General Trivia
- Russell is the first character to have a bonus episode in the DVD First Blood.
- He was seen only as a black silhouette with a big white question mark on the back of the First Blood DVD case.
- The only TV episode he doesn't appear in is "Marooned Five".
- Russell appears in the most episodes without trees.
- Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Bottled Up Inside, and Put Your Back Into It are the only regular episodes where Russell appears without Lumpy.
- He is one of the three characters to do something religious in the show, as he is seen praying for his life in Snow Place to Go. The others are The Ants, who are also seen praying, and Lumpy, who is a priest in Read 'em and Weep.
- It's been hinted in the episode In a Jam that Russell lost his eye and wears the eye patch over it (which is the reason Cuddles got his part in the band). However, in Sea of Love, when an angler fish rips Russell's face off, Russell's right eye socket is shown to be empty.
- In Off the Hook and Sea of Love Russell does not need an underwater suit for oxygen, but in Sea What I Found he wears a suit while searching for treasure. This could be because in Sea of Love and Off the Hook he was only underwater for about a minute while in Sea What I Found he was underwater longer, possibly indicating he only has short-term breathing abilities underwater or that he was in a deep area with a lot of pressure. Lifty and Shifty survived the area fine, however.
- His name may come from the word "mussel", as he was seen eating and catching some in Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
- He has an iPhone, as is seen in YouTube Copyright School. The size bears most resemblance to the Fourth generation with a iOS 6 style menu.
- Just like Lumpy, Russell is often killed by animals. Coincidentally, the animals that kill Russell are water creatures while the animals that kill Lumpy are usually land animals. The only animal that has killed both Russell and Lumpy in the same episode are ducks, which are semi-aquatic.
- In the TV series, Lumpy and Cuddles appeared in all of his starring roles. Both characters die in only one of the three episodes.
- In the third internet season, Pop appears in both of Russell's starring roles. He survives in both of them.
- In season 3, his alliterate sentence is: Row, row your boat down a running river!
- Russell was originally going to be the stuntman in Brake the Cycle, but Lumpy took his place since they needed someone with two legs and hands.
- If Russell is chosen in the Vision-O-Rama feature in the Third Strike DVD, the movie theater's screen will show a "half" Spin Fun Knowin' Ya (the right section of the screen is covered).
- The first (and so far only) time he plays an antagonistic role is in YouTube Copyright School, where he commits crimes of copyright infringement.
- In YouTube Copyright School, he has 70 videos.
- Russell appears as a boss in Deadeye Derby, in the level "Rabid Rapids".
Design
- Russell's hook and eye patch often change places between and within episodes. As with Lumpy's antlers and Nutty's eyes, this is probably the result of the animators mirroring him when he turns around, instead of making new models with his hook and patch in the right places.
- Russell is sometimes mistaken as a cat due to his whiskers and love of fish.
- Russell originally had a five o' clock shadow on the bottom of his face. However, it was removed when he debuted in Season 2.
- Russell's tail is flat and beaver-like. In reality, sea otters have only slightly flattened tails.
Episode Statistics
- Both Russell and Splendid starred in two episodes in the internet series' first and third season and one episode in season 2.
- He, Sniffles, and Nutty are the only main characters to debut in a solo episode.
- He and Pop are the only characters to survive their TV debut but not their internet debut.
Kills and Deaths
- So far, the only starring role he has survived is A Sight for Sore Eyes. He also survives in YouTube Copyright School.
- Russell's deaths usually involve sea animals, explosions, or getting impaled.
- Russell is the fourteenth character to die in the TV series.
- Russell survives in 11 out of 33 episodes he appears in.
- The only episodes where Russell's death isn't caused by other characters are Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Get Whale Soon, Snow Place to Go, In a Jam, and You're Kraken Me Up.
- Russell is the only character without a frequent victim, as he has only killed each of his victims once.
- Russell is one of the few characters with more deaths then kills, the others are Cuddles, Handy, Petunia, and Cub.
- Despite being a character who rarely survives, he only dies first in one episode, In a Jam.
- He dies last in Get Whale Soon, Snow Place to Go, Something Fishy, and Bottled Up Inside.
- Russell is one of two characters not to get their first TV victim in the first four TV segments, the other character being Cro-Marmot.
- Russell is one of the few characters to never posthumously kill another character. The others are Cro-Marmot, Splendid, Lammy, and Mr. Pickels.
- He is one of the few characters who haven't killed all of the four primary characters. The others are Petunia, Handy, Flippy, Lammy, and Mr. Pickels.
- The only characters who haven't killed Russell are Cuddles, Cro-Marmot, Good Flippy, Lammy, and Mr. Pickels.
- Most of Russell's deaths take place next to or involve water. He dies next to large bodies of water in Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Get Whale Soon, and Snow Place to Go. He dies underwater in Off the Hook, From Hero to Eternity, Sea What I Found, Idol Curiosity, Sea of Love, and You're Kraken Me Up. Sometimes he dies with small portions of water like in In a Jam, Something Fishy, and Bottled Up Inside. Since he is a sea otter and a pirate, this makes sense.
- All of Russell's deaths in his starring roles take place around water.
- Russell is the first character to die in the Love Bites series.
- He is one of the few characters who have not killed a Generic Tree Friend.
- Russell has died in every season 1 and season 2 internet episode he appeared in. He also dies in the one HTF Break and Love Bites episodes he ever appeared in.
- Nutty dies in every TV episode Russell survives in.
- Russell is one of the nine characters who have never intentionally killed a character. The others are: Toothy, Cub, Disco Bear, Cuddles, Lifty, Nutty, Mime, and (debatably) Lammy.
Superlatives
- If one counts Double Whammy as a finale (since it's a two parter) Flaky and Russell would be the only characters to survive both the first and last episodes of the TV series.
- He, The Mole and Splendid are the only main characters to have had their official name change during the show (in Russell's case from 'Russell The Pirate' in Whose Line Is It Anyway? to 'Russell' in Off the Hook)
- Russell and Petunia are the only Happy Tree Friends with realistic human names.
- He is one of the two main characters (along with Lammy) that isn't a tree or forest animal. He is a sea animal.
- Russell, Lumpy, Handy, Mr. Pickels, and Flaky are the only characters without visible ears. In Something Fishy, when Russell's hat is removed, his ears still cannot be seen.
- Russell, Mime, and Cro-Marmot are the only characters without secret information in the "Collect Them All" section.
- Russell is one of few characters to eat/drink the remains of another character, the others being Cuddles, Giggles, Lumpy, Petunia, Flaky, The Mole, and both sides of Flippy.
- Russell is one of the two characters whose animal species is completely carnivorous. The other character is Sniffles (who is an insectivore, a different form of carnivore).
- Russell is one of the eight characters wearing clothes. The others are Mime, Disco Bear, Flippy, The Mole, Lammy, Pop and Lumpy.
- He is one of the three main characters without good vision, the others being The Mole and Sniffles.
- He is one of the three characters who wear footwear. The other characters are Disco Bear and Cuddles.
- He is one of three characters to have permanently missing hand/hands, the other two being Handy and Tiger General.