Smudge

Smudge/Cascão "If the water is cold I'm afraid, if the water is hot I don't even care." Gender: Male Type: Sidekick Age: 7 Species: "Human" Portrayed by: Paulo Cavalcante Status: Alive Media of origin: Turma da Mônica

Cascão/Smudge is the one of the main characters of the Brazilian comic book series Turma da Mônica (also known as Monica's Gang or Monica and Friends in the English translations), created by Mauricio de Sousa.

Why He Doesn't Need to Take a Bath for Being a Good Character

1. He is one of the main and most memorable characters created by Mauricio de Sousa, along with Monica, Jimmy Five, Maggy and Chuck Billy.
2. His friendship with Jimmy Five is very good and works well, often serving as Jimmy Five' main sidekick in most stories focused on him.
3. The character overcame political correctness at the time of his creation, even though he was a dirty character who doesn't like baths, he ended up developing and conquering a loyal audience over the years.
4. His characteristics about being a dirty boy and who always avoids bathing or contact with water is great and always makes for hilarious stories, especially when he does everything to prevent someone from throwing water at him.
5. On several occasions he is seen (hilariously) possessing powers whenever he tries to run away from falling into water or being wet by rain, already demonstrating super strength, super speed and even flying. Getting to overcome Monica's strength when it comes to avoiding bathing.
6. He is a humble and very creative boy who likes to create his own toys with old objects he finds in the trash, since he can't afford to buy better toys.
7. He often does favors for other people, especially his friends by helping them.
8. He always helps his best friend Jimmy Five in his plans to try to defeat Monica, even though he often doesn't want to risk facing Monica every time, he still helps his friend.
9. He is also a master of disguise when it comes to participating in Jimmy Five' plans to defeat Monica, always disguising himself in a way to fool her.
10. Just like Chuck Billy, he won his own solo comic in 1983, which remains in publication to this day.
11. Paulo Cavalcante does an awesome job voicing Smudge. Gabriel Moreira is also fantastic and the definition of perfect casting as his live-action counterpart.

Dirty Qualities

1. He may look like a rip-off of Pig Pen from Peanuts, although he still has his differences.
2. Sometimes he can be unlikeable for acting like a jerk with his friends, especially when he's with Jimmy Five, although there are times when Smudge is rude even with Jimmy Five.
3. Due to the political correctness of current comics, the character has become out of character, mainly in educational stories related to water and hygiene, with Cascão/Smudge no longer being seen getting into garbage cans and playing with mud often going to break the rule that was established many years ago he always avoids water as he likes to be a dirty boy.
   • This resulted in a really bad cover in 1998 where the joke on the cover was just to show him washing his hands after going to the bathroom. Because of this, MSP had to create a story several years later revealing that the characters who had washed his hands was Xaveco disguised as Cascão.
   • He also washed his hands during the COVID-19 pandemic (the virus that transmits SARS-CoV-2), which, although understandable (a virus that killed millions of people), ruins the character's charm, and greatly disappoints Monica and Friends fans, especially fans of Smudge. Also, it's unnecessary, since there were already several laws (distancing, washing hands, not leaving the house) that everyone knew, and Smudge washing his hands was the last thing we needed.

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