The Glo Friends


The Glo Friends is an American animated television series that originally aired in 1986 as a segment of My Little Pony 'n Friends. Produced by Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions in collaboration with Toei Animation, the 26 segments of Glo Friends played in rotation as a secondary series, alternating with MoonDreamers and Potato Head Kids. Glow Friends was later broadcast on the Family Channel from 1989 to 1995 as part of the My Little Pony rebroadcast.
The television series was preceded by the Glo Friends toyline: small glow-in-the-dark toys in the shape of insects and other small creatures. The toys were adapted from the original Glo Worm introduced in 1982 by the Playskool division of Hasbro. A line of books from Ladybird Books were published to accompany each Glo Friend.

Premise

The title protagonists in The Glo Friends were a community of small, glow-in-the-dark bugs that live in Glo Land, a magical kingdom located in the middle of a forest. Their homes are built near the Glo Pond, where the Friends harvest a substance known as Moondrops, which enables their ability to glow in the dark.
The peaceful existence of the Friends is constantly threatened by the Moligans, a group of mole-like creatures led by Starnose. The Moligans were banished from the kingdom of Moleslavia for various crimes including unlawful digging, robbery, and cheating. Since their banishment, the Moligans have been living underground and plotting revenge. The short-sighted Moligans endeavor to kidnap the Glo Friends in order to light the dark tunnels of their mining operations, and thereby extracting more gold.

Characters

Glo Friends

  • Baby Glo Worm - She is the youngest member of the Glo Friends community. She is seen spending most of her time along Glo Grannybug. She is quite curious and often giggles. She also speaks, but only in short sentences. In the debut episode of the Glo Friends TV show Baby Glo Worm goes Bye-Bye, she escaped from her bed while the other Glo Friends were trying to sing a lullaby to make her sleep, and consequently got lost in the Moligans´ Tunnels, putting the other Glo Friends into trouble when they set off to find her.
  • Garden Ant - He spends his time taking care of his plants and flowers. He cultivates vegetables for the Glo Friend community, and has a vast knowledge about them. He can't tolerate seeing the Moligans eating the roots of a tree, as seen in the episodes Forest Brigade and even in Easy Money Pt. 2 when a Moleslavian villager is selling "Root dogs". He is a regular character in the TV series. His house is a sort of pumpkin located in Glo Land.
  • * Bunny Rabbit - A rabbit who is Garden Ant's best friend.
  • Glo Bashfulbug - As her name indicates, Glo Bashfulbug is a female Glo Friend that doesn't know what to say in certain moments. Sometimes, she shows an attraction for Glo Worm, one of the bravest and smartest Glo Friends. In more than one moment, she said to Glo Worm that being brave is hard. She is a regular character in the TV series.
  • Glo Bedbug - She is the laziest of the Glo Friends. The only things she usually wants to do is eating, singing, and sleeping. Sometimes, she plays.
  • Glo Bonnie Beetle - She is another female Glo Friend. According to her description, she is very sweet. She doesn't appear in the TV series.
  • Glo Bookbug -
  • Glo Bopbug - He is an eight-legged Glo Friend that wears a top hat and shoes, and uses a cane. He is a regular character in the TV series. He likes to dance. In the Spanish dub of the show, he was called "Abuelete", literally translated as "Granddaddy"
  • Glo Butterfly - She carries a magic wand. She believes that she can do magic tricks, although she actually can't. In the episode Make no mistake, it's magic, the other Glo Friends said that it is better not to tell her that her "magic tricks" are just coincidences, in order to keep her happy.
  • Glo Bug - He is sometimes considered the bravest of the Glo Friends. He is not afraid of danger. For example, in the first part of The Quest, he can't tolerate that Rook and the Red Ant army are destroying the forest and for that reason, without wasting time thinking, he dares to run into Rook and face him. For some reason, in the TV series and in his Playskool-Hasbro figure, his hat is pink, while in other media, such as the Ladybird books, his hat has multicoloured strips.
  • Glo Cappy - He loves going to explore the forests riding on Country Mouse and acts as a reporter of Glo Land. He informs the others about the dangers or anything worth to mention. He and his friend wear a blue cap.
  • * Country Mouse - A mouse who is Glo Cappy's best friend.
  • Glo Clutterbug - He is a clumsy insect that usually messes up the situation, and puts the other Glo Friends into trouble. He often falls into traps.
  • Glo Cricket -
  • Glo Doodlebug - He loves art. He often gets frustrated when he feels that his artworks or his painting style are not appreciated. In the episode "The Masterpiece," Glo Doodlebug decides to leave Glo Land in order to go to a cave that he uses as a personal studio. He is a regular character in the TV series.
  • Glo Firefly - He has a name that has double-meaning: his job is being a firefighter and he is a firefly. He doesn't appear in the TV series.
  • Glo Flutterbug - His figure was only available through mail order as Glo Prayerbug. He doesn't appear in the TV series.
  • Glo Grannybug - She is the wisest and oldest Glo Friend. She lives in the biggest treehouse of Glo Land. She often tells stories to the other Glo Friends and she is often seen taking care of Baby Glo Worm. She also loves celebrating parties with homemade food at the Full Moon Days, in which Moondrops falls to the Earth, as seen for examples in the episode "Beware the Tales of Gold."
  • Glo Hopper - He is a green-bodied grasshopper who is usually seen riding on Glo Turtle. He tends to jump high under several circumstances, including surprise, happiness, etc.
  • * Glo Turtle - A turtle who is Glo Hopper's best friend.
  • Glo Horsefly -
  • Glo Nuttybug -
  • Glo Prayerbug - She is a blue mantis-shaped Glo Friend that, as her name indicates, prays when something goes wrong. She appeared very few times in the TV show and she had only very few lines. Her toy figure was only available in the US and Canada by mail order.
  • Glo Scuttlebug - He is a skypilot that rides on Dragonflyer. He is a regular character in the TV series.
  • * Dragonflyer - A dragonfly who is Glo Shuttlebug's best friend that acts as a plane.
  • Glo Skunkbug - He is a stinking Glo Friend with purple nose. He is a very close friend of Glo Clutterbug.
  • Glo Sluggerbug - He wears a baseball cap and always carry a stick. He is very brave and in several moments he and his frog friend have excellent ideas when fighting against their enemies. He is a regular character in the TV series. The only moment in which he was seen playing a baseball match with the other Glo Friends was in the episode Bean Ball.
  • * Bullyfrog - A bullfrog who is Glo Sluggerbug's best friend.
  • Glo Snail -
  • Glo Sniffles Snail - He has a constant cold. He doesn't appear in the TV series.
  • Glo Snugbug - She is a pink caterpillar-shaped Glo Friend. She is not a regular character in the TV series. She only appeared during the 10-part episode The Quest and The Masterpiece, in which she seemed to show feelings for Glo Doodlebug. She tends to hug all his friends.
  • Glo Spider -
  • Glo Tootlebug -
  • Glo Waterbug - Glo Waterbug is a sailor insect. He guards the Glo Moondrops Pond with Dipper Duck.
  • * Dipper Ducky - A duck who is Glo Waterbug's best friend. He guards Glo Moondrops Pond with Dipper Duck.
  • Glo Worm - He is the original Glo Friend, and is the unofficial leader of the Glo Friends in the TV series. He is quite brave and smart. He wears purple pyjamas, although the original Glo Worm toy portrays him as wearing green pyjamas. This was a source of some controversy.

    Glo Wees

A race of fairies that can glow like the Glo Friends. They are known to be nature's helpers:
  • Dapple -
  • Nippin -
  • Nutcap - A Glo Wee that carries around the Book of Nature which enables him to communicate with nature.
  • Posey -
  • Spruce - A Glo Wee who is an expert juggler.
  • Willow - A Glo Wee who conducts the symphony of nature.

    Villains

  • Moligans - The Moligans are the primary antagonists of the series. After being banished from Moleslavia for their crimes, they sought to start their mine and mine for gold in order to get enough to buy out Moleslavia. To accomplish this, they always try to target the Glo Friends to power their lanterns with no success.
  • * Starnose - Starnose is the leader of the Moligans. He is physically tough and it is mentioned that he is able to scare anyone who tries to ignore his orders. In the Spanish dub of the Glo Friends TV Show, he was called "Narizotas", literally translated as "Big Nose".
  • * Nails - Nails is a selfish and egocentrical Moligan lady that only worries about her physical appearance or anything in her own benefit. She likes valuable and shining body complements and she doesn't tolerate that anyone calls her an "ugly witch". She seems to have an attraction to Starnose, and can often be seen clinging to him, but that may just be her trying to get close to the main power of the group. She also serves as the cook of the Moligans as seen in "Wizard of Rook."
  • * Old Moldy - As his name indicates, Old Moldy is the oldest Moligan in the group. He needs to use a hammer-shape cane due to his old age and has seen a lot of things in his youth. Since he was young, his main dream was to melt a piece of gold to turn it in a huge river of gold. In the episode "Caverns of Mystery," his old mine was seen.
  • * Excavator - Excavator is the second oldest Moligan in the group. He is a scientist that usually remains in his personal laboratory doing chemical experiments or inventing new mining artifacts such as the Bi-Pedal Turbo Tunneler. In the Spanish dub of the TV series, he was called "Inventor".
  • * Brasher - Brasher is a tall and intellectual Moligan. It is said that he has the best ideas about how to get the gold and the Glo Friends, but Starnose hears and takes them as they were of his own to consider himself as the "main brain of the Moligans".
  • * Smasher - Smasher is Brasher's brother. Unlike Brasher, Smasher is stupid and dumb. Physically, he is tall and tough. He feels the need of "smashing" at least one Glo Friend.
  • * Scoop - Scoop is the youngest Moligan. She is also the only nice Moligan, often secretly sabotaging Starnose's plots, and is friends with the Glo Friends, but fears to leave the Moligans. She wears tight clothing and has a tall auburn hairdo and a braided ponytail.
  • * Tumbler - Tumbler is the shortest Moligan. He is also lazy, doing as little digging as possible, and is very gullible, often taking throwaway comments at face value.
  • Rook - Rook is a crow who used to work for Lord Driver of the Red Ant Army. After Driver left, the Moligans enlisted Rook as a spy and lookout. He has little love for his employers, once even dishing out the dirt on them to the Glo Friends newspaper.
  • The Red Ant Army - They are a group of insects in a desert valley and Rook's former employers. They are led by Lord Driver. They only appeared in "The Quest" in which they captured the Moligans and Glo Friends. It was because of them that the Moligans learned of the Glo Friends and their illumination abilities. Due to a breakout of the Moligans and the Glo Friends, Lord Driver and the Red Ant Army took flight when their kingdom ended up having a cave-in.
  • Blanche – The Wicked Witch of the North Pole. Dressed in purple fur, she appears on the Christmas special along with her live weasel furry scarf and had an icicle wand. She trapped Santa Claus and his DearDeers in an ice cage in a plot to stop Christmas.