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Jimmy Five (Cebolinha in the original, born October 24) is one of the main characters from Monica's Gang. He was created in 1960 as a supporting character for Franklin, but became a protagonist shortly after. He remained in the role of the main protagonist for almost all the 60s, until Monica got her own comic book series in 1970, while Jimmy Five got his own comic book 3 years later, in 1973.

Jimmy Five was originally based on a childhood friend of Mauricio de Sousa (the creator)'s older brother Márcio Araújo. His family name is "Cebola" (which means Onion in Portuguese, appropriate for him due to his onion-like appearance), and he has a little baby sister called Mary Angela based on one of Mauricio de Sousa's daughters. He is voiced by Angélica Santiago in the Brazilian animated version of the comic book series. He is unable to pronounce the letter "R" and changes it to "W" in the English version (or "L" in the original unless the R is in the end of the word) due to a speech impediment.

He speaks with a Cebollish accent. (e.g. instead of saying "trying," he says "twying."

Personality[]

Jimmy Five is a very intelligent and creative 7 year old boy with only 5 spiky hair strands on his head. He creates several plans (which he calls "Infallible Plans") to defeat Monica and become the Ruler of the Street and to own her bunny plush, Samson, whose ears he likes to tie together.

In most comics that involve Monica as a focus, Jimmy Five plays the role of antagonist, usually leading the other boys in the neighborhood (mostly Smudge) to be his henchmen in plans to defeat Monica. The boys usually tease Monica by teasing her about her looks, making horrendous drawings of her, stealing Samson and using disguises (or Franklin's inventions) to fool her and try to convince her to hand over the title of Ruler of the Street to him. Much to his dismay, though, Jimmy Five and his boys are always defeated by Monica at the end of each story getting "bunny bashed" by her.

However, Jimmy Five is not at all a complete enemy to Monica. They are good friends, sometimes even showing to have a romantic interest in each other (something better developed in Monica Teen), even though Jimmy Five tends to be cruel to Monica sometimes. He has also sometimes played an antagonist for Smudge (trying to convince him to take a bath) and Maggy (trying to get her to stop eating). Besides Monica and the Gang's villains, some of his rivals include Junior (who normally annoys him) and Nutty Ned (a crazy man with the ability to alter reality who in some comics only exists to Jimmy Five's eyes).

Origin and creation[]

Zaz Traz Jimmy

Jimmy Five's first appearance (as a toddler).

Jimmy Five was inspired by a boy from Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, Brazil, that Mauricio de Sousa met. Jimmy Five used to have spiky hair like his present day self (but a lot more) and debuted in 1960 in the second issue of the comic book Zaz Traz as one of Franklin's friends. Jimmy Five also used to appear in the comic book Bidu (Blu) published in the same year. At first, in these comic books Jimmy Five was introduced as a 4-year-old with a speech disability. Later on, his speaking practice shows through with him only unable to use the letter R, replacing it by W's (L in the original). This has since become his trademark.

Early 60s Jimmy Five

Early 60s Jimmy Five design.

In 1961, after the comics Zaz Traz and Bidu were cancelled, Mauricio de Sousa returned to making newspaper comic strips. Both he and the audience developed a great appreciation for Jimmy Five, thus making Mauricio turn Jimmy Five into the protagonist instead of Franklin and Blu. In 1963, Jimmy Five started to have only 5 hair strands, another one of his trademarks.

Appearance[]

Out of the main cast in Monica's Gang, Jimmy Five is the only one to regularly wear shoes, as well as a green shirt with black pants. He often complains and despairs over his main physical feature - his lack of any hair other than five single strands. He was originally drawn with a full head of hair, which often becomes a topic in his laments to the comic artist to "help him out" and restore his full head of hair.

Trivia[]

  • His full name in the original version is Cebolácio Junior Menezes da Silva, which translates to Jameson Flynn Morrison Jr. in English.
  • Jimmy Five may serve as a parallel to Tubby from the Little Lulu series due to his antics and also his relationship with Monica is similar to that of Tubby with Lulu. Both are also leaders and owners of their own clubhouses, composed only of boys.
  • His Brazilian name, Cebolinha, means "little onion". Because of this, many of the jokes that involve his original name comparing him to a vegetable (ex. his mom calling him on the market and a salesman says "near the apples") do not make sense in English translations.
  • He is voiced by Ulises Otero from 2019-2020 and Julia Sales from 2020-2021 in Monica and Friends.
  • In Blu and Zaz Traz, he is a baby and misspells everything (ex. "Tando eu vinha pa tá eu vi o Franzinha insendo o Bidu no home das biciga" instead of "Quando eu vinha pra cá eu vi o Franjinha enchendo o Bidu com bexigas", which translates to "When I was walking up here I saw Franklin filling Blu with balloons").
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Monica's Gang
Main Characters MonicaJimmy FiveSmudgeMaggy(...)
Secondary Characters AngelFranklinNutty NedMarinaHummerDustineLucaIsabelNick NopeDoreenNimbusMary AngelaSunnyJuniorToddyBuckyProfessor SpadaDeniseCrystalJeremiahTeveluisãoManezinhoMr. BillBloggyTia Nena(...)
Animals BluVanillaFluffDittoChauvyRadar(...)
Vilains Captain FrayDoctor Spam(...)
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