Dil Pickles

Dylan Prescott (Dil) Pickles is the younger brother of Tommy Pickles and cousin of Angelica Pickles on the Nickelodeon cartoons Rugrats and All Grown Up! Named for Didi Pickles' cousin, Dylan Prescott, he was born in the very first Rugrats Movie on November 20, 1998.

Rugrats
When Dil joined the Rugrats cast in 1999, his age was moved up to 3 months. Of all the characters added to the series after it premiered in 1991, Dil proved the most popular, as there was no Rugrat prior to 1999 under the age of one. From the very beginning, Dil had curly yet limited hair on his head, and he almost always wore yellow trap-door pajamas. Because of his age, Dil could not say as many words as the other Rugrats. For the final five years of Rugrats' run Dil had to learn on how to be a Rugrat. He always wanted everything at his age and would always do whatever he could to get anything. When he grabbed something, he would often say, "Mine!" He was just as selfish as his cousin Angelica, and always cried until something would get his attention. Dil's cuteness, however, saved Dil from becoming an Angelica-clone. Dil would always call Angelica "Yucky," and he was also a hair puller. His favorite sports were tennis (as evidenced in "Silent Angelica") and baseball (as revealed in "Hand Me Downs"). Sometimes Dil would say "poopie" whenever he was about to poop on his diaper. And Dil would always be called up to save the other Rugrats at the right time (as when Dil found the treasure in "Club Fred"). Dil remained the same height until a 2003 episode when he, according to his father, Stu Pickles, "grew an inch." Even after Rugrats ended, Dil, and his popularity, would keep growing.

All Grown Up!
And look how much Dil has grown! At 9 years of age, Dil may still be the youngest of the gang, but he has come a long way from when he was a 3 month old! Dil now has red hair, like his mom Didi, and he has developed an unusual personality, as evidenced in "Truth or Consequences" when Vice Principal Pangborn analyzed him. Dil had an imaginary best friend in Izzy in the episode "Izzy or Isn't He?" In "Lucky 13," Dil spoke with dolphins. And in "The Big Score," Dil becomes the mascot for the middle school soccer team by dressing up as various animals, including a slug and a monkey not unlike the Los Angeles Angels' Rally Monkey. Dil, in fact added soccer to the list of favorite sports early on in the series. Dil also shows his side as an inventor in "Tweenage Tycoons," proving that Dil is a smart boy. When someone needs help, Dil will always be there.

Dil is not only an unusual boy; but he also is a mix of several international cultures. Dil's lucky hat, with a set of teeth dangling from it, is from Bolivia; Dil's watching of Spanish-language TV shows also shows Dil's Latin American influence. Dil's kilt, first introduced in the second season, is Scottish, and in "Memoirs of a Finster" Dil wore Japanese shoes and even ate with chopsticks.

Fan criticism
Many longtime "Rugrats" fans cite Dil's birth as the reason the series "Jumped the shark." Some fans also couldn't understand what Dil said on "Rugrats." Still, Dil has grown in popularity since becoming a Rugrat, and has become one of "All Grown Up!"'s most popular characters. Dil did not appear in two first-season episodes, and didn't speak in two second-season episodes.

Voice actress
Already a frequent Rugrats guest voice because of her role as Timmy McNulty, Tara Strong officially joined the cast as Dil's voice, as she remains today. She can also be heard on The Powerpuff Girls, and Dil's Rugrats voice has been reused on another cartoon series, The Proud Family, in which she is the voice of BeBe and CeCe Proud. In fact, until Rugrats ceased production Tara recorded Dil's lines separately from other cast members.

Trivia

 * Dil's first words were "My blankie!"
 * When Tommy and Dil were introduced, Dil tweaked Tommy's nose.

External link

 * THE DIL-ALLIANCE