This is a look at some of the lovable characters created by our regular authors, and used quite a bit in UMG Productions stories. If you'd like to see characters that are no longer in use, please check out the UMG Graveyard page.
Bandit
Species: Pseudosim (Metazoic plant-eater)
First Appearance: 1978
Creator: Trisha Greenbush
The first of all the current line-up that is still running. Bandit has been the longest running character in UMG. She first appeared in a short story in 1978 as friends with a mouse and they go ice skating together on a frozen lake in the forest. The mouse turned out to be a very good ice skater, while Bandit had the worst trouble keeping her balance, and almost winds up going over a frozen waterfall when her Murine friend saves her.
After that first story, the mouse disappears and Bandit makes all new friends with other animals, and thus moves into a house where she and these friends of hers live for the entire "Bandit and Friends" series, which runs from 1980 to 1982.
Bert
Species: Antelope
First Appearance: 1989
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Bert first appeared as Martin's nephew in one of the Uncle Martin and the Gang stories. His first role was as a bratty youngster who begged for everything from Martin and his group and had a fit when he didn't get his way. He got his lumps at the end of the story when he meets up with a bigger, tougher guy who Bert learned is just like how he was with Martin and the Gang. Bert really only did a few appearances, but he was quite popular among the readers.
In 2000, Bert appeared once again in another Uncle Martin and the Gang adventure. This time, he is to run in a race with several other very fast animals, to win a $1000 prize for the gang to help make improvements to their clubhouse. However, he breaks his leg and has to have time to heal, and Martin and the others are afraid he would not mend in time for the big race.
This is the only major appearance Bert makes in UMG since his grand entrance in 1989. Other times, he was merely a stand-in. But still was very popular. He was created by Miss Rivera to fill a need. He was great for adding a bit of educational value to her stories because he was still young, and he learns as he goes along with Martin and his group.
Beth
First Appearance: 2002
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera and Cairo Smith
This character represents the other side of Miss Rivera. Whereas Candi was created when she was more fit and athletic, Beth represents the part of Rivera after she gained weight. After a surgery in 2004, Rivera began to put on weight and thus became very sub-conscious of herself. This was also when she began to learn the value of true friends, who would stand by her even if she put on weight. However, it was her step-sister Eva who stepped in and taught her how to put more pride in herself. Lisa also represents this part of her life, and Lisa becomes best friends with Beth.
Beth's first appearance was in a story with Lisa and Davy that centers around what true friendship is all about. Lisa meets up with a girl named Kellie and Kellie turns out to be nothing but trouble for Lisa. This character Kellie is based on a person Rivera happened to "meet" in an online pet forum who called herself "Kallie", and who turned out to be a spiteful, hateful person who did not like Rivera because she refused to steer her opinion and see things Kallie's way. So, Rivera created the character Kellie in honor of her, and gave this girl the same bad attitude. Beth also refused to see things the way Kellie did in the story, and stood by Lisa no matter what obstacles Kellie brought their way.
Bill
Species: Pteropod (Metazoic-style)
First Appearance: 1982 (citation needed)
Creator: Katrina O'hara
Bill first appeared as a member of Bandit's gang. Bill is always the more sensible member of the group, aside from Martin himself. He is sort of the peace-keeper in the group, whereas the others like to clown around and act silly. A character named Bill also first appeared in 1982 in a story about a dog who lives in a haunted house and is haunted by a bunch of ghost dogs. This story, created by Katrina O'hara, was not very popular and it is now unsure if there was some kind of connection between that character and this one. It is unlikely though, as the creators are very different people.
Outside of the typical Uncle Martin and the Gang stories, Bill is rarely seen.
Brad
Species: Boro (Metazoic ungulate)
First Appearance: 1982
Creator: Katrina O'hara
This character has gone through several changes. His first appearance was in a story set in a school yard. He becomes acknowledged by Jasper's nephew Andrew, who disappears after that first story. He and Brad are friends, but on a level bordering rivalry. Andrew is never seen again, but Brad goes on to stardom. He was not always the species he is in the pic above. He became quite a big hit in 1986 in the comic series "Brad the Frisky Civet" as a civet, which is a relative of the mongoose. One strip became overwhelmingly popular, where he plays in front of a basket with a cobra inside. That strip was featured in a school review and became that school's #1 hit and had everyone laughing.
It wasn't until 1994 Brad was given a new "skin", and changed into this ungulate of the future. However, it hasn't taken away from the comics he did in the past. The original Brad the Frisky Civet series was saved by Dee Dee Rivera, and recovered again in 1993. However, the originals were lost again in an unfortunate flood that took place in 2000 in her home.
Brittney
First Appearance: 1999
Creator: Catherine Britton and Dee Dee Rivera
The only child to be used extensively in UMG stories. Britton first based this child on her own daughter, born in 1999, named Brittney. In the stories, Rosa is her mother. Brittney has been used in quite a few stories. The first of them was in 1999, and was sort of an experimental story where Brittney has problems with a bully. She has Davy to help her out however. After that story was began, but never yet completed, she made brief appearances. One of them was with Uncle Martin and the Gang in "The Race". She also appeared again with Davy in 1999, when he visits Mount St. Helens.
In 2002, Brittney starred in her own tale titled "I Like to Imagine" by Rivera. In this story, Brittney imagines herself doing and being all kinds of things, and lets her imagination wander a lot. Even in preschool. It became quite a popular story among readers, but is best suited for older preteens than young ones. In life, Brittney is not much different, and still likes to imagine things, as any child does.
Bucky
Species: Lemur
First Appearance: 1988
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Miss Rivera is a true lover and supporter of lemurs, and participates to an extent in lemur conservation. Her specialty is these unique primates when it comes to drawing. Bucky first appeared in an Uncle Martin and the Gang adventure in a very unique way. He was born into the gang. He was a youngster who lived with his family in a tree in the big woods. As his family went to forage, Bucky met up with "The Mad Anaconda" and was nearly crushed until Martin and Rosa saved him. That story however, never became that popular, and instead another depiction of his early life became more famous with readers, A Big World Out There. This story is available publicly and tells the story of his birth from the time his mother Brandie brings him home from the vet. He came of age within Martin's group and grew up in his clubhouse as a part of the gang. Later, in 1989, 6-week old Bucky appears with 6-month old Mushmouth for the very first time in Rooftop Basketball. From that moment on, Mushmouth and Bucky became inseparable buddies.
Bucky made extensive appearances, and even appeared as Robin when one author got the idea to do a UMG version of Batman! In 1996, Bucky took a long vacation, and did not return until he was revived in 2003. Bucky does become a member of Martin's group, but gets closer to Mushmouth than any other member of the gang. The name "Bucky" was acquired because at one point in his career this lemur had an overbite. But he was given a make-over in 1991, and the creator decided to make his bite normal again. However, the creator decided to keep the name "Bucky" for it's originality.
Cairo
Species: Lemur
First Appearance: 1997
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera and Cairo Smith
This character has made appearances briefly in several stories. His first appaerance being in the story "Gracie's Odessey", as a friend of Gracie's that lives in a zoo. Aside from that, most of his appearances have been cameo. But his biggest adventure was in 2001 when one of the authors did a final closing chapter of UMG's version of Batman. Cairo played Batman himself in this last story titled "The Hatter's Mad Caper". For a story that was riding on shirt tails of earlier versions, it was pretty popular among readers. It was a great way to end the series.
Cairo was created by Miss Rivera, inspired by her friend, who she named this character after. She wanted a big, tough creature to represent this rugged man she knew. So, she used one from her Metazoic site. Cairo is sometimes seen helping out Martin, but most of the time, he hangs with his friend, Gracie.
Candi
First Appearance: 1994
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Candi is a unique character. She was the first character that the creator based solely on herself. She even made her look like herself. Although the creator has put on some weight now, Candi remains the same as she was in the beginning. Her first appearance was in the story "Candi Meets Dian Fossey", where as the title implies, she meets Dian Fossey. The story was based on a dream Rivera had one autumn afternoon while taking a nap. It was from that character that Candi rose and evolved. Later that year, Candi meets up with Leopold, and she is apparently not interested in him as a boyfriend. Later though they eventually do get married. Candi does go through a name-change very briefly in 1998, when Rivera worked with Smith to come out with the story of INXS going to Mount St. Helens. That time, Rivera decided to use Candi, but at first, called her by her own name, DeeAnna. However, that did not work out too well, but it was kept in that story for it's originality. But any time Rivera wanted to depict herself in a story, she used Candi instead of herself. During the summer of 1998, Rivera lost a puppy that she loved dearly to parvo. With that, she wrote a combination diary-story with illustrations, following what happened with that pup day by day, as well as what happened after the puppy died. Rivera clearly remembers after losing her puppy to parvo in June of 1998, it was Tim Farriss and Michael Hutchence who actually made her laugh again. This is also depicted in the story. That story however, did not fill any needs in UMG Productions and was written mostly for the reason that Rivera wanted to give the story some closure. Though it is currently publicly available.
Candi actually has made many more appearances. One story that became somewhat famous, and one Rivera was sure Walt Disney Studios would love to have got their hands on, was a story called "The Pendant". In this story, Candi is back at Karisoke and walking through the woods and finds this little pendant that turns out to have magical powers. More than anything, Candi shares a lot of interests with the creator. Including, but not limited to, a love of dogs and INXS.
Caroline
Species: Lemur
First Appearance: 1979
Creator: Trisha Greenbush
This character first appeared in a story as a youngster with Katie the squirrel. When they are at a playground playing in a sand box, Katie finds a new toy and they take it home to play with it. Reginald is also in that story and sabotages the two of them to a point where it almost kills them. Caroline disappears briefly in 1980, seemingly replaced by Wolfie. However, she is revived again briefly late in 1981 in a story with Wolfie, where they take horse riding lessons together.
Caroline's peak comes however in 1983, when she discovers the Marx Brothers. Early in 1984, she appears in a hit story "Caroline Falls in Love" where she is battling a sore throat, but at the same time, her love for the Marx Brothers keeps her going, and looking foreword to the end of that week, where she awaits to see a movie and documentary of their's. The story was written by Katrina O'hara and is based on actual events that has happened in her life. The following month, a sequel was written to that story, also based on actual events. But instead of depicting people in the stories, O'hara uses animals. Caroline being one of them. Later that same month, when O'hara was home from school with a bad cold, she wrote another story, this time with Caroline interacting with the Marx Brothers. But that story was not at all successful. Caroline is still used to this day, but more sparsely than ever.
Bandit
Species: Pseudosim (Metazoic plant-eater)
First Appearance: 1978
Creator: Trisha Greenbush
The first of all the current line-up that is still running. Bandit has been the longest running character in UMG. She first appeared in a short story in 1978 as friends with a mouse and they go ice skating together on a frozen lake in the forest. The mouse turned out to be a very good ice skater, while Bandit had the worst trouble keeping her balance, and almost winds up going over a frozen waterfall when her Murine friend saves her.
After that first story, the mouse disappears and Bandit makes all new friends with other animals, and thus moves into a house where she and these friends of hers live for the entire "Bandit and Friends" series, which runs from 1980 to 1982.
Bert
Species: Antelope
First Appearance: 1989
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Bert first appeared as Martin's nephew in one of the Uncle Martin and the Gang stories. His first role was as a bratty youngster who begged for everything from Martin and his group and had a fit when he didn't get his way. He got his lumps at the end of the story when he meets up with a bigger, tougher guy who Bert learned is just like how he was with Martin and the Gang. Bert really only did a few appearances, but he was quite popular among the readers.
In 2000, Bert appeared once again in another Uncle Martin and the Gang adventure. This time, he is to run in a race with several other very fast animals, to win a $1000 prize for the gang to help make improvements to their clubhouse. However, he breaks his leg and has to have time to heal, and Martin and the others are afraid he would not mend in time for the big race.
This is the only major appearance Bert makes in UMG since his grand entrance in 1989. Other times, he was merely a stand-in. But still was very popular. He was created by Miss Rivera to fill a need. He was great for adding a bit of educational value to her stories because he was still young, and he learns as he goes along with Martin and his group.
Beth
First Appearance: 2002
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera and Cairo Smith
This character represents the other side of Miss Rivera. Whereas Candi was created when she was more fit and athletic, Beth represents the part of Rivera after she gained weight. After a surgery in 2004, Rivera began to put on weight and thus became very sub-conscious of herself. This was also when she began to learn the value of true friends, who would stand by her even if she put on weight. However, it was her step-sister Eva who stepped in and taught her how to put more pride in herself. Lisa also represents this part of her life, and Lisa becomes best friends with Beth.
Beth's first appearance was in a story with Lisa and Davy that centers around what true friendship is all about. Lisa meets up with a girl named Kellie and Kellie turns out to be nothing but trouble for Lisa. This character Kellie is based on a person Rivera happened to "meet" in an online pet forum who called herself "Kallie", and who turned out to be a spiteful, hateful person who did not like Rivera because she refused to steer her opinion and see things Kallie's way. So, Rivera created the character Kellie in honor of her, and gave this girl the same bad attitude. Beth also refused to see things the way Kellie did in the story, and stood by Lisa no matter what obstacles Kellie brought their way.
Bill
Species: Pteropod (Metazoic-style)
First Appearance: 1982 (citation needed)
Creator: Katrina O'hara
Bill first appeared as a member of Bandit's gang. Bill is always the more sensible member of the group, aside from Martin himself. He is sort of the peace-keeper in the group, whereas the others like to clown around and act silly. A character named Bill also first appeared in 1982 in a story about a dog who lives in a haunted house and is haunted by a bunch of ghost dogs. This story, created by Katrina O'hara, was not very popular and it is now unsure if there was some kind of connection between that character and this one. It is unlikely though, as the creators are very different people.
Outside of the typical Uncle Martin and the Gang stories, Bill is rarely seen.
Brad
Species: Boro (Metazoic ungulate)
First Appearance: 1982
Creator: Katrina O'hara
This character has gone through several changes. His first appearance was in a story set in a school yard. He becomes acknowledged by Jasper's nephew Andrew, who disappears after that first story. He and Brad are friends, but on a level bordering rivalry. Andrew is never seen again, but Brad goes on to stardom. He was not always the species he is in the pic above. He became quite a big hit in 1986 in the comic series "Brad the Frisky Civet" as a civet, which is a relative of the mongoose. One strip became overwhelmingly popular, where he plays in front of a basket with a cobra inside. That strip was featured in a school review and became that school's #1 hit and had everyone laughing.
It wasn't until 1994 Brad was given a new "skin", and changed into this ungulate of the future. However, it hasn't taken away from the comics he did in the past. The original Brad the Frisky Civet series was saved by Dee Dee Rivera, and recovered again in 1993. However, the originals were lost again in an unfortunate flood that took place in 2000 in her home.
Brittney
First Appearance: 1999
Creator: Catherine Britton and Dee Dee Rivera
The only child to be used extensively in UMG stories. Britton first based this child on her own daughter, born in 1999, named Brittney. In the stories, Rosa is her mother. Brittney has been used in quite a few stories. The first of them was in 1999, and was sort of an experimental story where Brittney has problems with a bully. She has Davy to help her out however. After that story was began, but never yet completed, she made brief appearances. One of them was with Uncle Martin and the Gang in "The Race". She also appeared again with Davy in 1999, when he visits Mount St. Helens.
In 2002, Brittney starred in her own tale titled "I Like to Imagine" by Rivera. In this story, Brittney imagines herself doing and being all kinds of things, and lets her imagination wander a lot. Even in preschool. It became quite a popular story among readers, but is best suited for older preteens than young ones. In life, Brittney is not much different, and still likes to imagine things, as any child does.
Bucky
Species: Lemur
First Appearance: 1988
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Miss Rivera is a true lover and supporter of lemurs, and participates to an extent in lemur conservation. Her specialty is these unique primates when it comes to drawing. Bucky first appeared in an Uncle Martin and the Gang adventure in a very unique way. He was born into the gang. He was a youngster who lived with his family in a tree in the big woods. As his family went to forage, Bucky met up with "The Mad Anaconda" and was nearly crushed until Martin and Rosa saved him. That story however, never became that popular, and instead another depiction of his early life became more famous with readers, A Big World Out There. This story is available publicly and tells the story of his birth from the time his mother Brandie brings him home from the vet. He came of age within Martin's group and grew up in his clubhouse as a part of the gang. Later, in 1989, 6-week old Bucky appears with 6-month old Mushmouth for the very first time in Rooftop Basketball. From that moment on, Mushmouth and Bucky became inseparable buddies.
Bucky made extensive appearances, and even appeared as Robin when one author got the idea to do a UMG version of Batman! In 1996, Bucky took a long vacation, and did not return until he was revived in 2003. Bucky does become a member of Martin's group, but gets closer to Mushmouth than any other member of the gang. The name "Bucky" was acquired because at one point in his career this lemur had an overbite. But he was given a make-over in 1991, and the creator decided to make his bite normal again. However, the creator decided to keep the name "Bucky" for it's originality.
Cairo
Species: Lemur
First Appearance: 1997
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera and Cairo Smith
This character has made appearances briefly in several stories. His first appaerance being in the story "Gracie's Odessey", as a friend of Gracie's that lives in a zoo. Aside from that, most of his appearances have been cameo. But his biggest adventure was in 2001 when one of the authors did a final closing chapter of UMG's version of Batman. Cairo played Batman himself in this last story titled "The Hatter's Mad Caper". For a story that was riding on shirt tails of earlier versions, it was pretty popular among readers. It was a great way to end the series.
Cairo was created by Miss Rivera, inspired by her friend, who she named this character after. She wanted a big, tough creature to represent this rugged man she knew. So, she used one from her Metazoic site. Cairo is sometimes seen helping out Martin, but most of the time, he hangs with his friend, Gracie.
Candi
First Appearance: 1994
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Candi is a unique character. She was the first character that the creator based solely on herself. She even made her look like herself. Although the creator has put on some weight now, Candi remains the same as she was in the beginning. Her first appearance was in the story "Candi Meets Dian Fossey", where as the title implies, she meets Dian Fossey. The story was based on a dream Rivera had one autumn afternoon while taking a nap. It was from that character that Candi rose and evolved. Later that year, Candi meets up with Leopold, and she is apparently not interested in him as a boyfriend. Later though they eventually do get married. Candi does go through a name-change very briefly in 1998, when Rivera worked with Smith to come out with the story of INXS going to Mount St. Helens. That time, Rivera decided to use Candi, but at first, called her by her own name, DeeAnna. However, that did not work out too well, but it was kept in that story for it's originality. But any time Rivera wanted to depict herself in a story, she used Candi instead of herself. During the summer of 1998, Rivera lost a puppy that she loved dearly to parvo. With that, she wrote a combination diary-story with illustrations, following what happened with that pup day by day, as well as what happened after the puppy died. Rivera clearly remembers after losing her puppy to parvo in June of 1998, it was Tim Farriss and Michael Hutchence who actually made her laugh again. This is also depicted in the story. That story however, did not fill any needs in UMG Productions and was written mostly for the reason that Rivera wanted to give the story some closure. Though it is currently publicly available.
Candi actually has made many more appearances. One story that became somewhat famous, and one Rivera was sure Walt Disney Studios would love to have got their hands on, was a story called "The Pendant". In this story, Candi is back at Karisoke and walking through the woods and finds this little pendant that turns out to have magical powers. More than anything, Candi shares a lot of interests with the creator. Including, but not limited to, a love of dogs and INXS.
Caroline
Species: Lemur
First Appearance: 1979
Creator: Trisha Greenbush
This character first appeared in a story as a youngster with Katie the squirrel. When they are at a playground playing in a sand box, Katie finds a new toy and they take it home to play with it. Reginald is also in that story and sabotages the two of them to a point where it almost kills them. Caroline disappears briefly in 1980, seemingly replaced by Wolfie. However, she is revived again briefly late in 1981 in a story with Wolfie, where they take horse riding lessons together.
Caroline's peak comes however in 1983, when she discovers the Marx Brothers. Early in 1984, she appears in a hit story "Caroline Falls in Love" where she is battling a sore throat, but at the same time, her love for the Marx Brothers keeps her going, and looking foreword to the end of that week, where she awaits to see a movie and documentary of their's. The story was written by Katrina O'hara and is based on actual events that has happened in her life. The following month, a sequel was written to that story, also based on actual events. But instead of depicting people in the stories, O'hara uses animals. Caroline being one of them. Later that same month, when O'hara was home from school with a bad cold, she wrote another story, this time with Caroline interacting with the Marx Brothers. But that story was not at all successful. Caroline is still used to this day, but more sparsely than ever.
Chantelle
Species: Linsang (Metazoic-style)
First Appearance: 2024
Creator: JiaLing Ho
This is Leticia's "pretty-in-pink" sister, who comes from the same litter of orphaned linsangs in 2025. Her main characteristic is she always dresses in pink. She is also the more modern version of "Ask Annabel". She lives in the basement of the big tree in Uncle Martin's back yard, where she runs a switchboard, and takes questions from callers. She also likes playing games with her sister, Leticia, and Diana and another new friend, Jia Ling.
Davy
Species: Tamanoa (futuristic carnivore)
First Appearance: 1998
Creator: Cairo Smith and Dee Dee Rivera
Davy first made his debut late in 1997, in the story "Gracie's Odessey" as a baby born to a tamanoa doe, named Gracie, in a small, privately-owned zoo in New Zealand. The story was written after a very sad time. Miss Rivera had just learned about the death of INXS's lead singer, Michael Hutchence, and was very melancholy because of that. It was these factors and Rivera's love for INXS that inspired Smith to write that story. Every aspect in the story has symbolism of one kind or another. There are actually 2 versions of the same story. In the original 1998 version, Davy grows up in a small zoo in Sydney, and later is moved to a home for wild animals in Toutle, WA. In a second version created in 1999, and perfected in 2013, he is still a baby when he meets Lisa, whose father gives Davy to her as a birthday gift when she turns 15. Davy, teamed up with Lisa, has made appearances in several other stories as well, some of which have also included Uncle Martin and his gang.
Diana
Species: Mongoose
First Appearance: 1986
Creator: Katrina O'Hara
O'Hara always had a fascination for baby animals. So, she created this mongoose character (which later was revised by Rivera's Metazoica collection) and revolved a story around her in 1986, several months before she passed on. It was tough at first, as the only mongoose character to exist before Diana was Rikki Tikki Tavi, which caused some scrutiny from readers to her first story, who seemed to expect any story with a mongoose character had to have been taken from Rikki Tikki Tavi. Diana first appeared in a story titled "The Mischievous Mongoose". She appeared as a baby mongoose, the sole survivor after her mother was shot by a hunter. She later gets shipped by accident to the states where she becomes friends with Katie, the squirrel and Jasper, the lemur. Like many stories, this one had been written many times, and as expected, original readers figured it was taken after Rikki Tikki because of the species and original location, and the fact no one else had a mongoose in a story before. That is until in 1994, when Dee Dee Rivera created Metazoica. On her list is a 20-foot long mongoose, not like any you will see today, which would reside in South America after man. In 2005, the story was finally perfected by Dee Dee Rivera, with permission from O'hara's family. O'Hara named her character Diana after the goddess of the hunt, as mongooses are skilled and fierce hunters.
O'Hara had as much a fascination for mongooses as Rivera has for lemurs. Diana has been kept alive even after O'Hara has passed by the current authors. Britton especially has rebooted her character and gave her more of a profile that would please the younger generation, rather than the fierce hunter she started out to be in "The Mischievous Mongoose".
Eva
Species: Lemur
First Appearance: 1993
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera and Catherine Britton
This character actually first appeared as a baby being born in a 1992 story. It was UMG's own version of Batman. In UMG's version, animals are used instead of people, and it was a volume where Batman was battling the Riddler and Catwoman. Catwoman actually had this baby with the Riddler while they were collaborating together, who later turned out to be Eva.
Eva's first major presentation came in 1993 as the sexy, sassy daughter of the Riddler, and like him, used riddles to promote the crimes she was about to commit. She inherited her father's wit and cunning. But that was the last crime she committed. In 1995, she made a brief appearance in the mini-series "Can We Join Your Gang?" Then she disappeared for a while. She reappeared again later in 2001 and completely shed her past. She completely lost her criminal tendencies and took over a part of Martin's group. She is still witty, but more loving. Eva's current character parallels that of Miss Rivera's own character in many ways. Eva was named after Rivera's step-sister. Both are tough and unyielding and at the same time, quite witty.
Genny
Species: Genet
First Appearance: 1988
Creator: Catherine Britton
Truly UMG's own sex icon, Genny is probably one of the most easy to relate to characters in our line-up. The head of a genet on a body reminiscent of Angelina Jolie, Genny has met appeal by all who get to know her. She first appears in a story titled How Martin Met Genny, from 1988, as a singer who stops at Sydney's Opera House on a tour. Martin tries to welcome her and quite by accident, gets fresh with her. She wasn't interested in him at that point, but as time progresses, she eventually falls in love with him.
The real fun with Genny is when she enters beauty contests, that Martin himself is judging. Genny has a long, sexy, and very exciting career in UMG and is depicted in many of our stories, especially in the early 90s. She even teams up with Eva at one point, and was even victimized by her as well in 2002, when a recreation of Batman Battles The Daughter of the Riddler (originally from 1993) was written. Genny started off as a human named Florence in mid-1988, but didn't work out that way. It wasn't until later in the year she was changed into a genet, that is an actress and singer. And that was how she and Martin met. She was an instant success. In 2000, Rivera worked with Genny and made her use less wiles to get her way, and made her much more conservative.
Gracie
Species: Tamanoa (futuristic carnivore)
First Appearance: 1996
Creator: Cairo Smith
Gracie first appears as a sidekick for Mr. B, in the era after Uncle Martin and the Gang return to their own from Sadie's club. A year later, she appears in Gracie's Odyssey, which is actually supposed to be set in the 21st century, as a young doe in a zoo who has just given birth to fawns. One of them turns out to be Davy, who goes his own way after being separated from her while he's still a baby. Smith is a very close friend to Rivera and has been known to base some of his ideas on her thoughts and feelings she has discussed with him. Most protrusively, Rivera's feelings for the rock band INXS. Gracie even appears in a few small, experimental stories also based on Rivera's feelings for the band. Gracie is also in another story as Michael's constant companion in "INXS Goes to Mount St. Helens" when the band actually makes an appearance and visits one of the few houses left standing near the mountain. After Smith wrote his few contributions to UMG Productions, he discovered he was not fit to write stories and went back to writing what he enjoys more; poetry.
Gracie does actively show love for INXS in the stories, though it's more symbolically there than visually. Gracie does not become as big in UMG stories as Davy does, but she was still quite extensively used in stories of her day.
Kathy
Species: gray kangaroo
First Appearance: 1994
Creator: Cathy Britton
Kathy is the smart one in the group. She made her first appearance in a story titled “The Spring Trip”, where her friend Stanley (son of Mr. B) was going on a trip with a class. From this point on, Kathy would become the wise one, but also a bit of a screwball. Later on in her career, she would help out Uncle Martin with his gang, and become closest with Lamont, one of Uncle Martin’s gang members.
Kathy was created by the author in our group of the same name, but different spelling. Whereas Kathy the kangaroo’s name begins with a K, Cathy Britton’s name begins with a C, and as a child she said she always wanted her name to begin with a K. She really doesn’t know why she craved this luxury now that she is grown up. Kathy the kangaroo has not really been used in any UMG stories since 2000. Her last appearance was in a story from 2007, where Uncle Martin is impeached from his gang.
Katrina
Species: Tamanoa (futuristic carnivore)
First Appearance: 1999
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Katrina first appeared in a small story, not exactly meant for anything more than to introduce her to the UMG line-up. However, the story became quite a hit. The story is about a lonely hermit who is living in a shack and is cold and hungry and decides to go hunting. Katrina turned out to be his game. Katrina brings a sense of humor and wit to UMG stories that is reminiscent of Bugs Bunny in the 1940s. In fact, the authors who have used Katrina in their own stories had got their inspiration from other animation geniuses from Tex Avery to Mike Judge.
Being a versatile animal, Katrina is capable of all kinds of roles, from forest-dweller to runner and leaper on the ground. This does not take away from the wittiness she brings to UMG stories. She is sometimes seen with a friend named Elmer, who has made one major appearance in the 2005 story of "INXS Goes to Mount St. Helens". He appeared in that story without Katrina. Aside from that, he has only made very brief appearances, and usually with Katrina. Miss Rivera named Katrina after her own baby sister, who is also very witty and intelligent, and is a living Bugs Bunny cartoon.
As of 2017, Katrina has had her own on-going video series called Katrina Hates You, where she boldly and candidly exposes things she does not like.
Lamont
Species: sifaka
First Appearance: 1988.
Creator: Cathy Britton and Dee Dee Rivera
Created by Cathy Britton as an independent character, starring in some of his own stories before. Sometimes merging with Uncle Martin and his gang, back when they were just beginning to come together as a gang. But he didn’t become a full-fledged member until November of 1988, when some of the very first prototype stories of Uncle Martin and the Gang emerged.
Many stories were created with this character, most of them were stories with Martin and the Gang. But he also appeared as the co-star in a very short-running comic strip called “Digit”, alongside a cartoon version of Dian Fossey and her mountain gorilla friend Digit. His most recent story was in 2007, with the gang, in a story titled “Uncle Martin is Impeached”.
Leopold
First Appearance: 1995
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Leopold first appeared in a story created by Rivera titled "Return to Karisoke", which was a sequel to the story "Candi Meets Dian Fossey". Leopold turned out to be in love with Candi and wanted to become her steady boyfriend. But in this story, Candi was a dedicated worker for the camp and had no interest in Leopold except as a worker cutting traps and snares. A year later, Candi and Leopold do actually get married. At one point it was thought that they should have a child together but that idea fell completely through.
Candi does not have Leopold all to herself. Another woman, named Stacy, is also interested in him. Stacy becomes a major rival for Candi. Rivera based Leopold on a man that she met at a rest stop in 1993 and she fell in love with him. But all she had of him was his first name, which was actually Dave, not Leopold. But because of Davy being in her stories at that time, she could not name this man that. So, she named him Leopold, which was a very unusual name that she thought of, meaning a bold and strong man. And that was exactly what this man Dave was to Rivera. He helped her out in more ways than she expected. But especially helped her out by fixing her car when it broke down.
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| Davy as an adult. |
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| Davy as a 1 month old fawn. |
Species: Tamanoa (futuristic carnivore)
First Appearance: 1998
Creator: Cairo Smith and Dee Dee Rivera
Davy first made his debut late in 1997, in the story "Gracie's Odessey" as a baby born to a tamanoa doe, named Gracie, in a small, privately-owned zoo in New Zealand. The story was written after a very sad time. Miss Rivera had just learned about the death of INXS's lead singer, Michael Hutchence, and was very melancholy because of that. It was these factors and Rivera's love for INXS that inspired Smith to write that story. Every aspect in the story has symbolism of one kind or another. There are actually 2 versions of the same story. In the original 1998 version, Davy grows up in a small zoo in Sydney, and later is moved to a home for wild animals in Toutle, WA. In a second version created in 1999, and perfected in 2013, he is still a baby when he meets Lisa, whose father gives Davy to her as a birthday gift when she turns 15. Davy, teamed up with Lisa, has made appearances in several other stories as well, some of which have also included Uncle Martin and his gang.
Diana
Species: Mongoose
First Appearance: 1986
Creator: Katrina O'Hara
O'Hara always had a fascination for baby animals. So, she created this mongoose character (which later was revised by Rivera's Metazoica collection) and revolved a story around her in 1986, several months before she passed on. It was tough at first, as the only mongoose character to exist before Diana was Rikki Tikki Tavi, which caused some scrutiny from readers to her first story, who seemed to expect any story with a mongoose character had to have been taken from Rikki Tikki Tavi. Diana first appeared in a story titled "The Mischievous Mongoose". She appeared as a baby mongoose, the sole survivor after her mother was shot by a hunter. She later gets shipped by accident to the states where she becomes friends with Katie, the squirrel and Jasper, the lemur. Like many stories, this one had been written many times, and as expected, original readers figured it was taken after Rikki Tikki because of the species and original location, and the fact no one else had a mongoose in a story before. That is until in 1994, when Dee Dee Rivera created Metazoica. On her list is a 20-foot long mongoose, not like any you will see today, which would reside in South America after man. In 2005, the story was finally perfected by Dee Dee Rivera, with permission from O'hara's family. O'Hara named her character Diana after the goddess of the hunt, as mongooses are skilled and fierce hunters.
O'Hara had as much a fascination for mongooses as Rivera has for lemurs. Diana has been kept alive even after O'Hara has passed by the current authors. Britton especially has rebooted her character and gave her more of a profile that would please the younger generation, rather than the fierce hunter she started out to be in "The Mischievous Mongoose".
Eva
Species: Lemur
First Appearance: 1993
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera and Catherine Britton
This character actually first appeared as a baby being born in a 1992 story. It was UMG's own version of Batman. In UMG's version, animals are used instead of people, and it was a volume where Batman was battling the Riddler and Catwoman. Catwoman actually had this baby with the Riddler while they were collaborating together, who later turned out to be Eva.
Eva's first major presentation came in 1993 as the sexy, sassy daughter of the Riddler, and like him, used riddles to promote the crimes she was about to commit. She inherited her father's wit and cunning. But that was the last crime she committed. In 1995, she made a brief appearance in the mini-series "Can We Join Your Gang?" Then she disappeared for a while. She reappeared again later in 2001 and completely shed her past. She completely lost her criminal tendencies and took over a part of Martin's group. She is still witty, but more loving. Eva's current character parallels that of Miss Rivera's own character in many ways. Eva was named after Rivera's step-sister. Both are tough and unyielding and at the same time, quite witty.
Genny
Species: Genet
First Appearance: 1988
Creator: Catherine Britton
Truly UMG's own sex icon, Genny is probably one of the most easy to relate to characters in our line-up. The head of a genet on a body reminiscent of Angelina Jolie, Genny has met appeal by all who get to know her. She first appears in a story titled How Martin Met Genny, from 1988, as a singer who stops at Sydney's Opera House on a tour. Martin tries to welcome her and quite by accident, gets fresh with her. She wasn't interested in him at that point, but as time progresses, she eventually falls in love with him.
The real fun with Genny is when she enters beauty contests, that Martin himself is judging. Genny has a long, sexy, and very exciting career in UMG and is depicted in many of our stories, especially in the early 90s. She even teams up with Eva at one point, and was even victimized by her as well in 2002, when a recreation of Batman Battles The Daughter of the Riddler (originally from 1993) was written. Genny started off as a human named Florence in mid-1988, but didn't work out that way. It wasn't until later in the year she was changed into a genet, that is an actress and singer. And that was how she and Martin met. She was an instant success. In 2000, Rivera worked with Genny and made her use less wiles to get her way, and made her much more conservative.
Gracie
Species: Tamanoa (futuristic carnivore)
First Appearance: 1996
Creator: Cairo Smith
Gracie first appears as a sidekick for Mr. B, in the era after Uncle Martin and the Gang return to their own from Sadie's club. A year later, she appears in Gracie's Odyssey, which is actually supposed to be set in the 21st century, as a young doe in a zoo who has just given birth to fawns. One of them turns out to be Davy, who goes his own way after being separated from her while he's still a baby. Smith is a very close friend to Rivera and has been known to base some of his ideas on her thoughts and feelings she has discussed with him. Most protrusively, Rivera's feelings for the rock band INXS. Gracie even appears in a few small, experimental stories also based on Rivera's feelings for the band. Gracie is also in another story as Michael's constant companion in "INXS Goes to Mount St. Helens" when the band actually makes an appearance and visits one of the few houses left standing near the mountain. After Smith wrote his few contributions to UMG Productions, he discovered he was not fit to write stories and went back to writing what he enjoys more; poetry.
Gracie does actively show love for INXS in the stories, though it's more symbolically there than visually. Gracie does not become as big in UMG stories as Davy does, but she was still quite extensively used in stories of her day.
Kathy
Species: gray kangaroo
First Appearance: 1994
Creator: Cathy Britton
Kathy is the smart one in the group. She made her first appearance in a story titled “The Spring Trip”, where her friend Stanley (son of Mr. B) was going on a trip with a class. From this point on, Kathy would become the wise one, but also a bit of a screwball. Later on in her career, she would help out Uncle Martin with his gang, and become closest with Lamont, one of Uncle Martin’s gang members.
Kathy was created by the author in our group of the same name, but different spelling. Whereas Kathy the kangaroo’s name begins with a K, Cathy Britton’s name begins with a C, and as a child she said she always wanted her name to begin with a K. She really doesn’t know why she craved this luxury now that she is grown up. Kathy the kangaroo has not really been used in any UMG stories since 2000. Her last appearance was in a story from 2007, where Uncle Martin is impeached from his gang.
Species: Tamanoa (futuristic carnivore)
First Appearance: 1999
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Katrina first appeared in a small story, not exactly meant for anything more than to introduce her to the UMG line-up. However, the story became quite a hit. The story is about a lonely hermit who is living in a shack and is cold and hungry and decides to go hunting. Katrina turned out to be his game. Katrina brings a sense of humor and wit to UMG stories that is reminiscent of Bugs Bunny in the 1940s. In fact, the authors who have used Katrina in their own stories had got their inspiration from other animation geniuses from Tex Avery to Mike Judge.
Being a versatile animal, Katrina is capable of all kinds of roles, from forest-dweller to runner and leaper on the ground. This does not take away from the wittiness she brings to UMG stories. She is sometimes seen with a friend named Elmer, who has made one major appearance in the 2005 story of "INXS Goes to Mount St. Helens". He appeared in that story without Katrina. Aside from that, he has only made very brief appearances, and usually with Katrina. Miss Rivera named Katrina after her own baby sister, who is also very witty and intelligent, and is a living Bugs Bunny cartoon.
As of 2017, Katrina has had her own on-going video series called Katrina Hates You, where she boldly and candidly exposes things she does not like.
Lamont
Species: sifaka
First Appearance: 1988.
Creator: Cathy Britton and Dee Dee Rivera
Created by Cathy Britton as an independent character, starring in some of his own stories before. Sometimes merging with Uncle Martin and his gang, back when they were just beginning to come together as a gang. But he didn’t become a full-fledged member until November of 1988, when some of the very first prototype stories of Uncle Martin and the Gang emerged.
Many stories were created with this character, most of them were stories with Martin and the Gang. But he also appeared as the co-star in a very short-running comic strip called “Digit”, alongside a cartoon version of Dian Fossey and her mountain gorilla friend Digit. His most recent story was in 2007, with the gang, in a story titled “Uncle Martin is Impeached”.
Leopold
First Appearance: 1995
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Leopold first appeared in a story created by Rivera titled "Return to Karisoke", which was a sequel to the story "Candi Meets Dian Fossey". Leopold turned out to be in love with Candi and wanted to become her steady boyfriend. But in this story, Candi was a dedicated worker for the camp and had no interest in Leopold except as a worker cutting traps and snares. A year later, Candi and Leopold do actually get married. At one point it was thought that they should have a child together but that idea fell completely through.
Candi does not have Leopold all to herself. Another woman, named Stacy, is also interested in him. Stacy becomes a major rival for Candi. Rivera based Leopold on a man that she met at a rest stop in 1993 and she fell in love with him. But all she had of him was his first name, which was actually Dave, not Leopold. But because of Davy being in her stories at that time, she could not name this man that. So, she named him Leopold, which was a very unusual name that she thought of, meaning a bold and strong man. And that was exactly what this man Dave was to Rivera. He helped her out in more ways than she expected. But especially helped her out by fixing her car when it broke down.
Species: Linsang (Metazoic-style)
First Appearance: 2024
Creator: JiaLing Ho
Leticia is less flashy than her sister Chantelle. But they are both from the same litter, who were abandoned by their mother in 2025. She and her sister move into the big tree in Uncle Martin's backyard. Leticia lives upstairs, while her sister lives downstairs. Leticia is mostly seen playing with her best friend Jia Ling, the civet, and sometimes Diana. Occasionally she goes downstairs to the basement to play games with Chantelle. She has a bit of magical powers to make the sick feel better and the sad feel happy. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.
Lisa
First Appearance: 1999
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Lisa is also a character that Miss Rivera bases on herself. Lisa represents the side of Rivera that never grew up. It shows in every story she writes and also in showing love for her favorite band, INXS. Lisa's stories are always set in a post-respective way, that is they are stories that take place in the future. For example, the story Gracie's Odyssey was set in the year 2013, even though the story it's self was first written in 1997, and revised in 1999. It was then that Lisa came onto the scene. She has sparked well with Davy ever since.
Lisa is a young teenager who acquires Davy after her father buys him from the zoo. She first appears in the revised version of "Gracie's Odyssey". The original revised version, which was submitted in July of 1998, also depicted Lisa in an all-too fancy way, as a young princess who received the baby fawn as just a gift. At that time Rivera, who aided in creating the revised version of the story, thought that portion up in a dream she had, and later felt she had seen the movie "Titanic" far too much. Because this revision was too fancy. It gave more of a feel like Titanic meets Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Cairo Smith agreed with her. So, the idea was dropped. Rivera decided to try again in March of 1999 and toned Lisa down to just a plain teenager, living with her father in a mansion placed up on a hill above the zoo Davy came from. Lisa is often seen with some of her high school friends. Among them are Beth and another girl named Christy. Beth however turns out to be her very best friend, aside from Davy.
Martin
Species: Lemur
First Appearance: 1986
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Known also as "Uncle Martin". The all-over versatile character in our line-up. Martin's first appearance was made in 1986 born to Jasper and his wife. After Martin arrived, Jasper began making fewer appearances in the stories. It was as if Martin lifted a burden off of him. Then late in 1988, Martin formed his own "gang", and this set the way to a series of stories with him, Brad, Bill, Tim and several other characters. Many do not appear in the original line-up, but are added as the years go on.
Martin is UMG's own playboy. He likes to flirt with the opposite sex. His flirting is part of what made Genny very big in UMG's stories. Especially after they become steady boyfriend-girlfriend. The entire Uncle Martin and the Gang series first began lightly in 1988, and is still running today. But their peak period was in 1989, after Davy and Bucky joined in. It was then the series took on major production. Rivera remembers printing her first series in a printing shop she worked at around Christmas of 1989. She made a dozen copies of the stories she had worked on for several months that year. She had them bound and passed them out to friends and family that year for Christmas.
Mushmouth
Species: Deinognathus (Metazoic carnivorous ungulate)
First Appearance: 1988
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Though Uncle Martin has had his "gang" since early in 1988, Mushmouth did not come along until late that year. He went through several character changes, based on his name. He first appeared as an elephant seal, but only in one story. That idea was quickly dropped and he was then changed into a lemur, and was like that until 1994, when Dee Dee Rivera worked on her Metazoic checklist. She felt this giant carnivorous ungulate, called Deinognathus, would best fit the bill, because it presents a bit of a floppy jaw, somewhat like an elephant seal, though more camel-like than seal-like. His first story appearance was in a story titled "Rooftop Basketball", where he is a youngster, playing basketball with Bucky, who was too young to even talk, on a neighbor's roof top. From that point on, he was a regular in every story where Martin made an appearance. Mushmouth became UMG's own version of the "all-American boy", and was seen doing stunts in the earlier series that Martin had to always pull him out of. Mushmouth thus became one of the most popular members of Uncle Martin's gang. Ms. Rivera also had him take her own place in several stories that were based on some actual events, as in the story "Dead End Job", where Mushmouth becomes the very first victim of Stacy, who later scorns Candi and Leopold. Mushmouth's last appearance was in a story from 1996 titled "The Kidnappers", where he rescues Rosa from hoodlums who try to kidnap her. After that, Mushmouth took an extended break. But in 2012, there was a motion to try and revive him into the stories again.
Odel
Species: Wallaby
First Appearance: 1992
Creator: Catherine Britton
Odel's success first came when UMG did their own version of Batman. He played the major arch-enemy the Joker briefly. Then he was smiling from ear to ear. In a later version of the same story, Odel was dropped and a nutty squirrel was used, as a pun for being the "nuttiest" of the criminals. Odel was toned down and made into a much more innocent character. He came along in the later Uncle Martin and the Gang series as a member of his group, but in 1995, broke away and created his own little gang with another former member of Uncle Martin's gang, named Swen.
With Swen, Odel wanted to make himself a sort of "schoolhouse" gang. He then met Rudolph. Rudolph was the muscle that Odel wanted in his gang. But Rudolph wanted nothing to do with him or Swen, who he regarded as too weak to join his gang. In one story in 1995, Rudolph does lead Odel on to believe there is a way for them to "hang with him", by stealing 2 saloon girls. In the process, Odel gets beat up however. In 2007, Odel once again returns to Uncle Martin's gang in the story "Uncle Martin is Impeached", even though that same year, he is still seen with Swen in Cafeteria Wreck.
Pablo
Species: Possum (Metazoic-style)
First Appearance: 1991
Creator: Catherine Britton
Pablo only appears scarcely in UMG stories. His first appearance was as a youngster who has strayed away from his herd. He gets adopted by Diana who at first tries for days to find his herd, but has no luck. Originally, he had a sister that also strayed away with him and was also adopted by Diana. However, she was only in that first story in mid-1991, and never seen after that. Pablo however goes on to live with Martin and his gang in their clubhouse. He becomes a part of their gang in 1993, but at that time, few stories were written in that series.
His latest story was written in 2015, as a sort-of recreation/completion of the story where he grows up with his "sister", a border collie named Lady. This story was actually begun in 1991, but remained unfinished until 2015, when Dee Dee Rivera collaborated with the clever F. M. Clark, and finished the story.
Reginald
Species: Rat (Metazoic-style)
First Appearance: 1979
Creator: Trisha Greenbush
Reginald was created by Greenbush, who created him in light of her own younger brother, with the same name. Reginald in the stories likes to pull pranks on others. Reginald actually made a much earlier appearance in a story Greenbush created in 1974, when she was 10. But the story was not brought to UMG Productions when Greenbush founded the group. But even at that time, Reginald was still causing trouble and playing pranks on others. She used to say that the character Reginald's antics were inspired by actual events that happened with her brother whenever he would play pranks on people.
Reginald became a major part of the Bandit and Friends series, and was portrayed as Bandit's younger brother. He made numerous appearances from 1979 to 1982, and then was given something of a break. He bounced back in 1989 when the original story from 1979 was once again revived as a chapter in a UMG collection book. After that, he became somewhat popular again, and started making appearances once again. In one volume from 1993, Reginald and a friend were depicted as bad guys and holds up the evil squirrel who portrayed the Joker in UMG's own version of Batman, written by Catherine Britton. That however was the last story Reginald appeared in until 2006 when one more story was created for Bandit and Friends by Greenbush. Greenbush had thought about starting the series over again and as of December of 2006, is working on more and more ideas for stories she can put out.
Rosa
First Appearance: 1985
Creator: Katrina O'hara
Rosa first started off as a sexy horse in a story that became somewhat popular. It was titled "A Night at the Opera". The title was like that of the Marx Brothers movie of the same name, but that's just about as far as it went. The story is more like one would expect a drive-in movie to be like rather than an opera. These characters in the story though had the same names as the characters in the original 1935 movie. Rosa was one of them, and she is in love with a boy named Ricky. But Mr. Driftwood and Mrs. Claypool and all the others were missing from the story. Instead, they were led around by Jasper, Katie and some of their friends, who all work together to try and get Rosa and Ricky together.
Rosa and Ricky make one more appearance in another story together written by O'hara in 1986 titled "The Journey to the End of the Earth", which takes place in an old western saloon town. In the end, Rosa and Ricky fall in love and are seen running off into the sunset. Ricky however never returns. Rosa does return, but as a human. Originally submitted as an idea for a story with Jasper by Britton later in 1986, Rosa as a human worked out every bit as well as Rosa the horse. In this first story, Rosa meets Jasper on a trip home from college. Jasper in the story fathers Martin, who is just a baby, and Rosa keeps Martin as a pet. She never gets another boyfriend, but in 1999, she does have a baby that turns out to be Brittney. Rosa has been used a lot less since she was given a break after a series run with Mushmouth in 1995, but has played the part of Brittney's mom in I Like To Imagine, in 2002, and Brittney's New Pet, in 2007.
Rudolf
Species: Fossa (Metazoic-style)
First Appearance: 1995
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
At first, the creator wanted to use a tough, but lovable animal, and the fossa of Madagascar came to mind, but it is not big enough. It is cute enough however. But the Metazoic version of this animal is definitely big and tough enough. So it was settled on this. Rudolf is the tough guy of UMG. Rivera first got the idea for Rudolf from a boy that she knew in middle school, who was well known in a 5-mile radius from her neighborhood for causing all kinds of trouble for everybody including his school teachers.
Rudolf is the guy that nobody wants to deal with, and in the stories he is in, is not usually suitable for small children. His usual companions is Odel and his buddy Swen. However, they are not wanted companions. They just want to hang-out with him. But Rudolf feels they are not good enough to hang out with and simply pests, so he generally turns them in the opposite direction. Rudolf is not depicted as a criminal, but he is definitely tough, and adds the "tough-guy" factor to his stories. In 2001, Rudolf appeared as one of the accomplices for the Mad Hatter in the most recent version of UMG's Batman series titled "The Hatter's Mad Caper", where he helps the Mad Hatter capture Batman.
Stacy
First Appearance: 1995
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Stacy is unique in that she is derived from a real person, but not someone that the creator knows very well. Rivera got the idea for Stacy after working at the local fair when it came to town. She got a job with them that she really did not want: rides and concessions. The supervisor was also the daughter of the man who owned the company that set up the rides and concession stands, so even though the supervisor was in her 30s, she was an immature brat who hated the workers and treated them like slaves and she owned them. Rivera caught on to that immediately and spoke out against it. One day, after a quite heated debate between Rivera and the supervisor, Rivera was finally, and to her relief, released from that job. But she was not finished with that supervisor yet.
Stacy's very first appearance was in a story-diary combination titled Dead End Job, where Rivera depicts what took place on the day she was relieved of that job at the fair, only with Mushmouth instead of herself dealing with Stacy. After that, Stacy is mostly seen in the stories with Candi and Leopold, and is always conflicting with Candi. The two are endlessly at war. One of the reasons is because Leopold is also a friend of Stacy's in the stories, but Candi cannot stand Stacy at all. Not even as a friend of Leopold's. The real drama took place in the 1997 story The Wedding, when Candi finds out Leopold had a one-night stand with Stacy, and just before their wedding day. Candi finds Stacy and pushes her in a pile of horse manure. After that, Stacy is never seen again, and leaves Leopold well alone.
Tim
Species: Gigantelope
First Appearance: 1983
Creator: Katrina O'hara
In the beginning, this character was first met by Jasper in the haunted house series. After that, his appearances were few and rather far between, until 1985. That year, O'hara featured him in a coming-of-age story where Jasper is his babysitter. In the beginning of the story, Jasper has the baby under him and disappears before his eyes. The confused youngster looks for him and Jasper all of a sudden reappears behind him. It is one of the cutest moments in UMG history, and for that he became quite popular among readers.
His biggest presentation was as one of the first members of Uncle Martin's gang. In fact, he helps Martin build the clubhouse. This was to find a use for this character after the death of Katrina O'hara. The remaining authors wanted to keep some of her creations going, including this one. It is now uncertain exactly how he came into being. O'hara once stated he has always been a part of her line-up. He just didn't appear in any stories until the first one with Jasper in the haunted house in early 1983.
Lisa
First Appearance: 1999
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Lisa is also a character that Miss Rivera bases on herself. Lisa represents the side of Rivera that never grew up. It shows in every story she writes and also in showing love for her favorite band, INXS. Lisa's stories are always set in a post-respective way, that is they are stories that take place in the future. For example, the story Gracie's Odyssey was set in the year 2013, even though the story it's self was first written in 1997, and revised in 1999. It was then that Lisa came onto the scene. She has sparked well with Davy ever since.
Lisa is a young teenager who acquires Davy after her father buys him from the zoo. She first appears in the revised version of "Gracie's Odyssey". The original revised version, which was submitted in July of 1998, also depicted Lisa in an all-too fancy way, as a young princess who received the baby fawn as just a gift. At that time Rivera, who aided in creating the revised version of the story, thought that portion up in a dream she had, and later felt she had seen the movie "Titanic" far too much. Because this revision was too fancy. It gave more of a feel like Titanic meets Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Cairo Smith agreed with her. So, the idea was dropped. Rivera decided to try again in March of 1999 and toned Lisa down to just a plain teenager, living with her father in a mansion placed up on a hill above the zoo Davy came from. Lisa is often seen with some of her high school friends. Among them are Beth and another girl named Christy. Beth however turns out to be her very best friend, aside from Davy.
Martin
Species: Lemur
First Appearance: 1986
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Known also as "Uncle Martin". The all-over versatile character in our line-up. Martin's first appearance was made in 1986 born to Jasper and his wife. After Martin arrived, Jasper began making fewer appearances in the stories. It was as if Martin lifted a burden off of him. Then late in 1988, Martin formed his own "gang", and this set the way to a series of stories with him, Brad, Bill, Tim and several other characters. Many do not appear in the original line-up, but are added as the years go on.
Martin is UMG's own playboy. He likes to flirt with the opposite sex. His flirting is part of what made Genny very big in UMG's stories. Especially after they become steady boyfriend-girlfriend. The entire Uncle Martin and the Gang series first began lightly in 1988, and is still running today. But their peak period was in 1989, after Davy and Bucky joined in. It was then the series took on major production. Rivera remembers printing her first series in a printing shop she worked at around Christmas of 1989. She made a dozen copies of the stories she had worked on for several months that year. She had them bound and passed them out to friends and family that year for Christmas.
Mushmouth
Species: Deinognathus (Metazoic carnivorous ungulate)
First Appearance: 1988
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Though Uncle Martin has had his "gang" since early in 1988, Mushmouth did not come along until late that year. He went through several character changes, based on his name. He first appeared as an elephant seal, but only in one story. That idea was quickly dropped and he was then changed into a lemur, and was like that until 1994, when Dee Dee Rivera worked on her Metazoic checklist. She felt this giant carnivorous ungulate, called Deinognathus, would best fit the bill, because it presents a bit of a floppy jaw, somewhat like an elephant seal, though more camel-like than seal-like. His first story appearance was in a story titled "Rooftop Basketball", where he is a youngster, playing basketball with Bucky, who was too young to even talk, on a neighbor's roof top. From that point on, he was a regular in every story where Martin made an appearance. Mushmouth became UMG's own version of the "all-American boy", and was seen doing stunts in the earlier series that Martin had to always pull him out of. Mushmouth thus became one of the most popular members of Uncle Martin's gang. Ms. Rivera also had him take her own place in several stories that were based on some actual events, as in the story "Dead End Job", where Mushmouth becomes the very first victim of Stacy, who later scorns Candi and Leopold. Mushmouth's last appearance was in a story from 1996 titled "The Kidnappers", where he rescues Rosa from hoodlums who try to kidnap her. After that, Mushmouth took an extended break. But in 2012, there was a motion to try and revive him into the stories again.
Odel
Species: Wallaby
First Appearance: 1992
Creator: Catherine Britton
Odel's success first came when UMG did their own version of Batman. He played the major arch-enemy the Joker briefly. Then he was smiling from ear to ear. In a later version of the same story, Odel was dropped and a nutty squirrel was used, as a pun for being the "nuttiest" of the criminals. Odel was toned down and made into a much more innocent character. He came along in the later Uncle Martin and the Gang series as a member of his group, but in 1995, broke away and created his own little gang with another former member of Uncle Martin's gang, named Swen.
With Swen, Odel wanted to make himself a sort of "schoolhouse" gang. He then met Rudolph. Rudolph was the muscle that Odel wanted in his gang. But Rudolph wanted nothing to do with him or Swen, who he regarded as too weak to join his gang. In one story in 1995, Rudolph does lead Odel on to believe there is a way for them to "hang with him", by stealing 2 saloon girls. In the process, Odel gets beat up however. In 2007, Odel once again returns to Uncle Martin's gang in the story "Uncle Martin is Impeached", even though that same year, he is still seen with Swen in Cafeteria Wreck.
Pablo
Species: Possum (Metazoic-style)
First Appearance: 1991
Creator: Catherine Britton
Pablo only appears scarcely in UMG stories. His first appearance was as a youngster who has strayed away from his herd. He gets adopted by Diana who at first tries for days to find his herd, but has no luck. Originally, he had a sister that also strayed away with him and was also adopted by Diana. However, she was only in that first story in mid-1991, and never seen after that. Pablo however goes on to live with Martin and his gang in their clubhouse. He becomes a part of their gang in 1993, but at that time, few stories were written in that series.
His latest story was written in 2015, as a sort-of recreation/completion of the story where he grows up with his "sister", a border collie named Lady. This story was actually begun in 1991, but remained unfinished until 2015, when Dee Dee Rivera collaborated with the clever F. M. Clark, and finished the story.
Reginald
Species: Rat (Metazoic-style)
First Appearance: 1979
Creator: Trisha Greenbush
Reginald was created by Greenbush, who created him in light of her own younger brother, with the same name. Reginald in the stories likes to pull pranks on others. Reginald actually made a much earlier appearance in a story Greenbush created in 1974, when she was 10. But the story was not brought to UMG Productions when Greenbush founded the group. But even at that time, Reginald was still causing trouble and playing pranks on others. She used to say that the character Reginald's antics were inspired by actual events that happened with her brother whenever he would play pranks on people.
Reginald became a major part of the Bandit and Friends series, and was portrayed as Bandit's younger brother. He made numerous appearances from 1979 to 1982, and then was given something of a break. He bounced back in 1989 when the original story from 1979 was once again revived as a chapter in a UMG collection book. After that, he became somewhat popular again, and started making appearances once again. In one volume from 1993, Reginald and a friend were depicted as bad guys and holds up the evil squirrel who portrayed the Joker in UMG's own version of Batman, written by Catherine Britton. That however was the last story Reginald appeared in until 2006 when one more story was created for Bandit and Friends by Greenbush. Greenbush had thought about starting the series over again and as of December of 2006, is working on more and more ideas for stories she can put out.
Rosa
First Appearance: 1985
Creator: Katrina O'hara
Rosa first started off as a sexy horse in a story that became somewhat popular. It was titled "A Night at the Opera". The title was like that of the Marx Brothers movie of the same name, but that's just about as far as it went. The story is more like one would expect a drive-in movie to be like rather than an opera. These characters in the story though had the same names as the characters in the original 1935 movie. Rosa was one of them, and she is in love with a boy named Ricky. But Mr. Driftwood and Mrs. Claypool and all the others were missing from the story. Instead, they were led around by Jasper, Katie and some of their friends, who all work together to try and get Rosa and Ricky together.
Rosa and Ricky make one more appearance in another story together written by O'hara in 1986 titled "The Journey to the End of the Earth", which takes place in an old western saloon town. In the end, Rosa and Ricky fall in love and are seen running off into the sunset. Ricky however never returns. Rosa does return, but as a human. Originally submitted as an idea for a story with Jasper by Britton later in 1986, Rosa as a human worked out every bit as well as Rosa the horse. In this first story, Rosa meets Jasper on a trip home from college. Jasper in the story fathers Martin, who is just a baby, and Rosa keeps Martin as a pet. She never gets another boyfriend, but in 1999, she does have a baby that turns out to be Brittney. Rosa has been used a lot less since she was given a break after a series run with Mushmouth in 1995, but has played the part of Brittney's mom in I Like To Imagine, in 2002, and Brittney's New Pet, in 2007.
Rudolf
Species: Fossa (Metazoic-style)
First Appearance: 1995
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
At first, the creator wanted to use a tough, but lovable animal, and the fossa of Madagascar came to mind, but it is not big enough. It is cute enough however. But the Metazoic version of this animal is definitely big and tough enough. So it was settled on this. Rudolf is the tough guy of UMG. Rivera first got the idea for Rudolf from a boy that she knew in middle school, who was well known in a 5-mile radius from her neighborhood for causing all kinds of trouble for everybody including his school teachers.
Rudolf is the guy that nobody wants to deal with, and in the stories he is in, is not usually suitable for small children. His usual companions is Odel and his buddy Swen. However, they are not wanted companions. They just want to hang-out with him. But Rudolf feels they are not good enough to hang out with and simply pests, so he generally turns them in the opposite direction. Rudolf is not depicted as a criminal, but he is definitely tough, and adds the "tough-guy" factor to his stories. In 2001, Rudolf appeared as one of the accomplices for the Mad Hatter in the most recent version of UMG's Batman series titled "The Hatter's Mad Caper", where he helps the Mad Hatter capture Batman.
Stacy
First Appearance: 1995
Creator: Dee Dee Rivera
Stacy is unique in that she is derived from a real person, but not someone that the creator knows very well. Rivera got the idea for Stacy after working at the local fair when it came to town. She got a job with them that she really did not want: rides and concessions. The supervisor was also the daughter of the man who owned the company that set up the rides and concession stands, so even though the supervisor was in her 30s, she was an immature brat who hated the workers and treated them like slaves and she owned them. Rivera caught on to that immediately and spoke out against it. One day, after a quite heated debate between Rivera and the supervisor, Rivera was finally, and to her relief, released from that job. But she was not finished with that supervisor yet.
Stacy's very first appearance was in a story-diary combination titled Dead End Job, where Rivera depicts what took place on the day she was relieved of that job at the fair, only with Mushmouth instead of herself dealing with Stacy. After that, Stacy is mostly seen in the stories with Candi and Leopold, and is always conflicting with Candi. The two are endlessly at war. One of the reasons is because Leopold is also a friend of Stacy's in the stories, but Candi cannot stand Stacy at all. Not even as a friend of Leopold's. The real drama took place in the 1997 story The Wedding, when Candi finds out Leopold had a one-night stand with Stacy, and just before their wedding day. Candi finds Stacy and pushes her in a pile of horse manure. After that, Stacy is never seen again, and leaves Leopold well alone.
Tim
Species: Gigantelope
First Appearance: 1983
Creator: Katrina O'hara
In the beginning, this character was first met by Jasper in the haunted house series. After that, his appearances were few and rather far between, until 1985. That year, O'hara featured him in a coming-of-age story where Jasper is his babysitter. In the beginning of the story, Jasper has the baby under him and disappears before his eyes. The confused youngster looks for him and Jasper all of a sudden reappears behind him. It is one of the cutest moments in UMG history, and for that he became quite popular among readers.
His biggest presentation was as one of the first members of Uncle Martin's gang. In fact, he helps Martin build the clubhouse. This was to find a use for this character after the death of Katrina O'hara. The remaining authors wanted to keep some of her creations going, including this one. It is now uncertain exactly how he came into being. O'hara once stated he has always been a part of her line-up. He just didn't appear in any stories until the first one with Jasper in the haunted house in early 1983.
