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| “ | I'm just a pretty. Little. Girl. | „ |
| ~ Mandy. |
| “ | It is not enough that I succeed - others must fail. | „ |
| ~ Mandy. |
Amanda, better known as Mandy, is a protagonist of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. She may serve as an antagonist at times, but is Billy's neighbor and best friend.
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 Scooby-Doo, Frankie Foster in Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends, Sam Manson in Danny Phantom, and Catwoman in the Arkham and Injustice series.
Contents
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 hallwy 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 realises 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 gie 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.
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.
Trivia
- She claims to have a secret mutant army.
- Mandy wears glasses as an adult. This was shown on two occasions.
- On the Indian version of the show (Haddi Mera Buddy), her name is Preeti.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 if 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.
