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| Shirley "the Loon" McLoon is a cartoon character from the Warner Bros. animated television series, Tiny Toon Adventures. She is one of the most frequently recurring characters on the show. Shirley is voiced by Gail Matthius. |
Biography
Shirley is a young, white loon, who wears a pink shirt and a pink bowed ribbon in her blonde hair. She speaks in a Valley Girl accent. She attends Acme Looniversity and lives in Acme Acres. Shirley is one of the few characters of the show not directly inspired by an existing Looney Tunes character, but she bears more than a passing resemblance to Melissa Duck.
Her name is derived from fellow New Age aficionado, Shirley MacLaine, while the latter part of the name is an obvious pun. More often than not, other toons refer to Shirley as "Shirley the Loon" rather than "Shirley McLoon."
Personality
Shirley is a young clairvoyant loon with extraordinary psychic powers. Her intelligence is somewhat obscured by a thick Valley girl accent and obsession with superficial New Age paraphernalia. Many characters regard Shirley as a flake, but she takes their skepticism philosophically; "I know I'm at one with the spiritual plane. Besides, in your next lives, you're all coming back as avocados, so there." Always in a state of unflappable cosmic oneness, Shirley is the spaciest toon in Acme Acres.
She is our New Age space cadet and mystic. Her head is in the clouds and her mind is in a galaxy far, far away. She's into E.S.P., telekinesis, astrology, crystals, tarot cards, tea leaves, palm reading, levitation and reincarnation. Shirley has hundreds of past lives. You name it, Shirley has been it. The aura can float out of her body, punch somebody, then return, all while Shirley is serenely meditating. The aura sometimes lags behind, causing Shirley to lean back into a room and whistle for it.
In the Music Day episode segment, Loon Lake, Shirley is a keen ballerina who has to face prejudice when attending an upmarket ballet school otherwise attended exclusively by Perfecto Prep swans, including Giselle. Jealous at her superior dance skills, they mock her accent and try to sabotage her performance at their recital, but are soon thwarted by Shirley's nimble moves and a behind-the-scenes Babs, staging a sabotage of her own.
When not meditating (sometimes levitating while chanting, "Ohm what a loon I am... Ohm what a loon I am...") or fortune-telling, Shirley hangs out with her Acme Looniversity classmates and best friends, Babs Bunny and Fifi La Fume.
Aura and Powers
Shirley is adept at mind reading, channeling and projecting her aura (a glowing likeness of herself with a mind of its own). She can levitate herself during meditation, commune with her aura (which is sometimes a separate entity from her) and also fire force-blasts from her hands when agitated. In the Love Disconnection episode segment, The Amazing Three, where Babs Bunny, Fifi La Fume, and Shirley attend a prom at Perfecto Prep (a rival university), red punch gets spilled on Shirley and she begins a rampage very similar to that of Carrie (although much more G-rated), from the Stephen King novel of the same name. The scene even goes as far as when Fifi asks what is Shirley doing, Babs dryly remarks, "Remember the movie, Carrie?"
In the Test Stress episode segment, Never Too Late To Loon, she demonstrates that she apparently also has the power to change a person's intellect, personality and appearance. When Plucky begs her to give him Einstein's intellect to help him pass a math test, which she adamantly refuses many times, she eventually gives him Einstein's intellect after his constant pestering, but in the end this doesn't help him as she (perhaps deliberately) forgot to mention that when he was a kid, Einstein failed math too. Presumably the effect is only temporary, as Plucky is back to normal in his next appearance.
Shirley is usually sitting in a lotus position, chanting, "OHMMM," while floating several feet above the ground. When the rest of the gang tries in vain to scale a wall, Shirley simply floats over it. Known to answer questions before they're asked, Shirley is not your average toon. Buster thinks Shirley is a hoot. Babs can relate to her; they're both "out there." Fifi believes in Shirley's prophesies, especially when they relate to romance. Monty doesn't believe in Shirley at all.
Trivia
- In the New Class Day episode segment, Just-Us League of Supertoons, Shirley is a member of the mighty superhero team, the Just-Us League of Supertoons. She plays Hawk Loon, a parody of Hawkgirl.
- Shirley's first design (see pic on right) was much different than her final design, but because Steven Spielberg rejected it, Tom Ruegger and crew had to come with a different design which resulted in Shirley being more similar in appearance to Plucky.
An early design of Shirley
Romance
Shirley is sometimes pursued romantically by both Plucky Duck and Fowlmouth. There's indication that she is more in favor of Plucky, likely due to Fowlmouth's crude behavior and that she and Plucky are better acquainted as well as Plucky being close friends with Babs (one of her best friends). Shirley has gone out with Plucky several times and occasionally they are depicted as a couple, whereas in the direct-to-video film, How I Spent My Vacation, she is reluctant to go with Fowlmouth to the movies and only gave in because of his insistence. There are times, however, Plucky shows interest in Shirley, but is rejected by her, mainly due to his ego. Ironically enough, Plucky and Fowlmouth do not appear together in her particular episodes.
Quotes
- "Ohm what a loon I am... "
- "Om...Or some junk."
Appearances in Video Games
One way or another, Shirley appears in most of the Tiny Toon Adventures video games.
- She appears in Tiny Toon Adventures for the NES, where she lets the player choose between having Plucky, Dizzy, or Furrball as Buster's sidekick.
- She is the player's second helper in the Monty's Mansion level in Babs' Big Break for the Game Boy. She is captured by The Wolverine, who threatens to eat her. After you defeat him and rescue her, she will fly to Monty's mansion and break down the door.
- She sells the players tickets for points in Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Trouble in Wackyland for the NES.
- She appears in two bonus rounds in Buster Busts Loose for the SNES. She is the toon with moderate weight that the opponent gets in the Weight Guess game, and she is also one of the characters in Plucky's Bingo Shoot.
- She is one of 12 playable characters in Acme All-Stars for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in multiplayer mode.
- She is one of Buster's seven sidekicks in Scary Dreams/Buster's Bad Dream for the Game Boy Advance. She can make Buster temporarily invincible.
- Shirley's appearances in other Tiny Toon Adventures video games are mostly cameo appearances.