Tabby Willis (Queen of the Willis)

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Tabby Willis
Queen of the Willis character
First appearance "Pilot"
Created by Ava Zinn
Voiced by Ava Zinn
Information
Full name Tabitha Andrea Willis
(formerly Timothy Rags Willis)
Nickname(s) Tabby, Tim, Tammy, Tamara
Species Canine
Occupation Supervillain (formerly), Preschool Student
Family
Nationality American

Tabitha Andrea "Tabby" Willis (formerly Timothy Rags Willis) is a fictional character from the animated television series Queen of the Willis. She is voiced by series creator Ava Zinn and first appeared on television, along with the rest of the Willis family, in a 15-minute short on December 20, 2003. Tabby (then known as Rags) and Shushu were created and designed by Zinn herself. After the pilot was given the greenlight, the Willis appeared in the pilot episode.

Tabby is an anthropomorphic Chihualua. She can talk, generally walks on her hind legs (using her front legs as arms), has opposable thumbs. Over the duration of the series as Rags, she was depicted as thinner and smaller, the violent aspects of Tabby's personality have been toned down (most notably after Tabby's gender transition), and both Tabby and Shushu have evolved into an eccentric, friendly and flamboyant characters. They also come to have a very close friendship with the family's anthropomorphic lobster, Heather. Tabby and Shushu areconsidered to be the show's breakout character.[1] Since the seventh season, as Tabby, she is shown to have undergone a marked transformation, both in terms of a significant increase in weight and a newly subdued personality.


Development of Rags/Tabby

Template:Tabby & Shushu - Tabby/Development

Tabby's Role in QOTW

Template:Tabby & Shushu - Tabby/Role in QOTW

Tabby's Gender Transition

Template:Tabby & Shushu - Tabby/Transition to Tabby

Role in Queen of the Willis

Relationship with Heather

Despite their allegedly sociopathic nature, both Tabby and Shushu does seem to have a tender side. This is particularly evident through the growing close friendship they shares with Heather, the family lobster, whom they considers an intellectual peer and Heather is the only Willis family member who pays attention to what Tabby and Shushu say; treating then just like she would any other human adult on the show while other characters choose to mostly ignore the things Tabby and Shushu says. Originally, Tabby and Shushu enjoyed taunting Heather with curt remarks and abuse; but they have developed into best friends. In the "Back Home Again in..." episodes, Tabby and Shushu often goes on adventures with Heather, usually through difficult and sometimes surreal circumstances. These episodes are generally regarded by critics and fans to be the show's best episodes. They are usually at the center of the show's deepest and most sentimental episodes, one example being where Heather admits to Tabby and Shushu that she has considered suicide. In that episode, they also admit that they love each other, not as lovers, but as very close family/friends.

Both Tabby and Shushu have shown in a number of episodes that they are sexually attracted to Heather. These moments include a scene in the Queen of the Willis DTV film, RAGStory, where Heather tells who was then known as Rags that he is drunk, Tabby responds, "You're sexy." In the episode, "The Former Life of Heather", when Tabby and Shushu agrees to assist Heather in a magic show Shushu says, "You can split me in half" (quickly correcting it to "Saw me in half"). In "Heather's Song", after Heather's boyfriend leaves her and while the room is completely dark Tabby says to Heather, "Just to get back at him, you should have sex with the first person you see. No matter who it is," then she turns on the light while she is in Heather's face smiling.

Tabby and/or Shushu has made a strong effort to cheer Heather up on a couple of occasions. In one episode, after Melissa's rant leaves Heather in tears, Shushu cheers her up by saying she likes her and letting Heather spend the night in their room. Similarly, in "Lobstered", when Heather sinks into a deep drunken depression upon discovering that humanity, including the Willis family, has no regard for the lives of animals (including herself, Tabby or Shushu), Tabby steals her necklace and plants it on a stray cat, proceeding to fake Heather's death by sending it into a tobacco store and subsequently torching the store. Upon hearing of Heather's 'death', the other Willis' realize just how much Heather mattered to them and close a friend she is to the family. Seeing this reaction, Heather is uplifted.

Earlier in the series, before Shushu's arrival and Tabby's sex change, Tabby contemptuously referred to Heather as "Crab". She similarly referred to her pet father as "Ava" and Angie as "the fat girl" until accepting them as his pet parents, reverting to this form of address when frustrated or angry.

In "Crab Bites Tiger", Tabby and Heather have a falling-out when heather chews up Kevin in retaliation for Tabby always complaining about her to the tiger, as if Kevin were alive, but the two make amends when they spread Kevin's ashes at the St Joe River in Fort Wayne.

Merchandise and appearances in other media

Tabby and Shushu are one of the show's biggest merchandising icons[citation needed], and they has been included on Queen of the Willis T-shirts and cardboard standups, refrigerator magnets, posters, and several other items.

Tabby and Shushu (along with other Ava Willis) appeared in promotions of Zinns for Relationship Choices (created by Samantha Zinn and Tiffani Zinn) on their YouTube channel criticizing Jessica's Policy, a longstanding family policy of creator Ava Zinn in 2011.

Understanding Tabby and Shushu

There is much debate over which characters in Queen of the Willis can understand both Tabby and Shushu. In an interview, Zinn said that everyone can basically understand them, but they ignore them or just think to themselves "oh how cute" when they talks.[2] However at the 2018 panel, she compared this to Garfield and Odie in the cartoons. Zinn went on to say that Heather always hears Tabby and Shushu, and more recently so does Ava, Deanna, but the writers usually strive for Angie, the sextuplets, and Tom not to hear them. Once Tabby and Shushu leaves the house, the question of who can hear them depends very much on the story.


References

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External links