WordGirl

''This article is about the character. For other uses, see WordGirl (disambiguation).''

"Word Up!"

- WordGirl

WordGirl (whose real name is Becky Botsford) is the main character and heroine of the series of the same name. Her secret identity is a mild-mannered fifth-grader, but whenever evil arises, she instantly becomes WordGirl by placing her hand to her chest and exclaiming, "Word Up!" She was born on the planet Lexicon, and as an infant accidentally wandered onto a spaceship, which was piloted by Captain Huggyface. While he was driving the spaceship, WordGirl woke and startled him, making them hit an asteroid and forcing him to crash land on Earth in order to save the both of them. However, neither of them have tried to return to Lexicon since.

WordGirl was then adopted by Tim and Sally Botsford, who at that point had no children of their own (though later they had their own kid, T.J. Botsford, who would be her brother), and she was given the name "Becky." Captain Huggyface was also "adopted" as a pet and given the name "Bob." The downed spaceship remained in the same spot and would then be used as WordGirl's secret hideout.

She grew up in a normal life, though she displayed her keen intelligence at an early age - she was found on the Botsford's doorstep as a baby reading their newspaper (even though in one flashback, she was found in the woods). Sooner or later, she took up the identity of WordGirl. She has the entire dictionary memorized and is able to define any given word at a moment's notice. Her superpowers include super-speed, flight, immense strength, invulnerability, super-hearing, arctic breath, sonic scream and her comprehensive vocabulary. Her trademark insignia consists of a red star imposed on a golden shield. She seems to have a fondness for maroon, as both her WordGirl and Becky forms wear it.

WordGirl finds it hard to keep her identities separate, often making slips, but thankfully no one notices, and only a few times have people guessed or discovered her secret. Each time, however, she has managed to put them off the truth. (One of the most serious times her secret has been exposed is in the episode Two-Brains Forgets, when Dr. Two-Brains overheard a conversation between Becky and Bob regarding new WordGirl and Huggy costumes.) Becky did confess to being WordGirl to her father and brother (Although Bob tried to stop her) after feeling that she had hid it from them for too long (in "WordGirl Makes a Mistake"), but neither would believe her. Tobey also guessed that Becky was WordGirl due to her possessing the remote to his robots, but she convinced him otherwise by the means of a clever plan between her and Huggy. In the episode "Bampy Battles Bots", Becky's grandfather Bampy realizes she is really WordGirl. He reveals it to her at the end of the episode, telling her that her secret was safe with him.

WordGirl is extremely popular in Fair City, which she protects, and there has been much merchandising and celebrating of the heroine. She has even recieved many (over 100) keys to the city.

Age

 * She states that her age is 10.5 when interviewed by Jim Lehrer which occured prior to August 2007. She also states having recently turned 10½ in Slumber Party Pooper.
 * She celebrates a birthday in season 1 episode 4b Becky's Birthday (which aired September 2007). The cake in this episode has no candles and her age is not mentioned.
 * In episode 11 (Department Store Tobey) WG lets slip that Becky is 10. This would mean she was 9 prior to the events of 4b.
 * She celebrates another birthday in season 3's A World Without WordGirl (which aired December 2011). The cake in this episode has 11 candles, and occurs after episode 11, making her 11 years old past this point.

Becky Botsford
As Becky Botsford, she attends Woodview Elementary and has a few friends. Her closest friends include Violet Heaslip and Todd "Scoops" Ming (whom she has a crush on). Akin to her relationship with her as WordGirl, Becky finds a rival in Tobey McCallister, who tries to outdo her (as well as everyone else) constantly in events such as Field Day or elections. In Season Three, her newest rival is Victoria Best, a girl who is "the best at everything she does" according to her parents. Becky's intelligence is astonishing for a ten-and-a-half year-old girl, but her skills do not go into every field. While she has an excellent vocabulary, is well-read, and enjoys geography, she is a poor artist, cannot dance, and cannot sing. She also is not very good at charades (see "Meat With A Side of Cute" for reference). She's a great fanatic of "Pretty Princess" as well as the Princess Triana books, even dressing up as the Pretty Princess for Halloween in "Tobey's Tricks and Treats."

Becky also has a great love for unicorns and has a big collection of them in her room. One of these, named Angelface, has been broken a number of times throughout the series, much to her anger.

Gallery


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Trivia

 * On the official WordGirl website, it used to state on WordGirl's profile that when she was an infant, she was found on the Botsford's front steps reading their newspaper. However, in the episode "WordGirl Makes a Mistake", while telling Mr. Botsford and TJ she's WordGirl, she says the Botsfords found her in the woods with Huggy.
 * By age 2 she was completing crossword puzzles
 * In addition to the English dictionary, she knows most hieroglyphics as well.
 * The official Soup2Nuts website states WordGirl to be nine years old, rather than ten. This was originally correct for the shorts and episodes 1-4a, however she was 10 for most of the series and recently turned 11.
 * WordGirl has been said to be an affectionate parody of Superman, due to them both having similar powers, coming to Earth as infants, and being vulnerable to radioactive fragments from their homeworld.