Basil (profiled as criminal 01144890CL) is the main antagonist of the Courage the Cowardly Dog episode "Family Business".
Personality[]
Basil is a demented burglar who suffers from a strange variety of dementia that causes him to mistake people for his own relatives, such as calling Courage "Nigel", Muriel "Mama Mashedpotatoes" and Eustace "Uncle Twinkletoes". (Though Basil did say Courage's name correctly during the scene where he and the Bagges are pickaxing the heads off Mt. Rushmore) When functioning under this belief, he is somewhat childish and assumptive, and demands family tradition be regularly performed. Otherwise, he is a fairly brutal and aggressive thief who forcibly captives to imprison their own kin and aid in his robberies. Seemingly, if his delusions are true, he hails from a crime family, whom he is very close to. It is possible that he suffers from split-personality disorder that makes him switch between a caring family member to a criminal. His crimes originated from this strange belief from the "plans" he sees on filleted flounder bones. Basil appears to be Australian or a lower-class Brit (given that closed captions revealed that he had a Cockney accent). Basil's actions are from prior experience and skill, as he severed telephone lines in the Bagge residence to stave off the forthcoming police alerts if discovered. Plus, Basil uses a dead green fish as a weapon to club his victims into submission, as opposed to most crooks who use a billy club, baseball bat or other blunt objects to intimidate, weaken and scare victims and civilians, and also uses rope to tie his victims, or scare one victim into tying up others. Besides flounder, Basil loves crumpets, and gets very annoyed when there's no crumpets in the fridge. His usual preferred crimes are burglary and larceny.
Biography[]
Basil lived with his Mama Mashedpotatoes and Uncle Twinkletoes, along with his cousin Nigel. His source of entertainment came from his uncle's funny dances, and he always looked forward to his mother's special dinner, a dish of flounder. His cousin was one of his most trusted friends who used to tell him bedtime stories, and used to tell Basil that he should be a massage therapist for eels. In spite of that that, Basil became a thief by following the heists that he read on the bones of his Mama's fish. He started to commit heinous acts that separated him from his family, and caught the attention of the park rangers.
During one such incident, the robbing of an old farmhouse, he confusedly mistook the residents for his family members. At an unusual dinner, "Mama Mashedpotatoes" forgot her specialty, and "Uncle Twinkletoes" refused to do his dance. This, mixed with "Nigel's" awkward behavior and the group's quarreling nature, inspired Basil to initiate a family job of stealing the heads off of Mt. Rushmore.
At the scene of the crime, the park rangers eventually caught up with him, so he fled into Lincoln's nose. It is fortunate that "Nigel" arrived to save him, and the family escaped from the authorities. At this point, his "Mama" declared the end of their criminal behavior. Basil was shocked, but it seemed as though all were in agreement. After years, he heeded his cousin's occupational advise, and got an Eel Massage Therapist license.