Tommy Pickles

"A baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do!"

- Tommy's catchphrase

"Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo..."

- Tommy's humming Thomas Malcolm "Tommy" Pickles is the main protagonist as well as the center character of Nickelodeon's animated TV series Rugrats (and all films except Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, in which he is a supporting character) and its spin-off All Grown Up!. He is clad only in a T-shirt and a diaper and he is bald with big blank eyes and has a soft voice. He translates everything adult into baby gibberish, like most babies. Arlene Klasky said that she based the character of Tommy on her own son. Tommy does not wear shoes most of the time.

Description
Tommy Pickles, leader of our intrepid band of Rugrats, is intelligent, courageous, compassionate and articulate. He also happens to be only one year old, which gives him an endlessly interesting perspective on life. Stu and Didi Pickles do their best to coddle their oldest child. But as Tommy says, "A baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do." Under the not so very watchful eyes of the grown-ups, he leads his Rugrat friends on expeditions to unravel the great mysteries of life -- like "Where does the light go when the refrigerator door is closed?" To Tommy Pickles, the world doesn't always make sense, but it makes an incredible amusement park. - Rugrats Description from Klasky Csupo.

Tommy Pickles has changed quite a bit since he was a baby. For one thing, he now has a full head of hair! Some things, however, are still the same: Tommy and Chuckie are still best friends, and Tommy is the guy all his friends turn to when they need advice or guidance. Tommy has done very well in school, getting good grades in almost every class. Still, the pressure of studying and keeping up with his pals can cause him to do strange things, like steal garden gnomes while sleepwalking around the neighborhood! Tommy has also developed a budding talent for making films, and is no doubt on his way to becoming a famous director! Just like he was as a baby, Tommy is brave, loyal, and is eager to join in on any adventure. - All Grown Up! Description from Klasky Csupo.

Summary
Tommy’s father is Christian and his mother is Jewish, and the former born head leader of the babies. He is like twins with Angelica, and is always ready for adventure with courage to spare. Sometimes he leads the babies into trouble (usually as a result of one of Angelica's lies), but he always manages to lead them back out again. He is a loyal friend and always ready for action. Tommy is the best friend of Chuckie Finster, who is the exact opposite of him (except for the fact they are both friendly). He has a younger brother, Dil, who often gets in the way, but Tommy still loves him and is very protective of him. He is the main character in the series and appears in almost every single episode. He also appears to be the smartest of the babies.

Looks
In the first series, Tommy is only a 1-year old baby toddler, but his catchphrase to Chuckie Finster makes him call himself a toddler when he tells Chuckie not to be such a baby. He has a large, bald head with a few hairs on it, and large, round eyes, with a thin neck, round ears, and a bit of a belly on him and talks in a soft voice. Tommy's outfit consists of a powder blue shirt that shows his belly-button, and a white, baggy diaper with yellow straps on it. He usually walks around barefoot and seems to be a bit pigeon-toed, as both of his feet face inwards.

In All Grown Up!, Tommy is now about 11 years old. He is of average height, with straight white teeth, and spiky, light purplelishly blue colored hair (since Season 2). Though, his outfit changes often now, his usual attire is a striped shirt, brown pants, red and white hi-top sneakers, along with a greenish-brown backpack. In this series, he is in fact much wiser and doesn't go on much adventures. Most of the time, he is either not focusing on the same problem with the group, and instead dealing with his own problems, but sometimes he's with the group and helping with their problems. All the time, he'll be with Chuckie and Dil.

Personality
Tommy is best known for his bravery and adventure-seeking attitude. He is very playful and will do anything to have an adventure. Tommy is also very loving and protective towards his friends, especially his younger brother, Dil Pickles. He is very caring and kind-hearted, and will never let his friends down. Tommy is extremely brave and is very rarely seen afraid of anything, only on a few small occasions. Tommy is also shown to be daring, as proved in the episode Ransom of Cynthia, where he would rather take matters in his own hands instead of surrendering to the enemy.

He is also shown to be a natural leader and is looked up to by the other babies, coming up with the most ideas to get his friends and himself out of trouble. However, Tommy does have his faults, he can be a little short-tempered at times, sometimes act stubborn, a little smug if he lets his older cousin Angelica influence him, and can be rather naive at times because he is a baby. Overall, Tommy is brave, adventurous, selfless, and caring.

Once Tommy lost his bravery, however he was able to come back from it and help his friends and lead them once more.

Appearances
Tommy appears in all but 4 episodes of Rugrats. He also appears in all the episodes of All Grown Up!, as he is the main character of each series. His first appearance was in the unaired Tommy Pickles and the Great White Thing. His last appearance was in Golden Boy from All Grown Up!.

In Rugrats
Tommy was born prematurely and was placed in a incubator.Tommy, the unanimous leader of the Rugrats, is intelligent, courageous, curious, compassionate and articulate. He also happens to be a year old, which gives him an endlessly interesting perspective on life. Stu and Didi Pickles do their best to coddle their oldest child, but, as Tommy frequently says, "A baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do." Under the not-so-watchful eyes of the grown-ups, he leads his Rugrat friends on expeditions to unravel the great mysteries of life -- like "Where does the light go when the refrigerator door is closed?" To Tommy Pickles, the world doesn't always make sense, but it makes an incredible amusement park. He was never shown with teeth until All Grown Up.

He loves to explore and can be very creative especially when he plans games for his friends. It is revealed during the series' run that Tommy's brave personality developed due to his being a premature baby: he was very scared in the hospital until his mom came and held his hand. As leader of the Rugrats, he often gets them into trouble; despite this, he's always ready for an adventure. Tommy's hero is Reptar, a movie monster designed as a parody of Godzilla, who he has complete and utter faith in. His "bestest friend" is Chuckie.

Tommy's distinct features in Rugrats are a bald head with a few strands of hair and stubble, a sky blue shirt, a diaper, bow-legs, a soft voice, and pigeon-toed bare feet. He was the youngest character (although not much younger than Phil and Lil) until his younger brother Dil was born; despite that, he had a reputation for being the "braveliest" baby and would take the others along on adventures to wherever his imagination took him. These adventures of his usually involved stopping some sort of evil plot. He also stood up to his evil-minded cousin Angelica. He appeared in most episodes of any character. He does not appear in "Cuffed", "Pickles vs. Pickles", and "The Unfair Pair".

We learn throughout the series, especially in "Rugrats Go Wild" that Tommy wants to be an explorer when he's "growed-up". However in "All Grown Up", he found a new dream; to direct films.

Tommy's Diaper
In Rugrats, Tommy tends to look in his diaper for things that help him and his friends out of tough situations. Usually upon reciting his catch-phrase "A baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do," his diaper straps will come undone and his diaper will slip down, this can lead to his embarrassment as he is seen pulling it back up while holding it and blushing.

Even in the movies his diaper falls down frequently and shows his backside. In the first movie, as he defends Dil from Phil and Lil, his little brother grabs his diaper strap and yanks it, which causes his diaper to fall completely, showing Tommy's backside to the camera and frontside to his friends who look on in awe. As he looks down and sees his diaper has fallen, he quickly pulls it up very embarrassed.

However, it's not only embarrassment that his diaper brings to the table. He's often seen using it to house odds and ends. It can be just as helpful for him and his friends as it can provide comic humiliation. His most trusted tool is his screwdriver, which he calls his "Studriver" and is kept in his diaper. This is his go to tool for helping him and his pals get out of cribs, gates, and various other scenarios. Tommy is often seen checking his diaper like a pocket looking to see if his needs are met by something deep inside.

In All Grown Up!
In the spinoff series All Grown Up!, Tommy has purple hair like his father. Also, similar to Susie's talent for singing, Tommy also has a newfound talent: making films with his camcorder. A few episodes have been made around this fact: "Truth or Consequences" (first US tx: November 30, 2003), which also revealed he made his first film at the age of 37 months, had him making a negative film about his friends; the main storyline of "Brother, Can You Spare The Time?" (first US tx: January 17, 2004) opened with him mentioning recently winning a young filmmaker's award; and one storyline in "Bad Aptitude" (first US tx: June 4, 2004) was about Tommy's sudden early retirement from filmmaking after making a flop and receiving an unfavorable (for his filmmaking aspirations) result on his career aptitude exam. However, he has not been seen with his camcorder since "The Big Score" (first US tx: April 25, 2005), when he was filming Lil at the soccer field.

As he's grown up, he's not as perfect as he used to be on Rugrats. In "Thief Encounter" (first US tx: December 6, 2003), he was discovered to be stealing goods from around the neighborhood, but that was because he was sleep walking; in "River Rats" (first US tx: December 13, 2003), he was shown to be afraid of water, stemming from an experience during a fishing outing with his grandpa; in "Dude, Where's My Horse?" (first US tx: July 16, 2005), he was the worst cowboy out of the regulars.

Up until early Season 2, Tommy was also either shown or mentioned as being part of the school soccer team, even trying to teach Dil how to play ("Fools Rush In", first US tx: June 5, 2004). Lately (more specifically since "The Big Score"), however, all the focus on soccer has involved only Phil and Lil DeVille. It is also implied that he may have feelings for his friend Kimi Finster.

Didi Pickles
Didi is Tommy's mother. She has a overall good relationship with her son. Earlier in the series, we saw multiple affectionate moments. They have a wonderful bond, and when "danger" lurks, he's always worried about his mother (and father). Like in "They Came From the Backyard", when she was wearing soundproof headphones or "alien ears". Like Tommy, she's also a bit short-tempered and volatile. For instance, whenever she gets her sons, who saved the mall from idiotic robbers in "Rat Traps", Dil told her about the R-rated movie they snuck into. She filled with rage, and dragged her sons home. Also, in "R.V having fun yet?" When the gang went cross-country to New York, the kids were bored because the lack of video games, and movies. At the Grand Canyon, Didi was telling Tommy about the wonders of the beauty which is the Grand Canyon, more specifically a rock tower. Tommy said "You're going to make me stand here, and watch it, aren't ya?" She explains they just want to get close with the preteens. Tommy lashes out, and tells her he's sick of getting close, being told what to do, and sick of having a mom. Ironically, later in the episode, when they sneak out for a water apparition that appears by mist shooting from geysers, in the middle of the desert. They come back to find the RV, and their moms gone. When they go through multiple challenges. They walk down a deserted road, and stop from exhaustion, and dehydration. They slowly start getting depressed, and Tommy says they made it this far, and didn't they want to prove they are responsible. The others start telling their moms always have something to eat, or drink, or to provide for their needs. Tommy says it couldn't get much worse, but it starts raining. He falls to the ground, and yells "I... want... my... Mommy!", and collapses in a pool of his own tears. The others do the same. Their moms pull up, and they are so excited, and grateful. Didi says how proud she is of him, and look how far he came. He said, "Yeah, no big D!" He shows signs of crying, and hugs his mother.

Stu Pickles
Stu is Tommy's father. He loves Stu, and inherited his inventor gene as seen in The Science Pair.

Lou Pickles
Grandpa Lou is Tommy and Dil's grandpa, and is someone who Tommy loves very much. Many of Tommy's adventures come from the stories that Grandpa told to Tommy and the other babies. When Grandpa moved out of the Pickles' home in Acorn Nuts & Diapey Butts, Tommy was upset because he thought Reptar was the cause of Grandpa's sudden urge to leave and tried to get rid of everything Reptar hoping he would come home. However, after Lou and Lulu got married, Lou stayed in the retierment home with Lulu but still comes to visit Tommy and Dil. In All Grown Up! Lou is much older and when taking a class field trip in the episode The Old and the Restless, Tommy snaps at him because Lou was embarrasing him, was tired of hearing the war stories, and wanted him to move faster. In the end though, after Tommy, Sean, and Justin got stuck in the broken heart of the exhibit, it was Lou who came to Tommy and his friends rescue and Tommy said he was glad that Lou had told him all the stories.

Dil Pickles
Dil is Tommy's younger brother who he loves to play with and teach how things work to. They had a bit of a bad start after he was born, but after getting lost in the forest Tommy and Dil get along much better.

Angelica Pickles
Angelica is Tommy's mean three year old cousin who causes Tommy and the other babies to get into trouble with her lies. Tommy however looks up to Angelica sometimes and helps her whenever she's needs it. Tommy has also been known to care for her and sometimes she cares back.

Chuckie Finster
Chuckie is Tommy's best friend, they met when Tommy was only eight days old. Chuckie is the reason Tommy took his first steps and they've been friends ever since. The two friends however have had their small arguments but made up in the end as they become friends again. In All Grown Up they ended their friendship for a brief amount of the episode TP+KF because Chuckie thought Tommy had a crush on Kimi. In the end they became friends again.

Kimi Finster
Tommy and Kimi met in Rugrats in Paris: The Movie when Kira brought her along. Kimi is, what Chuckie describes as, "another Tommy" in which Kimi's adventurous personality has her planning adventures and wanting to go on adventures just like Tommy. In the All Grown Up! episode TP+KF Kimi revealed that she had a crush on Tommy after they all found Tommy and Kimi's initials carved in the wall. Tommy and Kimi claimed that they weren't into each other but at the end it was hinted that they both have a crush on each other.

Phil DeVille
Phil, just like Lil is one of Tommy's friends who are always ready to go on an adventure with Tommy

Lil DeVille
Lil, just like Phil, is one of Tommy's friends who are always ready to go on an adventure with Tommy.

Trivia

 * Tommy is based on Arlene Klasky's son.
 * In the pilot episode, Tommy was voiced by Tami Holbrook. In the series, he is voiced by E.G. Daily.
 * Tommy's birthday is presumably August 11, considering the fact that the episode focusing on his birthday was officially created August 11, 1990 and then the episode was aired August 11, 1991. However, this could be wrong as a Fourth of July episode took place as the second episode after his first birthday.
 * Tommy appears to have blue eyes, as seen in a close-up of him during the pilot episode, although this may not be true.
 * Tommy was probably born premature, as he is seen in an incubator in the episode Mother's Day.
 * Tommy, up until Dil was born, was the smallest and youngest main character of Rugrats at the age of 1, being a couple months younger than Phil and Lil who are also 1.
 * Tommy may be ambidextrous. He has showed in numerous occasions that he can use either hands to do tasks (i.e. bowling, eating, and using glue with his left hand when he is right handed). The cause of this may be because two prominent figures in Tommy's life, his brother Dil and his best friend Chuckie, are left-handed. Therefore, by using his left hand while doing certain tasks in their presence, Tommy has made tasks such as eating easier for them.
 * Tommy has always carried a screwdriver with him in one form or another. Most recently, he had a keychain with a screwdriver on it.
 * Tommy celebrates both Jewish and Christian holidays (Hanukkah and Christmas for example), which is due to his Father being Christian and his Mother being Jewish.
 * Tommy gained the nickname "Flyin' Pickles" after he beat Chuckie in a race.
 * Tommy was born premature, as he is seen in an incubator in the episode Mother's Day.
 * Tommy has gained a bit of weight somewhere between Season 1 and Season 2. Francine even pokes fun at Tommy in "Fools Rush In" about this, referring to him as "Porky Pickles".
 * Tommy's role model is Martin Costermeris, a famous film director. In "Truth or Consequences", Tommy even had his photo taken with Costermeris. In the episode, Tommy imagines Costermeris talking to him through his wall poster.
 * Tommy got his first camera in the Rugrats episode "Babies in Toyland" (Part 2), the camera given to him specially by Angelica.
 * While "All Grown Up" was being created there was an argument over whether or not to give Tommy hair.
 * According to a flashforward shown in the Rugrats episode "Back to School", Tommy would apparently stop liking the Dummi Bears at age 6.
 * Originally, Tommy's shirt would be red or orange in Season 1. This can be shown in the pilot when he is wearing orange aprons while sleeping, and in the test pilot when he was wearing an orange T-shirt.
 * In Season 1, he was underweight like the rest of the boys, but gained weight along with them (except for Dil, who apparently is actually the right weight). This has only happened in All Grown Up!
 * Tommy is seen to be an avid fan of "Indiana Jones" which he pronounced "Okie-Dokie Jones".
 * In Rugrats, Tommy is skinnier since he looked at 10 (he should be that age in 5th grade), but this is baby skinny.
 * Tommy is revealed to be a really early walker (5-6 months, when 10 months is the average baby) in A Step At A Time.
 * Tommy has been shown wearing just a diaper in a few episodes including Naked Tommy, Mother's Day, A Step at a Time, and the short Dil's Bathtime.
 * Tommy has been seen as a 6 year old in the episode Back To School (in Didi's imagination), and 2 year old in All Grown Up!.
 * Tommy is sometimes a singer like Angelica and Susie are.
 * In All Grown Up!, Tommy has different colored hair in season 2. It is a dark purplishly type in season 1 and in season 2, it is light purplishly blue.
 * In the Invader Zim episode "Plague of Babies", Tommy was going to be the leader of the aliens who disguised themselves as human infants, and he would have been voiced by his official voice actress, E.G. Daily. Due to copyright issues, Nickelodeon wouldn't allow it and this plan was scrapped; despite this, the character that replaced him, Shnooky, still resembles Tommy.
 * Through out the entire series Tommy is seen wearing an orange shirt 3 times in the episodes Tommy Pickles and the Great White Thing, Tommy's First Birthday, and Real or Robots?, and a red shirt three times in the episodes Tommy's First Birthday, Reptar's Revenge , Real or Robots?. His shirt is blue all the other episodes of Rugrats
 * It is revealed in a nick magazine that Phil and Lil's birthday is March 31st and are 15 months, when Tommy is 1, making them 3 months older than Tommy. Which means that Tommy is as possibly born in June, other info that could prove this is that it is said that Tommy was born 2 months premature. This could mean his actual birth was suppose to be August 11 but was born June 11 (2 months earlier) which would make him 3 months younger than Phil and Lil. Plus the fact that a fourth of July episode appeared after the episode Tommy's First Birthday it would make more sense logically.
 * At the beginning of the All Grown Up opening theme, when the "4...3...2..1.." is said, it's in Tommy's voice.
 * Tommy is one of the only four characters that appear in the series finale episodes of both Rugrats and All Grown Up!, the other three being Dil, Stu, and Didi.
 * Tommy spoke the last line in the Rugrats television continuity. The line being "Gotcha!" in the All Grown Up! episode, Golden Boy.
 * Tommy overall wore shoes twelve times throughout the entire series in episodes: Waiter, There's a Baby in My Soup , Stu-Maker's Elves , Beauty Contest , Reptar's Revenge , Let Them Eat Cake, The Blizzard , Heat Wave, Miss Manners , Steve , Babies in Toyland , Snow White, and Three Jacks and a Beanstalk of Rugrats and Rugrats: Tales From The Crib but Heat Wave was the only episode Tommy wore shoes with his normal attire.
 * He carries one of Stu's screwdrivers, which he calls a Studriver.
 * In All Grown Up! Tommy bears something of a resemblance to The Simpsons character Waylon Smithers.
 * When Tommy lost his bravery, it seems it was the fear of losing his friends that brought back his bravery.
 * It is hinted that Tommy has a crush on Kimi as seen in the episode "TP+KF".
 * Tommy's shirt as a 6 year old (Didi's imagination) in the episode Back to School he is wearing a similar shirt as to the one his younger brother Dil wears in All Growed Up.
 * Tommy saw a flying saucer in the episode "Brothers Grimm".
 * Throughout "All Grown Up!", Tommy has a huge interest in film directing. However, as seen in "The Science Pair", Tommy has the capabilities and knowledge of inventing, just like his father Stu and his brother, Dil.
 * Angelica would sometimes call Tommy "Melonhead" in the early seasons of Rugrats.
 * She would also call him by his last name Pickles like she does to Chuckie, Kimi, Dil, Phil, Lil and Susie by calling them by their last names.
 * Martin Costomiris is Tommy's favorite film director.
 * As revealed in "Wouldn't it be Nice?", Tommy blinks when he lies.
 * As shown in "Bad Blood", Tommy gets a rash when he is stressed.
 * We can assume that Tommy knows how to roller-blade seeing how in the "All Grown Up!" intro shows Tommy holding his camera while rollerblading.
 * It is shown in River Rats that Tommy is scared of being underwater due to an incident when he was little. Whilst at a waterfront with Lou, a toddler Tommy fell in the water and had to be rescued by Lou. He fights this fear when Phil falls into a river, and Tommy has to save him.
 * Tommy is the only main character in the whole series to get his first kiss which happen in "Fear of Falling" by a girl named Olivia.