Rex is a minor character in Smiling Friends. He serves as the main antagonist of the episode "Mr. Frog." He was a television producer who worked on The Mr. Frog Show.
History[]
After Mr. Frog nearly swallowed a TMZ reporter, Rex fired him from his own show and set out to replace him. After harshly rejecting several auditions, Glep managed to impress Rex by standing up to him via spitting on his face twice. Glep's spitting became the new central gag of the Mr. Frog show but it quickly wore thin with Rex. He advised Glep to stop, claiming the studio finds it "toxic."
During filming, Glep nonetheless spits, causing Rex to rebuke and physically abuse him. Later, Mr. Frog — after inciting more controversies that tarnished his image — rushes into the set and sincerely apologizes to the world for his behavior. Rex intervenes, pointing out his toxicity and that his career is over. Mr. Frog then speedily devours Rex, receiving an uproarious applause from the live audience and thus reigniting his career.
Personality[]
Rex is best described as an egotistical and self-righteous man who thinks he knows what is best, which has made him very rude and cruel to others, like when he acts like a jerk to anyone who is auditioning to replace Mr. Frog and callously dismisses all of the other candidates when he chooses Glep. He is also very disloyal to anyone who works at his studio, as he unceremoniously threw Mr. Frog under the bus after the freshly-revealed controversy regarding him nearly eating someone to death and as shown in the end, he is not a forgiving person as after Mr. Frog owns up to his misdeed, Rex refuses to hire him back.
Rex also seems to be paranoid about any toxic behavior, which is why he dismissed Mr. Frog from the start and rather desperately asks Glep to cease-and-desist his trademark spitting.
In addition, Rex doesn't seem to take any scrutiny or rejection of his creative decisions with grace as when the studio audience jeer at Glep replacing Mr. Frog, Rex voices his disbelief and mentions the new Mr. Frog episode's multi-million dollar budget, which also showcases his aformeentioned arrogance.
Trivia[]
- Rex's generic appearance and mannerisms may be a parody of Family Guy-derivative adult cartoons such as Paradise PD, Hoops, Brickleberry, Bordertown, etc... as his design appears to mirror several conventions of model sheets used in such shows.
- He is a caricature of stereotypical television producers and out-of-touch studio executives.
- His cameo in "Le Voyage Incroyable de Monsieur Grenouille" reveals that before making a deal with Mr. Frog and making The Mr. Frog Show, his office looked way worse than it did in his debut appearance. This goes to show how much money the show made him.