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“ | I'm just a pretty. Little. Girl. | „ |
~ Mandy. |
“ | It is not enough to succeed - others must fail. | „ |
~ Mandy's most famous quote. |
Mandy is one of the three titular main protagonists of the Cartoon Network animated series The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. While Mandy is more often than not portrayed as being a villainous character, there are a few instances where she can be somewhat heroic, albeit for her goal of ruling the world herself. There are also a few instances in the show where she shows genuine concern for Billy.
Unlike Billy, Mandy is intelligent, sensible, and sane, but she appears to treat everyone around her with contempt, especially her friends, Grim and Billy. However, she does see Billy as a friend. She still has respect for some people, such as Nergal Jr., Hoss Delgado, Jeff the Spider, Pandora before being betrayed by her, the Unicorn, and sometimes Grim.
She was voiced by Grey DeLisle, who voices Daphne Blake in the Scooby-Doo franchise, Frankie Foster in Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends, Sam Manson in Danny Phantom, Jackie Lynn Thomas in Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Ms. Chalice in The Cuphead Show, Lizzie Devine in Codename: Kids Next Door, Lola Loud, Lana Loud and Lily Loud in The Loud House and Catwoman in the Arkham and Injustice series.
Personality
Mandy is cold-hearted, brutish, cranky, bitter, and behaves in a far more superior manner compared to most of the characters on the show. When Mandy was a baby, she was shown to have never smiled; she was even visibly unhappy when in her mother’s womb. She aspires to dominate the planet with an iron fist and to stay as far away from Irwin as possible.
Mandy’s antagonistic behavior has left her parents fearing her, staying far from Mandy sometimes. Her mother showers her with money. While Billy usually gets the trio into trouble, she is usually the one to get them out of it, along with Grim who - without her force - would not even bother trying to help.
Billy claims she has an irrational fear of figure skaters, but she denies this by saying she "doesn't trust the way they spin is all". Mandy also has a high level of intelligence, and a strength not to be reckoned with. She has an almost superhuman force as she is able to battle monsters with ease as well as being able to understand complex theories of the world when referring to her intelligence, despite being a child.
She also never misses a chance to exploit the stupid, which initially justifies her attachment to Billy, though she does grow to genuinely care for him over the years they know each other. Mandy struggles immensely to deliver human emotions other than anger and cynicism, and sometimes seems genuinely disheartened that she doesn’t meet the expectations of a normal girl of her age.
Biography
As a Baby
Her father stated in the episode "Keeper of the Reaper" that wolves tried to take Mandy and raise them as one of their own when she was born.
Meeting Billy
In "The Problem with Billy", she first met her best friend Billy when they were toddlers. Billy had rung her doorbell several times until she was annoyed enough to answer, then Billy stole her baby bottle and swallowed it. Then, he felt her face with his hand - irritating her further - and pointed out that she had no nose. She then asked him “Are you some kinda idiot?” before he shoved an ice cream cone into her face, giving her a 'nose'. She punched him, called him a creep, and slammed the door in his face. He simply giggled in response to this, saying “she digs me”, thinking that she liked him.
Meeting Grim
She and Billy had met Grim on the day of the tenth birthday of Billy’s pet hamster Mr. Snuggles in the first episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, "Meet the Reaper". Grim had appeared to reap the soul of the hamster as it was time for the hamster “to kick the bucket” as Mandy had said earlier in the episode, but neither the hamster nor the duo would give in. So, they made a bet. If Grim was able to beat them in a game of limbo, he would reap Mr. Snuggles' soul. However, if Mandy and Billy won, they would keep Mr. Snuggles as their pet and Grim would be their best friend “forever”. Billy and Mandy had won - though not in a completely fair way - and Grim has been stuck with them since.
Her First Crush
In "Crushed", there is a dance happening at the school soon, and Irwin very nervously asks Mandy to go with him, which she rejects. Suddenly, Billy walks over to Mandy and Irwin as he shouts to everyone in the hallway that he has a new friend; he is walking with a boy they haven't seen before, who wears sunglasses and does not talk. Billy says he still doesn't know his name yet, and so calls him 'Piff'.
After examining him, Mandy realizes that she likes him, but he does not like her - or anyone for that matter, due to how rude he is by ignoring everyone. Mandy goes to the school nurse, but she just concludes that she is 'in love'. Billy later takes him home to meet Grim, and Grim politely asks what the boy's name is, but gets spat in the face in response. Billy then takes Piff to the kitchen for snacks, when Mandy approaches Grim and asks him to cut her heart out of her so she can't feel emotions anymore.
However, Grim proposes instead to give her a makeover, which Mandy agrees to. Several minutes later, Mandy - now wearing heavy make-up, more revealing clothes, and a more stylish hairdo - goes to the kitchen and confronts Piff, who is immediately attracted to her. Like Irwin from earlier, Piff nervously asks Mandy to go to the dance with him, but she rejects him, before whacking him in the face, satisfying Grim and impressing Billy.
Her Smile
When she smiles in "My Fair Mandy" while she sings for the competition, it throws off the natural order of the universe due to her overwhelming cuteness, though this does not apply in some earlier episodes, since she smiles only to her friends Billy and Grim. But she had to smile in front of everybody in the school auditorium. However, in The Cartoon Network Minecraft Show, she heavily smiles, and becomes happy to meet new people.
Crossover
Mandy is the main antagonist of the crossover episode "The Grim Adventures of the Kids Next Door", as she took over the Kids Next Door’s Moonbase.
Relationships
Billy
Billy has been Mandy's best friend since they were infants. Sadly, she considers Billy her idiotic henchman to do her every bidding as she never misses the chance to benefit from his astonishingly low IQ of -5. He usually complies and does everything she demands of him, seeming to either not mind and at times possibly even enjoy it. He rarely ever snaps at her for this, however, he did shout at her as a result of her treatment of him when she had told him "Thank you". The other time was when he grew tired of her controlling behavior when she and her parents are forced to stay at Billy's house while their own home was being fumigated. Billy may be responsible for Irwin's crush on Mandy, since he flirted with her (in Mandy's body) in the episode Get Out of My Head!.
Mandy tends to be that of a tsundere towards Billy. Despite her negative, cruel behavior towards him, Mandy has been shown to care for Billy, and the feeling is mutual. Her feelings could be completely platonic since she mostly treats him nothing more than a servant. But Billy is the only person who Mandy allows to have physical contact with her, embracing her on numerous occasions, even kissing her on the lips a few times. Mandy has also been known to read Billy bedtime stories in the middle of the night when he couldn't sleep whether it be from eating nineteen boxes of cupcakes or other reasons. He has also suggested wanting to marry her at least three times. She also always helps Billy when he gets into trouble, that is until she becomes too bothered to continue and just stops or leaves the scene.
In Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure, when Billy is supposedly eaten by a giant sea creature, she is in denial of his death saying, "Billy's always fine." But when he's been missing for six hours and Irwin's becoming restless; she starts to get worried herself as she gazes into the water and tears up, believing him to actually be dead. Moments later, Billy appears out of the water riding the Kraken, laughing and screaming "I'm fine!" Mandy gasps, pleased and surprised to see him again, but quickly denies ever being worried in the first place since of course, Billy is always fine. Near the end the main characters must face and conquer their worst fears. Mandy's worst fears are revealed to be her becoming fat, unattractive, jolly, and happily married to Irwin. It was in this movie that she realized that she can love another person besides herself, and it isn't necessarily a bad thing, and she faces her feelings toward either Billy or Irwin. However, in The Cartoon Network Minecraft Show, they turned out to be good friends.
The Grim Reaper
Grim initially loathed both Billy and Mandy. Mandy does not seem to care about his hatred and simply uses him for her own purposes. Despite this, the two can come to an understanding on certain things, such as exploiting Billy's stupidity. Grim, like Billy, is more of a servant to Mandy. Unlike Billy, however, Grim regularly stands up to Mandy. The reaper is shown to regularly fantasize about the duo's ultimate deaths, but overtime, he grew to genuinely care about them, an example being in Fiend is Like Friend Without the "R" when Nergal kidnapped Billy and Mandy for himself and Grim came to their rescue. However, in The Cartoon Network Minecraft Show, they turned out to be good friends.
Mindy
Mandy's sworn enemy, Mindy is an obnoxious, self-absorbed, stereotypical popular girl. She and Mandy always seem to be rivaling each other in almost every episode Mindy is actually in. It is revealed that Mindy once wanted to be Mandy's friend, but sore from rejection, she has grown to hate Mandy and sought revenge. Ever since then, the two have been arch rivals. Despite being just as mean and spoiled as Mandy, Mindy is actually a cowardly airhead, as opposed to Mandy, who is a fearless genius. In Wrath of the Spider Queen, Mindy is shown to be able to form a temporary alliance with Mandy if it means survival, when she fights spiders alongside her nemesis.
Irwin
Irwin has tried to make Mandy his girlfriend on a few occasions, but she always refuses in disgust and usually ends up beating him up. Repulsed by his pursuits to win her affections, Mandy chooses to be as far away from Irwin as possible. He makes it somewhat difficult as he appears in every other episode and is close friends with Billy. Irwin had first fallen for Mandy while she was possessed by Billy in Get Out of My Head! when Billy (while possessing Mandy) had called him a "cutie" and flirted with him.
In Scythe For Sale, Irwin uses Grim's scythe to cast a spell on Mandy that made her fall in love with him. She almost becomes his wife in a forced wedding ceremony, but Billy manages to break the spell over Mandy, restoring her to normal.
In the first movie, Mandy's worst nightmare is shown to be becoming fat, unattractive, kind, and married to Irwin. She fears that she'll someday be in love, and she actually faces and overcomes this fear, but it is unclear whether she's accepting her feelings for Irwin or Billy.
In the final episode, Mandy actually starts to fall for Irwin when she learns that he was born evil (possibly due to his monster heritage), but quickly goes back to normal after she kisses him. However, in The Cartoon Network Minecraft Show, they turned out to be good friends.
Saliva
Saliva is Mandy's dog. Mandy cares deeply for her dog and loves him very much. Saliva is the only living creature that Mandy shows any love, emotion or affection to. She often makes Grim play with him, like letting Saliva bury his bones in the yard.
Jeff the Spider
Mandy seems to like Jeff and always helps him with his problems regarding his father, but in a straight-forward, tough love sort of way. Unlike Billy, Mandy is a lot kinder to Jeff than Billy is, and does not jab Jeff with a stick like Billy does. Rather, she encourages him to stand up for himself and be tougher than he is.
Trivia
- She claims to have a secret mutant army.
- Mandy wears glasses as an adult. This was shown on two occasions.
- She is playable in the end credits of the 2006 video game where she can beat up Billy.
- Grey DeLisle enjoyed voicing Mandy because she was known for voicing bubbly characters.
- Grey DeLisle’s favorite episode that involves Mandy is “My Fair Mandy”.
- On the Indian version of the show (Haddi Mera Buddy), her name is Preeti.
- Grey DeLisle recorded Mandy’s lines for the video game in 2 hours.
- Mandy is mentioned by Uncle Grandpa in the Steven Universe episode "Say Uncle".
- Mandy appeared in the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode "The Big Picture".
- Mandy likes playing a Hoss Delgado video game President Evil (a parody of Capcom's Resident Evil).
- Other than being the deuteragonist most of the series, Mandy is also the antagonist in some episodes.
- The episode "Anger Mismanagement" reveals that Mandy and Grim have gone to anger management classes.
- Her voice used to be more scratchy and high in Grim & Evil, but then her voice became more deep and melancholy. However, in The Cartoon Network Minecraft Show, her voice becomes more happy, energetic, and polite.
- Mandy is the only character to officially not have a designated nose, though visible nostrils are present in close-ups.
- Mandy has many striking similarities to The Brain from Animaniacs; they both speak in a dark and sinister monotone, they don't smile, and they aspire towards world conquest.
- Mandy has never been seen or heard laughing except for the episodes "Dream a Little Dream" (during Grim's nightmare) and "Test of Time" (where Billy became involved in human evolution).
- Mandy may be younger than Billy, since his birthday party was celebrated in the episode "Tastes Like Chicken", and her party was celebrated in "A Grim Surprise" (episode 9), even though her actual birthdate was not for another "five months".
- Mandy has a couple of similarities to Gaz from Invader Zim, though she‘s much more heroic than Gaz. Also, Gaz is more neutral to the world around her than outright aggressive all the time. In addition, Gaz has a minimal, if fleeting, interest in Zim (also voiced by Richard Horvitz).
- During the first few seasons, some fans mistakenly thought that Billy and Mandy were siblings. This was mocked in a later episode, when Harold and Gladys thought Mandy was their daughter. The show's Netflix description also accidentally referred to Billy and Mandy as siblings a few times.
- Mandy is often interpreted as a "goth" by fans, though it has never been confirmed and the connection is based purely on goths being overtly cynical, merciless, ill-tempered and angry. However, she does read goth magazines. Additionally, in the episode "Scary Poppins", Mandy demands from her parents that they frame her "goth metal posters", indicating that while she may not exactly be a "goth kid", she has a taste for goth music.
- Her favorite food is mac and cheese.
- Earlier episodes, comic stories, and some Cartoon Network bumpers depict Mandy grinning mischievously after getting her way, despite Billy saying she never smiles.
- This has lead people to speculate why Mandy managed to throw the universe off balance in "My Fair Mandy" when she smiled; many presume that this was because this wasn't a natural smile.
- Her three worst nightmares and fears are as follows: an extremely angry Billy (she will run from him when need be), growing up into a kind and obese woman marrying a handsome version of Irwin (revealed in Big Boogey Adventure), and having a change of heart.
- The episode "Heartburn" shows a deep fear of hers to be losing her true heart after hearing Irwin's sad story about how he was originally born really bad, but then experienced a change of heart after his father showed him how to love and respect other people. This caused her to seriously doubt if she could withstand a change of heart; the thought of just losing it caused her to scream really loud.
External Links
- Mandy on the Villains Wiki
- Mandy on the Inconsistently Heinous Wiki
- Mandy on the Inconsistently Admirable Wiki
- Mandy on the The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Wiki
Protagonists Endsville Elementary School Evil Con Carne Underfist KND Others |
Heroes | ||
Sector V Other Kids Next Door Operatives Others |