Pirate Percy is the pirate courier and scout for the Laughingstock crew. Whenever he is forced to enter dark or scary places, he is told by the ship, "You have... to go... INSIDE".
Appearance
He is a marionette, with his body made out of ragged and discarded pieces of old dolls. His head was taken from a porcelain baby doll, and he has a crack on his left eye. He has red hair, covered by a blue pirate's hat. He wears a blue coat with yellow epaulettes, and a red-and-white striped shirt.
Personality
He is very terrified and nervous about everything, and is easily overcome with fear. He is the most cowardly of the entire crew, but he holds a lot of contempt to them. His relationship with the other characters is ambiguous, as he is scared of them and sometimes attacks them with his knife. He has not shown this behaviour towards Poppy, but towards the rest of the crew instead. More than once, he has tried to stop Janice from her mission by attacking her.
Regardless of his cowardly flaws, he is also very careful and analytical. He is protective of his crew, even if he has to be told to act upon these feelings. He can sometimes overcome his fears, as revealed by Calvery, who told Janice about how Percy rescued him from the Rubber Fishes crew during a battle.
Notable Episodes
- In the pilot episode, "Welcome to Our Happy Ship", Janice arrives in Candle Cove and is stranded in the ocean. Percy pulls her on board the Laughingstock, and begs her not to kill him. Poppy tells Janice to ignore him, and welcomes her aboard the Laughingstock. Suddenly, Percy alerts them that the Rubber Fishes are coming towards them, and faints in a comical manner.
- In "Percy Plays Piano", Percy attempts to learn a song on his piano, although poorly and out of tune. Everyone is annoyed by the horrible music, and Janice asks why he wants to learn the song so badly. He replies that it was his father's favourite song, and he only wants to do him proud. He explains that he cannot get past the last line of the song, which he keeps messing up. Eventually, the Laughingstock is met by the Rubber Fishes and the two ships fight. Percy is scared to join the battle, as the Laughingstock urges him with his catchphrase. Instead, Percy runs off to hide, upset that he is not a great pirate like his father, and that he cannot even play a piano. He pounds on the piano keys, which hurts Horace Horrible's ears. The crew shouts at Percy to keep playing until he finishes through the song, finally making it past the last line. The Rubber Fishes retreat, and the Laughingstock crew buy Percy a brand new piano as a present.
- In "Getting Under My Skin", the Laughingstock crew see a green flash on the horizon, leading them to believe the Skin-Taker has been summoned into Candle Cove. Percy is terrified of the Skin-Taker, and faints at the thought of him returning. They follow the flash to a dark cave, where Percy is scared and refuses to go inside. The Laughingstock again tells him to go inside, and he reluctantly follows behind the rest of the crew. They meet the Skin-Taker, and Poppy attacks him. However, he manages to escape unharmed.
- In "The Battle of Little Bedford", the Laughingstock crew follow the Skin-Taker back to his hideout on Little Bedford. Percy is scared, and threaten the others if they all do not turn back. Poppy takes his weapons from him and shames him into continue walking into the Skin-Taker's lair. When they finally meet the Skin-Taker again, Poppy manages to plunge his sword into the ground, creating a crack wide enough that the Skin-Taker falls underground.
- In the original version of "Ship Crash", Percy is steering the Laughingstock when he begins hearing lovely music being sung by an unknown person. Eventually, he falls asleep to the singing, and sleep-steers the Laughingstock into a large, jagged rock.
- In "The New Ship", Janice notices that Poppy is angry about the Skin-Taker, but he refuses to tell her why. When Percy explains that Poppy skinned the Skin-Taker, Poppy becomes enraged at him. As Percy cowers, Janice stands up for him and remarks that she should be allowed to know about the crew. Percy has to cover her mouth as she begins accusing Poppy of hiding things from her and of being no better than the Skin-Taker.
- In "A Hole in the Ship", the Rubber Fishes shoot a hole in the Laughingstock, forcing it to land on a deserted island. A marooned pirate named Salty Jojo offers to repair their ship. However, the Rubber Fishes have followed them and stole Jojo's carpentry tools. Percy and Janice are tasked with sneaking on board the Rubber Fishes ship to retrieve the tools, which they do successfully.
- Although the script for "High Waters" is missing, it is known to involve the Laughingstock sinking after a large scar is cut into his hull from a collision with rocks. Percy appears to mutter to himself more than usual, often being unclear in what he says, and at one point is even heard swearing.
- In "The Clip Show", the Laughingstock crew reminisce about their favourite memories since Janice arrived in Candle Cove. Percy says that his favourite memory is learning how to play "Yo Ho A Pirate's Life For Me" on piano, and playing it before he was good at it to scare off Horace Horrible.
- Although the script for "Milo's Race" is lost, it is known to involve Percy being challenged to a race by the new Laughingstock crew member, Milo, who is obsessed with proving that he is better than him. Percy manages to win despite Milo's crazy schemes.
- In the SEBTAW episode "Rocks of Arcadia", Percy is captured and tortured by the Skeleton Crew, who were sent by Skin-Taker to attack the Laughingstock.
- Although the script for "Percy's Past" is lost, it is known to involve Percy's childhood and how he became a scaredy cat. It is believed his father Schot is seen in this episode.
- In "Lost at Sea", the Laughingstock is caught in a storm. Janice is overcome with negative emotions, and jumps off the ship into the ocean. When the storm passes, the crew notices Janice is missing. The Laughingstock tells Percy she fell overboard, but he refuses to go in after her. Once he orders Percy to go into the water, Percy finally jumps in and pulls Janice back on board. Percy then tells her that he will never let her out of his sight again.
- In the "Musical Episode", Percy sings a song, which scares Janice. He smiles at her and tells her they are going on a musical adventure today, which causes her to forget the song she just heard. They sing and travel to many different islands in Candle Cove.
- In the "Screaming Episode", Percy is seen screaming and flailing around violently along with the other puppets. After this episode Percy's puppet was badly damaged. His strings were broken, as were some of his body parts from being thrown about so roughly.
Trivia
- He is called Prowler Percy in the pilot.
- He has great talent with a little wooden flute that he carries on board.
- According to the show's creators, he incarnates both Janice's outer personality and disadvantages.
- In the Candle Cove novels, it is revealed that before he joined the Laughingstock crew, he was a cabin boy for the Tarantula crew. He used to be brave, but lost his courage and became traumatized from witnessing Red Mary murdering his father Schot as she burned their ship down.
- Although at the end of "Percy Plays Piano" the crew gives Percy a new piano as a present, Poppy apparently intended him to learn "how to play it even worse", to use it against Horace Horrible.
- In "Milo's Race", Milo sings a song called "Wimp" mocking him, causing Percy to frown on-screen. What made this disturbing is that his normal face is incapable of frowning, so a completely different head was used. It is the only time the new frowning head was used.
Fanart
See also: Pirate Percy/Gallery