Aussie Outback Friends

The title card

Aussie Outback Friends is a spinoff series of Happy Tree Friends.

The series is set in Australia and most of the main characters are Australian animals. The typical episode opens with the theme song, which is Australian music with the characters singing in the background, and then shows the characters who will appear in the episode.

Songs suggested by fans to pay tribute to Aussie Outback Friends include this and more fittingly this.

In late January 2013, a contest has been started by the creator called the New Aussies Character Contest for fans to make new characters for the series. Two months later, Dummy and Frodo won the contest.

Waterclam took over the show in late June 2013 since Lord O' Darkness had lost interest in the series. Alas, the series presumably ended production on August 2015. However, the creator stated in Buns in the Outback that the characters could still make occassional appearances, or even become a part, of the main series, which in the second hint was true as confirmed by characters still appearing in the main show (Ex: Sheila and Sheldon featuring in Crime Does Pay, and Prickles starring in Pole Kringle) and revealed in the 2018 sneak peeks blog.

Characters

The series originally had eleven main characters (thirteen individually), most of them being parodies of the HTF gang. More were introduced in the following seasons.

Main Characters

Joey

A yellow kangaroo who is the leader of the gang. He is based on Cuddles. His favorite activities include hopping, boxing, and surfing. He has a crush on Kuddly and constantly tries to show her is love.

Kuddly

A purple koala who is based on Giggles. She enjoys climbing, nature, and sniffing flowers. She may have a crush on Joey, but it has yet to be revealed.

Hairy

A brown wombat who is friends with Joey. He is a lazy character who usually sleeps and eats. He sometimes tries to shave his excess hair.

Platto

A blue platypus who is based on Lumpy, and partially the Mole. His appearance also makes him resemble Psyduck from Pokemon. He isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, in fact he is almost always confused. Because of this, he usually ends up killing other characters.

Scratches

A light blue bandicoot with a flea comb stuck to the fur on his head. He is constantly stuttering, shaking, twitching, and scratching himself because of fleas. He is based on Nutty and has a lazy eye just like him. He is also partially based on Flaky because his fur sometimes falls off like Flaky's dandruff.

Prickles

A green echidna who is based on Sniffles. He isn't smart, but he likes to eat ants. Similarly like Sniffles, Prickles usually ends up being gruesomely killed by ants. His quills also sometimes lead to the deaths of other characters.

Dingo and Pup

Dingo and Pup are, respectively, based on Pop and Cub. Dingo is the type of guy who wrestles with crocodiles and catches venomous snakes. Unfortunately, he has to deal with trying to get his son, Pup, out of these dangerous things, especially since he is the one who gets him into them in the first place.

Tazzy

A Tasmanian devil who is based on Flippy. He has an addiction to meat and a severe hatred of vegetables. Whenever someone gets hurt, or if he tastes vegetables, he flips out and eats anyone nearby.

Glider

A sugar glider who is based on Splendid. He tries to save people, but is just as bad at doing it. He is very powerful, but loses energy from a low sugar intake. He gets more powerful when he eats sugary things like tree sap. He loves sugar and sweets a lot, therefore he can get so powerful that he causes dozens of deaths at a time.

Stripes

A thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) with a grey fedora. He is presumably the last of his species and must constantly avoid being tracked down by bounty hunters. He is mostly described as a gloomy and mysterious character and is rarely seen with the rest of the cast. He also sometimes tries to look for other survivors of his race.

Sheila and Sheldon

Two teal twin possums who are based off Lifty and Shifty. They like to steal from other characters, and Sheila sometimes dates other characters to take their possessions. Sheila wears a grey flower on her head, while her brother Sheldon wears a fedora similar to Shifty's.

New Characters

Guzzle

A water-holding frog who seems to have a greedy behavior when it comes to water.

Ossy

An otter that is based off Russell. Instead of a pirate hat, he wears a blue crown. He lives near the Great Barrier Reef and enjoys surfing, snorkeling, and other activities.

Lyer

A green lyrebird who often tells lies to other characters. His lies often lead to the deaths of others, and sometimes himself when in trouble. On times where he actually tells the truth, he is usually not believed.

Spiny

A thorny devil who tends to be sluggish most of the time. His spikes can get him into dangerous situations.

Fariv

A polar bear who wears explorer/safari-like clothing and a blue shirt with Australia on it. He loves Australia and exploring, but his taste for adventure often leads him to unfortunate mishaps.

Dummy

A crocodile who is very unintelligent, similar to Platto, but eats a lot of food. Based on Lumpy.

Frodo

A koala/drop bear ninja who may be either good or evil.

Necky

An emu who runs really fast.

Background characters

Generic Outback Friends - Minor characters sometimes seen in episodes. They are mostly dark brown and resemble kangaroos or koalas. Some may have a supporting role with starring or featuring characters (such as the Shadowed Character in Photo Stop)

Drop Bears - Koala-like killers who appeared in the Season 1 finale of AOF. They are based on Australian folklore.

The Bunyip - A flesh-eating water monster who appeared in the episode Bunyip Alert. It is also based on Australian folklore.

Virizon and Tutu - Two characters who were created at some point, but are yet to be introduced.

Aussie Ants - A colony of ants with long sharp mandibles (possibly being bulldog ants). They are frequently preyed on by Prickles, only to end up killing him afterward. They are probably the show's equivalents of the ant family.

The Bear - A giant brown bear who appeared in the episode Going Bear-foot. It's appearance is ironic because bears don't live in Australia.

Rejected concepts

There was one character rejected from the main cast, Squirt, because of plot difficulties and he was too similar to Pipsqueak. Others are losing characters from the Aussie Character Contest; including Traffic, Stubby, Extinctly, and Beaton.

Episodes

Main article: List of Aussie Outback Friends episodes

The first and second seasons of AOF finished with over ten episodes while the third season ended with just three episodes due to budget problems and the departure of the creator. The internet episodes aired in a 5-minute slot on G4TV as of July 19, 2013.

Series overview

Season		Episodes	Mondo/YT Air Date		G4TV Air Date
Season		Episodes	Season premiere	Season finale	Season premiere	Season finale
	1	13	April 16, 2012	May 16, 2012	July 19, 2013	July 25, 2013
	2	18	May 17, 2012	January 29, 2013	July 26, 2013	August 3, 2013
	3	25	May 1, 2013	August 17, 2015	August 5, 2013	September 1, 2015

Trivia

Guzzle, Spiny, Lyre, Dummy, and Necky are the only non-mammalian characters.
The series is inspired by the creator's obsession about Australia.
When Season 3 was ordered, a total of 25 episodes were ordered for the season. No specific amount was ordered for the previous seasons.