Kacie (The Incredible World of Riddles)

Kacie is a fictional character created by Ashley Maverick, who serves as the main protagonist of the Incredible World of Riddles media franchise. One of the several children who knows about the existence of Riddle World, she is a selfless and daring individual who stops at nothing to protect her friends and family in both Earth and the fantasy planet she regularly visits. At one point, she is declared the de facto queen of Riddle World. Since her first appearance in 1989, she has became an iconic character in Kuboian media known for her adventurous and quirky personality. In 1997, Kacie became the first fictional character to be included in the Kunning Hall of Fame.

Kacie has been voiced by Ashley Maverick in all of her mainstream appearances, including all specials and episodes, spin-off series and video game appearances. In some non-canon appearances, such as local live shows and "meet and greets" where Maverick is unavailable, she is potrayed by other actresses.

Description
Serving as the main protagonist of the overall franchise, Kacie has appeared and has at least one line of dialogue in every special, television episode and film in the Incredible World of Riddles franchise. Although she lives on Earth in a rural urban fringe village called River Fringe with her mother Katrien and her unnamed father, she regularly visits another planet called Riddle World through a Riddle Gem she found one day in her home's garden. She is one of four children who wields a Riddle Gem, with the other three being two boys called Paddy and Tenet and another girl called Onita. At the start of the franchise, she is ten years old, but turns eleven during the events of the episode "Tenet's Party Plan". She speaks in a Dutch accent, with Maverick using a slightly higher-pitched version of her normal voice for Kacie's voice.

Looks-wise, Kacie is lightskinned and has long brown hair, which she often wears in a ponytail via a large black ribbon. Her regular attire is based off Kuboian traditional clothing - she usually wears a red knee-length "apron dress" which widens near the hem and has two moderately side pockets at the hips - when wearing said dress she always wear a white shortsleeved top underneath and a pair of black knee-high boots. She usually wears different outfits during special occasions or particular weather conditions.

Physical-wise, Kacie is shown to have good reflexes be very flexible and enduring, able to run fast and do a variety of aerobics, including forward and backflips. Kacie is also strong for her age, being able to carry Tenet for limited amounts of time and resist moderate force with her bare hands. In the canonical video games, which feature combat, Kacie attacks entirely with various types of kicks (though she blocks incoming attacks with her bare hands).

Throughout the franchise, Kacie carries a magical wand given to her by Mr. Riddles which can use magic in a large quantity of ways. Although Kacie can use minor forms of magic freely, she is advised to not use strong magic except as a last resort, as doing so can cause unexpected events such as magic being used in ways Kacie didn't intend, or the wand wearing out and being unable to use magic for a length of time. According to Diomo, the wand is completely indestructible.

Characteristics
Throughout the franchise, Kacie is depicted as selfless, daring, determined, fearless and caring towards others. She is normally the first to put herself forward when somebody is in danger, and often showing little fear. Kacie is also a very friendly person, always trying to find the best in people. She becomes best friends with Tenet, with the two bonding after she rescues him from a tree monster, and also becomes good friends with Mr. Riddles and the rest of the inhabitants of Riddle World. It takes her a while to warm up to Onita due to her laziness and Paddy due to his obsession with facts, but eventually becomes close friends with both of them.

As Ashley Maverick founded Kacie to be "unbearably flawless" in the first two specials, she opted to give the character less desirable traits such as having a big appetite and occasionally getting lost in thoughts - usually having to be snapped out of it by Tenet. Kacie begins to feel insecure about her occasional slip ups and mistakes, as she feels she has a "reputation" to keep. However, she eventually learns that everybody makes mistakes from time to time. Kacie is also occasionally prone to comical or slapstick moments, such as getting stuck in a beehive or losing her wand only to remember that it is strapped behind her.

Throughout the specials and episodes, Kacie is shown to be very fond of nature, likes exploring and particularly likes flowers. Her favourite food and drinks include chocolate, french fries, cola and flavoured milkshakes.

Development
When making human characters for The Incredible World of Riddles in 1987, Ashkey Maverick and Harlow Morrison decided to create two girls and two boys. Kacie's character design was the first one to be drawn by Maverick, who took inspiration for the character from a photograph of her as a nine year-old sitting on a swing. She decided to draw the character the round black ovals as eyes, intending to give her green eyes much like Maverick's herself in a future mockup of her design. However, she ultimately decided to keep the "black bead eyes" and give them to most of the franchise's other characters because they were easier to draw and the production team thought they were appealing.

As Maverick was unimpressed with the way female characters were potrayed in film at the time, she decided to depict Kacie as very brave and heroic without making her a "tomboy". She also gave her quirks such as having a bit appetite and occasionally getting distracted in thoughts to avoid making the character unrealistically flawless. At one point, Kacie was going to be a princess who was the daughter of the king of Riddle World. Ultimately, Maverick chose to make her an "Earth dweller" to make her more relatable to children. Maverick produced a pilot short in 1987, simply called "Test Cartoon", which featured Kacie traversing through Riddle World fighting enemies with a wand.

It is often speculated that The Incredible World of Riddles was inspired and based off the children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and that Kacie was based off Dorothy Gale. Maverick has denied this - insisting she was instead based off a multitude of other fictional characters, including Alice from the novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Mario from the Mario video game franchise and Miss Simple from the children's television series Spade Castle. She also cites Kacie as being inspired by a younger version of Maverick herself.

Character biography
In the franchise's first special, The Golden Key, Kacie reveals that shortly prior to the special, she found out about Riddle World by complete accident after finding a Riddle Gem in her garden. She ended up teleporting to the planet after rubbing it. She eventually befriends the other children who found ways to the planet; Onita, Paddy and Tenet, as well as Mr. Riddles and the other inhabitants of Riddle World.

In The Golden Key, Mr. Riddles finds an abandoned castle which is fully open except for a singular room on the ground floor which is completely locked. Whilst exploring Riddle World, Kacie and the others try to find the key that opens the locked door but can't. After giving up, Kacie manages to open the door by simply laying her hand on it. The door leads to a basement containing only a magical wand which Mr. Riddles used to defeat Riddle World's previous ruler, the Diamond King.

In Kacie and Tenet's Grand Adventure, Mr. Riddles tries to use the wand but realises he can no longer use its magic. Upon giving it to Kacie, however, the wand starts glowing a golden colour and its powers are restored. Meanwhile, an evil creature lurking in Riddle World, Synther, discovers that Kacie has restored the wand's powers. In order to test how powerful the wand is and how capable Kacie is, Synther hires a spinning top creatured called Popsicle to kidnap Tenet, who Kacie has bonded with the most, so he can lure her into a trap. After finding Synther's hideout, defetaing Popsicle and rescuing Tenet, Synther absorbs the power of the wand and uses his powers to slowly drain all of the life out of Riddle World. Kacie and Tenet, the only two who are unaffected by Synther's schemes due to the power of the wand, eventually confront the baddie and defeat him. Kacie agrees to let a now-normalised Synther flee, who falsely promises to give up on his villainy.

Kacie has two more heroic stunts in The Test of Time, where she helps Paddy to restore time in Riddle World after the Great Tic Toc Clock malfunctions, and in The Fright Before Christmas, where she confronts Yowie after he tries to destroy Riddle World with one the Diamond King's Magic Diamonds.

In the television film Kacie Forever, Kacie confronts Synther, who tells her that Riddle World is in danger and that the only way to save it is to give magic to a magical rock called the Fantasy Stone. Once she does, Synther reveals he has tricked her and that the Fantasy Stone was the source of his power. He then reveals that he will use his magic to collide Riddle World with Earth, destroying both planets. Although Kacie begins to lose hope, she decides to go out and stop Synther after being convinced by Tenet and Paddy to not give up. Kacie rides on Yowie to fight Synther, and eventually destroys him once and for all using the power of her wand. After defeating Synther, Kacie becomes the de facto queen of Riddle World, and her wand gives her a new ability to travel in ane out of Riddle World whenever she wants. She ends up donating her old Riddle Gem to a museum manager called Mr. Felix Frickle, who tried buying it off her earlier in the film.

The franchise's canonical video game follow-ups and the 2018 television film Crystal Clear: An Incredible World of Riddles Story shows that Kacie and her human friends and family are still living on Earth, but continue to look after and protect Riddle World. It is implied that the general public on Earth have since become aware of Riddle World's existence.

Reception
After the success of the early specials of The Incredible World of Riddles, Kacie immediately became a popular character in Kuboian culture. Older audiences praised the character as being strong and independent, whilst younger audiences found her to be inspiring whilst also relatable. A writer for the Open Eagle praised Kacie as having good character development, as well as being a good role model whilst also knowing when to learn from mistakes. The magazine has listed her in several of their lists, including their list of "10 Cartoon Characters We'd Love to be Friends With", their list of "10 Greatest Animated Characters of All Time" and their list of "10 Greatest Female Characters".

A few sources have noted that Kacie appears to be a self-insertation on Maverick's end, with her friends, family and co-workers all citing the two as very similar people and Maverick herself admitting that Kacie is inspired by a younger version of herself. Some have likened Kacie to a "Mary Sue", though fans generally agree she grows out of said role through character development.

LGBT fanbase and sexual behaviour controversy
In recent years, the character of Kacie has been controversial over her sexual behaviours, particularly with her possible sexual orientation sparking debate. Some audiences have likened her as being homosexual, bisexual or pansexual. A particular scene in the special The Test of Time shows her supposedly flirting with Onita. She and Onita also kiss each other on the cheek on multiple occasions, though she is shown doing the smae to Paddy and Tenet too. Another argument for Kacie being a lesbian is that she does not appear to show any romantic feelings towards Tenet, though some scenes also appear to somewhat contradict this theory. Ashley Maverick stated in a 2018 interview that Kacie was never developed nor conceived as being "not straight" and that implications that she is "queer" were accidental. However, Onita's voice actress Charlie Karma later said that she likened and "always saw" Kacie as being bisexual.

Kacie's personality has raised a few eyebrows amongst certain audiences for her seemingly lustful and promiscuous quirks. Some have argued that she appears to switch between flirting with Onita and Tenet frequently, favouring the one who appears to be spending more time with her and giving her more gifts. Others have also noted that she is shown either having her hands on or gently patting Tenet's (and sometimes Paddy's) hips or buttocks in several scenes, particularly ones where the two are "hugging", and enjoys sleeping with her human friends. Fanfictions made online by fans of the franchise occasionally depict Kacie as a pervert and/or a stalker with odd sexual desires.