The Name's Tigger. T-I-double-guh-ER! That spells Tigger!
„
~ Tigger introducing himself
“
Sure, I did. Hoo-hoo-hoo! Everyone's scared of Tiggers.
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~ Tigger's first encounter with Pooh after scaring and pouncing on him
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The wonderful thing about Tiggers is Tiggers are wonderful things! Their tops are made out of rubber their bottoms are made out of springs! They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy; Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun! But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is I'm the only one Tiggers are cuddly fellas, Tiggers are awfully sweet Ev'ryone el-us is jealous, that's why I repeat...and repeat The wonderful thing about Tiggers is Tiggers are marvelous chaps! They're loaded with vim and with vigor, they love to leap in your laps! They're jumpy, bumpy, clumpy, thumpy; Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun! But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is I'm the only one!
„
~ Tigger singing his song
Tigger is the deuteragonist of the Winnie the Pooh franchise.
He is a fictional tiger character originally introduced in A. A. Milne's book The House at Pooh Corner. He is Winnie the Pooh's energetic, fun-loving friend and one of Christopher Robin's stuffed animals, who often goes on adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood. One of Tigger's defining characteristics is his ability to hop on his tail, which he often does when he gets excited.
From 1968 to 1999, he was voiced by the late Paul Winchell, who also voiced Boomer in The Fox and the Hound, Dick Dastardly, and as Sam-I-Am and Guy-Am-I in Dr Seuss on the Loose. From 1990 to 1999, Winchell shared the role with Jim Cummings, who also voices Winnie the Pooh, Darkwing Duck, Hondo Ohnaka, & Sergeant Hawk; following Winchell's retirement, Cummings permanently took over the role.
Like other Pooh characters, Tigger is based on one of Christopher Robin Milne's stuffed animals. Nowadays, he is most widely recognized as reinterpreted by the Disney studios, with distinctive orange and black stripes, beady eyes, a long chin, springy tail, and (the one detail originating from A. A. Milne) his love of bouncing. As he says himself, "Bouncing is what Tiggers do best."
In literature
Tigger is introduced in Chapter II of The House at Pooh Corner, when he shows up on Winnie the Pooh's doorstep in the middle of the night, announcing himself with a big bounce. Most of the rest of that chapter is taken up with the characters' search for a food that can eat for breakfast - despite's declared to like "everything", it is quickly proven he even hates honey, acorns, thistles, or most of the contents of Kanga's larder. In a happy coincidence, however, he discovers what he really likes best is the extract of malt, which Kanga has on hand because she gives it to her baby, Roo, as "strengthening medicine".
From that point on, Tigger lives with Kanga and Roo in their house in the northeastern part of the Hundred Acre Wood near the Sandy Pit. He becomes great friends with Roo (to whom he becomes a sort of older sibling figure), and Kanga treats him in much the same way she does her own son. also interacts enthusiastically with all the other characters — sometimes too enthusiastically for the likes of Rabbit, who is sometimes exasperated by Tigger's constant bouncing, Eeyore, who is once bounced into the river by Tigger, and Piglet, who always seems a little nervous about the new, large, bouncy animal in the Forest. Nonetheless, the animals are all shown to be friends.
In addition to chapter II, Tigger also appears in chapters IV, VI, VII, and X of The House at Pooh Corner, and is mentioned in several others. He is the only new major character to be introduced in The House at Pooh Corner; all of the others had been established in the earlier Winnie-the-Pooh book.
Depiction and personality traits
In Ernest H. Shepard's illustrations, Tigger appears to walk (or more often, bounce) on four feet as opposed to two. He is, however, capable of holding a pen with one of his front paws. Though Tigger is described by Rabbit and Piglet as "large", he does not seem particularly big in the illustrations. Pooh states once "He always seems bigger because of his bounces", implying that the other animals think of as being larger than he truly is. That assessment fits very well with Tigger's personality and his assessment of his own abilities, which he always overestimates. He is cheerful, outgoing, competitive in a friendly way, and has complete confidence in himself. Some of the things which he claims s can do in the chapter "In which it is shown that Tiggers don't climb trees" include flying, jumping farther than a kangaroo, swimming, and climbing trees. He never actually attempts any of the first three things in the course of the story, but he does try to climb a tree. He only succeeds half-way, being able to climb up but not to climb down again. also says Tiggers "never get lost"; unlike most of his other claims, this one seems to be true - he is able to find his way through the Forest even in a thick mist, despite Rabbit's attempts to lose him.
Like most of the characters in Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger was based on one of Christopher Robin Milne's stuffed animals, in this case a stuffed-toy tiger. However, the word "tiger" is never actually used in the book. The term "Tigger" is used instead, both as the character's name and as a description of his type of animal. No other "Tiggers" appear in the story, and at one point (who has just seen his reflection in a mirror and mistaken it for another individual) comments he thought he was the only one. Despite that belief, he constantly uses the term in the plural, as in "Tiggers don't like honey." and "So that's what s like!", etc. The term is always capitalized.
Adaptations
In 1960 HMV recorded a dramatized version with songs (music by Harold Fraser-Simson) of two episodes from The House at Pooh Corner (Chapters 2 and 8), with Hugh Lloyd as , which was released on a 45rpm EP.
Disney adaptations
He also appears in the Disney cartoon versions of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, beginning with Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day in 1968. He has even starred in his own film, The Tigger Movie (Disney, 2000), along with his friends from the Hundred Acre Wood.
From 1968 to 1999, Tigger was voiced by the late Paul Winchell. However, Walt Disney initially planned to have the character voiced by Wally Boag, but the role was turned over to Winchell after Disney's death, since Boag's performance of the character was considered to be "too zany for a children's film". Will Ryan voiced in the Disney Channel program Welcome to Pooh Corner, which ran from 1983 to 1986.
Since 1990, has been voiced by Jim Cummings (who is also the voice of Pooh), with the exception of Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin (1997), A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving (1998), Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine For You (1999), and Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving (1999) in which Winchell reprised the role of Tigger. On some albums and read-along cassettes in the early 1990s, was voiced by the late Ed Gilbert.
In the movies, he sings his own theme song, "The Wonderful Thing about Tiggers", written by the Sherman Brothers. According to the song, is "the only one" — a fact that leads to his search for his family in The Tigger Movie.
In The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and subsequent cartoons, Tigger lives in a large treehouse. A tire swing hangs prominently from a branch of the tree. In The Tigger Movie, he builds a makeshift addition (gluing the shingles on with bubble gum, using honey as brick mortar) in anticipation of a hoped-for visit by members of his family. This "family room" is eventually relocated to serve as a replacement for Eeyore's collapse-prone house of sticks.
The Disney version of Tigger appeared in both the TV special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue and the TV series House of Mouse.
Tigger appeared in the 2018 live action film Christopher Robin where he along with his friends reunited with a now adult Christopher Robin. He was voiced by his current voice actor Jim Cummings.
Personality traits
Tigger's personality in the cartoons is much like his personality in the book. He is very confident and has quite an ego. He often thinks of himself as being handsome, and some of his other comments suggest he has a high opinion of himself. He is always filled with great energy and optimism, and though always well-meaning, he can also be quite playful and mischievous, and his actions have sometimes led to chaos and trouble for himself and his friends. Also, he often undertakes tasks with gusto, only to later realize they were not as easy as he had originally imagined. As in the books, he never refers to himself as a tiger, but as a "". When introduces himself, he often says the proper way to spell his name is: "T-I-'Double-/G/'-Er (T-i-gg-er), which spells "Tigger".
Another one of Tigger's notable personality traits is his habit of mispronouncing various words, or stressing wrong syllables in them (which is what s do best, which is why he's the only one remaining). Examples of this include him pronouncing "villain" as "villian"; "terrible" as "terribible"; "regulations" as "regularations"; "ridiculous" as "ridickerous" (or "ricky-diculus" in Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day); "recognize" as "recoganize"; and "suspicious" as "suspicerous".
A declaration often made, is that "Tiggers are wonderful things. Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs." In cartoons, he is often depicted bouncing around in ways which would make such a statement appear to be valid.
In The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Tigger is often well-meaning but usually does more harm than good. In the episode " is the Mother of Invention", he invented a bulldozer-like contraption intended to provide convenience for Pooh, Piglet, and Rabbit, but the invention proved to have disastrous results, and Rabbit insisted that shut it down; however, in the winter, a depressed accidentally started the machine up, and it proved to be useful by plowing snow around Piglet's house before malfunctioning. On another occasion, attempted to mimic a superhero, "The Masked Offender", bringing mayhem to the Hundred-Acre Wood. In response, Pooh, Rabbit, Gopher, and Owl (unaware that the Masked Offender was actually Tigger) staged a hoax in which they made an inanimate monster from a sticky glue-like material. The plan worked, but everyone was shocked after Tigger revealed himself as the Masked Offender and had his feelings hurt because his friends laughed at him. Then, the fake monster (which was on wheels) turned on its makers, ultimately resulting in Pooh, Rabbit, Gopher, and Owl hanging by the glue from a rickety bridge. At first, Tigger refuses to help after what they did, but subsequently, Tigger resumed his role as the Masked Offender and saved his friends.
It is also shown that Tigger will jump in to help without thinking about the danger to himself. On at least three occasions, he has nearly fallen off a cliff, and has fallen two of those times, to retrieve something important (Half of the map in Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin, his locket in The Movie, and a page of Piglet's scrapbook in Piglet's Big Movie).
Tigger's birthday is believed to be in October 1928, the year The House at Pooh Corner was first published. However, on -related merchandise, Disney often indicates Tigger's birthyear as 1968, a reference to the first year he appeared in a Disney production, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day.
Disney's is also remembered for his song "The Wonderful Thing About s" when he made his first appearance. However, he was not included in the Winnie the Pooh theme song until the 2011 film.
In Popular Culture
In Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, he asks whether one should live their life as a or as an Eeyore. Pausch indicated that he was a "Tigger".
Appears in four segments of the Cartoon Network show MAD: "Pooh Grit", "Fast Hive", "Adjustment Burro", and "Frankenwinnie".
The Genie briefly turns into Tigger in the Aladdin episode "As the Netherworld Turns".
Quotes
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Tigger: What a strange looking creature! Mmm... look at those beady little eyes. And that preposterous chin. And those Ricky-Tickin Striped pajamas. Pooh: Looks like another Tigger to me. Tigger: Oh no, it's not. I'm the only Tigger! [laughs] Watch me scare the stripes off of this imposter!
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~ Tigger looking at his reflection in Pooh's mirror.
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Pooh: But you said that you like... Tigger: Yeah, that icky sticky stuff is only fit for Heffalumps and Woozles. Pooh: You mean Elephants and Weasels. Tigger: That's what I said! Heffalumps and Woozles. Pooh: Well, What do they do? Tigger: Oh, not much. Just steal honey. Pooh: STEAL HONEY? Tigger: They sure do. WELL, I'll better be bouncing along now, chum. Cheerio! Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! [singing] The wonderful thing about tiggers Is tiggers are wonderful things! Their tops are made out of rubber Their bottoms are made out of springs! They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun! But the most wonderful thing about tiggers is I'm the only one I'm the only ONE!
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~ Tigger foreshadowing Pooh's nightmare before leaving Pooh's house.
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I don't wanna scare ya, But this page in my scrappy book is twitchin' and itchin' with ghosts, and goblins, and witches, and woozles, and things that go, (spooky voice) TRICK-OR-TRE-EA-AT! (Normal voice) You know, on Halloween night. Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
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~ Tigger about his Halloween song in his scrap book.
“
Ooh, I love surprises and wearing disguises
A horribly hideous costume will do
Better be wary be spooky and scary
I'll bounce from the shadows and BOO!
I wanna scare myself
And everyone else
The thrilly, and chilly old willies rise
Cover your eyes little buddy, beware
I'm twitchin' and itchin' to scare myself
Unspeakable spookables, awful unlookables
Galloping ghostles and goblins galore
What it they find you? Oh look out behind you
A terrible Tigger-type roar!!!
(That would be me. Hoo-hoo!)
I wanna scare myself
And everyone else
The thrilly, and chilly old willies rise
Cover your eyes little buddy, beware
I'm twitchin' and itchin' to scare myself
Now Tiggers I figure make scares even bigger
They dress up and scream "Who am I, can you guess?"
And tricks always happen when ghosts are a-flappin'
And tricks are what Tiggers like best
I wanna scare myself
And everyone else
The thrilly, and chilly old willies rise
Cover your eyes little buddy, beware
I'm twitchin' and itchin' to scare myself!
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
And who'd better? Oh, by the way, Boo!
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~ Tigger singing his Halloween song
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SPOOKABLES...!!!
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~ Tigger frightened by ghosts
“
What's the matter with you?! Being a second-rate bouncer is NOT what Tiggers like best!
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~ Tigger, Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin
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Tigger: Winnie the Pooh?! WAIT HALF A DARN MINUTE! [slams the book shut] Humph! It seems to me that MOST of these stories are about that silly old bear! Narrator: Well then, Tigger, who should this story be about? Tigger: Well... I happen to know someone whose extremely fascinating. Not to mention handsome and debonairly. Narrator: The title already says "Winnie the Pooh". Tigger: Oh, that's easy to fix! [changes title from "Winnie the Pooh" to "The Tigger Movie"] There! Now that's a wonderful title! And speaking of wonderful things... Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo...!!!
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~ Tigger in the opening of The Tigger Movie.
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[gasps] Better hang onto something! I THINK HE'S GONNA BLOW...!
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~ Tigger before Pooh triggers the biggest sneeze that had never been sneezed.
Trivia
Chris O'Dowd was originally going to voice Tigger in Christopher Robin, but got negative reactions at test screenings and was replaced by Tigger's current voice actor Jim Cummings.
If Tigger's family was after all full of tiggers instead of his friends from the 100 Acre Wood, he'd probably have around 325 members as revealed in the song "Round My Family Tree", counting the tiggers in the paintings, but excluding the audience in the football scene.
Heroes
Heroes
