EPHS – Favorite Character Showdown (Home Alone Edition)

Martha Dabrowski, Staff Reporter • February 15, 2026

EPHS – Favorite Character Showdown (Home Alone addition)

By: Martha Dabrowski

Introduction:

Since we already had our Christmas and New Years fly by, I decided to think of a fun way to encourage you all to express yourselves by asking, Who is your favorite Home Alone character? I sent out a google form to all EPHS students and staff (11 votes were staff and 67 votes were students), which ended up with me getting 78 responses.

Context:

For those who have not watched Home Alone I and II yet, it centers around a young kid named Kevin McCallister. In the first movie, Kevin is left home alone accidentally, while his mother, Kate McCallister, stresses and attempts to get back to him from France. In the struggle of trying to get to her 8 year old son, Kate is met with delays, changed flights, and booked flights, as it is Christmas. Meanwhile, in the McCallister home, Kevin is faced with the task of keeping bumbling burglars Harry Lyme and Marv Murchins out of his home. These two men, known better as the “Wet Bandits” face multiple injuries whilst trying to get little Kevin in their grasp. In the end, the two bandits get arrested, which leads to the second movie. In the second movie, the McCallister family is headed to Florida, but in the midst of all the chaos, Kevin gets on the plane to New York. From there he is again met with the Wet Bandits, who chase after him for a good half of the movie. Again, Kevin manages, and ends up saving a store from the two bandits, and meets a friend, who loves pigeons. Kevin stays at a hotel, where his parents find out he used a credit card to pay, and his family rushes to find him. The wet bandits go through more pain and suffering, only to be taken down by those pigeons. They get arrested and dub themselves “The Sticky Bandits”, and Kevin ends up going to the town square, where he is found by his mother and they spend Christmas together.

Why I did this poll:

I did this poll mainly because there is Christmas, but also because the second Home alone movie focuses mainly around the New Years, and a little bit of Christmas as well. I want to point out that you can watch these two movies anytime and anywhere, even though it is not Christmas. If you want to enjoy these two movies, do not wait for Christmas to come around. Try to enjoy the movies with family, friends, or anyone who you want to watch it with.

Poll results:

According to the majority of the EPHS tigers, the number 1 favorite Home Alone character came at 46.2% which would be the famous, mischievous, and brave Kevin McCallister. In second place however, EPHS voted for Harry Lyme with his votes reaching 21.8%. In 3rd place, we have Marv Murchins, who gained 12.8% of the votes. The two follow up characters are Frank McCallister (Kevin’s Uncle), who got 6.4% and Buzz McCallister (Kevin’s brother) who got 5.1%.

Both of these pictures show the results that were made upon closing of the poll. The color next to names signifies the amount of votes that were cast for a certain character.

Character Descriptions:

1st place: Kevin McCallister

This is young Kevin McCallister. He is about 9-10 years old in this picture.

Kevin is a well known and iconic character in the Home Alone franchise. Among the Tiger votes, he reached first place. Kevin is a mischievous, sweet, but very brave kid who is no more than 8 years old in the first movie and 9-10 in the second. He is left home alone and has to fight off the two bumbling burglars (Harry and Marv) He is the youngest of the McCallister family and has a lot of siblings and cousins. He is often known as the “strategic trickster” and transforms from a scared and helpless 8 year old to a “child warrior” who becomes capable of defending his home and helping the burglars get arrested.

2nd place: Harry Lyme

This is Harry Lyme. Known for always wearing his classic black hat and green scarf.

Harry is one of the main bumbling burglars, who seems to be very ill-tempered and sarcastic. Standing at 5”4, he is known to be hot-headed and very rude towards everyone, but has a soft spot for his crime partner, Marv. Known for his gold tooth and his super gruff demeanor, he is the brains of the group, and always wants to prove that he is the best bandit out there. His go-to attitude and his angry muttering makes no doubt as to why he could be the second favorite on our list. Harry also seems to have a very dangerous sense of humor.

3rd: Marv Murchins

This is Marv Murchins. Known for his curly hair and stupid grin, he is the more crazier of the two bandits.

Marv is one of those characters that pleases everyone. Known for his very clumsy and dim-witted personality, it just seems to prove how silly one adult can be. He is very naive towards Kevin’s traps and is afraid to risk his chance unless Harry is there beside him. Marv’s character is described as the slightly dumber burglar and (according to Harry) never knows when to shut up. He is very well known for the signature calling card in the 1st movie, along with his high-pitched, girl-like scream, and when he dubs himself and Harry “The sticky bandits” instead of “The wet bandits”.

4th: Frank McCallister

This is Frank McCallister. Known for always being careless and a cheapskate.

This character is one of the alternate antagonists of the Home Alone franchise. Known as the person with the anger issues of the McCallister family, he is always harassing Kevin. According to Kevin, Frank is also the cheapskate of the family, avoiding to pay anyone. He always seems to have the last word when it comes to money. Furthermore this makes Frank one of the more aggressive characters, and in the first movie he is also caught stealing from the Airlines. Surprisingly, his character made it 4th place in our votes.

5th: Buzz McCallister

This is Buzz McCallister. Known for his arrogant demeanor and easily recognized by the nasty edge in his voice when speaking.

Lastly, on our list of characters we have Buzz McCallister, or better known as Kevin’s older and annoying brother. In the first movie, he also seems to team up with Frank McCallister to make fun of Kevin. Buzz is described as the comedic, cruel hearted and mean brother. According to Kevin, he is always being dumped on by Buzz and this causes Kevin to think that Buzz is the favorite kid in the family. There is no wonder as to why Buzz makes it in 5th place.

Conclusion:

So in conclusion, Home Alone is not just for the Christmas season or New Years, but it’s for every season. You can watch it anytime, anywhere, with or without your family or friends. The point is to enjoy every second you can, and why not enjoy it by watching Home Alone I and II and laughing as our favorite characters lead the way to surprising failures and lots of hilarious + memorable moments. This leads us to the big question. Do you tigers agree with these results? Let me know what you think.

Works Cited:

Home Alone (1990) – Full cast & crew – IMDb. (2026). IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099785/fullcredits/

Home alone Fandom – No link

Wikipedia Contributors. (2019, October 15). Home Alone. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Alone

2025-2026 Issue #3

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About the Contributor

Martha Dabrowski, Staff Reporter

Hello, everyone. My name is Martha Dabrowski. I am a sophomore at EPHS. Some of my main interests include horror games (mainly FNAF), animated shows and series (like TADC and Scooby Doo), and currently I am on the Girls Tennis Junior Varsity Team. When I finish high school, I hope to become a pharmacist and also major in criminal justice. Hopefully, I will be able to lead therapeutic sessions for criminals and/or victims.