Characters / Best Friends Whenever

Main Cast

Shelby Marcus

Portrayed by: Lauren Taylor

• Action Survivor: She has her moments of this. Shelby is mostly a normal girl, and lacks physical skills. As such she often makes it through her wits, and sheer determination.
• Big Eater: Only when she's stressed out. Unlike Cyd, who is one all the time.
• Dumb Blonde: Averted. She is far from dumb as she gets good grades, but she's still no rocket scientist like Barry and she can be somewhat naive. In her case, it's not so much that she's less intelligent, but more that she usually can't understand subjects like science or technology. Humorously, she pretends to be one to get answers about the Bad Future.
• Control Freak: It's acknowledged in the first episode that she can fall into this.
• Dating Catwoman: Shelby found out she'd be in this trope with Drake, in the Bad Future taking place two years from the present time. In that future, Janet Smythe became a tyrant, and Drake was her enforcer. Despite still caring for Shelby, and even speaking in her defense, Shelby had to break up with him in the present because she couldn't see him the same way after realizing how ruthless he could potentially become.
• Dude Magnet: A lot of boys are shown to like her, but the problem is that she can't tell when boys like her.
• Fangirl: She and Cyd are big fans of Liv Rooney and Austin Moon.
• Gasshole: In addition to her stress-eating, she also stress-belches. According to Cyd, they smell like she's been burning hair in her mouth.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Is a kind hearted and sweet blonde.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Shelby and Cyd are best friends, and Shelby even has a plan for their future: "We have to study so we can go to the same college, marry best friends, have kids, our kids can marry each other, have kids and we can be grandmas together."
• Large Ham: Shelby has a thing for big over the top displays, and exaggerated responses. It appears to run in the family.
• Mental Time Travel: Able to do this since the lab accident, by touching Cyd and thinking of a time.
• Nice Girl: Shelby is a nice and kind person, to the point she feels guilty for even being unkind to honestly unpleasant people.
  • She can't even do a Your Mother insult without ending it with a compliment towards the mother.
• Oblivious to Love: She cannot tell when a boy has a crush on her, no matter how obvious it is. Whenever a boy approaches her with flowers or chocolates, she honestly and sincerely wishes him the best in wooing whichever girl he plans to give them to, never once considering the possibility that they could be for her. This is usually the part where the poor guy proceeds directly to the nearest garbage can and throws the gift away, dejected. Another instance of this happens in "Girl Code" where two computer nerds, Elliot and Reboot want love advice from her about a girl (which turned out to be her).
• Only Sane Man: While the position shifts through the four of them, she ties with Barry in holding this the most often.
• Opposites Attract: It's lampshaded in the first episode she and Cyd have almost nothing in common, and this is why their friendship works.
• Pinocchio Nose: Ties in with the stress eating and belching. Gets itchy/a really bad stress rash on her face and neck in those situations.
• Ripple-Proof Memory: Shelby's memories are unaffected by any changes they cause through time travel.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: In "A Time To Cheat":
  Cyd: This looks like my actual hair. Did you get this out of my brush?
  Shelby: Well I certainly didn't yank it out of your head while you were sleeping like a hair-plucking nutjob.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly girl to Cyd's Tomboy, Shelby likes stereotypically girly things such as dressing up, accessories, crushes etc.

Cyd Ripley

Portrayed by: Landry Bender

• Action Girl: Cyd has her moments. She punched down the guy in the hazmat suit and tazed Janet after a fakeout, and that's high praise indeed.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: In "The Christmas Curse", she rejects Daisy's claim that a Christmas party is cursed because she and Shelby broke a sacred object. Keep in mind, this is a girl who is one half of a team of time travelers and is currently talking to a princess from the 16th century. However, Cyd was right—it was all in their heads.
• Beneath the Mask: Sure she comes across as a tough confident girl most of the time, but really Cyd can be quite insecure.
• Big Eater: She really does love her food.
• Deadpan Snarker: Is often sarcastic and snarky.
• Gasshole: Can out-burp an entire table of mead-swilling knights, without drinking anything herself (it's a kids' show after all).
• Godzilla Threshold: Cyd hates wearing dresses. If Cyd wears a dress, the situation is that serious.
• Growing Up Sucks: Is revealed to believe this in "When Cyd Met Shelby."
• Kiddie Kid: Not touched upon often, but Cyd's pretty childish. When she goes back to Kindergarten she practically has the time of her life.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Cyd's Masculine Girl and Naldo's Feminine Boy
• Mental Time Travel: Able to accomplish this since the lab accident, by touching Shelby in someway and thinking of a time.
• Opposites Attract: It's lampshaded in the first episode she and Shelby have almost nothing in common, and this is why their friendship works.
• Parental Neglect: She claims her parents loved her, but they weren't often that close. The reason she's living with Shelby, is cause there away for three years on an archaeological dig.
• The Pig-Pen: Downplayed, she's not outright unhygienic, but she is incredibly messy.
• Ripple-Proof Memory: Cyd's memories are not affected by the changes to the time stream they cause.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: In "Revenge of the Past", she dons a red dress and a pair of heels to blend in at a school dance. The effect is stunning, to say the least.
• Tomboy: Cyd certainly has a masculine side.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to Shelby's girly girl. Cyd is reasonably masculine and likes working out, scary things, and is quite messy.

Barry Eisenberg

Portrayed by: Gus Kamp

• Ambiguously Evil: Barry is obsessed with solving the secret to time travel, but his actions have called his motives to question. When Shelby and Cyd traveled to the 70s, they left behind tachyon particles that Barry wants to study. Later on it's revealed that Barry's background logo is the same one Cyd saw in the Bad Future, which means Barry is involved, and those particles are just the tip of the iceberg.
  • Averted, as it is revealed that he is nothing more than a Red Herring, and apparently, so were the Tachyon Particles, though the Tachyon particles play a more important role.
• Brainy Brunet: Has nice brown hair, and is a genius.
• Broken Pedestal: In the alternative time line created in "Cyd and Shelby Strike Back" Barry initially admires Janet Smythe and considers her his mentor. However after witnessing how ruthless she was and how little moral scruples she really had, Barry was opening horrified and disgusted. No doubt he's going to experience this again in the main timeline because she kidnapped him and threatened to harm Naldo if he doesn't crack time travel for her.
• Catchphrase: "Shuds!" Lampshaded in "Back To The Future Lab"
• The Cynic: In the episode "Working Nine to Fudge", Barry is known for being "alarmingly cynical" for his age. For this reason, he lacks imagination and writes poems that are more like facts, which caused him to fail poetry class.
• Foreshadowing: The background logo of the lab seen in the Bad Future can be seen on Barry's laptop in the very first episode when the characters are conversing in Barry's RV after they jump two years in the future.
• Gadgeteer Genius: He built all his technology himself, include a laser that can give you the power of time travel, all out of his homemade lab in a RV.
• Germanic Depressives: In an alternate timeline he is an evil Mad Scientist with a German accent and an extremely cynical personality. It turns out that this is an Invoked Trope. He adopted the accent specifically to match his new personality.
  Barry: Zis accent is ze only voice zat matches my internal bleakness. Even my flatulence has lost hope. Ven I break vind, it goes "Whyyyyyyy?"
• Intelligence Equals Isolation: In an Alternate Timeline in "The Butterscotch Effect" having never met Naldo he grew up alone, and eventually turned into a true Mad Scientist and Supervillain.
• Mad Scientist: He has shades of this, having a perplexing obsession with trying to crack and recreate the girls' secret to time travel, so he can use it for himself and take credit for it (granted as his inventions caused it, he is at least partially entitled to it). In an alternate timeline, he becomes a true one however, exacting revenge because he never got to meet his idol.
• Meaningful Name: Last name anyway. "Eisenberg" is just one letter off from "Heisenberg" (the scientist, not the drug lord).
• No Social Skills: He actually seems confused with the concept of saying thank you and showing affection as shown in ""A Time to Say Thank You." He likewise has similar trouble understanding that other people can have different opinions from him in "A Time to Rob and Slam."
  • As "Cyd And Shelby Strike Back" shows he's also hopeless at talking to girls, or at least he is when he's actually trying to rather, than just being himself.
• Not So Above It All: Barry may be a teen genius, but he still shows several signs he's still a teenager. Such as agreeing with Naldo his taunt would be a good name for a band, and playing a prank on the country club involving rats, in response to getting kicked out.
• Not So Stoic: For all his restraint, he will slip and act emotional during emergencies. Back in sixth grade, he had an emotional outburst after hiding in fear from the B-squad.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: If the normally rational and unemotional Barry is obvious worried and loudly reacting, it means that their facing a disaster which could endanger his friends well being or even life.
• Only Sane Man: While the position shifts between the four friends, depending on the circumstances. He ties with Shelby, in being the one to hold I the most often. Likewise Barry is the one who always considers the long term consequences of time travel.
• Opposites Attract: Has a platonic version with Naldo, Barry is an Teen Genius with limited emotional intelligence and little social skills, Naldo is The Ditz with a lot of compassion and able to easily get along with others. Despite this they're good friends.
• Pint-Sized Kid: Is not anymore but was one of the last kids in his grade to hit his growth spurt. They even called him 'Little Barry', he was so comparably short.
• Properly Paranoid: He's normally spot on about his worries over the unforeseen or unexplored consequences of Time Travel, prominent examples are in "The Butterscotch Effect" and "Shake Your Booty."
• Red Herring: At the end of "Shake Your Booty", we are treated to a Wham Shot of the logo seen in the future lab displayed on Barry's laptop, implying that he is somehow connected to the events in the future lab. However, the next episode reveals that the logo belongs to a large company and Barry has absolutely nothing to do with it, but is a huge fan of it.
• Teen Genius: At the age of fifteen, he has his own lab and regularly experiments on near revolutionary technology. It was this that was responsible for the accident that allows Shelby and Cyd to travel through time. Even science teacher Mr. Doyle acknowledges Barry as smarter than him.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Barry is the manly man to Naldo's sensitive guy. Granted Barry isn't a traditional manly man, however he still qualifies down to the fact of the two of them he is the more dominant, decisive, hard working, focused, practical and capable (he did after build all his technology himself). He likewise is very bad when having to deal with emotional issues.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Barry sure has a highbrow vocabulary.
• Shorter Means Smarter: He used to be the shortest kid in school, but he was still the smartest.
• Supervillain: He becomes one in an alternate future in "The Butterscotch Effect", but Shelby and Cyd erase that timeline.
• The Smart Guy: Of the group, Barry is undisputedly the smartest and most technical.
• The Stoic: Barry is not the emotional type, and is normally straight faced. In the timeline where he becomes a supervillain, he is completely devoid of emotion (other than the desire for revenge, if that counts).

Naldo Montoya

Portrayed by: Ricky Garcia

• Ambiguously Jewish: He mentions his dad takes three days to cook brisket.
• Book Dumb: Is the dumbest member of the cast (except Chett and Brett). He clearly doesn't understand the things he and Barry do together, and even mistakes several scientific words for swearing. The only thing he understands are emotions.
• Chick Magnet: As "Cyd And Shelby Strike Back" shows, he almost effortlessly gets multiple girls' attention.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Is normally just dim, however he will occasionally fall into this. Such as on one occasion believing if they visualise upon the model rocket he's agreed to make for Chet it will come to them. And then later trying to claim the one that Barry made was his, 'cause he saw it after this.
• His Name Really Is "Barkeep": Naldo isn't a nickname for Renaldo- it's his full name.
• Kind Hearted Simpleton: There isn't a mean bone in his entire body. There aren't too many brain cells either.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Cyd's Masculine Girl and Naldo's Feminine Boy
• Morality Chain: Naldo is the one who prevents Barry from falling to the Dark Side. Without his friendship Barry would be an anti-social revenge obsessed mad scientist.
• Nice Guy: Naldo is really sweet and kind person.
• Opposites Attract: Has a platonic version with Barry Naldo is The Ditz with a lot of compassion and able to easily get along with others. Barry is an Teen Genius with limited emotional intelligence and little social skills. Despite this they're good friends.
• Unmanly Secret: Isn't especially manly, but he immediately shuts up whenever he lets slip something that implies that he collects dolls.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Naldo is the sensitive guy to Barry's manly man. Of the two Naldo is more passive, friendly and sociable. He is also caring and very emotionally capable.
• Shipper on Deck: He believes that Barry and Marci are attracted to each other and would make a great couple, and urges Barry to try and date Marci, and they do.

Chet and Brett Marcus

Portrayed by: Matthew Lewis Royer and Benjamin Cole Royer

• Annoying Younger Sibling: To Shelby due to their constant arguing with each other.
• Cloudcuckoolander: There both often quite out of it, Chet especially.
• Coordinated Clothes: They always dress alike.
  • Though they only do it because they like dressing up like who they're with.
  • "Epic Girls Day" has them finally dressing in different clothes.
• The Ditz: They both make Naldo look like Barry. In one episode, Brett thought he shrunk Chet, and no one, not even Chet, tells him what really happened.
• Large Ham: Just like their sister, they both have a thing for shouting, and big displays.
• Sibling Rivalry: They argue with each other a lot.
• Single-Minded Twins: Close — they're not easy to tell apart in looks and personality, though Brett seems to be slightly more down-to-earth and sensible, and has somewhat more "sophisticated" tastes.
  • According to them, Brett has more freckles and Chet is the ladies' man.

Recurring Cast

Marci

Portrayed by: Madison Hu

• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: She's conspicuously absent from Season 2, with no In-Universe explanation, due to Madison Hu taking one of the lead roles on Bizaardvark.
• CloudCuckoolander: Makes and wears clothes from rubbish, compares herself to a dog and apparently sleeps at the foot of her parents bed. Need we go on?
• The Ditz: Doesn't understand the concept of time.
  • Genius Ditz: Despite this she is actually very good at science, something she shares with Barry.
• Nice Girl: Seems a nice person, despite her extreme eccentricity and lack of intellect.
• Secret-Keeper: Marci also knows about Cyd and Shelby's ability to time travel, and luckily just accepts it as it is.

Norm Marcus

Portrayed by: Kevin Symons

• Ambiguously Evil: "Jump Back To The Future Lab" suggests he might be the Masked man, experimenting on Cyd and Shelby. With him being promoted to work on the same lab they eventually end up in.
• Butt-Monkey: A lot of things go wrong for him, from him being hurt while simply hanging out with his sons, to him hating his job and feeling like a failure.
• The Cynic: While he will question the absurdity of events that occur, he's to far gone to try and do anything about it. Such as simply excepting cakes falling down his stairs.
• Jaded Washout: Works as a minor accountant in a corporation, that after 12 years the doorman still doesn't know his name. Admits to hating his job, and is quite cynical. His luck does start to improve in "Jump Back to the Future Lab" however this leads to the possibility he will be involved with experimenting on his own daughter.
• Only Sane Man: Has a few shades of this, being the only member of the Marcus clan to question the absurdity of the things that go on in his household. Such as his sons icing Cake in their bedrooms.

Astrid Marcus

Portrayed by: Mary Passeri

• CloudCuckoolander: Dismiss her sons' eccentricities as simply their artistic expression.
• Good Parents: Is a loving, caring mother to her children, and also to Cyd.
• Large Ham: Is clearly where her children get it from.

Janet Smythe

Portrayed by: Nora Dunn

• Bad Boss: Outright assaults her employee's for failing her.
• Big Bad: Of Season 1. She's the one responsible for the future lab and she collected Tachyon particles of the girls in the past, and is tracking them. Now Cyd and Shelby have to find a way to stop her and prevent her experiments.
• Child Hater: She makes it clear she hates children, even though they made her look good during her presentations.
• Crazy-Prepared: Had no less than eight booby traps in her lab, to stop people stealing her ideas.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Is the founder and CEO of Globo-Digi Dyne, a very powerful technological research and manfucture company that makes everything from computers to military defense systems. She likewise uses this to create the future Lab, intended to experiment on Cyd and Shelby.
• Evil Counterpart: Is one for Barry, both are geniuses, both possess a strong For Science! motivation, and both are trying to crack the secrets of time travel. However unlike Barry, who can be absent-minded at times, Janet possess no moral scruples, and is happy to resort to human experimentation and murder to further her research.
• Evil Genius: Is the pioneer of mathematical equations and wireless technology, she is presently deemed one of the greatest scientist of the modern day. She's also crazy, selfish and dangerous.
• Evil Plan: Discover Cyd and Shelby's time travel abilities, and change history so that she's credited for every advance in technology and take over the country.
• Emperor Scientist: In the bad future, she uses her scientific knowledge and figured out time travel so she could take over the US
• Faux Affably Evil: More than willing to fake charm and jovalness to get what she wants. In reality she is a cold, cruel and ruthless woman.
• Knight of Cerebus: Janet's presence made the story take a much darker turn. She's willing to kill two innocent teenage girls to get their power.
• Lack of Empathy: Concepts such as empathy don't even register with her. If she does show any care for someone, it's purely manipulative.
• Mad Scientist: Has absolutely no problems with using human experimentation to further her research.
• The Sociopath: Janet has no regard for human life, and she'll gladly murder anyone who stands in her way. Janet certainly had no remorse when it looked like Cyd was dead, and continued to taunt Shelby when she cried about it.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Is a well-respected scientist and businesswoman; Barry especially practically idolizes her. Of course, she has contempt even for Barry.

Drake

Portrayed by: JT Neal

• Affably Evil: In the Bad Future, Drake openly supports Janet Smythe's ruthless policies, but he is still kind when enforcing said policies and still caring towards Shelby. Despite this, Shelby seeing that he could potentially become so heartless towards others caused her to break up with him in the present.
• Boy of the Week: Subverted. He's the first of Shelby's love interests to last three episodes. She had to break up with him because she what a jerk he could really be.
• The Dragon: In the Bad Future, he is Janet Smythe's enforcer.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Shelby couldn't see him the same way after learning about him in the Bad Future, and broke up with him.

Princess Daisy Grundenwald

Portrayed by: Bryana Salaz

A 500 year-old princess who came through a time portal after the events of the Season 1 finale.

• Damsel in Distress: Daisy is the archetypal example of the classic "princess locked in a tower", having never seen much of the outside world. Thankfully, a time rift saved her from that, and her new friends prevented her from going back to it again.
• The Ditz: Downplayed. She seems reasonably intelligent, to the point that Naldo makes her look like a genius but she has the occasional ditzy moment (like not realizing that she was a prisoner, despite having been confined to a dungeon).
• Fish out of Temporal Water: She's a time-displaced princess from the year 1522, so she has trouble adjusting to the present day. She's slowly picking things up, though.
• I Choose to Stay: She has the chance to return to her time at the end of "Princess Problems", but she chooses to stay in the 21st century after realizing that she's a prisoner in her own time.
• Interclass Friendship: A Princess who is friends with two commoner girls.
• Older Than They Look: She's physically a teenager, but due to physical Time Travel, she's technically over 500 years old.
• Rebellious Princess: Daisy admits she wants to have more fun, like pull pranks, which is something princesses don't typically do. There's a bit of a "pampered princess" vibe to her, but she's cheerful and friendly all the same. Ever since she came to the present, she's wanted to spend more time with commoners.
• Ship Tease: Daisy is starting to get this with Barry, hugging him after he pulled his other three friends to save her, and when she uses the same prank Naldo did, he starts thinking he could be in love with her. "It's Not Ye, It's Me" confirms he does like her.
• Sole Survivor: Daisy's parents got lost at sea, so now she's the last heir to her kingdom.
• Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Averted. Daisy's use of the English language is only slightly out of place, but it's as close to Modern English as it gets. Shelby assumed this vernacular was how she should properly speak to a 16th century princess, but then realizes how weird it sounded.

Sebastian

Portrayed by: Barrett Carnahan

• Asshole Victim: Sebastian took control of the tower Princess Daisy was held in, and is holding Daisy's jailer hostage. Played With, as Daisy's jailer's intentions are ultimately unclear.
• Big Bad: Of Season 2. Sebastian is relentlessly seeking Daisy and has taken control of the tower she was held in.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: He probably couldn't be more different from Janet Smythe: She is a middle aged, 21st century scientist, he's a young, nobleman from medieval times. She's a powerful and successful businesswoman who desires to shape the future, while he is misogynistic and can't seem to consider societal change.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Typical of people during the 1500s, he is misogynistic, believing girls and women are inferior (though based on interactions with other medieval characters, he does seem to be misogynistic even by medieval standards). Even when Cyd (dressed as a tavern wench) bested him in battle, his opinion had not changed in the slightest.
• Sore Loser: Sebastian did not accept the terms of his defeat, so he just grabs a dagger, and attempts to kill Cyd.
• Would Hit a Girl: Sebastian has no qualms killing a girl even though one has beaten him in battle.