Binky Barnes

"'I was scared of the dark too, but I was more scared of Binky Barnes.' &mdash; Buster Baxter, 'Arthur's First Sleepover'"

"'Hey Mister, can I have an egg... umm, my name is... Meg, I'm from winn... Winnipeg... DON'T MAKE ME BEG!' &mdash; Binky Barnes, 'Rhyme for Your Life'"

Shelly "Binky" Barnes is one of the main characters, and one of the few characters portrayed by Bruce Dinsmore. Although Binky's real name is Shelly, he is very sensitive about it, and prefers to be called Binky.

Appearance
Binky Barnes is an anthropomorphic bulldog and usually wears a long sleeved orange button up shirt, dark blue slacks, a light blue belt buckle, boxer shorts, and brown loafers. He usually wears his shirts tucked into his pants. He also outweighs most of the students at Lakewood Elementary School. For formal occasions Binky will wear a grey suit with a top front pocket on the right hand side of the jacket. Binky kept 3 pencils in this pocket. The suit also has two pockets, one on each side, with the pocket on the left hand side being slightly above the one on the right. The suit has two buttons and a black sleeve patch, one on each sleeve. He also wears a white collar shirt, a light green tie, matching trousers and black shoes. His real name is Shelley. He stopped being a bully in Bully for Binky.

Personality and description
Though Binky is generally portrayed as the typical school bully (more so in the earlier episodes), he also has a softer side: he dances ballet, plays the clarinet and saxophone and is a lepidopterologist (butterfly collector) but does not want to kill the butterflies for his collection, he just wants to see them in nature. He usually keeps these interests private and rarely tells or shows others about them. Although, in the episode "Binky Goes Nuts" a butterfly lands on his arm and Binky stopped Molly MacDonald from shooting a spitball at it.

He is a keen cyclist too. We see in numerous episodes that Binky cycles to school and enters most cycling tournements in Elwood City. His most treasured possesion is his Lance Armstrong t-shirt.

He also secretly is afraid of the dark and worried about having a physical confrontation (fight) with Sue Ellen Armstrong - as Binky has actually never had to fight anyone during all the years he was considered to be a bully - and a failed fight would ruin his reputation for being strong and tough. He is Forward and Goalkeeper for the Lakewood Elementary Soccer Team.

In season 11 of the television show, the Barnes family adopted 1 year old baby girl (Mei-Lin) from China.

Family

 * Mrs. Barnes: Binky's mom is a nurse who loves her son very much, and probably isn't very aware of his old bullying habits. She's very well-meaning, but occasionally can be a worrywart, as evidenced after she discovered Binky had a serious peanut allergy, during which she kept constant watch on him.
 * Mr. Barnes: Little is known of Binky's dad since he only appears occasionally, other than the fact that he too is very loving towards his son.
 * Mei-Lin Barnes: Binky's baby sister Mei-Lin is from China and was adopted by the Barnes family very recently. At first, Binky didn't know how to open up to his new sister, but with patience and some hard work, the two of them developed a very strong bond. Binky takes good care of his sister and works hard to raise her along with his parents, and is excited when Mei-Lin shows signs of growth, as he was thrilled when she learned to stand by herself.

Future Life

 * If the intro to the episode, "The Election" happens, he will be a member of The United States Secret Service.

Trivia

 * In the earlier seasons, Binky usually hung out with the Tough Customers, but in the later seasons Binky_home_02_roll.gif seems to hang out with Arthur and his friends more often.
 * According to the chapter book "Arthur and the World Record" Binky is 4.458 feet (about 4 feet 5 ½ inches), which makes his friends and Arthur around 4 feet each.
 * Binky was held back in the third grade do what was implied to be his poor academic performance, a fact he is not very proud of. Thus, he should have been in the fourth grade with the Tough Customers and classmate Prunella Deegan. He is 9 years old and not the same age as the other 3rd graders, though in Binky VS Binky, a form he has says he is 10 years old.
 * He is allergic to peanuts as revealed in Binky Goes Nuts.
 * He is considered one of the two best members of the school band due to his expertise with the clarinet, rivaled only by Sue Ellen on the saxophone.
 * In the episode Bully for Binky, Binky seems to not like ballet. But in the later seasons, Binky has grown to have an affinity for it and is shown to be extremely talented at ballet.
 * In the episode Arthur's Faraway Friend, Binky was miscoloured when he was waving to Buster.
 * Binky got lighter to heavier as he got older in the past years. He used to dislike his friends.
 * Binky is just a nickname his realname is Shelly Barnes, named after his grandfather, as revealed in What's in a name?.
 * Binky hates going on the Science Museum field trip because he was held back.