Pico's static idle pose.
Pico as he appears as an opponent in Week 3.
Pico's animations uploaded to Newgrounds by PhantomArcade.
Pico's singing animations.
Left pose.
Down pose.
Up pose.
Right pose.
Pico's miss animations.
Left miss.
Down miss.
Up miss.
Right miss.
Pico's unused "Hey!" animation, which has him giving the middle finger.
Pico
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Spoiler Alert
Were you looking for the song or the week?
“Society sucks, but you don't have to kill your classmates to stand out.”
― Pico, Pico's School
Pico is the tritagonist of Friday Night Funkin'. He is the opponent of Week 3, a supporting character in Week 7, and the playable protagonist of WeekEnd 1. He's been confirmed to also be selectable as a general playable character in Freeplay in the future.[5] His tracks as an opponent include Pico, Philly Nice, and Blammed, and his tracks as a player character include Darnell, Lit Up, 2hot, and Blazin'.
He is an assassin who has been in the field since he was a child, earning fame for his successful efforts at saving his school and protecting the planet from extraterrestrial invaders. Years later, he is hired by Daddy Dearest to kill an unknown target. When he finds out that the target was actually his ex-boyfriend, Boyfriend, he chooses to settle things with a rap battle. Later, Daddy Dearest and Mommy Mearest hire him again for what turns out to be the same task as before, putting his faith to the test.
He is the second guest character introduced to Friday Night Funkin', the first being Skid and Pump, the third being Tankman, and the fourth being Darnell and Nene.
Appearance
Pico is a young man with light skin, short ginger hair with three rounded spikes sticking out of the back, and distinctive white eyes with no pupils. He wears a green shirt, beige pants, and a pair of maroon sneakers with orange laces, orange buttons on the sides, and light beige soles. He wields a gun loosely based on an Ingram MAC-10 pistol[6] in one hand and holds a microphone in the other with his thumb pointing out. In his idle animation, he wears a confident and determined grin while bopping his head. He is drawn in a chibi style.
During the Week 7 track Stress, he is seen crouched on top of the stereo that Girlfriend normally sits on. He now wields a pair of guns, which he twirls around and shoots in a flashy manner.
During Blazin', his idle animation is a fighting pose instead of a dance, and he no longer has his gun or microphone. His expression is also more serious.
Origin
Pico as he appears in Pico's School.
Pico originates from Pico's School, a point-and-click Flash game created by Newgrounds founder Tom Fulp in 1999. It is the third installment in the Pico series. In Pico's School, Pico must stop a group of goth kids who have perpetrated a school shooting. Due to the game's popularity at the time, Pico's series quickly became a fan favorite around Newgrounds.
Since then, Pico has been appointed the site's first mascot and has made other cameo appearances in many Newgrounds Flash films and games, and he continues to remain a popular character on the site to this day.
Pico featured in promotional artwork for Pico Day 2021.
Newgrounds also has a holiday named after him known as Pico Day, a day centered around celebrating him and other famous figures in the Newgrounds community. It is usually celebrated on the 30th of April, which also happens to be Tom Fulp's birthday.
Personality
Before the events of Pico's School, Pico was described as popular, curious, confident, and friendly by his peers, being the first one to raise his hand in class and often speaking up whenever possible. During the destruction of his school, he is shown to act quite recklessly, taking action immediately despite the danger he could be running into.
After the events of Pico's School, Pico has developed an aggressive and homicidal side, rarely showing any fear and ruthlessly fighting anyone standing in his way. He is an exceptional gunman and is usually seen dual-wielding his weaponry with remarkable proficiency. His weapons of choice are automatic weapons such as a MAC-10-like pistol or the M16 rifle. He also has tremendous unarmed combat skills, as seen in Pico 2, the unreleased sequel to Pico's School. He is also shown to be quite paranoid, as he isn't too trusting of others and is always armed. Despite this, he has proven himself to be a very trustworthy friend and ally to those he does trust, betraying Daddy Dearest twice to spare and even save and assist Boyfriend when ordered to kill him.
In Pico 2, Pico has an unstable personality. Throughout the game, the player can choose from different dialogue options, with Pico usually throwing an insult, sarcastic comment, or backhanded compliment into his responses. Pico is described by Darnell as having a non-confrontational, reserved, and shy side to him at school, but in public, Pico isn't afraid to confront strangers in his way and even threatens to stick a plastic bag over his local record shop owner's head for refusing to serve him. He is apologetic after his outbursts, and it is implied that he has a hard time controlling his temper.
Pico enjoys marijuana and is seen smoking it 3 times throughout the Pico series; it has also been stated that he chokes down exotic marijuana in large quantities.[7] Pico dreams of becoming a professional DJ as well. In Pico 2, his interest in DJing is a plot point, and he regularly practices on the turntables with his best friend Darnell.
History
Set 6 years after Pico's School and Pico 2, Pico is hired by Daddy Dearest to kill Boyfriend for humiliating him after their sing-off in Week 1. Unbeknownst to him at the time, Pico is sent to kill someone he used to know. Pico is only given a location for his target, and upon finding out that Boyfriend is his target, he decides to spare him and instead challenges him to a rap battle.
He is later one of the many spectators of Boyfriend's rap battle with Daddy Dearest and Mommy Mearest at The Mall during Week 5, appearing in the background of Cocoa and Eggnog.
Despite his previous setback, Pico is later rehired with the simple task of confirming Boyfriend's death after he and Girlfriend are dropped into a dangerous warzone during Week 7. However, he finds Boyfriend alive, and seeing as Tankman ordered his men to shoot the two, Pico forfeits his mission and jumps to Boyfriend's rescue by shooting the Tankmen holding Girlfriend at gunpoint. Tankman then mocks Pico, calling him "Boyfriend's sexually ambiguous, angry little friend" (referencing his relationship history) and asking him whether he has a school to shoot up (referencing Pico's School). He only does this to try to make Pico feel bad and get him to go away,[8] but Pico is not deterred by the condescending comments and proceeds to kill the onslaught of Tankmen during Stress.
Due to his betrayal of Daddy Dearest, Pico is now in big trouble with Girlfriend's parents. A sneak peek of WeekEnd 1 shows Pico running away from and fighting his friends, Nene and Darnell, who are trying to kill him.[3] Pico is seen injured and bleeding in the beginning scene with Darnell. Multiple parts of a bigger image briefly flash in the teaser; when pieced together, these reveal a scene where Daddy Dearest is offering to pay Pico a stack of cash to do something to Boyfriend. In the same image, Darnell and Nene are also seen with stacks of cash. The full image was later posted on Newgrounds, revealing that Daddy Dearest is paying Pico, Darnell, and Nene to kill Boyfriend, as indicated by Daddy Dearest's full speech bubble and the "assassins" tag on the Newgrounds submission. Notably, Pico is the only one in the image who is not shown to have accepted any money from the father yet.
Abilities
Pico's most notable skill is his proficiency with firearms, which are his main weapon of choice. With them, he has remarkable accuracy and is capable of using two at once. He is most commonly seen with an M10-like submachine gun, but he has used other types of guns such as the AK-47 and M16 assault rifles as well. As shown in Friday Night Funkin', he can aim his guns at specific targets with precision and can even shoot while rapidly twirling his guns without accidentally hurting himself or anyone he doesn't want to kill. His skill with guns is so great that it allowed him to slay nearly Tankman's entire army.
Pico is strong enough to be able to knock someone out with his bare fists, as seen in Pico 2. He is shown to have a talent for dancing, rapping, and using DJ turntables as well. According to Pico vs Bear, he is adept at handling hostage situations. Pico is also agile, as shown in WeekEnd 1 when he runs away from Nene and dodges her attacks.
Relationships
Boyfriend
Pico and Boyfriend used to date,[9][10][11][12] though little is known about the relationship they had. It is known that the reason for their breakup is "complicated",[13] and it has been hinted that they sang together in the past, as Pico raps with Boyfriend in Week 3 due to nostalgia and old habits.[14] This implies that Pico misses him in some way.
Pico is loyal to Boyfriend in the present day, betraying his employer, Daddy Dearest, by sparing Boyfriend after being hired to kill him twice. Boyfriend appears to be fully comfortable being around Pico and even sings with him happily, but it is otherwise unclear how Boyfriend feels about Pico.
Girlfriend
Not much is known about how well Pico and Girlfriend are acquainted with each other. It is possible that Pico does not like or care about Girlfriend very much, as he readily kicks her off her speakers in unused frames of the animation where Pico leaps in from the sky in the cutscene for Stress.
Darnell
Pico and Darnell are close friends. In Pico 2, Pico quickly works toward stopping the Ghettobots upon learning that they're threatening Darnell's life, and Darnell invites him to come to his house to practice on a DJ turntable. However, in Friday Night Funkin', Darnell and Pico fistfight each other after rap battling, due to the latter breaking the contract they had with Daddy Dearest to kill Boyfriend, which left Darnell in financial ruin. Afterwards, he and Pico shake hands and reconcile.
Nene
Pico and Nene have been stated to be friends, though their interactions have often been unpleasant, such as her begging him to kill her in Pico's School. In Resident Pico, she warns Pico about the zombies and tells him to run, showing that she does care about his safety. In Friday Night Funkin', Nene attacks Pico with knives for breaking the contract they had with Daddy Dearest to kill Boyfriend, as she was left in financial ruin as a result. After spectating Pico's battle against Darnell, she angrily tears up a photo of Boyfriend, and it is unclear whether they make up by the end. However, even though she wants him dead, Pico arouses Nene in WeekEnd 1.[15]
Daddy Dearest
Daddy Dearest hires Pico as a contract killer, tasking him with killing Boyfriend after the latter humiliated him during Week 1. However, Pico instead decides to spare Boyfriend upon discovering that he is his target. Despite this, Daddy Dearest employs Pico again to confirm Boyfriend's dead body, but Pico betrays the father once more and saves Boyfriend's life. As a result, Pico is in deep trouble with the father.
Mommy Mearest
Along with Daddy Dearest, Mommy Mearest tasks Pico with confirming Boyfriend's corpse. Pico is not loyal to the mother, however, as he goes against her orders by assisting Boyfriend. Consequently, he is in trouble with her as well.
Tankman
Tankman is very rude to Pico, as he mocks him about the tragic incident in Pico's School. Pico, on the other hand, is excited to kill many of his soldiers, and even Tankman himself, after Week 7 ends.
Cassandra
Cassandra is Pico's enemy. In Pico's School, their interactions are generally antagonistic, though Pico is curiously the only one left alive during Cassandra's massacre of their classroom for unspecified reasons. Cyclops speculates, in a sarcastic tone, that she has a crush on him. In Pico's School: Love Conquers All, it is further implied that Cyclops was joking, as Cassandra has no reaction when the claim is made in front of her. However, since Cassandra neither explicitly confirms nor denies it, it remains slightly ambiguous. Although she is seemingly killed by Pico at the end of Pico's School, Cassandra is set to appear in Friday Night Funkin' in the future. How this will be explained remains to be seen. Additionally, an official Newgrounds site skin made by PhantomArcade depicts Pico with a box of apples from Cassandra, with the tag attached having a heart on it.
In Pico's School: Love Conquers All, Pico bonds with Cassandra, successfully talking her down from the planned shooting as he demonstrates some of the more positive sides of people on Earth. Cassandra reflects on her original plans of taking over the world, feeling genuinely remorseful for her manipulation, leading to her and Pico becoming friends as she is reformed.
Trivia
General
- Pico was added to the game in collaboration with Tom Fulp, the creator of the popular multimedia site founder Newgrounds.
- Pico is the first guest star in a game that is not from the animated series.
- Pico is the second character in the game to have a song named after him, the first being Monster and the third being Senpai.
- He is also the second character to have a week named after him, the first being Daddy Dearest and the third being Tankman.
- He is the only character with both a song and week named after him.
- He is also the second character to have a week named after him, the first being Daddy Dearest and the third being Tankman.
- Pico is the second character not to have tuned vocals, the first being Girlfriend.
- A common misconception about Pico is that he was the perpetrator of the school shooting that occurs in Pico's School; this is false. Cassandra, a shape-shifting alien invader sent to cause chaos and destruction to humanity, is the true perpetrator of the shooting. Pico arms himself with an M16 assault rifle he finds in the janitor's closet and uses it to fight back against Cassandra and her gang to save his school.
- Upon his creation, Pico was originally named "Pogo", but his name was later changed to "Pico" after Tom Fulp discovered that the website pogo.com was already taken.
- Pico was named after the character of the same name from the 1991 RPG Cosmic Fantasy 2.[16]
- Pico is confirmed to become a playable character in Freeplay in the future.[5] This may be a result of the game being promoted on Newgrounds' official YouTube channel and the game's programmer, ninjamuffin99, and Pico's creator, Tom Fulp, being good friends.
- Prior to the WeekEnd 1 update, Pico's miss sprites were unused and could only be seen by selecting him as the player character using the chart editor. His miss sprites are now used in the aforementioned level.
- In the 2010s, Pico would be depicted by many Newgrounders with a more lime green shirt compared to the normal green shirt and beige pants compared to the green pants in his other designs. This color choice, referred to by fans as "Brown Pants Pico", is reflected in Pico's depiction in Friday Night Funkin'.
- Pico was slowly phased out of the role of Newgrounds mascot by Tankman in 2006. The interaction between the two in Week 7 is somewhat fitting for this.
- The concept of Pico being Boyfriend's ex-boyfriend started out as a headcanon within the Friday Night Funkin' fandom after the release of Week 3. This headcanon gathered so much traction that Tom Fulp, the creator of Pico, Tweeted jokingly that it was "official Pico 2 canon",[17] leading people to believe that it was true. ninjamuffin99 initially said that this was a joke,[18] but later changed his mind and confirmed it was canon.[9]
- On the 1st of April, 2021, Tom Fulp updated the original Pico's School game for April Fools' Day, ending with Pico revealing to Cassandra that he and Boyfriend are a couple and everyone at his school accepts them. The day after, this version would be released as a separate game set in an alternate timeline called Pico's School: Love Conquers All. As Pico and Boyfriend's relationship was portrayed in a positive light, the game indicated Tom Fulp's approval of the idea of them once having been a couple.
- PhantomArcade jokingly implied Pico is gay.[1]
- It has been debated among fans whether the gun that Pico had been regularly depicted with since Pico's Unloaded is an Uzi or a MAC-10. MindChamber, creator of the forementioned Flash movie, settled this debate by confirming that the gun is based on a MAC-10.[19]
- MindChamber has also clarified that the gun is not really accurate to any real gun, but it is loosely designed after the MAC-10, as Pico's Unloaded is a spoof of The Matrix Reloaded.[6]
Lore
- Pico is neurodivergent, as he is schizophrenic[?] and an insomniac[?].[20]
- His schizophrenia could be why he keeps his weapons on him at all times, likely due to his fear of being attacked.
- It is very likely that Pico developed schizophrenia after the events of Pico's School, as trauma is one of the main triggers of schizophrenia.[21]
- Pico's use of marijuana may be to manage his schizophrenia. Regular marijuana use is common in people diagnosed with schizophrenia, as it may reduce abnormal brain functions caused by it, such as delusions and paranoia, but it can also worsen symptoms and cause people to relapse.
- It is very likely that Pico developed schizophrenia after the events of Pico's School, as trauma is one of the main triggers of schizophrenia.[21]
- Insomnia can be brought on by trauma or stress, which could've occurred after the events of Pico's School. His paranoia, stemming from his schizophrenia, could also be the cause of his insomnia.
- His schizophrenia could be why he keeps his weapons on him at all times, likely due to his fear of being attacked.
- Pico has an IQ of 127.[20]
- Pico is American and lives in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- Pico is a muso and collects vinyl records from his local record store, 911 Records.
- Tom Fulp has confirmed that some of Pico's favorite musicians are Joy Division, Gary Numan, Natural Born Chillers, and the Cure.[22]
- In Pico's School: Love Conquers All, Pico mentions that he listens to Bauhaus, the Sisters of Mercy, KMFDM, and Green Day.
- According to Cyclops and the mid-end 2000s music portal iteration of Newgrounds, Pico listens to techno.
- In Pico's School: Love Conquers All, Pico mentions that he listens to Bauhaus, the Sisters of Mercy, KMFDM, and Green Day.
- Tom Fulp has confirmed that some of Pico's favorite musicians are Joy Division, Gary Numan, Natural Born Chillers, and the Cure.[22]
- It is heavily implied that Pico does not have a good relationship with his father; upon clicking a car in an old demo for Pico 2 developed by Tom Fulp, Pico says "My dad loves that car more than he loves me! I hope he crashes the damn thing into a brick wall!"
- In a cutscene for WeekEnd 1, it's shown that Pico has 6-pack abs, implying that he works out.[23][24]
- According to Tom Fulp, Pico likely would have majored in computer science if he had entered college.[25]
- In UFA, it is stated that Pico "ruled the world" after defeating the Penilians and the Ghettobots. It is unclear if Pico's cosmocratic status holds true in the future shown in Friday Night Funkin', as Pico is only ever stated to be a contract killer.
- The scar on Pico's stomach is implied to come from Hanzo during the events of Pico's School.[26]
Inspirations
- Pico's design was directly inspired by an illustration for Children's Tylenol Cold in the 1990s.[27][28]
- It was confirmed that the style of Pico's white eyes is heavily inspired by Little Orphan Annie comics.[29]
Gallery
View Pico's full gallery here.
Pico as he appears in the background of Week 5.
Pico killing the two Tankmen on the speakers.
Pico bopping his head on the speakers after killing the two Tankmen.
Static sprite of Pico spinning one of his guns in Stress.
Pico firing his weapon to the left.
Another animation of Pico firing his weapon to the left.
Pico firing his weapon to the right.
Another animation of Pico firing his weapon to the right.
Pico kicking Girlfriend off the speakers. (Unused)
Pico reloading his gun.
Pico shooting a spray can before transitioning back to his idle animation in the beginning cutscene of Darnell.
Pico shooting one of Darnell's spray cans.
Pico getting hit by one of Darnell's spray cans.
The "Retry" text that appears on top of Pico's gushing blood.
Pico cocking his gun at the ending cutscene of 2hot.
Pico's static idle in Blazin'.
Pre uppercut animation.
Block hit animation.
Dodge animation.
Fake out animation.
Hit high animation.
Hit low animation.
Laughing animation.
Punch high animation.
Punch low animation.
Spin animation.
Uppercut animation.
Retry confirm animation.
Gameplay featuring Pico VS. Boyfriend.
.gif)
Pico as he appears in the teaser for a future content release.
Pico being attacked by Nene in the teaser for a future content release.
Pico running from Nene in the teaser for a future content release.
The Pico LP released by Needlejuice Records.
Notes
- ↑ For years, Newgrounds users speculated that Pico and his friends were around 10–14 years old during the events of Pico's School and Pico 2, but Tom Fulp confirmed that all of the main characters of Pico's School were high school seniors (approximately 16–18 years old). Although Fulp later retconned this with the statement that "Pico and his friends don't really have super defined ages", MindChamber's statement contradicts this regarding Pico.
References
- This article incorporates material, with modifications, from the article "Pico" on the Pico Wiki at wiki.gg and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License (22nd of November, 2022).
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