Brent McHale

Brent McHale
Appearances	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
Aliases	Baby Brent Chicken Brent
Physical Description
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Hair Color	Blond
Eye Color	Blue
Biographical Information
Home	Swallow Falls
Age	22
Birthday	1987
Occupation	Mascot

Brent McHale aka Baby Brent is the secondary antagonist turned anti-hero in  Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and one of Flint's companions in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. He was the official mascot of Baby Brent Sardines and Flint Lockwood's former school bully.

“	I am very curious about bullies. I have always wanted to know how they work. Brent is an attempt to understand them.	”
	— Director Phil Lord

Appearance

Brent has fair skin, messy blond hair, blue eyes, and a chubby build squeezed into an adult diaper. He usually wears a blue jacket with three white stripes and 2 white Bs that stand for his name, with blue pants and blue-and-white open toed sandals.

His movement is loose and casual, implying he's never had a stressful day in his life. His facial expression is consistently "half-lidded and dopey, featuring angled eyes with bisecting pupils."

Personality

Brent rode on his fame as the mascot of Baby Brent Sardines and continues to live stuck in the glory of his past, down to still wearing a diaper. Being treated like a celebrity by the townspeople has allowed him to breeze through life without struggle, making him arrogant and entitled. He grew up with a gaggle of fair-weather friends who basked in his fame and joined Brent in tormenting a young Flint for being a nerd, but is never shown to have a solid support system of friends before he befriended Flint and Sam.

Brent is stripped of his identity when the international community breaks the delusion of the value of his accomplishments. He accompanies Flint and Sam on their mission to destroy the FLDSMDFR; in the process, he reforms his identity with the help of some man-eating chickens. "He learns what it means to work for something and to throw your heart (or giblets) into a cause greater than oneself."

Brent embraces his role as a dim-witted but loyal friend and employee, finding employment at Chick 'N' Sushi as a sign twirler. Chester V tries to use Brent's history of bullying Flint to tear their new friendship apart. "When Flint it mean to him, he doesn't quite understand why, but he also doesn't retaliate since he has grown emotionally since the first film."

History

Early Life

In his infancy Brent McHale became the official mascot of Baby Brent Sardines and quickly became considered a town mascot and local celebrity in Swallow Falls (and their only "celebrity").

Brent McHale as "Baby Brent."

Even after his infancy and the company's shutdown, he still played the part of Baby Brent in public and was considered a famous icon in the town beloved by all, just as "stuck" in nostalgia for the sardine-focused past as the rest of the town.

Not much is known about Brent's family life besides the fact that his mother Brenda ran the Sardinees diner until its insolvency after the sardine economy crashed.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (TV Series)

Brent continued to act as the school bully in high school, dismissing Flint Lockwood's love for science and calling Sam Sparks and Flint nerds. Brent did not have a strong social group of his own, loosely hanging out with the school's mascot team and bonding with Mayor Shelbourne's son Gil over their toenail collections.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Brent McHale continued to ride on the infantile fame, making public appearances in front of adoring fans and still wearing a diaper. He would continue to make the same pose as in the company's logo, despite the obvious ridiculousness of his age and girth.

Brent McHale's fame soon faded after Flint created the FLDSMDFR. Realizing that his perceived fame was an illusion from living in a small, secluded island, Brent decided to help Flint and Sam ascend to the FLDSMDFR, hoping to find a new identity in the clouds. He discovered his new identity after being eaten whole by a man-eating chicken, and used his newfound confidence to stave off the vicious food creatures and return Sam to the Flying Car when she went into anaphylactic shock.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

Brent's change of heart was rewarded by him being included in Flint's circle of friends, a role he takes very seriously, even if he does not quite understand how to be of value to the group. While living in San Franjose, Brent found employment as a sign twirler for Chick 'N' Sushi, showing initiative and responsibility by even looking for someone to cover his shift when he left for Swallow Falls (even if the one "covering" his shift is a tree).

When Flint begins to reject Brent at the guidance of Chester V, Brent doesn’t retaliate, understanding that it would be unfair for Flint to completely forget about how much Brent had bullied Flint in the past. He still remained a loyal friend to the end, helping Flint and Sam reclaim the FLDSMDFR from Live Corp.

Video Game

Brent first reaches out to Flint when the dam holding back Mount Leftovers is about to collapse. He is already Chicken Brent by this point, having dressed like a chicken to try and "infiltrate the enemy." This did not work, so Flint has to rescue Brent from hostile sentient food.

Brent accompanies Flint and Sam to the Meat-a-Roid and offers Flint a variety of weapons, including Spray-On Shoes.

He and Earl Devereaux are the only characters not present in Flint's yard at the beginning of Act VII.

Trivia

• The catchphrase from Brent commercial isn’t original.
• Brent's warm-up suit was designed with the help of Imagework's TANGO cloth simulation software
• An inordinate amount of time was spent designing Brent's body hair to make him "look less creepy."
• Brent was the first character built for the movie.
• Brent is the only character besides Flint who is built in detail all the way down to his toes.
• Brent holding up signs for the mayor is a reference to Bob Dylan's promotional film clip for "Subterranean Homesick Blues."
• Brent's tracksuit was originally burgundy velour.

Gallery

Chicken Brent concept art

Brent concept art by Carey Yost

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatball Face Rig Test