Elmyra Duff - Personality

Personality

Elmyra is quite kid and obsessed with animals and cute things (which is probably why she works as a nurse at Acme Looniversity), even chasing after animals whom she knows are her classmates at Acme Looniversity, obliviously causing great discomfort or serious injury to potential pets from her overenthusiastic affection and complete lack of even the most rudimentary knowledge of pet care. In this she is reminiscent of the aforementioned Suzie, or even Hugo the Abominable Snowman (who, in turn, is influenced by Lenny from Of Mice and Men). This is in contrast to Elmer's well-armed actual intent to violence, although she is dismissed by Buster and Babs Bunny in the pilot as extremely lame for a 'villain'. The two share a distinct similarity in that both hunt animals; while Elmer hunts them for sport, Elmyra hunts them to love and baby them to death (sometimes literally)--often even diapering the animals (such as Plucky in the episode Pollution Solution). She does not really mean to mistreat her pets, she simply doesn't understand the negative effects of her behavior. Each time animals manage to get away from Elmyra and she's unable to get them back, she often cries and wails. Unlike other Tiny Toons, she doesn't get hurt (from an anvil dropping on her head, for example) but gets dazed. Curiously, at least once, Elmyra was shown to be bald like her inspiration, with her hair depicted as a wig (although whether she is really bald or this is simply cartoon humor is up for debate).

This danger is balanced by her complete and utter gullibility. Her abject stupidity is pocked with occasional instances of cleverness, and her character is toned down as needed. Buster Bunny and Babs Bunny explain in the series' pilot that Elmyra is a pushover — unlike Montana Max — but that they needed nominal "villains" to pitch their series. This is a nod to the original Looney Tunes, in which Yosemite Sam (the basis for Montana Max) was created due to the fact that Elmer Fudd was seen as too easy and mild-mannered to be an effective enemy for Bugs Bunny.

Elmyra looks sweet and is somewhat a major dunce (in one episode it shows that mayonnaise has a higher IQ than she), she speaks in semi-perpetual baby talk, and her hair bow is decorated with a small gerbil skull, which may hint at her sinister side. Elmyra sometimes removes the skull to tell Mr. Skullhead stories.

One of the animals in her vast menagerie is Byron Basset, a near-gelatinous basset hound who drew most of his humor from his odd appearance. In contrast to her other pets, Byron seems to feel a grudging love for his owner despite her clumsiness. Li'l Sneezer was also shown to be one of the few "pets" capable of enduring Elmyra's well intentioned zeal, but even Elmyra had trouble coping with Sneezer's allergies and explosive, gale-force sneezes. Less enthusiastic pets have included Buster, Furrball, Fifi La Fume, and Tyrone the Turtle.

One of the few characters that Elmyra doesn't think is cute and cuddly is Hamton J. Pig, for she thinks he's a dirty pig in need of a good bath, which is ironic, because Hamton is obsessed with cleanliness and dislikes filth and bad odors.