Nadine Flumberghast

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Nadine Flumberghast is a character from the PBS Kids cartoon series Arthur. She is the imaginary friend of D.W. Read who often gives her advice when she needs it and seems to act as her conscience. Despite being created from D.W.'s imagination, she is actually a real being within the Arthur universe but can only be perceived by her creator.

She is voiced by Hayley Reynolds.

History

In the Season 16 episode "Baby Steps", it is revealed that D.W. created Nadine when she was three years old. Her first appearance in the show was in the Season 1 episode "D.W.'s Imaginary Friend", where Arthur and Buster didn't want D.W. to come with them to Wonderworld because she would bring Nadine with her, which would embarrass them. However, Nadine's first chronological appearance was in "D.W.'s Baby", which is a prequel to "D.W.'s Imaginary Friend".

In "The Great Sock Mystery", Nadine states that she thinks D.W. may be outgrowing her, but D.W. still continues to call on her occasionally from that point on.

In "All Will Be Revealed!", it's revealed that Nadine is the culprit behind the theft of D.W.'s snowball, having taken it to prevent it from being stolen by an alien troll, and then not returning it because she feared Arthur might steal it. She finally returns it at the end of the episode.

Appearance

Nadine is an anthropomorphic squirrel with amber skin/fur and light blonde hair that is separated into three high ponytails with a dark blue hairband. She wears a dark blue dress with a light pink frilly collar. She is also considerably more "animal-like" than most of the other anthropomorphic animal characters in the show, having a bushy tail and squirrel-like feet and teeth, whereas most of the other characters have no tails and human-like feet and teeth.

Physically, Nadine appears to be around four years old (the same age as her creator D.W.); however, since D.W. created her when she was three, she is chronologically only one year old.

Personality

Nadine has a calm and gentle demeanor, in contrast to her creator D.W., although this doesn't stop the two of them from getting along with each other. Nadine is also wise and will attempt to give D.W. advice when she plans to do something foolish, although D.W. rarely listens to her. Nadine will usually side with D.W. whenever she and her big brother Arthur have a fight.

However, "All Will Be Revealed!" seems to indicate that Nadine also has a dishonest side. She is revealed to have been the one who stole D.W.'s snowball way back in Season 1, and while she had a noble motive (preventing it from being stolen by someone else with less honest intentions), she still never told neither her creator D.W. about what she had done; even when D.W. and her big brother Arthur begun fighting over the missing snowball, she just stood by and watched it happen. She also tried to hide her involvement in the theft from Bud Compson and his imaginary friend Rapty when they were investigating it, only confessing when she had been backed into a corner. While Nadine admits that she did the wrong thing and returns the snowball to D.W. at the end of "All Will Be Revealed!", she presumably still never told D.W. that she stole it in the first place. In the episode, it's also revealed that she likes playing croquet.

Powers and abilities

Because Nadine was created from D.W.'s imagination, she possesses extraordinary abilities such as:

Floating: Nadine has the ability to hover effortlessly in the air.
Invisibility: Nadine's presence can only be perceived by D.W., unless Nadine willingly chooses to show herself to someone else.
Teleportation: In "The Friend Who Wasn't There", it is revealed that Nadine resides in her own room in a pocket dimension, from which she teleports to D.W. whenever she summons her.
Chronokinesis: In "Mom and Dad Have a Great Big Fight" and "All Will Be Revealed!", she is shown to be able to rewind and stop the flow of time, as well as unpause it.
Reality-warping: In "Read and Flumberghast", Nadine manifested ten papers out of nowhere for D.W.'s use just by widening her eyeballs, and also manifested drinks for herself and D.W. by snapping her fingers.

Trivia

Her name is derived from the Spanish word "nadie" ("nobody" or "no one"), referencing her status as an imaginary being.
Although Nadine first appeared in Season 1, her last name, Flumberghast, was not revealed until the Season 16 episode "Read and Flumberghast".