mayln@lopers.unk.edu
“Fairly Oddparents” follows 10-year-old Timmy Turner and his adventures with his fairy godparents, Cosmo and Wanda. Throughout the series, many residents of Dimmsdale and Fairy World are introduced, but none have the supreme character arc of the April Fool.
The April Fool’s journey from a villain to a lovable comic was explored through his appearances in the series. He began appearing in the series alongside the Easter Bunny, scheming to kidnap Santa Claus to end the perpetual Christmas turmoil that Turner had wished for.
He then is asked by Turner to help him not be pranked on April Fools’ Day. The April Fool plays several cruel pranks on Turner’s friends and relatives; the pranking escalates to attempting to deliver the ultimate punchline by destroying Earth. Turner stops this by exposing the April Fool’s weakness: interrupting his punchlines.
Through this defeat, the April Fool is able to realize the severity of his actions and their malicious nature and turned over a new leaf. He mends his relationship with Turner and gifts him a pair of comedy disguise glasses that become pivotal to Turner’s success in saving the world.
The April Fool changes drastically from an attempted kidnapper to a giving individual who becomes important to saving the world he once tried to destroy. Due to this drastic character change, the April Fool is a drastically underrated character within the “Fairly OddParents” series.
