Buggy

Filler Battles

 * Buggy and Galdino vs. Gairam (interrupted by Boa Hancock)

Early One Piece


Buggy was originally going to be called "Boogie". The creator of One Piece, Eiichiro Oda, saw a movie and saw that the name "Boogie" was taken. Oda quickly thought up the new name so he changed it to "Buggy".

"Boogie" was drawn in a harder, more realistic style, making him look more like a traditional 'scary horror clown' (somewhat akin to other clown-themed villains such as DC Comics' Joker). This is a contrast to Buggy's more rounded and cartoonish face in the final version. Buggy's red nose was also made bigger and more of an important feature on his face in comparison to Boogie, who had a normal-looking nose.

Romance Dawn Arc
The anime ties Buggy into the Romance Dawn Arc, being mentioned by Nami that he had stolen his map of the Grand Line from the 153rd Branch, and showing a silhouette of him. Why he would make the effort of raiding a Marine base for such a thing is not explained, especially given his former crew's considerable experience with the Grand Line.

Orange Town Arc
In the manga, Buggy is introduced accosting and executing a crewman - whom he'd mistakenly thought insulted his nose - with a special Buggy Ball. In the anime, Buggy shows mercy to this crewman and spares him.

In the manga before passing out, Mohji tries to say that Luffy is a rubber man but could not say the words completely, causing Buggy to get the wrong idea of what Luffy did to Mohji to win the fight. Buggy later throws Mohji for not properly informing him that Luffy had the power of a Devil Fruit. In the anime, Mohji tried to tell Buggy that Luffy had eaten the Gomu Gomu no Mi but could only say the word Gomu before passing out. Unlike the manga, Cabaji is the one that threw Mohji, after Mohji got angry at him for his treatment of Richie.

Loguetown Arc
In the manga, the Buggy Pirates are not revealed to be in Loguetown until the moment they trap Luffy on Gold Roger's scaffold. The anime establishes their presence earlier, and adds several gags with Buggy encountering Luffy but (possibly due to his cloak blocking his peripheral vision) failing to realize it until Luffy has wandered off.

Impel Down Arc
Also in the anime, his screentime is greatly expanded during the Impel Down arc: his canon scenes from the manga are expanded greatly, and additional all-new scenes have been added as well.

Marineford Arc
During the Marineford arc his on screen time is extended as to include comic relief in an otherwise violent and dark arc, and for the most part filler. Buggy seems less eager to take Whitebeard's head than he does in the manga. A new scene was shown in which Buggy was watching Whitebeard fight Blackbeard, with Buggy coming up with excuses of why he could not attack Whitebeard.

Post-War Arc
Buggy and Alvida comment on Luffy's actions in anime, and Buggy imagines that Rayleigh could be Luffy's uncle because of his family's history. These comments were not present in the manga.

4Kids and Funimation Dubs
A few edits were made to scenes involving Buggy and his crew in the 4Kids dub. Firstly, during his fight with Luffy, he received a blow to the crotch area from Luffy which was altered into a kick to the shin. Other edits included general bloody edits. The two episode mini-arc involving him trying to find his body parts was also cut from final production.

His voice was also given an echo due to the power of his Devil Fruit (which is absent in the Japanese version). Evidence of this came from the his voice suddenly echoing during his flashback with Shanks after he ate his Devil Fruit. In the FUNimation dub, he is given a voice and accent similar to that of Mark Hamill's portrayal of the Joker in "Batman: The Animated Series", albeit more rough sounding. Another note is Buggy's habit of saying "flashy" often. The 4Kids dub removed this trait, however in the FUNimation dub, he does show his fondness for the word. In the English manga, he says "flashy" sometimes, but uses other synonymous words as well. (e.g. "gaudy, "magnificently", "gloriously")

Epithet
Buggy's post-timeskip epithet, "Star Clown" (千両道化) literally means "thousand ryō clown". It is a reference to the Japanese phrase for a star actor or a leading figure, Senryō Yakusha (千両役者), which originally represented the most popular kabuki actors in the Edo period. They were so called because their yearly salary was above 1000 ryō.

In official translations, his epithet is rendered as "Genius Jester", which similarly plays up his famed status. Some fan-translations originally used "Thousand Piece Clown", which is more literal but ignores the meaning associated with senryō.

Merchandise


As a popular recurring villain, Buggy has made his way into a number of fan merchandise. He has been featured in the trading figure set One-Piece Motion Figure box alongside Chopper. He has also been featured in One Piece Gashapon and One Piece Gashapon Grand Battle sets. Buggy was also notably featured in the One Piece Super Deformed Figures, One Piece The Combining Prison Impel Down!!, One Piece World Collectable Figure, CharaColleCan, and One Piece Anime Heroes sets.

There has also been a One Piece DX Buggy Plushie released for him.

Enemy Appearances

 * One Piece: Become the Pirate King!
 * One Piece: Treasure Wars
 * One Piece - Big Secret Treasure of the Seven Phantom Islands
 * Treasure Wars 2 Welcome to Buggyland
 * Birth of Luffy's Dream Pirate Crew!
 * Aim! The King of Berry
 * Dragon Dream!
 * Set Sail Pirate Crew!
 * One Piece: Pirates Carnival
 * One Piece: Round the Land

Support Appearances

 * One Piece: Gear Spirit
 * One Piece Romance Dawn: The Dawn of the Adventure
 * One Piece: Pirate Warriors
 * One Piece: Dance Battle
 * One Piece: Great Pirate Colosseum

Non-Playable Appearances

 * Legend of the Rainbow Island

Other Media

 * Buggy is one of the primary antagonists of One Piece Premier Show 2007 after he allies with Deacon to defeat the Straw Hat Pirates and find the treasure hidden beneath Atoll. A clone of Buggy is created by Bildy in Premier Show 2014 to fight the Straw Hat Pirates under the DX Marines. Buggy also acts as a secondary antagonist in One Piece Premier Show 2018 when the Bounties Pirates hire Buggy's Delivery to help them kill the kings of Levely.
 * Buggy and his subordinates Galdino and Mugon fight Luffy, Usopp, and Nami in One Piece Water Battle 2019. Buggy also appears in the 2018 season of Sanji's Pirates Restaurant.
 * Buggy is the primary antagonist of One Piece Live Attraction: Phantom when he and Puggy kidnap Ann in a plot to capture and sell the Straw Hat Pirates to the Marines.
 * An image of Buggy appears in in the first One Piece Water Spectacle show.
 * Buggy appears in the Vivi-centered Hungry Days commercial.
 * Buggy's failed attempt to execute Luffy is retold in the brass entertainment show One Piece Oto Utage. He is played by the same actor as Arlong and Clapper.

Cameos and Crossovers

 * Buggy appeared in Cross Epoch alongside the Straw Hats paired with Pilaf from Dragon Ball. Coincidentally, they are both voiced by Shigeru Chiba from their respective series.

Trivia

 * In the six Japanese popularity polls about One Piece characters, Buggy is ranked, from the first to the sixth, in the 7th, 20th, 30th, 21th, 34th, and 35th place.
 * In an early interview for Shonen Jump, Oda once stated Buggy was his favorite villain; however, over time Oda has listed other villains as his favorite.
 * Buggy is the first villain to appear in the series who is a Devil Fruit user, and also the second character in the series to be one, after Luffy himself. He is the also first Devil Fruit user whom Luffy has fought.
 * He is seen amongst the audience of the theater in a trailer for Movie 6, even though he himself has no part in the story.
 * Like many other characters, Buggy has a distinct laugh, "Gyahahahahaha!"
 * Buggy's favorite food is hot dogs.
 * In 2020, a gene in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster was named "Baramicin," in the acknowledgements saying: "The name “Baramicin” was partly inspired by Eichero Oda’s character “Buggy,” a Bara Bara superhuman." The protein splits up, akin to Buggy's Devil Fruit power.

SBS-Based Trivia

 * Buggy's birthday, August 8, comes from his Devil Fruit's name since 8-8 can be derived from ba-ra. He shares birthday with Hatchan.
 * In the manga, Buggy is usually drawn with his mouth open, causing one fan to ask Oda to draw him with his mouth shut.
 * A fan asked Oda if Buggy's penis is also able to split and fly off. Oda replied "his penis can fly too" as every part of Buggy's body could fly off, except his feet.
 * A fan asked Oda if Buggy can bleed when using his Devil Fruit powers, only for Oda to reply that it would make him appear too scary.
 * In reference to Buggy and Shanks' "which is colder" argument, a fan asked Oda who got it right. Oda went on to explain that the Arctic was just a mass of ice and the Antarctic was a continent, which was made of land. Since land is colder than the sea (and the Arctic is frozen sea whereas the Antarctic is frozen land), Buggy was wrong.