This is the first in a series of posts where I plan to dissect the outfits worn by each character in Ed, Edd n Eddy to answer the very serious and hard-hitting question: are they fashionable? Also I love character analysis so I’ll try and see what their clothes say about them and how their style evolves with the show. I’m starting with May Kanker. Let’s get into it.
May’s style is generally tomboyish and childish. I think she has a lot of adorable looks, and a few straight-up horrendous ones that are emblematic of what an oddball she is.
Let’s start by looking at what she usually wears. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s strong. It consists of a cropped grey t-shirt, deep red shorts, cream-coloured socks, and dark red shoes. I like that she wears a t-shirt while the other Kankers wear tank tops. It differentiates her from her sisters as a more youthful character. The socks are funny, too, with one of them always being droopy. Finally, there's her belt. The Kanker sisters all wear the same pink belt (fun fact: in the season 2 bonus feature, we see some of the characters’ walk cycles—the Kankers all hold onto their belts when they walk. Amazing!)
I’ll go through all of May’s bespoke outfits because she doesn’t have very many (I’m skipping over her wearing Ed’s clothes and his football jersey because I don’t have anything to say about those.) This outfit she wears in “Nagged to Ed” is not very good. Here’s an example of this sort of “baby” aesthetic that some of May’s early outfits have. They make her look like a victorian doll, and not in a good way. The dress is basically a long t-shirt with an ugly collar. She’s accessorized with the belt from her usual outfit and a big pink bow on top of her head. As unfabulous as this look is, in context it makes a lot of sense and is sort of cute. The Kankers are trying to really impress the Eds in this episode, implying that these are their nicest clothes. It’s sad yet adorable the way the Kankers’ low-income living situation is referenced throughout the series. But I digress. Point is, this outfit’s charm doesn’t save it from how ugly it is.
Continuing chronologically, we get two new outfits in “Homecooked Eds,” a top-tier episode in my book. First we see May in this surprisingly stylish vacation ensemble that reminds me of Peppermint Patty for some reason—maybe because of the sandals. She has a on collared shirt and lime green shorts with a geometric orange pattern that matches her backwards baseball hat. And look at her pink flower belt buckle, how cute! I like the colours used in this one a lot, especially the turquoise of the shirt. I'm honestly impressed that this outfit looks good because it sounds like it should clash.
The second new outfit in “Homecooked Eds” is this rather unfortunate-looking bikini (the colour and fit remind me of a diaper). It’s white (save for a shot where the bottoms are turquoise) with a vertical turquoise stripe outlined in red. Before moving onto her next ensemble, I’d like to point out how similar May’s sunglasses look to the “fad” glasses from “It’s Way Ed.” Perhaps May bought a knockoff pair to try to fit in. The vacation fit is a winner, but the swimsuit is weak. Nice shades, though.
In “Honour Thy Ed,” the Kankers put on wedding dresses to “marry” the Eds. May is wearing another victorian doll getup, this one much closer to actual victorian clothing. She has on a light purple dress with puffy sleeves, petticoat shorts, and loosely-tied pigtails with big teal bows on them. And her shoes are horrendous, red and white clown-looking things. At least her usual socks are pulled up all the way. I think if a supermodel wore this outfit irl (minus the shoes--ew) it could work, but May wears it too earnestly to be fashionable. You can tell she thinks she’s serving looks when in actuality, she’s serving baby’s first birthday. This one’s a hard miss for me, but it gets points for how hard it commits to the bit. For god’s sake, she’s wearing a petticoat!
May gets nothing new to wear in season 3. In season 4, she and Lee start being drawn with red fingernails like Marie, which I like. Her only new outfit this season is her pyjamas, seen in “Run For Your Ed,” another killer episode. These pyjamas are pretty cute, albeit just as babyish as her frumpy doll looks. She’s wearing a white onesie and fluffy pink slippers. Even though she has straight hair, she’s wearing rollers, because this is a cartoon and it doesn’t matter. Although I’ll admit it bothers me a bit that May’s wearing hair curlers and Lee isn’t. (Side note—can you imagine May with curly hair? What would that look like?) I think my favourite thing about May’s pyjamas is their contrast against what Marie and Lee are wearing. I’ll get more into this when I look at each of their individual styles: Marie’s pyjamas are very casual, like just some old clothes she threw on; and Lee has on a frilly nightgown and bonnet. May’s look is almost laughably juvenile by comparison. This look is not fashionable, but it’s pyjamas; they just need to look cute n cozy, and I think they do.
Between seasons 4 and 5 we get the Valentine’s Day special, Ed, Edd n Eddy’s Hanky Panky Hullaballoo. This isn’t an episode review, but GOD I love this episode so much that I wouldn’t be surprised to find out Cupid Sarah and Jimmy shot me the first time I watched it. In this special, we see May in gym class wearing a light grey t-shirt with an anchor graphic, and a pair of blue and yellow athletic shorts. I love it when the Kankers wear things with tools and sailing motifs (we’ll be seeing more of that as we move into the show’s digital era). If I haven’t made it clear yet, I really like May’s boyish outfits. This is a good outfit, no notes.
The Halloween special, Ed, Edd n Eddy’s Boo Haw Haw, is the debut of the Kankers’ recurring autumn outfits (the picture on the right is from "A Fistful of Ed"). May’s shorts, socks and shoes are the same ones from her regular clothing. Her top is a zipped-up bluish green jacket with grey sleeves. The jacket looks well worn-in. It has patches, and there’s stuffing coming out of one of the sleeves (someone should patch that up.) At the same time, it looks really warm and comfortable, especially with that fur around the collar. The perfect combination of cozy and shabby that the Kankers excel at.
Now we’re on to season 5. The (intended) first episode of the season, “Out With the Old, In With the Ed,” sees the Kankers dress up as teachers in some twisted Ed-torture role play. May wears what is probably the worst teacher costume, unfortunately. It would be fine if not for that weird orange puffer vest with a flower on it. It seems unnecessary from a fashion standpoint. As a character choice, however, I love that May decided she needed to throw on a fluorescent life jacket to complete the look. May also wears a teal sweater, long brown plaid skirt, one black high-top sneaker, and one white heeled shoe with a buckle. The wildly mismatched shoes remind me of Sarah’s princess Halloween costume. Of course, it’s a lot cuter when Sarah does it because she’s a little girl, and May is, to paraphrase Erin Fitzgerald (May’s voice actress), “a hysterical screaming ninny.” By far the best part of this look is May’s hair being tied up in a bun with a screwdriver. The hairstyle isn’t pretty by any means, it’s entirely the screwdriver that makes it so delightful. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen one of the Kankers accessorizing with tools. In HPH, Lee ties her hair with a nut (as in nuts and bolts.) It’s funny every time. Sadly, no amount of personality changes the fact that this outfit is incoherent.
Next, it’s picture day in “Smile For the Ed.” I’m considering writing an analysis of this episode because people seem to hate this one; I think it gets off to a strong start, as we get to see the kids all dressed up to get their photo taken. May’s dress this time works wonderfully. It’s only a little bit frilly, with a flower-like collar the same as her dress from “Nagged,” though this one is smaller and more subtle. The dress itself is beige with brown spots (brown cow—stunning!), has no sleeves, and is secured with a bright turquoise belt around the waist. She’s also wearing mismatched pastel socks and too-big purplish heels with buckles. Her hair is in low pigtails tied with pink flowers. Pigtails always look great on May. They’re sweet, while also being goofy, immature and obnoxious, exactly like May herself. Her picture day look is brilliant. I’d be lying if I said it was stylish, but it’s cute enough, and just the right amount of gaudy. Perfect!
Now we have what I’d say is May’s unequivocal best outfit, at least from a fashion standpoint. I’m talking about what she wears to the school dance in “May I Have This Ed.” It’s a high-low halter dress with a nut at the base of the neck strap. The fabric is turquoise, patterned with white anchors outlined in pink. Very much giving repurposed bedsheets—in a good way. The dress’ back is very low so you can see she’s wearing a white tube top. As for her shoes, she’s wearing white buckled heels with chunky cream socks. In “Out With the Old,” she wore only one of those shoes. Congrats to her for finding the other, I guess. May is also wearing some fun accessories with this look. She has white seashell drop earrings and a severed extension cord securing her hair in a high ponytail. I don’t know what that bump at the base of her ponytail is, but it adds much-needed height to May’s flat hair. This is a good look. What can I say? May slays. To be honest I think this dress is almost too good. Since when does May have the fashion sense to put on a decently flattering dress? She really has grown.
Finally, there’s May’s laundry day ensemble from Big Picture Show. She has on a light grey tank top with scalloped fuchsia trim on the bottom, and greenish grey shorts with little nuts, bolts and screws on them outlined in red. The tank top is cut like the one Nazz wears over her usual t-shirt, which is not as common for this show’s female characters as the ones that go all the way up to the neck. This outfit is a bit more mature than May’s usual looks which, as we’ve covered, tend toward the juvenile. It reminds me of Marie’s pyjamas from “Run For Your Ed.” It's worth recognizing that May considers these her "worst" clothes that she wears when everything else is dirty. I don’t think this look is half bad, and in fact, it looks better than much of what she seems to think of as her "good" clothes.
So that’s every outfit we see May wear. I can confidently say that May’s casual outfits are consistently good. They range from effortlessly chill to energetic and sporty. If that were the extent of her wardrobe, I’d rate it quite positively. When she’s not dressing for the everyday, however, May starts to lose the plot. She tends toward ostentatious, ugly pieces that make her look like a baby. The anchor dress she wears to the dance is definitely her best look, and it’s kind of a stylistic outlier. I find that her photo day ensemble strikes the perfect balance between good and bad taste while staying consistent with May’s character. Overall, May’s fashion sense is okay.
May’s signature colours are light grey and dark red/pink (seen in her classic outfit) as well as teal. May doesn’t wear teal or any adjacent colours in her main outfit, but blue, sea green and turquoise show up in a lot of her alternate outfits. The colours work well together. It’s like a more “feminized” version of Ed’s green, red and white colour scheme (plus her hair matches his skin, how romantic!) I like how much grey shows up in May’s wardrobe because it comes across as faded white, like she’s wearing incredibly aged clothing. I don’t think that was the intention, though; my guess is they made her top grey to differentiate it from Jonny’s white t-shirt. Still, I like to imagine May gets hand-me-downs from her older sisters, who themselves wear hand-me-downs, meaning May’s stuck with the most worn-out clothes. (BTW I consider May to be the youngest of the Kanker sisters.)
May strikes me as a very individualistic character. She obviously has a lot in common with the other Kankers, but she’s by far the most apt to do her own thing. May hits the floor at a school dance all by herself, boldly decides to give Ed a valentine despite what her sisters say, and is the only one who regularly brushes her teeth. With that in mind, I think it makes a lot of sense for May to make some big swings with her fashion. As ugly as her early-season fashion disasters are, I like the hideous doll aesthetic because it fits May’s personality so well. I’ve mentioned many times by now that May is a childish character. However, I think it’s quite mature of her to strike out on her own in this way. She’s gonna wear her massive bows and petticoats and will bop you on the head if you should dare to laugh at her.
In conclusion, May’s not always the most stylish—her sisters are dragging her through the mud by her floppy pigtails in that department—but her personality shines through in everything she wears. Stay tuned to see if I follow through on drawing some of my outfit ideas for adult May.
More of my BNHA AU! I finally finished May's design, she's so cutesy to me <3
Her and her sisters dropped out of high school to live a life of crime, starting a villain group called Krankshaft, The Kissing Queens. They constantly bump heads with the Eds, pro heroes, law enforcement, and even other villains. They're always on the run.
Villain Name: Love Bite
Quirk: Transfer (Same as her sisters)
Allows the user to transfer attributes from one object or person to another, including ailments and injuries, as long as the user makes contact with that object or person with their lips. They can only be in possession of, or transfer, one attribute at a time. Transferred attributes will fade over time and need to be refreshed. The Kankers tend to transfer attributes to different lipsticks so they can carry around different abilities, but they must transfer the attribute back to that lipstick before putting on another or the other ability will be lost and overwritten.
(There are some things each sister can interact with better than the others- or some that only they can- like May with chemicals, Marie with code/data, and Lee with thoughts/memories.)
May's shades:
Toxic- A lime green lipstick containing corrosive acid, usually stolen from a lab.
Elektrix- A yellow colored lipstick storing electricity, usually stolen from an electrical outlet or outside power lines.
Psych- A holographic lipstick with hallucinogenic properties, stolen from mushrooms and other drugs.
(And many more...Like most sisters, the Kankers sometimes trade or share lipsticks but they're still quite possessive over their favorites...)
Equipment:
Sweet Tooth- A stolen chainsaw Marie helped her customize, it’s covered in stickers. May will sometimes transfer attributes to this chainsaw making it electric or corrosive.
And- yeah...that's the first Kanker sister down! I hope you love her, cause I love her, even if she ended up looking more like Harley Quinn than I intended...I was more so going for a...magical girl sailor clown??? (The thing around her neck is supposed to be a bear trap if you couldn't tell ;-; like a clown's ruffled collar? But with teeth?)
I'd like to thank @morgan-or-whatever for her Ed Edd n Eddy style analyses, they've been very helpful when trying to design hero/villain costumes for my AU <3
Especially all the example photos, so I didn't have to keep pulling up the episodes myself...
Marie is next! (My fav Kanker if I'm honest but I kinda love them all? And hate them? They're very complicated characters and that's important to me...) I've already got a good idea of her design but who knows when I'll finish drawing it...(procrastination...;-;)
WIP college AU personal height chart
I will also add more characters, including the cul-de-sac gang and fanfiction characters that I personally like
Also self-insert; he's the shortest one amongst the group with a height of approx. 156cm
Which like…did you know there's an EENE comic about the Ed's having super hero personas??? (here it is https://ed.fandom.com/wiki/Super_Eds! :3)
Cause I didn't til I looked it up but it was very helpful!
…And not helpful at all because I felt like I had to stay faithful to it...which I did- while also spicing it up a bit…🤭
Mostly Double D's hero name and design (and Jimmy n Sarah too, who are just joke antagonists…? 🤨)
So here it is- the vigilante group SCAM-3D, who (for one reason or another) failed to enter the hero course and have now turned towards vigilante work (it was mostly Eddy's idea…obviously-)
General Studies Student, Ed
Vigilante Name: Mutator, King of Slime, 1D
Quirk: Muck Monster (Transformation Quirk)
Allows him to produce a malleable sludge to transform himself into a monster; the size and shape of the transformation being limited only by his imagination and the amount of sludge created. In this form he is dumber and even more easily distracted than he already was- it is easy for him to lose sense of himself, acting out of control like a real monster the longer he's been turned or the more emotional he is. He can, however, transform specific body parts at a time, to allow for better control- increasing his strength, flexibility, and durability to a similar extent. Water, soap, and other sterilization methods will break down the sludge he makes, turning him back to normal or preventing him from changing in the first place.
(A combo of Edzilla, Lothar, and his actual powers in the Super Eds comic- sludge villain if he were chill I guess, except he can't really possess people…just himself)
Equipment:
Monster Camouflage: A paper bag mask; he has a number of masks with different faces and art drawn on them, making a new one almost daily.
Support Course Student, Edd
Vigilante Name: Decranium, Universal Genius, 2D
Quirk: De-Construct (Emitter Quirk)
Allows him to analyze and break down matter into parts, learning how to rebuild it or create something new out of it- but he must understand it's constitution to do so. As such, he tends to research the composition of things before hand to help the process. His quirk works telepathically but takes a lot of focus to work; it is sometimes easier to use his hands or tools in tandem. This ability affects living things, allowing him to heal or injure others, although he almost exclusively does the former. People with mutant quirks, and sometimes transformation quirks, give him trouble- as they have anatomy that is uniquely inhuman. Overuse of his quirk will give him a migraine and decrease his overall cognitive function, even causing him to pass out.
(Basically Overhaul if it was more like Momo's Creation; easier to activate but harder to control. This quirk feels pretty OP; but its biggest limitation is Double D's own moral code…👀)
Equipment:
Compendium Case: A multi-use briefcase that functions as a hover chair, computer, storage system, and more.
Auxilium Timepiece: A smart watch; companion piece to the Compendium Case.
Neurocranium Facade: A familiar ski hat mask fitted with an LED screen capable of displaying a large range of emotions, including various emoticons and sarcastic text remarks.
Business Course Student, Eddy
Vigilante Name: Mr. Ca$h, The Richest Man in the World, 3D
Quirk: Fool's Gold (Emitter Quirk)
Allows him to create gold coin illusions that will take the form of any object of perceived value to him or it's intended target, people and animals included. It can be a specifically chosen item he thinks someone will want, or randomly spawn as whatever that person desires most in that moment, but these illusions do not always last long and can be easily broken.
(I thought I was so clever coming up with this quirk…and then I watched MHA: You're Next 🥲 Let's just say, for this AU, Eddy and Gollini are distantly related or something and the quirks manifested similarly…idk)
Equipment:
Thingamajig .22: Named after an old scam, this gun uses a coin dispenser like magazine to shoot illusioned objects at it's targets; or it can just pelt them with the coins themselves.
It's basically just a high school AU but with superpowers, cause the show is still canon lore-wise (like the cul-de-sac; all the scams and stuff) they just…had quirks too…….and no UA, we at Peach Creek High, they just have a hero course and stuff? (Small town tho)
I'll write a fanfic for it one day, I swear……(whether I finish it or not is up for debate 😕 )
I've got quirks and Hero/Villain names for everyone (except Jimmy- who is strictly a support course student and who's quirk I'm not fully decided on…but he does have one!) so if you're curious…feel free to ask 😏
And I've got a general idea of all their costumes, I just gotta draw them all…💀 (please forgive my art, I am rusty 😗)
titsay
gummygunk
andulkaphoto
theartofmadeline
dailybridgerton
annaxmalina
romaincrisis
origamiaround
kaledo-art
tangentwithtanner
vaporwave
