Vanity (original French name Schtroumpf Coquet) is one of the main characters of the Smurfs comic books and the Smurfs cartoon show, who has appeared on the show throughout its entire run.
Character
He is usually obsessed with his own personal beauty, and is usually seen carrying around a mirror admiring himself constantly in it. He is easily identified by a flower on the right side of his hat. Vanity has an identical clone of himself who first appeared (and probably made his only appearance) in "The Hundredth Smurf".
Personality
Vanity is completely vain. He thinks of himself as the most beautiful Smurf, even more beautiful than a pixie. His hobbies are:
- Looking at himself in the morning
- Looking at himself in the evening
- Looking at himself at night
- Keeping his complexion fresh
He is rarely seen without a mirror and most of the time he talks about himself whenever someone talks to him, but he is a good guy at heart and genuinely cares about his smurfy family (noticeably evidenced in the episode "Clumsy Luck"). Vanity is very sensitive about his looks and is always looking for any new facial cleansing techniques. If he were to find something ugly about him, he will not leave his house for days. He thinks he is (and might actually be) the most popular smurf in the village. Despite looking like every other Smurf, he does appear to have some unique defining trait that makes him the "fairest", as seen in "Beauty Is Only Smurf Deep" where Periwinkle's magic mirror acknowledges Vanity as being the "fairest in the land".
His house is full of mirrors.
His most famous and most repeated expression in the show is, "My mirror(s)!".
Relationships
Vanity's closest friend is Smurfette (after himself of course). The two always talk about clothing or beauty techniques. Smurfette is also really concerned about Vanity whenever he becomes saddened. Smurfette mothers over Vanity, as we see in the episode "Hats Off To Smurfs" when Vanity becomes ugly because of Gargamel's cursed, yellow Smurf hat. There are times, though, where the two will fight because they both think the other one is jealous of their own looks.
An example of them fighting (from "The Masked Pie Smurfer"):
- Smurfette: "Admit it Vanity, you wanted me for a Pie Smurfing because I'm BETTER looking than you!"
- Vanity: "I did not, and you ARE NOT!"
- Smurfette: "I am too, and you DID TOO!"
He is one of the only Smurfs who does not want Smurfette in a romantic way all of the time as he is usually too busy fawning over himself. Although in episodes where the Smurfs have romantic holidays or a desire to date or court Smurfette to a celebration/party (such as "Romeo And Smurfette", "The Mr. Smurf Contest" and "Prince Smurf") Vanity naturally lets his affections for her be known, but mostly he still regards her as only being as lovely or slightly as lovely as himself when compared to his own "beauty". When they are being at all romantic, it is Smurfette that kisses him and half the time, he replies with it being the second most smurfiest thing ever (the most smurfiest thing is a kiss from himself, which Smurfette misunderstands and gets upset because he didn't kiss her), the other half he does act like he could be blushing (although they did kiss in "The Adventures of Robin Smurf"). Despite wanting Smurfette to pick him out of all the Smurfs, he hardly ever compliments her during his courting rituals or gives her good reasons to pick him other than that he is a "smurfy catch" and that together they would make a handsome couple because of his own looks, showing that even when his heart may be focused on someone else he is still mainly obsessed with himself. Regardless, like all the other Smurfs, Vanity treats Smurfette like a friend first and a romantic interest second, and 90% of the time, she is his best friend, and when he is not talking to himself, he is talking to her, which is rather rare as no other Smurf is ever able to stay around him for long without losing interest on his favorite subject, himself.
Vanity also asks Painter to paint portraits of him often, as shown in a couple episodes. Most of the time he criticizes these portraits as something that cannot capture his own beauty, which only makes Painter angry.
Vanity usually gets kicked out of the village by Hefty, who views his constant announcements where he boasts about his own good looks as annoying. The sentiment is also shared by many of the Smurfs, as Vanity often makes these announcements while the Smurfs are doing important work.
Overall, he prefers for everyone to have the same view on him: Handsome, charming and full out perfect!
Sexuality and Controversy
There have been some rumors about Vanity's sexuality. However, his flower, concern about looks, and voice (in the cartoon) do not prove he is homosexual. There is no proof that Vanity likes other male Smurfs (like he loves himself and his appearance), even though his character is clearly defined as effeminate. It is more likely the characters is simply a sexual narcissist who is sexually attracted to himself. Signs of his vanity include his highly obvious self-focus in interpersonal exchanges with the other Smurfs. He is also shown to have highly haughty body language as well as a sense of arrogance about himself.
Vanity's clone (Hundredth Smurf)
Vanity had a clone who was simply referred to as Hundredth Smurf who appeared in the episode of the same name.
In the movie
The Smurfs
Vanity Smurf has a role during the early part of the 2011 Smurfs movie as the choreographer of the Blue Moon Festival dance. Apparently he is the one behind having Clumsy not taking part in the rehearsals and has Brainy, Grouchy, and Gutsy stand guard to prevent Clumsy from gaining entry. However, Brainy got catapulted into the line of dancers on the stage by Grouchy and Gutsy kicking him in the behind, causing them to be knocked over and for Vanity to stop the rehearsal just before he notices a worry line on his face. Later on in the movie, during the Smurfs' battle with Gargamel, Vanity is the Smurf who gets caught on the line that the frying pan is attached to, which Chef and Baker Smurf use to hit Gargamel in the face with.
The Smurfs 2
He is one of the main stars in The Smurfs 2, being one of the three Smurfs that goes with Papa Smurf to modern-day Paris in order to rescue Smurfette.
Trivia
- His character was voiced by Alan Oppenheimer.
- Vanity has been noted to be the "Most Beautiful Thing Around" by a few female characters, despite looking like the other Smurfs. TV Tropes describes this as the Informed Attractiveness trope.
- Vanity is the only Smurf to have a flower on his hat, although Smurfette is seen with a flower on her hat numerous times.
- Vanity along with Sweepy and Tracker are the only the Smurfs to have a british accent.
- He is one of the main Smurfs who doesn't have a designated job and is rarely seen taking part in work, although in the final season he is made to do serious work when he lost one of the time crystals in Antarctica in an ice cave while admiring himself. Papa Smurf orders Vanity to find the missing time crystal fast, or else all the Smurfs will freeze to death, including him.
- Vanity is voiced by John Oliver in the 2011 live-action movie.
- Vanity's flower changes color in each media; white (comics), pink (series), and yellow (movie). In The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol, he wears a poinsettia to suit the occasion, and in The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow, he wears a cornucopia for a hat.
- In the Polish dub he gets redubbed as "Laluś" (Fop) and not "Próżnik" or something like that (Polish translation of Vanity).