him instead. Rocko fails to retrieve the letter and gets the impression that the mail-lady would rather go out with Heffer. This turns out to be a joke on the mail-lady's part and she actually returns Rocko's feelings. In "Wallaby on Wheels", Rocko learns to roller skate to impress Sheila, a girl who hangs out at the roller rink, and becomes jealous when it is implied she is attracted to Heffer. In the end, he wins her over after saving Heffer's life. In "I See London, I See France", Rocko tries to win over Claudette, who turned out to be his female wallaby pen pal from Paris, but she is more interested in Heffer.
Video game appearances
Rocko is the main playable character of Rocko's Modern Life: Spunky's Dangerous Day and also in the console version of Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots, an actor in Microsoft's Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker, and can be drawn in Drawn to Life and Drawn to Life: SpongeBob SquarePants Edition. Rocko and Heffer make a cameo appearance on one of the loading screens in Nicktoons MLB. Rocko and Heffer are playable characters in the Nickelodeon game Super Brawl Universe.
Rocko's modern life has a new movie on Netflix
Images for kids
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Carlos Alazraqui provides Rocko's voice.
