“ | BAD GUY PUNCH! | ” |
— Gretel |
Gretel Grant-Gomez is one of the titular protagonists of Hamster & Gretel. She is the owner of Hamster, the little sister of Kevin, and the daughter of Dave and Carolina. She and her pet Hamster have been bestowed superpowers by aliens and have been instructed to use them for good. Only a small amount of people, notably Kevin and their cousin Fred, know about their superhero identities, as this revelation is kept secret for everyone else, including her own parents and her best friend Bailey (until My Invisible Friend).
Having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder[6] and being 9 years old,[4] Gretel is the more impulsive one of the superhero duo, having little patience for several things. Kevin often aids the two, trying to teach Gretel how to be a responsible superhero.
Physical appearance[]
Gretel has light skin, large blue eyes, and blonde hair with bangs. Her normal attire consists of a teal shirt with a collar, an orange skirt held together by a yellow belt, white socks, blue shoes with light blue Velcro straps, and an orange headband to hold her hair back.
Her superhero clothes are all in various shades of purple. She has a dress that looks like a tank top with a large, white "G" on the front, and a skirt held together by a belt, and a cape and eye mask about the same shade as the skirt. In her superhero form, her headband is blue instead of orange.
Occasionally, Gretel wears a dark blue carrier for Hamster alongside her casual outfit. It has a lot in common with a baby carrier, leaving holes for Hamster's limbs to fit through.
Click here to view a full list of outfits and designs for Gretel Grant-Gomez throughout the series.
Personality[]
Gretel is pretty energetic, excitable and confident. However, her tendencies to act heads-on frequently gets herself into big troubles and mishaps. Her impulsiveness and carefree nature are often responsible for the collateral damages she makes, and are the very reason why Kevin is needed to guide her. While she is happy when her powers are back, she is still in doubts due to the revelation of the alien's scheme which is giving bad guys powers to do evil, but with her's and Hamster are tasked doing good, which confused her, especially remarking "None of this makes sense." However, she shows sympathy when was always late with her father, as she regrets, and what worst is that Gretel can be terribly sorry for Kevin being openly rejected for powers from the aliens, in Too Many Crooks Gretel acknowledges that she cannot save the day alone, as she realized she needs help for using a plan as explained within the news.
Powers and abilities[]
Superpowers[]
Aliens have given Gretel and her pet Hamster "powers unimaginable", which includes a variety of superpowers, including the following:
- Flight - Both Hamster and Gretel are able to fly in the air and remain airborne in place.
- Super speed - Hamster and Gretel are also able to fly super fast, or at least "faster than a scooter", as the intro theme song states. While not as fast as speedy villains like Crimson Haste, they are able to somewhat keep up with her during a chase.
- Super-strength - Gretel is able to throw hard punches and bend steel. The intro theme also states that she and Hamster are "stronger than metal." "Superhero Sibling Rivalry" also reveals that Hamster and Gretel are able to lift 157 tons (in weight) between them, but not 200 tons. Despite her immense strength, Gretel is not the strongest entity out there, and villains such as Arthouse and Itsy Bitsy have bound Gretel with materials that are 2% stronger than her to prevent her from escaping (this includes durable film and special spider silk).
- Instant costume change - Hamster and Gretel are both able to change from their current outfit to their superhero outfit and vice versa.
- Word materialization - When calling out an attack, the name of said attack will appear in colorful letters, which she and other characters can apparently interact with before they dematerialize. This usually happens when she calls out her signature "___ PUNCH" phrasal template, but also extends to other phrases, including but not limited to other attack names (like "Super Slap"), mathematical equations, or phrases like "My Best Friend Bailey's Birthday."
- Heat vision - Gretel can use her eyes to shoot beams of heat, first shown in "Recipe for Disaster." Using a condenser coil from a refrigerator, she can convert the heat from her heat vision into chilling cold, as shown in "Dr. Eelgood."
- Indestructibility - Gretel gained a much sturdier body structure that allows her to take hits from strong or heavy objects without getting wounds. This is exemplified in "Sleepover with the Enemy", in which Gretel gets crushed between a moving truck and a tunnel wall, and the only thing on her person that took damage was a ketchup packet.
These superpowers are cancelled out by a mysterious, blue glowing rock of currently unknown properties, as revealed in "U.F. UH-OH! Part II." Whenever Gretel is close or nearby this odd rock, she cannot use her superpowers and is reverted to her regular self until she's far away enough; Gretel does keep her superhero costume, however. This glowing rock is also exploited by Professor Exclamation in "Exclamation Strikes Back"; using a machine of his, he's able to drain Hamster and Gretel's superpowers and store it in the rock, being able to use it as a power source. This also drains the color in Gretel's superhero uniform.
Weaknesses[]
Even with superpowers, Gretel is still vulnerable to a variety of circumstances.
- Uncontrolled workout routine - She is not immune to sore muscles and fatigue when working out together with Hamster too recklessly, despite her indestructibility.
- Japanese sea urchins - She is also vulnerable to giant Japanese sea urchins as she tried to punch them, only to hurt her hand to their spikes. Heat vision doesn't work on them either, due to their spike dissipating the heat.
- Mysterious power-sapping rock - As detailed above, Gretel's powers are disabled when she is in close proximity to a weird, blue-glowing rock found in the U.F.O. of "U.F. UH-OH!", which Professor Exclamation uses to his advantage in "Exclamation Strikes Back".
History[]
TBA
Relationships[]
Family[]
Kevin Grant-Gomez[]
Gretel gets along very well with her older brother, and the feeling seems to be mutual. But sometimes, her brother cares too much and he needs to let her follow her own path, and that things are different now ("Empower Failure"). While all those things are true, Gretel loves her big brother very much and would do anything for her. Even when she's on her own, she would still help ("Math Punch"). She has also learned to "roll with the punches", much to Kevin's disliking, although Kevin learned to lay off. After everything, the two love each other very much as brother and sister. Gretel knows that her brother's crush on Hiromi, and teases it with Bailey, until Exclamation Strikes Back, she is deeply sorry and terrible as she feel that its her fault that their date was broken, and more sad that the aliens openly rejects Kevin for superpowers, showing her sorrow as she was always save by him when she needed.
Hamster[]
TBA
Gallery[]
Click here to view the image gallery for Gretel Grant-Gomez. |
List of appearances[]
Season 1[]
- "Empower Failure" (First appearance)
- "Oakey Dokey"
- "Recipe for Disaster"
- "Math Punch"
- "Superhero Sibling Rivalry"
- "Close Shave"
- "Cheer Cheer Bang Bang"
- "La Ballad of La Cebolla"
- "Comic Shop CopyCat"
- "Neigh, It Ain't So!"
- "Saturday Homecoming Fever"
- "Dr. Eelgood"
- "The Opposite of Smart"
- "Birthday Besties"
- "I'm Bored"
- "Cutie and the Beast"
- "The Nightmarionette"
- "Abuelita's World"
- "U.F. UH-OH!"
- "Grounded"
- "Sleepover with the Enemy"
- "Friday Night Fright"
- "The Earworm"
- "A Mammoth Problem"
- "The Bantam of the Elementary School Light Opera"
- "Hamnesia"
- "Romancing the Scone"
- "For Whom the Belle Trolls"
- "An Arthouse Divided"
- "The Litigator vs. The Luchador"
- "Strawberry Fest Forever"
- "The Bottle Episode"
- "Micromanager"
- "When Life Gives You Lemons"
- "Self-HEELP!"
- "My Invisible Friend"
- "The Bitter Sitter"
- "Let's Sea What You've Got"
- "Churro's Day Out"
- "Crimson Haste Makes Waste"
- "The Break-Stuff Club"
- "Over the Hill"
- "The Ice Queen Cometh"
- "La Sombrerona"
- "Two Girls, A Guy and the Council of Düm"
- "Nano a Nano"
- "The Unnatural History of Dr. MedusaSaurus Ph.D."
- "No Sprain, No Gain"
- "Finding Professor Ex"
- "Bayou Barb"
- "The Great Pillow War"
- "Shush Hour"
- "I Was a Teenage Mad Scientist"
- "Too Many Crooks"
- "President Fred"
- "Flake It Till You Make It"
- "Game Changer"
- "Exclamation Strikes Back"
Season 2[]
- "Hakuna Ma Kevin"
- "The Great American Telenovela"
- "Lair Necessities"
- "Tobor or Not Tobor"
- "Evil Upheaval"
- "Ay, Ay, A.I."
- "Stress Brawl"
- "I Love Luchie"
- "The More The Meteor"
- "My Hammie Vice"
- "Last Fred Standing"
- "From Dust Till Dawn"
- "I Think, Therefore I Slam"
- "Thanks, But No Pranks"
- "The Silence of the Tchotchkes"
- "A Car is Born"
Shorts and spinoffs[]
- Theme Song Takeover
- Kevin's Theme Song Takeover
- Kiff Parodies Disney Channel Theme Songs (Cosplayed by Kiff)
- Chibi Tiny Tales
- "Ice Cream Mayhem"
- "Museum Mayhem"
- "Rollercoaster Romance"
- "Laundry Day"
- "Happy Birthday, Disney Channel!"
- "Binocular Blues"
- "Life with Linda"
- Chibiverse
- "The Great Chibi Mix-Up!" (Nonspeaking cameo)
- "Chibi Villians Unite" (Nonspeaking cameo)
- Broken Karaoke
- "Born to be Strange" (Not voiced)
- "Evil As Can Be" (Pictured)
- Random Rings
- "Dr. Doofenshmirtz Calls Hamster & Gretel"
Trivia[]
- Gretel is the first character to be voiced by Meli Povenmire, daughter of Dan Povenmire, the creator of Hamster & Gretel. She was cast after being brought in to do scratch work. When the show was picked up, every actor was recast except for Meli.[6]
- Dan Povenmire revealed in an interview that Gretel has ADHD, making her the first Disney Television Animation protagonist to be confirmed to have ADHD,[6] as opposed to others being implied or ambiguous such as Randy Cunningham, Sprig Plantar, Luz Noceda, and Cricket Green from Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, Amphibia, The Owl House, and Big City Greens, respectively.
- Gretel is similar to Phineas Flynn from Phineas and Ferb in some ways: Both are constantly upbeat, chipper, and optimistic; both are styled more uniquely than the rest of the cast (Phineas has a big head shaped like a triangle; Gretel has a rounder head, broader mouth, and bigger eyes that are oval-shaped with visible pupils); both do most of the talking out of the main duo; and both don't have their eyebrows show as much (although Gretel's eyebrows are covered by her bangs).
- However, their differences seems to overlap: Gretel is more perceptive to the emotions of her brother, Kevin, while Phineas is oblivious to Candace's urge to bust him despite his efforts to cheer her up; and Gretel tends to make situations worst, Phineas is able to work out every solution with ease.
- In the original concept art as shown in the elevator pitch, Gretel's headband in her superhero gear was pink to match her suit. This was changed to blue in the finalized version of the show.
- Also in the concept art from the elevator pitch, Gretel's casual, non-superhero attire used the exact same pink and purple colors as her superhero outfit, making it almost identical, sans the domino mask, the cape, the insignia and the lack of a collar button. These colors have changed drastically for the finalized series. Her belt has gotten a different design as well that has no buckle.
- Gretel has experienced some bad luck throughout the series. The most notable instances include (but are not limited to):
- Being imprisoned with Hamster by Professor Exclamation in Empower Failure.
- Being possessed by Van Dyke in Close Shave and Over the Hill.
- Getting captured by La Cebolla and put on the Onion Amplifier in La Ballad of La Cebolla.
- Being abducted by The Destructress and FistPuncher in U.F. UH-OH!.
- Getting grounded for not doing the dishes in Grounded.
- Being hypnotized with Hamster by Earworm in The Earworm.
- Getting shrunk and put in a bottle with Kevin and Hamster in The Bottle Episode.
- Being captured and put on a web with Hamster and Fred by Itsy Bitsy in No Sprain, No Gain.
- Losing her superpowers to Professor Exclamation in Exclamation Strikes Back.
- Gretel, like her brother, is bilingual as she has shown many times to both understand Spanish and speak it fluently.
- So far the only characters who knows Gretel's secret are Kevin, Fred, Van Dyke, Abuelita, Bailey and Tobor.
- So far, Evil Upheaval is the only episode where Gretel doesn't have a leading role.
References[]
- ↑ https://screenrant.com/hamster-gretel-disney-cast-excusive/
- ↑ by Kevin in "Close Shave" and "The Opposite of Smart"
- ↑ by Fred in "Saturday Homecoming Fever," and Dave in "[[Dr. Eelgood (episode)|]]"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Disney+ "9-year-old Gretel and her pet hamster, "Hamster", are given superpowers by aliens. Their mission? To defeat an array of eclectic villains while not blowing their cover!"
- ↑ Image of Dave's grandfather, lost in the war (from "Math Punch")
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Meli & Dan Povenmire Interview for Hamster & Gretel at Comic-Con