Ling-Ling
Encyclopedia : L : LI : LIN : Ling-Ling
| Drawn Together character | |
| |
| Ling-Ling | |
|---|---|
| Gender: | Male |
| Race: | Asian |
| Hair: | Orange |
| Age: | 2 |
| Job: | Battle monster |
| Sexuality: | Straight |
| Religion: | Scientologist |
| Voiced by: | Abbey McBride |
Background
Ling-Ling is a spoof of Pikachu and speaks in an incomprehensible parody of Japanese with subtitles, along with broken "Engrish", although his subtitles often contain Engrish as well. (See "Race and culture" below.) According to Ling-Ling's driver's license, he is two years old (though fully an adult), and stands one foot, six inches tall (or 45.72 centimeters). Like Pokémon, he is a creature who battles regularly, utilizing an array of supernatural powers (examples being his ability to glow in the dark, shoot lasers from his eyes, fly, and create balls of energy capable of stunning or immobilizing his opponents). He is also able to use his tail as a sword, as seen in the episode "Foxxy vs. the Board of Education". His tail is the shape of an exclamation point in its natural state (a parody of Pikachu's lightning bolt-shaped tail), but it is capable of assuming other shapes (such as a question mark, profanity symbols, or the Japanese yen symbol) depending on Ling-Ling's emotion; in one episode, Ling-Ling even uses his tail to give Wooldoor the middle finger.
A now seemingly forgotten parallel to Pokémon was Ling-Ling's initial androgyny; the first few episodes referred to Ling-Ling as an "it" instead of being gender-specific. Initial speculation was that Ling-Ling might be female since the voice actor playing the character is female, and it would make the male/female ratio among the houseguests an even 4/4. In the first episode, Captain Hero said he would "stick and stir any one of these broads", pointing toward Clara and Toot as Ling-Ling lay asleep next to them. It is unclear if the statement was also intended to include Ling-Ling as well. However, in the first season finale, Ling-Ling was placed on the guys' team during the parody of The Apprentice, and in Season Two, Ling-Ling's gender has been definitively established as male; in "Super Nanny", he is shocked and disappointed to discover that he has a small penis instead of a large one. The character is now always referred to as "he" rather than "it".
His father refers to their house as the "Ling family"; it is unknown, however, if Ling-Ling is the character's full name or just his personal name. If the latter, his full name would be Ling Ling-Ling, following the custom in most Asian countries of putting the surname first.
Ling-Ling secretes a hallucinogen through the skin when disappointed, though he may not be able to do this anymore after Xandir, Toot, and Wooldoor licked him dry in "The Other Cousin". The ability seems to be hereditary since his father does it as well.
Personality
Ling-Ling is often portrayed as a sociopath who wants to kill and destroy everyone he encounters. He expresses a desire to kill Clara in the first episode, actually kills Toot, and fantasizes about killing Spanky two episodes later. Ironically, Ling-Ling is killed off himself in a number of episodes (see also List of housemate deaths on Drawn Together).
Unlike most Pokémon, Ling-Ling is prone to violent outbursts and random attacks. He is in denial about having murdered his best friend (a parody of Pokemon's Ash Ketchum), whom Ling-Ling killed in an unexplained attack, perhaps a parody of the first episode where Pikachu doesn't like Ash. The series suggests, however, that the image of Ling-Ling as a vicious killer is mainly in his head. None of the housemates fear Ling-Ling to any noticeable degree. He is frequently neglected and/or mistreated by the housemates, but although he displays annoyance at being treated in this fashion, he never puts up much of a fight about it. (To date, his killing of Toot in the first episode is the only time he has exhibited violence toward one of the other housemates.)
He resents being thought of as a household pet, although he has been shown using a litter box and being transported in a pet carrier (which is shaped like a box of take-out Chinese food). His bed is a pet basket, and on several occasions, he is shown sleeping curled up like a cat, once even in Clara's lap. In "Captain Girl", Toot's baby believes he is a stuffed animal; when Ling-Ling goes into battle mode in order to attack her, Xandir disciplines him by hitting him with a rolled-up newspaper, one of the many times characters seem to treat him more like a pet than an equal. When Wooldoor first meets Ling-Ling in "Hot Tub", he assumes Ling-Ling is a dog, and has been placed in the house to be the family's pet. In "The Other Cousin", Xandir, not quite knowing what to call him (despite them both being parodies of characters created by Nintendo), refers to him as a "fortune cookie cat thing".
It is revealed in "The Other Cousin" that Ling-Ling prays to L. Ron Hubbard, suggesting that Ling-Ling is a member of the Church of Scientology.
Sexuality
Ling-Ling likes to go clubbing every night to battle female Pokémon-like monsters. While the encounters resemble his regular battles on the surface, their purpose is actually to provide sexual gratification rather than the death or injury of one of the two parties. Ling-Ling is shown to be something of a player, at least until an episode where he had to submit to an arranged battle with a beautiful purple cat-like monster named Ni-Pul. They fell in love, but the relationship became stale until they "dropped the metaphor" and had sex. Ni-Pul and Ling-Ling were both murdered at the end of the episode in a shooting rampage. She has not been mentioned since this occurred, though she makes a cameo appearance in "The Drawn Together Clip Show" as a member of the audience. It is not known whether she and Ling-Ling are still involved with one another. There are possible hints that Ling-Ling is a necrophiliac; in "Hot Tub", when challenging Clara to a fight, he wanted to have sex with Clara's skull before turning it into a birdhouse. In "Requiem for a Reality Show", after being accidentally eaten by Toot, he had sex in her stomach with a roast chicken before Toot regurgitated them both. In "The One Wherein There Is a Big Twist, Part II", Ling-Ling demonstrates a fetish for used schoolgirl underwear; this is a reference to the Japanese burusera trend.
Race and culture
Ling-Ling is Asian, but it is never stated explicitly what his particular ethnicity is. Many online sources state he is Japanese, but this is not official. Japanese is most commonly indicated, but there are hints of Chinese ancestry as well, such as constant references to fortune cookies, Chinese food, and dry cleaning (although these references are based more on Chinese stereotypes than actual Chinese culture). It should also be noted that "Ling Ling" was the name of one of the pandas given to the United States by China in 1972. While it is possible that Ling-Ling is of mixed ancestry, in all likelihood, the character's nationality is kept deliberately ambiguous to allow for a wider reach of Asian references to draw from. In Season Two, Ling-Ling takes on even more Asian stereotypes, such as being unable to drive well, always acing standardized tests, and always switching the letters "L" and "R". In fact, to Ling-Ling, the other housemates look like anime characters until Wooldoor rounds out his eyes with tape. Another consequence of this procedure was that Ling-Ling could speak perfect English, at least until he took the tape off and reverted back to his old self.
The show is somewhat vague as to how well the other characters can comprehend Ling-Ling's speech. Though they seem able to understand him some of the time, they frequently misinterpret him, and often imagine he is saying whatever they want to hear. The only character who unquestionably can understand him is Spanky Ham, but Spanky doesn't bother translating for the housemates. Ling-Ling, on the other hand, seems have no trouble understanding the others' English.
In an interview for Comedy Central's Motherload, Abbey McBride dubbed Ling-Ling's language as "Japorean," which is she admits is nonsense gibberish that is only supposed to sound like Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or other languages from Eastern Asia.
Original artwork
In original artwork before the show's release, Ling-Ling was originally green and much smaller, almost like Jerry the mouse from Tom and Jerry.Prototype comparison
Pikachu from Pokémon (l); Ling-Ling from Drawn Together (r)
| Drawn Together |
|---|
| Characters |
| Captain Hero > Foxxy Love | Ling-Ling | Princess Clara | Spanky Ham | Toot Braunstein | Wooldoor Sockbat | Xandir | Recurring and guest characters |
| Other |
| List of Drawn Together episodes > List of housemate deaths on Drawn Together | Running gags on Drawn Together |
| Cast and creators |
| Dave Jeser > Matt Silverstein | Adam Carolla | Jess Harnell | Abbey McBride | Jack Plotnick | Tara Strong | Cree Summer | James Arnold Taylor |
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