THE THING
(of Earth-700974)

Real Name: Benjamin "Benjy" Grimm

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Earth-700974) human mutate

Occupation: High school student; former actor/prop man for Miracle Pictures, head of the entertainment committee at Centerville High School, carnival worker at P.T. Bombast's Carnival

Group Membership: None; formerly the entertainment committee at Centerville High School, P.T. Bombast's Carnival (P.T. Bombast, Madame Eva, Mercy, others)

Affiliations: Andre, Mr. "Bad News" Bedazzle, Bigfoot, Clancy (Spike's horse), Countess (Ronald Radford's dog), Prof. Harkness, Betty Harkness, Kelly Harkness, James, Mr. Jansen, Mercy (a parrot), Dr. Quimby, Ronald Radford III, Sadie (a mule), Silver Queen (Ronald Radford's horse), Tweto the Wonder Pigeon, Miss Twilly; formerly P.T. Bombast

Enemies: Ferdinand Bestmore, Danton Blackwood, P.T. Bombast, the Clunk, Decepto the Great, "Muscles" Divine, Sophie Hickenlooper, Jojo (a gorilla), Leo (a lion), Roscoe (Spike's cat), Supervac, Thing robot, Mandrake von Wreckerstein, the Yancy Street Gang (Spike Hanrahan, Stretch, Turkey)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Big Bag of Rocks" (insult from Ronald Radford), "Boulder-Fingers" (insult from Spike), "Captain Thing," "the Idol of Millions," "the Living Legend" (self-proclaimed titles), "Loser" (insult from Spike), "Mr. Wonderful" (called by Kelly Harkness), "Rocky" (name mistakenly called by Miss Twilly), "Sport" (called by Ronald Radford), "That Hero of Heroes" (name called by Betty Harkness), "That Mountain of Trouble" (insult from the Yancy Street Gang), "That Walking Pile of Bricks" (insult from Ronald Radford), "You Big Joker, "You Marvelous Hunk of Rock," "You Silly Goose" (names called by Betty Harkness)

Base of Operations: Centerville, USA

First Appearance: Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Picnic Panic" (September 8, 1979)

Powers/Abilities: Trapped in the body of his normal teenaged self, Benjamin "Benjy" Grimm had no inherent superhuman powers but he always carried with him the set of Thing Rings which, when touched together while saying "Thing Ring, do your thing!," would summon rocks from Benjy's surrounding area, covering him head-to-toe in a superhumanly durable, rocky exoskeleton that resembled his adult Thing form. As the Thing, Benjy had superhuman strength, sufficient to punch through entire mountains. By touching the Rings back together, the Thing would transform back into Benjy Grimm.

At one point, when the Thing had amnesia and questioned whether he was a bird, he was capable of flying using nothing but a few duck feathers and a waving of his arms. When Thing regained his memories, his rocky exoskeleton flashed various colors.

Height: (as Benjy): 5'9"; (as the Thing): 6'0" (by approximation)
Weight: (as Benjy): 155 lbs.; (as the Thing): 500 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Brown; (as the Thing): Blue
Hair: Red; (as the Thing): None

History: (Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon - TV show opening) - The superheroic Thing was transformed into an awkward, human, teenaged version of himself in the laboratory of Professor Harkness, a transformation witnessed by the young girl Kelly.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon - TV show opening - BTS) - Somehow acquiring a set of rings that allowed him to briefly assume his adult Thing form whenever he touched the rings together, Ben Grimm took to using the nickname "Benjy" and enrolled in high school until such a time that he could be permanently restored to his adult form.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "The Picnic Panic") - Benjy Grimm accompanied his friend Betty Harkness to the Centerville Picnic Grounds for the high school picnic, only to find themselves in a smokescreen generated by local jerk Ronald Radford's sports car. When the trio had trouble finding a parking space, only to learn that Radford had taken up several spots by parking sideways, Benjy got out of the car and ducked out of view. He then activated his Thing Rings, transforming into the Thing and picking up Radford's car, spinning it above his head and setting it back down properly. Thing then picked up Betty's car and placed it into a parking spot before leaving the scene and transforming back into Benjy. Benjy then met back up with Betty, who chided Benjy for not helping find a parking place. A short time later, Benjy found Betty getting some sun and asked if she was alone. Betty remarked that she might as well be, as Ronald Radford was out on his jet ski. Radford then skied past, splashing water onto Benjy and knocking him into the lake. As he made his way out of the lake, Benjy witnessed a biker gang called the Yancy Street Gang crashing the high school picnic and warned them about the dangers of motorcycles but they scoffed at his warnings and departed to stir up some trouble. Benjy subsequently stumbled into the biker gang playing baseball right after their leader Spike hit a home run that landed in the high school principal's pie. Spike quickly gave the bat to Benjy, who thought he was supposed to show off his baseball skills, only to have the blame for the baseball-in-the-pie fiasco pinned on him. The principal, Miss Twilly, punished Benjy by telling him that she would see him in her office the following morning and Benjy was later present with Spike attempted to goad some of the students into a motorcycle race in a secret effort to steal the picnic food. Benjy watched as Ronald Radford reluctantly agreed to race Spike on another gang member's borrowed bike but Benjy soon learned that the gang had sabotaged Radford's bike. Taking a third bike ahead of Radford, Benjy jumped off and transformed into the Thing just in time to uproot a tree before Radford could collide with it. The Thing then drove his motorcycle further ahead and jumped off again, this time to create a tunnel through a mountainside, preventing the runaway Radford from another collision. Thing then took a bridge and moved it under Radford, who nearly went over a cliff. Continuing to move obstacles in Radford's way, Thing next uprooted a Park Dept. building before replacing it when Radford rode through unharmed. The runaway Radford inadvertently won the race against Spike anyway, thanks to Thing's assistance, and Thing transformed back into Benjy just in time for Radford to ask Benjy if he was going to congratulate him on winning. As Radford continued gloating, Benjy walked off grumbling until he saw the Yancy Street Gang stealing the picnic food. Benjy rushed to a nearby tent, where he transformed into the Thing and scared Miss Twilly, whose airborne pie he caught and tasted, declaring it delicious before going after the Yancy Street Gang. Grabbing the Gang's motorcycles as they attempted to flee, Thing tied the motorcycles in knots before transforming back into Benjy and enjoying the picnic.

(Fred & Barney Meets the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "Bigfoot Meets the Thing") -  Benjy Grimm depressingly set in his home with his friend Betty's younger sister Kelly, soon using his Thing Rings to transform into the Thing. He then looked into a mirror and felt even worse, wondering aloud who would want to look at a big orange runt like himself. Kelly quickly reminded him how many people loved the Thing and how her sister Betty thought Thing was great, sufficiently boosting Thing's confidence. When Ronald Radford showed up outside to pick everyone up for a ski trip, Thing quickly transformed back into Benjy Grimm and gathered the items he had packed for the trip as Radford rushed everyone into the car. The Yancy Street Gang happened upon everyone packing and drove past Benjy, surprising him into dropping his clothing all over the place. As Benjy repacked his clothes and put them into Radford's car, the Yancy Street Gang attempted to scare Radford with stories of Bigfoot, which Radford brushed off as superstition before they all departed for their North Woods ski trip. Once there, Benjy admitted to Radford that he had never skied before but Radford pushed Benjy down a hill anyway and Benjy ended up going over a cliff, where he was left hanging by a stick. Activating his Thing Rings, Benjy transformed into Thing and climbed back up the cliff, scolding Radford for his trick on Benjy and assuring Benjy's friends that Benjy was safe. Later that night, the Yancy Street Gang decided to scare Ronald Radford for brushing them off earlier by sending one of their members, Stretch, to dress as Bigfoot. Their plan worked and a terrified Radford soon woke up Benjy, Betty and Kelly but they didn't believe Radford's story of Bigfoot and went back to bed. The next morning, Radford found footprints in the snow resembling Bigfoot's and showed them to Benjy and his friends, prompting Benjy to call the forest rangers, but Radford deterred Benjy, instead wishing to track Bigfoot and get photographic proof of him in a get-rich-quick scheme. Benjy and his friends then boarded snowmobiles to follow the supposed Bigfoot tracks, soon losing the tracks in the woods. Stretch, still dressed as Bigfoot, then leapt down from a tree, scaring Benjy and his friends until Stretch finally revealed himself. When the real Bigfoot showed up, with romantic interest in the costumed Stretch, the Yancy Street Gang and Ronald Radford attempted to flee in a snowmobile but Bigfoot managed to give chase, forcing Benjy to run behind a tree and transform into the Thing to save them. When Radford fell and began rolling into a snowball, Thing saved him by knocking down a tree with a rock to bridge two cliffs together, allowing Radford to safely make it to the other side. He then rolled snow underneath the ski lift containing all three members of the Yancy Street Gang and when the lift broke, the Gang landed safely onto the soft snow, only to find Stretch once more chased by a love-struck Bigfoot. Halting the chase, Thing removed Stretch's Bigfoot costume to prove Stretch was not a female Bigfoot, disheartening the real Bigfoot, who sadly returned to the woods. In an effort to cheer up Bigfoot, Kelly helped Thing fill Stretch's Bigfoot full of snow, which they then placed on skis and pushed it past Bigfoot, igniting his love interest once more.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "Junkyard Hijinks") - Benjy Grimm and Kelly were walking through town when they noticed a bunch of children playing in the street. Benjy remarked on how dangerous it was to play in the street, suggesting they find a playground, but the children were soon shooed away by the Yancy Street Gang, who announced the area surrounding the junkyard to be their turf. Thinking that the junkyard could be converted into a playground for the children, Benjy and Kelly were warned to stay out of the Yancy Street Gang's territory. Realizing they needed help to evict the Yancy Street Gang and cleanup the junkyard, Benjy and Kelly returned to Kelly's sister Betty and her boyfriend Ronald Radford, who laughed at the idea of him cleaning up a junkyard. When Betty also declined to help, more worried about her hairdo than helping others, Benjy reminded them that they would miss the ceremony honoring those who contributed. Upon hearing that reporters and photographers might be present to honor them, Ronald and Betty eagerly decided to help, hoping they might get famous for doing so. Benjy and his friends then returned to the junkyard and began cleaning it up, much to the dismay of the Yancy Street Gang, who began sabotaging their efforts. When the gang unhitched the U-Tow trailer with Betty inside it and it began rolling away, Benjy and his friends chased after and Benjy ducked into an alleyway to use his Thing Rings to transform into the Thing. Quickly jumping into action, the Thing lifted a moving truck out of the way of the runaway trailer then caught up the trailer and stopped it before it collided with Betty's favorite dress shop. Shortly after returning to the junkyard, Benjy and his friends found the junkyard to be trashed due to the Yancy Street Gang using the cleaned up junkyard as a motocross track. Ronald Radford then left, returning shortly with a bulldozer to clean up the junkyard faster than before but unfortunately, the Yancy Street Gang confronted Benjy and his friends, reminding them that the junkyard was their territory. Benjy argued that they were trying to make the junkyard accessible to everyone but the Yancy Street Gang responded by hijacking Ronald's bulldozer. Unable to properly work the bulldozer, however, the Yancy Street Gang ended up accidentally cleaning up the junkyard anyway due to their lack of control over the bulldozer. When the out of control bulldozer threatened to hurt the children playing in the street, Benjy ran behind the remnants of the Yancy Street Gang's shack and transformed into the Thing, rescuing the children before lifting the bulldozer off the ground. When the Yancy Street Gang fled, the Thing transformed back into Benjy Grimm and met back up with Kelly. They then walked back to the junkyard, where they found that the Yancy Street Gang had fenced in the junkyard using lead pipes. Transforming once more into the Thing, Benjy grabbed the lead pipes and bent them into the shapes of playground equipment before finding the wooden remnants of the Yancy Street Gang's shack and rebuilding them as a playground club house. With the new equipment, the junkyard was officially converted into the Centerville Community Playground and a short time later, as children played in the playground, reporters spoke with Ronald Radford and a photographer photographed Betty while Benjy Grimm and Kelly enjoyed the playground's success. When Kelly asked if Benjy was worried that the Yancy Street Gang might try to mess up the Playground, Benjy informed Kelly that the Thing had sternly talked to the Gang and showed Kelly how the Yancy Street Gang was picking up litter at the Playground.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "Gone Away Gulch") - Benjy Grimm visited Professor Harkness, whom he asked which version of him was the real Benjy Grimm: teenage pipsqueak or the Thing. Transforming into the Thing, Benjy grew impatient but Professor Harkness assured Thing that he was doing the best he could to find a formula that would permanently restore Thing to his true adult form. When Thing impulsively broke a portion of Harkness' desk while announcing that he would try anything, Harkness warned that if the Thing tried an untested formula, he could end up even younger than a teenager, perhaps even an infant. The night watchman soon approached and Harkness suggested Thing transform back into Benjy Grimm so as to not arouse suspicions. Benjy then said goodbye to Harkness and the next day, he accompanied Ronald Radford, Betty and Kelly to a sports game in another town. Along the way, Ronald took a shortcut and the gang ended up lost two miles from the town of Gone Away Gulch. When they ran out of gas, Benjy and his friends decided to venture into Gone Away Gulch in hopes of finding a gas station. When it began to storm, Benjy and the gang ran into the deserted Gulch Hotel for shelter and once inside, they noticed a man upstairs. Deciding to investigate, Benjy split the gang up, with Benjy and Ronald Radford checking out the Hotel's upstairs. After Ronald and Benjy split up, Ronald ended finding a donkey and both ended up covered in flour, causing Betty and Kelly to think they were ghosts. Meeting up with his friends right as it appeared that Betty and Kelly were being attacked by ghosts, Benjy transformed into the Thing just in time to save Betty and Kelly from a falling chandelier. Returning to his Benjy form, he ran to his friends and warned them that the ceiling was collapsing but as they spoke, the floor beneath them gave in and the whole group fell into an old gold mine beneath the Hotel. A grizzled old prospector then revealed himself, remarking that since his shenanigans in the Hotel didn't ward off Benjy and his friends, whom he thought were claim jumpers, he would order them personally to leave. He then used his pick axe to dig at the mine wall, finding an underground stream that threatened to flood the entire mine. Benjy and his friends ran for their lives but Benjy let his friends get ahead of him so he could transform into the Thing. After plugging the flood long enough for the prospector to get to safety, Thing was forced to save Ronald Radford when Ronald, spooked by the donkey again, jumped into a mine cart that was heading back towards the flood. Lifting the track off the ground, Thing forced the cart to go back the opposite way, sending Ronald back towards safety before stopping again to get Betty and Kelly to safer ground. After rescuing Betty and Kelly, the Thing was shocked to see the prospector, once more refusing to leave in favor of staying to mine for gold. Feeling he had to take extreme measures, Thing picked up the prospector, forced him into a floating mine cart and shoved the cart downstream to save the prospector's life. Thing then used his Thing Rings to transform back into Benjy Grimm and attempted to rescue the prospector's donkey. Moments after his friends and the prospector made it safely outside of the mine, Benjy exited the mine, awkwardly riding the bucking donkey. As thanks for his life being saved, the prospector directed Benjy and his friends to the nearest gas station but had trouble getting his mule, Sadie, to move. Fighting, Sadie kicked the mine wall behind her, revealing solid gold beneath the mine's rock walls, much to the surprise of Benjy and the gang.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "Circus Stampede" (fb) - BTS) - Benjy Grimm and his friends received free tickets to the Barney and Baillum Circus, courtesy of their high school principal, Miss Twilly, who had the tickets from her friend, the circus' human cannonball.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "Circus Stampede") - Benjy drove Kelly to the Barney and Baillum Circus, which was boasting Jojo the Greatest Ape in the World. As they drove parallel to the Barney and Baillum train, Kelly saw a stalled gasoline truck on the train tracks ahead, prompting Benjy to pull over and transform into the Thing. Rushing to the train, the Thing managed to stop the train just shy of hitting the gasoline truck. He then moved aside the gasoline truck, clearing the tracks for the train to continue on to its destination. Later that evening, Benjy and Kelly met up with Betty, Ronald Radford and Miss Twilly and prepared to watch the circus. When they heard a ruckus outside, Benjy ran to investigate and found the circus animals running wild. Immediately using his Thing Rings to transform into the Thing, Benjy found a mouse to be the source of the elephants' fright and once he scared the mouse away, Thing carried the elephants back to the circus for food. He then focused on Leo the lion, who lost teeth attempting to bite the rock-hard Thing before being locked back in his cage. Shortly after taking care of Leo, the Thing was summoned to the big top by Kelly, who exclaimed that the giant ape Jojo had captured Betty. When Jojo retreated up atop one of the circus tent poles, Thing rescued Betty then trapped Jojo in a trapeze safety net. Following the circus fiasco, Benjy accompanied Miss Twilly and his friends in leaving the circus.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "The Thing & the Queen") - At Centerville Public School 3, Benjy Grimm and Kelly were looking over a poster for and discussing the upcoming homecoming dance when the principal, Miss Twilly, unknowingly walked onto a rolling dolly while reading a book. Since Miss Twilly appeared unaware she was rolling towards a nearby construction site, Benjy quickly activated his Thing Rings and transformed into the Thing to rescue Miss Twilly. As Miss Twilly's runaway dolly hit a wooden shelf for bricks, sending the bricks flying into the air, the Thing ran and caught the falling bricks on a wooden board while the still-unaware Miss Twilly continued on to the stoop of another building, where Miss Twilly walked inside, still unaware she had ever been on a runaway dolly. Left standing there holding the bricks up, Thing was reminded by Kelly that Ronald and Betty would be there soon to pick them up. After being picked up by Ronald, Benjy and Kelly discussed Betty's decision to have Ronald manage her campaign for homecoming queen instead of Benjy. Benjy and Kelly later attended a campaign parade for Betty in which the Yancy Street Gang, whose friend Sophie Hickenlooper was vying for the homecoming queen title as well, sabotaged Betty's float by spraying it with water, causing the float's flowers to sprout. When the night of the dance came, Benjy accompanied Betty, Ronald and Kelly (whom Betty couldn't get a babysitter for) but the foursome were led away from the dance by a series of false detour signs concocted by the Yancy Street Gang, who ultimately led Benjy and his friends into an abandoned mine. When the Yancy Street Gang locked up the mine's entrance in an effort to prevent Betty from attending the dance and being elected homecoming queen, Benjy went into the shadows and transformed into the Thing to bulldoze a tunnel for the group to escape through. Upon transforming back, Benjy told his friends he had luckily found a tunnel and he then rushed to the dance alongside his friends. Arriving moments before Sophie was crowned homecoming queen, Betty Harkness received more applause and was crowned the queen as Benjy and Kelly watched.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "Carnival Caper") - Benjy and his friends visited a local carnival, where Kelly bought Benjy some cotton candy since he was broke. Trying to think of a way to buy Professor Harkness a birthday present, Benjy came up with the idea of trying to get the carnival to pay him to do odd jobs. When the carnival's ferris wheel broke loose, Kelly pointed it out to Benjy, who ran behind a carnival tent to transform into the Thing. Thing immediately hurled carnival owner P.T. Bombast safely onto a carnival tent before catching the runaway ferris wheel and fixing it. Suspecting he could use his showbiz knowledge to make Thing famous, P.T. Bombast announced that the Thing's involvement was merely part of his carnival's latest thrill ride and immediately tried to get Thing to sign a contract to perform with P.T. Bombast's Carnival. Annoyed to be treated like a sideshow freak, the Thing departed the scene but Bombast followed. Ducking into a tent in an attempt to lose Bombast by transforming back into Benjy, the Thing was interrupted when Bombast followed into the tent, insisting he would make Thing famous. Running from Bombast again, the Thing was led into the carnival's funhouse by Kelly, where Thing transformed back into Benjy Grimm, unaware that Bombast's parrot Mercy had witnessed the transformation. Benjy then visited the office of P.T. Bombast, hoping to get a job, unaware that Mercy was attempting to tell Bombast the Thing's secret identity despite Bombast's refusal to listen. Agreeing to employ Benjy but discuss pay at a later time, Bombast put Benjy to work as a carnival barker, ticket salesman, game vendor and person in the dunking booth. After being dunked in water, Benjy began having doubts about being a carnival worker but his conversation with Kelly on the matter was interrupted when they saw P.T. Bombast balancing atop a pole. When Benjy announced that they would call the fire department, Bombast exclaimed that they should get the Thing instead. Realizing he was about to perform for Bombast yet again, Benjy nonetheless ran into an empty area of the carnival and activated his Thing Rings, transforming once more into the Thing to save Bombast. After rescuing Bombast by pushing the pole into the ground until Bombast was back at ground level, the Thing was once again propositioned by Bombast, who promised to give half the money to charity if Thing would appear at the carnival that day. Thing agreed and shortly after, the Thing appeared to a packed crowd, where he participated in a "Test Your Strength" game, launching the ball into orbit, where it hit an UFO. When Bombast began selling Thing souvenirs, the Thing angrily quit. Benjy subsequently witnessed P.T. Bombast attempting to leave the carnival with all of the profits. Transforming back into the Thing, Benjy confronted Bombast and prepared to take the money to charity but he was stopped by the local sheriff, to whom Bombast owed back debts. Benjy listened outside as the sheriff took half of the money for charity and the other half for Bombast's debts, only to decide to join Bombast as his partner at the carnival. Realizing he was not going to get paid, Benjy still remained unsure what to get Professor Harkness for his birthday but Kelly came up with an idea. Later that evening, Benjy and Kelly attended the birthday of Professor Harkness, who opened his present from Benjy to find Mercy the parrot, who sung Harkness a birthday song.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "The Thing Blanks Out") - Benjy Grimm accompanied Kelly, Betty, Ronald and Miss Twilly aboard Ronald's father's yacht, which they borrowed to take a trip to the local bird sanctuary. While Benjy, Kelly and Miss Twilly looked over a book featuring the elusive yankee doodle bird, Ronald came awfully close to a downed drawbridge, forcing Benjy to run to the back of the yacht to transform into the Thing. Forcing the drawbridge up to keep the gang from crashing into it, the Thing waved and remarked on how he even amazed himself, only to be slammed into the concrete foundation by the re-closing drawbridge. Busting his way out of the foundation, the Thing found that he was stricken with amnesia from the closing drawbridge's impact on his head. Wandering off, the Thing smashed through a train car before sitting down with a large headache, where Kelly subsequently found him and deduced his condition. Ordering Thing to stay put, Kelly rushed back to her father's lab, where Prof. Harkness gave her his brainwave-generating Answer Fellascope in hopes that it would stimulate Thing's natural brain patterns and restore his memories. When she returned, the Thing had wandered off again, trying to figure who or what he was, leaving a trail of destruction behind him. Upon seeing a rabbit, the Thing wondered if maybe he was one and began bouncing behind the rabbit, terrifying it and proving to the Thing that he was no rabbit. He then saw a dog chasing a cat and questioned if he was one of those animals, chasing them and barking until he scared the two animals away as well, further proving he was not an animal. After thinking he might be a duck and swimming alongside a group, the Thing grabbed the scattered feathers left behind when he frightened the ducks and took the air, somehow flying using only the duck feathers before realizing he was not a bird and falling to the ground. Kelly eventually found the Thing at a ski lodge and used the Answer Fellascope on him at full power to no avail. Disappointed that the machine did not restore Thing's memories, Kelly tossed it behind her, hitting an axe, which flew into a log, launching a second log into the air, where it knocked an acorn off a tree. The acorn then hit Thing in the head, restoring his memories with a bright flash of his rocky exoskeleton. Kelly and Thing then noticed that part of the dam near the Centerville Bird Sanctuary had broken due to a storm and caused a flood, trapping Betty, Ronald and Miss Twilly. Grabbing a ski ramp, Thing bent it into a loop shape and placed it in the dam's hole, looping the rush of water back into the dam. With everyone safe, Benjy Grimm later accompanied his friends back home and along the way, Betty remarked that Benjy had disappeared yet again while the Thing saved them. Benjy apologized before witnessing the rare yankee doodle bird land on the railing of the yacht.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "The Thing Meets the Clunk") - Benjy accompanied Kelly and Professor Harkness to the home of Dr. Quimby, who boasted a new invention. The clumsy Dr. Quimby beckoned everyone inside and introduced them to his latest invention for the benefit of mankind, the robot Clunk. When Benjy asked what Clunk could do, Dr. Quimby announced that Clunk had been programmed only to do good and to prove it, Dr. Quimby mentioned being thirsty and Clunk, wishing to help, walked right through a table to the sink, where he clamped off the faucet, capturing water in a nearby bucket for Dr. Quimby to drink but leaving behind the damaged, water-spewing faucet. Clunk then returned to Dr. Quimby, throwing the bucket of water into Quimby's face and announcing that Quimby was no longer thirsty. When a man called for help outside, Clunk rushed to help, busting through the wall of Dr. Quimby's home and going the wrong way. As Prof. Harkness and Dr. Quimby ran outside to help the construction worker who was about to fall from a girder, Benjy transformed into the Thing. Quickly uprooting another girder, Thing climbed it to rescue the construction worker before rushing off to transform back into Benjy Grimm. Regrouping with his friends, Benjy was reminded of Clunk's escape and they all worked together to find a device within Dr. Quimby's lab that could turn Clunk off. After failing to find anything in Quimby's mess, Benjy suggested he and Kelly go look for Clunk while Professor Harkness and Doctor Quimby continued the search for a device to turn off Clunk. Eventually finding Clunk shortly after he had "helped" demolish a building, Benjy and Kelly decided to get Clunk back to Dr. Quimby's lab via bus but Clunk proved too large to fit onto the bus and they were forced to get off the bus. Benjy and Kelly then attempted to call a taxi but the robot Clunk terrified the driver into speeding away. Resigning themselves to having to walk Clunk back to Dr. Quimby's lab, Benjy and Kelly were shocked when Clunk walked right across the street despite oncoming traffic. By the time Benjy and Kelly had made their own way across, Clunk was nowhere to be found. When they found Clunk straightening out a drawbridge just as a ship was passing under it, Benjy rushed to transform into the Thing, only to be squished in a doorway by an old woman. After the old woman left, Benjy tried again, this time succeeding in his transformation, and he rushed to the bridge to reopen it. Annoyed that Thing had "bent" the bridge he had just "fixed," Clunk reclosed the drawbridge, forcing Thing to open the drawbridge. The two then went back and forth, opening and closing the bridge, until the ship came so close that Thing ran over, removed the ship's steam pipe, carried it over the bridge, then replaced it after the ship had safely went under the closed drawbridge. Clunk then turned on the offensive, clamping its claws around the Thing's head, claiming that he was "helping" by throwing the bridge-blocking "rocks" into the water. When Clunk switched to grabbing Thing by the leg, the Thing noticed a panel underneath Clunk's "ear" and opened it, revealing an off/on switch. Switching Clunk to "off," the Thing carried the inert Clunk back to Dr. Quimby and warned Quimby to keep Clunk off the streets or Clunk would be returned in a heap of nuts and bolts. Quimby agreed and Thing suggested maybe Clunk could be used as a doorstop. Another night later, Benjy accompanied Kelly and Professor Harkness to Dr. Quimby's home, where Quimby once again had something he wanted to show them. Announcing the new and improved Clunk, who could only activate whenever Quimby himself said the word "help," Quimby was shocked when Clunk activated upon hearing Quimby explain Clunk's new activation word. Much to Benjy and his friends' dismay, Clunk jumped into action and busted through Quimby's wall once more, prompting Quimby's admittance that he shouldn't have programmed Clunk to respond to him uttering the word "help." Upon saying the word again, Clunk burst through the wall once more, terrifying Quimby into running away from Clunk's kind of "help." When Quimby uttered that Clunk needed more adjustments, Benjy and Kelly laughed in agreement.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "Beach Party Crashers") - Benjy accompanied Kelly, Betty, Ronald Radford and Miss Twilly to beachside surf party and they unknowingly passed by the Yancy Street Gang, who decided to crash the party, on their way. Once there, Benjy and Kelly got stuck unloading all of Ronald's packed valuables while Ronald and Betty relaxed in the sun. Kelly helped Miss Twilly set up a beach table while Benjy lugged Betty's suitcase-sized makeup bag over there to her. Unaware that the Yancy Street Gang had replaced Betty's umbrella with one filled with water, Benjy brought Betty the umbrella, which splashed the annoyed Betty, who returned the favor by dumping her juice on Benjy's head. Deducing the Yancy Street Gang's involvement, Benjy decided to relax elsewhere, unfolding a rather tricky foldout chair to get some sun, only to have it foldup with him sitting in it. When Betty was attacked by an octopus while skin diving, Benjy overheard her screams and, still folded up in the folding chair, managed to touch the Thing Rings together to transform into the Thing. Swimming out to rescue Betty, Thing tied the octopus' arms together and Betty swooned over Thing, nearly asking him on a date before Thing announced that there were more monsters, the Yancy Street Gang, that he had to take care of. Thing caught the Yancy Street Gang attempting to sabotage a volleyball game and when they ran for it, Thing spiked the volleyball into their motorcycles, destroying them. A short time later, Benjy visited the portable hot dog stand brought to the beach by Ronald and manned by Kelly and Miss Twilly, where Miss Twilly recruited Ronald and him to set tables. After Ronald twice stole Benjy's hot dogs (as well as Kelly's), Benjy laughed when Ronald became thirsty and inadvertently drank Betty's suntan lotion. He then enjoyed a beach picnic that was briefly threatened by ants unleashed by the Yancy Street Gang but later, when Ronald spotted sharks in the water while surfing, Benjy closed himself in an umbrella and used the Thing Rings. Thing then swam out to Ronald, only to learn that the "sharks" were the Yancy Street Gang again, who were soon driven off by real sharks. In an effort to teach the arrogant Ronald a lesson, Thing sandwiched Ronald with his own surfboard and hurled him back onto the beach and into his hot dog stand. Later that evening, on the way back home, Betty asked Benjy where he was when Ronald had to be rescued by the Thing and Benjy claimed he had went to get a lifeguard but Betty accused Benjy of always disappearing when he was needed. Ronald then asked whatever happened to the Yancy Street Gang and Benjy remarked that they had probably got themselves into a raft of trouble.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "Decepto the Great" (fb) - BTS) - Benjy Grimm became head of the entertainment committee for his high school's fair.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "Decepto the Great") - To create entertainment for the high school fair, Benjy performed with the "famous" Benjy Grimm Bird Circus, much to the chagrin of Betty Harkness, who felt as if Benjy had not done much to bring entertainment to the fair. Announcing that Tweto the Wonder Pigeon would perform all sorts of bird acrobatics, Benjy opened Tweto's cage and Tweto flew away instead of performing. After the audience booed and left, Betty chewed out Benjy for promising that the Thing would make an appearance at the fair. Ronald Radford joined in as well, grumbling at Benjy for also promising a magic show. Confronting Benjy until he tripped and fell into a barrel of water, Betty and Ronald were told to leave Benjy alone by Kelly Harkness and Benjy assured them all that both the Thing and the great magician Decepto would be at the fair. Kelly then whispered to Benjy that maybe it was time to bring out the Thing and Benjy agreed, rushing off into an empty building to transform into the Thing. When the school custodian, Mr. Jansen, followed Benjy into the building, angry that Benjy had tracked dirt all over the floor the custodian had been mopping, the custodian was terrified when the Thing answered the door. Thing quickly transformed back into Benjy and ran off to find Mr. Jansen to assure him he needn't be scared. Unfortunately, the clumsy Benjy slid on the wet floor Jansen had been mopping and slid into Room 5, where Miss Twilly was leaving. Figuring Mr. Jansen was gone, Benjy decided to transform back into the Thing, terrifying the returning Mr. Jansen yet again. Thing transformed back into Benjy again and rushed off after Mr. Jansen once more, only to run into Betty and Ronald, who were still annoyed that Benjy had yet to go through with his promises to get the Thing and a magic act at the fair. Betty informed Benjy that she might go out with him if he could manage to get the Thing and Benjy claimed he just saw the Thing before speaking with the arriving magician, Decepto the Great. Benjy then asked Kelly to take Decepto the school auditorium while Benjy himself ran off to transform into the Thing. Unfortunately, Mr. Jansen was hiding out in the same spot and was again scared by the Thing's appearance. A short time later, as Betty took tickets for Decepto's magic show, Benjy greeted Betty and assured her Thing would make an appearance following Decepto's magic show and that he had to leave to introduce Decepto. While introducing Decepto, Benjy tripped over the microphone cord as the curtains came up and Decepto began his act. During Decepto's disappearing act, Benjy noticed Decepto rifling through the school lockers as he was looking for a safe place to transform into the Thing. Grabbing a hold of the fleeing Decepto's cape, Benjy ended up falling down and dropped one of the Thing Rings into a locker. As he reached for the Ring, a group of students saw him among the mess made by Decepto and assumed him to be the thief. Running from the students, Benjy was pulled into a room by Kelly, where he transformed into the Thing and pursued Decepto and his assistant. Despite grabbing the back door of Decepto's van, the Thing was left holding the door and back bumpers of the van when Decepto managed to drive off. Using the bumper as pogo sticks, the Thing and Kelly continued their pursuit of Decepto, tracking him to his abandoned Decepto's Magic Park amusement park. Once inside the park, the Thing was plagued by illusions generated from the park's master control room by Decepto until Kelly informed Thing of the illusion projectors. The Thing then ripped out the wiring for the master control room, causing the sprinklers to go off on Decepto and his assistant, flooding the control room. Thing then dove into the control room's hatch and retrieved Decepto and his assistant. A short time later, back at the high school fair, Benjy ate lunch with Kelly, Betty and Ronald, where Kelly explained Decepto's crimes and how the Thing rescued the items stolen by Decepto. When Betty remarked that it was too bad Benjy couldn't get Thing to appear at the school and that he had ruined his chances for a date, Benjy announced that he just remembered Thing was out in the hall. Rushing past Mr. Jansen into an empty classroom, Benjy transformed into the Thing, again terrifying Mr. Jansen and prompting Thing to ask why Jansen kept hanging around if he didn't like the sight of the Thing.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "The Thing's the Play") - Benjy, Betty, Ronald and Kelly prepared for lunch in the Centerville High School cafeteria but Ronald announced that he had a surprise for them. On cue, Ronald's personal chef Andre appeared and agreed to make the gang anything they desired. After showmanly making sandwiches for Betty and Kelly, Andre theatrically sliced a chicken and bread for roast chicken sandwiches for Ronald and Benjy but, while Ronald's landed on his plate perfectly, Benjy got stuck with the chicken leftovers. He then sat there, not so much enjoying his lunch, as Miss Twilly came into the cafeteria and announced that a television crew would be coming to Centerville High School the following week to film a commercial, and that auditions would be held the next day. After Betty expressed interest in being in the commercial and Ronald promised her that he would pay for the best acting school she could attend, Benjy accompanied Ronald, Betty and Kelly to the run-down Ferdinand Bestmore Acting School, where Ronald had Benjy park the car. When he returned to the School upon parking the car, Benjy found his friends trapped in the rickety School elevator and used the Thing Rings to transform into the Thing to rescue them. Catching the falling elevator, the Thing hurled it back up to a point where the kids could get out and subsequently met back up with them as Benjy in Ferdinand Bestmore's office. Upon meeting the very theatrical Mr. Bestmore, Benjy laughed when Bestmore proclaimed that there was no way he could make an actor out of Ronald Radford. As Bestmore took over teaching Betty how to act, Benjy noticed an issue of Starstruck magazine from 1915 containing an article on Hedda Hair, an actress apparently discovered by Bestmore with more than a passing resemblance to Betty. As the somewhat unhinged Bestmore began to confuse Betty with Hedda Hair, Benjy, Ronald and Kelly waited in Bestmore's waiting room and began growing concerned for how long Betty had been inside with Bestmore, unaware they had actually left to visit the closed Bombay Theater. Deciding to investigate, the gang discovered Bestmore and Betty gone but Benjy quickly noticed a theatrical poster showcasing Hedda Hair at the Bombay Theater and deduced that Bestmore and Betty must have went there. Investigating and finding the Bombay Theater's door ajar, Benjy and his friends found the unhinged Ferdinand Bestmore attempting to force Betty to jump from a high stage set. When Benjy and the gang confronted Bestmore, he grabbed Betty and dropped through a stage trap door and attempted to abscond with the captured Betty. Chasing Bestmore through various old dressing rooms, Benjy and Kelly at one point confused Bestmore, who grabbed Benjy instead, only to stop in his tracks moments later when he realized the mix-up. Grabbing Betty again, Bestmore jumped onto a moving set piece, escaping and blocking Benjy and Kelly's progress with a steel barrier, but Benjy transformed into the Thing and knocked down the barrier. When Bestmore climbed to the top of a rickety staircase to again force Betty to jump, the staircase collapsed beneath them and the Thing used a curtain rope to swing over and rescue Bestmore and Betty. Unfortunately, the rope broke under the combined weight of them all and they fell to the ground, with Thing taking the brunt of the landing and earning a kiss of thanks from Betty. Subsequently transforming back, Benjy reunited with his friends, claiming he had left to call for help. As they drove off, Bestmore admitted that Betty's resemblance to Hedda Hair had caused him to snap and he apologized for his actions. Later the following week, after Betty had won the television commercial audition, Benjy, Ronald and Kelly visited Betty's photo shoot, only to learn that the commercial was for Halloween masks and Betty would be playing the Ugliest Witch of the West.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "Double Trouble for the Thing") - Benjy visited the library and picked up stacks of books he needed to study by, unaware that a double of the Thing was robbing banks and ruining the Thing's public image. Clumsy as ever, Benjy stepped on an unattended skateboard and was flung backwards into a bush, where he dropped all of his books. From the bush, Benjy soon noticed an Ace Moving Company truck's brakes go out, causing the truck to careen towards a trio of school children. Activating his Thing Rings, Benjy transformed into the Thing and stopped the truck, pushing it back up to the Ace Moving Company workers. After being thanked for saving the children's lives, the police arrived and placed the confused Thing under arrest. Thing was then driven to the CVPD police station, where television news reported a special report on the Thing's arrest, prompting Kelly Harkness to investigate while Betty Harkness and Ronald Radford resigned themselves to thinking Thing had become a criminal. When Kelly visited Thing in the city jail, Thing informed her that he was framed and before he could attempt to bend the bars and escape to clear his name, a police officer walked up and reminded Thing that the bars were city property. Thing apologized and Kelly was reminded that visiting hours were over before the officer told Thing that the police captain wished to see him. Placed in an interrogation room, Thing was grilled on why he committed the robberies but Thing broke free of handcuffs and destroyed the captain's desk, exclaiming that he was innocent. While being led back to his cell, Thing demanded his phone call and the officer informed Thing that the phone was around the corner. After borrowing a dime from the officer, Thing went around the corner and used his Thing Rings to transform back into Benjy Grimm in hopes of clearing his name. When Benjy came around the corner, the officer asked what he was doing there and Benjy remarked that he was looking for the Thing to get an autograph, prompting the officer to remove Benjy from the premises. As he left, Benjy returned the officer's dime, causing the officer to rush back inside to search for the supposedly escaped Thing. Benjy then met up with Kelly and as they were walking down the street, Benjy found a brand new $20 bill and Kelly quickly suggested that it might have been part of the money supposedly stolen by the Thing. Benjy soon found another and the two began following a money trail that led them to a manhole, where Benjy deduced that the Thing impostor must have escaped into the drain pipes. The duo was interrupted when the robot Thing came near, forcing them to hide in an alleyway as they witnessed the robot Thing enter the manhole. Ordering Kelly to summon the police, Benjy decided to go after the robot Thing as the true Thing and activated his Thing Rings. Tracking the robot Thing further into the sewers, Thing was determined to make an entrance but electronics genius Dalton Blackwood activated his lair's defenses as the robot Thing delivered the jewels it had robbed from Richley's Diamond Store minutes earlier. Easily besting Blackwood's defenses, Thing made his way inside Blackwood's lair, unaware that Blackwood was the true mastermind behind the Thing robot. Blackwood hid and Thing ended up battling his robot double, who blew Thing into a wall using super breath. When Blackwood revealed himself by ordering the Thing's destruction, Thing was again tossed around by the robot Thing as Kelly led the police down to Blackwood's lair. By the time they arrived in Blackwood's lair, the police realized there were two Things but the robot Thing had defeated the true Thing. When the robot Thing threatened Kelly and the two police officers, however, he burst free from the rubble and renewed the battle, eventually tossing the robot Thing into Blackwood's master control computer, short-circuiting it. Thing then reunited with Kelly as the police arrested Danton Blackwood. Benjy later joined his friends at the Centerville Pizzeria, where Kelly suggested Ronald could eat his words regarding the Thing being a criminal. They all then laughed when the waiter showed up and accidentally dropped the pizza onto Ronald's head.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "To Thing or Not to Thing") - Tired of being stuck as awkward teen Benjy Grimm, the Thing visited Professor Harkness, who warned Thing about his untested new experiment that could possibly cure the Thing. When the Professor also warned that it could take eight hours before a change would occur and that it may have unknown side effects, the Thing agreed to still go through with the experiment, figuring that if he had waited as long as he had so far, he could wait another eight hours. The Professor then went through with the experiment at 9:00a.m., informing the Thing that they should all know if the experiment was a success by 5:00p.m. that afternoon. Kelly Harkness asked if Thing felt alright and Thing assured Kelly he felt fine, but Professor Harkness suggested the Thing stay close by the lab in case any unusual side effects occurred. Knowing that he was supposed to accompany Kelly, Betty and Ronald Radford to the mountains, Thing transformed back into Benjy Grimm and informed Betty and Ronald that he would not be able to go. When Ronald called Benjy a chicken and accused him of being afraid that Ronald would make Benjy look like a fool with his skating skills, an angry Benjy announced that he would go to the mountains despite Kelly's attempts to remind him about the Professor's warnings. Along the way, Ronald's car hit a rock that flattened one of the car's tires and Ronald had Benjy change the tire in an effort to keep his own winter clothes from getting soiled. Reluctantly changing the tire to help get the gang to the mountains sooner, Benjy soon began sweating and his skin turned orange. These effects also briefly increased his strength as Benjy, allowing him easily move the removed tire, only to disappear and leave him underneath the now-heavy tire. Realizing that it was too late to return to the lab now, Benjy continued along with his friends to the mountains, where the awkward Benjy had trouble ice skating. Just as he was beginning to get the hang of it, he began spontaneously transforming back and forth between his Benjy and Thing forms while skating, causing him to fall through the ice due to the Thing's weight. When Ronald and Betty came to check on Benjy, Kelly decided Thing should hide and since he blended in with the orange mountain rocks, Thing merely got on his hands and knees and pretended to be part of the mountain rock. Ronald then sat down on Thing, thinking he was just a rock, and began badmouthing Benjy's skating skills. Annoyed, the Thing moved, knocking Ronald down and terrifying Ronald and Betty into running off. Shortly after laughing at Ronald, Thing spontaneously transformed back into Benjy and he then reunited with Ronald and Betty. Ronald then challenged Benjy to a snowmobile race and Benjy at first thought he shouldn't take chances due to his unpredictable transformations but when Ronald once again called Benjy a chicken, he angrily agreed to race Ronald despite Kelly's warnings. Ronald began the race by burying Benjy in snow blown by his snowmobile but Benjy soon uncontrollably transformed into the Thing, causing him to sink into the snow due to his weight. Burrowing through the snow, Thing emerged at the finish line as Benjy, winning the race and surprising Ronald. Moments later, Betty and Ronald decided to take a cable car up to a mountain restaurant but Benjy and Kelly missed the car. Not wanting Ronald to call him a chicken again, Benjy rushed Kelly and himself onto the next cable car but during the ride, Benjy transformed into the Thing again, weighing down the car and nearly killing Kelly and himself until he uncontrollably transformed back into Benjy, slingshotting the cable car back on track. After arriving late to the restaurant, Benjy and Kelly next accompanied Betty and Ronald back down the hill with only 30 minutes left on Professor Harkness' experiment. When Kelly chewed out Ronald for throwing his soda bottle on the ground, Ronald responded by hurling his bottle back up towards the restaurant's trashcan but he instead hit a large snowball, which rolled down the hill growing larger. As Benjy and his friends ran from the snowball, Benjy spontaneously transformed into the Thing again, allowing him to catch and pick up the snowball. Unfortunately, while he held the snowball in the air, he transformed back into Benjy, dropping the snowball and forcing him to run for his life and jump into a large tree as the snowball rolled over a cliff. While in the tree, Benjy transformed again, knocking down the tree with his weight but surviving the fall due to the Thing's durability. Kelly then reunited with Thing, reminding him that the experiment only had seconds to go before they would know if the Thing would be transformed back into the adult test pilot Ben Grimm or awkward teenager Benjy Grimm. When time ran out, the experiment in quick succession transformed Thing into Benjy, Benjy into the Thing's height and Thing into Benjy's height before leaving only the regular sized Benjy Grimm and proving Professor Harkness' experiment a failure. A depressed Benjy then sat for awhile and Kelly assured Benjy that Professor Harkness would eventually find a way to permanently restore the Thing to his proper age but admitted she was glad he was still Benjy. Reluctantly admitting that it could always be worse, Benjy was then called by Ronald, who wished to show off his fencing, prompting Kelly to announce that it had now gotten worse. The two friends then laughed.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "The Big Bike Race") - Kelly Harkness timed Benjy Grimm as he attempted to break his own record for bike riding, hoping to be able to participate in the next day's cross-country bike race. After he made a new record, Kelly Harkness congratulated Benjy then asked what the big deal was about him making it into the cross-country race. Benjy replied that Kelly's sister Betty was the race queen and the winner of the race would get to escort her to the post-race dance. He then remarked that he needed to be heading home, only to ride off into a tree, making he rethink his decision and suggest visiting a bike shop first. The next day, Benjy appeared as the Thing as a special guest of the charity bike race and thanked the crowd for coming out for charity. Thing then quickly snuck behind the bandstand and transformed back into Benjy Grimm so that he could participate in the race. He was nearly spotted transforming by Miss Twilly but she thought she needed new glasses and Benjy rushed to join in the bike race before it started. As the race started, the Yancy Street Gang's Spike put gum on the back of Benjy's bike tire, causing him to briefly stick to the ground, putting him in last place before the gum broke and Benjy was on his way. Speeding his way into first place, Benjy passed Spike and Ronald Radford as they all crossed the first checkpoint and, after Spike took care of Ronald with fake stop signs and a wrong turn, Benjy became determined to stay ahead of Spike in order to win. Unfortunately, Spike cheated by lassoing himself to a passing Pacific Express truck, which drove past Benjy, pulling Spike with it until it turned a curve, launching Spike off a cliff and into a tree. Seeing Spike in danger prompted Benjy to pull his bike over and use his Thing Rings to transform into the Thing to rescue the Gangster. Pulling the tree back like a slingshot, the Thing launched Spike back onto the racetrack then used his super-strong leg muscles to peddle his own bike up the side of the cliff and back on the track as well. The stop allowed Ronald Radford to get into first place so Thing quickly transformed back into Benjy Grimm and peddled his way back into the race, retaking the third place spot by the next checkpoint. The Yancy Street Gang soon began changing road signs to send Ronald and Benjy off-course, allowing Spike to gain the lead. Taking one of the incorrect turns due to the Yancy Street Gang's interference, Benjy ended up biking over a cliff and landing onto some telephone lines. Briefly riding the wires with his bike, Benjy eventually ran out of lines and was launched into the air, landing atop Spike's unicycle (his bike having been mostly destroyed by a train). Ronald hit a bump and he was subsequently launched onto the shoulders of Benjy and all three cyclists crossed the finish line together. Miss Twilly announced the race a three-way tie and later that evening, all three acted as Betty's escort to the prom. After awkwardly dancing while stepping on Betty's feet, Benjy was moved aside by Ronald, who briefly danced with Betty before Spike cut in. Spike's dance was also cut short after Benjy secretly transformed into the Thing and cut in, only to have Miss Twilly cut in and dance with the Thing.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "The Thing & the Treasure Hunt") - Benjy and friends went boating on one of Ronald Radford's family boats and Ronald had Benjy start the engine. Unfortunately for the clumsy Benjy, when he started the engine, the motor flew backwards, launching him into the water and eventually, into the docks. After crashing onto the docks, Benjy overheard Betty screaming for help and looked over to see his friends being attacked by an octopus. Activating his Thing Rings, Benjy transformed into the Thing and swam out to rescue his friends, defeating the octopus and pushing Ronald's boat back to the shore. He then ducked under the water and transformed back into Benjy to reunite with his friends, who relaxed on the rocks by dropping a basket into and out of the water. When Ronald found a tarnished box, Benjy suggested he open it and Ronald soon found what appeared to be a treasure map. Deciding to follow the map, Benjy accompanied his friends as they followed the map to a proposed treasure, unaware they were being watched by the Yancy Street Gang. The gang soon made it to a rocky peak, which Ronald backed out of climbing, prompting Betty to convince Benjy to climb by flirting with him. As Benjy climbed, the Yancy Street Gang made themselves known on the ground below and Stretch rode his motorcycle up the side of the peak, knocking Benjy off. Benjy managed to save himself by grabbing another part of the peak but Stretch found the peak inhabited by a bald eagle, who carried Stretch away and deposited him on the nearby beach. Benjy and his friends then focused on the next location on the map, a cliff near the bay. When the Yancy Street Gang beat Benjy and his friends to the bay's cave, where they found a trunk containing thousands of dollars, Benjy and the gang arrived moments later to find the cave about to be demolished. The dynamite soon went off, trapping the Yancy Street Gang in the cave, and when Benjy's friends rushed to check on the Gang, Benjy feigned a twisted ankle and lagged behind to transform into the Thing. Moving his friends aside, the Thing used a tree trunk leveraged on a boulder to lift up the surrounding rocks, freeing the Yancy Street Gang. After transforming back, Benjy reunited with his friends and later accompanied them to vouch for the Yancy Street Gang, whose found money had been determined to be stolen. Once the Gang had been cleared, they were rewarded with a free trip aboard the Sea Dog ship and drove off in a sickness, prompting laughter from Benjy and his friends.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "Out to Launch") - Benjy, Kelly and Betty visited Ronald Radford's house as Ronald got ready to join them for the launching of a new ship, the S.S. Seaworthy, in Centerville. After Ronald learned that the ship had already been purchased, he jumped in his car and Benjy reminded him to hurry up or they would miss the launch. Along the way, Ronald stopped to call ahead reservations for the ship launching, much to Benjy and his friends' dismay, but they remained unaware that the phone booth Ronald intended to use was in use by demolitions expert Mandrake von Wreckerstein, who was using the phone to threaten the mayor after he had been fired. Benjy and the gang were shocked when Ronald followed von Wreckerstein into the phone booth, only to have the entire phone booth fall apart with Ronald inside. When von Wreckerstein gloated about how he caused the phone booth collapse and asked if Benjy and his friends were impressed, he then suggested they take a look at a nearby water tower that began falling apart before their eyes. As Ronald, Kelly and Betty ran for cover, Benjy claimed he had to tie his shoelace and remained behind to transform into the Thing. Catching the falling water tank, Thing held it up while gathering girders to hold it but unfortunately, the tank began leaking and the Thing sank into the mud under the weight of the tank. Benjy then reunited with his friends, emerging from the sewer as his awkward self before accompanying his friends to the ship's launching. When they stopped at a stoplight, von Wreckerstein pulled up next to them and proceeded to pull street lamps from the ground with his tow truck and demolish a building. Pursuing von Wreckerstein, Benjy and his friends were soon affected by von Wreckerstein's rampage personally when the tires eroded off Ronald's car. The brakes then failed, followed by the steering wheel, causing Benjy and his friends to careen into a series of pipes and by the time they had emerged, there was nothing left of Ronald's car but the frame. Thankfully, the gang was saved by a parachute installed on Ronald's car and they all landed safely onto a trash barge, where they witnessed von Wreckerstein heading for the ship's launch. Determined to stop von Wreckerstein, Benjy and his friends rushed to the ship launching, where they had trouble finding von Wreckerstein in the crowd as von Wreckerstein sabotaged the mayor's clothing. When von Wreckerstein sabotaged the band's instruments, Benjy and the gang spotted him and gave chase, hoping to stop him before he could get to the ship. The mayor soon christened the S.S. Seaworthy and the ship began falling apart as the mayor's bandstand also fell. Benjy helped the mayor to his feet and his friends chased after von Wreckerstein. Benjy ducked into a construction shack to transform into the Thing but before he could do so, the entire shack collapsed due to von Wreckerstein's sabotage. He then ran behind some boxes to transform but the boxes fell over, prompting Benjy to leap into a spool of rope, where he was finally able to transform. The Thing then used some nearby chain to hold the S.S. Seaworthy together before witnessing von Wreckerstein attempting to bring down the entire shipyard. Using a construction magnet vehicle, Thing caught von Wreckerstein due to von Wreckerstein's metal wrench, holding him into the air by the wrench. A short time later, Benjy Grimm accompanied his friends from the shipyard, remarking on his disbelief that Ronald had put his car back together by himself. When Ronald gloated about his skills, the car fell apart again when Ronald came to a stop.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "The Day the Ring Didn't Do a Thing") - Benjy visited Hardware World with his friends in preparation for a local cave visit where Miss Twilly was going to lead the kids in searching for fossils. As Benjy left the store carrying all of his friends' supplies, the Yancy Street Gang drove past him, spinning him around and causing him to hurl the boxed supplies into the air, where they landed conveniently in the back of Ronald Radford's car. After picking up Miss Twilly, Benjy and the gang visited the cave, where Benjy, Miss Twilly and Kelly Harkness dug for bones. Miss Twilly soon discovered what she thought was a fossilized skull but Benjy watched as Kelly pointed out that the skull had the words "made in Japan" stamped on it, unaware that the Yancy Street Gang had placed a fake skull in the dirt to prank Benjy and his friends. When Ronald decided to use a digging machine, he proved unable to control the machine and it dug a deep hole around where Kelly and Betty stood, trapping them in the center and forcing Benjy to use his Thing Rings to transform into the Thing to rescue them. Thing then climbed up the middle of the area and created a tightrope, which he used to carry Kelly and Betty to safety. When Miss Twilly and Betty began wondering where Benjy had run off to, Thing transformed back into Benjy and met back up with his friends, claiming he had went to get a magnetic metal detector to pick up any metal they might find while digging. While showing off the magnet, Benjy noticed how the magnet attracted the Thing Rings and removed one of them to give to Kelly, who decided to place it in her purse for safekeeping. When Benjy and Kelly then walked away, attracted to metal by the magnet device, neither noticed Kelly's purse fall over and the Thing Ring roll away. Kelly soon returned to retrieve her purse, still unaware the Thing Ring had fallen out, as Benjy located a metallic ring using his magnet. When a storm loomed, Benjy and the gang decided to leave before the storm arrived, with Benjy not realizing that the Yancy Street Gang had used their own magnetic metal detector to find the missing Thing Ring. The storm soon became a tornado and Benjy and his friends opted to stop a nearby abandoned house for cover, where Benjy led them all into the basement before running out to confront the tornado. Standing right in front of the whirling tornado, Benjy quickly realized he only had one Thing Ring when he tried to transform. After being blown around by the tornado before it dissipated, Benjy told his friends it was safe to come out and also asked Kelly for his Thing Ring back. When Kelly couldn't find the missing Thing Ring in her purse, they visited a local Chinese food restaurant, where the Yancy Street Gang's Spike subsequently visited, bragging about the ring he had found at the dig site. Recognizing the ring as his missing Thing Ring, Benjy confronted Spike and demanded it back, only to walk away when Spike threatened him, claiming "finders, keepers." Devising a way to retrieve the Ring, Kelly disguised herself as a waitress and brought Spike a fortune cookie proclaiming his Ring to be bad luck, prompting Spike to hurl the Ring outside. Benjy and Kelly rushed to grab the Ring, only to witness it being run over by a steamroller. Another tornado then arrived near the Chinese restaurant and Benjy yelled for the steamroller drive to back up. Running over the Thing Ring in reverse somehow restored it to proper working order (presumably due to its magical properties) and Benjy activated both Thing Rings to transform into the Thing and battle the tornado. Dispersing the tornado into smaller breezes, the Thing snuffed out the breezes and shortly after, as Benjy Grimm, attended the unveiling of the bones Miss Twilly had found at the dig site, which were hastily (and incorrectly) assembled and resembled no known creature.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "A Hot Air Affair at the Fair") - As part of a science class project for Centerville High School, Benjy Grimm and Kelly Harkness created a hot air balloon to participate in a 10-mile hot air balloon race at the State Fair. Before the race began, Miss Twilly introduced each balloon, first was Benjy's Centerville High balloon, then Betty Harkness and Ronald Radford's Golden Bird balloon and lastly, the Yancy Street Gang's Yancy Street Special balloon. When Miss Twilly announced the race's start, the balloons took off but Benjy's balloon took off before he could fully untie it from the ground, flying off with the clumsy Benjy clinging to its ropes. As the balloon passed a clock tower, Benjy grabbed one of the clock's hands, accidentally pulling its face off and spring-launching him into the air, where he landed safely inside his balloon. After taking second place by deforming Ronald's balloon, Spike caught up to Benjy and Kelly's balloon, which had wandered into a storm. Using a scissors device on his balloon, Spike cut free the sandbags from one side of Benjy's balloon, causing it to rise into the storm. Kelly quickly suggested Benjy transform into the Thing to weigh the balloon down out of the storm and protect the balloon from lightning but Benjy had trouble touching the two Thing Rings together due to the high winds. He was soon blown out of the balloon, where he leg was caught in the balloon's ropes. Benjy was able to activate the Thing Rings while hanging from the hopes, however, and he transformed into the Thing. Swinging onto the top of the balloon, the Thing punched away lightning bolts that threatened the balloon and caught one, which he hurled at Spike's balloon, damaging but surprisingly not puncturing it. Benjy and Spike continued flying side-by-side until Spike attempted to have the rest of the Yancy Street Gang pull him into the lead from the ground, only to be drug through a bridge, leaving Benjy and Kelly in the lead. Ronald and Betty caught up quickly, moving at a fantastic speed due to catching a jetstream, but when they headed straight for a mountain, Benjy stopped his balloon at the mountain top to transform into the Thing. After moving part of the mountain to allow Ronald and Betty to pass safely through, Thing transformed back into Benjy and continued to be in the race's lead. When Ronald began catching up right before the race's end, Benjy increased the air in the balloon to rise higher, only to find the dial stuck when he tried to release the air. The balloon soon inflated to the point where it ruptured, sending Benjy and Kelly whirling around the state fair and eventually across the finish line. Ronald and Betty soon followed but they flew too high and their balloon froze over, leaving them in a freefall. Transforming into the Thing, Benjy pushed the Sleep Tight Mattress Factory off its foundation and underneath the falling balloon, removing the roof to allow Betty and Ronald to land safely on the mattresses inside. Later that night, Benjy hungout with Kelly and they agreed that it was fun winning the hot air balloon race but both wondered whatever happened to Spike and the Yancy Street Special balloon.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "The Thing Goes to the Dogs") - Benjy and his friends rode with Ronald Radford as he let his new dog sit in the front seat. Along the way, the gang witnessed a burning building and Betty demanded Ronald stop the car. Announcing he was going to call the fire department, Benjy ran into an alley and activated his Thing Rings, transforming into the Thing and using a water tower to put out the fire. Benjy then returned to his friends, feigning ignorance as to what happened to the fire and was chewed out by Betty for missing the Thing just as the Yancy Street Gang drove up and inquired where Ronald was taking his dog. After Ronald explained that they were on their way to take his dog, Countess, to the Centerville Dog Show, they left and upon arrival at the Dog Show, Countess was lured by the Yancy Street Gang leader Spike's cat, Roscoe. Benjy and his friends gave chase but by the time they made it outside, Countess was nowhere to be seen, with the gang completely unaware that the Yancy Street Gang had captured Countess. Worried about Countess, Benjy called the dog pound but was told they didn't have Countess. When a disguised Spike called the phone booth in the Dog Show and Ronald answered, Spike informed Ronald that the Yancy Street Gang had Countess. Benjy and his friends then drove over to another phone booth where Spike wished to meet them and Spike's cat Roscoe returned Countess. Determined to find out who dognapped Countess, Benjy suggested letting Countess herself lead them to the dognappers and the well-trained Countess immediately began performing charades to tell Benjy and friends who the culprit was. Countess managed to mime the words "old police jail" and while Benjy was a bit confused, Ronald deduced the old abandoned jail on the edge of town. A short time later, Benjy and his friends investigated the old jail, only to have Betty, Ronald and Kelly captured in nets by the Yancy Street Gang, prompting Benjy and Countess to run for it. After the Yancy Street Gang locked Betty, Ronald and Kelly up in the old jail cells, Benjy transformed into the Thing and ripped the door off the jail to rescue his friends. Thing then sent Countess after Roscoe while he dealt with the escaping Yancy Street Gang by knocking them off a fire escape into his hands. Later, following Countess' 1st place at the Dog Show, Benjy and his friends visited Ronald to view Countess' trophy and were present when the Yancy Street Gang dropped Roscoe off on Ronald's doorstep, having gotten fed up with feeding the cat.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "The Thing Goes Camping") - Benjy Grimm accompanied his friends and Miss Twilly on a camping trip as part of an official school project. When a large tree fell onto the road, blocking their access, Benjy claimed he was going to call the forest ranger on the emergency road phone but instead ducked into a bear's cave and whispered (since the bear was hibernating) the magic words to activate his Thing Rings, transforming into the Thing. Waking the bear during his transformation, Thing attempted to sing it back to sleep with a lullaby but it instead ran in terror, allowing the Thing to focus on the fallen tree, which he chopped into pieces. After thanking Betty for her fandom of his heroics, Thing ran off, transformed back into Benjy and returned to his friends, asking where the tree went and getting chewed out again for not being present for the Thing's heroics. Once they had arrived at their campsite, Benjy attempted to raise his tent by had difficulty with the wall flaps and decided to kick it, causing it to completely raise by itself upon landing. A short time later, Ronald had his chef prepare food for Benjy and his friends, only to find a live duck that flew away. Benjy then prepared to go fishing as the girls readied for their nature walk. Ronald interrupted Benjy, however, after the girls made fun of him for not roughing it, suggesting they go fishing to prove them wrong. As they fished, Benjy caught a large fish then noticed the fish really biting around Ronald and ventured out, only to fall into a deep spot in the lake and realize Ronald was on stilts. Later that night, the bear that was earlier scared by the Thing tried to sleep in Ronald's tent but when a terrified Ronald ran outside, the bear moved to Benjy's tent in an attempt to hibernate. When he noticed the bear, Benjy also ran outside, still in his sleeping bag, and climbed a tree next to Ronald. The next morning, a big storm triggered a landslide that threatened Benjy's entire camp, forcing Benjy to run into his tent and transform into the Thing, who pulled the entire campsite over, allowing the rocks to land safely in the area formerly inhabited by the campsite. He then transformed back into Benjy and reunited with his friends, feigning ignorance of what had happened. After packing up, Benjy later accompanied his friends as they departed the campsite and asked Ronald if he ever got any sleep the night before due to the bear. Ronald replied that he "bearly" did.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "Dude Ranch Rodeo") - Benjy and his friends accompanied Miss Twilly into the desert for a weekend at a dude ranch, where the Thing was also announced to appear for charity. When Ronald took a shortcut and got them all caught in a rockslide, Benjy quickly used his Thing Rings to transform into the Thing and shoved the fallen rock out of the way. He then immediately ran behind a large rock and transformed back into Benjy Grimm so that he and his friends could continue on their way. Once they had arrived at Big Butte Ranch, Benjy and his friends helped Ronald's horse, Silver Queen, out of his trailer as the Yancy Street Gang arrived with their own horse, Clancy. Benjy then watched as Ronald and Spike argued over whose horse was better and was subsequently present when Ronald explained Silver Queen's computerized saddle. Once the rodeo started, Miss Twilly introduced the guest of honor, the Thing, who waved to fans and prepared to ride a horse. Unfortunately, both horses sent out proved difficult for the Thing to mount and he ended up telling the crowd that he would not be riding. Thing then announced the rodeo officially started and Thing transformed back into Benjy to watch from the stands. During the rodeo, Benjy laughed at Clancy sitting down on top of Spike, suggesting he stick to riding motorcycles, and shortly after participated himself, riding a horse and roping a calf. When the clumsy Benjy then jumped down to wrangle the calf, he wounded tying himself up in knots rather than the calf, earning zero points. Benjy then moved on to the bull-riding portion of the rodeo, riding a large white and black spotted bull. Thankfully, Benjy's bull ended up falling asleep in the arena, earning Benjy eight points for successfully riding him. When Silver Queen's computerized saddle short-circuited, terrifying Silver Queen in running wild and inadvertently pull a cart carrying Betty and Kelly Harkness, Benjy ran into a barn and transformed into the Thing. Launching himself into the air using a rock, the Thing landed on Silver Queen, grounding her as the runaway cart lost a couple of wheels and careened down a cliff. Thing managed to grab the cart before it went over the cliff, rescuing Kelly and Betty. As Benjy's friends packed and prepared to leave the rodeo early, Benjy Grimm caught up with them and soon learned that Spike's horse Clancy was in love with Silver Queen.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "Photo Finish") - Benjy Grimm accompanied his friends to the Centerville Zoo's Photo Day as Ronald Radford was determined to win the Zoo's photo contest, the prize which he said would buy a good frame for his blue ribbon. The Yancy Street Gang arrived moments after Benjy and his friends, and Spike began fussing at Ronald to move his car so he could get in and win the prize himself. Once inside, Ronald gave each of his friends a camera to participate in the photo contest and Benjy decided to visit the Zoo's swans, feeling that swans made great photos. Kelly Harkness joined Benjy but the two soon overheard Spike screaming for help in the rhino habitat, having ventured inside to get a photo. Whining about how he could never win the contest if he never got to take a photo, Benjy ran behind a popcorn stand and activated his Thing Rings, transforming into the Thing and destroying the popcorn stand in the process. Jumping into the rhino habitat, Thing shrugged off the rhino's charge and hurled Spike out of the habitat and into a trashcan outside. A short time later, Benjy and Kelly finally made their way to the swan habitat but the swans kept moving away from Benjy's camera. In an effort to get closer, Benjy leapt onto what he thought was a rock, only to find himself moving closer when the "rock" turned out to be a turtle. When he was launched out of the water by the turtle, Benjy was met with the Yancy Street Gang, who exposed Benjy's film to light, ruining the pictures. Next visiting the Zoo's cafe, Benjy and Kelly were preparing to order when Ronald, who had landed onto a serving cart after being scared by a lion, knocked over tables, depositing a pie right in front of Benjy. After Ronald's runaway cart eventually deposited him in a bird bath, Benjy and Kelly went to the get photos of the Zoo's ostriches but the ostrich kept moving, forcing Benjy to give up. Ronald then arrived, remarking on the "amateur" Benjy was giving up and commenting that ostriches were extremely dumb, prompting the ostrich to eat Ronald's camera. Benjy and Kelly then moved on to the peacocks and Benjy got some great photos of the peacock's plumage. When Benjy later got some shots of an alligator, he and Kelly witnessed an escaped gorilla chasing the Yancy Street Gang, Betty and Ronald. Activating his Thing Rings, Benjy transformed into the Thing and pulled the sidewalk up from beneath the gorilla, which tried to show its dominance by pounding its chest. When Thing returned, pounding his own chest, the gorilla was scared off and back into its cage. A short time later, Benjy was in the audience with his friends when Kelly won the Zoo's photo contest with her photos of the disasters that befell the Zoo as everyone attempted to get the best photo.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "Lights, Action, Thing!") - Benjy joined his friends on a boat cruise on the lake where Ronald Radford drove too fast, causing the boat to ramp over some rocks. The boat was soon attacked by an octopus-like monster and despite Kelly's warnings that his friends would see him, Benjy felt he had no choice but to publicly use his Thing Rings to transform into the Thing to save them all. Fortunately, Benjy's magic words were interrupted by a movie stagehand, who emerged from the monster and announced that part of the lake was off-limits due to the making of a movie. Upon hearing that the monster was only a mechanical movie prop, Benjy proclaimed himself sufficiently fooled but Ronald and Betty immediately got the acting bug and requested a part in the movie. The stagehand suggested they meet with the movie's director, Mr. Bedazzle, and used the monster to easily lift the boat back onto Ronald's trailer and Benjy and his friends to ground level. When Ronald made his way to Mr. Bedazzle's trailer, he found it running away after Bedazzle's stuntman, "Muscles" Divine, angrily quit and Benjy and his friends were forced to run for their lives from the trailer. Claiming his shoe was untied, Benjy stayed behind and ran into a outfit tent to transform into the Thing. Thing then picked up an entire movie set and used it as a bridge to keep the trailer from running into the lake. The trailer soon (apparently safely) crashed into a tree and once the trailer had been restored to its proper location, Benjy and his friends paid Mr. Bedazzle a proper visit in an attempt to get a part in his movie. When Ronald offered money, Mr. Bedazzle hired Benjy, Kelly, Betty and Ronald for his jungle movie. After being given the job of prop man, Benjy helped in a scene where Ronald, as a jungle man, had to save Betty. Unaware Bedazzle's former stuntman had sabotaged the wind machine, Benjy turned on the giant fan, only to have it fly away with him onboard. Unable to turn off the fan, Benjy was eventually stopped mid-air by the saboteur himself, who unplugged the generator, cutting the fan off and causing Benjy to fall to the ground. For the next scene, Ronald began to chicken out when Bedazzle asked him to perform the stunt of swinging eighty feet to sweep Betty off a raft but Benjy confronted Ronald about his cowardice, reminding Ronald how much he wanted to be a star. Ronald reluctantly did the stunt but the saboteur again ruined the shot, forcing Benjy and his friends to work on the movie's finale scene involving the mechanical octopus monster. The saboteur then revealed himself, controlling the monster and using it to attack the set. After the monster deposited Ronald up in a tree and dunked Betty into the lake, Benjy transformed into the Thing just as the monster grabbed him. Breaking free of the monster's robotic tentacle, Thing removed the monster's tentacles and used them as a baseball bat to knock the monster's head, with "Muscles" Divine still inside, away from the scene, where he landed as the Stuntmen's Rest Home. Some time later, Benjy and his friends attended the premiere of Bedazzle's newly-edited movie, now called "The Thing vs. the Monster." When Ronald and Betty complained that Bedazzle had cut all of their best scenes, Kelly pointed to the poster featuring the Thing and remarked to Benjy that they now knew who the real star was.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "The Thing & the Captain's Ghost") - Benjy and his friends went out for pizza, where Kelly mentioned the scary story told to them earlier in science class about the Centerville Belle riverboat being haunted. When Ronald commented that the story was rubbish, the Yancy Street Gang, who had been sitting at the adjoining table, dared Ronald to spend a night on the Centerville Belle as Benjy tried unsuccessfully to grab a piece of pizza. Betty, determined to prove Ronald was not a chicken, accepted the Yancy Street Gang's dare on Ronald's behalf and Kelly jumped up and announced that she and Benjy also accepted. Later, on their way to the Centerville Belle, Ronald hit a bump in the road, launching Benjy out of the car before Ronald missed a curve and drove into the swamp's quicksand. Upon catching up to Ronald's car, Benjy overheard his friends' screams for help and saw Ronald's tire tracks leading off the road and activated his Thing Rings to transform into the Thing. Using a tree as a lever, Thing lifted Ronald's car out of the quicksand and back onto the road before replanting the tree and leaving to transform back into Benjy. He then reunited with his friends, where Betty again chided him for never being around when they get into trouble. After parking, Benjy and his friends used an inflatable, motorized raft to make their way through the swamp to the Centerville Belle, where the Yancy Street Gang were secretly waiting to scare them into believing in ghosts. Once onboard, Spike dressed as a ghost and had the other Gangsters pull him on a rope to make him appear to fly, terrifying Ronald, who ran into the unaware Benjy. Later that evening, Benjy and Ronald shared a room on the Belle while Betty and Kelly shared one as well. Sleeping on the sofa, Benjy remained unaware when the Yancy Street Gang affected Ronald's bed from below the room, making Ronald again think ghosts were involved. Spike eventually got into the act again, pretending to be the ghost of the Centerville Belle's Captain Yancy, terrifying both Ronald and Benjy into fleeing their rooms, only to be scared again outside when Betty attempted to hide her makeup mask by covering herself with a sheet. When Spike showed up again, Benjy and Kelly ran, ducking into a giant duffel bag filled with phosphorescent powder. At first thinking they were both ghosts, they soon realized the powder was making them glow and upon further investigation, Benjy and Kelly found scary masks and a label explaining that the bag belonged to Spike Hanrahan. Betty and Ronald soon showed up and, after a brief explanation from Benjy and Kelly, the whole gang decided to get even with the Yancy Street Gang by pretending to be ghosts themselves. Ronald soon scared the Yancy Street Gang by pretending to be Captain Yancy, forcing them to flee into Benjy, who had covered himself with the phosphorescent powder. Running from Benjy, the Yancy Street Gang then ran into Kelly, who was wearing a skeleton costume, and then Betty, whose sheet had fallen off, revealing her curlers and makeup mask. Announcing Betty to be the worst ghost of all, the Yancy Street Gang fled the Centerville Belle, leaving Benjy and his friends to laugh the Gang's cowardice. Benjy quickly realized it was morning and that they had all stayed overnight and proved the Yancy Street Gang wrong. Unfortunately, when Benjy looked outside the boat, he feigned seasickness so that he could leave the room and transform into the Thing to get his friends free since their raft had earlier been swallowed by an alligator. The Thing then pulled up the ship's anchor and grappled it to a rock on the bank. He then pulled the ship closer to the bank so that his friends could get off the boat safely, warning them to stay out of trouble before departing. Once his friends were on the mainland, Benjy accidentally walked off the boat into the water and his moans of pain scared Ronald and Betty into fleeing back to the car.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "The Thing & the Absent-Minded Inventor" (fb) - BTS) - Miss Twilly invited Kelly Harkness, Betty Harkness, Ronald Radford and Benjy Grimm to Centerville's annual inventors show.

(Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon, the Thing segment - "The Thing & the Absent-Minded Inventor") - Benjy accompanied his friends to the annual inventors show and along the way, Miss Twilly explained that her uncle, Fenwick Twilly, would be competing in the show. Once inside, Benjy was shown the electric Eureeka trophy and Miss Twilly left to find her uncle as Benjy and his friends decided to look around the show. Soon finding an electric makeup machine, Betty decided to sit in it and Benjy pressed a button that covered Betty's face in lipstick before radically changing her hairdos as Benjy attempted to fix the situation. Eventually, Betty corrected herself and the gang visited the next room, which had a conveyor-like machine that packed huge sides of beef into tiny cans. When Miss Twilly's dress was accidentally hooked by the machine, Benjy ran outside into the custodian's closet to transform into the Thing and moments later, returned to rescue Miss Twilly. Benjy then returned to his friends, who were listening to cans and thinking Miss Twilly had been canned by the machine. Soon noticing that Fenwick Twilly had not yet made it to the inventors show, Benjy and his friends decided to visit Fenwick to check on him. Upon arriving, Benjy and his friends informed the absent-minded Fenwick that they needed to get him to the inventors show if he hoped to win. Working on finishing his invention on the way to the inventors show, Fenwick wandered off once Benjy and his friends stopped and when Fenwick wandered into a construction site, Benjy ran behind a building to transform into the Thing to rescue Fenwick. Thing then deposited Fenwick back at the inventors show and left to transform back into Benjy. Arriving back at the inventors show just as Fenwick unveiled his new invention, Benjy suggested Fenwick uncover the invention before announcing what it was and Fenwick then introduced them all to Supervac, a gigantic vacuum cleaner. When Supervac went on a rampage, sucking up everything in sight including Fenwick himself, Benjy ran into the office to transform into the Thing. Following Supervac to the local dam, the Thing hurled Supervac into the water reserve but Supervac sucked up all of the water and froze up due to the rust. With Supervac defeated, Thing transformed back into Benjy and attended the awards portion of the inventors show, where Fenwick Twilly won inventor of the show by default since Supervac had destroyed the other inventions during its rampage. Back at Fenwick's lab, Benjy remarked that Fenwick looked unhappy and Fenwick admitted that he had remembered what all of the strings tied to his finger were supposed to remind him of but couldn't remember what the last string was supposed to remind him to do. The lights then went off and Fenwick announced that the string was supposed to remind him to pay the light bill.

Comments: Created by Hanna-Barbera Productions (see comments).

Fred & Barney Meet the Thing was a strange mashup of cartoons, compressed in (originally) an hour-long show. The show features a Fred & Barney (or Flintstones-related) cartoons and two Thing cartoon shorts. It was eventually expanded to 90 minutes and featured Schmoo cartoon shorts as well. Despite the name, Fred and Barney of the Flintstones fame never actually met the Thing.

I had trouble tracking down any sort of end credits to this show online, finding only the episodes and an EXTREMELY blurry version of the opening credits. As such, I couldn't find much in the way of credits. According to one source, the show was written by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, but I feel like that might've more that they wrote the original source material from the Fantastic Four comic and not the actual cartoon episodes. I do know that the animation company was Hanna-Barbera Productions but what animators made up the company at the time this show was made remain unrevealed to me. As such, I could only list the creators as Hanna-Barbera Productions. If I can ever find more in-depth credits, I will add them to this profile.

The main image showcasing Benjy and the Thing together was from an unidentified original source, used with permission from the International Superheroes website.

Benjy/Thing's height and weight were approximated based on the height and weight of Thing's Earth-616 counterpart.

Benjy Grimm was voiced by Wayne Morton while the Thing was voiced by Joe Baker.

The Thing Rings, or a counterpart thereof, debuted on Earth-616 when Darla Deering was given them to allow her to summon a rocky Thing-like exoskeleton during her time with the Future Foundation as Ms. Thing.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Earth-700974's Thing has no KNOWN connections to:

• any other "Thing" counterpart

• any other "Thing" or "Rings" counterparts

The Thing Rings

The Thing Rings were rings of unrevealed origin (likely technological, given how often Benjy worked with Professor Harkness) that allowed Benjy Grimm to assume his adult Thing form by summoning a rocky exoskeleton to surround his teenaged form. Touching the two rings together would initiate this transformation and Benjy often used the Rings to transform into the Thing during times of trouble and touching them back together would remove the exoskeleton and transform the Thing back into Benjy Grimm.

In addition to initiating the transformation from Benjy Grimm to the Thing and vice versa, the Thing Rings were also extremely durable and pliant, once still working after getting run over by an industrial steamroller and molded back into shape.

--every single episode of the Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series' Thing segments (see Appearances list for the official titles)

images: (without ads)
Unrevealed (see comments) (The Thing/Benjy Grimm, main image)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Picnic Panic" (Benjy Grimm headshot, Thing posing with arms in the air, Thing Rings)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Decepto the Great" (Thing headshot & posing in a cave image)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Bigfoot Meets the Thing" (Benjy Grimm in winter gear)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Junkyard Hijinks" (The Thing standing in front of construction materials)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Gone Away Gulch" (The Thing, using the Thing Rings)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Carnival Caper" (The Thing-looking back, Benjy Grimm as a carnival barker, Benjy as ticket salesman, Benjy as game vendor)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Thing Blanks Out" (The Thing, flying using duck feathers & Thing with flashing exoskeleton)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Beach Party Crashers" (Benjy in sunglasses & Benjy folded up in chair)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "To Thing or Not to Thing" (Benjy Grimm with orange skin, in a different winter hat with ice skates, Thing on ice skates, Thing on snowmobile, Benjy at the Thing's height & Thing at Benjy's height)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Big Bike Race" (Benjy Grimm in biking gear, Thing on a bicycle, Benjy dancing with Betty & Thing dancing)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Thing Goes Camping" (Thing singing, Benjy in fishing gear & Benjy in pajamas & sleeping bag)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Dude Ranch Rodeo" (Benjy in rodeo gear & Thing in rodeo gear)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Lights, Action, Thing!" (Benjy in swimming trunks)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Thing & the Captain's Ghost" (Benjy covered in phosphorescent powder, seasick Benjy & Benjy in Captain Yancy's hat)

Appearances:
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Picnic Panic" (September 8, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Bigfoot Meets the Thing" (September 8, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Junkyard Hijinks" (September 15, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Gone Away Gulch" (September 15, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Circus Stampede" (September 22, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Thing & the Queen" (September 22, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Carnival Caper" (September 29, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Thing Blanks Out" (September 29, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Thing Meets the Clunk" (October 6, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Beach Party Crashers" (October 6, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Decepto the Great" (October 13, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Thing's the Play" (October 13, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Double Trouble for the Thing" (October 20, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "To Thing or Not to Thing" (October 20, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Big Bike Race" (October 27, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Thing & the Treasure Hunt" (October 27, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Out to Launch" (November 3, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Day the Ring Didn't Do a Thing" (November 3, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "A Hot Air Affair at the Fair" (November 10, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Thing Goes to the Dogs" (November 10, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Thing Goes Camping" (November 17, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Dude Ranch Rodeo" (November 17, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Photo Finish" (November 24, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "Lights, Action, Thing!" (November 24, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Thing & the Captain's Ghost" (December 1, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)
Fred & Barney Meet the Thing cartoon series, the Thing segment, "The Thing & the Absent-Minded Inventor" (December 1, 1979) - George Gordon, Ray Patterson, Carl Urbano (directors)

Last updated: 07/04/17

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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