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Fifi La Fume is a cartoon character from the Warner Bros. animated television series, Tiny Toon Adventures. She is one of the most frequently recurring characters in the show. Fifi was voiced by Kath Soucie in the original series, and by Marieve Herington in Tiny Toons Looniversity.

Biography

Fifi is a young, purple and white female skunk, who wears a pink bowed ribbon in her hair. She attends Acme Looniversity and lives in Acme Acres. Fifi is based on her mentor and favorite teacher, Pepé Le Pew. She might also be slightly based on Miss Mam'selle Hepzibah, another French female skunk from the comic strip, Pogo.

Her fur is purple and white, as opposed to a normal skunk's black and white, and she keeps a ribbon tied to her hair which causes it to fall over one eye, giving her a sultry, coquettish look. She has a massive tail, nearly twice the size of her own body, which is the source of her powerful odor. She uses her tail for a number of things, including a pillow, pom-pom, baseball bat, furry boa, or a snare for some luckless "suitor",

Fifi lives alone in an abandoned pink Cadillac at the Acme junkyard.

Fifi is French in the original series, but in the reboot, she is a French-Canadian from Montreal, Quebec and she wears a black sweater as well as having a smaller tail. Her romantic feelings seem to be more modified and has more self-control over her feelings.

Personality

Inside her Cadillac home, Fifi can often be found lounging on her bed, listening to music, talking on the telephone, reading romance novels, snacking on bon-bons, and waiting for a potential love interest to come her way.

Screenshot 2023-09-23 12.11

Fifi in Tiny Toons Looniversity.

Like Pepé, Fifi is French and very flirtatious. She speaks in a French accent, mainly speaking English with a few French words. She also shares the same faults as her idol; intense skunk-odor and an inability to take "no" for an answer when pursuing the romantic object of her choice. When she falls in love, she loses all self-control and will not allow anything to stop her from literally capturing her prey. The skunkette's fumes can be lethal. She pursues her would-be suitor with reckless abandon. She'll do anything to snare her prey. She buys new clothes and expensive perfumes, but nothing seems to work. She never seems to get the guy. Love brings out the smelly aroma in Fifi.

Fifi's putrid stench has been shown to be powerful enough to melt solid steel and the more she falls in love, the stronger her stench gets. However, unlike Pepé, who reeks all the time, Fifi's musk only comes into play when she is attracted to someone, or when it would advance the plot, thus allowing her to interact with other characters when she is not the central focus of the story. Fifi's character is also taken in a somewhat sympathetic light, for she, alone, longs for a lover, leaving many others to feel sorry for her, such as Calamity Coyote and especially Furrball, since he understands what it is like to long for something. Also, while Pepé seems oblivious of himself smelling bad, Fifi realizes she has a foul odor and often uses it to her advantage during desperate situations. For instance, in the Viewer Mail Day episode segment, Out of Odor, she wields her tail like a machine gun to fire clouds of musk. It is also shown that her smell can be erased by tomato juice, but the effects are only temporary and can be reversed quickly by washing the tomato juice off.

Fifi is somewhat depicted as a bimbo. Being so, she can easily be tricked into anything. For instance, in the Viewer Mail Day episode segment, Out of Odor, she fell for Elmyra's trap, who was pretending to be Pepé. Simultaneously, Fifi is also referred to as being something of a feminist and believes that there's nothing a boy could do that she couldn't do herself. However, her remarks toward boys are usually very affectionate and amusing. For instance, in the Furrball Follies episode segment, Aroma Amore, Fifi affectionately remarks, "Leettle boys are such children!," and in the Dating, Acme Acres Style episode segment, Love Stinks, "Intelligent boys are such a tease!"

Fifi is also far more versatile than her "Looney Tunes" counterpart, appearing in stories that do not entirely revolve around her lust for companionship. Apart from being a lover, her misadventures include the prom, looking for mature boys, having to deal with Elmyra, attempting to get an autograph from a famous movie star skunk hunk and doing an impression of Jacques Cousteau on a trip for sea monkeys.

In the reboot, her romantic personality has been modified and she is French-Canadian (which is ironic because her actress is also Canadian).

Relationships

Friends

Like the other characters in the series, Fifi attends Acme Looniversity to be properly educated in the techniques of being a successful cartoon character. Fifi's best friends in the series are fellow classmates, Babs Bunny and Shirley the Loon. The majority of Fifi's appearances are as a part of this group and they engage in numerous adventures. Together, they are the cheerleaders for the Acme Looniversity Football Team, and at one point, the unofficial back-up players. Another time, in search of more mature men, the three go to a high-class dance, but only to find that all of the boys there are stuck-up. However, most of their time together is spent just hanging out and doing girl stuff.

Family

Like Buster Bunny, Fifi's family is occasionally spoken of, but never seen. After capturing Furrball (whom she had mistaken for a cute boy-skunk), she had planned to introduce him to her family. Despite having a family, she lives alone in a beat-up, red Cadillac in the Acme Acres Junkyard.

Love Interests

Furrball and Calamity Coyote

Fifi mistakes Furrball for a boy skunk in the Furrball Follies episode segment, Aroma Amore and makes the same mistake with Calamity Coyote in the Dating, Acme Acres Style episode segment, Love Stinks. The results are predictable enough, with Fifi amorously pursuing the terrified boys across Acme Acres with reckless abandon (not unlike Pepé when pursuing Penelope Pussycat), determined to make them her boyfriends. After being repeatedly captured, cuddled, and kissed by the bigger and stronger skunkette, both luckless boys manage to escape a smelly fate in the same fashion by removing their own white stripes and finding someone else (someone they did not like, in their cases, the two alley cats who were chasing Furrball or Little Beeper, who was teasing Calamity) for Fifi to chase (Furrball also did it because he felt bad for Fifi and thought having a new prospective boyfriend to chase would cheer her up).

Johnny Pew

In the direct-to-video film, Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation, Fifi finds brief joy with a genuine skunk; this one being a movie-star named Johnny Pew. After waiting on him hand-and-foot in exchange for an autograph, Fifi discovers him to be an arrogant jerk when he gives her autograph away to a voluptuous female skunk named Bimbette. Fifi promptly and literally kicks him to the curb while at a movie theater, as Johnny is captured by Elmyra and is forced to be her pet "kitty" (a fate that Fifi herself knows all too well!).

Dizzy Devil

In New Class Day episode segment, Sound-Off, some of the Tiny Toons characters are thrown into a silent film. Dizzy Devil chases Buster and Babs into a hollow tree (or thinks he does), but when he reaches in he pulls out a swooning Fifi by her tail. Fifi sighs, "What a man!," and promptly chases Dizzy down the street. Dizzy attempts to escape the love-struck Fifi on a bicycle, but after a considerable amount of pedaling, discovers it to be a stationary piece of exercise equipment that she had set-up to trap him.

Hamton J. Pig

In Prom-ise Her Anything, Hamton asks Fifi to be his date to the Prom, and Fifi enthusiastically accepts in a heartbeat. She is later seen hugging him like a teddy bear in The Acme Bowl. A successful exercise in "opposites attract." Hamton is more than willing to ignore her stench for her attention, which he often succeeds in doing. Fifi may also perhaps not give off her musk around Hamton, as no clouds of stench appear visible whenever she embraces him. Hamton is also the only one of her love interests able to endure Fifi's strong embrace (possibly because he's perhaps the only one of her boyfriends who's never tried to struggle out of it), as he wouldn't seem to find it scarier than torture, and seems to, at best, even slightly enjoy it (albeit because of the attention he gets in return).

In the New Class Day episode segment, Just-Us League of SuperToons, Hamton (as Decoy; parody of Robin from the Batman series) makes a pass at Fifi (as Scentanna, parody of Zatanna from the DC universe), but she rejects Decoy by blasting him with a shot from her tail, causing him to crumble to the floor.

Pepe Le Pew

It is revealed in the Viewer Mail Day episode segment, Out of Odor, that Fifi has a crush on her mentor, Pepé Le Pew. In the same cartoon, Elmyra had disguised herself as Pepé to lure Fifi to her. Fifi fell for the ruse and rushed quickly to her, oblivious to Elmyra's trap. While painfully squeezing Elmyra to near-bursting (something Elmyra's usually known for), Fifi stated, "Ever since I met you, I have had a, how you say, crush on you".

Rivals

Elmyra Duff

Like most characters on the show, Fifi's encounters with Elmyra usually involve the latter trying to make the former a pet. Fifi is one of Elmyra's "pets" in "Hare Today Gone Tomorrow"; after Elmyra catches Buster, he leads Fifi and Elmyra's other captives on a daring escape. When Buster is recaptured, Fifi and the others work with Babs to rescue him and teach Elmyra a lesson.

Fifi and all her friends were once pursued by Elmyra Duff in the episode "The Horror of Slumber Party Mountain". Elmyra had disguised herself as a gruesome monster and was picking-off the Tiny Toons cast one-by-one to make them her pets. They all eventually freed themselves by the end of the episode.

Elmyra attempts (successfully) to make Fifi her pet in the "Viewer Mail Day" segment "Out of Odor", when Elmyra mistakes her for a cat (she assumed "skunk" meant "stinky kitty"). She disguises herself as Pepé Le Pew and goes to Fifi's Cadillac. Fifi falls for the ruse and Elmyra squishes tomatoes all over her, which nullifies her scent. Fifi regains her odor after washing off all of the tomato juice, but Elmyra's nose becomes clogged due to a rose allergy, allowing her to capture Fifi. Some fans believe that Out of Odor was meant to take place before the events of "Hare Today Gone Tomorrow", despite the fact that "Hare Today Gone Tomorrow" predates "Out of Odor" in both airing and production order.

Bimbette

Fifi briefly encountered a voluptuous pink skunk named Bimbette for the affections of Johnny Pew in How I Spent My Vacation. In the end, Fifi loses Johnny's attention to Bimbette. However, Fifi discovers it to be no total loss, as Johnny is arrogant and insensitive.

End Tag

Fifi's end tag is her waving her tail at the screen while saying "Au revoir, mon petite potato du couch!" and then fluttering her eyelashes.

Quotes

  • "Do not fear my dear, Fifi La Fume is here!"
  • "Coffee? Tea? Or moi?"
  • "Ooh La La! Hold me!"
  • "Will you be my... boyfriend?"
  • "Thank heavens for little boys no?"

Appearances

Season 1

Season 2

  • Episode 66: Pledge Week -- Prologue before the episode segment: It's All Relatives (Cameo), Prologue before the episode segment: Lifeguard Lunacy (Cameo), Episode segment: Lifeguard Lunacy (Cameo), Prologue before the episode segment: The Kite (Cameo)
  • Episode 67: Going Places -- Episode segment: That's Art Folks! (Cameo: Face not shown)
  • Episode 68: Elephant Issues -- Episode segment: Why Dizzy Can't Read (Minor role), Episode segment: C.L.I.D.E. and Prejudice (Minor role), Episode segment: One Beer (Cameo)
  • Episode 69: Hog Wild Hamton -- (Minor role)
  • Episode 71: Toon Physics -- Episode segment: The Year Book Star (Cameo)
  • Episode 73: Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian -- (Cameo)
  • Episode 75: Love Disconnection -- Prologue before the episode segment: My Dinner with Elmyra (Cameo: A still image is shown), Episode segment: My Dinner with Elmyra (Cameo), Episode segment: The Amazing Three (Main role)
  • Episode 76: Kon Ducki -- Episode segment: The Making of Kon Ducki (Supporting role)

Season 3

  • Episode 80: New Class Day -- Episode segment: Just-Us League of Supertoons (Supporting role), Prologue before the episode segment: Sound Off (Cameo: Face not shown), Episode segment: Sound Off (Minor role)
  • Episode 90: Toon TV -- Music video segment: It's in His Kiss (Minor role), Music video segment: The Name Game (Supporting role)
  • Episode 92: Music Day -- Prologue before the episode segment: Ruffled Ruffee (Cameo), Episode segment: The Horn Blows at Lunchtime (Cameo)
  • Episode 93: The Horror of Slumber Party Mountain -- (Main role)
  • Episode 94: Sports Shorts -- Prologue before the episode segment: The Undersea World of Fifi (Voice only), Episode segment: The Undersea World of Fifi (Main role)
  • Episode 95: Weekday Afternoon Live -- (Cameo: A full-screen still image is shown)
  • Episode 97: Best of Buster Day -- Episode segment: Compromising Principals (Cameo)
  • Episode 98: It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special -- (Supporting role)

Tiny Toons Looniversity

Film

Specials

Music

  • 1992 Japanese import audio CD of Tiny Toons Sing! -- Song: Tiny Toons Rap (Vocals only), Song: Where the Boys Are (Vocals only)

Video Games

  • Babs' Big Break for Game Boy: She appears in the haunted forest level, where she has been captured by the forest ghost. By activating the two switches hidden in the level, you will open the cage and rescue her. In return, she will use her smell on the trees that are blocking the forest path to knock them down.
  • Acme All-Stars for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive: She is one of twelve playable characters in multiplayer mode. In the game, she can use her smell to distract the other players.
  • Scary Dreams/Buster's Bad Dream for Game Boy Advance: She is one of Buster's seven sidekicks. She can use her smell to stun the enemies.
  • Defenders of the Universe for PlayStation 2: She is a boss, being summoned by Shirley the Loon to stop Buster, Babs, Plucky and Hamton from entering the Pyramid, and an unlockable character. Her special move is spraying a circle of odor clouds around her that dizzy enemies on contact.
  • Fifi's other appearances in the Tiny Toon Adventures video games are mostly cameo appearances.

Appearances outside of Tiny Toon Adventures

  • Animaniacs -- Episode 43: Survey Ladies (Minor role)

Trivia

  • In the "New Class Day" episode segment "Just-Us League of Supertoons", Fifi is a member of the mighty superhero team, the Just-Us League of Supertoons. She is the team's sultry sorceress, Scentanna, the Mystical Maiden of Musk. An obvious parody of the DC Comics all-star superhero team, the Justice League of America, Fifi's character of Scentanna is an homage to the JLA's classic magic-wielding sorceress, Zatanna. The episode was written by Paul Dini with help from Bruce Timm, the two driving forces behind the DC animated universe.
  • Fifi's seldom-used ending tagline is, "Au revoir mon petite potato du couch!" ("Goodbye, my little couch potato!"), as she flirtatiously waves her tail at the audience. This ending tagline is only used three times, for the episodes, "Viewer Mail Day", "No Toon Is an Island" and "Music Day".
  • Almost every episode of Tiny Toon Adventures (and its followers) also contain fake text gags within the credits. The text gag for the episode "Love Disconnection" reads, "Don't Tell Anyone - Fifi Is Secretly Engaged To Paul Dini." Paul Dini was one of the show's head writers and the rumor of Fifi being engaged to him was obviously a joke.
  • Fifi makes a brief cameo in the Animaniacs episode "Survey Ladies". In the episode, she is running a perfume shop and tries to help Yakko, Wakko and Dot find the right cologne for Dr. Scratchansniff. The end credits for that episode mistakenly spell her surname as "LaFlume." It should also be noted that in this short, Fifi is depicted in her normal age whereas Plucky Duck (who also cameos in the episode) is depicted as a baby.
  • Early production artwork illustrated by Dan Hackett shows Fifi as a standard black and white skunk, as opposed to the purple and white version seen in the final product. Her design also featured a few other variations in build and design.
  • In Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster's Bad Dream/Scary Dreams, Fifi's special move is different depending on the version. In Buster's Bad Dream, she rapidly damages and stuns all enemies on screen with her smell, while in Scary Dreams, she makes herself and Buster temporarily invincible. She is noticeably the only character to have a different special move depending on the version.
  • According to a model sheet, before Fifi's surname "La Fume" was decided, it was originally going to be "Le Few", something similar to "Pepe Le Pew"

Gallery

Main Article: Fifi La Fume/Gallery


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