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The Runaway Five (Japanese: トンズラブラザーズ Tonzura Brothers ("Runaway Brothers")) are a Jazz band in EarthBound. They perform in Twoson and, later, Fourside. Despite being called the Runaway Five, when they perform, they have six members: two singers (who also dance on stage) and four instrumentalists. In Twoson, Ness frees the band from a $10,000 debt to the owner of the Chaos Theater with a wad of bills acquired from Mr. Everdred. In return, the band gives Ness a ride to Threed. In Fourside, the band has incurred an even larger debt to the owner of the Topolla Theater which Ness pays with a large diamond. They repay this second act of charity by aiding Ness in the Monotoli Building by pushing a button on the invincible Clumsy Robot, deactivating it and saving Ness and Jeff Andonuts. They also pray for Ness and his party during the final battle.

Clay gorgeous

Gorgeous' clay model from EarthBound.

Clay lucky

Lucky's clay model from EarthBound.

Trivia[]

  • In the original version of Mother 2, the members of the Runaway Five all had black clothing. In EarthBound, their clothing was edited to make the band members appear more unique. This was done to avoid having too strong a similarity between the Runaway Five and the real-life Blues Brothers.
  • M2-Drummer

    The drummer's appearance in Mother 2.

    Along with all band members wearing black, the drummer in Mother 2 has a different face, where instead of his signature beard, he instead has a thin mustache. His sunglasses also have less shine on them in Japan.
  • In Mother 2, Lucky is implied to be smitten with women through various lines in the game; the girl who lost her backstage pass says that "Lucky of the Tonzura Brothers told me to come see him backstage" and even Lucky says that "[...] there used to be lots of cute dancer girls here at Chaos Theater". These lines in EarthBound were slightly changed for unknown reasons.
  • Also in Mother 2, when the Runaway Five get out of their debt in the Chaos Theater, Gorgeous says "Thanks to this tyke, we've gone from Hell to Heaven!" This line was understandably changed to "This little nipper took us from a nightmare to a dream..." in EarthBound.
  • During the events of Mother 3, the Runaway Five's tour bus can be found in the Hall of Memories in New Pork City's Empire Porky Building.
  • The Runaway Five's equivalent in EarthBound's sequel, Mother 3, is said to be DCMC. Both the Runaway Five and DCMC share similar roles in their corresponding games, which extend to both bands being their corresponding games' highlighted performers, and both save the main protagonists from a seemingly doomed battle.
  • The lead singers of the Runaway Five, appear in the opening sequence for Super Smash Bros. Melee, nearly being run over by Ness who is using PSI Teleport. They appear as they did in Mother 2 (the Japanese version of EarthBound), without the colors of their clothing edited.
  • The lead singers also appear in Super Smash Bros. at the end of Ness' single player mode in cartoon form, saying "You're so good!" They appear as they did in Mother 2, without their clothing edited.
  • In Mother 2, the Runaway Five are called the Tonzura Brothers. "Tonzura" stands for "Runaway", and "Runaway Brothers" is a bit more fitting because the Runaway Five does not have five members.
  • The Runaway Five are based on the Blues Brothers, a popular series of musical sketches, from the TV show Saturday Night Live, and later a film.
  • The band's keyboardist does not appear with the band off-stage, and therefore may not be a full member of the band, similar to the original keyboardist of the Blues Brothers, Paul Shaffer, who was prevented from being in the 1981 film due to contractual obligations, but who did perform with the band on tour. This would better explain their name with only five official members.
  • The individual members' names are the following: Gorgeous (ゴージャス), Lucky (ラッキー), Nice (ナイス), Okay (オーケー), Groovy (グルービー), and Keyboar (キーボー). Keyboar is the keyboardist, but the other names are inconsistent and are switched around in certain sources.
    • In addition, Lucky and Gorgeous are the DCMC names for Duster. Lucky is the default name, but he will be called Gorgeous if the player named him Lucky.
  • Lucky and Gorgeous, the two frontmen, are a possible reference to Mario and Luigi, considering that Lucky has red clothes on, like Mario, and Gorgeous has green clothes on, like Luigi.
  • When they pray for Ness and his friends during the battle against Giygas, they are seen in Summers, even though they never come to this area in the rest of the game.
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