Gussy Goat



Gussy Goat is an animated cartoon character, created on January 15, 1930 by Michael Shires (under the pseudonym Aldo Boomer) and voiced originally by Billy Bletcher. Gussy is best known for his starring roles in a series of animated short films. His first cartoon, Farmland, was released in May 17, 1933, succeeding into more cartoons produced by Argosy Pictures.

Gussy is a brown mountain goat who is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality. He is also characterized by an Irish accent, his portrayal as a trickster, and his catch phrase "Maa". Due to Gussy's popularity during the golden age of American animation, he became not only an American cultural icon and one of the official mascots of ArgosyMTM Group (along with Aaron and Mimsie), but also one of the most recognizable characters in the world.

Since his debut, Gussy has appeared in various short films, feature films, compilations, TV series, music records, comics, video games, award shows, amusement park rides, and commercials. He has also appeared in more films than any other cartoon character, is the 9th most-portrayed film personality in the world, and has his own star on the Studio Row Walk of Fame.

Pairings
Gussy is often used in pairings with other Argosy Avenue characters.
 * Gussy Goat/Gandy Goose: The most popular pairing in the franchise. The idea is that Gussy is trying to trap Gandy for whatever reason, and Gandy, being an idiot, falls for all of the traps, no matter how elaborate, because of his remarkable stupidity. The archetypal gag with this pairing is that Gandy sees a load of TNT and stops to ask “TNT? What’s that stand for?”, leading to Gandy getting inevitably blown up.
 * Gussy Goat/Rocky Raccoon: Gussy and Rocky compete with each other to catch someone, usually Gandy, and end up getting caught in each other’s elaborate traps in the process, allowing Gandy to escape mostly unharmed.
 * Gussy Goat/Buzzy the Crow: Buzzy sells some hi-tech contraption to Gussy. It never works, and ends up backfiring on Gussy; Gussy tries to get a refund, but Buzzy replies “NO REFUNDS!”. Often combined with the Gussy/Gandy pairing, where Buzzy’s scam against Gussy allows Gandy a rare victory. There are also more traditional chase cartoons with this pairing, where Gussy uses the same tactics against Buzzy that work against Gandy, but Buzzy always outsmarts him.
 * Gussy Goat/Quacky Duck: Quacky is depicted as a door-to-door salesman, and he won't go away, no matter how hard Gussy tries to get rid of him.
 * Gussy Goat/Catnip Cat: Gussy once again uses the same tactics that work against Gandy, but Catnip just ignores the elaborate traps and goes on happily with his day.
 * Gussy Goat/Fiona Cat: Allegedly, an executive said out of nowhere one day, “Gussy and Fiona would not work together as a pairing”. As a result, the animators made a cartoon with them as a pairing. Gussy thinks that the same tactics that work against Gandy would work against Fiona, but Fiona is unexpectedly “genre-savvy”, with her catchphrase being “I know how cartoons work”, leading to Gussy getting impatient and saying things in a generic-sounding, unaccented voice. (“You’re supposed to ask what TNT stands for.”) This is a fan-favourite, because it seems like the characters know they’re in a cartoon.
 * Gussy Goat/Zara Dawson: In most cartoons with this pairing, Zara is an apprentice of Gussy in the eternal war with Rocky Raccoon to catch Gandy Goose; Zara's immunity to slapstick (as a human character) is used to her advantage, allowing her to quite easily outwit Rocky.
 * Gussy Goat/Erika Dawson: Zara and Erika are often interchangeable when paired with Gussy; like her sister, Erika's immunity to slapstick allows Gussy to catch Gandy without Rocky's interference.
 * Gussy Goat/Ginny Goat: Ginny (Gussy's wife) is a crazy goat-woman who is prone to arguments and will often beat up Gussy off-screen (a depiction of domestic abuse). Sometimes, Ginny will appear in chase cartoons; Gussy plays a whistle, and she shows up to beat up Gandy or whoever the current foe is.
 * Gussy Goat/Rinna Raccoon: Quite similar to the Gussy/Rocky pairing: Gussy and Rinna compete with each other to catch someone, usually Gandy, and end up getting caught in each other’s elaborate traps in the process, allowing Gandy to escape mostly unharmed.
 * Gussy Goat/Trina Mouse: In most cartoons with this pairing, Gussy and Trina have a friendly competition (usually in an Olympic sport)... but are still subject to slapstick and "cartoon logic".
 * Gussy Goat/Sadie Skunk: Like Trina, Sadie mainly does friendly competitions with Gussy... but this time, Sadie is slightly more willing to cheat than Trina is.