Brick Ferguson Heck (born November 3, 2001) is the youngest child of Frankie and Mike Heck and is characterized by his love for reading and his oddities. He is also the younger brother of both Axl and Sue Heck. Brick was swapped at birth but after a month they got him back.
Brick has developed obscure interests, such as his obsession with fonts, whispering to himself, and "whooping." These tics are discussed among many of Brick's peers. Because of his tics and other "abnormalities," both Mike and Frankie are subjected to an annual visit with Brick’s teacher to discuss his behavior.
Personality[]
Brick is exceptionally smart, but frequently procrastinates on his schoolwork or just forgets it all together when he does complete them. He tends to isolate himself from his classmates. He acquired a certain tic where he shouts "whoop!" in Bunny Therapy. His parents Frankie and Mike call this "whooping." His quirks include obsessions with reading, unusual speech patterns, and difficulty fitting in with his peer group. Brick also whispers words to himself (that he has said) throughout the series, which is known as his first "tic." In a few episodes, Brick was known to have an interest in fonts, and he has even created a podcast based on fonts in one episode. He is portrayed by Atticus Shaffer. Brick's strangeness results in his parents, Frankie and Mike Heck, having to talk with Brick's teacher annually. Frankie and Mike also have to attend his social group classes. In these situations, Frankie and Mike try to explain that Brick is not special or weird but, in the end, Frankie usually admits that he is special.
He always remembers things he reads, such as how to repair a lawnmower in The Block Party. In the season 2 finale, he mentions to Sue that on days he doesn't read, he can remember quite well. He is very awkward, and doesn't have many friends, but makes friends with an equally awkward boy named Arlo, who struggles to deal with him. Once he reaches middle school, he befriends odd children like himself, Troy, and Cindy, having a romantic relationship with the latter. Brick is also a brilliant speller and almost won the regional spelling bee but was disqualified by a strict judge when he whispered the last letter to himself. However, in his second year of the competition, he was eliminated in the first round of his local school competition by misspelling "reindeer," with the classic mistake of spelling it as "reindear."
Relationships[]
Frankie and Mike Heck[]
Frankie and Mike are always trying to solve more important things than poor Brick. Mike and Frankie both have to attend a meeting with Brick's teacher every year about his quirkiness and attend his social group's meetings. Brick reads his life away, and Mike and Brick never get to bond. Brick helped Mike with the lawn mower for the Birchwood 500 as Brick read the manual, impressing Mike. However, as Mike was about to win the race, Brick reminded him of the book signing Mike promised they would go to, and Mike took Brick to the bookstore losing the race. Mike got Brick into basketball by having him read up on facts and find his favorite 3-syllable words. Brick began to like football and knows tons of facts; Mike told him that if he could talk sports, he could talk to any guy in the world. Mike and Brick watching football made Axl jealous. When Mike had his buddies from the quarry over to watch the game, Brick talked too much and made them leave one by one. When Frankie was upset about The Bachelor's finale, Brick comforted Frankie with his knowledge of the show that he watched unbeknownst to Frankie earlier. When Brick used the Father's Day coupons he made for Mike, he bothered Mike his whole vacation until Mike told Brick to leave him alone.
Axl Heck[]
Axl is generally a terrible older brother towards Brick by doing things like farting in his face or anything else, but the two have been shown to get along. They both share a room. There have been times when they have been shown to have a good relationship like at the end of the season 4 episode From Orson With Love where Brick admits to Axl that he will miss him when he goes off to college, however, there have been some episodes where Axl hates Brick like in the Season 4 episode Twenty Years where Axl purposely spoils the ending for the book Brick is reading making him sad. It is revealed in Twenty Years that Brick has no people friends only books, making Axl regret his actions, however, Axl makes it up to Brick by making up a different ending, overall, Brick and Axl have a neutral relationship. Axl scored the highest 18 out of 20 in the family on a quiz about Brick as he shared a room with him.
Sue Heck[]
Brick and Sue had a good relationship for most of the show. Brick and Sue often spend time together in different shenanigans such as using Aunt Edie's cellphone while getting another one for both of them to use and selling a garage sale purchase for a higher price than what they paid for. Sue was forced to take Brick to a Planet Nowhere convention and Brick let Sue know on the drive home he felt Sue understood him, as she was about to leave for college.
Brick once admits to a priest (during a "families in crisis" meeting after Mike threw a book at Axl) that he feels invisible, which leads Brick to have a one-on-one. When Brick is supposed to tell his parents what he told the reverend, Brick claims he would rather have wintergreen toothpaste which the family laughs and disagrees. When Brick asks for food (as the family was supposed to go out for dinner) Frankie takes a mint out of her purse and gives it to him. Brick tries it and hates it, and Frankie states it's wintergreen. Brick realizes he doesn't like Wintergreen.
Trivia[]
- Brick's actor, Atticus Shaffer suffers from type IV Osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as "brittle bone disease," a rare genetic disorder directly affecting the skeletal system, which can cause an abnormally short stature. It is assumed his character has this as well, but it is never mentioned in the series.
- Brick's favorite color is yellow.
- The following are some of Brick's tics:
- Whispering to himself
- If he is already whispering, he will yell to himself.
- He sometimes whispers other people's sentences.
- Whooping
- Beeping
- Howling
- Singing "You're gonna love our pizza"
- Licking objects, but predominantly cars, chalk, and Axl's guitar picks
- Putting inedible objects in his mouth
- Saying the Pledge of Allegiance twenty times before going to bed
- Keeping ketchup packets in his pockets as "security condiments" (Frankie believes this was a phase and not a tic)
- Brick's licking tick presumably starting when Frankie told him to lick the pancake in the pilot
- Whispering to himself
- Brick's tics go away when he has a high fever or large amounts of sugar.
- We can assume Brick (and others in his “social skills group”) has autism, but his disability is never revealed on the show, they simply refer to this as his 'issues,' 'quirky,' 'quirks,' and similar terminology. We can also assume that Brick might have symptoms of Learning difficulties and/or Tourette's Syndrome, which was also not mentioned in the show.
- His favorite food is Doughnut Holes (as mentioned by Sue in "The Bee").
- In "The Telling", it is revealed that for many years Brick has been the family's snitch. In exchange for information about Axl and Sue, Frankie's been rewarding him with candy cigarettes.
- He loves words with three syllables, such as basketball and pajamas.
- It appears that Brick has a compulsive need to participate in various school events and extra tasks. However, due to his short-lived enthusiasm, he's never able to finish them, which usually ends with Frankie doing it for him.
- It's mentioned that Frankie and Mike did not mean to conceive him, and therefore called him "Oops," until he was three.
- In "A Birthday Story", it is revealed that when he was a newborn, Brick was accidentally taken home by the Fergusons for a month because Mike was so distracted by a football game he wheeled the wrong baby out of the nursery.
- He likes Lime Green Jello Salad, as revealed in "Thanksgiving V".
- His favorite book series is the fictional series, Planet Nowhere.
- Up until season 6, Brick had a "tell" when lying (he would whisper, "I'm lying" to himself.)
- The tell doesn't seem to affect him in "Back to Summer" or "The Graduation".
- In season 6, he mentions that he no longer does that, and he now silently farts when he lies, but nobody notices.
- However, in the season 7 episode "Thanksgiving VII", while playing poker with Mike, he frequently whispers "I'm bluffing."
- One of his main interests is fonts. He even ran a short-lived podcast on them and started a Font Club at school.
- That podcast had only one fan, Jimmy Kimmel.
- Font Club initially had only Cindy and Troy as members. It briefly gained a lot of members, including Gibson, when Brick got the club to give out credits, but these members quickly left.
- In "Year of the Hecks", it is revealed that Brick rolls up his pajama bottoms because he's afraid he will trip in his dreams.
- He is the first child in the Heck family who made the National Honor Society, an accomplishment that made his parents very proud.
- He has a pathological fear of driving over a bridge near his house, somehow escaping the car after every approach, so that his parents have had to take the long way home around it. Although for no reason, six months later Brick overcame his fear and walked over the bridge, but not in the car. While unconfirmed, it is possible he grew out of this, as they never bring up this fear outside of the episode, "The Bridge".
- Although it is never explicitly confirmed whether he believes in God, a minor running gag has him questioning the validity of a literal reading of the Bible.
- He can play the French horn.
- He, along with the rest of his family, appeared in all 215 episodes.
- Brick says the final words of the show, where he whispers "the middle."
- He is the only actor in the Heck family that didnt get replaced after the unaired pilot.