Spud the Scarecrow

Spud the Scarecrow is a recurring character from Bob the Builder. He is the talking animate scarecrow who lives with Farmer Pickles and loves to make mischief and often gets himself into trouble. He tries to help Bob and the team, but his efforts end in disaster.

He is voiced by Rob Rackstraw in the UK and by Alan Marriott in the US before Rackstraw replaced him from Project: Build It onwards.

Why He Rocks

 * 1) He is portrayed as a recurring comic relief character and is also considered a fan favorite amongst fans of the show.
 * 2) Spud does receive comeuppance and karma for his actions and naughtiness:
 * 3) * In "Pilchard in a Pickle", Spud does torment Lofty while he was lifting one of the pipes, but Bob catches the scarecrow and tells him off, prompting Spud to apologize to both Bob and Lofty before Bob sends him away to scare off birds from the lettuce field.
 * 4) * In "Naughty Spud", after stealing Bob's ladder to get some apples from an apple tree, he later comes back with a tummy ache as karma for leaving Bob stuck on the roof of the shed by taking his ladder and eating too many apples.
 * 5) * In "Travis Paints the Town", he hooks the line marking machine on Travis and tricks him into speeding off to the pond, but he is later found out by both Bob and Farmer Pickles who punish Spud by making him clean up the mess and the lines.
 * 6) He does learn from his mistakes, which can be either intentional or not, while helping Bob, Wendy and the team or anyone else, and with some help from the team, Spud manages to set things right in the end.
 * 7) There are times where Spud isn't as naughty or mischievous and does help Bob, Farmer Pickles with their jobs.
 * 8) Like Bob and Wendy, as well as the machines, Spud is well-animated with fluent stop-motion and his character design is splendid.
 * 9) He is good friends with Travis the Tractor, and they very often hang out together, as well as helping Farmer Pickles with the deliveries.
 * 10) Rob Rackstraw did a good job voicing him.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) He can be somewhat unlikeable at times (depending on your view), as he sometimes can be very rude to the machines for no reason other than being mischievous. However to be fair, he was supposed to be unlikeable from time to time so he can receive karma for his actions.
 * 2) * He was at his worst when he mocks and teases poor Lofty in "Lofty to the Rescue" for having fears of heights, before he later torments Scoop and Muck until Spud falls off the bridge and caught in a tree.
 * 3) He can cause rather stupid mistakes, even without doing it on purpose:
 * 4) * He turns and removes the stopcock key from the water mains which soaks Mr. Bentley who was inspecting the burst pipe at the time in "Inspector Spud", prompting the scarecrow to take over while Mr. Bentley leaves to change his clothes. While being "inspector", Spud unknowingly collapses Farmer Pickles' barn and treads in the wet concrete where he gets stuck.
 * 5) * He accidentally falls onto Scruffty's kennel and destroys it in "Bob of the North" while trying on Wendy's skis.
 * 6) He is completely removed in the 2015 reboot with no reason whatsoever.
 * 7) His voice sounded nasally in the first 6 seasons. Eventually, it was fixed in Season 7 and is still used up until Ready Steady Build.