Handy

"There's no job too big for this beaver carpenter. He's always eager to lend a helping... limb."

- "Collect them All" card info

Handy is one of the main characters of Happy Tree Friends.

Character Bio
Handy is an orange beaver with unexplained amputated arms (thus his name). The stumps are covered with bandages. He wears a tool belt and a yellow worker's helmet (the typical dress of most construction workers). He has mostly been portrayed as an adult, though there has been times when he has been portrayed as a child, such as in Happy Trails Pt. 1 when he was on a school bus with many other characters and in Remains to be Seen when he and some other characters were dressed up and trick or treating on Halloween. His dam mostly consists of tools that are operated by hand.

Despite his lack of hands, he is still capable of building many things big or small, though we never actually see him build it in the first place - it's usually off-screen, very similar to Cro-Marmot (with the exceptions of Wheelin' and Dealin' and Don't Yank My Chain, where he is seen putting the final touches on his race car and steering another car). Usually, whenever he builds something for the female characters, they are pleased and often thank him by hugging him for it, like Petunia from House Warming and Giggles from Home Is Where the Hurt Is. This has led some fans to believe that they have a crush on him.

Whenever he is actually seen trying to do something which would usually require hands, however, he fails and pulls a frustrated look and an annoyed grunt at the camera, indicating that he forgot that he doesn't have hands. This has become a running gag in the series. Usually when he finds a compromise, it will lead to his own death and sometimes the death of others. Most of his deaths involve machinery, vehicles, getting cut in half, and his head. As he has bandages on what is left of his arms, it can be assumed that he lost them in a work-related accident. He also seems to feel no shock or remorse at seeing others die or get injured, with the exceptions of Petunia and The Mole.

It is possible that in the TV series, Handy has gained an interest in flying, as seen in Who's to Flame?, Gems the Breaks, A Change of Heart, and Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow. Sometimes he stays in the air from when he first appears in the episode until his death. From the episode, In a Jam, it became apparent that he has photosensitive epilepsy, the flashing lights triggering a seizure as his eyes go wonky, he jitters, and foams at the mouth.

Similar to Cub, Cuddles, Petunia, Lifty, Shifty, Sniffles, and Toothy, Handy rarely survives the episodes he appears in. The only TV episodes he survives in are Doggone It (Debatable), Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow, and Double Whammy Part I. In the internet shorts, he survives House Warming, Spare Me, Happy Trails Pt. 1 (but not part 2), Something Fishy, and By The Seat Of Your Pants. He also survives Milk Pong, and Happy New Year.

Starring Roles

 * 1) House Warming
 * 2) Spare Me
 * 3) Happy Trails Pt. 2: Jumping the Shark
 * 4) The Way You Make Me Wheel
 * 5) Shard at Work
 * 6) Don't Yank My Chain
 * 7) Home Is Where the Hurt Is
 * 8) I Nub You
 * 9) No Time Like the Present

Featuring Roles

 * 1) Wheelin' and Dealin'
 * 2) Blind Date
 * 3) YouTube Live Episode
 * 4) Ipso Fatso
 * 5) Concrete Solution
 * 6) Who's to Flame?
 * 7) Dunce Upon a Time
 * 8) A Hole Lotta Love
 * 9) See What Develops
 * 10) Aw, Shucks!
 * 11) Wipe Out!
 * 12) Easy Comb, Easy Go
 * 13) In a Jam
 * 14) A Bit of a Pickle
 * 15) Pet Peeve

Appearance Roles

 * 1) Happy Trails Pt. 1
 * 2) Class Act
 * 3) The Wrong Side of the Tracks
 * 4) From Hero to Eternity
 * 5) Doggone It
 * 6) Gems the Breaks
 * 7) A Change of Heart
 * 8) A Sight for Sore Eyes
 * 9) Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow
 * 10) Double Whammy Part I
 * 11) Wrath of Con
 * 12) Something Fishy
 * 13) See You Later, Elevator
 * 14) The Carpal Tunnel of Love (as a picture on a truck)
 * 15) Breaking Wind
 * 16) By The Seat Of Your Pants

Love Bites Roles

 * 1) My Better Half

HTF Break Roles

 * 1) Happy New Year
 * 2) Claw

Attempts at Handed Activities and Tasks
It is unknown how long ago before the series Handy lost his hands, but regardless of how long he's been without them, to this day he quickly and readily forgets that he doesn't have them. Every time he remembers he needs hands, he gets frustrated and makes his signature scowl.


 * He tries to grab in House Warming a hose, in Spare Me a bottle in his eye, in Concrete Solution a fork and a punch card, and in Don't Yank My Chain keys.
 * He tries to push a button in Who's to Flame? and Don't Yank My Chain.
 * He tries to open a door in Concrete Solution and Home Is Where the Hurt Is (both car and normal).

Occupations and Careers

 * For more information, see List of Occupations


 * 1) Architect - House Warming; Home Is Where the Hurt Is
 * 2) Race-car Driver - Wheelin' and Dealin'
 * 3) Auto Repairman - The Way You Make Me Wheel, Blind Date
 * 4) Construction Worker - Concrete Solution
 * 5) Emergency Rescue Squad Member - Who's to Flame?; Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow
 * 6) Banner Setter-upper - See What Develops
 * 7) Driving Instructor - Easy Comb, Easy Go
 * 8) Drummer - In a Jam
 * 9) Lumberjack - Milk Pong
 * 10) Road-Line Painter - A Bit of a Pickle

Seen on Computer and TV

 * 1) Wheelin' and Dealin': Hits an ambulance, and his cart rips his lower half off.
 * 2) Happy Trails Part 2: The rocket he is in hits the sun and explodes.
 * 3) Class Act: Dies in an explosion.
 * 4) The Way You Make Me Wheel: Lumpy accidentally puts his car in reverse, crushing Handy's organs out of his mouth and wrapping him around the tire.
 * 5) Shard at Work: Drowns to death in a fish bowl.Handy0.jpg
 * 6) Remains to be Seen: Killed in a truck crash. Revived as a zombie - Flippy tears him in half, though his upper body is still animate afterwards. He is presumably killed again when Flippy's brain explodes.
 * 7) Blind Date: The Mole's car bumps into the truck he's working on, causing the engine lid to fall and snap his body in half.
 * 8) YouTube Live Episode: Either killed by Fliqpy or the claw. (Death not seen, confirmed by Kenn Navarro)
 * 9) The Wrong Side of the Tracks: Cut in half by glass tunnel shards.
 * 10) From Hero to Eternity: A slab of ice cuts his head in half.
 * 11) Ipso Fatso: Head smashed by a chunk of concrete.
 * 12) Don't Yank My Chain: While being dragged along the outside of a train, he is smashed against a tunnel.
 * 13) Concrete Solution: Lumpy shoots him in the back of the head with a nail gun and then pushes him down in wet concrete.
 * 14) Who's to Flame?: Shredded by his helicopter's propeller.
 * 15) Dunce Upon a Time: Giant Lumpy cracks his head with a nutcracker.
 * 16) Gems the Breaks: Disintegrated by Splendid's eye lasers.
 * 17) A Change of Heart: Dies in a helicopter crash with a whale. (Death not seen)
 * 18) A Hole Lotta Love: Dies from a gas leak when Pop drills through a gas pipe.
 * 19) See What Develops: Falls from a string he is hanging from and smashes to pieces on the ground.
 * 20) Home Is Where the Hurt Is: Head pierced by a nail in a loose plank.
 * Aw, Shucks!: Crushed by a huge piece of popcorn. (Death not seen)
 * 1) A Sight for Sore Eyes: Head mowed by Mole.
 * 2) Wipe Out!: Mole zips Handy's wetsuit, catching his flesh in the zipper. When he unzips it, Handy's flesh tears off, his organs fly out of his body, and he is devoured by seagulls.
 * 3) Easy Comb, Easy Go: Impaled by Flaky's quills.
 * 4) In a Jam: Suffers a seizure, falls off stage, and has his head cut in half by cymbals in his mouth.
 * 5) Wrath of Con: Squashed in the Comic Con convention center.
 * 6) I Nub You: Flies apart after being sewn to Petunia, thanks to Petunia's pet bird.
 * 7) A Bit of a Pickle: Head run over by his own truck.
 * 8) See You Later, Elevator: Dies in a fiery explosion.
 * 9) Claw: Either killed by Fliqpy or the claw. (Death not seen, confirmed by Kenn Navarro)
 * 10) My Better Half: Sliced in half by a saw, along with Petunia.
 * 11) Breaking Wind: Poisoned by gas.
 * 12) No Time Like the Present: Forced through a hole.
 * 13) Pet Peeve: Run over by The Mole's van.

Debatable Deaths

 * 1) Doggone It: Killed by a giant squid.

Additional

 * 1) Overkill DVD box set: Killed by Flippy's bomb. (Death not seen)
 * 2) August 2005 Calendar: Probably dies the same death as in Happy Trails Pt. 2: Jumping the Shark.
 * 3) Fall Harvest Wallpaper: Falls to his death. (Death not seen)
 * 4) Unnamed Merry-go-round Wallpaper: Flung off a merry-go-round.
 * 5) Un-named Wallpaper: Killed when Flippy's dynamite explodes. (Death not seen)
 * 6) Work Is Such A Buzz Kill: Sliced in half by a power saw blade.
 * 7) Dumb Ways to Die: A lightbulb he is using to replace another shatters in his mouth while the gas is on.

Seen in Comics

 * 1) HTF Comic #4 & HTF Comic #5: Chokes on an apple, Splendid tries to perform the Heimlich Maneuver on him, but squeezes his organs out of his mouth.

Seen on Computer and TV

 * 1) Prior to the series, he lost both of his hands. (Permanent)
 * 2) House Warming: Is slightly burned when he kicks gas onto a flaming Petunia.
 * 3) Spare Me: Loses his right eye after a bowling ball forces a bottle inside his eye socket.
 * 4) Class Act: Loses both of his feet during a stampede to escape a burning schoolhouse.
 * 5) Shard at Work: A light bulb in his mouth breaks, he falls to the ground, shards get stuck in his mouth and back, and he pierces his foot on another shard of glass.
 * 6) Don't Yank My Chain: Is beaten by Lumpy, has his tail ripped off when he is dragged by a train, is battered when he falls into the gorge, hits his head on the edge of a well, he sinks in water when he is in a river, has his leg worn down to the bone from dragging a heavy ball and The Mole's corpse.
 * 7) Dunce Upon a Time: Gets his head hit repeatedly against a pot, making him dizzy.
 * 8) See What Develops: Has his upper lip torn off when he hangs from a string by his mouth for too long.
 * 9) In a Jam: Flashing lights give him a seizure, making him foam at the mouth. He chips his buckteeth when Sniffles puts a pair of cymbals in his mouth to keep him from biting off his tongue.
 * 10) No Time Like the Present: Foot gets cut by a knife.
 * 11) By the Seat of Your Pants: Legs severed by Flippy.Zayats_053.png

Additional

 * TV Series Volume 4 cover: Burnt by an explosion after his blowtorch falls on some gasoline.
 * Spring Ahead March 2007 Calendar: Eye is impaled out of his head by a spring.
 * Dumb Ways to Die: A light bulb explodes in his mouth, causing his mouth to get pierced by glass.
 * TV series volume 7 DVD: Ser on fore, cut by pieces of a gas canister, fuel tank lodged in eye, foot is stabbed by screwdriver.

Additional
1. Deadbye Derby: Deadbye Derby: Kills Cuddles, Toothy, Petunia, Handy, Sniffles, Nutty, Disco Bear, Russell, Lifty, Shifty, Fliqpy, Splendid, and a giant squid by flinging rocks at them with a slingshot.

Survival Rate

 * Internet series: 25%
 * Breaks & Love Bites: 33.3%
 * TV series: 10%, the lowest out of all the characters.
 * Total Rate: 19.04%

Trivia

 * Handy has epileptic seizures when exposed to flashing lights, as seen in In a Jam.
 * Handy can probably use his nubs as makeshift drumsticks, as seen in In a Jam.
 * Even though he wears a yellow construction worker hat, ironically most of his deaths involve his head.
 * Most of Handy's deaths involve machinery, vehicles, getting cut in half, and his head.
 * Most of his injuries involve his legs and feet.
 * His name is similar to the human name "Andy".
 * Normally, Handy doesn't wear shoes, but in House Warming, he was seen wearing beige worker boots while stomping on Petunia just to put out the fire.
 * Handy is the fourth character to die in the TV series.
 * The only TV episode he doesn't appear in is "Marooned Five".
 * He survives in only 9 out of the 43 episodes he appears in.
 * Handy is one of the few characters to have less then 20 percent on their survival rate, the others are Lifty and Shifty.
 * Handy is usually seen with The Mole and Lumpy. These three together are described as "no hands, no eyes, no brain". Coincidentally, they all starred in Don't Yank My Chain, the only episode with three separate starring characters. They were also seen working together at the construction site in Concrete Solution.
 * Lumpy is his most frequent victim.
 * He is one of the few characters who haven't killed a bear. The others are Cuddles, Cro-Marmot, Lammy, and Mr. Pickels.
 * The only characters who haven't killed Handy are Petunia, Cub, Russell, Cro-Marmot, and Flippy.
 * He is the first victim of Lifty, Toothy, and Nutty (along with every other character).
 * The only confirmed TV episodes Handy has survived in are in the TV segment Friday the Thirteenth.
 * If one does not count debatable episodes, Handy and Cub have survived in the least amount of TV episodes, with two each.
 * He is one of the few characters who haven't killed any Generic Tree Friends.
 * Handy, Lumpy, Flaky, Mr. Pickels. and Russell are the only characters without regularly visible ears. In the episode Blind Date, however, his ears are seen very briefly when The Mole drives under his truck, popping his helmet off for a moment. His ears are also seen in one panel of the comic The Choke's on You!. Despite this, he is later seen without ears when his helmet comes off in In a Jam.
 * Toothy and Handy are both voiced by Warren Graff. Both characters are beavers and are quite famous for episodes they are featured in (Toothy in Eye Candy, and Handy in Shard at Work).
 * Handy is one of the few characters to die in every episode where he kills another character. The others are Toothy, Petunia, Lifty, and Shifty.
 * In the "Collect Them All" section, Handy is shown to love shadow puppets.
 * In the Second Servings DVD, Handy has his own cereal called "Handy Corn" which is a pun of candy corn. It also comes with a free Handy hard-hat bowl.
 * He, The Mole, Petunia, Cro-Marmot, and Toothy are the only main characters to not star on their own in the TV series.
 * He has a pet goldfish as seen in Shard at Work.
 * Handy is one of the two characters to die in every Halloween, Christmas, and Valentines episode they appear in. The other character is Petunia.
 * He and Petunia were the last characters to debut in 1999.
 * He has died in every regular episode he featured in.
 * He is one of the characters who survive their debut roles, the others being Lumpy, Petunia, Splendid, Flaky, The Mole, Flippy, Disco Bear, Mime and Lammy.
 * He is one of the few characters who haven't killed all of the four primary characters. The others are Petunia, Russell, Flippy, Lammy, and Mr. Pickels.
 * Like Cub and Sniffles, Handy doesn't care if he sees others die or suffer.
 * In Wheelin' and Dealin', he was seen laughing at Lifty & Shifty because they didn't have a steering wheel to their go-cart, knowing they're about to crash (they would've crashed if they didn't steel the steering wheel off of his car at the last second).
 * In The Wrong Side of the Tracks, he becomes excited over winning a ring toss game, despite the fact Nutty is impaled on the peg he's throwing the rings at. Later in the episode, Handy laughs when Cuddles loses both of his hands when they enter a low tunnel on a roller coaster.
 * In Ipso Fatso, Handy's hard hat saves him from shards of flying glass, while Russell and Nutty are sliced to pieces. Elated by his own survival, he had no apparent concern for the other two.
 * Despite his low survival rate, he only died in one out of the four episodes where he appeared in the first internet season.
 * He has also appeared in three season finales and survived all of them. He survived Happy Trails, which is the season one finale, By The Seat Of Your Pants, which is the final episode of season three, and Double Whammy Part I. which is the final episode of the TV series. While he didn't appear in Autopsy Turvy (Double Whammy Part II), he technically survived the episode since as part I and part II are considered to be one episode.
 * He has a truck with his picture on it, as seen in certain episodes like The Way You Make Me Wheel and Concrete Solution.
 * In A Hole Lotta Love, he was voiced by Kenn Navarro as Warren Graff was unavailable at the time.
 * He is a pilot in several episodes (e.g., A Change of Heart, Who's to Flame?). He is seen flying in both a helicopter (e.g., Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow), and an airplane (e.g., Gems the Breaks), he is always seen wearing a pair of goggles and a scarf when he is flying with an airplane.
 * Much like how The Mole engages in tasks that require him to see, Handy is often seen doing jobs that require the use of his hands. Nevertheless, Handy, unlike The Mole, is (usually) able to do a competent job if off-screen.
 * Handy's name might be a pun on "handicapped" (seeing as he has no hands) or "handyman" (which he is in some episodes).
 * He is one of the few characters not to kill Petunia, although he did stomp on her while she was on fire (it was also because of him that she caught on fire).
 * Although Handy and Toothy are both beavers, Handy does not have visible ears or large buckteeth. Toothy has ears and big teeth.
 * Several characters appear in all three of Disco Bear's TV starring roles. Some of them have died in at least one episode and some have survived all of them. Handy, however, is the only character to die in all three episodes.
 * Although Handy has amputated and bandaged hands, none of his pictures show he has invisible hands, and it's unknown whether Handy has mitten-like hands or not. This is similar to The Mole's mouth and Cro-Marmot's eyes.
 * Handy died in every episode of season 2 internet shorts he appeared in.
 * He apparently likes to go bowling, as seen in Spare Me and I Nub You. This may be since bowling requires the least amount of effort for Handy, compared to other activities.
 * Handy is one of the few characters who haven't been decapitated, along with Russell, Cro-Marmot, Splendid, and Lammy.
 * Some characters have copied Handy's frustrated face, like Pop in Snip Snip Hooray!, Flaky in Rink Hijinks, Petunia in I Nub You, Sniffles in In a Jam, and Lumpy in Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow.
 * The only episodes to have Handy die first are Wheelin' and Dealin', My Better Half.
 * He only dies last in Home Is Where the Hurt Is.
 * Handy is one of three characters to have permanently missing hands: the other two are Russell and Tiger General.
 * In the TV series, Lumpy, Cuddles, and The Mole appeared in all of his starring roles.
 * In season 3, his alliterate sentence is: A happy home has all the right hardware for any happenstance!
 * The Love Bites short My Better Half marks the first (and so far only) time where Handy dies outside a regular episode.
 * He is the first character to have a job or occupation, being an architect in House Warming.
 * He is one of the six characters to appear in more than one HTF Break and survive all of them. The other five are Mime, Pop, The Mole, Lifty, and Shifty.
 * He is the only male character to be killed by Lammy and Mr. Pickels so far.
 * According to the HTF crew, one of the writers suggested an episode where Handy's hands are healed, but the idea was rejected because many people in the crew did not agree with it.
 * Handy could be considered as one of the smaller characters in Happy Tree Friends.
 * It is possible that Handy lost his hands in a work-related accident, as construction workers face hazardous workplaces everyday. (However, this is Debatable)
 * In his first appearance, Handy is shown to be wearing boots. How Handy was able to tie his boots remains unknown, although it is possible that someone helped him. Later episodes depict Handy without footwear in any situation.
 * Handy is the second beaver character in the series, the first being Toothy.
 * Handy is the second character to be intentionally left alive by Fliqpy. He is the first to be left alive after being injured by flipped out Flippy as seen in By The Seat Of Your Pants. Flaky is the first character who Flippy intentionally leaves alive despite being flipped out as seen in Random Acts of Silence.
 * Despite his low survival rate, he has appeared in three out of four season finales and survived all of them. He survived Happy Trails, which is the season one finale, By The Seat Of Your Pants, which is the final episode of season three, and Double Whammy Part I. which is the final episode of the TV series. While he didn't appear in Autopsy Turvy (Double Whammy Part II), he technically survived the episode since as part I and part II are considered to be one episode.
 * Handy has died the second most in the TV series, only behind Cuddles.
 * Some fans think that Handy was born without hands, but this is unlikely for two reasons:
 * If he never had hands, he would not keep trying to use them.
 * He probably would not keep them bandaged up the way he does.
 * There are only four instances where Handy does his frustrated look for a reason unrelated to his lack of hands. The first is Wheelin' and Dealin', where he did it because Lifty and Shifty stole his steering wheel. The second is in Spare Me, where he only gets mad because he failed to get a strike in bowling. The third is in From Hero to Eternity, when he gets frustrated because after shoveling all the snow off his driveway, he has to start over when Splendid hits a ton of snow all over his hard work, though the lack of hands did make it much harder do this is debatable. The fourth is in Don't Yank My Chain, when he did it because he alone had to drag both the ball and The Mole's corpse. This one is also debatable as hands might have helped with the task some, but not really unless he's strong enough to carry The Mole by himself.
 * Several of his deaths are because of his lack of hands.
 * The "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" character, Applejack, is similar to Handy, because of their hard-working behavior and their orange color.