He might be bouncy, trouncy, pouncy, pouncy, and fun-fun-fun-fun-fun, but despite his warm and friendly nature, Tigger is definitely the Hundred Acre Wood’s resident mischief-maker. Though he’s easily one of the more beloved characters other than the silly old bear himself, Tigger is probably the closest thing to an antagonistic force the woods have ever known.
Well ya got trouble, my friends, and that starts with T and that stands for Tigger. True, the striped ball of bounce has never done anything mean-spirited or the like with full intent, his paws are far from clean. Still not convinced? Have a look at a few of the worst things Tigger has ever done.
Destroying Rabbit’s Garden
One of the biggest running gags in the entire collection of Winnie the Pooh media is the constant destruction of Rabbit’s garden, and Tigger is public enemy number one. Whether it’s in one of the feature films, the various animated series, or even video games, he can’t seem to keep his stripes away from gutting the garden.
Tigger’s done everything from obliterating his carrot patch to scribbling smiles on Rabbit’s prized pumpkins for Halloween. We’re not trying to get him on destruction of property charges or anything, but we have to admit we’d be pretty miffed too if we were in Rabbit’s shoes.
Repeated Rabbit Ridicule
While we’re on the subject of Rabbit, Tigger’s disregard for old Long Ears has been going on since the ’70s. On one hand, we’ve seen him throw and pull rabbit through the wringer on more than a few occasions. On the other, it’s some of the greatest slapsticks we’ve ever seen.
While he’s not trouncing and pouncing on Rabbit’s enormous hoard of produce, he’s making more than his fair share of jokes at the poor guy’s expense. Yeah, it’s funny and we all get a good laugh, but at times it definitely goes out to Rabbit’s plight once in a while.
Barging In Pooh’s Place During Their First Meeting
In both the book by A.A. Milne and the Disney adaptation in 1977, Tigger is first introduced by barging in at Pooh’s place in the middle of the night. It’s a tried-and-true routine that Disney’s used before, much to our delight. If we were in Pooh’s place, however, we’re not sure how we’d handle it.
Let’s review, Tigger bounces into Pooh’s house in the middle of the night, does a boisterous song-and-dance number, eat’s half a honey pot, gives his reluctant host anxiety in fear of Heffalumps and Woozles, all before bouncing off into the distance. Not exactly the best first impression in our opinion.
Piglet Panic Attacks
Piglet is about as high-strung as you can get, he certainly doesn’t need Tigger’s help when it comes to going into a nervous, stuttering, breakdown. The poor pink pipsqueak is already afraid of heffalumps, woozles, and a legion of other phobias, Tigger just likes to make an appearance occasionally.
There’s even an episode in the animated series where the entire third act has Tigger orchestrating a scheme to literally scare away Piglet’s case of hiccups. We’re sure he doesn’t mean to send the little porker into hysterics, but it happens more than he’d care to admit.
Becoming a Dangerous Vigilante
Something tells us Nick Fury won’t be asking “The Masked Offender” about the Avengers Initiative. For those who didn’t grow up in the ’90s, in one of the New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Tigger becomes a Zorro-esque superhero, the Masked Offender. In an attempt to protect the Hundred Acre Wood, he ends up doing more damage than good.
From nearly burying Gopher alive to chopping Owl’s treehouse down, the Masked Offender truly lives up to his namesake. Thankfully, Tigger is able to come to the rescue in the end, but not before wreaking some major havoc in the process.
Solved a Crime He Committed
We’ll give Tigger a little wiggle room on this one since he did come clean about it in the end, but the lengths he did to feed his private eye persona were a bit extreme. Since the Hundred Acre Wood has a pretty low crime-rate, Tigger had to solve his own Hunny-pot caper in the animated series.
So it’s not exactly Watergate, but he ended up nearly framing Piglet for the crime until Tigger’s conscience got the better of him. It’s not the most devastating thing he’s done, but it’s kinda weird seeing a Pooh cast member doing this kind of deception.
Burning Piglet’s Chair In Front of Him
Technically, Tigger didn’t do this out of spite or malice but looking back, it’s actually kind of shocking seeing him do something of this caliber. In The Tigger Movie, Tigger is having trouble finding someone to go bouncing with, seeing as how all his friends are busy stocking up for winter. One of the first people he asks is everyone’s favorite petrified pork rind, Piglet.
Piglet, shivering in a cold drafty house, can’t go bouncing because he’s trying to stock up on firewood for the winter. What does Tigger do? He picks up a dining chair and chucks it into the fireplace where it immediately bursts into flames.
Occasional Roo Endangerment
The brotherly relationship between Tigger and Roo is definitely all sorts of adorable. Seeing these two together never fails to give us the warm-fuzzies. That being said, some of the stunts they get into veer a little on the extreme side. We’re not talking rough-housing here, but some pretty surprising extreme stunts going on.
We’re not saying he’s a bad influence or anything in that vein, but he and Roo do go on some wild outings. From ice-skating tricks on a frozen lake to teaching Roo an extreme and hazardous bouncing technique, Tigger might either be the most overzealous brother-figure in Disney, or the most danger-prone.
Repeated Eeyore Abuse
2011’s Winnie The Pooh was definitely not the best time for old Eeyore. Not only does he lose his tail, but he becomes Tigger’s own personal sparring partner, very much against his will. One minute, he’s moping over the loss of his tail, before he knows it, he’s being painted with stripes and given springs by Tigger.
To put it quite bluntly, some of the stunts Tigger puts Eeyore through look downright painful. If he’s not bouncing the stuffing out of him, he’s turned Rabbit’s garden into a boxing ring and absolutely walloped the poor donkey. Let’s hope he got a nice bunch of thistles at the end of the day.
The Rock Remover Disaster
The words Tigger and mindless destruction don’t often go hand in hand but in The Tigger Movie, Tigger causes more damage than just a few smashed veggies in Rabbit’s garden. We’re talking knocking over an Indiana-Jones-level boulder onto Eeyore’s house, then sending everyone careening with it down a steep hill into a muddy swamp.
Putting the house devastation aside, it’s still Tigger’s fault that most of his friends end up covered in mud and mildly injured. One well place bounce against Rabbit’s Rock Remover machine gave Tigger’s friends a one-way ticket to calamity. Maybe the wonderful thing about Tigger is he’s the ONLY one.
