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1Character Page for the Image Comics series ''Chew''.
2
3'''Warning: To prevent this page from being a sea of white only spoilers from the last four arcs will be whited.'''
4
5[[foldercontrol]]
6
7[[folder: FDA]]
8!! General Tropes
9* BadassInANiceSuit: Their standard attire.
10* CapeBusters: The setting is lousy with food-powered metahumans so it usually falls to the FDA to deal with them.
11* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: The real agency depicted in a fictional way variant. The Chewniverse Food and Drug Administration is '''far''' more powerful than the real one.
12
13!!Anthony "Tony" Chu
14[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tony_chu.jpg]]
15
16A Philadelphia cop with a special power: cibopathy, the psychic ability to see the past of anything he's eaten. He soon joins the Food and Drug Administration, now a very powerful law enforcement agency, which makes use of his abilities. He mainly focuses on food-related crimes, especially those concerning newly illegal poultry.
17
18* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Is looked down on by pretty much everyone as a freak, his boss hates his guts, and all of his family barring Toni hate his guts for various reasons. The only people who don't seem to hate him or consider him a freak are Colby, Amelia, Ceasar, Toni and Mason. Subverted in later issues, as the rest of the FDA highly respects him as does the public thanks to Amelia's reporting.
19* BlessedWithSuck: Cibopathy. He can absorb incredible amounts of information from anything he tastes, but he can't shut it off and those visions can potentially be really disturbing. Plus, his job forces him to use his powers by eating an astoundingly wide array of vile things.
20* ButtMonkey: Has to eat rather vile things as part of his job, is hated by just about every single character on the cast, his boss more than all of them combined, and over the course of the series has had to eat a petrified dog, has had his partner bite his ear off, lost his job, forced to eat dead baseball players and had to eat his own sister's toe to take out her killer.
21* ByTheBookCop: Mere pages into the first issue we see that Tony is willing to arrest his own brother. Played with in that it doesn't make him respect or obey his boss Applebee any more than he has to, but he still refuses to work outside the law, though he stretches what "the law" is to its breaking point.
22* CannibalismSuperpower: The reason why Tony gets assigned to the FDA in the first place.
23* CripplingOverspecialization: His earned lethal fastball skill gives him the ability to fling small round objects with deadly force and precision, but only those kinds of objects. It does not, for instance, give him better aim in general (with, say, a grenade launcher).
24* DarkAndTroubledPast: His fiance, and later wife, Min Tso went insane due to a brain tumor. He then dumped his daughter on his sister Rosemary and never came back for her.
25* DistressedDude: During the "Major League Chew" arc, he's kidnapped by Amelia's psychotic ex Dan. Thankfully Amelia comes to the rescue and he gets to finish off the psycho that was holding him.
26* EatThat: What half of Chu's job consists of.
27* EnemyMine: Multiple times with Savoy during [[spoiler:the two year timeskip.]]
28* HandicappedBadass: In the DistantFinale: He has a bad leg, but it doesn't stop him from [[spoiler:leaping at the lead chicken alien and stabbing him right in the heart.]]
29* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler: To Amelia as of issue 41]].
30* HeroicBSOD: Goes though this after [[spoiler: Toni is killed by The Collector]], ruthlessly murdering his minions and generally focusing entirely on his work. He snaps out of it at the end of the "Family Recipe" arc thanks to a [[spoiler: ThanatosGambit by Toni herself]].
31** Goes though a brief one in "Family Recipe" after he [[spoiler: eats too much of Toni's toe to get information from her to defeat The Collector]]. He snaps out of it after eating a Gallisberry in Chog Sauce, which allows him to get the rest of the info from her.
32* HonorBeforeReason: A more valid example than most due to how the "reason" in this series is often mired in the grotesque, the deranged, and the tepidly unethical.
33* ImAHumanitarian: Not intentionally, but Tony ends up doing this a lot to get information.
34* LockedOutOfTheLoop: His ardent refusal to ally with Savoy forces his former mentor to recruit [[spoiler:Colby and Olive]] without Tony's knowledge, making him this. He is understandably peeved when he finds out.
35* LoveAtFirstSight: With Amelia Mintz.
36* ManInAKilt: When he gets demoted to traffic enforcement.
37* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Realizes that [[spoiler: His treatment of Colby has lead Olive to distrust him and go off on a suicide mission against the Collector.]]
38* ObfuscatingDisability: Pretended to be infirm for years before the final issue, [[spoiler: in order to get close enough to assassinate the leader of the chicken aliens in revenge for everything they had done to Earth.]]
39* PapaWolf: Harming his family is a terrible idea.
40** [[spoiler:The Collector's murder of Toni]] sent him into a RoaringRampageOfRevenge and [[spoiler: Colby leading Olive into a battle that nearly got her killed earned him a beatdown.]]
41** Tries to beat [[spoiler: Colby]] into a pulp after he almost gets [[spoiler: Olive]] killed.
42* PickyEater: Not by choice though. Beets are the only food he can eat without getting visions thanks to his cibopathy.
43* PowerCopying: If he eats enough of a person's body, he can learn their skills and even obtain their food-based powers.
44* PunnyName: Chu/chew.
45* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Presumably Chu doesn't get readings from his own saliva, but he can remember things by eating his own fingernails.
46* RevengeBeforeReason: Tony's biggest flaw is how hard he can hold a grudge. While it does make him a moral pillar it can bite him in the ass, like with his unwillingness to work with Savoy.
47* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: "Bad Apples" has him going on one to [[spoiler:avenge Toni]] that has him killing as many of the Collector's men as he can to flush out their boss. Deconstructed as while it's effective it's also taking a clear toll on his sanity. He eventually stops after [[spoiler: Toni's cibopathy created SpiritAdvisor urges him not to continue, or he'll end up just like the Collector.]]
48* SadisticChoice: There are several moments when Tony is put into a position where it seems like he'll have to eat one of his loved ones to save the day, but the plot conspires to make his choices at such horrid junctures a non-issue one way or another. [[spoiler:Until Issue 59 anyway.]]
49* TookALevelInBadass: While he was always fairly badass, he jumps up a level after [[spoiler: Toni's death]]. Thanks to the skills he got from the dead baseball players Dan forced him to eat, he can throw a deadly fastball, and the second Applebee tries to treat him like shit again for investigating [[spoiler: his sister's murder]], Tony gives him the mother of all dress downs.
50** Takes another after [[spoiler: Eating Poyo, easily mowing down the Collector's army before defeating the man himself.]]
51* ThrowTheDogABone: His relationship with Amelia is pretty much the only stable relationship of any sort he has. Toni also counts, being the only member of his family that doesn't hate or resent him. Then he becomes the darling of the FDA after a major bust.
52* TookALevelInBadass: He starts out fairly badass but after his kidnapping, his fastball takes it up a notch. [[spoiler:Especially after eating Poyo.]]
53* TragicKeepsake: Keeps his ex-wife Min Tso's toe she gave him in his freezer. It's later revealed he did so that, when she was ready, Olive could take in her mother's memory before her brain cancer got really bad.
54* TraumaCongaLine: Issue 59 sees him [[spoiler:lose his wife and his best friend on the same day that he's forced to kill millions of people to save the planet.]]
55* TheUnfavorite: Easily the most despised member of his family. Tragically, his relations only start treating him better [[spoiler:after Toni is murdered and they realize that he's the only one among them who could possibly avenge her.]]
56* UnskilledButStrong: Before the birth of Olive, he was the most powerful of the world's three existing cibopaths, but lacked Savoy's expertise and the Collector's brutality.
57* UnstoppableRage: Savoy believes that his uniquely tremendous rage, once the rest of him is sufficiently is enhanced, could be the deciding factor in the war against the Collector. [[spoiler: This turns out to be 100% true.]]
58* UsedToBeASweetKid: He was once an amiable, loving dork before he "shut down" after the death of his wife.
59* VitriolicBestBuds: With Colby.
60* WeUsedToBeFriends: With [[spoiler: Colby]] for most of "Blood Puddin." [[spoiler: Tony realizes how rashly he'd thrown their friendship away and makes amends with Colby midway through the arc. ]]
61* WhatTheHellHero: Savagely beats [[spoiler: Colby]] for [[spoiler: working with Mason behind his back and taking part in an OP against his advice that nearly cost his daughter her life. ]]
62
63!!John Colby
64[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/john_colby.jpg]]
65
66Tony Chu's partner who was badly injured while following a lead gained from Tony's powers. He is rebuilt as a cyborg by the FDA and rejoins his old partner. He opposes poultry prohibition and believes the government is lying about the bird flu but refuses to betray the FDA.
67
68* BadassAbnormal: Though only slightly thanks to the cybernetic half of his face.
69* BuryYourGays: He's mortally wounded in his introductory storyline [[spoiler:and dies in the penultimate issue.]]
70* ConspiracyTheorist: When it comes to the truth behind the bird flu epidemic.
71* ClosetKey: For Applebee.
72* CowboyCop: Colby is gleefully willing to violate every bit of police protocol that gets in his way.
73* DiedInYourArmsTonight: Tony holds him close after he's critically injured by a kitchen knife to the face while they were cops. [[spoiler:Tony does the same as Colby dies from the signal he sent out while they're partners in the FDA.]]
74* EnemyMine: He and Mason Savoy really don't like each other, but he still works with Savoy since he realizes the man is on to something regarding the bullshit chicken ban.
75* HeroicSacrifice: Encourages Tony to [[spoiler:send out the signal that will kill all chicken eaters so as to appease the aliens behind the fire writing, despite knowing he'd be one of the culled.]]
76* {{Jerkass}}: Colby is not a pleasant person to be around.
77** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Despite this, he's close friends with Tony when pretty much everyone else in the comic hates him or wants him dead.
78* TheLastDance: Busts one last crook with Tony during the penultimate issue [[spoiler:before he perishes as a consequence of eating chicken on the same day Tony transmits the genetic kill code Amelia left them.]]
79* LoopholeAbuse: Applebee tells him he can invite anyone to the party celebrating [[spoiler: their wedding]] except for Tony Chu. Colby, naturally, [[spoiler: Invites Mason Savoy, a wanted fugitive and traitor to the FDA]].
80* MarryThemAll: How the LoveTriangle with Applebee and his USDA boss is resolved, to his horror. Luckily, sorta, [[spoiler:his marriage to Applebee ends this.]]
81* MyCountryRightOrWrong: John Colby helps enforce the poultry prohibition while part of the Philadelphia PD and the FDA even though he strongly disagrees with it and believes that it is part of a government cover-up. Subverted later when he reluctantly partners up with Savoy and Ceaser to find out the truth.
82* SleepingWithTheBoss: Sleeps with his and Tony's Bad Boss Applebee (to get Applebee off their backs) and later with his USDA boss, Director Pena.
83* TwoFaced: Colby a Terminator-esque prosthetic after taking a chef's knife to the face in the first issue.
84* VitriolicBestBuds: With Tony Chu.
85* WeCanRebuildHim: Gets rebuilt into a cyborg after he takes a cleaver to the face.
86
87!!Mason Savoy
88[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mason_savoy.jpg]]
89
90Another cibopath. He is an agent of the FDA who mentors Tony when he first joins. He murders health inspector Evan Pepper and believes that the government is covering up the truth about the bird flu epidemic. It is implied that he lost a significant other in the epidemic, the fallout of which sends him on the run, costs Tony an ear, and turns him and Tony into mortal enemies. While he has the same powers as Tony, he is much fatter and is seen eating food besides beets, getting far more pleasant or tolerable visions from his food.
91
92* {{Acrofatic}}: Has a huge gut, but is more than capable of kicking ass.
93* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: He reveals to Tony late in the story that Tony's cibopathic powers are far superior to his own and he's somewhat resentful that Chu just has to take a few licks or bites to get what he needs while Savoy has to consume whole chunks and bodies.
94* AntiVillain: He's ruthless, amoral, and willing to resort to kidnapping, blackmail, and murder to find out the truth behind bird flu and stop the vampire. Conversely he clearly does care about Olive and Caesar, has a point about the chicken ban, and is going after the same mass murderer the FDA is. [[spoiler: This is exemplified by his final actions: He forces Tony to eat him, but only after trying his damnedest to make an alliance with him and saving Amelia from some E.G.G. members.]]
95* ArchEnemy: His betrayal and constant meddling in the lives of the Chus deeply hurt Tony to the point that Issue 56 reveals that in spite of fighting deranged cults, depraved serial killers, corrupt politicians, and inhumane corporations for years, Tony thinks of Savoy as "his greatest enemy."
96* BigBad: For the first and third arcs. Afterwords the Vampire and The Order of The Immaculate Ova take over while he becomes more of an AntiVillain.
97* ConspiracyTheorist: When it comes to the truth behind the bird flu epidemic.
98* CurbStompBattle: Almost every fight Mason gets into is extremely one sided, even against a horde of ninja. He takes down Tony in less than a minute after Tony attempts to arrest him, beats Colby to a pulp, and easily defeats a man with a wide array of powers thanks to his ability to get power from candy simply by exploiting the man's one weakness.
99* DespairEventHorizon: Hits it hard in the 55th issue.
100* DrivenToSuicide: Needing an obstinate Tony (who does not want to work with Savoy ever again) to utilize his skills and knowledge to [[spoiler:stop the fire writing from destroying the Earth, Savoy kills himself to show his old partner how serious the threat they're facing will be and to encourage him to consume his flesh for the information it contains.]]
101* EvenEvilHasStandards Shows visible regret after drugging and kidnapping Olive.
102** He's appalled when Colby asks if he's going to eat someone they're about to blackmail.
103** He looks ashamed when Olive says that Savoy has been more of a father figure to her than Tony has.
104* EvilCounterpart To Tony. He's a cibopath like Tony, but one willing to work far outside the law and outside moral decency.
105* FatBastard: Averted. Despite being in opposition to our hero, he has noble goals.
106* GeniusBruiser: Very cultured, very smart, and VERY deadly.
107* ImAHumanitarian: It's the quick and easy way for cibopaths to get info.
108* TheMole: In The FDA.
109* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Often has to consume lethal quantities of a person to gain all their knowledge. It's probably the biggest reason Tony does not like working with him.
110* PrecisionFStrike: Will dip into some of the less-refined expletives in the English language whenever sufficiently angered or frightened.
111* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Mason Savoy's perspicacity knows no bounds.
112* StoutStrength: Stoutly built, but extremely strong.
113* WalkingSpoiler: Talking about him too much spoils the main mystery of the first Arc which reveal him to be TheMole. His actions in "Last Suppers" also qualify, as they both give away part of the overarching mystery of the series and set up the final arc.
114* WeakButSkilled: The weakest cibopath in the series, but easily the wiliest who supplements his meager powers with brute strength and a keen tactical mind.
115* WellIntentionedExtremist: Savoy wants to solve the mystery of the bird flu, but to do so he will murder, eat, and blackmail anyone who gets in his way.
116* WideEyedIdealist: Issue 55 reveals that at the start of his quest to crack the conspiracy, he was far more trusting and amiable until [[spoiler:one of the conspirators showed how big and terrifying the scale of the scheme actually was.]]
117
118!!Caesar Valenzano
119A deep-cover FDA agent who worked with Mason Savoy and claims he didn't know he'd gone rogue, which is actually a cover for his continued working with Savoy to find out the truth behind the bird flu epidemic. He forms close friendships with Tony and Colby after being reinstated.
120
121* AdvertisedExtra: Caesar is the only main character who never gets an introduction. Even minor characters who die a few pages later get more backstory than Caesar.
122* TheDragon: Savoy's.
123* {{Expy}}: Caesar Valenzano is ''very'' heavily based on [[Film/PulpFiction Jules Winnfield.]]
124* HollywoodCyborg: Mild example. After [[spoiler: The Collector's CurbStompBattle with the FDA]] he gets a crab claw hand.
125* TheMole: First for the FDA while working for Montero and then for Savoy when back at the FDA.
126* PunnyName: Doesn't start out as one until he [[spoiler:gets a cyborg crab claw post-Chicken Tenders.]]
127* UndyingLoyalty: To Mason Savoy.
128
129!!Agent Vorhees
130An agent with an unnamed power that allows him to tell what something he eats is made of. Temporarily replaces Chew in the FDA, but sticks around.
131
132* ChekhovsGunman: Shows up in a few panels two arcs before he's properly introduced.
133* HeelFaceTurn: Goes from being a food tester of gangsters to an FDA agent.
134* NeverLearnedToRead: He can't read, which makes him [[DisabilityImmunity immune]] to a barista who can implant mind-controlling messages into his coffee.
135* [[NoNameGiven No First Name Given]]: His first name is never revealed
136* OutOfFocus: The narration implies in his introduction that Vorhees is important, but he never does anything important in the entire story.
137* UglyGuyHotWife: Played for Laughs.
138
139!!Mike Applebee
140Head of the FDA branch Tony and the rest of the cast works for. Hates Tony with a passion. Sometimes lover of John Colby.
141
142* BadBoss: He often sends Tony and Colby on assignments that, if it doesn't kill them, will at least make Tony eat something horrible.
143* TheChainOfHarm: In Volume 9, Applebee gets drunk and cries about how his boss, Director Lamode, hated him for no apparent reason, much like how Applebee himself treats Tony.
144* {{Cyborg}}: Applebee gets the lower half of his body replaced with a series of robotic animal torsos [[spoiler: after the Collector slices him in two]].
145* ThinSkinnedBully: Is revealed to be this, when Tony finally snaps, yells at him, and tells him to "fuck off", which drives him to tears.
146* IrrationalHatred: It's never explained why Applebee hates Tony, but he does, a lot, to an almost amazing degree.
147* StraightGay: He regularly sleeps with Colby, but shows no gay stereotypes.
148
149!!Director Lamode
150Chief Director of the FDA.
151
152* BenevolentBoss: Treats Chu like royalty after his chicken bust and trusts his judgment. The only reason he calls on him despite Chu [[spoiler: being on his honeymoon]] is that Tony's the best man for the job, something proven right.
153* DaChief
154* MeanBoss: Towards Applebee. Given the way Applebee treats Tony, it's more than justified.
155* TheNapoleon: He's fairly short, only coming up to Applebee's knees.
156
157!!Agent Breadman
158The number 2 to FDA Chief Director Lamode Currently interim director of the FDA while Applbee's [[spoiler: in the hospital following The Collector's battle with the FDA. He retains the position due to Applebee getting the blame for the incident.]] Has the apperance of a gingerbread man.
159
160* AscendedExtra: During "Blood Puddin'".
161* ChekhovsGunman: Pops up an arc before he joins the same branch of the FDA as our heroes.
162* NumberTwo: Of Director Lamode.
163* OutOfFocus: Really doesn't play any major role in events, likely due to being introduced fairly late.
164* PunnyName: He's a gingerbread man.
165
166[[/folder]]
167
168[[folder: The Chu family]]
169
170'''For Tony see "FDA"'''
171
172!!Tropes applying to all of them:
173* BigScrewedUpFamily: Ohhhh yeah.
174* BlessedWithSuck: Though we only know about half of their powers, those we do know have major downsides. and Chow's just gets a laugh from Sage and Toni.
175* InTheBlood: It's implied the food powers transfer from generation to generation, with Tony's cibopathy dating all the way back to the Old West.
176
177!!Chow Chu
178[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chow_chu.jpg]]
179
180Tony Chu's brother. A professional chef, he is strongly opposed to America's new poultry prohibition law which creates tension between himself and his brother. He lost his cooking show when he accused the government of lying about the bird flu while on camera. He eventually gets a resurgence in popularity following the FDA easing up on the chicken ban.
181
182* BigBrotherBully: To Tony as a kid. He's somehow even '''worse''' to him in present day.
183* BigBrotherInstinct: Was very protective and fond of Toni, so much that [[spoiler:when she dies, he immediately offers up his services to Tony to get back at the Collector.]]
184* BlessedWithSuck: It is revealed in issue 36 that he too has a sort of power based on eating food, one that Toni and Sage have a laugh over.
185* TheCobblersChildrenHaveNoShoes: Despite ''cooking'' chicken, he doesn't seem to eat it that much. [[spoiler: This saves his life, as it means he's not affected when Tony is forced to send out the chicken-eater kill-code and wipe out every human who has eaten chicken recently in the final volume.]]
186* ConspiracyTheorist: When it comes to the truth behind the bird flu epidemic.
187* {{Jerkass}}: Is a dick to Tony every time the two are together. This extends all the way back to childhood.
188** The biggest example of this is when Amelia calls about Tony being missing and Chow says he hopes Tony's dead.
189* MoralityPet: Toni, the one person he treated at all decently.
190** Olive also counts. The two have a very close, loving relationship despite Chow's intense hatred of her father. The DistantFinale shows she visits him [[spoiler: and Tony, who lives with Chow by that point]] frequently.
191* PetTheDog: After the prologue, the first in-story action we see do is trying (in vain) to warn Tony about the bounty on his head that Montero set up.
192** He helps Colby [[spoiler: cook up Poyo in order to give Tony the power to stop the Vampire and avenge Toni, though the fact that Poyo is rotten and disgusting was definitely a bonus]].
193* TooDumbToLive: Continually gets involved in poultry-dealing, despite knowing that it's illegal and that his own ''brother'' is a cop, is perfectly willing to send him to jail for the crime, and his brother can track down if he was involved in making anything poultry related. To put this in perspective, Tony tries to send him to jail in the first comic, and only doesn't thanks to his bosses FDA protection, and Chow is fully aware Tony was moved to the FDA, yet continually brings chicken and other kinds of poultry around him. [[spoiler: Ironically, he actually survives the chicken-eater kill-code.]]
194* TheUnreveal: We find out Chow has his own power, but we never find out what it is. All we know is that [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway it's laughable]].
195
196!!Antonelle "Toni" Chu
197[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/toni_chu.jpg]]
198
199Tony's fraternal twin sister, who works for NASA. She seems to be the only member of the Chu family that doesn't hate him. She's also cibovoyant, meaning she can see the future of any living person or animal she bites.
200
201* ADayInTheLimelight: Takes over as main character for the "Space Cakes" arc. Turns into [[spoiler: ADeathInTheLimelight]] by the end.
202* BlessedWithSuck: While being cibovoyant doesn't seem quite as bad as having cibopathy, it still sucks.
203** Exemplified when leading up to her death. She has to go through the motions of planning a wedding that will never happen, as well as set up events to get her final message to Tony across, all while knowing she's about to be brutally dismembered by a horrible monster.
204* BewareTheNiceOnes[=/=]BewareTheSillyOnes: Falls into both tropes. She's sweet but will call you out on your bullshit and will kick your ass when needed. She's goofy, but she's also a highly trained NASA agent with CombatClairvoyance.
205* CombatClairvoyance: Though it proves to be her undoing when one of the Vampire's agents sees her using it.
206* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Has three of her four limbs cut off while awake before having her neck snapped.
207* EstablishingCharacterMoment: She's first seen tackle hugging Tony, then arm punching him for not calling her. She follows this up by chewing out Rosemary for not wanting Tony there.
208* TheGlomp: Gives one to Tony when introduced.
209* GoodIsNotSoft: She's sweet yes, but she will call you out on your shit.
210* TheHeart: Of the Chew Family.
211* GenkiGirl: Oh yeah.
212* IJustWantToBeNormal: Toni hides her cibovoyant powers because she doesn't wanted to be treated like a freakshow like Tony is.
213* ImAHumanitarian: She has to do this to living people to use her powers for particularly useful visions.
214* ManOfKryptonite: : A self-inflicted example. [[spoiler:She eats nothing but beets in the weeks leading up to her death, making her immune to The Vampire's cibopathy so he couldn't steal her power.]]
215* NiceGirl: The single nicest person in the cast, and one of the few people not to treat Tony like shit.
216* ReallyGetsAround: In contrast to Tony, she has a much more active sex life.
217* SacrificialLion: She's the first major character death to occur in the comic.
218* ShipperOnDeck: For Tony and Amelia, being insanely excited when she finds out he has girlfriend, letting him call her on the way to a mission and trying to set up a nice dinner for them.
219* ShutUpHannibal: Stops Rosemary pre-rant and chews her out for her cold reception to Tony.
220* SpiritAdvisor: Thanks to a combination of her cibovoyance and her brother's cibopathy, she serves as a unique example of this to Tony during the "Family Recipe" arc.
221* ThanatosGambit: Leaves her toe behind so Tony can eat it and use what she learned to defeat The Vampire.
222* WalkingSpoiler: It's hard to talk at length about Toni without mentioning her death at the hands of the Collector and subsequent SpiritAdvisor role to Tony.
223
224!!Olive Chu
225[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/olive_chu.jpg]]
226
227Tony's daughter. She strongly dislikes him.
228
229* BadassAbnormal: Has cibopathy stronger than her Dad, who until Mason met her was the strongest cibopath Mason had ever encountered. Not only that, but she then gains the ability to sculpt weapons out of food.
230* BlessedWithSuck: Averted. While she has a stronger version of her dad's cibopathy, she can turn it on and off.
231* DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou: Played with. He really did, as Tony was in no shape to care for her following Min's death. It was the fact he never came back for her that soured their relationship.
232* DefrostingIceQueen: Slowly but surely towards Tony once he starts getting more involved in her life and she starts working with Savoy.
233* EmoTeen: Though a lot of it is thanks to Tony abandoning her.
234* {{Irony}}: Gravitated towards Tony's loose cannon partners more so than her own father. Fast-forward to her actual career in the FDA years later and she finds herself playing the long-suffering StraightMan to eccentric maverick, Ginny.
235* LikeFatherLikeSon: Olive ultimately becomes just like her father, a cranky, superpowered, badass FDA agent with a reckless but loyal partner.
236* LikesOlderMen: Maybe. She's only shown attraction to two men: hearts appeared over her head when Colby patted her head, and her room is covered in posters of muscle men with Robert Kirkman's face superimposed over them.
237* MundaneUtility: Uses her powers to excel in school.
238* ScarsAreForever: [[spoiler: The Collector slashes her diagonally across the face with a knife, leaving a jagged scar that lasts the rest of her life.]]
239* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: Morose and estranged teenage daughter of Tony Chu, and a cibopath and protege of Mason Savoy.
240
241!!Sage Chu
242Tony's younger sister.
243
244* ADayInTheLimelight[=/=]AscendedExtra: Issue 36.
245* BlessedWithSuck: Is a cipropanthropatic, someone who is able to see memories of anyone near her who is eating the same thing, including [[TheDon mob boss Don Federico Biscotti]].
246** ContrivedCoincidence: Considering how complex and specific her order was. [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom The waiter just decided to give Don something new, as he was ordered.]]
247* TheStoner: Is shown getting high during Toni's ImagineSpot of her wedding.
248* TooDumbToLive: When she learns the person in the neighboring booth is a mob boss she calls him a murderer in front of everybody instead of keeping it to herself and quietly telling her police officer brother.
249
250!!Rosemary Chu-Shen
251Tony's older sister who raised Olive for him. As a result she doesn't like him that much.
252
253* EducationMama: Is thrilled when Olive makes the Honor Roll, unaware she's cheating her way to it.
254* HappilyMarried: For some time.
255* {{Jerkass}}: Granted she has a reason to resent Tony, unlike the rest of his family, but she still takes it way too far.
256* NeverMyFault: Blames all of Olive's problems on Tony and constantly badmouths him.
257* PetTheDog: Is in tears following [[spoiler: Olive getting her face slashed by The Collector and doesn't blame Tony for it at all, and instead lets him join in worrying about his daughter with not a hint of drama.]]
258
259!!Harold Chu
260Tony's crossdressing younger brother. Goes by the stage name Miso Honey.
261
262* {{Crossdresser}}: Though he's neither a CreepyCrossdresser nor a WholesomeCrossdresser.
263* OutOfFocus: Out of the Chew Siblings he's the one with the least screen time.
264* PunnyName: His Stage Name.
265
266!!Ong Chu
267
268See "Saffron Chu's gang"
269
270!!Saffron Chu
271
272See "Saffron Chu's gang"
273
274!!Other members
275* '''Bok Chu:''' Tony's father. Deceased before the events of the story.
276* '''Bao Chu:''' Tony's mother.
277* '''Charlie Chu:''' Distant cousin who works for Creator/OniPress.
278* '''Tang Shen:''' Rosemary's husband and Tony's brother-in-law.
279* '''Chip Chu-Shen:''' Rosemary's toddler son and Tony's nephew.
280* '''Bree Chu-Shen:''' Rosemary's baby daughter and Tony's niece.
281
282[[/folder]]
283
284[[folder: USDA]]
285
286!!Tropes
287* AmazonBrigade: Other than the pet sidekicks, and Colby for one volume, the entire department is staffed with women trained in combat.
288* AndroidsAndDetectives: They usually work in human/cyborg animal pairs.
289* ArtificialLimbs: All of their animal agents have bionic eyes.
290* RedshirtArmy: The agents get killed an extremely high rate. At least one death per mission, and it often gets a lot higher than that.
291* TheSmurfettePrinciple: {{Inverted}}. Colby was the only human male agent.
292* WorldOfBuxom: Every single female USDA has extremely large breasts.
293
294!!Poyo
295[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/poyo.jpg]]
296
297An incredibly badass fighting rooster who is later converted into a {{Cyborg}} by the USDA.
298
299* ADayInTheLimelight: Has three one shots dedicated to him.
300* BadassNormal: Poyo was not exposed to radiation, trained by Tibetan monks, or bio-enhanced by aliens during their animal abduction sprees - he's just really, ''really'' bad ass.
301* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Fought a penguin version of him during the "Bad Apples" arc and regularly fights giant abominations for the USDA.
302* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Tony needs to get stronger to stand a chance against the Collector and Poyo can take care of himself. [[spoiler: Colby crunches the numbers and snaps Poyo's neck so he can feed him to Tony who'd never dream of killing the rooster.]]
303* EmpoweredBadassNormal: After he becomes a cyborg. [[spoiler:Once he dies, he's apparently so powerful he's gone from fighting Kaiju to fighting cosmic abominations.]]
304* HellHasNewManagement: When shot, Poyo went to hell. Poyo proceeded to kick the ass of every demon there before leaving to go back to life. [[spoiler: Once Poyo's there to stay, he is ''the Lord of the Inferno.'']]
305* KillerRabbit: Poyo, the most lethal fighting cock in the world.
306* NeckSnap: [[spoiler:How he goes out.]]
307* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Cock fighting Rooster cyborg USDA agent.
308* RunningGag: Tends to be unavailable due to fighting some eldritch monstrosity whenever Tony needs him.
309* StoryBreakerTeamUp: The reason he's regularly unavailable, he's too Badass to be defeated.
310
311!!Director Pena
312The elderly director of the USDA.
313
314* WomanScorned: Reacts to [[spoiler: Colby and Applebee's marriage]] by [[spoiler: not sending Poyo to help, resulting in most of the FDA horribly injured and countless deaths.]]
315
316!! Lin Sae Woo
317The first USDA agent introduced in the series sent to Yamapalu to investigate a series of murders. She ends up teaming up with Tony, and then becomes the first on page victim of the Vampire.
318
319* BuxomBeautyStandard: Her first appearance has a bunch of guys staring at her massive breasts with some women look on with jealousy.
320* SacrificialLamb: Exists to show how dangerous the Collector is.
321* WeHardlyKnewYe: She is introduced and killed in the same issue.
322
323[[/folder]]
324
325[[folder: Antagonists]]
326
327!!The Vampire/The Collector
328[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_vampire_chew.jpg]]
329
330A cibopath who pretends to be a vampire. The Collector is a SerialKiller obsessed with absorbing the food-based superpowers of everyone else out of a desire to become "complete".
331
332* ArchEnemy: Becomes Tony's after he murders Toni. The feeling becomes mutual after Tony refuses his offer to join him.
333* TheAssimilator: All cibopaths can do it, but the Collector is obsessed with the idea.
334* BigBad: For a large portion of the series.
335* BloodSucking: The Vampire has discovered that cibopathy works nearly as well with blood as it does for flesh. He makes an exception for those with special abilities. Those recipes call for meat.
336* CarnivorousHealingFactor: One of the FoodBasedSuperpowers acquired by the Vampire is that of a "Victumedicus", which allows him to heal very quickly assuming he's well-fed.
337* ChefOfIron: Thanks to a number of pilfered abilities and culinary experiences, the Collector is one of the finest chefs in the series in addition to being one of its deadliest individuals.
338* CollectorOfTheStrange: A disturbing example.
339* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler: Thanks to a combination of knowledge of an obscure food related art, and eating an entire judo team, he hands the FDA their asses when they try to bring him in. ]]
340* EvilIsPetty: Seriously, one guy just had a power to string guitars with pasta. The Collector ''ate him anyways despite this having no practical application whatsoever.''
341* FangsAreEvil: Though the Collector doesn't need them he files his teeth for dramatic effect.
342* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Killing Toni, who thanks to knowing about her death in advance left her very pissed-off brother the knowledge of how to end him. ]]
343* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Tony kills him the same way The Collector killed Toni.]]
344* MegaManning: Like all cibopaths. However unlike the others he focuses on this specifically, trying to gain as many food abilities as possible.
345* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Due to being able to get them easily and having collected quite a few over centuries before the story proper.
346* OurVampiresAreDifferent: He's a cibopath, not actually a vampire; a explanatory page in "International Flavor" confirms that there is no such thing as vampires, but the fear that the idea thereof inspires is real, and the power of harnessing that fear is undeniable.
347* WeCanRuleTogether: Gives this offer to Tony, who refuses.
348* VillainousBreakdown: Upon finding out he can't absorb Toni's abilities and that she's already set his downfall in motion. [[spoiler:He has an even bigger one when Tony reveals that he has zero intention of eating him and is just going to leave his corpse for the rats.]]
349
350!!Jack Ray Montero
351A businessman who invented "fricken," a chicken substitute using frogs with modified DNA. Savoy finds out that Montero knew about the bird flu epidemic before it happened and later gets the truth out of him after biting him.
352
353* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Has the Gallisberrys destroyed just to further his plan to market Fricken.
354* LaserGuidedKarma: Get's brought down by the same Fricken scheme that lead him to destroy all of the Gallisberrys.
355* LuxuryPrisonSuite: Has one in prison and can have anything he desires brought to him.
356* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: How he has the above LuxuryPrisonSuite and tries to bribe Savoy with the same treatment. Unfortuantey for him Savoy has no interest in material gain, just the truth.
357
358!!Alani Adobo
359A file clerk on Yamapalu who bribed her way off the island and onto a smuggling boat full of Gallisberries. She was the only surivior of the boats and a diet of nothing but Gallisberries. When she took a bit of her last one, the fire writing appeared in the sky, leading her to start an anti-chicken eating cult known as the Brotherhood of the Imaculate Ova, preaching that the letters were a warning against chicken. She's now leading a holy war against them.
360
361* BigBadWannabe: She's still a huge threat, but not nearly as much of one as the Collector.
362* FromNobodyToNightmare: A harmless, friendly file clerk who becomes a powerful cult leader.
363* JerkassHasAPoint: As it turns out [[spoiler: chicken really is doom and the chicken aliens nearly destroy the earth because no one listened to that warning.]]
364* KarmaHoudini: She gets [[spoiler: a position as ambassador to the Chicken Aliens and never gets punished for her actions. However.]]
365** KarmaHoudiniWarranty: [[spoiler: She gets a front row seat to watch Tony murder the ambassador of the Chicken Men.]]
366* ReligionOfEvil: Founder of The Divine Order of the Emaculate Ova, a terrorist cult recruiting "food weirdos" to help in their acts of terrorism. It's also strongly implied their working with EGG.
367* WeCanRuleTogether: Makes this offer towards Tony.
368
369!! E.G.G.
370A terrorist group that believes the government is covering up the real truth behind the bird flu epidemic. They serve as a recurring antagonist.
371
372* BigBadWannabe: While they are dangerous, they are nowhere near as dangerous as the Order of the Immaculate Ova or the Collector.
373* GoldfishPoopGang: Played with. They are a legit threat, being armed gunmen who easily get into secure areas, and in any other setting they'd be fine. But they constantly get beaten down due to going up against food weirdos.
374* WesternTerrorists: Primarily focused on the US.
375
376!!Dan Franks
377Amelia's PsychoExBoyfriend. A sports writer with an obsession with writing a tell all about dead baseball players sex lives, Amelia dumped him due to him never shutting up about the idea. After getting encouragement by his buddies to finally write the book, he decides to kidnap Tony to get the info.
378
379* ArcVillain: Of "Big League Chew"
380* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Surprisingly enough, but he has a group of loyal friends who are more than willing to help him with his insane scheme.
381* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Twice over. Taunting Amelia about Tony being gone tips her off that Dan's behind his disappearance. Force feeding Tony dead baseball players gave him their skills, allowing him to escape his bonds twice and gives him the means of killing Dan.
382* JerkJock: His main personality trait.
383* {{Jerkass}}: One of the worst the comic has to offer. He has Chow and Applebee's hate for Tony but adds a psychotic streak to it.
384* LaserGuidedKarma: See HoistByHisOwnPetard above.
385* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He's fairly racist and sees no issue with selling Tony to the highest bidder.
386* PsychoExBoyfriend: He kidnaps Amelia's current boyfriend, uses Tony to further his own career, then tries to sell him off once he's done with him and then finally after Amelia rescues Tony, tries to rape her before Tony kills him.
387
388!!Peter Pilaf
389A classmate of Olives with an unknown food power that allows him some form of control over people through cooking. He takes his school hostage, prompting Chu and Colby to intervene.
390
391* ArchEnemy: To Olive in the future, having fought her dozens of times.
392* AxCrazy: Dangerously unhinged. In the final issue he's [[spoiler: grown into a massively powerful psychopath who keeps murdering people just to get Olive's attention. ]]
393* EvenEvilHasStandards: An implied rapist and definite murderer, who still wouldn't murder astronauts, a crime the Collector did that he was blamed for.
394* EvilCounterpart: To Olive in the DistantFinale. He has a powerful and versatile food superpower like Olive but uses it to murder indiscriminately. His hair style looks like Olive's, and his rectangular SinisterShades look like Olive's rectangular glasses.
395* EyeScream: [[spoiler: Olive stabs his eyes out to insure he doesn't escape as easily next time.]]
396* JokerImmunity: In the DistantFinale. Justified as [[spoiler: he's immortal, though Olive does her damnedest to make breaking out hard for him.]]
397* NothingIsScarier: Nothing is known about his powers. [[spoiler: Not even years into the future. All that's known by then is that he gets more as time goes on.]]
398* PersonOfMassDestruction: He claims he could kill hundreds of people at once. This is likely true given that he's later shown imprisoned in the bowels of the FDA's supermax prison with three other incredibly dangerous food weirdos.
399** [[spoiler: Confirmed as of issue 60, having grown to become a notorious criminal who Olive comes across wading in a pool of blood from murdered civilians. It's stated in the same issue that he has escaped from the highest levels of security multiple times. His powers are still unknown, with him seemingly getting new ones each time he dies.]]
400* PowerPerversionPotential: Heavily implied to have used his power to have his way with girls in his class.
401* StalkerWithACrush: To Olive in Issue 60, to her natural disgust.
402* UnderestimatingBadassery: He grossly underestimates Chew and Colby.
403* WhosLaughingNow: Uses his powers to mass murder and brainwash classmates after being laughed at by them for so long.
404
405[[/folder]]
406
407[[folder: Saffron Chu's gang]]
408
409!!Saffron Chu
410Sage's twin sister. She has the same power.
411
412* ClingyJealousGirl: She reacts very negatively to Lily winking at Eddie. We later find out that Lily is disgusted with Eddie and was winking at ''her''.
413* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: While Tony was a ByTheBookCop, Saffron is a criminal.
414* LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard: She can read the memories and skills of anyone nearby so long as they are eating the same food at the same time. She's sentenced to three years in prison surrounded by hardened professional criminals eating the exact same thing as her every day. Though this doesn't help her escape, it helps her start a new criminal career after she leaves.
415* RememberTheNewGuy: She's never mentioned throughout all of ''Chew'', though it's implied she's part of the reason why Tony's family treats him so frostily because he's the one who arrested her. She's sent to prison when the bird flu pandemic is just starting and, after release, leaves town with her boyfriend.
416* ThemeTwinNaming: Both Saffron and Sage are named after spices.
417
418!!Ong Chu
419Tony's grandfather
420
421* ObfuscatingDisability: He's a very old, senile, mostly nonverbal man in a wheelchair. However, there are hints that he's a little more conscious than he appears.
422* RetiredMonster: He's a former mobster. He's also rumored to have done many other terrible things.
423* ShroudedInMyth: The only verifiable story about him is that he worked in organized crime in the 1970s and 1980s. However, he is also rumored to have killed his own platoon to obtain NaziGold during WWII, to have gotten into a gunfight after insulting someone's cooking in the Wild West, and to have some involvement in a [[NoPartyLikeADonnerParty train of pioneers getting eaten]].
424* StagedPedestrianAccident: Saffron and Eddie include him in their gang so they can do these as a distraction.
425* VagueAge: There are many rumors about the terrible things he's done, some of which would make him impossibly old. [[spoiler:It turns out he was able to do these things because he discovered time travel.]]
426
427!!Eddie Molay
428Saffron's boyfriend and partner in crime
429
430* BlackAndGrayMorality: He and Saffron are both criminals but while she's only killed if she or Eddie are threatened, he is perfectly willing to murder people in the name of a heist. She doesn't know.
431* CrazyJealousGuy: Decides to try and kill Lily after seeing how close she's getting with Saffron.
432* DomesticAbuser: Often hits Saffron to get her to do what he wants.
433* TheLoad: Saffron has powers and TookALevelInBadass in prison so several people question why she needs Eddie.
434* OutlawCouple: With Saffron.
435* TheResenter: He starts off as the boss of the gang but after Saffron's massive success in the "(She) Drunk History" arc, we see her as the boss of a new crew while he sits and sulks in a chair besides her.
436
437!!Ms. Cookie/Lillian Van Drake
438A member of Saffron's crew with the power to persuade people to do what she wants but only while eating chocolate chip cookies.
439
440* CompellingVoice: Her power. It only works while eating chocolate chip cookies.
441* NoFullNameGiven: She refuses to use the codename Eddie gives her and tries to introduce herself as Lily Van Something but she's interrupted before she can give her full name. Her name is later revealed as Lillian Van Drake.
442
443[[/folder]]
444
445[[folder: Other]]
446
447!!Amelia Mintz
448[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/amelia_mintz.jpg]]
449
450Tony's girlfriend. She is a saboscrivner, meaning that she can write or talk about food so vividly that it can cause people to actually taste it. She uses her ability in her job as a newspaper food critic. Her power allows Tony to taste foods without the often disgusting visions that usually come with them. The two begin dating though Amelia is sometimes annoyed at the time taken up by Tony's job.
451
452* BewareTheNiceOnes: A nice, understanding woman who is not to be crossed.
453* BrownNote: The alternate use of her saboscrivner powers; by describing especially noxious foods, she can make anyone who reads the words or hears her voice fall sick.
454* CoveredInGunge: Gets covered in blood on her first date with Tony after he kills a guy holding her hostage.
455* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler: To Tony as of issue 41.]]
456* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: She can describe food really, really well. She can do this so well she can leave people enraptured by describing awesome food... or reeling and puking by describing really bad food. [[spoiler: And it turns out it's the final ingredient to assure earth's survival, able to leave subliminal messages that can affect people at full power. ]]
457* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Overexerts her powers to craft a code that will let Tony kill all chicken eaters and thereby avoid planetary extinction.]]
458* IntrepidReporter: On the occasions she doesn't do food stories and upon learning where Poult Plus comes from.
459* LoveInterest: Tony's and specifically the [[SecondLove second one]].
460* MamaBear: Beats the shit out of [[spoiler: Mason when she thinks he's about to hurt Olive. She likely would've killed him had Olive not stopped her. ]]
461* OutOfFocus: During "Flambe", "Space Cakes" and "Bad Apples". Afterwords she returns to prominence.
462* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Part of why she loves Tony. Most of her exes were jerks and her most recent one is a racist sociopath who later kidnaps Tony and forcefeeds him dead baseball players.
463* {{Troll}}: Got bored writing good reviews so she started going to horrible restaurants on purpose for a bit of fun. Given her vocation and powers, the consequences were not very well-received by her readers.
464
465!!D-Bear
466A black market chicken dealer who works as an informant for the FDA. He used to deal heroin before chicken prohibition made chicken dealing more profitable.
467
468* AscendedExtra: During "Sour Grapes". He becomes [[spoiler: Tony's partner after his falling out with Colby]].
469* ButtMonkey: Has been beaten up, hit by a truck and brainwashed.
470* FunnyAfro: His third appearance onwards.
471* KarmaHoudini: His status as an FDA informant allowed him to avoid arrest by Tony and John while they were still on Philly PD. However...
472** LaserGuidedKarma: Once John became an FDA agent, his first order of business was beating the ever loving shit out of D-Bear and making D-Bear give him his FDA payments.
473** [[spoiler: His rather illegal love for eating chicken gets him killed by Tony's deadly subliminal message in the 59th issue.]]
474** He also gives some to an EGG agent who would've gotten off easy due to a clean record by breaking her jaw. While she'll be given a comfortable suite at an FDA supermax prison, she'll be eating through a straw the whole time.
475* SixthRanger: Temporarily joins the FDA at the beginning of "Blood Pudding" due to [[spoiler: the FDA being short handed after the vampire injured most of their agents.]]
476
477!! Paneer Sharma
478Director of NASA with a crush on Toni.
479
480* BigDamnHeroes: Has a tendency to save the day with Jetpacks and Lasers
481* ExtremeDoormat: When it comes to Toni. All it takes is a little sweet talk and he'll do whatever she wants.
482* HeroicBSOD: Slowly undergoes this due to all of Toni's brothers shunning his attempts to connect with them. [[spoiler:He has another during Sour Grapes when he finds out what happens when the Fire Writing reappears, blubbering how he wonders if Toni knew all along.]]
483
484!! Lt. Marshall Mello
485Tony's boss during his brief time as a traffic cop.
486
487* BenevolentBoss: Unlike Applebee, he sees Tony as the asset he is and only fires him due to his kidnapping and likely would've hired him back in a heartbeat if Tony hadn't returned to the FDA.
488* {{Foil}}: To Applebee. A nice guy with no power who sees Tony for the asset he is instead of shitting on him constantly.
489* NiceGuy: The reason Tony actually likes being a traffic cop, despite being [[ReassignedToAntarctica forced to work there]].
490* ThePollyanna: Has an almost unrealistically kind and optimistic personality.
491* PunnyName: His name is similar to marshmallow, fitting with the food ThemeNaming in the series. "Mello" also sounds like "mellow", which describes his personality.
492
493!!Min "Mindy" Tso-Chu
494Tony's ex-girlfriend. It is implied they broke up due to her blatant insanity. Later, it is revealed they were actually married, and her "insanity" was caused by brain cancer. When Tony proposed to her, she accepted and asked him to eat one of her toes.
495
496* HighSchoolSweethearts: With Tony
497* KnightTemplarParent: Her father tracked her and Tony down on prom night then beat the shit out of Tony for having sex with his daughter.
498* PsychoExGirlfriend: To Tony Chu.
499* {{Yandere}}: She cut off her toe and asked him to eat it so they could literally be a part of each other. He turned her down, but kept the toe in his freezer for Olive.
500

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