- “I hate my life.”
- ―Ed Bighead
Edward "Ed" Bighead (mostly known as Mr. Bighead by Rocko) is the main fictional character of Nickelodeon's Rocko's Modern Life franchise. Mr. Bighead is an anthropomorphic cane toad,[2] lives next door to the main character of the show, Rocko, whom he vehemently dislikes.
He also serves as an antagonistic character and occasional anti-hero or complete villain throughout the series. He is the husband of Bev Bighead, the father of Rachel Bighead, and the next door neighbor of Rocko.
Overall[]
Ed Bighead is a middle-aged cane toad and the husband of Bev Bighead. He is also the main antagonist of the show. He lives next door to Rocko, who he despises and sees him and his friends as the bane of his existence. In the television show, Ed is grouchy and crass towards most people. He works at the large corporation Conglom-O. His position with the company is usually in middle management, but it can be almost every position from assembly-line worker to an executive role depending on the needs of the episode. According to his nameplate at Conglom-O, his job title is "Toad". As seen in the episode "Sailing the Seven Zzz's", he is a sleepwalker and has the habit of turning into a pirate while sleepwalking and views people and things as their pirate equivalents; he believed Rocko was an enemy pirate and proceeded to launch various household objects such as toasters and bowling balls at Rocko's house from a dryer. In the comic book, Ed works for a similar company headed by Donald Frump, an elephant that serves as a parody of Donald Trump. Ed seems to have bad luck wherever he goes and thus is very cynical. His catchphrase is "I hate my life."
Appearance[]
Ed is a cane toad with green skin, blue lips, has a few hairs on his head and usually wears a white shirt under brown dungarees and a black bow tie. Ed was once known as the most handsome man in O-Town until an accident that was caused by Heffer when he was the Bigheads' newspaper boy.
Personality[]
Ed is shown to be bossy, nasty, hostile, malicious, bigoted (especially towards Christmas elves), entitled, sarcastic, rude, mean, belligerent, judgmental, antagonistic, unfriendly, petty, and grumpy, but fears his wife Bev and his boss Mr. Dupette. As a younger toad, he was friendlier and more successful. He is known to dislike Rocko, Spunky, Heffer, and Filbert, yells at anyone he sees, and grumbles bitterly under his breath at any situation he finds even slightly troubling, if not annoying. He is vengeful towards Rocko to the point of having done extensive research into his lifestyle habits in an attempt to build a heat ray to kill him. In the past, he has had a particularly poor relationship with his daughter Rachel, such as when he tried to encourage her to pursue business jobs at Conglom-O instead of cartooning, and when she came out as a transgender woman and he was initially unable to accept her new identity. They eventually made amends. Ed's catch phrase is "I hate my life." which is usually said when his actions catch up to him. Despite his grumpy and unpleasant personality, Ed is not without soft sides, and with help from Rocko and Bev, he is occasionally able to see the error of his ways. In some episodes of the series, Ed is on better terms with Rocko and acts much more friendly, (sometimes to a fault, such as in Old Fogey Froggy) even being able to help Rocko overcome his toxic nostalgia in Static Cling as a reversal of their usual dynamic. His relationship with Bev, while occasionally antagonistic, is a lot more positive than any of his other relationships - the two are very affectionate and enjoy "games" like throwing plates and zorb ball chases.
Relationships[]
Ed is the husband of Bev Bighead, and Bev is the only character in the series that can turn Ed from mean to downright terrified. They celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in “I Have No Son”. Bev has the strength to stand up to Ed, and this makes her quite a powerful figure. Indeed, she is probably the most powerful figure for Ed, because anyone else who Ed torments never does anything to stop it. Therefore, the other characters, particularly Rocko, are always under his control. He does not have many friends and is disliked by many, but appears to not be bothered by this.
He had an estranged relationship with his son Ralph, who created a show called "The Fatheads," which was loosely based on his parents. Ralph also becomes a cartoonist instead of following Ed's footsteps at Conglom-O, which caused Ed to deny he had a son. The two of them later reconciled after Rocko and Filburt contact him about his parents’ 30th anniversary. They both reconcile at the end when they admitted they still care for each other (Ralph even kept the donut from the initiation at Conglom-O). Ralph eventually came out as transgender under the name Rachel in Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling and although Ed wasn't accepting at first, he later accepted the transition.[3]
Behind the scenes[]
- Ed is voiced by Charlie Adler, who also provides the voice for his wife.
- Despite aging in "Future Schlock", he still looks the same in Static Cling.
- Ed and his wife were based on mean neighbors that the show's creator Joe Murray had when he was a kid.
References[]
- ↑ "CharMuseum"
- ↑ "Character Museum," Joe Murray Studio
- ↑ "Netflix's 'Rocko's Modern Life' special features transgender storyline". NBC News.
External Links[]
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