“ | Victory is as good as ours. Soon that park will be reduced to rubble! | „ |
~ Gene as he nears victory in the prank war. |
Gene is the main antagonist of the Cartoon Network series Regular Show. He is the manager of East Pines Park and the former rival of Benson Dunwoody. They later become friends later in the show.
He was voiced by Kurtwood Smith, who also played Clarence Boddicker in RoboCop, Thomas Perry in Dead Poets Society, Bill Patterson in The X-Files, Walt Disney in Robot Chicken and General Nathan in Rick & Morty.
Biography[]
Gene is a vending machine first seen in the episode "Prankless". He is the park manager of East Pines and tries to destroy Benson's park through a prank war after Muscle Man decides to retire from pranking. In this episode he is responsible for vandalism and destruction. Why or how this history of prank wars is started is never explained.
In his next appearance, "The Christmas Special," Gene is shown to have a soft side. He pits his family before his thoughts of accusing Benson and his crew of trespassing onto his park and ends up aiding them in their attempt to save Christmas. This episode is proof that Gene is not a villain by heart, he just has an intense rivalry with Benson and his park for unknown reasons.
In "Thomas Fights Back," Gene is responsible for theft as he partakes in his annual stealing of the statue in Benson's park.
In "Park Managers' Lunch," we see the beginning shift of Gene as an enemy/rival into more of a frenemy. It is likely that he saw Benson and his crew's potential in the previous appearance "Thomas Fights Back," when he and his crew were able to effectively steal the statue back. In this episode, in order to initiate Benson into the Park Managers' Lodge, it appears that he is attempting murder or assault towards Benson as the other member use axes to cut the ropes on his wrists. In actuality, it was just the process of which Benson is initiated into the lodge. No harm would be done to Benson nor was it Gene or anybody's intent to hurt him.
In "The Parkie Awards," Gene is responsible for vandalism and destruction as he proceeds to signal a limousine into the building, resulting in it crashing through the walls of City Theater upon entering and leaving, leaving the theater with two massive holes in the walls.
In "Chili Cook-Off," Gene is accused of cheating by Benson, but in reality he did not cheat. However, throughout the episode, a lot of secrets are revealed about Gene. He has his pockets in many commercial chains that are present throughout Regular Show. He is also secretly behind the Dome Experiment and has close ties with Mr. Maellard. These details were never explained.
Appearance[]
Gene is a green vending machine with a green fedora. He is occasionally shown with hair, but sometimes is shown without, highly implying his brown hair is wig. His face is placed on a large rectangular screen, likely where the vending machine sign would be displayed. He has a glass window on his chest showcasing snacks such as chips stored inside of him. Under the glass is the snack dispenser (or the "output compartment"). To the right, from the top down, is the bill accepter, the keypad, and the coin insert. Like Benson, he has an overcast brow and a triangular nose. He is a blocky, rectangular shape, so he is shown to struggle when on the floor a couple of times. But he, but the laws of animation, is also quite flexible and bendy as a vending machine.
Trivia[]
- In The Christmas Special, Gene is shown to have a wife and child.
- He was the main antagonist of the mobile game The Great Prank War, which was heavily based on his debut episode, "Prankless".
- His status after the Regular Show finale is unknown.
- In "Chili Cook-off", it is revealed that Gene has had his green fedora since he was a lot younger.