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Bobby Zilch

I heard a rumor that you were raised in the circus! Well, let me put this in terms you'll understand. I'm the strong man around here!

–Bobby to Raz before Basic Braining

Robert "Bobby" Zilch is a 12-year-old psychic camper at Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp. He's regarded as the camp bully along with his right-hand man, Benny Fideleo.

Personality[]

Every summer camp has a Bobby Zilch. A bully who is as mean as they are smelly and malnourished. Bobby only victimizes campers that are smaller than him, and his towering matted red hair makes him the tallest kid in camp. Hates Raz with a fiery passion-- a fire that burns marshmallows and forests in seconds.

Old Psychopedia description

Bobby Zilch is aggressive and enjoys putting others down to make himself feel better. Although he puts up a tough persona, he has a softer side that he shows to Chloe Barge.

Appearance[]

Bobby has orange hair styled in an afro, orange eyebrows, blue skin, one red eye, one green eye, red eyebags, and crooked yellow teeth. His nose is pink. He has a very long neck and four fingers on each hand. He wears blue shoes, patched red pants, green and yellow wristbands, and a white sports shirt.

Psychonauts[]

In the opening cinematic, Bobby attempts to frighten Dogen by warning him about the "giant monster" of Lake Oblongata, establishing himself as the camp bully.

Before Raz enters Basic Braining, Bobby and Benny interrupt his conversation with Maloof Canola to extort arrowheads out of him for a "protection service". When Raz stands up to Bobby, he informs Raz that he's the "strong man around here", to which Raz replies he seems "more like the cotton candy". Bobby then orders Benny to put Raz's death on his "to-do list".

During Basic Braining, Bobby attempts to get revenge on Raz, first by kicking him off of a platform and doing a victory dance. Later on he uses one of the course's cannons to fire at Raz. When reached, Bobby exclaims "classic Zilch!" and runs off. He eventually gets knocked over by Raz on the course's rail-gliding segment, who then copies Bobby's victory dance.

After completing Basic Braining, Bobby gets into an argument with Razputin until Sasha Nein appears, causing Bobby to leave, seemingly jealous that Raz will be receiving "advanced training." He can then be found in the parking lot of the Main Campgrounds, taunting Maloof about locking him in the GPC earlier. Mikhail steps in, levitating him off the ground and threatens to use his "Deadly Nelson" technique to break his bones. Intimidated, Bobby runs off and stops targeting Maloof.

From this point on, he can be found torturing fish by the docks with Benny and blocking the way to the Bathysphere. When Raz asks him about the Bathysphere, Bobby tells him that it is none of his business. If Raz tries to go around them, Bobby will shove him backwards.

In Milla's Dance Party, Bobby appears during the levitation race segment and is the most skilled opponent, however Raz beats him in a levitation race.

After Milla's Dance Party, Bobby can be found back on the docks where Raz can taunt him about winning the race. He also appears during a scene in the GPC and Wilderness area, where Bobby finds Nils flirting with an uninterested Chloe and insults Nils' compliments to her. He then scares away Nils with threat as Chloe watches. It is then revealed that Bobby has a crush on Chloe, stuttering when asking how she is doing. Chloe tells him that she needs to "work on [him] a little", as they walk off together.

After defeating the Brain Tank, Raz encounters a de-brained Bobby at the beach, who mutters "TV" and walks past Raz, stopping to slap him compulsively before walking away.

Once Bobby has been re-brained, he asks Raz if he (Raz) thinks he's better than him, to which Raz says yes. Bobby says he knew it and tells Raz to "have fun dying". He can then be found hanging out with Chloe in Oleander's classroom to help her search for alien help with "kicking the Coach's ass" via the radio.

In the end cutscene, Bobby is seen sitting next to Chloe and tears up when Ford tells the campers that Raz received his courage from his father. He then comically gapes in shock when Raz is declared a Psychonaut by Ford.

Psychonauts 2[]

Bobby appears in the Psychonauts recap animation in Psychonauts 2.

Psychic Abilities[]

  • Telekinesis: Used to levitate fish out of Lake Oblongata and onto the dock.
  • Levitation: He proves himself to be a very skilled levitator, being the hardest opponent to defeat during Milla's Race. He will fight Raz tooth and nail to come in first, meaning one slip-up and Bobby will easily pass Raz and will likely win, which will reset the Race.
  • Astral projection: Bobby can astral project into minds using a psycho portal.

Trivia[]

  • Using Clairvoyance reveals he sees Razputin as a punching bag.
  • According to his Campster profile, Bobby's hometown is Drywell, Missouri.
    • Additionally, his interests are the Oakland Raiders, AC/DC, Metallica, Iron Maiden and other rock/metal bands, the show Jackass, Scarface, and other crime/slasher films.
    • His "About Me" section was stolen off of Elka Doom's campster in an attempt to troll her:
      • "I'm a walking contradiction. I'm shy but extroverted. I'm humble but proud. I'm strong, but sensitive. I work hard, but I also play hard. I like fine wine, but I also like cheap beer. I like going to the opera, but I also love the occasional hockey game! I guess I'm like cookies that haven't finished cooking yet. Maybe they'll be done someday and I'll take a bite and know that it's me, or maybe they'll just keep cooking. Either way, one thing's for sure, it will be one hell of a ride. Better hang on! :)"
  • Showing him Sasha's Button makes him become hysterical, suggesting he had a previous bad experience involving the Geodesic Psychoisolation Chambers.
  • When he kicks Raz off a cliff in Basic Braining, Bobby's "eh-eh eh eh eh" taunt sounds similar to "Maneater" by Hall and Oates.
    • It also sounds similar to the song "Bird is the Word" by the American surf rock band "The Trashmen."
  • Bobby has heterochromia, one green eye and one red. The other two characters in the game who have exactly the same eye colors are Dr. Loboto and Linda the Lungfish. However, Linda did not posses these eyes until she was mutated by Loboto.
  • If you re-brain Bobby without re-braining Chloe, he is seen standing by the Coach's radio, and when Raz asks him if he wants to help him save the world, Bobby just sighs and says how much Chloe loved the Coach's radio.
  • On April 23, 2019, DoubleFine artist Scott C. told on his Instagram account that Bobby was based on Farkus, the bully in A Christmas Story.
  • In the Steam version of Psychonauts, there is an achievement for viewing the scene of Bobby, Chloe, and Nils in the GPC and Wilderness area. It is called "Maybe it's the Hair" and is accompanied by an image of Bobby's hair and a subtitle of "Spy on Bobby's Love Life".
  • According to his old Myspace page, Bobby's zodiac sign is Capricorn.
  • Bobby's shirt has a “00” on it resembling his last name, Zilch, which means zero.
  • Tim Schafer revealed in an interview that he might've accidentally named Bobby after his school's bully.[2]

References[]

  1. Bobby consoles Linda because she won't jump in the water in an MTV2 short.
  2. https://youtu.be/6A6BruceOCg?t=1127
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