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Belson Noles Gallery Appearances

Belson Noles is a supporting character and antagonist in Clarence. He’s a snot-nosed bully, although he’s more likely to throw a sarcastic quip than a punch. Underneath his persona of a spoiled rich kid, however, Clarence is one of his best friends, even though he’d never admit it.

Appearance[]

Belson is short and chubby with a mop of curly brown hair. He wears a persian red t-shirt, blue shorts, and navy shoes. His unibrow, nose, and perpetual grimace resemble that of Bert from the Muppets. In episode, The Tunnel, he wears toledo shoes, but with carribean green light below that is turn on using a button.

Personality[]

While a bully through and through, Belson, peculiarly only seems to really carry himself as such when the situation "calls for it" in his eyes (though there are exceptions to this). When not actively antagonizing someone, he's reserved and somewhat detached from the lives and interest of his peers. Oftentimes, this detachment results in callous dismissal of others, barring him from making any real friends.

His primary interests lay in two things: video games and his father. When Belson isn't actively making the lives of his peers miserable, he usually has his head shoved deep into a video game, completely dissociating himself with the real world, an unhealthy side-effect of his privileged upbringing. Belson's addiction to video games has manifested itself in nigh-total disrespect towards his mother, Cynthia, resulting in him frequently disobeying her and blowing off her demands in order to continue indulging in his games. This reached a head when Cynthia, in an ultimately fruitless attempt to instill some degree of responsibility in Belson, began playing an MMO in his stead, forcing Belson to do chores before she relinquished access to the game. Although this did motivate Belson to do his chores, his lack of experience, combined with his focus being more on the game than the chores he was doing resulted in a lot of object being broken and Belson eventually hurting himself.

There are complex reasons for his fickle behavior. Belson has a host of internal conflicts, most of which rooting from the relationship he has with Mr. Noles. He reveres his father as a role model and craves acceptance from him, which, unfortunately, he rarely receives. His father appears to be dismissive of him and seems to harbor more interest in his personal affairs than he does in having a relationship with his son. This is particularly evident in "Big Game" when he turned down Belson's request to take him to a baseball game in favor of his own agenda. Belson has internalized this and has convinced himself nobody cares about him. Not only is he extremely sensitive to mentions of his father (Merry Moochmas), but he’s also built a false exterior in order to protect himself from rejection, because deep down, he fears that should he open up to anybody, they’ll dislike him. Unfortunately, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when the only version of Belson people are repelled from is the version of him that’s dismissive and harsh.

A notably weak spot in Belson's façade is his genuine adoration of dolphins. When in their presence, Belson becomes a completely different person. He becomes more open and vulnerable to those around him, all the while maintaining an awestricken gaze. One of the pivotal moments in his and Clarence's relationship growing beyond opposition, was Clarence's unflinching desire to break into the zoo so that Belson can see the dolphins, whom he was unable to see during the class trip. This fascination was only explored in the episode "Zoo".

Relationships[]

  • Clarence - Belson is just as rude to Clarence as he is to anyone else, sometimes even more so when Clarence has a tendency to overstep his personal boundaries. It's for the same reasons he secretly appreciates him more than any of his other friends; Clarence cares about him.
  • Jeff - Jeff and Belson don't have the best relationship. Jeff generally stays away from Belson as to avoid his personality, but attempted to get chummy with him in "Lizard Day Afternoon" to gain access to his Cerebus Breach. Belson doesn't particularly care for Jeff.
  • Sumo - Sumo and Belson have an ongoing vendetta against one another. Sumo is disapproving of Belson for his pretentious attitude and disregard of others, while Belson doesn't like Sumo most likely because Sumo is savvy enough to call him out, and is likely bitter towards him from when he took his video game console in "Belson's Sleepover".
  • Nathan - Belson appears to use Nathan as a body guard.
  • Dustin - Like Nathan and Percy, Dustin was somewhat of a friend to Belson until later parts of season 1 and season 2.
  • Percy - Percy is another one of Belson's lackies. They seem to be neutral with each other.
  • Memo - Belson seems to hate Memo by the way he treats him. In “Belson's Sleepover”, Emilio reveals that he once put toothpaste on his underwear, and in “Freedom Cactus”, he refuses to tell Clarence his job for the school newspaper.
  • Cynthia - It's clear that Belson does not respect his mother and frequently is annoyed with her. Examples are when he slammed a door in her face in "Belson's Sleepover" and refused to take out the trash as she instructed.
  • Mr. Noles - Belson looks up to him and wishes he would spend more time with him. Cynthia stated in "Belson's Sleepover" that Mr. Noles is always moving around and never gets to spend time with Belson, but it's debatable that this is the case. In "Big Game", Mr. Noles displayed a dismissive attitude toward him and preferred to go about his own business instead of taking Belson to a ball game.
  • Mr. Reese - Belson viewed Mr. Reese as an annoyance until they forged something akin to a father-son relationship in "Dingus & McNobrain".

Trivia[]

  • His full name is a spoonerism of one of the former storyboarders of the show, Nelson Boles.
  • It's revealed in "Company Man" that Belson's height is 3'5'' and he weighs 75 pounds.
  • He is the head of the newspaper team, as shown in "Freedom Cactus" and "Clarence for President".
  • He has 9 buddy stars in "Clarence's Millions".
  • In "Chalmers Santiago", he has a hideout at the abandoned house that is across Clarence's house, although it is unknown if he returns after the episode. This may be an homage to how he resided in the same location in the Pilot, but was relocated for the actual series.
  • His face and nose resemble Bert (Sesame Street), The Robinsons ("The Amazing World of Gumball" ), Grunkle Stan (Gravity Falls), Sid (Hey Arnold!) Benson (Regular Show), Squidward (SpongeBob SquarePants), and Nom Nom (We Bare Bears).
  • A running gag in Clarence is that he usually seen playing and/or buying a video game.
  • Once, he is seen playing videogames along with Nathan and Dustin in "Honk".
  • In "Belson's Sleepover", he has a figurine of Jake the Dog from "Adventure Time" on his shelf.
  • Him, Mavis, and Percy have a body shape that is similar to Uncle Grandpa.
  • Belson calls Lupe, his family’s cleaning service, Loop, This is an example of his carelessness.
  • In "Company Man", we see a picture of him as an infant, along with more baby photos from Lizard Day Afternoon. He has a head shape similar to that of Stewie from Family Guy and Harold and Arnold (also as a infant) from Hey Arnold!.
  • In "Thirty Days & Seven Seas", a game character named "Tuna Tony" bears a slight resemblance to Belson.
  • In "The Trade", his robe has a monogram that spelt as "B.K.". This brings on the possibility that his last name may be spelled as "Knoles".
  • According to the storyboard art, Belson was originally going to appear in the episode, "Man of the House", only in Sumo's imagination as a spider, which would've been nearly killed by an adult Sumo. However, this portion was cut due to being inappropriate for a kids' show.
  • Belson is shown sitting in the detention room often in the show. This may be another running gag in Clarence.

Gallery[]

The gallery for Belson Noles can be found here.

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