I’ve really been wanting to discuss the relationship between Becky/Wordgirl and Bob/Huggy, because I adore close fictional relationships and in all honesty, this relationship is kinda important to the show and is hardly ever talked about (and I won’t lie, despite loving close fictional relationships, I don’t very often think about the one between them, and I don’t even know why, but hey, it’s an easy fix I suppose.)

Now obviously when I say “relationship” I do not mean a romantic one. (just wanted to specify because I feel like the words “relationship” and “love” are too often associated with romance, when those two words can be all sort of different things besides that, and there are some weirdos out there who I’m afraid would see this post and think I meant “romantic”) And that’s the first thing I want to talk about, how would you guys “classify” the relationship that they have? I would personally call it a partnership, but it could also be classified as a friendship, or a familial relationship or maybe even some other option I’m not thinking off, or perhaps some combination of all the previously mentioned options. What’s your personal take on this?

Second, hmm not exactly sure how to word this, does anyone else ever feel like their relationship, logically, would have developed differently than it clearly did? Allow me to explain, and I had to contact a friend to come up with a good term to use here, and the one she suggested that I liked most was “position of authority” in a relationship. This is to describe a person in a relationship who has power of the other person but not necessarily in a bad way. This would be like a parent and child relationship since the child needs someone to take care of them and guide them through life until they are able to on their own, the parent is in a position of authority in the relationship. This also applies to a child to parent relationships when the parent gets too old to take care of themselves, and the child then becomes the one in the position of authority. Or a sibling relationship where one is older, or a babysitter. You probably get the idea. Well, I personally feel (sometimes I feel this, I’ve been going back and forth lately) that Becky and Bob’s relationship would have developed differently in terms of who is in the position of authority.

The first interesting thing I notice when trying to analyze who is in the position of authority (if anyone) is that Bob/Huggy’s official “titles” regarding his relationship to Becky/Wordgirl, implies that she is in a position of authority. He is her pet or he is her sidekick. The second thing I noticed, is despite this, it really doesn’t seem like either of them are in any position of authority, it seems like they are pretty much each other’s equals. Which is all fine and good, until you sit and really think about what we know of their backstory, and suddenly it makes less sense to me that their relationship would have developed in a way that neither are in a position of authority. To me, it makes a lot more sense that Bob would have ended up as the one in position of authority in their relationship.

The first thing that changes this is that prior to knowing their backstory, or when not thinking about it, Bob just seems like a  monkey. Just a normal, albeit more intelligent as he has a full grasp on what’s going on around him and what everyone is saying, monkey. And this makes their equal partnership make sense because an average monkey wouldn’t have enough authority, in general, to be in a position of authority. But when you account for his backstory, you realize that he’s really not just a monkey, more like a person inside a monkey’s body. Prior to coming to earth, we know he was a great pilot, I believe he was even said to be the greatest pilot on various occasions, he clearly had his own ship, he had a brother that he loved and misses. He was clearly not just an animal native to Lexicon, he was an actual citizen, and apparently, a well-respected one to be considered the greatest pilot. And that means he can be someone of authority, and looking back at their backstory together, Bob should have been, and likely stayed in a position of authority.

He’s obviously older than Becky, old enough to be able to pilot a ship and be really good at it, so certainly older than the toddler she was when they crashed. And naturally, close relationships where one is older usually develop so that the older one is in the position of authority, go back and look at the examples I made for position of authority, almost all of them have the one in said position being older. The older person has more merit to take care of the younger person, so this makes sense. But we can’t just go by that. 

Another thing that supports this idea is the fact that Bob watched Becky grow up, that, combined with the fact that he’s old enough to be a functioning adult on Lexicon, would almost certainly put him in the position of authority. And while there’s not really much in the show to support this, I don’t think it would be far-fetched to think that Bob might have helped raised Becky in a way. He probably told her right from wrong when her parents didn’t catch her doing something bad, he probably kept her out of harm’s way when her parents weren’t paying attention, he probably helped put her to bed when she was just too hyper to sleep. And if that’s the case, Bob would by definition be in the position of authority, and there’s hardly any reason for him to have left that position, meaning their relationship in the show wouldn’t make sense. But again, that part is more speculation, but it is an idea that has some merit.

Another thing that could have helped put Bob into an authoritative position in the relationship, is that he saved her life when they first met. If they had just happened to cross paths and their attachment to each other grew at the same time, then it would make sense that they would be completely equals in their relationship. But I’ve heard that there are studies that show when you save someone’s life (think about in hospitals and stuff), you become more attached to them, even if they are a stranger, and honestly, this makes complete sense. Since this was literally how their relationship started, remember that Huggy had to make an emergency crash land on earth to save them both, it makes sense that Bob would be quickly attached to this little girl, while she, being a toddler and not knowing what was going on, probably still needed to grow attached to him, he would likely be in the position of authority because this is how relationships with parents and children start. The parent is already very attached to their child simply because it’s their child, but the infant is brand new to the world and hasn’t gotten attached to anyone yet, even their parents.

Lastly, there’s the fact that he likely mentored her, and I would consider a mentor to be someone in a position of authority in a relationship. She had to learn her superhero tactics from somewhere. And before everyone sends me a message that in The Rise of Miss Power, Huggy gave her a book on Lexicon battle tactics and told her he didn’t think she needed it until now, I just wanna say that that doesn’t necessarily mean he didn’t teach her anything. I find it unlikely that she was just ready to go to be a superhero and just went for it and was fine. Huggy probably taught her some very basic things, things any normal Lexiconian kid would have learned, and most likely the “doing just fine on her own” comment referred to her learning these tactics and being smart enough to use them properly and used them to come up with her own effective strategies.

So there you go, because he’s older, watched her grow up, possibly took care of her, saved her life when they first met and mentored her, it just seems more likely to me that he would have become, and therefore still should be in the position of authority. I can only think of two reasons why he wouldn’t be, and that’s that either Becky is so independent that their relationship evolved from Bob being the one in position of authority to neither of them being in that position, or that the societal expectations of Bob being a pet and a sidekick affected the authoritative balance, and that combined with the actual relationship that they had, eventually evolved into the balanced one we see in the show. Or perhaps it’s a PBS Kids show and they aren’t thinking about how their relationship would have logically developed, they were just thinking about how they can teach kids words :p.

What do you guys think? Am I crazy? And also, can we talk about how cute it would be if Bob did help raise Becky. Can you imagine him telling toddler Becky a bedtime story every night? Can you imagine Becky flying around, getting too close to the hot stove or something and Bob having to jump up and grab her and drag her away from it? Regardless of how their relationship developed, can we just talk about how cute it is that he watched her grow up? He was there when she lost her first tooth, when her brother was born, her first day of school, possibly when she read her first book (wouldn’t shock me if this girl was already reading), when she decided she wanted to be a superhero, when she actually became Wordgirl. Imagine them coming up with all of their emergency plans together. Like this is why I like fictional relationships, this is some really cute fluffy crap right here and I love it.

I’ve really been wanting to discuss the relationship between Becky/Wordgirl and Bob/Huggy, because I adore close fictional relationships and in all honesty, this relationship is kinda important to the show and is hardly ever talked about (and I won’t lie, despite loving close fictional relationships, I don’t very often think about the one between them, and I don’t even know why, but hey, it’s an easy fix I suppose.)

Now obviously when I say “relationship” I do not mean a romantic one. (just wanted to specify because I feel like the words “relationship” and “love” are too often associated with romance, when those two words can be all sort of different things besides that, and there are some weirdos out there who I’m afraid would see this post and think I meant “romantic”) And that’s the first thing I want to talk about, how would you guys “classify” the relationship that they have? I would personally call it a partnership, but it could also be classified as a friendship, or a familial relationship or maybe even some other option I’m not thinking off, or perhaps some combination of all the previously mentioned options. What’s your personal take on this?

Second, hmm not exactly sure how to word this, does anyone else ever feel like their relationship, logically, would have developed differently than it clearly did? Allow me to explain, and I had to contact a friend to come up with a good term to use here, and the one she suggested that I liked most was “position of authority” in a relationship. This is to describe a person in a relationship who has power of the other person but not necessarily in a bad way. This would be like a parent and child relationship since the child needs someone to take care of them and guide them through life until they are able to on their own, the parent is in a position of authority in the relationship. This also applies to a child to parent relationships when the parent gets too old to take care of themselves, and the child then becomes the one in the position of authority. Or a sibling relationship where one is older, or a babysitter. You probably get the idea. Well, I personally feel (sometimes I feel this, I’ve been going back and forth lately) that Becky and Bob’s relationship would have developed differently in terms of who is in the position of authority.

The first interesting thing I notice when trying to analyze who is in the position of authority (if anyone) is that Bob/Huggy’s official “titles” regarding his relationship to Becky/Wordgirl, implies that she is in a position of authority. He is her pet or he is her sidekick. The second thing I noticed, is despite this, it really doesn’t seem like either of them are in any position of authority, it seems like they are pretty much each other’s equals. Which is all fine and good, until you sit and really think about what we know of their backstory, and suddenly it makes less sense to me that their relationship would have developed in a way that neither are in a position of authority. To me, it makes a lot more sense that Bob would have ended up as the one in position of authority in their relationship.

The first thing that changes this is that prior to knowing their backstory, or when not thinking about it, Bob just seems like a  monkey. Just a normal, albeit more intelligent as he has a full grasp on what’s going on around him and what everyone is saying, monkey. And this makes their equal partnership make sense because an average monkey wouldn’t have enough authority, in general, to be in a position of authority. But when you account for his backstory, you realize that he’s really not just a monkey, more like a person inside a monkey’s body. Prior to coming to earth, we know he was a great pilot, I believe he was even said to be the greatest pilot on various occasions, he clearly had his own ship, he had a brother that he loved and misses. He was clearly not just an animal native to Lexicon, he was an actual citizen, and apparently, a well-respected one to be considered the greatest pilot. And that means he can be someone of authority, and looking back at their backstory together, Bob should have been, and likely stayed in a position of authority.

He’s obviously older than Becky, old enough to be able to pilot a ship and be really good at it, so certainly older than the toddler she was when they crashed. And naturally, close relationships where one is older usually develop so that the older one is in the position of authority, go back and look at the examples I made for position of authority, almost all of them have the one in said position being older. The older person has more merit to take care of the younger person, so this makes sense. But we can’t just go by that. 

Another thing that supports this idea is the fact that Bob watched Becky grow up, that, combined with the fact that he’s old enough to be a functioning adult on Lexicon, would almost certainly put him in the position of authority. And while there’s not really much in the show to support this, I don’t think it would be far-fetched to think that Bob might have helped raised Becky in a way. He probably told her right from wrong when her parents didn’t catch her doing something bad, he probably kept her out of harm’s way when her parents weren’t paying attention, he probably helped put her to bed when she was just too hyper to sleep. And if that’s the case, Bob would by definition be in the position of authority, and there’s hardly any reason for him to have left that position, meaning their relationship in the show wouldn’t make sense. But again, that part is more speculation, but it is an idea that has some merit.

Another thing that could have helped put Bob into an authoritative position in the relationship, is that he saved her life when they first met. If they had just happened to cross paths and their attachment to each other grew at the same time, then it would make sense that they would be completely equals in their relationship. But I’ve heard that there are studies that show when you save someone’s life (think about in hospitals and stuff), you become more attached to them, even if they are a stranger, and honestly, this makes complete sense. Since this was literally how their relationship started, remember that Huggy had to make an emergency crash land on earth to save them both, it makes sense that Bob would be quickly attached to this little girl, while she, being a toddler and not knowing what was going on, probably still needed to grow attached to him, he would likely be in the position of authority because this is how relationships with parents and children start. The parent is already very attached to their child simply because it’s their child, but the infant is brand new to the world and hasn’t gotten attached to anyone yet, even their parents.

Lastly, there’s the fact that he likely mentored her, and I would consider a mentor to be someone in a position of authority in a relationship. She had to learn her superhero tactics from somewhere. And before everyone sends me a message that in The Rise of Miss Power, Huggy gave her a book on Lexicon battle tactics and told her he didn’t think she needed it until now, I just wanna say that that doesn’t necessarily mean he didn’t teach her anything. I find it unlikely that she was just ready to go to be a superhero and just went for it and was fine. Huggy probably taught her some very basic things, things any normal Lexiconian kid would have learned, and most likely the “doing just fine on her own” comment referred to her learning these tactics and being smart enough to use them properly and used them to come up with her own effective strategies.

So there you go, because he’s older, watched her grow up, possibly took care of her, saved her life when they first met and mentored her, it just seems more likely to me that he would have become, and therefore still should be in the position of authority. I can only think of two reasons why he wouldn’t be, and that’s that either Becky is so independent that their relationship evolved from Bob being the one in position of authority to neither of them being in that position, or that the societal expectations of Bob being a pet and a sidekick affected the authoritative balance, and that combined with the actual relationship that they had, eventually evolved into the balanced one we see in the show. Or perhaps it’s a PBS Kids show and they aren’t thinking about how their relationship would have logically developed, they were just thinking about how they can teach kids words :p.

What do you guys think? Am I crazy? And also, can we talk about how cute it would be if Bob did help raise Becky. Can you imagine him telling toddler Becky a bedtime story every night? Can you imagine Becky flying around, getting too close to the hot stove or something and Bob having to jump up and grab her and drag her away from it? Regardless of how their relationship developed, can we just talk about how cute it is that he watched her grow up? He was there when she lost her first tooth, when her brother was born, her first day of school, possibly when she read her first book (wouldn’t shock me if this girl was already reading), when she decided she wanted to be a superhero, when she actually became Wordgirl. Imagine them coming up with all of their emergency plans together. Like this is why I like fictional relationships, this is some really cute fluffy crap right here and I love it.