Grouchy Smurf (Empath stories)

"I hate...whatever it is I hate!"

Grouchy is a Smurf character who is part of the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series.

History
Grouchy was the son of Muscles Smurf, born as the younger brother of Handy and Hefty Smurf. Like most of his fellow Smurfs his age, he was raised by his parents until an unknown disease had claimed their lives, leaving him and his brothers Handy and Hefty in the care of Culliford Smurf, who eventually became known as Papa Smurf. The rest of his personal history at least in the present point of the story series is similar to that of his cartoon show counterpart up until around Seasons 5 and 6.

Personality
For the most part, his personality is identical to that of his cartoon show counterpart, although during rare moments when he is very outspoken, his personality resembles that of his 2011 Smurfs movie counterpart. As a young Smurfling, Grouchy has been the subject of Hefty's constant bullying around, being made to do things he would rather not do, until during Empath's first visit to the Smurf Village when he bravely stood up for Grouchy, warning Hefty that he would inform Papa Smurf about his activities, causing Hefty to relent for the time being. Though Grouchy was rather cold at first toward Empath's presence, he eventually warmed up to him and confided to him things he would rather not tell any other Smurf, becoming Empath's friend in the process even as he in turn stood up against Hefty when he was beating up Empath.

Because Grouchy is the type of Smurf who is very uncomfortable sharing his feelings with anyone, he feels particularly safe around Empath and will interact with him more than any other Smurf whenever Empath is in the village. His other friend among the Smurfs is Tapper Smurf, who like Empath is willing to listen to his fellow Smurfs' problems and is very guarded when it comes to handling personal information. His relationship to Empath's friend Polaris Psyche is rather tenuous, given that Grouchy doesn't like that Polaris hardly reacts to anything emotionally.

During the events of the story "Days Of Auld Lang Smurf", while all the other male adult Smurfs were happy to see their parent Smurfs alive again despite the fact that it was all an illusion crafted by the Auld Lang Syne Spell that Chlorhydris the witch had cast on them, Grouchy was the only Smurf among them who wasn't pleased to see his parents back from the dead as his Papa Smurf continued to heap praise on Hefty's and Handy's achievements and was also too focused on his daughter Sassette. By telling his Papa Smurf that he never wanted to see him again, Grouchy caused the illusion to vanish before his eyes, snapping him back to reality and helping Smurfette, Polaris Psyche, and the Smurflings to bring the other Smurfs back to reality before midnight on December 31, where the illusions would vanish and cause a great shock among their fellow Smurfs that would kill them. It was perhaps the only known time so far that Grouchy's normally grouchy personality actually became an asset that helped his fellow Smurfs.

While Grouchy is not very musically inclined, he decided to create a music album expressing his feelings to the whole village. Empath helped Grouchy with the production of the album by bringing in Rapper and Orbit, both of which Empath thought would be suitable for the project. The result was the comedy album called Bad. Grouchy also became the host of his own Window Vision show called The Grouch Potato where he basically spoke his mind about all sorts of subjects and his opinions on them.

At Empath and Smurfette's wedding, Grouchy was the only Smurf who attempted to speak out against the union taking place, but ended up losing his nerve when he realized how Empath and Smurfette seemed to be made for each other.

Relationships

 * Empath is considered one of his best friends.
 * Papa Smurf is the Smurf that Grouchy considers his true father, despite his own personal faults.
 * Smurfette is his love interest, though he is very secretive about how he shows that he cares for her.
 * Baby Smurf is the Smurf that he loves, mostly because Baby loves him despite his grouchy demeanor.
 * Hefty and Handy are the two brother Smurfs that he can't stand being around, even more so with Hefty.
 * Tapper is another one of his best friends, as is also
 * Duncan McSmurf

Role
Grouchy serves as a gag character, providing mostly "I hate" statements.

Trivia

 * In the comic books, Grouchy's disposition was a side effect of being bitten by the black fly in "The Black Smurfs" (released in English as "The Purple Smurfs"). In the cartoon show, Grouchy's disposition is natural, and in the 2011 Smurfs movie, Grouchy uses his grouchiness to hide his true feelings from others.
 * In the cartoon show, Grouchy is normally immune to sadness, which made it difficult for him to cry when he and Jokey were captured Chlorhydris' daughter Priscilla, who was cursed with a spell that robbed her of her youth and beauty. In the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series, Grouchy's sadness is caused by Empath having to return to Psychelia after a year of getting to know him during his first visit to the Smurf Village.

Voice Actor(s)
Grouchy would most likely be voiced by Steve Blum, who does the voice of Oghren the dwarf warrior in Dragon Age: Origins.