Reptar (character)

Reptar is a fictional dinosaur character (a green dinosaur --a Tyrannosaurus Rex) within the American TV series, Rugrats. Tommy and the other babies look up to him. He has appeared in the television series, films and video games within the Rugrats franchise. Reptar is a green dinosaur (and sometimes appears in red-violet and lilac) with rounded, blue spike-like appendages on his back, and breath fire, which intentionally causes him to resemble and spoof Godzilla. He serves as the titular main protagonist of franchise of the same name.

Reptar was conceived by Rugrats story editors and producers and was featured in Louis Greenstein and Larry Loebell's episode, "At the Movies."

Depiction
Occasionally, Reptar is seen as a hero who helps save the world, and on other occasions he is seen as a villain, reflecting the different ways dinosaurs have been portrayed. However, since the little babies all love him and look up to him, he is more often than not shown as heroic. Reptar first appeared as a Rugrats character on the packaging of a cereal box. He gained popularity as he became a more important part of the storyline (though never became a main or recurring character). In the world of the Rugrats, Reptar has massive marketing presence; he appears in movies, ice skating shows, food packaging, TV shows, action figures, amusement parks, and various other forms of merchandising.

In "Reptar 2010", it was revealed that Reptar was once Tyrannosaurus rex.

The Rugrats would often meet Reptar, or someone dressed like him, in their adventures. Most often, it would be at some sort of public event featuring a man with a colorful personality in a Reptar suit, with his face visible through the opening for the mouth. Sometimes, the costumed character is a not-so decent person and would show this in their actions. At the "Reptar on Ice!" stage show, the man playing Reptar (wearing a more realistic Reptar costume and mask than other actors usually did) had a strong fear of lizards and annoyed by the little babies. In "Reptar's Revenge", at a carnival, the actor, named Leo, displayed a shameless addiction to Reptar Cereal to the point where he tried to jump into a pond to retrieve them. That same episode, when Leo was fired for his actions, he expressed rage and went on a berserker rampage not unlike the actual Reptar. Though at other times, the actors would do something dramatic and be regarded by the little babies (and sometimes adults) as a hero, such as when a Reptar actor stopped Stu's out of control robotic dragon at a medieval fair. Even more notably, when a seemingly unscrupulous Reptar actor saw that Tommy and Chuckie were accidentally flung through the air, he immediately jumped in and saved the two babies. Moments afterwards, he held and smiled at Tommy for a brief second before he put him in his stroller and patted his head.

Reptar also appears in the All Grown Up! episode "Curse of Reptar", when the Pickles family builds a pool. While digging, one of the workers finds a Reptar toy hidden in the ground by Spike. At that point, Reptar seems to have lost popularity as Dil has no memories of Reptar, and the rest of the kids only remember him from their early childhoods. Despite his drop from stardom, the gang still has fond memories of him. Despite originally calling it an old toy, Tommy, the first member of the gang to become a fan, was clearly still a big fan of his, as he secretly fished the toy out of the hole and hid him under his bed for safekeeping.

Reptar continues to appear in the 2021 Rugrats series in which he remains a favorite of Tommy and the other babies. Tommy regularly carries around a plush toy of Reptar and sometimes watches movies featuring Reptar. Chuckie's bedroom is decorated with memorabilia of Reptar and he also sometimes rides around in a Reptar-themed stroller. Additionally, he wears Reptar slippers at night.

The Rugrats films
Reptar appeared in the first Rugrats movie as a high-tech wagon built by Tommy's father Stu Pickles. Stu had built it for a Japanese contest, however, the little babies ended up taking it for a joyride when they tried to return Dil to the hospital.

He had a more important role as a giant robot in Rugrats in Paris, when he was again built by Stu. His head fell off twice in the film, although Stu fixed it the first time for the play. The Rugrats also took him to the church to stop the wedding.

Trivia

 * Even though in his first appearance he had orange eyes with black pupils, he had white eye sclerae in "Candy Bar Creep Show" on the candy bar wrappers, "Weaning Tommy" on Dr. Homer's Reptar mask, and "Incident in Aisle Seven" on the Reptar Cereal commercial.
 * Reptar is a parody of Godzilla (even his color scheme is based on Godzilla's Hanna-Barbera appearance) and in one episode is seen in a movie fighting a robot doppleganger of himself (a parody of Mechagodzilla) and a giant pterodactyl named Dactar (a parody of Rodan).
 * In 2002, Klasky Csupo was sued by Toho because of this character spoofing Godzilla. Afterwards, Reptar was referenced less until the series ended.
 * His name is a pun on "Raptor". A sub-name for the group of dinosaurs called dromaeosauridae. This includes Dromaeosaurus, Deinonychus, Utahraptor, and the famous Velociraptor.
 * He had his own rap song, created by The Splat, called "They Call Me Reptar".
 * The Reptar wagon that Stu built has the ability to spout the phrase "I am Reptar, hear me roar!", a parody of the phrase: "I am woman, hear me roar!"
 * In Rugrats in Paris, Reptar (as a giant robot) and Robosnail fought throughout Paris serves a parody of the Megazord from Power Rangers.
 * In "Visiting Aunt Miriam", Reptar uses Godzilla's iconic roar while fighting a giant ape on TV, a scene which references the 1962 film King Kong vs. Godzilla.
 * Reptar has a picture cameo in The Loud House Movie; at the beginning, Mr. Grouse can be seen reading a newspaper with the headline "Reptar XII crushes box office records", with a picture of Reptar included.

Gallery
You can find the Reptar gallery here.