- Pumpkin is the protagonist and one of the many main characters of Pineapple Soda.
- Anthony Gray Douglas /ˈænθəni/, Douglas /ˈdʌɡləs/, or Pumpkin, is the main character of Pineapple Soda. He is an ordinary teen boy who attends Avestan High. Pumpkin's primary pass times involve lurking comic book shops and skateboarding in the 1990's themed setting of this series. The series name is derived from his favourite beverage, a pineapple flavoured soda.
Appearance[]
Official photo realism depiction.
- Pumpkin is a short, awkward teen who looks notably younger than his peers. He has rosacea spreading across his nose and cheeks which gives him the appearance of constantly blushing. This is likely aggravated by the coldness of the Canadian winters he’s usually portrayed in. His jaw and nose are said to be very narrow as a result of the rare but benign form cyclocephaly(proceed with caution), a condition that he was born with. This disorder is also responsible for the malformation of his two front incisors which have fused into a singular, wide front tooth. He has short tufty blond hair in a Beatles type mop top with slight feathering around the edges; a style that he shares with his father. His most striking feature is the prominent use of liquid eyeliner and accompanying shadow which he uses to conceal a partial epicanthic fold, a feature he is has claimed to be most sensitive about. He has silver eyes that are sometimes portrayed as tinted lilac or blue in official artworks.
- Pumpkin also has numerous scars along running the length of both arms and that appear to be a result of his dependence to self-harm. These are often concealed by red and black gym socks he has cut into the shape of arm warmers. His outfit usually consists of baggy clothing such as hoodies and sweaters paired with denim jeans of varying shade and colour. The most distinctive feature of his clothing is perhaps the cat-bell choker he wears as an accessory with most of his outfits. This is a reference to his character type and personality being derived from that of a cat.
Background[]
Illustration of Pumpkin's home.
- Pumpkin belongs to an upper-middle class family and appears to be very well-off financially. Both of his parents can remain away on business or vacation for weeks or even months at a time, often leaving Pumpkin at home, alone and unsupervised in their two-storey Cape Cod. He obtained the nickname "Pumpkin Pie" from his mother and the trend of assigning food–related nicknames to all the children at his high school has since spread. Pumpkin's closest friend moved from Cardston four years prior to the beginning of the story (E. 1992), triggering Pumpkin's recent stint with depression. This stint was prolonged by a case of severe bullying at school. This has put a tremendous strain on his and Lime's friendship. Pumpkin's outlook on life has become very bleak and he now keeps a journal–which he calls his blood diary–detailing his thoughts and plots of suicide. Each entry is marked with blood collected through self-harm. When visiting again in 1995, Lime became aware of the full extent of Pumpkin's depression and decidedly moved back into his childhood home with the intent of mending their broken friendship, an offer to which Pumpkin remains wary.[1][2][3]
Pumpkin hospitalized (ca.1984)
- Pumpkin’s earliest memory is one of questionable legitimacy in which he is convinced his parents attempted to poison him with arsenic. During this time, he was just three years old. The vivid memory includes shadowy figures of his parents arguing over his hospital bed, and of ghoulish shadowy creatures attempting to pull his soul into the afterlife. In Snowcone, he refers to the entire event as “the first time [he] died.” During this Saga, a flashback is shown of Pumpkin as a toddler apparently having undergone a blood transfusion with his chest still dotted with heart monitors. Pumpkin has since distrusted his parents and their perfect picture of a happy suburban family. Pumpkin is currently the sole caretaker of their family dog; a small poodle named Midge.[1]
Personality[]
- Pumpkin is highly pessimistic and has a very bleak outlook on life and the sense of meaninglessness he derives from it. Pumpkin has been quoted as saying he hates "everything and everyone, including [himself].” Pumpkin also dislikes spending time with people who are outgoing and ‘bubbly,’ finding their presence to be rather draining. A loner by nature, he prefers to surround himself in a veil of quiet and solitude. At most, Pumpkin appears to tolerate the presence of some more than others.[3]
Relationships[]
- Lime is Pumpkin's childhood friend, best friend, classmate and nearest neighbor.[3][2][1]
- Raven is Pumpkin's high school bully, classmate and self-proclaimed arch nemesis.[3][2][1]
- Hawk is Pumpkin's high school bully, classmate and self-proclaimed nemesis.[3][2][1]
- Turk is Pumpkin's high school bully and classmate.[3][2][1]
- PB is one of Pumpkin's closest friends and self-proclaimed caretaker.[2][1]
- Sugar is Pumpkin's crush, though they have never formally spoken.[2][1]
Development[]
In the current updated style.
As seen in early "toon" art style.
- The author has stated that Pumpkin as a character originally had a different name (other than Anthony, and was also not originally called ‘Pumpkin’). As well, he was not intended to be part of a series at all. His original name was lost during a hard drive failure, and he was renamed Anthony where he officially joined the cast of Pineapple Soda in 2009 alongside two others, Lime and Marshmallow - the latter of the two is no longer a character in the series. Pumpkin's design has seen major changes throughout the course of the series; originally starting off much more anime-styled and minimalist and eventually evolving into the more detailed comic book style the characters can be seen in today. It is expected that Pumpkin will revert to a similar minimalist style again for the animated series for the ease of production, but that the detailed style will persist throughout the duration of the comic.
- Pumpkin's character has been referred to as a humanized cat, with his best friend Lime being based around the appearance and stereotypes of a dog. Their relationship, how they interact, and how Pumpkin behaves as a character seem to reflect this. Pumpkin is also usually depicted as wearing a cat collar whereas Lime can be seen in a dog collar, furthering the comparison between the two and their respective animals.[1]
Trivia[]
- Pumpkin's favorite colour is turquoise which also happens to be the colour chosen for his dialogue in any official art where the speech bubbles are coloured. He shares the speech colour with Pyrite, and PB though Pumpkin's shade of turquoise is a middle ground between the two with PB’s shade being lighter and Pyrite’s being darker.[1]
- Pumpkin's hair is illustrated as being the same color of pumpkin flowers.
- Pumpkin identifies as non-practicing Christian, bearing faith and celebrating holidays but not attending church or religious ceremony.[1][3]
- Pumpkin and Patch's names fit together to form “pumpkin patch.” This name-pairing ability is shared with only one other known set of characters: Dodo, who share the name dodo bird but are referred to “dó” and “dó,” respectively.
- One of the songs on the OST “Goodnight Cardston” is titled "Arsenic blue" and appears to be about Pumpkin's backstory in which his fingers turned blue after being poisoned with arsenic as a toddler.
- Pumpkin is one of the few characters who could be reached through both the ask the characters tumblr and the ask-the-characters discord channel. He can still be reached at the latter by typing @ + his character icon or by mentioning his name in the ask-the-characters channel.
Notes[]
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