Bingo Ritz- Spunkadelic Name: Bingo Ritz Age: 15 Hair Color: Orange-red Fur Color: Orange Eye Color: Blue Bike: Emerald-green dirt/racing bike Mother: Unknown Father: Ringo Ritz (deceased) Siblings: None Other Family: Wallenczech (guardian; deceased) Likes: motorcycles (duh), comic books, rock n’ roll, manga, hot dogs, swordplay, root beer, long walks on the beach, Detroit, special effects, Mentos commercials Dislikes: Plutarkians, constantly being mistaken for a boy, Hanson, her responsibility to the Order of St. Dumas, the Spice Girls I don't intend to soap-box about the crummy writing in a majority of animated series here, but this is an important point in an analysis of Bingo's character. In your typical action-adventure cartoon, if there is a team of characters, each of its members will be assigned a stereotypical role. There's the big strong lug, the wild one, the responsible, super-intelligent one, the leader, etc. You can take any of these basic templates and find that character in a show. Take "the big strong lug." In "Mighty Ducks" (gag), it's Grin; in "Fantastic Four", it's The Thing, etc. Good shows can use the template, but develop characters more fully. There is another, more annoying prototype character, one I detest with all my being: “The Girl.” I'm not a misogynist who hates women--I just hate "The Girl." She makes me sick. "The Girl" is just what her name says: "the girl." She's a token character, the product of political pressure as opposed to the desire of the writers. In addition, "The Girl" is never, ever, played for laughs. Good Lord, a little girl might see her animated heroine being laughed at, lose all sense of self-worth, and suddenly revert to the prefeminist housefrau mentality! Ahhh! So while she might be the super-intelligent one, she'll never be the wild one or the big strong lug. Generally, "The Girl" also tends to be a mother figure to the rest of the team. If someone gets hurt, she tends to their wounds and takes care of them. If for whatever reason a kid appears out of nowhere, it's her job to watch out for him. She might be a super-powered chick with power enough to toast the entire galaxy (in an American cartoon? Yeah, right), but she's also got maternal instincts out the wazoo. She's pretty (if not beautiful), gets kidnapped on occasion (even if she’s a hero), may be the main hero's love interest, and generally takes a back seat to the men. That is NOT Bingo Ritz. The sole female member of the Biker Mice from Mars, Bingo defies all conventional cartoon logic of what a girl should be like. Independent and spunky, she’s as violent as the other Biker Mice, gets just as much of the action when fighting the bad guys, and can eat twice her body weight in hot dogs (just like her bros) She can hold her own in a fight, is constantly the butt of jokes (particularly concerning her distinctly un-feminine looks), but remains optomistic. Why is this? Why does Bingo so strongly break the female cartoon character stereotypical mold? Simple. Because she was never an animated character. She’s completely original. I, Stoker1439, created Bingo. She’s all mine. Enough ranting. Let’s get on with the bio. Bingo is, as said above, the youngest memember of the Biker Mice. While all the others are in the 19-24 range, she’s only 15, not even old enough to drive in most of the continental United States (of course, Modo was astride his own Lil’ Hoss when he was ten, but that’s another story). Not that that stops her. Bingo is as much a Biker Mouse as her bros, and her riding ability is improving constantly. Now, if we’re talking about emotional maturity as opposed to physical, she’s probably got Vinnie beat, but...... Physically, Bingo isn't half as strong as her bros. Compared to a human, she's extremely tough. She's got tremendous endurance, and could easily bend a pipe in two. But as mice go, she’s pretty weak. She can’t hold a tank up, as Modo could (“Steal of the Century”). Throttle could bench-press the young mouse without breaking a sweat, whereas Bingo couldn't perform the opposite feat without breaking her arms. And Vinnie can beat his little bro arm wrestling nine times out of ten (although sometimes she can trick him into losing). But the kid's not at a total disadvantage. Bingo is posessed of a speed which is unrivalled by her bros. In addition, while she doesn’t know any specific “martial art”, Bingo has collected a variety of powerful kicks and other attacks over the years--a potent combination of skills gleaned from Wallenczech (see below), Stoker and the other Freedom Fighters, and bootleg imported Hong Kong films (an art form for which she has an unexplainable penchant). Bingo doesn’t look terribly feminine. She is fashionably thin, and there has been debate as to whether her legs do go all the way up. Her crystal blue eyes are deep enough to swim in. But with her short, spiky rooster comb haircut and noticable lack of.....uh, how can I say this without getting a lawsuit?..... “what made Pamela Anderson Lee famous” make her look more than a tad boyish. She’s frequently mistaken for a boy (which she hates). One of her biggest complaints in life is, “There are men with bigger boobs than me!” Of course, they’re drag queens or transvestites, but let’s not bring that up. Aside from her total breastless-ness, Bingo has had to suffer through scores of other tragedies. It’s just been a big ole bowl of sorrow. She never knew her mother, and her father, the somewhat addle-brained Ringo Ritz (Bingo is actually named after her father), disappeared when she was only three. With no blood relatives to take her in, Bingo’s care was entrusted to a lonesome monk of the Order of St. Dumas named Wallenczech. Strongly religious, Wallenczech educated Bingo in the precepts of the Order of St. Dumas, a small, cultish group of mice supposedly ruled over by the mysterious St. Dumas. The mysterious monk chose to teach Bingo other subjects--standard school stuff--himself until she was seven, when they moved to Hellfire, at which point Bingo was sent to a normal school. His teachings had been more than adequate, however--Bingo was intelligent enough to be moved up to a fourth-grade level immediately. Puzzlingly, Wallenczech was never seen in public with Bingo. As far as the young mouse knew, he never even went out alone. It was just one of the things that made him weird. Initially, Bingo had difficulty making friends. Because she was so much younger than the other students in her class and had no difficulty with the trickiest subjects, everyone hated her. Or wanted her to do their homework for them. On several occasions, Bingo was beaten up by the older students just for kicks. But then, in the middle of one such beating, an unlikely savior appeared--Vinnie VanWham, who, searching for the library (a place he rarely ever visited), chanced upon a trio of his classmates grinding Bingo’s pretty little face into the floor. Although he suffered for his troubles--a black eye and a severe “remprimand” from his mother for fighting that got him a broken arm, Vinnie never regretted his action, and became Bingo’s hero instantaneously. Through Vinnie, she met the other Biker Mice, and became their “little bro” (she is not a sis). They were her sole friends for years, until they were seperated when Bingo and Wallenczech, as members of the Order of St. Dumas, were forced to go to the Martian death camp of Ash. There, they suffered greatly, forced to work in its dead mines until they dropped over dead, either of exhaustion or starvation. Bingo would’ve died in Ash if not for the sacrifices Wallenczech made for her, sacrifices that led to his death one year into their stay. Later, Bingo managed to escape and rejoin her bros when they ventured into Hellfire. Because of their strong bond, and the fact that they were the only family each other had, when Stoker accepted Bingo’s bros into the Fredom Fighters, she too was able to join, despite the fact that she was only ten years old (Bingo’s presence in the Freedom Fighters irked Modo’s nephew Rimfire to no end, as he was not allowed to join the Freedom Fighters when he was sixteen because he was “too young”). In addition to being a Biker Mouse, Bingo has the added burden of being Azrael, 13th Holy Knight of the Order of St. Dumas. On the same day that she discovered the mysterious St. Dumas was actually real, Bingo found out that she was the latest in a long line of warriors destined to stop the evil Klaus Black from doing something really evil. She doesn’t know what. Probably destroying the galaxy. To that end, she is supposed to devote herself to stopping his evil influence. But Bingo has little interest in fufilling her destiny. She says that, as a teenager, she has more important things to do. She doesn’t know what they are yet, but she’s certain they’re more important. Still, she does use the two implements that are her birthright as Azrael. The first is the Inferno Sword, a powerful blade supposedly forged from real Hellfire. If it has any mystical powers, they have yet to be revealed. But the second she picked it up, Bingo knew how to use it, despite a total lack of prior experience with a sword. Presently, she has all the skill of a Japanese samurai AND Obi-Wan Kenobi combined. Bingo’s other mysterious skill is the ability to create small tears in the fabric of the space-time continuum (or anything else she comes to), which she calls “black holes”, despite the fact that she can’t use them to suck up matter and light and crush them into nothing (yet). The way they manifest is unknown, but Bingo does understand the basics--whenever she creates one near her, a corresponding one pops up wherever she wants it to. She can then proceed to reach through and grab something from near the second hole, or pass through it and use it as a form of transportation. She is limited, however, in range--teleporting too far exhausts her quickly. A transatlantic teleport would probably be impossible, and it is super-unlikely that the Biker Mice will ever return to Mars via one of her black holes. Aside from all that, Bingo has adjusted easily to life on Earth. She has been quickest to pick up Earth culture, ranging from its music to Japanese animation and B Movies. It’s her ambition in life to either be famous or a magical heroine. In one word, Bingo is, “spunkadelic”. Heroes: Kevin Smith, Stoker, Sailor Uranus Advice: “ ‘Girl Power’ does not equal short skirts and bra tops." Quotes: “I’ve survived a death camp and a war. Frankly, I don’t think anything can kill me.” Animation Voice: Didn’t I just get done telling you that she was never animated? Still, it's interesting to think about. Lemme think. Who would I chose to do her voice, given the oppurtunity? Hmmm. That’s a toughie. I honestly don’t know! It would have to be someone spunky, probably a girl, but who sounds kinda boyish. I can’t think of anybody! Argh! Well, I’d definitely use Megumi Ogata, the voice of Sailor Uranus, in a pinch. Everyone mistakes her for a boy, everyone mistakes Bingo for a boy! It’s a match made in heaven! Return to Character Bios Main Return to Virtual Stoke Main