- This article is about the character. For other uses, see WordGirl (disambiguation).
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WordGirl is the titular main protagonist of the show of the same name. Her secret identity is mild-mannered 5th grader Becky Botsford, but whenever evil arises, she instantly becomes WordGirl by placing her hand to her chest and exclaiming, "Word up!".
Her trademark insignia consists of a red star imposed on a golden shield. She appears to have a fondness for maroon, as both her WordGirl and Becky designs wear it.
WordGirl is extremely popular in Fair City, which she protects, there has been ample merchandising and honoring of the heroine. She has even received many (over 200) keys to the city.
While most heroes cannot stand the evil-doers they face, WordGirl actually has a great respect for all the city's villains. This was confirmed in the special "The Rise of Miss Power", when Miss Power called them lousy, WordGirl defended them, admitting that they are tough, and she is actually glad to face them. The villains were glad to hear this and even defended her when Miss Power said that she doesn't deserve to be a hero.
Background[]
WordGirl was born on the planet Lexicon, and as a baby/toddler, accidentally wandered onto a spaceship, which was piloted by Captain Huggyface. While he was driving the spaceship, WordGirl woke and startled him, making them collide into an asteroid and forcing him to crash land on Earth in order to save the both of them. Neither of them have tried to return to Lexicon since.
WordGirl was then adopted by Tim and Sally Botsford, who at that point had not had children of their own (though later they had their own boy, TJ Botsford, who would be her sibling), 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 be used as WordGirl's secret hideout.
She grew up well, though she displayed her enthusiastic intelligence at an early age - she was found on the Botsford's doorstep as a toddler 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 a number of meanings in her dictionary memorized and is able to define any given word at a moment's notice.
Physical Appearance[]
WordGirl has shoulder-length straight dark brown hair styled into a classic flip. She has light brown skin and her face is circular. She, like everyone else in the show (with the exception of Dr. Two-Brains), does not have a specific eye color, except for times that she's under mind control (e.g., in the episode "The Pretty Princess and Mr. Big Power Hour" and "Big Business").
In her civilian persona, she wears a cream-colored shirt under a V-neck green sweater with a maroon skirt and a matching headband. She wears cream-colored knee socks with black and white saddle shoes.
In her superhero attire she wears her suit and helmet, with her red star embellished on a golden shield on her chest, a symbol of Lexicon. She has a golden cape, a 2-way communication belt, dark red boots, and gloves.
Secret Identity[]
Main Article: List of People Who Have Discovered WordGirl's Secret Identity
WordGirl finds it hard to keep her identities separate, often making slips, but thankfully no one notices. In truth, she does very little to disguise her true identity. Her helmet does absolutely nothing to hide her face or her distinctive hairstyle, and Becky is the only other person in town shown with a monkey pet/sidekick (aside from Professor Tubing). The fact that it's made so obvious to the viewing audience usually adds to the comic element of the series.
Only a few times have people guessed or discovered her secret. Each time, however, she manages 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 overhears a conversation between Becky and Bob regarding new WordGirl and Huggy costumes. Through a fortunate turn of events, his memory of this event is later erased. In "WordGirl Makes a Mistake", Becky confesses to being WordGirl to her father and brother (in spite of Bob's protests) after feeling that she has hidden it from them for too long... but neither of them believe her, even after the episode Becky kept her identity secret from the family. Tobey also guesses that Becky is WordGirl due to her possessing the remote to his robots, but she convinces him otherwise by the means of a clever plan between her and Huggyface. Those who do learn the truth about Becky/WordGirl are:
- Violet's cat Priscilla watches Becky transform into WordGirl in "Tobey's Tricks and Treats". However, since she is a cat, this does not present any real threat to WordGirl's secret.
- The mailman is able to witness Becky's super-strength in "Earth Day Girl" when he delivers an absurdly large package to her door, and even sees her flying around in excitement when he walks past the window. However, he dismisses it saying, "I'm just a letter carrier, so I won't give it another thought."
- Becky's grandfather Bampy realizes she is really WordGirl in the episode "Bampy Battles Bots". He reveals this to her at the end of the episode, telling her that her secret was safe with him.
- Scoops finds out her secret identity in "Invasion of The Bunny Lovers". Although referring to this discovery as "the scoop of the century", in the end, he decides it is best to keep it a secret.
- Rose uses investigative reporting to figure out who she is in "News Girl". Scoops persuades her not to reveal WordGirl's secret identity.
- Kid Math found out Becky's identity in the eponymous episode. When Becky asked him how he found out, Kid Math (as Rex) said “Are you serious?”, which means that it was obvious to him.
- Violet finally learns that her best friend Becky is WordGirl in "Rhyme and Reason". This drove a wedge between them, but in the end, they made up because of their friendship.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Supernatural Intellect: Despite her young age, Becky possess a vast intellect, as she outsmarts others with genius intellect, has knowledge in robotics, as well as a comprehensive vocabulary as she has a handful of meanings on her dictionary memorized and is able to define any given word at a moment's notice. She knows most hieroglyphics as well.
- Lexiconian Physiology: Usually, like all Lexiconians, Becky is able to perform different inhuman feats.
- Super-Hearing: WordGirl often hears screaming people from across the city, her hearing sensitive enough to hear any sound at any volume or pitch. With skill and concentration, she can block out ambient sounds to focus on a specific source or frequency.
- Enhanced Vision: WordGirl's vision processes the entire electromagnetic spectrum as well as allowing vast control over selective perception and focus.
- Flight: WordGirl is able to manipulate graviton particles to defy the forces of gravity and achieve flight. This ranges from hovering, to moving in any posture, in any direction.
- Supernatural Speed: WordGirl can fly at supersonic speeds. She commonly uses her speed to appear and disappear faster than people can notice, as well as to somehow change in or out of her suit in seconds. She also has the ability of speed reading.
- Supernatural Reflexes: WordGirl's reflexes are so fast, she can respond to attacks within seconds.
- Supernatural Strength: WordGirl's strength is enhanced while not limitless, the extent of her super strength is undetermined; she is among the strongest terrestrial beings, allowing her lift or press objects or structures that are larger than herself, such as planes or ships.
- Cold Breath: WordGirl is able to create hurricane force winds by exhaling air from her lungs. She can chill the air as it leaves her lungs to freeze targets. She can also rewind the process to pull larger volumes of air or vapor into her lungs.
- Invulnerability: Due to the interaction of her dense molecular structure and fully charged bio-electric aura, WordGirl is high-invulnerable to extreme energy forces. Although she can still catch colds and hiccups.
- Oxygen Independency: As Lexiconians, both WordGirl and Huggy do not need oxygen to breathe in space or underwater.
- Fourth-Wall Knowledge: She knows that she and her world is fictional, can communicate with the invisible narrator to see what happens next, track down villains, or usually talk to him, and at the end of the story/episode, she poses in mid-flight and even looks/waves in the viewer's direction.
Weaknesses[]
- Her powers are disrupted by Lexonite, a substance from her home planet Lexicon. In the episode "WordGirl Makes a Mistake", it makes her weak and disrupts her ability to define words correctly. In the episode "Gift Pony", it not only removes her powers, but she has an allergic reaction to it.
- Her love of Pretty Princess can be considered a serious weakness for her, since it takes away her focus from crime fighting, such as in the episode "Showdown at the Secret Spaceship Hideout". It also allows her to be hypnotized by Mr. Big in the episode "The Pretty Princess and Mr. Big Power Hour".
- She's suspicious to almost everything. This is revealed when she sees Mr. Big's yo-yos and Tiny Big performing, she believes that she knows better and is more smart than most people in Fair City. Same thing occurs when Mr. Big runs for Mayor, she is the only one who can see through him.
- Even though she can very smart and a really good problem solver, she can be tricked or one-upped by villains like Granny May or Mr. Big.
- Her weakness is juggling through family and crime-fighting life. Crime happens randomly causing her to omit her family and friends to stop that particular crime for some reasons while leading into conflict with her family life, and most likely her time alone.
- Even though she has a high level of stamina, she gets exhausted/stopped by hot temperatures.
- One of the most consistent weaknesses Wordgirl faces while fighting crime is her own ego. In episodes like Tiny Big, Crime in the Key of V, The Talented Mr. Birg and others, Becky shows intense aversion against the idea of not being the center of attention or having negative press.
Age[]
- She states that her age is 10 and a half when interviewed by PBS reporter Jim Lehrer which occurred prior to August 2007. It aired when WordGirl was only in a series of shorts, and prior to the main TV series. This means that in real-life time, many of the events of the first season are actually flashbacks which would have occurred during 2006 and aired a year later.
- She celebrates her birthday in the episode "Becky's Birthday" (which aired September 2007). The cake in this episode has no candles on it, and her age is never mentioned.
- In the episode "Department Store Tobey" WordGirl lets slip that Becky is 10. This would mean she's 9 prior to the events of 4b.
- In the episode "Great Granny May" she explains Granny May's mother that she's 10 and a half.
- She reveals having already turned 10½ in "Slumber Party Pooper".
- She celebrates another birthday in the season three episode, "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/had a crush on). Akin to her relationship with him as WordGirl, Becky finds a rival in Tobey McCallister III, 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's a poor artist, can't dance or sing. She also isn't very good at charades (see the episode "Meat with a Side of Cute" for reference). She has, however, shown to be good at sports such as soccer, and even learned to play the accordion after intense practice.
Becky's fondness of words goes beyond her Lexiconian origin. She is shown to love word games like crosswords, as well as a love for writing essays and reading books of any kind. Many times during the series, villains use this love of vocabulary against her, asking her to define a word as a mean of distraction. Becky puts a lot of pride in her extensive vocabulary and is bothered by grammatical mistakes. Her interactions with The Butcher show that she does not correct people's words out of malice, but out of love for correct word usage. In Class Act , she expresses being proud of him for taking classes on how to articulate better. But in The Learnerer, Wordgirl gets rather annoyed at the villain's extra suffix usage, since it is on purpose.
In the episode Mobot Knows Best, Becky expresses concern over her attitude during classes, as she often interrupts Miss Davis's class to define words, which shows that, to her, defining words is something that brings so much joy to the point she has trouble containing herself. She is shown to be a very fast reader, although it is not clear if that is a result of her superpowers or simply out of her intense reading habit. In the episode Princess Triana and the Ogre of Castlebum, Becky displays her supernatural reading hability, reading the entire book in a few seconds. But in other episodes, she is shown reading at a normal speed, which implies that this, like all of her other powers, is something she has control over, and it is possible she only read that fast because of how excited she was. In The Stew, The Proud, it is revealed that she has borrowed possibly over thousands of books from the library, and has never once been overdue. She is shown to be friends with both the librarian and the book store owner, most likely due to how dedicated she is at reading.
She consistently displays trouble at art, music, dancing, acting and singing. Becky is shown to be of a more objective nature, in contrast with her best friend Violet Heaslip, who is an art lover. In the episode Art's Parts, both of them get into an argument about art, as Becky is shown to be confused by the subjective nature of the subject, and seems upset that she cant find a perfect definition for it. It can be implied that she enjoys the most objective aspects of word usage, like linguistics and grammar, as she is also shown to be terrible at poetry. It is possible that her tendency to find the correct word for every situation makes it hard for her to find connotative meanings in words. In the episode Becky and the Bard, she displays a keen interest on participating on the Romeo and Juliet play at her school, despite being terrible at acting. She expresses that she has decorated the entire book and shows appreciation for it. In the same episode, Hunter Throbheart is introduced as a cute boy that Becky and Violet are infatuated with, and although Violet is impressed by his acting skills and his British accent, Becky admires that England is the birthplace of William Shakespeare. Her attitude in this episode shows the audience that she cares more about literature than other arts.
Becky has a strong sense of justice and refuses to use her powers for personal gain, as seen in Field Day Fun with Robo-Tobey and Bend It Like Becky. She dislikes doing things she considers unfair, even if it might benefit her. She refuses to throw an evil doer in jail unless she has consistent proof of their wrong doing, as seen in the episode Mr. Big, where she felt that there was something suspicious going on with The Thing, but couldn't do anything because she could not prove it. It is seen throughout the series that she has a great deal of respect for her opponents, and this aspect of the show is highlighted in the Rise of Miss Power special. She respects the villains of the town and refuses to use petty insults against them. This leads to a mutual respect between the villains and Wordgirl, which keeps things fair on both sides.
Even though Becky is truly good-hearted, she is still a flawed character. In many episodes, she is shown to have a great ego, valuing her reputation with a lot of pride. In I Think I'm a Clone Now, she shows intense frustration with the town's shifting views on Wordgirl. In Tiny Big, she gets upset at the fact that the town is no longer interested on her. In Crime in the Key of V, Wordgirl gets rather mad that Victoria took the key to the city she received, even though she reportedly has over 200 of them. In The Talented Mr. Birg, she gets very upset at Scoops for reporting that Wordgirl has gotten tricked before, despite it being completely true. During the series, there are many other examples of this, and it's one of her most prominent flaws. While WordGirl does enjoy the attention and admiration of the citizens, she has shown to have a strong dislike of the city's WordGirl Contests this was shown in Mouse Brain Take-Over and Win a Day with WordGirl. In both of these episodes the contestants were either someone WordGirl was annoyed with or they were doing whatever it took to win.
Wordgirl can be sometimes rather unaware of other people's feelings, committing careless mistakes that might hurt her friends unintentionally. For example, she often leaves Huggy behind without noticing, simply because she forgets he can't fly. In The Tooth Hurts, she reveals Scoop's secret about still having baby teeth to the entire school by publishing it on The Daily Rag, despite her friend expressing shame about the fact. In the episode, Becky is excited about the publication, and didn't understand why Scoops got upset.
Becky is shown to be overly suspicious and critical of fads, investigating any suspicious behavior coming from the media and consumer products. This is seen a lot in episodes featuring Mr. Big and Seymour Smooth. And even though she can be blinded by her love of Pretty Princess and Magic Pony, she still manages to be critical towards it, as seen in Earth Day Girl, where she is upset that her new toy came with unnecessary packaging. But in The Penny, the Pony, and the Pirate, she doesn't want to admit that the Mid-Summer Celebration was terribly made. Becky's skepticism towards media is used in the show to teach lessons about media literacy and not falling for scams.
One of the main conflicts of the show is Becky's difficulty with balancing her double life. At many times, she expresses desire for more free time, and complains about how busy she is. There are times throughout the series where she wishes she was just Becky Botsford instead of Wordgirl, but in the end she acknowledges that she enjoys both aspects of her life. In the episode A World Without WordGirl, Becky is upset that she missed her birthday because of her crime fighting duty and wishes that she wasn't a super hero. After realizing how crucial she is to the peace status-quo, she changes her mind, noticing how small sacrifices need to be done so that she and her family live a peaceful life. This time balance also gets her into trouble with her relationships, mainly Violet, who wants to spend time with her friend and is upset that she often leaves in the middle of the playdate. In Dinner or Consequences, Becky misses two family dinners back to back, greatly hurting her father's feelings.
Despite her supernatural abilities, she is still a child. She loves unicorns and is a huge fan of "The Pretty Princess and Magic Pony Power Hour" TV show, as well as the Princess Triana books, even dressing up as the Pretty Princess for Halloween in the episode "Tobey's Tricks and Treats". Becky has a big collection of unicorns in her room. One of these, named Angelface, gets broken a number of times throughout the series, much to her anger. She can be rather immature, putting her own desires before her obligations sometimes, creating for conflicts on the episode.
Relationships[]
Flying around
Huggy Face[]
Captain Huggy Face is Becky's oldest and most trustworthy friend. They are always seen together. Although they sometimes fight, their friendship always manages to remain strong. Huggy is, effectively, Wordgirl's best friend. Although in his civilian life Bob is seen as a pet, Becky does not treat him like so, instead treating him like a friend.
In Where's Huggy? he runs away out of frustration with Becky's behavior, as she ignored how uncomfortable her jokes made him. Although he ran away, after WG asked sorry and expressed how worried she was for Bob, he forgave her and they compromised. This episodes highlights how close they are and how much they rely on eachother.
He seems to be more mature than her, often giving advice on the right thing to do and calling out Becky when she is acting unfairly. He always reminds her of acting with dignity and keeping her obligation with justice in mind. For example, in Of Two Minds, CHF reminds Wordgirl that, even though she is suspicious of Dr. Two-Brains, a hero should give people second chances.
Wordgirl always cares to mention Huggy's importance to crime fighting, often highlighting how hard it would be without him. In The Power of Whamship, it is made clear that what makes crime fighting possible is their cooperation.
Huggy cares more about Wordgirl's secret identity than herself. When Becky slips on her words and accidentally talks about being a super hero, Bob always gives her a look of disapproval, reminding Becky of the importance of the secret.
Todd "Scoops" Ming[]
Becky and Scoops have always had a great friendship with each other. Even though Becky had a crush on Scoops for most of the series, her feelings for him went unacknowledged or unnoticed. In addition Becky/WordGirl cannot stand him and Violet together (despite being friends), aside from that Becky and Scoops are very good friends. Scoops is always ready to interview WordGirl about a villain defeat and she is always ready to share.
Scoops was her first friend to learn her duel identity as WordGirl in Invasion of the Bunny Lovers. When the whole city was under mind control of Mr. Big and Dr. Two-Brains Becky managed to save Scoops but he noticed her break through a brick wall and flying off. After getting somewhere safe, Scoops began to process what was happening he was sad that Becky didn't tell him her identity but when he states it's the "Scoop of the Century" Becky admits this was why she didn't tell him and points out if everyone knew her identity, life would be harder for her. While they did put the subject on the side to save the city, when they got a chance to discuss the topic again, WordGirl becomes worried if he'll publish the article. Scoops however ripped up the article declaring that while this was the "Scoop of the Century" some things are better left unknown and respecting his friend's privacy is more important.
After that, their relationship stayed strong after that and the two will help each other whenever they needed to.
Violet Heaslip[]
Flying around
Violet is Becky's human best friend. They both share a love for unicorns and love to do activities together, such as having tea parties and baking. She is written to be the opposite of Becky in many ways, mainly in her love of art. Violet is kind, generous and well-mannered, contrasting with Wordgirl's headstrong personality. As any good friends would, one could say that they complement each other's qualities. In The Birthday Girl, Violet is able to save the day while Becky herself could not, as she figured out that Eileen's weakness was generosity. This act of kindness contrasts with Becky's more analytical nature.
Violet is aware of her friend's struggles with art, and encourages her to keep trying. In Art's Parts, she is very proud of her friend's painting, and is joyful that Becky finally understood that art is more than a sum of its parts. The same way that Violet encourages her friend, Becky encourages her to keep on painting and making art, even if she can't fully understand it.
Violet is very understanding of Becky and is a great listener. In Too Loud Crew, Becky tells her friend that she feels uncomfortable at her house. Violet's house is very hippie-like, full of ornaments with rules to encourage the creation of art. After listening to her friend tell how uncomfortable this makes her, Violet is understanding and they compromise. In many other episodes, the friends have arguments, mainly due to how busy Becky always is. This culminates in the series finale, Rhyme and Reason, where Violet finally figures out Wordgirl's identity. She gets very upset, because when she confronted Becky about it, the super hero lied. They both get heartbroken over the situation and don't speak to each other for a while. In that episode, Wordgirl would not be able to defeat Rhyme without Violet, because it was her who had the idea to prompt the villain to rhyme something with "purple". This astonished Rhyme and made it possible for WG to defeat the villains. After this, Violet and Becky decided to "start over" their friendship, and both forgave each other.
Appearances[]
TV Show[]
Comics[]
Gallery[]
- Main article: WordGirl/Gallery
Trivia[]
Huggy finding her as a baby.
- On the official WordGirl website, it used to state on WordGirl's profile that when she was an infant, she was found on the Botsfords' 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 as an infant in the woods with Huggy, which is either an oversight or retcon.
- She is scared of spiders
- 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[1], rather than ten. This was originally correct for the shorts and episodes 1-4a, however she is 10 for most of the series and recently turned 11.
- WordGirl is 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 home world.
- As the titular character, she has appeared in every episode in the series.
References[]
- ↑ http://www.soup2nuts.tv/word_girl.html "WordGirl - PBS KIDS GO! (2007-present) When trouble strikes, 9-year-old Becky Botsford transforms into WordGirl, a crime-fighting superhero who defends truth and justice... one word at a time."