Moral Orel has one of the most memorable casts in the history of animated television.
From alcoholic mayors to librarians obsessed with eggs and censorship,
the residents of Moralton display a wide variety of characters with
different levels of intelligence. That makes us ask the question; which of these
puppets are the most intelligent and which ones should pray for a little more brains?
I'm Kifinosi with WickedBinge and this is Moral Orel Characters: Dumb to Brilliant.
Let's start our list off at the bottom of
the intellectual totem pole. These characters are the Dumb.
The Gold Medal of Dumb is going to a double ranking of Shapey Puppington and Block Posabule.
Shapey is Orel's eight-year-old little brother who acts much younger than he actually is. His
vocabulary is very limited, usually only shouting out a few words such as "Cake!"
"Mine!" or "Yummy!" Bloberta definitely feeds into this behavior by treating him as such,
even going as far as to l breastfeed him. Later on in the series, Shapey is accidentally switched
with the Posabules' son Block, who more or less acts the same way as Shapey. Block and Shapey both
clearly have developmental issues and possibly are mentally challenged given what we know about
them. Near the end of the series, we do start to see them mature a little bit become much more
well adjusted and Shapey even speaking in full sentences on occasion. Had the series continued
we might rank these two s bit higher but since we didn't get a whole lot of scenes focusing on
their developmental growth, we have to say Shapey and Block earned the Gold Medal in this category.
The Silver Medal of Dumb is awarded to none other than Nursula Bendy. Referred to as Nurse Blinkless
initially, Bendy is the school nurse whose low intelligence is a source of comedy throughout
the first two seasons on the show. As the series progresses, we find out Nurse Bendy is a highly
disturbed person who has a very child like mind stemming from trauma she has recieved.
She constructs a fake family if teddy bears out of loneliness and her insecurities that everyone
only cares about her for her looks. Nurse Bendy largely lives in denial of the world around her
that causes her to misunderstand very obvious social cues and situations. She doesn't even
initially put together that Joe is her kid despite the fact he came out of her twelve
years ago. Nurse Bendy is another character who does reach some emotional maturity later
on in the series which is great but it doesn't absolve her from still being kind of a moron.
The Bonze Medal of Stupidity is being awarded to Principal Norm Fakey. Very
few of the authority figures in Moralton are respectable but Principal Fakey is by far one
of the most deplorable. On top of punishing students like Tommy for being free thinkers,
Principal Fakey is a sex addict who frequently cheats on his wife with Nurse Bendy. He does
express guilt over his actions with Bendy but he refuses to change his habits,
leading him to use mental gymnastics to deny it. Once Principal Fakey gets and STD,
he kicks his wife out believing it came from her being unfaithful. Principal Fakey has a
very child like mind and, despite knowing his faults on some level, constantly lies to himself
in order to believe he's a responsible adult. There are very few cases we could point to that
show this character is smart on any level, personally, professionally or emotionally.
Shooting his way into the next spot is Officer Roger Papermouth. An immature and dimwitted man,
Roger is a officer defined by his cowardly nature and bumbling antics,
comparable to Officer Barbrady from South Park. He often fires his gun as an impulsive whenever
he feels threatened in any way, including zombies due to fearing their nudity. Roger
is divorced by his wife Florence who sees his less favorable characteristics leading him to
become both very resentful and jealous. He takes out said resentment by shooting his daughter's
teddy bear showing how emotionally insecure and ridiculous he can be. Officer Papermouth
is one of the more well-intentioned adults in Moralton as his shortcomings are less a result
of blatant hypocrisy or denial and more stem from his genuine lack of awareness.
Now we get to another double ranking with Karl and Kimberly Latchkey. Karl and Kimberly have
the relationship of a prototypical shallow high school couple being totally obsessed with each
other and neglectful toward everyone else. That's made worse by the fact that Karl and
Kimberly graduated from high school years ago and simply haven't matured one bit since then. There
is a very clear pattern among characters in the Dumb category having stunted mental growth and
Karl and Kimberly are no exception. Karl even accuses his own son Doughy of trying to "move
in on his action" whenever Doughy comes to them for affection. Kimberly also has
trouble reading signs, such as when Stephanie is very clearly trying to express feelings for
her. Karl and Kimberly have no awareness of anyone's emotions aside from their own,
partially because they are extremely selfish and don't care about anyone else, even their own kid.
Up next, we have the shady doctor known as Quentin Xavier Potterswheel. One of the
most prominent side characters in the series, Dr. Potterswheel is Moralton’s most respected
doctor despite being incredibly incompetent in his position. He almost kills Dr. Chosenburg due
to the decision not to treat his wound, hoping it will bring miracles due to being shaped like
Jesus’ face. On top of that, when Orel gets shot in the leg, Dr. Potterswheel informs him
that he will be limping for the rest of his life, possibly due to shoddy medical
treatment from Potterswheel. Dr. Potterswheel also seems to not care about his patients’ well
being and manipulates Bloberta into hurting herself so he can get sexual gratification.
Potterswheel certainly isn’t going to win any awards for his intellect nor his morals.
Rounding out the Dumb Category we have Kimberly and Karl's offspring, Doughy Latchkey. Orel's
accomplice on many misadventures, Doughy is a very friendly kid who almost always
does whatever he's told. He's shown to not be the brightest which does lead him to get
manipulated by people around him such as Clay or Ms. Sculptham. Doughy also doesn't seem to
think certain situations through such as when he tries to play with a sundial at nighttime.
He does poorly in school and rarely is shown thinking for himself in any situation. Doughy
obviously never had a proper adult figure to teach him self awareness due to his extremely neglectful
parents and manipulative authority figures. He's a good friend to Orel but not a very smart one.
Now that we've tackled the Dumb, let's take a step forward and talk about characters
who are a little more intelligent... usually. This is the Mixed Bag category.
We’re starting out this category with Joe Secondopinionson. While many of the kids in
Moralton listen to authority without question, Joe is much more outspoken and rebellious. Somewhat on
a typical bully by nature, Joe thinks very little of everyone around him and usually threatens other
kids with violence to get what he wants. While he generally uses his brawn more than his brains,
Joe does have a tendency to be manipulative if given the opportunity. This includes when
he steals money from the church and pins the blame on Marionetta. Joe’s attitude largely
stems from his insecurities regarding having no mother figure in his life for the longest
time until he reconnects with her years later. While this does show emotional development,
we’re going to bet Joe doesn’t get much smarter from this considering his mother is Nurse Bendy.
Up next is the Moralton mayor himself, Clay Puppington. Clay is the head of both a corrupt
town and a deeply unhappy family, proving he is phenomenally bad at the two roles he takes in
life. He teaches Orel nonsensical lessons in his study which are hypocritical and ridiculous and
it’s a good thing none of it ultimately sinks into Orel’s brain for very long. Clay is emotionally
distant from his family and deals with the vast majority of his problems by drinking alone in
his study. He does have competence in many very basic areas and, much like many other characters,
uses mental gymnastics to convince himself things aren’t as bad as they clearly are. We
can’t exactly call Clay a total idiot because he does seem to have a lot of self awareness buried
deep down but his constant repression of emotions leads him to saying and doing many stupid things.
Right above Clay is his spouse, Bloberta Puppington. Much like her husband,
Bloberta is a deeply unhappy person who maintains a positive exterior despite
feeling dead on the inside. Coming from a family who often neglected her, Bloberta tends to seek
validation out from others in a desperate attempt to connect with whoever she can. She’ll even go
as far as to mutilate herself to appease a doctor with a gore fetish. Despite her past,
Bloberta is very neglectful of her current family members and generally avoids interacting with
them as much as possible. She spends most of her time cleaning everything she can to get her mind
off of her unhappy life, showing she has many coping mechanisms much like Clay. Since neither
of Orel’s parents have very high emotional or professional intelligence, we’re ranking them
closer to the dumb category even if they have a lot of self awareness lurking inside them.
Coming in next is Agnes Sculptham. Orel’s teacher at Diorama Elementary,
Ms. Sculptham is a generally apathetic person who cares little about providing
any useful knowledge to her students. She even seems to get annoyed whenever any of
her students asks her a question after class, preferring to go simply home. Ms. Sculptham’s
lessons are ridiculous and highly inaccurate although that might be more of the fault of
Moralton’s education system. There are times when Ms. Sculptham can be quite devious such
as when she manipulates Doughy to keep giving her presents under the false pretense that they can
eventually date each other. Ms. Sculptham’s story gets darker as the series progresses
which eventually leads to her mind snapping and causing hallucinations. We wouldn’t call Ms.
Sculptham entirely stupid (despite her moronic lessons) but her general disinterest and lack
of mental stability led to very few situations where we would classify her actions as smart.
Running in next is Coach Danielle Stopframe. From the very beginning of the series,
Coach Stopframe has an unhealthy obsession with Clay, doing everything he can to get
with him. This includes seducing Bloberta and conceiving Shapey years before Clay had ever
even met him. He is a highly manipulative and calculating man, even if he does show signs of
weakness and desperation. Stopframe is much less devoutly religious than other Moralton residents
and will switch between worshiping God or Satan depending on which one gives him results. While
Coach Stopframe is generally portrayed as much smarter than whoever he’s manipulating,
we can’t rank him higher because he does have moments of stupidity. In the final
episode of the series he loses respect for Clay due to seeing him kissing Ms.
Censordoll. Did it really take him this long to figure out that Clay is a pathetic
and bad person? I guess love (or prolonged infatuation) makes you do some stupid things.
Preaching in our next spot is Reverend Rod Putty. Despite being the spokesperson at
the most important place in Moralton, that being the church, Reverend Putty is not highly revered
amongst residents of Moralton, aside from Orel and Florence of course. His sermons are often long,
drawn out and full of rambling about his own personal problems rather than the actual lessons
of the Bible. He is very sex starved and driven by a need to lose his virginity. Despite this,
Reverend Putty is phenomenally bad with females, leading him to become a very
jaded person. With that said, Putty does improve himself throughout the series,
especially when he reconnects with his non-Christian lesbian daughter
Stephanie. While we still wouldn’t say that Reverend Putty is the smartest or most moral
servant of God, he sure has come a long way in improving himself and opening his mind.
Next, we finally get to the titular character himself, Orel Puppington. Orel is somewhat
of a hard character to rank since much of the show deals with him going from a dumb,
naïve kid to being much more mature and aware of the world around him. Throughout much of the
earlier episodes, Orel continually misinterprets the life advice given to him by adults which often
lead to disastrous circumstances. You might say that makes him especially stupid but given the
“insight” that come from Clay’s lessons, we’re not entirely sure the adults would have handled these
situations much better. Orel does blindly accept whatever he’s told but as the series progresses,
he starts to become increasingly confused by what his father is saying to him. This
eventually accumulates with Orel losing all respect for Clay and seeing him for who he
truly is. Orel may make a lot of mistakes but at the end of the day he is smart enough to
become a well-adjusted man despite his crazy childhood so we give him major props for that.
Rounding out the Mixed Bag category is Sal Figurelli. The owner of a corner store,
Mr. Figurelli is one of the friendlier residents of Moralton, usually maintaining a bright and
cheerful attitude. He does have his faults, such as stealing and making Orel perform child labor,
but as far as Moralton residents go that’s the tip of the iceberg. Unlike many adults in town,
Mr. Figurelli is very good at his job, running a very successful business without many issues. He
can be a little too easy going, responding to everyone with his catchphrase “no prob!” even
if they segregate or physically assault him. If it wasn’t for Mr. Figurelli’s occasional naivety,
we’d actually put him at the bottom of the smart section. As it stands,
he finishes off the Mixed Bad section.
We’ve waved through the Dumb and the Arguably Dumb but what about
the smarter member of Moral Orel’s cast? This section is The Smart and Brilliant.
We’re starting this section off with Christina Posabule. In the episode The Lord’s Prayer,
a family called the Posabules move in next door to the Puppingtons. Each member of this
family is a mirror image of the other family, with Christina being essentially the female
version of Orel. Christina shares Orel’s kind and tolerant nature without stooping to the
same levels of stupidity that Orel does, at least as far as we can see. Christina,
much like Orel, was the only member of her family to notice Block and Shapey had been switched,
even though her parents never listened to her. Hard to comment much on Christina’s overall
intellect given her limited appearances but from what we can see, she is a very bright kid.
Up next is Francis Clara Censordoll. One of the scariest and evilest residents of Moralton,
Ms. Censordoll is a highly manipulative woman who embarks on a scheme to rule over Moralton. She
leads groups of picketers to protest anything pure in the city which ranges from weddings,
movies and even food. Ms. Censordoll is always scheming and thinking of her next move,
showing she does have a huge level of competence. She seems to have developed
a God complex over the years, seeing everyone else as a pawn in her game. We have to admit
Ms. Censordoll is quite smart in her own way as her ability to manipulate others works
very often. The only reason she narrowly misses out on the top three is that we
don’t get to see the depth of her schemes unfold by the time the series concludes.
The Bronze Medal of Intellect is awarded to Tommy Littler. A close friend of Orel’s
Tommy is a highly curious kid who likes to study about science in his free time. Since
Tommy’s science books obviously go against Diorama Elementary’s warped curriculum,
this leads everyone to label Tommy as stupid. He gets put in special education
class with other kids interested in science, causing everyone to patronize him. Tommy is
obviously much smarter than his peers or even adults even if no one realizes it. We’re glad
we can give Tommy the recognition he deserves by getting the Bronze Medal on our countdown.
Stephanie Putty is being awarded the Silver Medal of Intelligence. The owner of Moralton’s only sex
and piercing shop known as Buried Pleasures, Stephanie is noteworthy for how much she
sticks out from the average town resident. She is very friendly and usually relaxed,
although she does have a habit of angrily giving herself a new piercing whenever
she loses her cool. While very grounded and mature, Stephanie does occasionally
misunderstand someone’s intentions. This is best demonstrated with her relationship with
Kimberly which the latter merely took as a joke. Stephanie is one of Orel’s few positive role
models and definitely one of the smartest, granted her a well deserved Silver Medal.
Finally, The Gold Medal of Brilliance is given to Arthur Puppington. The grandfather
of Orel and father to Clay, Arthur is a hard-working farmer who lives in Sinville.
He has a broken relationship with Clay due to blaming him for the death Angela,
Arthur’s wife and Clay’s mother. This causes Arthur to abuse and eventually abandoned him
altogether which is a big reason Clay became the miserable and abusive man he is. When Orel comes
to live on Arthur’s farm for eight months, Arthur realizes the error of his ways in the past. He
owns up to the mistakes he made as Clay’s father and realizes the ultimate truth very early on;
Orel is far too pure to be corrupted. Arthur is certainly one of the most mature and sensible
characters on the show who is able to own his mistakes without living in a world of
denial. All of this makes Arthur by far the smartest character in Moral Orel’s history.