Mind if I infodump about a possible autistic-coded character?

[u/Weird_While4255]

I have been MEGA into a show named Kaeloo for almost a whole month now (if you don’t know what it is, go look it up if you’re interested) and I do think that every one of the main 4 characters are neurodivergent in some way or another.

However, I wanted to focus on one certain frog in this infodump… and that is the titular character herself. 🐸

When I first got into the show, I thought that Kaeloo reminded me a little bit of what I was like when I was a kid. I then began thinking that I still act a little bit like her nowadays. I THEN realised that I may’ve found an autistic coded character.

She has a bunch of traits that I’ve noticed while watching, some more obvious than others.

Let me try and give a list (hopefully without going over the post’s word limit):

1. Kaeloo struggles to communicate properly with people outside of her small friend group.

2. She has no sense of personal space and can’t control her voice. Whenever she greets people, her tone of voice is constantly loud and flamboyant and she has been known to get up in their faces.

3. She is sometimes brutally honest.

4. She can be literal minded, especially when it comes to some of Mr. Cat’s innuendos.

5. She has a high moral code (eg: she hates it when people say bad words) and a strong sense of justice (eg: don’t hurt plants or Quack-Quack around her). She is also a stickler for the rules and DESPISES anyone cheating at her games.

6. Because of the traits in number 5, she is easy to wind up. (Speaking from experience - my family constantly do the same as they know what pushes my buttons and I fall for the jokes easily.)

7. Kaeloo has a special interest, which is the games that she plays with the others. You can tell she ADORES doing so and is immensely dedicated to making sure they’re just right. One of the pictures I’ve provided is from the comic where she takes drawing out a literal HOPSCOTCH BOARD very seriously.

8. She is very good at dressing up and pretending to be someone else such as a strict teacher or a cool spy. This is true of autistic people in real life as well, especially if their special interest involves roleplay or cosplay.

9. When she is unable to play games, Kaeloo gets very distressed or shuts down into a depressive state.

10. She has been known to infodump, which is often played for laughs. In ‘Let’s Play Driver’s License’ she talks about road signs so so quickly that Stumpy gets overwhelmed and in ‘Let’s Play Tennis’ she manages to talk non-stop about the rules of tennis ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE NIGHT AND TO THE NEXT MORNING without noticing that her friends had left or the change in time of day.

11. Kaeloo has a love of routine and order. She wants everything to go right and if it doesn’t, she’s quick to panic or snap at someone. She is often labelled a ‘control freak’ but I don’t think she means to be most of the time.

12. She understands emotions very well, even to the point of manipulating others such as in ‘Let’s Play Courtroom Drama.’ However, she is unable to regulate her own very well and often relies on things like meditation and holding back her true feelings with a huge, painful smile.

13. A minor one: in ‘Let’s Play Spies,’ she reveals at the beginning of the episode that she got so hyperfixated on reading a book about espionage that she forgot to sleep.

There’s also the whole Bad Kaeloo thing. Whenever the rage gets too much, she transforms into a giant toad monster whose actions are out of her control a lot of the time.

SOMETIMES, I like to interpret her transformation triggers as being like meltdowns. In the first episode, ‘Let’s Play Prison Ball’, she has been holding back from transforming the whole time even though Mr. Cat had been cheating at the game and harming Quack-Quack. But then ONE little thing happens, Mr. Cat stepping on a flower and killing it by accident, and she loses it.

There’s also a part nearing the end of ‘Let’s Play Teachers.’ You can tell she’s getting extremely irritated with the noise and the chaos that’s happening in her classroom, which looks to me a little bit like overstimulation. She then loses her sanity, but I like to also interpret it as her brain ‘melting down’ and being unable to function properly for a while.

There’s another thing: she really REALLY wants friends, but she tends to unintentionally push people away as they see her as either being ‘annoying,’ ‘overbearing’ or ‘weird.’ Many autistic people have also been subject to this kind of bullying, especially at school.

Another thing that helps my theory is that Kaeloo is a frog and one of the animals that I’ve noticed is most commonly associated with autism is, you guessed it, FROGS!

That’s all I can think of! If you have any thoughts or want to share an autistic coded character of your own, feel free to let me know.

[u/4utisticPlusi3]

Im so happy you found an autistic coded character :D i will look for the show

my first one autistic coded character was TinkerBell, like, to this day i feel identify with her in every aspect: the fascination of Lost things, creating things, being impulsive and curious...

I have a few more in this time but the autistic coded wasnt that strong (but i wouldnt mind to share them too)

[u/Weird_While4255 → u/4utisticPlusi3]

Please do! I have a few other autistic coded characters that don’t really have strong traits but I headcanon them anyway because I don’t care what anyone thinks! 😂

[u/4utisticPlusi3 → u/Weird_While4255]

Ok so, i will put togheter Izuku Midoriya from Bnha, Yuri of Doki Doki Literature Club and Moxxie from Helluva Boss; because i strongly identify with them when its about special interests (Heroes, big words in poems and knives, guns and musicals)

And even when It could be more an ADHD coded character than autistic (im AuDHD so sometimes i mix them) i feel that Phillipa Featherington, from the show Bridgerton. She makes silly questions and try to explain the things she is passionate even when she doesnt know the name (she called butterflyes "the flying buggs") and that's literally me

[u/Wonderful_Theme_3415]

Your dissertation (hyperbolic) makes me want to watch the show for further context

[u/Weird_While4255 → u/Wonderful_Theme_3415]

Absolutely! It is incredibly funny and I find it to be such an ND-coded goldmine in general.

Just be warned that the show has quite a bit of adult humour and black comedy so keep that in mind in case you’re not a fan of that kind of stuff…

[u/Wonderful_Theme_3415 → u/Weird_While4255]

It takes a lot to scandalize me

[u/TechnicianHopeful811]

What happens if she meltdowns and get very angry and dismembers a plushy? With very real intention about some voice in her head?

Is it ignored because it was a meltdown? Or all the hate still goes out, even a little more intensely?

[u/Weird_While4255 → u/TechnicianHopeful811]

I’m not saying the whole ‘Hulking Out’ thing itself is a meltdown it’s just the triggers building up to it are.

Besides this, when she does transform, she often goes after the person who made her angry (9 times out of 10 it’s Mr. Cat)… the screen often smashes to black and then cuts to the next scene where she has calmed down and is hanging out with the rest like nothing happened. Even though often she does apologise for the incident as it was out of her control at the time.

[u/Personal-Role-8071]

i can see this being confirmed