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Parker is a supporting character in We Bare Bears.
Parker is a 10-year-old African girl who, like her fellow Poppy Rangers, an amazonic and adventurous little girl scout/park ranger and troop who has a close friendship with Ranger Tabes and the bears, more especially Grizz. Parker shows high commitment to her aforementioned fellow Poppy Rangers, but Parker is more silent and confident than the other Poppy Rangers, like Nguyen. Additionally, Parker seems to be the most patient and affectionate towards Grizz, similar to Murphy. Outside of her career as a park ranger like Ranger Tabes, Parker is typically seen casually playing with the other Poppy Rangers and having fun, more especially by having tissue and pillow fights with the other Poppy Rangers and/or flying kites with them.
Parker aspires to grow up and become an aeronautical engineer in the future.
Episode Appearances[]
Season 3[]
- "Poppy Rangers" (Debut)
- "Hurricane Hal"
- "Ranger Games"
Season 4[]
Movies[]
Appearance[]
Parker is a young African girl who boasts a rather tall height and quite thin figure (being the second-tallest member of the Poppy Rangers after Nguyen), and has a black skin complexion. Her hair is pulled up into a pair of Afro-proportioned puffs on both sides of her head. Parker's "Poppy Ranger" outfit consists of a light-moss green short-sleeve shirt, overlaid with a yellow bandanna around the collar with a single olive stripe across the middle. As well, this includes green-toned khaki shorts, tennis shoes of the same color, and tube socks underneath. Over-top the entire outfit is a dark green sash.
In the annual Peewee Ranger Games, Parker's "Peewee Ranger Games" uniform consists of an orange shirt with the number "four" on it, overlaid with red stripes around the outer sections, along with wearing red shorts and having an orange cap.
Upon turning primal and psychotic from too much starvation in the episode, "Lord of the Poppies," Parker's "Poppy Ranger" uniform is tattered, with her yellow bandanna around the collar and dark green sash missing. Parker's hair looks decrepit and has a green headband tightened onto her right Afro-proportioned puff on her hair. Unlike the other primal Poppies, Parker is only half-barefoot, as only one of her khaki shoes is missing.
Personality[]
Like her fellow Poppy Rangers, Parker is kindhearted, affable, selfless, harmonizing, brave, and adventurous, typically following the commands of their superior Ranger Tabes and Grizz, even if it leads all of them into severe endangerment. Furthermore, Parker shows high loyalty, especially towards her fellow Poppy Rangers, demonstrated by Parker working with the Poppy Rangers as an excellent heroic team, saving Wallace from Hurricane Hal and assisting the three bears in defeating Agent Trout, leading to the latter's deserved incarceration.
Additionally, once Nguyen falls into insanity from too much hunger, Parker attempts to comfort and reassure her. Parker aspires to be an aeronautical engineer when she grows up, but like Nguyen, she is described as "quiet and confident," meaning that she does not desire to attract much attention, especially if it is unwanted, but is more convinced and hopeful more than the other Poppy Rangers as well (sans Nguyen).
Out of the rest of the Poppy Rangers (sans Murphy), Parker seems to be the most affectionate and most patient with Grizz, even with his flaws and incompetence, as she does not consistently show the significant amount of grudge against Grizz and his inconsistency in heroism, still having the courage to reassure Grizz that he will succeed in the end no matter what, shown in the annual Peewee Ranger Games when Grizz foils their winning streak, despite eventually culminating into stating that he "kinda stinks" and will mess it up big time, going as far as cheerleading for Grizz, which motivated the latter to ultimately win the kickball game.
Parker's valor and bond towards the other Poppies do not last long, however, demonstrated when Parker and the other Poppy Rangers scream in fear and embrace Grizz Bear for safety when thunder strikes, heavily implying that Diaz and the Poppy Rangers have pure fear of thunderstorms, such as the Hurricane Hal. Additionally, in the episode, "Lord of the Poppies," as Grizz's incompetence hits the last straw of Parker's patience, she, alongside the other Poppy Rangers, eventually succumb to hunger and insanity, to the point that she decides to devour Grizz and turn against him, which references how Panda Bear and Ice Bear became primal animals in the episode, "Primal," with Parker jumpscaring Grizz by emerging from the bush wielding a fork and spoon to devour Grizz out of starvation and insanity.
Not only that, Parker seems to crave deeply for leadership, which is what her fellow Poppy Rangers are also after, demonstrated when Grizz accidentally causes the Poppy Rangers to begin a "Ranger War," turning against and fighting each other for the guidebook, which Wallace stole from Grizz upon kidnapping and entrapping him to cook him for food, which is due to Grizz's "shoulder angels."
Along with the Ranger War, Parker is also shown to be quite lethal, like the other Poppy Rangers (although not to a significant extent of the other Poppies), shown when she and the Poppy Rangers were about to eat Grizz out of appetite before Tabes shows up with pizza, despite being initially reluctant about it, but this was due to Grizz's incompetence affecting her drastically.
History[]
Earlier Childhood[]
Prior to the events of We Bare Bears, Parker was formally a traditional citizen and school student, before she had developed a pure friendship and bond upon her first interaction with the other Poppy Rangers (Wallace, Murphy, Diaz and Nguyen), and throughout the early stages of her childhood, Parker was raised by her unidentified parents and she spent most of her early childhood hanging out and playing with the other Poppies, as well as flying kites and exploring, and typically comes for assistance whenever the Poppies are going through trouble. Parker aspires to be an aeronautical engineer as she is purely experienced and sophisticated in certain aircrafts, such as airplanes and rockets. Upon first meeting Dana Tabes, Parker immediately saw Tabes as a mother-like figure and has shown high commitment towards her, and has relentlessly worked and trained hard to attain all badges possible from Ranger Tabes by succeeding several missions.
Rangers[]
Parker and the Poppies with Grizz.
Years after Parker was dedicated to working with Ranger Tabes to attain badges, she was officialized as a Poppy Ranger, along with Wallace, Murphy, Diaz and Nguyen. In the episode, "Poppy Rangers," Parker and the Poppies are first seen marching with Tabes, before the girls analyze and examine a grasshopper found by Tabes and prepare to explore the Howling Mountain Cave for the Poppies to attain the final Poppy Ranger badge, the Spelunking Badge. The Poppy Rangers are reluctant on exploring the cave, but after Tabes announced that a cave expert is joining the squad, the Poppies become passionate and excited. The cave expert happens to be, much to Parker and the Poppies' surprise, Grizz. After Parker and the Poppies introduce themselves to Grizz, Parker and the Poppies start exploring the cave with Grizz and Tabes. While the Poppies spent most of the time analyzing the cave and asking questions about it to Grizz and Tabes to learn about it, the Poppies' journey through the Howling Mountain Cave was quite hectic: the five girls, including Parker, took legitimate entertainment and humor from Grizz being attacked by bats in the cave and while analyzing Grizz's supplies out of his backpack; Grizz's loud voice has caused the cave to temporarily collapse, prompting the Poppies to retreat for safety.
Further into the Howling Mountain Cave, however, things took a darker turn: Tabes chooses the darker route of the cave, at odds with Grizz choosing the more safer route of the cave. While Tabes is passionate to explore the darker route of the cave, Grizz and the Poppies, including Parker, embark through it in paranoia. It reaches a certain point where the Poppies, Grizz and Tabes are forced to cross the very narrow path to the way out of the cave, but eventually got themselves stranded due to Grizz and Tabes having a brief and heated argument about crossing the narrow path and deciding to go back. Ranger Tabes becomes hopeless upon the aftermath of it, but Grizz and the Poppies reassure her; Parker, in particular, reassured Tabes that the latter is the "coolest" ranger in the world, prompting Tabes to toss each Poppy Ranger out of the cave to safety after witnessing the grasshopper outside of the cave, as well as getting herself and Grizz out of the cave, much to Parker and the Poppies' cheer for them. In the end, Parker and the Poppies successfully attain their final badge by Tabes, including Grizz, and move on to another adventure.
Relationships[]
Grizz Bear[]
Parker canoeing to an island with Grizz, along with Diaz and Ranger Tabes.
Although this is not to show that Parker is not as affectionate towards the other bears, Parker has the closest friendship with Grizz aside from Ranger Tabes, affectionately calling him "Bear Guy," even though he is an animal. In "Poppy Rangers," while Parker is surprised to first meet Grizz, her first impression of Grizz is still affectionate nonetheless outside of that. Parker, along with the Poppy Rangers and Grizz, explores and embark through the Howling Mountain Cave with Tabes. Grizz examines the interior of the cave to Tabes and the Poppy Rangers. Shortly after, Grizz attempts to stand up against the bats, only to be attacked by them, which leads the Poppies enthusiastically laughing at him and taking humor at Grizz being attacked by bats. Later in the cave, Grizz draws sketches of himself and the Poppies on the wall of ammonite fossils, and Grizz teaches Parker and the Poppies about the cave full of stalactites by saying, "That's when it gets so hot that the cave starts to melt," much to Parker and the Poppies' interest. He eventually guides Parker and the Poppies into the giant stalactite above them, and while Grizz searches for a camera in his backpack, Parker and the Poppies investigate Grizz's supplies with a mix of enthusiasm, curiosity and interest. While going through the dark route of the cave, the Poppies side with Grizz for being reluctant on going much further in the path and decide to take the safer path, which dissatisfies Tabes. In "Hurricane Hal," the Poppies offer Grizz his kite to save Wallace from being blown away from the hurricane, and the Poppies work with Grizz to pull Wallace to safety. In "Ranger Games," Parker and the Poppy Rangers are motivated by Grizz's cheerleading to defeat the Ivy Rangers. Parker offers Grizz a positive influence to assist him in motivating himself from his lack of kickball skill in the Peewee Ranger Games to take the victory from the Ivies by calling out to him that "he can do it" in a show of pure kindness, even before Parker and the Poppies cheerleaded for Grizz.
Overall, Grizz Bear seems to be the closest to Parker aside from Ranger Tabes, almost seeing him as a "father" figure. To further contribute this, Parker lacking even just a good amount of grudge against Grizz's incompetence, along with her forgiving and compassionate personality, is what makes Parker argued to be the most welcoming of the Poppy Rangers to Grizz (aside from Murphy and Diaz), in contrast to Wallace's bossiness and Nguyen's condescension.
Diaz[]
Parker assisting Diaz while the latter vomits upon the aftermath of eating poisoned berries from Grizz's paws.
As with the other Poppies, Parker and Diaz are childhood friends with each other, thus having a close relationship with each other. As seen in "Hurricane Hal," Parker and Diaz went along with each other and the other Poppies to fly kites before the Hurricane Hal strikes, and in "Ranger Games," Diaz suggests that she and the Poppies should support him and motivate him into successfully winning the annual Peewee Ranger Games against the Ivies and Zhao (as well as to make him subvert his traditional incompetence), and Parker agrees with her plan, along with the other Poppies, and even before that, both rangers supported Grizz that he will succeed in the end in a fit of kindness. Furthermore, in "Lord of the Poppies," Parker and Diaz are seen riding a horse through the desert to attain the Desert Camping Badge, both rangers prepare the sleeping bags while preparing for the Island Camping Badge, and Parker assisted Diaz while the latter vomits upon the aftermath of eating poisoned berries from Grizz's hands while hunting for food on an island. Although the two fought each other and the Poppies over the Elite Ranger Guidebook in "Lord of the Poppies," this was subverted immediately at the end of the episode.
Overall, among the rest of the Poppies, Diaz is shown to be Parker's closest friend of the troops.
Nguyen[]
Parker comforting a distraught Nguyen, who falls psychotic from sheer starvation while on an island.
Like with the other Poppies, Parker and Nguyen have a childhood friendship with each other. In "Ranger Games," after motivating Grizz into confidence that he will win the annual Peewee Ranger Games and feeling remorseful for dismissing him for his lack of skill in kickball, Nguyen asks if Grizz will blow it at the final round, and Parker responds, "Big time," in a fit of despair, moments before the two rangers plan together with the other Poppies to make Grizz subvert his traditional incompetence and motivate him into winning the final round of the Peewee Ranger Games against the Ivies and Zhao. In "Lord of the Poppies," when the Poppies had enough of Grizz's incompetent leadership and attempt to hunt down for food at last, Nguyen falls into insanity from ongoing starvation, and Parker comforts her through her breakdown, telling her that everything is going to be fine to reassure her.
Ranger Tabes[]
Parker and Ranger Tabes escaping from the collapsing Howling Mountain Cave, along with Murphy, Grizz and the other Poppies.
Upon first meeting Dana Tabes, Parker saw Tabes as a "mother" figure and shows high commitment towards her, and has relentlessly worked and trained hard to attain all badges possible from Ranger Tabes by succeeding and accomplishing several missions relative to the badges, and often calls Tabes "sir" due to the latter's strength and valor being comparable to a man, as well as the other Poppies. In "Poppy Rangers," Parker and the Poppy Rangers are seen marching forward with Tabes, singing their signature song, "Poppy Rangers have no fear, kind to every bird and deer!" After being stranded in the cave, the Poppies eventually motivate and reassure that Tabes is not a "terrible ranger." Parker, in particular, reassures Tabes that she is the "coolest" ranger in the world, prompting Tabes to subvert her overconfidence and leading to her getting herself, Parker, the Poppies and Grizz out of the cave before it collapses. Parker and the Poppy Rangers are typically obedient to Ranger Tabes in her commands, even if it leads them into possible danger, such as analyzing a grasshopper, embarking through the Howling Mountain Cave to earn the Spelunking Badge, heading back to the Ranger Station for safety from the Hurricane Hal even though Parker and the girls are disappointed that they cannot fly their kites due to the hurricane in "Hurricane Hal," and doing all they can to attain all badges from Tabes.
Overall, Ranger Tabes is the closest to Parker, along with the other Poppies, with the latter seeing Tabes as a "mother" figure, and as Tabes is the one who leads and aspires Parker and the Poppies to become better people in the future, Tabes is seen as Parker and the Poppies' mentor.
Ivy Rangers[]
The Poppy Rangers vs. The Ivy Rangers.
The Ivy Rangers are the arch-rivals of Parker and the Poppy Rangers, along with Ranger Zhao. Despite the differences between the two groups, the Ivy Rangers are the egotistical, arrogant and inconsiderate counterparts of the Poppy Rangers, including Parker, with the latter standing up to the Ivies, stating that she and her fellow Poppies will take the trophy The Ivies have became the bullies of Murphy and the Poppies ever since their childhood, and the Ivies had defeated the Poppies in the annual Peewee Ranger Games up to three times with their sheer kickball skills. In "Ranger Games," Parker and the Poppies prepare to defeat the Ivies for the fourth time in the Peewee Ranger Games. Although hesitant at first, with the assistance of Tabes and more especially Grizz with his cheerleading, Parker and the Poppies succeeded afterwards after a rough match.
In the end, the Ivies end up losing to Parker and the Poppies and Grizz at the final round, much to the Ivies' displeasure (as well as Zhao's).
Trivia[]
- Parker is described as "quiet and confident" in her character portrait, like Nguyen. However, both Poppies have different future occupations and personalities.
- Parker's name is likely an arrangement of Chloe Park's last name.
- As shown in "Poppy Rangers," Parker seems to show high disliking of cave salamanders (even more so than the other Poppies), being the one to call them "disgusting" upon witnessing one in the Howling Mountain Cave.
- As shown in "Hurricane Hal," Parker likes throwing tissues around.
- As shown in "Lord of the Poppies," Parker seems to excel in riding horses.
- Parker referring Grizz as "Bear Guy" (or "Mr. Bear/Mr. Bear Guy") references the three bears' philanthropic perspective of the human race in the show, despite them being anthropomorphic animals. Many fans find it adorable and endearing (and one of Parker's most known traits), especially since Grizz, Panda and Ice Bear are represented to be allegories for minorities and feel "in between" humanity and animals due to being bears with human characteristics, despite not fitting well into society nonetheless due to their species as animals, as confirmed by Daniel Chong,[1] thus making the nickname, "Bear Guy," a philanthropic method of calling Grizz "half bear + half guy/human." However, some criticize it for assuming it to be a bit racist or dismissive, feeling that Grizz is being talked down to and reduced to just his current appearance, although it is very unlikely considering that Parker has never talked down to Grizz.
- Parker is the first character Danity Harris would be the voice actress of in her entire career. This distinction is shared with the other Poppy Rangers (Diaz, Murphy, Nguyen and Wallace), but unlike the other Poppies, Parker is the only character Danity Harris has voiced so far.
- Parker is the only Poppy Ranger with a black/African-based ethnicity.
- This references Parker's voice actress, Danity Harris, having a comparatively dark skin complexion.
- Parker saying, "Maybe, my stomach can eat itself," while succumbing to starvation, while referencing itself to hunger pangs (occasionally aliased as hunger pains) being a sensation of discomfort or gnawing in one's stomach or abdomen, is somewhat ironic considering that one's stomach does not digest itself because of a mechanism that regulates gastric secretion under traditional circumstances.
- Among the rest of the Poppies' personalities, Parker seems to be devoid of Wallace and Nguyen's characteristics of arrogance, and seems to be in the middle of Murphy's enthusiasm and Diaz's genius-level intelligence. Thus, Parker is argued to be seen as the most welcoming to Grizz out of the Poppies in terms of personality.
- Parker stating, "I'm spooked, real spooked," while embarking through the dark route of the Howling Mountain Cave with Ranger Tabes, is a famous synonym for stating, "I'm scared."
References
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