History Sandbox / HousepetsKingMilton

* OddFriendship: With Miles, the hulking patriarch of the Wolf Pack. After spending several years living in the same house together, King seems to be a confidante of sorts to Miles, as they tell him about the problems he's facing with his family and invites him and Bailey on a camping trip together.

* MuggleWithADegreeInMagic: King's knowledge of transformation magic and Celestials is called upon in ''My Life As A Teenage Squirrel'' to aid Marion and the [=K9PD=].

* TongueTied: For a while after he becomes King, he's magically barred from saying his human name; every attempt just corrects it to King. At some point this wears off, or Pete just stops bothering to maintain it.

* SignificantWardrobeShift: The above mentioned GoodCostumeSwitch; The disguise he wears to go to Australia perfectly matches Bailey's fur and bandana colors, symbolically connecting him to her.

** In a rulership sense, he becomes a patriarch to his family after turning into a dog and leaving his human life behind.

* MeaningfulRename: Although not by his choice. Pete renames him King, perhaps seeing him as his greatest asset in The Game as the king piece is in Chess. Of course, King turns this around by locking both sides of The Game in checkmate.

->''"What th--is this ME? This is . . . this is showing everything! What kind of sick joke is this?!"''

* BabiesEverAfter: The below mentioned HappilyEverAfter comes with three puppies, Rook, Ace, and Olive.

[[center:[[WMG:[-[[Characters/{{Housepets}} Main Character Page]] | [[Characters/HousepetsCats Cats]] | [[Characters/HousepetsDogs Dogs]] ('''[[Characters/HousepetsTarot Tarot]]''') | [[Characters/HousepetsOtherAnimals Other Animals]] | [[Characters/HousepetsHumans Humans]] | [[Characters/HousepetsDenizensOfHeaven Denizens of Heaven]]-]]]]]

!!King Milton (Pembroke Welsh Corgi) / Joel Zechariah Robinson

* JadeColoredGlasses: Being introduced to the WorldOfWeirdness that is the Housepets cosmos, he quickly grows jaded and derisive towards Celestials. He can't even bring himself to enjoy Heaven either of the times he visits, convinced it couldn't possibly be as good as it seems.

** [[spoiler:When Pete realizes he's going to lose The Game, he turns massive and demands King attack Tarot, even snatching his Fate off his neck to turn him human again. King calmly stands up and presses a finger to Pete's beak, flippantly and steadfastly refusing.\\

* NonActionProtagonist: King holds none of Tarot's combat prowess, but luckily manages to avoid actually being engaged in a fight by Pete. Instead, he defeats both sides of The Game by conspiring and refusing to bend to intimidation.

* NotAfraidOfYouAnymore: ''Heaven's Not Enough'' features him finally standing up to Pete once and for all when the god crosses his last line, staring him in the eyes and refusing to fight Tarot.
* NoticingTheFourthWall: King makes a cameo in the reviews for ''Housepets! Hope They Don't Get Eaten'', realizing the implications of a book containing events from his life being sold to the public.

* OpenSecret: By the time of several years after The Game ended, King having been a human is largely well known and uncommented on. Miles assures him he's already aware after King regales a story from his human years without thinking, although he seems to be under the impression it was some sort of surgery that changed him.

* ProperlyParanoid: Even years after it happened, trauma from being a CosmicPlaything and HumanPet for gods lingers. Bailey ''almost'' bringing up Kitsune's name is enough to send him into paranoid shivers, terrified Kitsune might still be watching and toying with him; which, considering Kitsune is omnipotent, is a very real fear.
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: When he's allowed to meet Bahamut face to face, he releases all of his anger, screaming at him for his ObstructiveCodeOfConduct and allowing The Game to rob King of his free will. In general, much of his arc revolves around him throwing off the influences of Celestials in his life and demanding he get to live for himself.

** He outright ''laughs'' at Kitsune for thinking he might be willing to go on another supernatural adventure in ''Heckraiser''.
* ARottenTimeToRevert: Is reverted to human by Pete while sleeping in Wolf House, surrounded by pets and animals who know him as King, while his face is currently connected to a wanted criminal.

* SecularHero: Averted; Joel is implied to have been religious before becoming King, believing his punishment under Pete may have been Purgatory for him and joining Bailey and Fox in prayer at their dinner. Given his experience with Heaven and gods after, his faith status is unclear.

* SinkOrSwimFatherhood: King gets a few months to prepare, but Bailey ''forgets'' to tell him she's pregnant at first, and several strips with him immediately post-birth feature him struggling to keep up with three children.
* SirSwearsALot: The only character in the comic that gets the word "censored" on some of the things he says. [[GoshDangIttoHeck Sometimes gets creative with it]]. In one comic, Bailey washes his mouth out with soap for swearing in front of the puppies after stepping on a toy. Despite this, he's not a casual swearer -- he apparently just can't find a better way to emphasize a situation other than being censored.

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: With Tarot when they team up to end The Game, since they both have a strained history as opposing avatars. The fact that their first ever encounter featured him drunkenly trying to hit on her certainly didn't help. This tense relationship persists for quite a few years; When King needs someone to babysit his kids much later, neither he nor Tarot try to volunteer her, despite her being a perfect candidate.

* TurningBackHuman: As punishment for not succumbing to his will, Pete takes Bailey as his avatar instead and turns King back into a human while sleeping in his bed.
* UnfazedEveryman: In part due to his cynicism and in part due to just rolling with the punches, King learns a lot about the universe with no loss of sanity. He takes the existence of Celestials, Heaven, and magic(k) in stride, only angry about how he's being used by them, although his being religious may have something to do with it.

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: [[spoiler: Temporary gains the ability to switch between his human form and his dog form at will within the “Heaven's Not Enough” arc simply by wearing his watch-like fate around his neck whether he wants to be a dog. (He only voluntary took it off once. To show Keene he was telling the truth).]]
* WalkingSpoiler: It's very difficult to bring up King without revealing the early plot beat of him being turned from a human.

* WelcomedToTheMasquerade: Once he becomes a dog, Pete makes a halfhearted effort to hide the existence of the Cosmic Game from him. This fails pretty pathetically, and once he sees Dragon, Kitsune sees no reason to keep him out of the loop anymore. Shortly after he's let in on the existence of souls and Heaven too, and all bets are off.

* AnimalLover: Downplayed as a human. According to him, he continues to tell himself he likes animals but can never bring himself to truly look at them as equals. This changes when he becomes a dog himself.

* BecomeARealBoy: For a while, becoming human again is his greatest wish. He eventually grows past this, realizing his life with a wife and friends is much better than his life as an escaped convict and failed activist.

* BigDamnHeroes: King arrives in Australia just in time to break up the fight between Sabrina and Bailey, which his wife presumably would have lost given her severe lack of experience.

* BigotryException: He initially considers dogs to be simple-minded and stupid, even after becoming King. The first two exceptions he makes are to Sasha (Whom he sympathizes with for having an abusive owner like him) and Fox (Who's a lot more mature than the rest and genuinely kind to King). Of course, this eventually falls apart as he warms up to dogs and eventually marries one.
* BreakingTheCycleOfBadParenting: While it's unclear if they were ever abusive to him specifically, King's parents' abusiveness is integral to the direction his life ended up taking. When he becomes a father himself, he treats his children with nothing but love.

* TheChainOfHarm: The single good point Pete had about his life is the cycle of abuse he participates in. His parents abused their pets, who abused him, and as an adult he takes out his frustrations on animals (although notably he draws the line at actually hurting them, somewhat averting this).

* TheCynic: King refuses to believe things are gonna turn out well for him, and unfortunately for a good chunk of his life, he's completely right. This verges on FlatEarthAtheist at points, since when he enters Heaven he's so cynical he refuses to even let himself enjoy its true bliss and happiness.

* DeathAmnesia: Averted. He's shown to remember the experience of being in Heaven far better than Fox (And later, Breel) when they return to Earth.
* DeceasedParentsAreTheBest: Averted. We find out in ''Heaven's Not Enough'' that both of his parents are dead (Although [[BlackComedy it's implied his father might not have gone to Heaven]]), but the only memory he recounts of them is their abusing his pets and possibly himself.

* {{Determinator}}: When it comes to freeing Bailey from Pete, King travels all the way to Australia, stands up to multiple Gods and calls them out, and finally gives up on his human life entirely.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: He tries to call Pete's bluff about only giving him a year more to decide whether or not he would become his avatar, pointing out that Pete doesn't need him. Which is correct; Pete can take his ''wife'' instead.

** When he meets the benevolent Bahamut, King screams in his face for allowing Pete and Dragon to run rampant on Earth and stealing his free will. Bahamut allows this to a point before eventually refusing to take it anymore, reminding King of his place.
** When Pete realizes he's going to lose The Game, he turns massive and demands King attack Tarot, even snatching his Fate off his neck to turn him human again. King calmly stands up and presses a finger to Pete's beak, flippantly and steadfastly refusing.

* DudeWheresMyReward: Immediately after confronting Pete and ending The Game, Joel approaches Kitsune and demands the boon he's earned. Said boon ends up being the choice between a human or dog life.

* EasilyForgiven: Fox forgives him after a quick thrashing when he finds out who King used to be, and nobody else in the series comments on feeling betrayed. Granted, King spent quite a long time building a good reputation for himself before his secret came out.

* FantasticRacism: As a human, he's rather torn on pets; he derisively calls them animals, but continues trying to help them despite his grudge. His joining an AnimalWrongsGroup isn't on purpose, and he comes to hate their methods even as he's working for them.

* GoodCostumeSwitch: In ''Heaven's Not Enough'', having been turned back to human by Pete, Joel is forced to wear a disguise to leave Wolf House. The outfit he chooses is a grey hoodie and robin's egg blue bandana, perfectly matching Bailey's bandana and fur color to show he is dedicating himself to rescuing her and completing his HeelFaceTurn.
* HappilyEverAfter: After The Game ends, King and Bailey's love life is essentially relegated to RomanticComedy plotlines, and they're gently brushed aside to allow for new protagonists like Marion.

* HeadbuttingHeroes: With Tarot. Long after The Game ends, the two continue to be on bad terms, to the point he won't even entertain the idea of letting her sit his kids.

* HeroicResolve: Despite seemingly being beaten effortlessly by Pete and abandoned in human form, he travels to Heaven and Australia in quick succession and fights hard to get Bailey back.

* HumanityEnsues: When he finally gets used to being a dog, starts a relationship with Bailey, and begins to find joy in life again, Pete kicks him one final time by taking his wife away and turning him human again.

* HypocrisyNod: When King lays into Bahamut for letting Pete's actions go unpunished, Bahamut rightly responds that King is ''also'' getting off scot-free for his earlier crimes. Fortunately, by this point King has become a much better person, and is willing to sacrifice that freedom for Bailey's sake.

* IChooseToStay: Given the choice by Kitsune of a human life (with his criminal record expunged, given a comfortable life, and even the ones who know him as King forgetting him), or a dog life with Bailey and an unsure future. He of course, chooses the latter.
* IJustWantToBeFree: Initially, this and being returned to humanity are King's greatest wishes. He gets the former, but not the latter.
* InternalReveal: He ends up having to confess about his past as a human to both Bailey and Fox in succession as a result of Pete's scheming against him.

** Pete turns King back into Joel in his sleep, leaving him unable to leave his room undisguised.
** And then again, returning from Heaven he wakes up in his bed as a dog again.
* KarmaHoudini: Despite making amends with the victim and growing as a person, King never ''does'' see legal repurcussion for kidnapping a sapient being from his home.
* KarmicNod: When the secret about his being Joel comes out, he willingly takes all his lumps from the people he deceived. This includes being thoroughly beaten by Fox before his forgiveness.
* KarmicTransformation: In a case of karmic justice, Joel, the guy from [[AnimalWrongsGroup PETA]], gets turned into King, a dog. With the way the initial plotline unfolds, it almost acts as a deconstruction of ItsAWonderfulPlot. It's [[spoiler: invoked by Pete for his own purposes]].

* LoveRedeems: His love for Bailey is the last step in his HeelFaceTurn that leads to him heroically confronting Pete and defeating him.

* TheMasqueradeWillKillYourDatingLife: King's marriage with Bailey is strained only a year after it happens thanks to Pete's meddling, and he needs to go to great lengths to protect her from him. Thankfully, things calm down after this, and he's able to raise children happily with her.

** In a chess sense, he wears a collar with a King piece around his neck. In the Cosmic Game, he checkmates both Pete and Dragon by putting them in a state where neither can win, and both must forefeit.

Joel Zechariah Robinson is introduced at first as a well-intentioned animal rights activist with an ironic grudge against domesticated pets, who gets arrested for the kidnapping of Fox Lindberg. His story would have ended there, had it not been for a recently-freed Pete taking interest in him. Turning him into a dog and spiriting him away under the guise of teaching him to appreciate life, Pete attempts to mold him into an avatar who can defeat Dragon's forces and serve as his chesspiece in the Cosmic Game.

Joel Zechariah Robinson is introduced at first as a well-intentioned animal rights activist with a grudge against animals, who gets arrested for the kidnapping of Fox Lindberg. His story would have ended there, had it not been for a recently-freed Pete taking interest in him. Turning him into a dog and spiriting him away under the guise of teaching him to appreciate life, Pete attempts to mold him into an avatar who can defeat Dragon's forces and serve as his chesspiece in the Cosmic Game.

[[center:[[WMG:[-[[Characters/{{Housepets}} Main Character Page]] | [[Characters/HousepetsCats Cats]] | [[Characters/HousepetsDogs Dogs]] ('''Characters/HousepetsTarot''') | [[Characters/HousepetsOtherAnimals Other Animals]] | [[Characters/HousepetsHumans Humans]] | [[Characters/HousepetsDenizensOfHeaven Denizens of Heaven]]-]]]]]

A former human and member of [[AnimalWrongsGroup PETA]], who was transformed by Pete to fill a role in a game between godlike beings.

Despite being tugged along by forced he can barely understand and put through a ForcedTransformation, King fights hard against the external forces keeping him from who he wants to be, and eventually pulls through as a better person than he began as by the end.