Coco Masterpost: Oscar and Felipe

heyheyitsjuju:

So on the Coco discord I was asked if I could make a post about everything canonically known about the twins in-movie/from the junior novelization and while I didn’t forget, real life punched me in the gut and I’m just now getting around to it… 🙃 sorry it’s so late! 

Most of this is from the Coco: A Story about Music, Shoes, and Family junior novelization, which you can find in several different formats in the link above (in the US, at least). There’s even an audio book version! It’s sad that we didn’t get more Rivera family interactions in the movie, but obviously there wouldn’t have been time for all that while still trying to focus on Miguel’s journey. 

• Oscar and Felipe are identical twins, and Imelda’s brothers (No real word yet as far as I know about age differences or order, but most of the fandom seems to headcanon that Imelda is the oldest, and the twins are roughly somewhere between 4-8 years younger than her.)  
• We can assume the gene for twins is a Rivera genetic trait, since Berto and Carmen have Benny and Manny. Oscar and Felipe show a preference for them, calling them los cuates and asking Miguel about how they’ve been during the past year while crossing the bridge. 
• Throughout the novelization the twins are shown to be innovative, both in present day and in Coco’s flashbacks. They carry duct tape (and presumably other supplies) around with them in their aprons; Oscar uses it to patch a man’s ragged shoes in Shantytown. Felipe uses his shoehorn to pry open the revolving door after the family gets stuck in it chasing Miguel. 
• They were proficient enough with shoes that they started trying new inventions with them: In Coco’s flashback, we learn that she treasures their efforts, even though they never quite work; 

…but some were totally useless or odd because her uncles often tinkered with new designs. They once made cleaning shoes with thick bristles on the soles for scrubbing the floor while walking, but the bristles went flat as soon as the customers took their first steps. Another time they made boots with pockets for storing keys and money, but no one wanted to reach down to their shoes when reaching into their coats or purses was easier. 

“You are not inventors. You are shoemakers,” Mamá Imelda told them, throwing away the bad designs. But Coco loved the shoes and the playful imagination that they represented, so she rescued them for her collection. She smiled every time she saw her uncles’ failed experiments, though she never wore them. She preferred to wear strappy heels because they showed off her painted toenails. 

• Another flashback shows that the twins made toys out of shoes for Elena and Victoria when they were little girls, to keep them from going to waste. It’s clear that, between Coco and then her children, the twins are good with kids (or at least know what they like). There’s no mention of them with Coco’s grand-kids, so it’s assumed that they died before Berto was born. 

Everyone played a role in their care, even the uncles who made toys out of shoes that, for some reason or other, didn’t pass Mamá Imelda’s inspection. One time they put wheels on a pair of wingtips so the girls could push them around like toy cars. Another time they added long straps to ankle boots, and the girls carried them like purses. When they made slippers for the girls, they used buttons and ribbons to add faces, and instead of wearing them, the girls used them as dolls. 

• They ask Miguel on the way to find Mamá Imelda about Velcro: more specifically, which one he prefers. They say that since he’s undoubtedly had experience with both, he should be an expert on the subject. And Velcro wasn’t around when they were alive, but now it’s everywhere. So, which is better: Velcro, or laces? (Miguel really doesn’t know how to answer this, so he just says that he’s not sure.) 
• They don’t like sharing things with each other– or at least, they like keeping their identities and possessions as separate as possible. There are a few instances where this happens. 
• In Coco’s first flashback, they lay down their needles at the same time and can’t remember which is which. They decide to measure the needles, but they’re the same length. Finally, Coco “…knew this discussion would last all day,” so she just hands it to them. They take her word for it. 
• Later, Imelda does the same with their kneecaps after they fall out of the revolving door at the Dept. of Family Reunions. Felipe asks if it matters since they’re identical, but Oscar reminds him that they don’t use the same underwear and toothbrushes just because they’re twins. 
• They also insist, at different times, that they’re actually two very different people. Usually they fall into a pattern, comparing themselves to hammers and mallets, scissors and saws, heels and flats, wood and rubber, etc. until someone shuts them up (usually Imelda). 
• They’re prone to getting into accidents, or at least falling apart more than the rest of the family. (A personal headcanon on this is since the family can’t tell their photos apart, they’re remembered… but just not as well as other family members.) 
• There’s even a moment in the novel when one says (after falling from the rafters of the rehearsal stage and getting scattered everywhere) that “Even now… I can’t tell whether I’m Oscar or Felipe.” This might have been for comic effect, but since they were talking to Victoria there’s a question on how funny she would have found it. 
• It’s a running gag that even in the family, it’s hard to keep up with who says what when they’re both talking. They pick up on each other’s sentences and talk so fast that even Coco, as a fifteen year old girl, gets confused by them easily. Imelda seems to be the only one that doesn’t have a problem knowing which twin said what. 
• Like in the movie, the twins show an affection for their sister in the novelization. They live with her when Coco is growing up, they are the ones who frantically explain that she can’t cross over, and when she breaks down after losing Miguel a second time (afraid that he’s going to run out of time and be stuck as a skeleton), Oscar is the first one to comfort her with a hand on her shoulder. 
• According to the novel, it was Oscar’s skirt that Dante was hiding under when they all dressed as Frida Kahlo. (just one of those Jeopardy answers, I guess) 

That’s actually all I have canonically. If I’ve forgotten anything, feel free to add on or send me a message and I’ll edit it!