| “ | Yum-yum-yum-yum-yum, delicioso! | ” |
— At the end of every segment | ||
This article is about the character. For the episode, click here.
Backpack (or Mochila in Spanish) is a friend and special helper to Dora who helps her on all of Dora's adventures. Just like Dora, Backpack can speak both Spanish and English. Backpack is a real go-getter with a can-do spirit. As Backpack says in her signature song, "Anything that you might need, I've got inside for you." From binoculars to sticky tape, Backpack's loaded up with everything Dora might need for her quest, though it is up to the viewer to pick out the item(s) that will solve the problem at hand. Just like both Maps, she opens her own segment (the helping segment, known as the backpack segment). They also live in her side pocket.
Quotes
Pre-Segment
- Dora: (after Boots was desperate about losing something) No, Boots! I put it in my backpack for safe keeping!
- "Where can we find (insert something here)?"
- "Backpack!"
- "Backpack, right."
- Dora: (I need your help.) Will you open/check my Backpack to/and find (insert something here)? You have to say "Backpack"!
- Boots (and other characters together): Say "Backpack"! (2x, sometimes once)
- Dora/Boots (sometimes together): Louder!/Dora: I think you have to say it again!
During the Segment
- (¡Hola/Rápido! (Soy (Backpack/Mochila)!/I have lots of stuff,) but) Dora (and Boots) need(s) to (insert something here).
- Will (this object) (rest of the description)?/Is this the (insert object here)?/Does (this object) (rest of description)?
- No/Oops! That's (wrong object)!
- (Sometimes) No/Oops! That's silly!
- Do you see the (said object(s))?
- Yes/Right! There it/they is/are! (Sí, allí está.)
At the end of the segment
- Smart looking!/Good thinking!/¡Muy bien!
- Yum-yum-yum-yum-yum, ¡delicioso! (her main phrase)
- If the correct item is a rope, and it got stuck: Oh, no! The rope got stuck! Rapido, I need your help. Put your hands out in front of you and pull the rope. Pull the rope! Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull, pull! Good pulling! ¡Muy bien!
Description
In the flashback episode Backpack!, it's revealed that Backpack was present for Dora from her mother and father (this would replace Dora's explorer's kit from Dora's First Trip). In the context of the game world the show takes place in, Backpack is the item inventory screen. Like other Object Helpers, Backpack can be opened when the viewers at home say "Backpack". In her segment, she sings her song, after which she and the viewer select among the various items the correct one(s) that Dora needs. The remaining items go back inside Backpack through her flap as she says "Yum-yum-yum-yum-yum, ¡delicioso!"
She is believed to be a magic satchel. Anything that Dora might need, Backpack has inside for her to use on her adventures, even objects that are in a size much larger than herself; items such as ladders (as seen in Rescue, Rescue, Rescue! and A Crown for King Juan el Bobo), two complete space suits (one each for Dora and Boots, as seen in Journey to the Purple Planet), a giant fishing pole (as seen in Big River, Grandma's House, and Dora's Got a Puppy) and other items that simply could not fit inside a backpack in real life. Strangely enough, only ropes have been shown to cause Backpack difficulty on occasions like in Meet Diego! and To the South Pole, though she had no difficulty with such in both School Pet and Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom.
Voice
In Dora the Explorer, Sasha Toro provided Backpack's original voice for Seasons 1-4 (and reprised her role for the live-action movie), until she was replaced by Alexandria Suarez, who voiced Backpack in Seasons 5-7. Sofia Lopez succeeded Suarez for Season 8 only. For the remainder of Dora and Friends: Into the City! post-Season 1, (starting with Return to the Rainforest) Backpack was voiced by Breanna Lakatos.
Currently, Katrina Sky is credited as Backpack's latest voice actress for Dora: Say Hola to Adventure.
Looks
Backpack is purple flap backpack, a type of backpack that opens into one large main pocket with a flap accessible at the top. Before Dora and Friends: Into the City!, Backpack consisted of two purples: a lighter purple for her flap and front with colorful stripes, her face, and a darker purple for all the other sides and her two side pockets, one of which houses The Map. Her flap is also shown to be able to hide her face which has two circular white eyes with brown irises with black pupils, all underneath two yellow eyebrows. The inside of her mouth is colored burgundy.
In Dora and Friends: Into the City!, while Backpack's original design was seen slightly tweaked in a flashback, it became different when she got mended by Kate after being saved by Dora and Co. on Tallest Mountain. She retains her original shape, but her primary color is now a light purple with no secondary purple shade. Instead, her "accent color" is pink, as seen on the lining of her flap, and Backpack's bottom, which now has a floral pattern. Her face has also been redesigned with slightly smaller eyes that are now round-shaped and have visible eyelashes. Her eyebrows are now a darker purple instead of yellow. Above all else, Bud became integrated into Backpack, with whom he acts as a co-host during her segments after his debut.
In the live-action film Dora and the Lost City of Gold, Backpack's design was completely different which gave her really unnecessary details such as the zipper for her mouth and front pocket. She also lost her ability to speak in reality, along with Map, except in Dora's imagination in the beginning and the hallucination scene.
In Dora, Backpack reverts back to her Dora the Explorer design with a few extra features. The lining of her flap is a multicolored strip pattern, she has a hanging ornament on her pocket, and her straps now have black strap adjusters. In regards to her facial features: her eyebrows are yellow again and she now possess light brown irises with black pupils. She once again has visible eyelashes. Backpack's mouth color is dark purple instead of burgundy.
Appearances
Backpack appears in almost every episode of Dora the Explorer. Her first appearance was in "The Legend of the Big Red Chicken". Starting with season 5, her face doesn't appear as often, and has made a non-speaking cameo appearance during the We Did It! song in "Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure" as an example of her lessened presence.
Appearances in Go, Diego, Go!
- Chito and Rita the Spectacled Bears
- Diego's Wolf Pup Rescue
- Diego's Great Dinosaur Rescue (does not speak, was not used)
- Diego and Dora Help Baby Monarch Get to the Festival
- The Great Polar Bear Rescue
Trivia
- Backpack's native language might be Spanish. She knows English, but may not have pronounced English so well.
- Backpack suffered a broken strap in the episode "Sticky Tape", but Dora taped the strap back together with the use of the sticky tape. Due to cartoon logic, the yellow tape on the strap disappeared in the episode after it ("Bouncing Ball"), making Backpack's strap completely purple and all fixed.
- In the early episodes (Seasons 1 through 6), the items stop rotating around Backpack after finishing her song. But in the CGI segments (Seasons 7 and 8), the items continuously rotate around her for the duration of the segment.
- Backpack takes all the items out at the same time in Season 1 and all episodes where she shortens her song. Starting in Season 2, if she sings the full song, she dispenses one item at a time (with a few exceptions, such as Dora's Dance to the Rescue, Dora's World Adventure!, and Dora Saves the Mermaids).
- Backpack is proven to an allergy to confetti as seen in the episode "The Backpack Parade", wherein it's the cause of her sneezing.
- Usually whenever Dora is asking the viewer to check Backpack, she turns around to show Backpack to the camera. The only episodes where Dora does not turn around to show Backpack when asking to check her are Beaches (second time), A Letter for Swiper (first time), Roberto the Robot (second time), and Daisy, La Quinceañera.
- Backpack is oddly missing her right side pocket throughout the entirety of Season 4, in addition to always having the star pocket in its place. **conflict*
- When Backpack is asked for help on HD episodes, she becomes a computer-generated imagery character just like Map.
- Backpack was swiped by Swiper three times in Backpack, The Missing Piece, and Return to the Rainforest (excluding Dora's Rainforest Reunion: Return to Rainbow Rock, where Swiper saved her from the snapping turtle).
- Backpack was the second character to be swiped by Swiper after Little Star.
- Backpack never does a Character Find. There exists a game of finding her online on the original Nick Jr. game website before it disappeared.
- In the episode of her name, Dora and Boots checked her six times, which is the most times she was called upon (in one whole episode) in the entire series.
- Boots' Cuddly Dinosaur and Swiper the Explorer show a time where Backpack asked the viewers to say "Backpack!"
- The Lost City is the first episode where Dora doesn’t check her backpack at all because she doesn't need anything from inside Backpack.
- Beginning with Dora's World Adventure!, her right pocket (which included the star pocket) was removed. **conflict*
- In The Big Piñata, Backpack had a spinner where the viewers had the find the two spaces with the same shape, which both had some popcorn behind them. All the other shapes had nothing, so that was the only segment that doesn't end with a "¡Yum-yum-yum-yum-yum, delicioso!
- In Boots' Special Day, Backpack's background was darkened, and instead of items circling around Backpack, she had three doors each with a fruit/vegetable (all beginning with B) crown behind them. The light would be towards each crown. The music is also modified to include some piano for Jazz Style.
- Dora Saves the Prince (second segment only) and Journey to the Purple Planet have the items already around Backpack, rather than getting them out during the song.
- If there is more than one segment, the items sometimes change, as seen in Three Little Piggies, Dora Saves the Prince, and Roberto the Robot (in this one, there were no helmets during the first segment, but there were during the second).
- She is one of the characters who can be woken up by saying "Wake up, (character's name)!". The others are Map, Sloth, Grandpa Panda, Baby Bear, and Boots.
- In the movie's hallucination scene, Backpack is more rectangular shaped; less rounded, with sharply defined corners. This may be an homage to Helena Giersz's original design as seen in the Pilot.
Special
- Backpack is a type of backpack, called a "Flap Backpack", aptly named since she opens with a flap instead of a zipper. The Paramount shop website sells a special zipper backpack based off of her.
Gallery
For this character's gallery, click here.