Bob the Builder (character)

Bob the Builder is the title character and protagonist of the television show of the same name. He is a general contractor with his own construction yard in Bobsville, Sunflower Valley or Fixham Harbour, depending on the series.

Bob the Builder
Bob the Builder character
First appearanceScoop Saves the Day (28 November 1998)
Created byKeith Chapman
Voiced byNeil Morrissey (1998 series) (1998-2011)[1]
William Dufris (2001-2005)
Greg Proops (2005-2007)
Marc Silk (2008-2011) (US)
Lee Ingleby (2015 series) (2015-present) (UK)
Colin Murdock (2015-present) (US)
In-universe information
Full nameRobert
NicknamesBob the Builder
Bobby
GenderMale
OccupationBuilder
Significant otherWendy
NationalityBritish

Design

The character's appearance was created by Curtis Jobling. His character sketches initially showed him with a moustache but this made him seem too old for the target audience of children and so he was then restyled as clean-shaven. As stop motion animation requires frequent repositioning of the models, Bob was given large feet for stability.[2]

When the series was sold internationally, some changes had to be made to make him more acceptable to other cultures. For Japan, the character was shown with all five fingers on each hand, rather than his usual four. This was done because, in that society, a missing finger indicates membership of the criminal Yakuza clans.[3][4]

In 2014, the toy company Mattel bought the rights to the character and gave him a Hollywood-style makeover, making him seem younger and slimmer and more realistically proportioned. This was not well-received on social media, where the new look was described as creepy and unconvincing.[5][6][7]

Legacy

The character of Bob the Builder has helped to change negative stereotypes of construction workers among children.[8]

References
  1. The Million Sellers, Omnibus Press, 2012, p. 341, ISBN 9780857128829
  2. Paul Wells; Joanna Quinn; Les Mills (2008), Drawing for Animation, AVA Publishing, p. 117, ISBN 9782940373703
  3. Bob the Builder fixed for Japan, BBC News, 20 April 2000
  4. Freed, Brianna (2010), Can We Fix It?: Bob the Builder as a Discrusive Resource for Children (PDF), Colorado State University
  5. "Bob the Builder's been rebuilt", Daily Telegraph, 15 October 2014
  6. John McCarthy (13 October 2014), Bob the Builder: Can Mattel rebuild him? Twitter doesn't think so, The Drum
  7. John Plunkett (13 October 2014), "Bob the Builder reboot on shaky ground", The Guardian
  8. Moore, David (20 December 2001), "William of Sen to Bob the Builder: non‐cognate cultural perceptions of constructors", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 8 (3): 177–184., doi:10.1108/eb021180
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