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"What happened to the pathetic little pushover kid we used to love and respect so much?"
Spinelli to Gus

Gustav Patton "Gus" Griswald is one of the six main characters and was originally the newest member of The Recess Gang, although it is revealed in Recess: All Growed Down that he actually knew the gang in kindergarten. He is Polish-American.

Personality

Gus is a good-natured if occasionally naive boy as his recent attendance at Third Street made him aware of the school's traditions such as the kindergarten derby. He is also a master at dodgeball and has never been beaten under a pseudonym of El Diablo (Spanish for "The Devil"). During his tenure at an old school he attended, he gave up on dodgeball after an incident in which he accidentally hit a small boy with a dodgeball leaving the boy too afraid to go to the playground.

Gus is an Army brat meaning he is a child from a military family, in this case the US Army, and often calls his dad "Sir". Gus sometimes is paranoid and usually, power goes to his head. In "King Gus" he became King of the Playground, and he began bossing the other children around and creating a 'cookie tax'. In "Germ Warfare", he wanted to get rid of germs and disinfect the world thinking that all germs are evil which put him in conflict with Mikey who treated germs as friends.

Relationships

T.J. Detweiler

T.J. is a sort of older brother figure to Gus. He is usually the first to stand up for Gus against bullies or teachers. He also gives him advice in "Gus and Misdemeanors". Gus, on the other hand, usually follows whatever T.J. says, and is used to taking orders from him. T.J. has said Gus inspires him in "The Break-Up".

Ashley Spinelli

Spinelli and Gus do not interact often but are shown to care for each other in a number of episodes. Spinelli is shown to bully him for being weak and a Scaredy cat like in "A Genius Among Us", she said "How can I get this ball into the hands of someone I can smear" handed the ball to Gus and chased him.

Vince LaSalle

Vince and Gus do not interact as much as they do with other members of the gang. They were shown to do a project together in "Good Ole T.J.".

Gretchen Grundler

While Gus and Gretchen do not interact as often as she does with the other students but at times she is shown to act as somewhat of a "big sister" figure to him such as in Recess: School's Out. The evidence of this is seen in "Lawson and his Crew". It is shown that Gus has a tendency of hiding behind Gretchen when he gets scared. In "Soccer Boy", Gus was referred to as "friend of Smart Girl" and both he and Gretchen were picked to be the "royal scorekeepers".

Mikey Blumberg

Out of the other five kids in the main six Mikey seems the closest to Gus. The two are often seen taking the same side of things (Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade and "The Candidates"). They have offended each other occasionally ("The Break-Up" & "Germ Warfare") but were quick to forgive one another.

Appearance

Gus is slender and short and has a short crop of blond hair that he styles into a marine cut just like his father. He also has fair skin and black-dotted eyes. He wears a tucked in green t-shirt, dark green pants, white socks and brown shoes. He also wears grey square-shaped glasses and a grey wristwatch on his left wrist.

Foreign Voice Actors

  • Arabic: Ziad Anwar Sharif
  • Brazilian Portuguese: Gabriel Noya/Thiago Keplmair
  • Danish: Lukas Forchhammer
  • Dutch: Sander van der Poel
  • Finnish: Aapo Mustonen
  • French: Elliot Weill
  • German: Hannes Maurer
  • Hungarian: Gacsal Ádám
  • Italian: Marinella Montanari
  • Japanese: Shindo Kazuhiro (First half of series)/Yuta Takihara (Second half of series)
  • Polish: Jonasz Tołopiło
  • Portuguese: Guilherme Duarte
  • Swedish: Tin Carlsson
  • Taiwanese: Yang Kaikai

Trivia

  • "The Break In" and "The Great Jungle Gym Standoff" are the only episodes in which Gus does not appear due to the series' timeline of these episodes.
  • A running gag is that Gus always goes to the bathroom at the wrong time.
  • Gus has got detention for every day till sixth Grade because he trapped Finster in a cage during the episode "Gus' Fortune".
  • According to "Big Ol' Mikey", his estimated future height is 6'4".
    • If the prediction really did happen to him in the future, he would have possibly beat Mikey to become the tallest of the gang.
  • Unlike the other main characters, Gus debuts in the second episode.
  • It is likely that his middle name, Patton, was named for an M60 Patton tank his father drove since he is in the military. The tank itself is named after General George S. Patton, the general best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II.
  • His favorite winter vegetable is Pickle Beets.
  • Gus was absent in the pilot episode but was seen in the earliest drawings of the cast. It is implied that he was added to the cast, dropped, and was added back in.
  • In early recordings and comics of the German dub, Gus was named Paul. This was later corrected.
  • Gus has a slightly different character design than the rest of the main six, as he has black dots for eyes rather than white circles with pupils like the others. Library Kid, Becky Benson, and Scribe Kid use similar designs. Perhaps coincidentally, all of them wear glasses.
  • Gus has the third the greatest number of episodes focused on him, with Mikey in second and T.J. in first.
  • In the first recording for "The New Kid", Gus was voiced by Ryan O'Donohue. After it was recorded, Courtland Mead dubbed over his lines for the reruns of the episode; he would go on to voice Gus for the rest of the series.
  • In certain episodes, Gus' last name is spelled "Griswold".
  • Due to his dad being in the military, Gus can identify any plane/military vehicle when he sees it. Also, because of his dad being in the military, Gus and his family have had to move around a lot (it is said before he becomes a student at Third Street School, he attended twelve other schools, including Jesse James Elementary).
  • Gus has a pet snake named Herbert.
  • Gus is the only member of The Recess Gang to not be zapped by Lax.
  • His pee wee pal was Hector.
  • In "Gus and Misdemeanors", it is revealed that Gus has a pet bug named Fredrick, and he taught him how to dance the hula.
  • Gus is tied with Mikey for having the most episode titles with his name out of The Recess Gang, at 5.

Gallery

Photos The Recess Wiki has a collection of images about Gus Griswald



Recess
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Media: Recess (Episode List) | Recess: School's Out | Recess: All Growed Down | Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade | Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street

Characters: T.J. Detweiler | Vince LaSalle | Ashley Spinelli | Mikey Blumberg | Gretchen Grundler | Gus Griswald | Captain Bradley | Cornchip Girl | The Diggers | Hustler Kid | Erwin Lawson | Miss Grotke | Muriel Finster | Becky Detweiler | Dr. Phillium Benedict | Menlo | Brock | Peter Prickly | Kojak | Butch | Ashley Armbruster | Ashley Boulet | Ashley Quinlan | Ashley Tomassian | Wallace Fenwick | Brandon the Singer | Gelman | King Bob | Chucko Kowalski | Jocko | Randall Weems | King Freddy II | Cheay | Spencer | Swinger Girl | Upside-Down Girl | Gordy | Hector | Miss Lemon | Lunchlady Irma | Tubby | Jordan & Jerome | Flo Spinelli | Bob Spinelli | Guru Kid

Songs: Recess Theme Song | "We Shall Not Be Moved" | "Jingle Bells" (Recess Version) | "The Otter Dance" | Bonky Theme Song

3rd Street School Kings
Known Kings King Mortimer (1935-36) - King Franklin (1980's; unknown) - King Al (1991-92) - King Wally (1992-93) - King Chuck (1993-94) - King Sid (1996-97) - King Bob (1997-98) - King Gus (1997-98)(Temporary) - King Freddy II (1998-99)
Implied Kings King Freddy I
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