Upchuck Unbound

Charles “Upchuck” Ruttheimer III is a strange fish, and his following among Daria fans is not large. On one hand, he doesn’t appear to change a single iota between the time he puts the moves on Daria and Jane in “The Invitation” to his final scene with Andrea in Is It College Yet? From start to finish, he’s still the same sleazy sex-obsessed teenager that makes the Fashion Club go “Eww!” in unison.

And yet . . . he’s something more. He doesn’t blackmail Brittany for sex favors in “The Lab Brat,” instead being content to have her be his personal gopher (go for this, go for that, etc.) while he works on the mouse maze. He has the capitalist spirit in spades, being the creator/manager of an Internet website selling exotic candies (“Prize Fighter”). There are little hints dropped along the way (his wide vocabulary, for instance) that he is brighter than most students, and he is certainly clever. His Ultrasuave Universe website in The Daria Diaries speaks of interests in collectible items, Three Stooges movies, Jerry Lewis, Playboy, The X-Files, history, movies, Star Wars, brassieres, comic books, music, and Monty Python trivia. (He also seems to find Daria “feisty.”) And he is a high-ranked contender for a college scholarship (“Prize Fighters”), so dumb, he isn’t.

And . . . he has Stage Presence, actual mass-media charisma, a whopping metric ton of it. How else would he be able to wind up with gigs as an announcer for a bridal show (“I Don’t”), DJ at a school dance (“Daria Dance Party”), announcer for Lawndale High football games (“A Tree Grows in Lawndale” and “Fizz Ed”), operator of his own “float” in the Lawndale High homecoming parade (“I Loathe a Parade”), and amateur magician (“Life in the Past Lane”)? He has drive, for sure.

“Aside from my far-flung reputation as a people person,” he says in “Prize Fighters,” “I’d say my strengths include a daring entrepreneurial bent, coupled with an unquenchable need to succeed.” He could have added that he’s a proven risk-taker, which should have been obvious from his come-on lines. He's the walking poster child for the Myers-Briggs personality type called the ESFP (the Performer), described at the following links. See if Upchuck doesn't spring to mind right away as you read them.

http://www.personalitypage.com/ESFP.html
http://typelogic.com/esfp.html
http://www.geocities.com/lifexplore/esfp.htm

Of all the characters on Daria, could it be that Upchuck has the best potential for a successful future? Could he become rich, famous, and internationally beloved, while his classmates vanish into obscurity? He might not appear to grow as a character, but his repertoire of skills expands greatly, and when he successfully goes out with Andrea in IICY?, one wonders if he's finally on the road to bigger and better things. That would be rrrowrrr, feisty!