Rocko

Rocko's Modern Life character
Age	20
Gender	Male
Species	Wallaby
Job	Cashier at Kind of a Lot o' Comics Various others
First appearance	No Pain, No Gain (TV show) Issue #1, first story "Dental Hijinks" (comic book)
Voice actor	Carlos Alazraqui

Rocko, a wallaby, is the eponymous character of the cartoon Rocko's Modern Life and the comic book series of the same name. His first appearance was in a never-released comic book, where he has the name "Travis" [1].

In the pilot for Rocko's Modern Life, Rocko was colored yellow. His creator, Joe Murray, changed the color when a toy company refused to license Rocko after citing that Rocko looked too similar to one of the company's existing products [2].

Description

Rocko lives in O-Town. Raised in Australia, Rocko later emigrated to the United States. (Although it is sometimes suggested he attended school with Heffer). He wears a blue shirt with purple triangles on it and orange shoes. He is known for being a loyal friend, not venturing outside his comfort zone, and his trademark line when a situation is not going well: "* day is a very dangerous day." For example, When Earl tries to get Rocko's garbage in one episode, Rocko then says "Garbage day is a very dangerous day." In "Trash-O-Madness", a family photograph depicts Rocko with a mother, father, and a younger sibling. "Wimp On the Barbie" shows Rocko's family again, revealing that his younger sibling is a sister. Joe Murray, the creator of the show, created a narcoleptic older sister character named Magdalane "Maggie" and an episode, "Wake Up Maggie", about her, but chose to never air the episode and never use the character [3]. Magdalane was created as a mother with two children.

Rocko is quite intelligent, and it is implied that he is educated; part of the show's opening theme displays his head being opened and a large book labeled "Knowledge" being crammed inside. Although personally hygienic, Rocko has an almost pathological tendency to neglect his living space; several episodes, such as "Unbalanced Load", involve Rocko attempting to rectify severe messes or lapses in maintenance.

Rocko has no family name because the writers did not think of a family name that they desired; the writers considered the family name "Stretchbrain" due to the fact that the character's brain popped out of his head during odd moments. [4]. The idea was scrapped and the character only had a given name. Some websites, including Hot Topic, give him the fanon family name "Wallabee" and the middle name "James" [5]. In the comic book Issue #2, the doctor addresses Rocko as "Mr. Rocko" and Rocko answers the telephone with the words "Rocko residence."

Rocko as a model in "Seat to Stardom." Rocko is wearing briefs in front of an audience.

Careers

In the television show, in his day-to-day life, Rocko works as a cashier at (and briefly as the boss of) a local comic book shop called Kind of a Lot o' Comics which is owned by Mr. Smitty and sells mostly Really Really Big Man comics. Rocko originally worked at Mega Lot-O Comics, owned by chairman of Conglom-O, Mr. Dupette, Ed Bighead's boss. In the television show, his other jobs include tattoo artist, plumber's assistant, and specialty phone operator (possibly a phone sex operator, as he says "oh baby, oh baby, oh baby", and the sign behind him says "Be Hot, Be NAUGHTY, Be Courteous." Rocko has also worked as a product tester at Conglom-O, a tow truck man, a plumber's assistant, an underwear model, and a cartoonist for the program "Wacky Delly."

In the official comic book, Rocko works as a comic book dealer in Issue #7's "Conned Again", working for "Humongo Con."

Neighbors

Rocko's neighbors are Ed, with whom he has a semi-rivalry, and Bev Bighead. Although Bev considers Rocko a very sweet neighbor, he and his dog Spunky, who often eats the neighbors' salmon bushes, are a source of constant annoyance to Ed.

Friends

Rocko in the Rocko's Modern Life comic book series

Rocko's best friends are Heffer Wolfe, a steer who eats a lot and was adopted and raised by a family of wolves, and Filburt, a bespectacled turtle with neurotic Woody Allen-esque mannerisms, who often feels nauseated.

Love Life

Rocko has a burgeoning social life. Rocko's enduring crush on the sexy woman next door Melba Toast was a source of amusement for several episodes, until he found out she had a serious boyfriend. After this, she was never seen again. He has, during at least four separate occasions, fallen in love and two out of four of these occasions has ended successfully. In "S.W.A.K.", Rocko has been vying for the attention from the pretty kangaroo mail-lady that comes to his door every day; he writes her a love note that he is too scared to send so Heffer does it for him instead. Rocko fails to retrieve the letter and gets the impression that the mail-lady would rather go out with Heffer. This turns out to be a joke on the mail-lady's part and she actually returns Rocko's feelings. In "Wallaby on Wheels", Rocko learns to roller skate to impress Sheila, a girl who hangs out at the roller rink, and becomes jealous when it's implied she is attracted to Heffer; he wins her over in the end after saving Heffer's life. In 'I See London, I See France', Rocko tries to win over his female wallaby pen pal from Paris, but she is more interested in Heffer.

Running gags

There are three running gags involving Rocko. One in particular is that the women he is in love with usually have noticeably large boyfriends that either punch, crush, or beat up Rocko. Another running gag is that people often mistakenly believe that Rocko is a kangaroo, and on one occasion a 'dancing bear'. One notable exception is Heffer's grandfather, who believes Rocko is a beaver.

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