Dexter

Dexter (age: 9) is the main character and protagonist of the Cartoon Network original series, Dexter's Laboratory. He was originally voiced by Christine Cavanaugh, and later by Candi Milo. Dexter is a boy genius who maintains a lab behind his bookshelf, in which he invents strange chemicals, robots (many of whom eventually band together and turn on him), rockets, and a giant fighting robot (reminiscent of machines from the Gundam anime) which he pilots and uses to fight his arch-nemesis Mandark, who owns a similar machine. Some of his inventions are inadvertantly destroyed by his sister Dee Dee, whose favorite pastime is playing with his inventions. His birthday is unknown, although it was revealed in the episode A Hard Day's Day that Dexter is a Capricorn. Despite being American, and both his parents speaking normal English, Dexter speaks with a German accent, a stereotypical trait with mad scientists.

Appearance
Dexter is very short, wears thick semi-circular glasses, and has curly orange hair. He is normally shown wearing black pants, a white zip up lab coat with a black button, purple gloves, and black boots. His skin is pale because he seldom goes outside, preferring his laboratory to normal childhood pursuits. He's not athletic in the least and often suffers the consequences of his physical limitations (victimized by bullies, clobbered in school gym activities such as dodgeball, many objects out of reach due to his short stature.) His initial design was rounder and cuter than his later design, created after his show was revived in 2001; that design was more graphic and stylized, and Dexter seemed much less childlike as a result.

Personality
Dexter is the class know-it-all, and prides himself on seldom being proved wrong. This is contradicted by his experiments, many of which are frivolous creations used to achieve ends presented in the show, such as a machine built to render him invisible so as to sneak a look at his birthday presents. He is prone to believing urban myths that he is fed by Dee Dee, which often cloud his judgement, as well as superstitions. Despite his Genius IQ-Dexter is not above cheating when he wants to win-as in the episode "D D & D". It also appears that he knows very little about common illnesses such as Chickenpox. He has many phobias, namely his fear of bugs and clowns. He also struggles to fit in, and the hysteria that potential social situations cause in him constantly gets him in trouble. He has no tolerance for Dee Dee's disregard for his personal space, and will often bellow "Dee Dee, get out of my laboratory!", among other, more extreme measures. Dexter, when shown working, is usually tightening a single nut on an otherwise blank piece of metal or a random machine. He is sometimes shown mixing two chemicals carefully (attempting to pour a single drop into the concoction below), at which point he is interrupted by Dee Dee (usually causing the chemicals to explode). His spiritual mentor is Albert Einstein, and his favorite supehero (who, within the show, is a real-life superhero) is Major Glory.

Dee Dee
Dexter considers his sister Dee Dee to be stupid, clumsy, and inferior to him, most ironically when Dee Dee tricks him with urban myths and false information about certain diseases. Dee Dee also enjoys succeeding where Dexter fails, whether its beating him at a game or skill (such as beating him in a snowball fight or basketball), or entering a contest just because Dexter is in it and winning (such as finding the "golden diskette" to win a tour of the legendary Professor Hawk's laboratory). Some viewers have complained about Dee Dee's competitive attitude towards her brother; yet, if she didn't challenge him, his egotism would become overbearing, and he would be a much less likable character as a result. In actuality, Dee Dee is Dexter's only friend, and she often shows affection towards him when he's truly down on himself. Dee Dee is a free spirit, which Dexter grudgingly acknowledges and even envies from time to time, and she enjoys her family, her friends and life in general without a speck of self-doubt. She can commune with animals,befriend mythical creatures such as Bigfoot and gracefully dance her way through sticky situations, utterly uncaring about any danger. Her initial design gave her a sweet face and a gangly body; her later design made her face more blank and wide-eyed, and lost much of the grace that made her so visually appealing. Dee Dee is as important a character in "Dexter's Laboratory" as Dexter himself; indeed, he would be less of a character without her. Thanks to Dee Dee, Dexter is able to live both as a child as well as a boy genius, a situation that gave the show more stories to tell than those based on sci-fi parodies and outlandish experiments.

Mandark
Mandark is Dexter’s arch-nemesis, and often attempts to humiliate him amongst the scientific community (normally just himself and Dexter), or to get a higher grade than him. Mandark also owns a robot similar to Dexter’s, which he uses to fight him with in an anime-style fashion. Besides the robot, Mandark in depicted as the virtual opposite of Dexter: he has an enormous lab and an equally impressive number of inventions. Mandark is slightly less clever than Dexter. Mandark happens to have a crush on Dee Dee, Dexter's older sister, something Dexter uses to his advantage many times. When he first appeared on the show, he was shown to be signifigantly more capable than Dexter, but after the shows revamp, his advantage decreased somewhat, leaving him and Dexter on a more equal ground.

Dad
Dexter's father normally tends to show favoritism to Dee Dee for her athletic prowess, but will occasionally side with Dexter when facing a challenge between the sexes (such as the snowball war between Dee Dee and Dexter, which he treats as a life-and-death matter in which Dexter must avenge his father being hit with a snowball thrown by Dexter's mother back in college). Dad is also depicted as unreasonably hostile towards Dexter when he interferes with a sports-related activity such as watching the "biggest golf match of the year" or breaking his bowling trophy.

Mom
Dexter appears to be fairly close to his mother, and appears to have inherited his intellect from her. He is sometimes embarassed by her, such as when she kept causing a ruckus at a chess tournament in an effort to cheer him on and ended up getting him disqualified, but mostly their relationship is a common affectionate one.

Other Appearances
Dexter has made cameo appearances in The Powerpuff Girls, I Am Weasel, Time Squad, and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. He has also been seen as a balloon in Codename: Kids Next Door. A thinly disguised version of Dexter appears in the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode Eddie Monster. He is also the leader of the war in Cartoon Network's MMO FusionFall, appearing as a teenager and much taller. Also he is a playable character in the new game Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion

Trivia

 * Dexter is born in 1987-1994.