Butch

Butch is the bearer of bad news and the one who usually tells the scary stories from his older brother's school days, oftentimes as a warning against something the gang would be trying to do at the time.

Personality[]

Butch has a rather gloomy personality, which befits his position as the one who tells scary stories. It is implied that he became that way because of him seeing his brother kiss a girl. He also seems to take pleasure in scaring people for some reason, but he does not seem like a mean person, either. He is also very intelligent, as he helps the gang piece together scattered pieces of evidence when the balls were recalled. It is relatively unknown whether he is friendly with the gang or not.

Appearance[]

Butch is usually seen in a dark gray T-shirt, blue jeans, brown shoes, a black leather jacket, and a toothpick in his mouth. His most striking feature is a white streak in his brown hair that he got in the same incident that may have shaped his current personality. Before the incident, he had normal brown hair, and a simple outfit of a beige shirt, brown pants, and presumably the same shoes.

History[]

Butch before incident — Butch about to witness his brother kissing his girlfriend

A week before the current timeline, Butch was spying on his brother Joey. Joey and a girl named Christie were going down to the basement to watch TV like always. Suddenly, Joey and Christie kissed, much to Butch's horror, as he was a ten-year-old kid at the time. Butch receives a white streak in his hair afterwards, and when his brother found out, he told Butch that when he gets older, he will do the same thing he did with another girl, and he will like it. This revelation, as well as the kissing shocks Butch so much that he has a gloomier personality by the time he goes back to school.

"The Experiment"[]

Butch first appears in "The Experiment", where T.J., Vince, Mikey and Gus wonder about the white streak in his hair. He responds by telling them how he saw his brother kiss, thus leading to the white streak in his hair and, possibly, his new gloomy personality. He then tells them the same thing his brother told him ending with him laughing evilly against a thundercloud. This story shakes up the whole gang until they test the theory on T.J. and Spinelli, which seems to be proven true to us, but they react with disgust, nonetheless, bringing relief to the whole playground.

"The Lost Ball"[]

Butch then appears in "The Lost Ball" where after Gus accidentally kicks a new kickball over a fence, tells the whole playground a story on what happens to balls when they go over that fence to the "Yard of No Return". He says that a common subject of scary stories, Jimmy Cratner, was in a similar situation, and he went to get it, despite protests, and he was never seen again (which is a common ending to scary stories). His story is later proved to mostly be a misunderstanding when Gus tries to retrieve the ball he lost.

"Gus' Fortune"[]

Butch then appears in "Gus' Fortune" where he tells a story of Stinky Peterson (another common subject, and also the name of a character in "Hey Arnold!"), who found a random paper fortune teller similar to the one the gang found moments earlier. He then tells them that Stinky tried it out, but then got an unknown fortune (presumably Gus's fortune) and screamed. "And they never saw Stinky Peterson, again." They try it out anyway, and Butch just walks away, saying sadly that he tried to warn them. His story is later disproved later in the episode.

"The Coolest Heat Wave Ever"[]

Butch is then seen in "The Coolest Heat Wave Ever" with his jacket around his waist as it was a very hot day at the time. He tells the heat-weakened gang that there's a backup water restart valve that can solve their current problems, but it was located right across from their position behind the very hot and unshaded playground. They agree to go find it anyway and Butch leaves with an ominous comment: "Sure you will, if the heat don't get to you, first!" They succeed eventually, nonetheless.

"All the Principal's Men"[]

Butch is next seen in "All the Principal's Men", where he starts one of his stories, but then cuts off in favor of the current case, the balls have been mysteriously recalled. Although he did not hear anything useful, he proves himself to be a competent detective. He shadows the gang after their meeting to gather the evidence they got. He calls their current conclusion (that the high authority of America in a bizarre and convoluted plot have taken their balls captive) pathetic and then helps them identify the real culprit: Menlo. Menlo then confesses his blunder, and the new balls are brought to the school.

"The Terrifying Tales of Recess"[]

His last major appearance is in the Halloween special, "The Terrifying Tales of Recess" in a role that suits him as the one who tells the tales. He at first impersonates Principal Prickly until pretending to choke. Then he reveals himself and then proceeds to tell us three tales that he assures us are true stories.

The first is the story of Cornchip Girl finding some untested corn chips, and she tests them out herself and turns into a werewolf in the process. In the end, Gus stops her and returns her back to normal, but the chips end up with the kindergartners. Butch then ends the story and takes a break to give the audience time to shake off their current fear, then when commercial break is done, Butch then begins his second story.

The second story is of Mikey's bike, Pegasus coming to life during a lightning storm. It chases the gang and the rest of the school throughout the building until they escape it outside. The other bikes come to life and start attacking, but a bus comes along and the whole school escapes on it. Unfortunately, the bus has no bus driver.

Butch ends the story with a lesson: Bikes and Buses have feelings, too, so treat them right and don't leave them out in the rain. Butch then acknowledges the harmlessness of a good day at the playground on Halloween, but then he asks the audience if they knew what happened in the playground at night. With that, he begins the last story.

The diggers suddenly run out of their hole, and Lawson dares Vince to spend the night. He accepts, and the gang goes with him, and they find a graveyard for Finsters past. Suddenly, Finster zombies in various outfits rise up and try to attack, but they escape, and eventually melt them down with tomato surprise. They wake up to find that the diggers tell the gang that they ran out because Dave broke their dad's best shovel, making it seem as if they imagined it all, but we are quickly proved wrong when one of the zombies Finster's glasses (knocked off during the escape) is shown to us.

Butch then ends the tale and implies, while assuring once again that the tales were true, that they are not. He then takes off his face revealing a Finster mask (still with his trademark toothpick in his mouth). Then he gives us a warning: Do not do anything dumb, because you never know what weird stuff is going to happen. Then finally he wishes us a Happy Halloween and walks away still wearing the Finster Mask.

Other Appearances[]

Butch also appears many times as a background character, as in "The Story of Whomps" where he is seen walking out of Principal Prickly's office.

Butch was also seen in "The Pest", "Mama's Girl", "Dance Lessons", "The Big Prank", "League of Randalls", and Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade.

Trivia[]

Butch's last name is never stated in the series.
Along with Guru Kid, Butch has his own theme music that plays when the gang is talking to him.
When he is not telling scary stories, Butch acts like every other kid on the playground.
Like Spinelli, Butch also has a brother named Joey.
The color and style of Butch's Hair resembles that of a skunk's fur, though his natural hair color is brown as opposed to black.
Butch is nearly always seen with his toothpick in his mouth, however in some of the episodes where he makes cameos, he does not have it in his mouth.
Most of the stories Butch tells are all just either fictional and made up or exaggerated, only some of the bad news and stories he tells are true while the rest of it all is made up and is fake.
According to "The Story of Whomps", he's in the fifth grade and is in Lawson's class.
Butch is one of the few students to never appear in Recess: School's Out.
Butch is hardly ever shown smiling. The only times he does smile are in "The Terrifying Tales of Recess" and in most episodes where he only plays a background role.
Butch is one of the only two "nice" fifth graders seen who is friendly with the gang, the other being Johnny V.