was all about a group of toddlers and their daily adventures, but the spinoff series All Grown Up! showed the babies as teens – and some changed a lot. Rugrats was created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain, and premiered on Nickelodeon in 1991. The series was a big hit and spawned three films (The Rugrats Movie, Rugrats in Paris, and Rugrats Go Wild, a crossover with The Wild Thornberrys) and two spin-off series: Rugrats Pre-School Daze and All Grown Up!.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the series, Nickelodeon aired the TV special All Growed Up, which followed Tommy and his childhood friends as teens. The special was so well received that the network decided to turn it into a series, with the special now serving as pilot. All Grown Up! also marked the end of the main series as Nickelodeon wanted to focus only on the spinoff. The series aired from 2003 until 2008, with a total of five seasons.
All Grown Up! featured the gang from the main series (Tommy, Dil, Angelica, Chuckie, Kimi, Phil, Lil, and Susie) and their families, as well as new characters that served as friends, enemies, and love interests. While most of their personality traits stayed the same, the characters’ behavior and mentality obviously changed, and viewers also learned some of their life aspirations and other details. Here’s what happened to the babies when they grew up.
Tommy Pickles
The “leader” of the Rugrats group and the voice of reason on many occasions, Tommy Pickles served as the main series’ protagonist, although the rest had their own episodes sometimes. He’s Didi and Stu’s first born, and his best friends were Chuckie and his dog Spike. Tommy was brave, with a strong sense of justice, and always up for adventures. He was constantly encouraging Chuckie to join their different adventures and to defeat his (many) fears, and also defended his friends from his bully cousin, Angelica.
As a baby, Tommy was mostly bald, with just a few hairs on his head, toothless, and wore a light blue shirt, a diaper, and no shoes. Tommy has the most radical change in terms of looks in All Grown Up!: straight white teeth, spiky purple hair (like his dad’s), and finally wears pants and shoes. Tommy continues to be the voice of reason and the one his friends go to for advice, but contrary to when he was a baby, he now focuses more on his own problems than on his friends’ – but he’s always willing to help, if necessary. Tommy is very interested in filmmaking and is also seen inventing stuff sometimes, just like his dad.
Dil Pickles
Dil Pickles is Tommy’s baby brother and was introduced in The Rugrats Movie. As the youngest baby, he didn’t do much in Rugrats, and he was often seen crying or babbling… or being used by Angelica to trick the babies and sometimes the adults as well. Even though they can’t really understand each other and their relationship was not good at the beginning, Dil and Tommy eventually became close, and Tommy was very caring with Dil.
In All Grown Up!, Dil is by far the one with the most eccentric personality, wearing bizarre outfits (like a hat with plastic dentures attached to it), contorting in weird ways, talking in code, and looking to make contact with aliens. In the episode “Truth or Consequences”, Principal Pangborn attempts to psychoanalyze him, with Phil and Lil later wondering if he would be different had they not dropped him on his head. Whatever the reason, Dil is not afraid to be himself, and his friends and family accept him as he is.
Angelica Pickles
Angelica Pickles is Tommy and Dil’s cousin and the main antagonist of Rugrats. She’s the only child of Charlotte and Drew, and as such was really spoiled and always looking to be the center of attention. She constantly threatened the babies verbally and physically, although she was seen standing up for them a couple of times. She had a “frenemy” relationship with Susie, Tommy’s neighbor and friend, who was her complete opposite.
Angelica’s personality doesn’t change much in All Grown Up! as she’s still spoiled and bossy, looking to have all the latest fashion trends and become very popular. She’s still manipulative and takes advantage of others, especially his friend Harold. Her relationship with Susie improves, and even asks her for advice a couple of times, and her new “frenemy” is Savannah, the leader of the popular group who constantly looks down on her while she tries (a bit too hard) to fit in.
Chuckie Finster
Chuckie Finster is Tommy’s best friend and that one character that was always afraid and worrying over everything. He had orange, messy hair, freckles, glasses, and his shoelaces were always untied. He lived with his dad Chas, stepmother Kira (who his father married in Rugrats in Paris), and stepsister Kimi. He struggled with a number of fears, both rational and irrational, but proved to have the courage to face them.
Physically, Chuckie doesn’t change much in All Grown Up!. His hair is still orange and messy, he still wears glasses, and now also braces. He’s still shy but takes more risks than when he was a baby, and continues to be a support for his friends. He becomes an even more overprotective brother, which creates some minor conflicts with Kimi (and at some point with his best friend Tommy as well, when he finds the initials “TP+KF” carved in the wall). He definitely plays the “big brother” part more prominently in this series than in Rugrats.
Phil and Lil DeVille
Tommy’s neighbors and the only twins in Rugrats, Phil and Lil DeVille are a very special pair. They loved dirt, bugs, and argued very often, calling each other by their full name. Adults often mistook them as they are pretty much identical, and the pair even played with this by exchanging Lil’s bow. They were always up for all kinds of adventures, but the messier the better.
Naturally, they were pretty close, but in All Grown Up! the dynamic between them goes through some changes. They grow more independent of each other and no longer share a room (nor do they dress the same). At some point, Lil is pressured by her “friends” to demand her independence and get her own room, but it’s all because they think Phil is gross – which he kinda is. Phil is still into “gross stuff” while Lil becomes more of a superstitious type. They both have romantic interests, with an attraction between Lil and Chuckie being implied and Phil going out with Wally Ramone, a girl on his soccer team and one of Lil’s best friends.
Kimi Finster
Kimi Watanabe-Finster was introduced in Rugrats in Paris along with her mother, Kira, and later became part of Rugrats. She was adventurous, had a big imagination, and was always smiling, but she was also a bit too naive, making Chuckie feel like he had to protect her all the time. She was more of an “act first, think later” type, which was the complete opposite to her brother, but they cared a lot about each other and had a really strong bond.
As a teen, Kimi is a free-thinking, independent girl. She has a very peculiar fashion sense and embraces her Japanese heritage, likes “weird” music, and develops a crush on “bad guy” Z, although it’s later revealed that she also has a crush on Tommy. Her relationship with Chuckie continues to be very close, with her offering him support whenever he needs it, and while she appreciates his overprotectiveness, she finds it annoying sometimes. In All Grown Up! it is revealed that Kimi has been keeping in touch with her father, and even comes to visit her in the episode “Trading Places”, along with her step-mother and half-sister.
Susie Carmichael
Susie Carmichael was Tommy’s neighbor and Angelica’s rival throughout Rugrats, although she made a conscious effort to get along with her. She was polite, kind, adventurous, and had a very active imagination, but she also had a very mean side that could easily compete with Angelica’s, although this side of her wasn’t seen often. She was also very supportive, especially to Chuckie, very intelligent, and had a better understanding of adults and the world in general than the rest of the gang.
Susie doesn’t change much in All Grown Up!, as she’s still the more mature character from the bunch and keeps a close relationship with everyone. She has a natural talent for singing and is also shown to know 10 languages. Her relationship with Angelica changes for the better, and the two often help each other. Just like her mother, Susie is a girl of many talents, and often keeps herself busy with multiple activities.