Changes: Sniffles-Ants Relationship

Revision as of 18:06, 28 March 2015

Ant — The relationship between an anteater and the creature it occasionally eats.

This article focuses on the interactions between Sniffles and The Ants.

Overview

Sniffles has had a long history of conflict against the ant family. Likewise, the Ants are shown to fear Sniffles given that he always tries to eat them on sight. Whenever these interactions occur, it almost always ends with the Ants getting away after Sniffles is tortured and killed.

Sniffles' side

While Sniffles is often depicted as a caring friend to the other main characters, the same cannot be said to ants. Blast from the Past reveals that Sniffles himself started this war by going back in time to prehistoric days. During this time, ants and anteaters seemed to be friends, as we see an ancestor of Sniffles carrying an ant on his shoulder. By eating a nearby ant, Sniffles unknowingly lead his ancestor to do the same to his friend, liking the taste. The two species have been rivals ever since.

Antfriend — They used to be such good friends.

Most of the time, Sniffles brings the conflict onto himself and torments the ant family, sometimes to the point where they must resort to sadistic measures. An example being A Hard Act to Swallow, where, after being spotted by Sniffles, an ant tries to run away before being swallowed. Unable to escape by climbing back out of his mouth, the rescue party is given no choice but to tie up his arteries and burst his chest open.

The Ants' side

In a similar vein to Sniffles, the Ants are shown to care a lot about each other despite their deep hatred of him. While Sniffles is often the one who starts these quarrels, the Ants could be considered just as guilty for their disproportionate and sadistic retribution against him, especially given that Sniffles is only following his instincts as a predator. The one time an ant starts one of these conflicts is Suck It Up, where the baby ant steals Sniffles' cookies while he is sick in bed, forcing him to take them back.

It is theorized that Sniffles is responsible for the missing father figure of the ant family, which could explain their malicious tendencies against him.

Other characters

Sniffles is the only character that the Ants have encountered and killed onscreen. Whether anybody else has dealt with the Ants remains unknown. When other characters appear in such episodes, they seem to be unaware of the quarrels, never appearing on screen at the same time as the Ants, nor doing anything to help Sniffles.

It is unclear whether the Ants only despise Sniffles or if they hate other characters as well. Suggesting the former, Lumpy unknowingly saves the mother ant in Tongue in Cheek by stepping on Sniffles' tongue and allowing her to escape. The ant waved in the distance before descending into her home, either to tease Sniffles or possibly to thank Lumpy.

Trivia

So far, Sniffles has only once eaten an ant and got off scot-free (in Blast from the Past).
Their rivalry may be based off of The Ant and the Aardvark. It is comparable to Itchy and Scratchy due to the often gory aftermaths.

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 == Sniffles' side ==
-While Sniffles is often depicted as a caring friend to the other main characters, the same cannot be said to ants. [[Blast from the Past]] reveals that Sniffles himself started this war by going back in time to prehistoric days. During this time, ants and anteaters seemed to be friends, as we see an ancestor of Sniffles carrying an ant on his shoulder. By eating a nearby ant, Sniffles unknowingly lead his ancestor to do the same to his friend, liking the taste.
+While Sniffles is often depicted as a caring friend to the other main characters, the same cannot be said to ants. ''[[Blast from the Past]]'' reveals that Sniffles himself started this war by going back in time to prehistoric days. During this time, ants and anteaters seemed to be friends, as we see [[Prehistoric Sniffles|an ancestor]] of Sniffles carrying an ant on his shoulder. By eating a nearby ant, Sniffles unknowingly lead his ancestor to do the same to his friend, liking the taste. The two species have been rivals ever since.
 [[File:Antfriend.png|thumb|220px|They used to be such good friends.]]
+Most of the time, Sniffles brings the conflict onto himself and torments the ant family, sometimes to the point where they must resort to sadistic measures. An example being ''[[A Hard Act to Swallow]]'', where, after being spotted by Sniffles, an ant tries to run away before being swallowed. Unable to escape by climbing back out of his mouth, the rescue party is given no choice but to tie up his arteries and burst his chest open.
-Most of the time, he brings the conflict onto himself and torments the ant family to the point where they must resort to sadistic measures. An example being [[A Hard Act to Swallow]], where, after being spotted by Sniffles, an ant tries to run away before being swallowed. Unable to escape by climbing back out of his mouth, the rescue party is given no choice but to tie up his arteries and burst his chest open.
 == The Ants' side ==
-In a similar vein to their natural enemy, the Ants are shown to care a lot about each other despite their deep hatred of Sniffles. While Sniffles is often the one who starts these quarrels, the Ants are just as bad if not worse. In [[Suck it Up]], one of them steals cookies from Sniffles as he is sick in bed. It is clear that they can go too far with their retribution, especially considering that their nemesis is only following his instincts as a predator.
+In a similar vein to Sniffles, the Ants are shown to care a lot about each other despite their deep hatred of him. While Sniffles is often the one who starts these quarrels, the Ants could be considered just as guilty for their disproportionate and sadistic retribution against him, especially given that Sniffles is only following his instincts as a predator. The one time an ant starts one of these conflicts is ''[[Suck It Up]]'', where the baby ant steals Sniffles' cookies while he is sick in bed, forcing him to take them back.
-The Ants are shown to have intelligent traits like most of the characters. Assuming if ants without anthropomorphic traits exist in this world, it makes any wonder why Sniffles chooses going after the ant family. It can be implied that Sniffles is responsible for the missing father figure of the ant family, which could explain their malicious tendencies against him.
+It is theorized that Sniffles is responsible for the missing father figure of the ant family, which could explain their malicious tendencies against him.
 == Other characters ==
-Sniffles is the only character that the Ants have encountered and killed onscreen. Whether anybody else has dealt with the Ants is unclear. When other characters appear in such episodes, they seem to be unaware of the quarrels, disappearing right before the Ants show up. In [[Tongue Twister Trouble]], when Sniffles was clearly being tormented by the Ants, [[Cro-Marmot]] and [[Giggles]] (who were briefly shown skating on the lake with him) weren't around to help.
+Sniffles is the only character that the Ants have encountered and killed onscreen. Whether anybody else has dealt with the Ants remains unknown. When other characters appear in such episodes, they seem to be unaware of the quarrels, never appearing on screen at the same time as the Ants, nor doing anything to help Sniffles.
-It is also unclear whether the Ants' hatred extends to other characters or is limited to Sniffles. [[Lumpy]] unknowingly saves the mother ant in [[Tongue in Cheek]] by stepping on Sniffles' tongue, and the ant was shown waving before descending into her home, either to tease Sniffles or presumably to thank Lumpy.
+It is unclear whether the Ants only despise Sniffles or if they hate other characters as well. Suggesting the former, [[Lumpy]] unknowingly saves the mother ant in ''[[Tongue in Cheek]]'' by stepping on Sniffles' tongue and allowing her to escape. The ant waved in the distance before descending into her home, either to tease Sniffles or possibly to thank Lumpy.
 == Trivia ==