open/close all folders
The Humans
Professor Spark
Voiced by: Tony Pope, Peter Landgren (Swedish)
- All There in the Manual: According to the old Knowledge Adventure website, his full name is Professor Alberto Leonardo Sparks. (The website used the "Sparks" spelling, see Sudden Name Change.)
- Deus Exit Machina: Apparently, he would be able to control Polly if he was around, but he's not. He returns home at the end of the game.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Judging from his inventions, he's involved in just about every field of scientific research plus, based on the Art Gallery and Music Hall, the humanities.
- Opaque Nerd Glasses: Has giant eyeless glasses that show his smarts.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Botley clearly respects his authority, and reasons that he'd understand Botley breaking a few of his rules for the greater cause of saving the world. And when he does return home at the end of the game, Professor Spark quickly sees through Polly's attempt to blame everything on Botley.
- Sudden Name Change: His last name is "Spark" in JumpStart 3rd Grade, but it changes to "Sparks" in JumpStart Typing.
Polly Spark
Voiced by: Jeannie Elias, Siri Sandquist (Swedish)
- Achilles' Heel: She doesn't seem to do well when it comes to Latin...
- Big Bad: She is the overall villain of the game, and is responsible for the whole time-travel plot that you have to stop.
- Break the Haughty: Polly spends the entire game being a patronizing bitch to Botley. It’s only when her father comes home that she finally gets taken down off her high horse.
- Disembodied Eyebrows: Her eyebrows float above her head in order to show her supercilious expression in spite of her enormous Opaque Nerd Glasses.
- Disproportionate Retribution: She decides to rewrite history because she got a 0 on a test that she deliberately wrote wrong answers for.
- Dub Name Change: She's named "Klara Blixt" in the Swedish release of the game.
- Enfant Terrible: Polly is a malicious kid.
- Evil Is Petty: She wants to rewrite history so all her joke answers on a test are correct. She then crosses the line when she reveals that her extra credit question involves the Big Bang...and then commands Botley to go to the time machine to reenact her answer of him exploding to create the universe.
- For the Evulz: The closest thing she has to a Freudian Excuse is Miss Winkle giving her a zero on her test, so she decided to change history to match her answers. Also doubles as Disproportionate Retribution.
- Four-Fingered Hands: As seen in the image on the right.
- Girlish Pigtails: She keeps her hair in two long pigtails.
- Heel–Face Turn / Took a Level in Kindness: Polly mellows out considerably by the time of JumpStart Typing, with her and Botley on better terms.
- Insufferable Genius: Definitely. She purposely wrote wrong answers on her test because she already knew the correct ones and was bored.
- Lack of Empathy: So much so she does not care for the feelings of others, including her father and fellow robots.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Polly gets hit by this hard by the time Botley brings back all of the robots. Miss Winkle decides to give her a Latin test, a subject she apparently dislikes.
- Malicious Misnaming: She has a perverse urge to piss Botley off by addressing him with rude and insulting words that rhyme with his name. Even after Botley corrects her twice, it seems apparent to him that she won't stop. In other words, he is talking to a brick wall.
- Opaque Nerd Glasses: Apple hasn't fallen far from the tree. She has an enormous set of glasses that show how smart she is as well as necessitating Disembodied Eyebrows.
- Outdated Name: The name "Polly" is quite old-fashioned, which is ironic given the sci-fi setting. Presumably, the developers didn't want to give their child villainess a name that real 1990s children were likely to have.
- Pet the Dog: In the short story, "Mystery Mountain Munchies", Polly promises Botley to make him his favorite dessert if he joins her on an adventure, and at the end of the story, she even plans to eat it together with him.
- Sadist: Polly takes extreme pleasure in the suffering and pain of others, laughing over a robot getting sent back in time and making things difficult for the player. She even mocks Botley's heroism and likes to piss him off by getting his name wrong on purpose.
- Smug Smiler: She sports a condescending smile in every scene she appears in.
- The Sociopath: Lack of Empathy? Check. Manipulates people like chesspieces and only emitting shallow emotions? Check. Speaks highly of herself? Check. Not worried about her actions creating a time paradox that will destroy the universe? OH YES!
- Sore Loser: Her plan to change history just because she got an F on her test reeks of this attitude. Not to mention every time you do the Virtual Collection activity, she throws an additional puzzle at you just because she's mad that you found her clue so easily. Her last gambit to send Botley back to the beginning of the universe happens after he's recovered all 25 robots is basically her fuming at the fact her plan was entirely undone.
- Spoiled Brat: She has a very rotten and entitled attitude. How she got so spoiled is a bit of a mystery since her father doesn't seem especially doting.
- Sudden Name Change: As with her father, her last name becomes "Sparks" in JumpStart Typing.
Ms. Winkle
Voiced by: Jeannie Elias, Sara Nygren (Swedish)
- The Cameo: In JumpStart Typing, she's part of the crowd in the "Fans Go Wild" activity.
- Dub Name Change: "Fröken Frisk" in the Swedish release.
- The Noseless: She is the only human character to be drawn without a nose.
- Perpetual Smiler: She's always seen with a nice, big grin on her face.
- Schoolmarm: Technically, since she does run a one-room schoolhouse, albeit a Space Age version of one.
- Small Role, Big Impact: She gave Polly a 0 on her test — albeit justified because this is a test and Polly was goofing off — which spurred the girl to rewrite history.
The Robots
Botley (Android XL-2)
Voiced by: Jeannie Elias, Dick Eriksson (Swedish)
- Badly Battered Babysitter: Botley was created for the onerous duty of looking after Polly because she kept scaring away the sitters hired by her father.
- Book Dumb: The reason why he is asking you for help - he's not programmed for academics. Subverted as he does give you some answers if you go wrong enough times (for example in the observatory).
- Butt-Monkey: He is never safe from abuse which include him getting shrunk in comic fashion, slipping on a banana peel and not being able to make a safe landing in the school. Not to mention Polly's verbal abuse.
- Captain Obvious: Botley provides lines that come with the territory of being an Exposition Fairy.
- The Comically Serious: While he's usually a bit of a comical character, he often sees himself as an incredibly serious individual often panicking when the worst is about to happen (I.e. Polly using the robots to change history in the most horrible way possible).
- Death Glare: Gives a furious one to Polly when she gives out her plan to him.
- Dub Name Change: His name is "Roybot" in the Swedish release of the game.
- Exposition Fairy: He serves as your guide throughout the game.
- Faux Horrific: His reaction to the Ancient Olympics being changed thanks to Rhonda Robot? Him freaking out over the participants running a marathon in high heels.
- The Finicky One: The most neurotic and uptight perfectionist in the entire game and he's also pretty rational and intelligent for a hapless robot.
- Guile Hero: In spite of being whiny and pretentious on natural level, he can be pretty wily on occasion. After all, he did bring back all 25 of his friends.
- Kid-Appeal Character: A worrywart robot full of helpful advice.
- Large Ham: He's a robotic manifestation of an innocent pre-teen boy, and gets even more exaggerated when he's afraid or gets distressed over Polly changing history.
- Made of Iron: Pun aside, he's surprisingly durable. He isn’t even dented when he crash lands in front of the mountain, but his rocket is.
- Nervous Wreck: There's hardly ever a time when he isn't worrying about what could go wrong in Polly's plot to change history and who could blame him. After expressing his worries after a Trans Quizzer question, chances are he'll have a heroic comment or two to dish out.
- Nested Ownership: Professor Sparks built him to help his daughter, who was a real troublemaker at the time.
- Nice Guy: Botley is nice to literally everyone in the game and he doesn't even tell Polly what he truly thinks of her. This might be part of his programming.
- Ridiculously Human Robot: He's panicky, worrisome, and whiny, but also has a heart of gold and he's one of the most memorable heroes in the Jump Start franchise.
- Robot Buddy: He's meant to be one for Polly, although she apparently isn't going for it. He is your buddy, however.
- Stand Your Ground: Does this at the end of the game when Polly states that her answer to the extra credit question — what caused the birth of the universe — is what she calls "The Big Bot" (ie sending Botley to explode and cause he formation of the universe) knowing that his programming would kick in eventually but does all he can to resist. Thankfully, at that point, Professor Sparks arrives in the knick of time.
- Underestimating Badassery: Polly thinks that Botley can't be much of a threat to her plans. She is wrong.
Mort
Voiced by: Tony Pope, Siri Sandquist (Swedish)
- Big Eater: Botley notes that Mort eats so much that other robots call him, "the bottomless pit." It's true enough that Mort declares that he's starving every time you visit the kitchen.
- Eating Machine: The ingredients for Mort's meals include a mix of human food, stereotypical robot food like gears, and just plain random items such as soap and gold bullion.
- Metal Muncher: He eats foods with metal ingredients such as gears and gold bullion.
- Top-Heavy Guy: His arms are bigger than his legs.
Mrs. Beasley
Voiced by: Pat Lentz, Eva Louise Landgren (Swedish)
- Beehive Hairdo: She has a blue, beehive-like hairstyle.
- Grumpy Old Woman: She's perpetually (and understandably) irritated with how little regard Polly treats the gallery with and based on her conversation with Botley, is old enough that she uses vacuum tubes.
- "I Want" Song: The game's initial release featured a musical number sung by her, in which she expresses her desires to be an artist, and lists down all the different types of artwork she could create. This got removed in all subsequent releases, likely for clashing with the game's tone.
- Scary Librarian: Subverted; she may have this vibe, but she is ultimately friendly.
- The Smurfette Principle: Of all the robots to preside over a mini-game, she is the only Fembot.
Bothoven
Voiced by: Tony Pope, Peter Landgren (Swedish)
- I Can't Hear You: Considering who he's based on, it's inevitable.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Based on Ludwig van Beethoven, obviously.
- Punny Name: Do we even need to explain it?
Maestro Trombot
Voiced by: Tony Pope, Martin Klefelt (Swedish)
- One-Wheeled Wonder: As seen in the image on the right.
- Transforming Mecha: Can transform into a cello if it is selected by the player.
Egbert
Voiced by: Tony Pope
- Friend to All Living Things: Including bugs, and is offended when Polly makes mean-spirited jokes about his beloved specimens.
Buster
- All There in the Manual: He's unnamed in the game itself, but the user's manual calls him Buster.
Monty Monitor
Voiced by: Tony Pope
- Game Show Host: Since Polly has reprogrammed his quiz into being a Game Show called "Pollywood Squares", Monty now has the persona of one.
- Theme Naming: In keeping with the game show persona, Monty is named after Let's Make a Deal host Monty Hall.
Polly's robot
- Ambiguous Gender: No gender is specified. Note how our description avoids the use of pronouns.
- No Name Given: Polly's robot is never referred to by name.
- Oh, Crap!: Unlike Polly, her robot notices her father entering the room right away and spends the rest of the scene looking terrified.
- The Quiet One: This robot never talks, at least not on-screen, but does occasionally let out a mischievous cackle.
- Troll: Sometimes when the generator room is visited, the robot leaves a banana peel there for Botley to slip on.
The time-traveling robots
- Top row:
- Slobot: The Pig-Pen ("He loves dirt so much, he married Professor Spark's vacuum cleaner!")
- Miss Battery-Bot: A battery-themed robot
- Booster-Bot: A rocket-themed robot
- Rhonda Robot: Three-time winner of the Miss Silicon Chip Contest
- Second row down:
- Danny Defrost-Bot: A snowman-themed robot
- Roland Road-Bot: A track marshal-themed robot
- Chef Boy-Robot: The robot chef
- Verna the Vend-Bot: A vending-machine robot
- Brunwella the Bombshell: A demolition robot whom Botley evidently has a crush on
- Pierrot-Bot: A Pierrot-themed robot clown artist
- Bongo-Bot the Six-Armed Robot Drummer: A, um, six-armed robot drummer
- Vasco da Robot: A Bold Explorer who is pen-pals with Botley
- Dr. Bug-Bot: The robot doctor
- Third row down:
- Slide the Heavy Metal Robot: A literally heavy metal robot (he's made of lead) whom Polly reprogrammed to be a rock star
- Noshi Origami: A exchange-student robot from Japan
- Eraser-Bot: A pencil-themed robot
- Amelia Air-Bot: A pilot-themed robot
- Roast-Bot: A robot fireman
- Bubble-Bot: A bubble-themed robot who was programmed to walk and chew gum at the same time ("That may not sound like much, but it took a long time to perfect")
- Bottom row:
