Toon
Brusha
Quick Facts
| Full Name | Brusha |
|---|
Strategy
Brusha is a fairly well-rounded Toon, comparable to Looey, trading higher Skill Check for lower Stealth. Unlike Looey, however, she tilts more toward extraction and support roles thanks to her above-average Skill Check and her Ability, Artistic Inspiration.
Artistic Inspiration functions as a hybrid of Shelly's Active Ability and Bobette's Passive, providing a +50% Skill Check size boost and a +50% chance boost to any Toons within Brusha's Ability radius. This proves extremely valuable for Toons with poor Skill Check stats like Bassie, Blot, and Cosmo, helping them land their checks more consistently. Even skilled teammates who rarely miss can benefit significantly from the chance increase, resulting in noticeably faster extraction.
Unlike Shelly, Brusha must physically locate teammates and cannot highlight or track their positions. She can compensate by listening for the audio cues of failed Skill Checks and active Machine extraction, or by equipping Moon Pack Heirloom to reveal teammate locations directly. Additionally, she moves considerably slower while Painting Mode is active (-25%, reducing her to 11.25 Walk Speed and 18.75 Run Speed, nearly matching the pace of Connie, Soulvester, and Shrimpo). This creates a real danger if Brusha is spotted while supporting teammates, particularly with her lower Stealth. On the other hand, that reduced Stealth can serve as a shield for the extractor by drawing Twisted attention to herself instead. Be mindful, though, that getting caught off-guard during teammate support is risky given the Ability's cooldown. Keeping the Ability ready to toggle off is wise when supporting allies, and Brusha's 2 Star Stealth can be used intentionally to lure Twisteds away before returning to her support role.
Brusha is also an excellent counter to Ichor Leaks and Illness III, since her 4 Star Skill Check combined with Artistic Inspiration's boost counteracts the -50% Skill Check size penalty from Ichor Puddles. She can also be helpful on Floors with Twisteds that have large hearing ranges, such as Twisted Vee, by reducing the frequency of failed Skill Checks and thereby lowering the risk of lost hearts or death.
She particularly shines when paired with another Toon on a Duo Machine, as her Ability continues providing its boost while she extracts. She could also activate her Ability while two other Toons handle a Duo Machine together. In either scenario, she accelerates the team's overall extraction rate without significantly sacrificing her own above-average output.
Ironically, Tisha makes an excellent teammate for Brusha: Tisha's Ability can offset the movement penalty from Artistic Inspiration, helping Brusha escape threats more effectively (especially important given her Stealth), while Brusha's boost enhances Tisha's Skill Check in return. This synergy complements Tisha's 4 Star Skill Check and compensates for her 2 Star Extraction Speed.
Appearance
Brusha is a muted beige paintbrush Toon. Her bristles hang loosely over her face and are tipped in three distinct colors: purple, burgundy, and a dull pink. Her expression generally reads as disinterested or bored. She wears a white turtleneck sweater beneath a purple apron that is divided into three sections, each corresponding to one of the paint shades on her bristles. Her eyes appear as semicircles since the base of her brush obscures their upper halves, and she has three eyelashes underneath each eye. When she takes damage, her expression shifts to one of visible frustration or annoyance, with one eye squinted shut.
Personality
Brusha is a proud, self-important, introverted, and emotionally layered Toon. She places tremendous value on skill, recognition, and above all, her artwork. Her interactions peel back layers of frustration, hurt feelings, and occasional defensiveness. Socially guarded, likely from past disappointments, she navigates relationships cautiously. Tisha, by choosing to ignore her, defies the expectations others might have. Though Brusha can come across as prickly or combative, there is genuine depth beneath the surface: her passion for art, her craving for acknowledgment, and her subtle emotional responses to others reveal a sensitive individual. According to a gossip dialogue with Dandy, Brusha underwent a notable shift in demeanor after the show ended, becoming considerably more irritable and abrasive, though this change may not have been deliberate.
Her dynamic with Tisha is particularly complex. Based on their interactions, Tisha appears to disregard Brusha for reasons that remain unclear, even when Brusha offers to share art pieces she has been working on. Clues suggest they may have once been friends: a teaser image for Brusha's release shows the two holding hands and smiling together. However, a purple smudged "X" marked over Tisha's face in that photo strongly implies a falling out. There are also indications that Tisha has a recurring habit of bringing up something related to a "show" they participated in years ago, which likely involved the parts in some way.
Her exchanges with Vee demonstrate a tendency to escalate disagreements by pressing the issue further. Though this may be unintentional, she also shares Vee's difficulty with offering compliments to others, as seen in her interaction with Finn. These patterns suggest a degree of self-centeredness. She further displays this trait with Scraps, asserting the superiority of her own art over what she dismisses as Scraps' "childish" work. Brusha does show flashes of regret or remorse for her words and actions, often stumbling over her sentences mid-conversation, possibly reflecting the influence of therapeutic "sessions" she has been having with Teagan. Still, she does not outwardly apologize, such as when she undercuts Sprout's nurturing disposition.
Despite these issues, Brusha appears to be making an effort to evolve past this mindset, as evidenced in her dialogue with Teagan. She still cares about others beneath the surface, which comes through when she offers to create a painting for Teagan.
Trivia
- Brusha and Tisha hold the distinction of being the first and currently only Toons with more than two dialogue sets together, totaling 4.
- She is the first Toon to release alongside a Lethal Toon (not counting Dandy, who was present from the game's launch). That Lethal Toon was Dyle.
- Her stat distribution is identical to Looey's.
- This marks the second instance of two Toons sharing the same non-base stats, the first being Coal and Flutter.
- Brusha is the second Toon with a non-Passive Ability unaffected by cooldown reduction Trinkets and Cards, following Bassie.
- She is the first and currently only Toon to possess a Toggle Ability.
- Despite functioning similarly, Bassie's Springful Sharing is classified as an Active Ability instead.
- She is the third Toon to respond positively to Shrimpo's insults, interpreting them as praise for her art. Finn was the first and Gigi the second.
- This reaction is somewhat surprising given that Brusha tends to initiate arguments in several of her other interactions, and the motivation behind her positive response remains unclear.
- Brusha has a habit of boasting about her art, as demonstrated in interactions such as her exchange with Scraps.
- While using Artistic Inspiration, she paints the same piece shown in her Teaser: a purple canvas covered in purple eyes.
- Her Vintage Skin reproduces this painting in a monochrome color scheme with pie-slit eyes.
- However, her Gloomy Sleeper, Scary Stylish, and Autumn Palette Skins depict a different portrait with crying or sad eyes, while her Figure Painter Skin shows happier eyes.
- Prior to v0.14.1, Brusha's Scary Stylish and Autumn Palette Skins used her default painting texture before being updated to match their respective Skins.
- Brusha and Bobette share a number of similarities, including aura-based Abilities with identical radius (though Brusha's is smaller), being the only Toons whose Abilities interact with the Toy Kit Trinket, having Abilities that restrict movement in some fashion, and both providing supportive effects. They also share 2 Stealth, 4 Star Skill Check, and 3 Star Movement Speed. Both are female Toons whose names begin with "B" and have notably distinct body types compared to the rest of the cast.
- She is the second Toon whose Introduction Card was not released simultaneously with her debut, following Yatta.
- The 3D models for Brusha's notebook and paintbrush are stored inside her head when Artistic Inspiration is inactive, much like Vee's microphone. This can be observed in-game by zooming into Brusha while she faces a wall or by overlapping with another Toon.
- In v0.11.4, Brusha's Ability received a supposed nerf limiting the Skill Check boost to 10 seconds, but it never actually took effect. The change was reverted in v0.11.5, likely indicating it was cancelled.
- In v0.12.1, the Skill Check size boost was increased from 25% to 50%. The chance boost was also raised to 50% in v0.14.1, though the description had listed both as 50% before the chance value was actually corrected, which may have been a code error.
- These changes make Artistic Inspiration one of the most frequently modified Abilities in the game, with 4 adjustments total. Vee's Mic Check is close behind with 2 modifications.
- The total Skill Check size gained from Brusha's Toggle Ability scales as follows: (50) to (75), (100) to (150), (150) to (225), (200) to (300), (250) to (375). Chance is increased to 75%.
- When Brusha extracts while her Ability is active, the visible aura disappears, but the Skill Check boost still applies to any Toons within range.
- Her interaction with Connie reveals that Brusha is typically not invited to parties. This may stem from her introverted nature, other Toons' perceptions of her art fixation, or her tendency to imply (or outright state) that others lack the sophistication to appreciate her work.
- She is left-handed, as visible in her Ability animation.
- Brusha and Gigi are the only Toons whose eyes are naturally half-lidded due to their head shapes.
- She has a slimmer and taller build compared to most Toons, an intentional design choice by Qwel to introduce more varied body types. This makes her the first Toon with a physique that is neither the standard nor the chubby type.
- Brusha currently holds the second-lowest Ability cooldown in the game at 5 seconds, behind only Bassie's 0-second cooldown. However, Rudie still maintains the lowest cooldown for a specifically Active Ability at 23 seconds.
- She most likely created the paintings displayed in the small house section of the Halloween Floor, as the piece from her teaser and Ability animation shares the same color scheme and abstract style.
- Brusha is the second Toon with a visible neck, after Scraps. Brightney and Razzle & Dazzle are excluded from this count since Brightney's neck is a structural rod and Razzle & Dazzle's is a ribbon strand.
- She currently lacks interactions with nearly half of the Toon roster despite not being Event-exclusive. Blot had a similar situation before receiving additional interactions in v0.10.1. The four separate dialogues she shares with Tisha may account for the fewer interactions elsewhere. Given that she received a new interaction during Sprout's Toon of the Week, more are likely to be added in future updates.
- This makes Brusha the second Toon who has not had at least one interaction with every base-game Toon since v0.9.1, after Blot.
- At one point, Brusha benefited from Peppermint Icing's Stamina boost, but this interaction was removed, possibly because her Ability is a Toggle.
- Her Ability is labeled as Active in her Mastery tasks despite being classified as a Toggle Ability.
- The Figure Painter Skin marks the first time Brusha is seen smiling while playable.
- Entering the Art Floor as Brusha and visiting her designated area triggers the line "The last art piece I decided to display here- A shame.", making her the fourth Toon with dialogue outside the standard Elevator, Ability, or Machine contexts.
- According to Dandy's Gossip and various Gardenview images, Brusha underwent a personality change at some point after the show, likely soon after her debut. She appears smiling in all archived images, and her Introduction Card describes friends who "are always there to compliment her next big showcase," contrasting with the present where few seem to care about her work.
- She is the last Non-Event Common Toon to appear in Dandy's Store in 2025.
- Her scream in the "Tapes" Dandy's World video is the iconic Wilhelm Scream.
- Brusha offers a clue about the game's timeline, telling Tisha that the Show was "years ago" in one of their elevator conversations. Since the show ended in 2002, the game must take place at least 2 years later, placing it no earlier than 2004.
- She and Tisha share several parallels: both have Abilities focused purely on supporting nearby players, both have 4 Star Skill Check, both have complicated dynamics with Vee, and both of their Twisted counterparts are Common types without special mechanics beyond enhanced stats.
