Darington the Stunt Truck

"Darington is the ultimate showman. He loves to dazzle with his amazing tricks and stunts even though he rarely sticks the landing. Despite being a bit unrealistic with what he can and can't do, Darington is a fearless competitor who never lets a few crashes stop him from dreaming big."

Darington is a male Monster Machine who loves doing tricks and stunts, and one of the main characters of Blaze and the Monster Machines.

Why He's a "Daring" Devil

 * 1) He strives for attention and excitement, and true to his name, is a complete daredevil, loving to perform stunts of any kind. Despite this, he has a soft spot for his friends, and more often than not, ends up surprised by challenges Blaze faces.
 * 2) Great character design, even it looks uncanny, especially in season 1.
 * 3) Alexander Polinsky did an amazing job voicing him.
 * 4) His catchphrase "DARINGTOOOOOOOON!!!!!", is iconic.
 * 5) He loves to dazzle with his amazing tricks and stunts even though he rarely sticks the landing. Despite being a bit unrealistic with what he can and can't do, he is a fearless competitor who never lets a few crashes stop him from dreaming big.
 * 6) He enjoys being around Blaze, who idolizes his tricks and stunts. Often when Blaze helps him out for a big stunt he’s performing in, he is eventually invited to take part in the stunt as well when the job is finished. Blaze also enjoys his comedic slip-ups, and is willing to share a laugh.
 * 7) A funny pun: In Trouble at the Truck Wash, there's this quote; "Darington? More like...Dirt-ington!".

Bad Qualities

 * 1) They Wasted This Perfectly Good Character: Sadly, while true, although he gets a lot of (great) attention, his appearances gradually became fewer (and/or rarer) with each later new season, almost as if he became out of focus. He doesn't even get a chance to sing a full song in the series (except aside from a few brief moments in the first season; and until he actually does do so in The Amazing Stunt Kitty; see trivia).
 * 2) Although not a countless plot hole, there is this irony:
 * 3) *In Stuntmania!, even though Crusher sends him away, they never actually speak to each other throughout the episode.
 * 4) **Also ironically, in the same episode, even though Blaze, AJ and he saw Pickle with him, neither of them spoke to him.

Trivia

 * Darington is the fourth Monster Machine introduced after Blaze, Stripes and Starla.
 * A running gag is Darington singing out his catchphrase and crashing into something, often getting dizzy as a result.
 * Darington is the first Monster Machine other than Blaze to sing something, as shown when he repeatedly sings his catchphrase.
 * The second is Crusher.
 * The third is Starla.
 * The fourth is Pickle.
 * The fifth is Stripes.
 * The sixth is Zeg.
 * He and Crusher are the usual Monster Machines to get dizzy from time to time.
 * In some episodes when he is mentioned and appears, the captions misspell his name as "Darrington", adding an extra "R".
 * The episode The Chicken Circus! reveals Darington can speak fluent chicken.
 * Darington is the first of the five characters that have read the episode's title instead of Blaze (doing so in Darington to the Moon!, The Chicken Circus! and The Amazing Stunt Kitty). The second is Pegwheel the Pirate in Treasure Track, the third is Pickle with his family in The Pickle Family Campout, the fourth is Blackbelt in Ninja Blaze, and the fifth is AJ in AJ to the Rescue.
 * Darington has his own leitmotif that plays whenever he appears, consisting of fast heavy metal music in E major.
 * So far, all the episodes where Blaze had to help Darington end with an exclamation mark (Stuntmania!, Darington to the Moon!, Catch That Cake!, The Chicken Circus!).
 * Darington is the only main character with a three-syllable name.
 * Usually whenever Darington says his catchphrase, the same recording is used, though there are some variations.
 * Darington's horn has a high D major chime. It was first heard in Snow Day Showdown.
 * He, Blaze, AJ, Crusher, Pickle, and Watts are the only main characters whose homes haven’t been seen yet.
 * Darington appeared the least in season 5, only being seen in five episodes. He shares this with Zeg.
 * In the Robot Riders miniseries, he is the only Monster Machine-turned-robot not seen glowing during a coding scenario.
 * Darington is probably no less than 18 due to being a racer and participating in the Chicken Circus, both which require someone to be 18 to get the job.
 * Darington is one of the five Monster Machines to understand an animal's language (chicken in particular), with the others being Stripes (various jungle animals), Zeg (dinosaurs), and Starla and Crusher (pig). However, he's the first to actually say he speaks their language.
 * Aside from randomly singing his catchphrase or ending a sentence by doing such, Darington has not sung a whole song in the series until The Amazing Stunt Kitty. This continues to apply to the other main characters other than Blaze, AJ, Crusher and Pickle.
 * Coincidentally, his voice actor, Alexander Polinsky, is a professional singer.
 * It is implied in the episode "Race to the Top of the World" that Darington can easily be scared, since he was scared several times when the Sphinx appeared behind him.
 * He has a pet cat, as revealed in The Amazing Stunt Kitty!.

Comments
