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Theodore McCallister III
Tobey
Name Theodore McCallister III
Gender Male
Age 10-11
Occupation Student
Alignment Bad, later Neutral
Homeland Fair City
Race Human
Friends His robots
Family Claire McCallister (mother)
His "Granny Sweet Mum Mum"
Abilities Expertise in robotics
Engineering
Voice Actor Patton Oswalt

Theodore "Tobey" McCallister III is a major antagonist in WordGirl.

Tobey is an English boy genius that specializes in building enormous robots, which he uses to destroy things. His robots seem to be used mostly for destructive purposes, but they have shown a wide array of abilities such as food-making, cabin-building, checker-playing, painting, competing in athletic events, etc. He's around Becky's age and he goes to the same school.

Personality[]

Tobey is a brilliant planner and a smart student (which he takes pride in frequently), but extremely non-athletic. He goes as far as to have a robot win a field day contest in his place in the episode "Field Day Fun with Robo-Tobey", only to be disqualified when the truth is revealed. He has also shown to lack wilderness skills as he will often rely on his robots to help him. He is usually very quiet except for when he loses his temper and sets his robots on people. He is sometimes shown to be very nice to others, but most of the time he is not. Tobey dislikes losing, and will often become angry when he does and when he does win, he'll usually make a show of it.

Tobey is also rather charismatic, though his charms fail to have any effect on WordGirl. Tobey is clearly bad and evil, but his motivations for being so are not villainous. Most of the villains on the series attempt to steal money, food, or other valuable items. Tobey, on the other hand, has an obsessive crush on WordGirl --though he would never admit this to anyone and has argued more than once to the contrary-- and often concocts funny and destructive plans simply to impress her or win her heart. He often demands that if he can defeat her with his robots, she must tell him her secret identity and go out for ice cream with him. Tobey owns a WordGirl scrapbook with newspaper clippings and other objects, as well as a WordGirl doll that lies on his bed. Though he and WordGirl frequently argue, they occasionally show they do actually have a great deal in common together, such as in the episodes "Department Store Tobey", "Have You Seen the Remote?", and in the episode "Tobey Goes Good". Unfortunately, Tobey gets out of hand after losing to Violet to the point that that he almost squeezes WordGirl using his robot when she tries to stop him. As for WordGirl's dual identity, Becky Botsford, the two are rivals at school as they both compete to prove who is better whether it's sports, art or winning an election. Although in some episodes the two show respect for each other. In Season 3, when Victoria Best came to school he and Becky both found a rival in her, although in Kid Math and The Tooth Hurts, he and Victoria are shown together, suggesting they have some form of friendship. It's also hinted that Tobey has a similar crush on Becky, complimenting her appearance[1], but hides it more fiercely than his crush on WordGirl. However in "Tobey's Playground Calamity" and "Guess Who's Coming to Thanksgiving Dinner" he and Becky make it clear they do not want to be together.

Physical appearance[]

Toby outfit

Tobey in his working outfit

Tobey has short blond hair that sticks up in the back, pale skin, round glasses and a well-built stature. His typical outfit of a blue shirt with an orange vest over it, a red bowtie, brown pants hold up with a darker brown belt, white knee socks, and brown shoes similar to Becky's.

He wears his robot-building outfit over his usual outfit. Most visible is his white apron with the design of one of Tobey's standard robots on the front with two pockets, one of which has a screwdriver and a hammer. On top of his glasses are what appear to be a pair of goggles with the right lens blue and the left lens red. On top of Tobey's head is an elaborate helmet with a bright green chinstrap and two bright red and blue buttons on top.

History[]

WordGirl's first encounter with Tobey happened during "Play Date". WordGirl simply knew his name from the label on the bottom of a destructive robots' foot, which she found after destroying it. Later, when she returned home, Tobey (whose mother works with Sally at the district attorney's office) was at her home for a scheduled "playdate" by both their mothers, Tobey noticed that Becky was in possession of his lost remote, and when he voiced this fact the two kids deduced the other's villainous and heroic identities respectively (though while Tobey admitted to his identity, Becky denied being WordGirl). To try to prove Becky was WordGirl, he snatched his remote back, summoned one of his giant robots and gave her a limited amount of time to either stop the robot or have her house destroyed. Becky employed a backup plan, in which Bob dressed as WordGirl, and while Tobey was distracted with the decoy, she destroyed the robot. Tobey decided that Becky was not likely WordGirl but the two have been in a somewhat rivalry since.

Another time when Tobey deduces the truth about Becky is in the episode "By Jove, You've Wrecked My Robot", in which he comes over to have a playdate with Becky and tells her that if she tries to turn into WordGirl, he will use his robots to destroy the city. Becky continues to deny being WordGirl, even after Tobey shows WordGirl some Polaroids of WordGirl with Becky's shoes on (due to a lapse in judgement by Captain Huggy Face) and states that they look exactly alike. Becky and Tobey play a parody of Battleship with toy robots connected to their gigantic counterparts in the city, and Becky eventually has to result to cheating through Walkie-Talkies with Huggy. Tobey does not appear to care when this is discovered, he knows that Becky is WordGirl because she hasn't yet attempted to defeat the robots. WordGirl sends Bob off to defeat the robots for her, using a WordGirl doll to fool Tobey's surveillance cameras. Tobey admits that Becky is not WordGirl, much to her relief.

Tobey's crush on WordGirl was pointed out by Dr. Two-Brains in the episode "Mousezilla" which was commented on as a "silly schoolboy crush". Tobey had tried to deny it but was proven otherwise when he tried to stop Dr. Two-Brains from crushing her with Mousezilla's whiskers by stating "No, surely we can think of a much more diabolical way to teach her a lesson." Whether Dr. Two-Brains still holds this over his head or not is unknown. The Narrator has also made a point of Tobey's crush, in both "Tobey or Consequences" and "Best Fan Club Meeting Ever".

Tobey's mother Claire McCallister is the only authority he dreads, and when she is made aware of his mischievous deeds she often grabs him by the ear and leads him away to be punished, ignoring any excuses he may give.

Tobey has said he got his start from a robotics kit, which included his first remote (and a tracking device for said remote). There must have been some reason for Claire McCallister to consider giving her son a kit, especially one that allows him to become a villain, but no explanation is given in the show. Though, it could be very well likely that it was his father who gave him the kit. In "Oh, Holiday Cheese", Tobey's robot puts the star on a giant holiday tree, earning him approval from his mother.

In the episode "Monkey-Robot Showdown", we see a piece of Tobey's childhood where Tobey had lost a game of checkers to Violet, thus giving the reason why he doesn't compete in the game at his current age anymore.

Relationships[]

WordGirl/Becky Botsford[]

Tobey has shown a strong dislike for WordGirl as she interferes with his plans, however many of his schemes are often done to impress her due to his not so secretive crush. He and WordGirl are shown to have much in common but WordGirl cannot stand it when he tries to impress her. As for Becky the two are rivals at school as they are both smart kids, unfortunately the two cannot bear being put together and while they cannot stand each other they have shown to have a respect for each other.

Violet Heaslip[]

Unlike Becky, Violet is very kind to Tobey as shown in "Tobey's Tricks and Treats" where after his plan was foiled and he claimed it was the worst Halloween ever, Violet tried to cheer him up by inviting him to catch some candy with her, which he smiled at. In "Mobot Knows Best" when Tobey revealed that he was sending in a robot to the Parent-Teacher Conferences, she showed concern saying it's dishonest to do that. He reveals to them that he did not do perfectly on a math paper, she assured him that a B+ is still a good grade, even though Tobey disagreed.

Todd "Scoops" Ming[]

He and Scoops don't interact as much but he did call Scoops "Ace Reporter" in "Field Day Fun with Robo-Tobey". In the episode "Cherish is the Word" he and Scoops were showing their admiration of WordGirl but Victoria Best hypnotizes them and causes a fight. Scoops shows fear when Tobey challenges him to a duel to be WordGirl's Valentine, while somewhat fearful, Scoops was still willing to fight Tobey's robots. In "Talent Show Tobey" both of them were performing with WordGirl/Becky and made it to the finals, the two began to hit each other back in forth in a competitive way.

Dr. Two-Brains[]

Tobey first interacted with Doctor Two Brains in the episode "Mousezilla", where both held respect for each other and their work. They both decided to combine both their talents and ingenuity together, collaborating on building a giant mechanical mouse robot, which both used to accomplish their goals (Two Brains' cheese heists, and Tobey's destructive plan to rule over the city). The robot was even strong enough that Wordgirl couldn't even put a dent in it (as it was made by Two Brain's alloy). Unfortunately, their relationship quickly soured when both started arguing on their motives of using the robot, each villain wanting to accomplish only their own goals (as mentioned above). They both started adding new features to the robot that neither one approved of, making their squabbling even worse. Finally things come to blows when both start making fun of each other's flaws, Tobey childishly mocking Dr. Two Brains' fear of cats, while Two Brains calls out Tobey's "silly schoolboy crush" on Wordgirl, much to Wordgirl's (and everybody else's) amusement. Their immature fighting allowed Wordgirl the edge to defeat Mousezilla, and lead to the arrest of both Two Brains and Tobey, leaving both villains humiliated and defeated.

Appearances[]


Quotes[]

Gallery[]

Stock Images[]

TV Series[]

Trivia[]

  • Tobey is the only WordGirl villain who has a crush on WordGirl.
  • He's one of the two villains who wears a bowtie, the other being Dr. Two-Brains (Tobey's is red and Dr. Two-Brains' is purple).
  • He's one of the three villains who has a mother in the series, the others being Chuck the Evil Sandwich-Making Guy and Granny May. While Chuck's mother's face is not shown, Tobey's mother appears in several episodes, as for Granny May, her mother only appears a few times.
  • He's the fourth WordGirl villain introduced and the first villain to be a kid.
  • He's one of the few villains that never go to jail (due to being a kid), and instead is released into the custody of his mother.
  • Tobey often speaks with a posh RP accent, like with his mother, but occasionally slips into an American one when he's intimidated. Considering that associate producer Liz Breen has stated that his British accent is genuine[citation needed], and that since Tobey likely grew up in Fair City (he knew Violet since they were in preschool), Tobey is likely bi-accented.
  • Tobey's crush on WordGirl while treating Becky with nothing but rudeness and disdain is similar to how Lois Lane falls madly in love with Superman while rudely rejecting Clark Kent.
  • Tobey enjoys lapsang souchong tea.[2]
  • He is shown to have a dislike for processed foods yet ironically he enjoys eating ice cream and candy.
  • Tobey is shown to be left-handed.[3]
  • In the episode "Guess Who's Coming to Thanksgiving Dinner", he admits that he doesn't know what reluctant means. This is the only time he needs a word to be defined for him.
  • Tobey says he considers Valentine's Day to be "an ugly example of consumerism gone awry".[4]

References[]

  1. "The same sparkling smile, the same ruby lips, the same... I realize I said too much" from By Jove, You've Wrecked My Robot
  2. "The Robot Problem"
  3. "Go Gadget Go"
  4. "Cherish is the Word"


Villains
Ability Villains

The Birthday GirlThe ButcherColonel Giggle CheeksCount CloudyEnergy MonsterLady Redundant Woman (DupeyEvil Malicious WordGirlRoyal Dandy)Victoria Best (General Smoochington)

Gadget Villains

Amazing Rope GuyCaptain Tangent (dogs)Chuck (Brent)Doctor Two-Brains (henchmenSqueaky)Glen Furlblam (cats)Granny May (Eugene)Tobey McCallister IIISeymour Orlando Smooth (ChipHarry)Mr. Big (Leslie)

Tobey's Robots

ArtsyCheckmate 3000

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