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1[[foldercontrol]]
2
3!The Band
4
5[[folder:In General]]
6
7[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/425bb87a_08de_43a3_b84a_5c6a3489b09a.jpeg]]
8[[caption-width-right:250:The band as of Phase 6]]
9[[quoteright:250:[[labelnote: Phase 5 (with Ace)]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8e47345d_7cab_441f_8a85_b295e2c87e43.jpeg]][[/labelnote]]
10[[quoteright:250:[[labelnote:Phase 4]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gorillaz_phase_4.png]][[/labelnote]]
11[[quoteright:250:[[labelnote:Phase 3 (with Cyborg Noodle)]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/74020792_ee76_4a98_99aa_ba65f4b013d7.jpeg]][[/labelnote]]
12[[quoteright:250:[[labelnote:Phase 2]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gorillaz2.jpg]][[/labelnote]]
13[[quoteright:250:[[labelnote:Phase 1]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f6a35a0a_06b3_4e3c_92a6_e58fe6d4956c.jpeg]][[/labelnote]]
14
15* AmbiguouslyHuman: While they're all supposed to be human, the art makes them look distinctly ape-like, especially in earlier phases. On top of that, 2D, Murdoc and Russel all have mild cases of BodyHorror going on that make their appearances even less human.
16* AnimalMotif: Apes and monkeys. Besides the band's name and their simian-like appearances, monkeys and apes also have a high tendency of appearing in music videos and artwork with them.
17* ArtEvolution: While their designs have generally stayed recognizable, there have been some dramatic changes through the years - mainly Noodle aging in real time from childhood to adulthood, Murdoc turning green between Phases 1 and 2, and Russel growing to giant size in Phase 3 and shrinking back down for Phase 4.
18* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted.]] ''Machine Bitez #15'' has Murdoc reveal that he's always believed that he and his horribly negative behavior exists to create "duality" with his nicer and more positive bandmates. The rest of the group calls him out on how nonsensical this logic is.
19* BigThinShortTrio: Quartet, but Russel is big, 2D and Murdoc are thin, and Noodle (in Phases 1 and 2) is short.
20* BunnyEarsLawyer: To call them all "eccentric" would be the understatement of the century, but they each have genuine musical talent, to the point where all four have been described as musical geniuses at various points.
21* {{Cult}}: The story arc of the ''Cracker Island'' album has Murdoc start one based on a dream he has, with the others tagging along in the hope it can be used for good. Certainly not one of their brightest plans, that.
22* DerailedTrainOfThought: They all have the tendency to do this during interviews, which leads to many ''[[BreadEggsMilkSquick interesting]]'' [[TooMuchInformation stories,]] random non-sequiturs, and commentary on their songs that tends to be less actual commentary and more whatever random topic popped into their head five seconds ago. Sometimes, depending on the mood of whoever is involved (especially if it's [[Main/{{Jerkass}} Murdoc]]), the commentary is blatantly ''[[BlatantLies untrue.]]''
23--> '''Russel:''' What can I say about ‘Désolé’? They say sorry is the hardest word, but that’s not true… [[Main/{{Metaphorgotten}} Try saying antidisestablishmentarianism with a mouth full of gluten free cronuts on a speed boat without licking your lips.]]
24* DysfunctionJunction: When the most functional member of the group is an amnesiac SuperSoldier that's nearly half the age of everyone else, you know you've got a problem.
25* TheFace: 2D and Murdoc handle most of the "in-person" band interviews, with Noodle and Russel only getting involved in such promotional exchanges on very rare occasions. When it comes to music videos, 2D and Noodle tend to be the focus, with Murdoc and Russel mostly staying in the background. Both of these cases are taken to their logical extreme in ''Plastic Beach,'' as Murdoc decided that he just needed 2D and Noodle (or at least a clone) for that album.
26* FlawlessToken: The black Russel and Asian Noodle are both consistently portrayed as being more intelligent and thoughtful than the white 2D and [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation green]] Murdoc. This trope is pushed even further by Noodle, the sole female in the group, being the most mentally balanced of the four.
27* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: Murdoc is the Cynic, Noodle is the Optimist, 2D is the Realist and Russel is the Apathetic.
28* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Noodle is sanguine, Murdoc is choleric, Russel is melancholic and 2D is phlegmatic.
29* MultinationalTeam: Murdoc and 2D are both British, Noodle is Japanese-British, and Russel is American.
30* NiceMeanAndInBetween: Of the three male members, [[KindheartedSimpleton 2D]] is the Nice, [[{{Jerkass}} Murdoc]] is the Mean and [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Russel]] is the In-Between.
31* NotAllowedToGrowOld: Jamie Hewlett has implied that the band won't age much more past their current designs, since cartoon ageing only goes so far. Tellingly, the three men of the group have not visually aged much compared to Noodle, [[OlderThanTheyLook despite being close to middle-aged in the later phases.]] 2D and Russel especially are nearly identical from Phase 1 to today, only gaining a few wrinkles on their faces. Murdoc is comparatively more shriveled, but his biggest change in appearance is him turning green rather than any signs of aging.
32* NotAllowedToGrowUp: Averted. Noodle has aged in real time, meaning [[ShesAllGrownUp she has grown from a little girl into an adult woman.]]
33* RagTagBunchOfMisfits: A megalomaniac satanist with an extensive criminal record for a bassist, a mentally-damaged pill-popper with (seemingly) no eyeballs for a singer, a (former) [[ChildSoldier Kid]] SuperSoldier for a guitarist and an obese paranoiac with a history of getting possessed by the spirits of the dead for a drummer. Their temporary collaborators also include a holographic ghost rapper, a cybernetic clone of the aforementioned guitarist and a fairly prominent villain from ''Franchise/ThePowerpuffGirls''.
34* SmarterThanYouLook: They all tend to play the fool during interviews, particularly Murdoc and 2D, yet their hidden genius shines through in the deep lyrical content and instrumentational prowess of their music. Occasionally, they have a surprisingly profound comment to make in the promotional media as well.
35* SmokingIsCool: Murdoc, Russel and 2D have all been regularly shown smoking cigarettes and cigars since the band's debut. Noodle has also joined the club since becoming an adult, though she's not seen doing it nearly as frequently as the boys are.
36* TrashOfTheTitans: All of them are pretty terrible slobs, as their former base of operations Kong Studios can attest. Even Noodle, the cleanliest of the bunch, has a pretty cluttered and messy room.
37* UnderestimatingBadassery: Having managed to keep him under control for most of Phases 5 and 6, the band agrees to help Murdoc with his spontaneous plan to create a cult with the intention of hijacking it to create a force for good. As ''Cracker Island'' shows, it went badly for everyone who wasn't Murdoc... almost.
38* UnlimitedWardrobe: It's very rare to see any of them wear the same outfit twice. The later phases see them wear some frankly bizarre costumes that wouldn't be out of place at a Met Gala.
39* VirtualCelebrity: Starring in music videos, animated shorts, interviews, their own biography ''Rise of the Ogre'', even through holograms in live performances... lately they've also embraced social media.
40* WeirdnessMagnet: Possibly the single most powerful force that unites them is their uncanny ability to attract supernatural and generally unfortunate events towards themselves.
41[[/folder]]
42
43[[folder:[=2D=]]]
44
45!!2D (Stuart Pot)
46
47[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dc5cd6a2_0927_45f4_a9de_87efbb73f1a5.jpeg]]
48[[caption-width-right:350:2D as of Phase 6]]
49
50[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 5]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9e12d29a_c1ef_402c_b446_c3bd2290ec08.jpeg]][[/labelnote]]
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52[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 4]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2e44b51f_8ecb_4cea_9003_7cbac0044adc.jpeg]][[/labelnote]]
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54[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 3]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f868b3f2_ec65_45ab_a8cf_86a8d2629308.png]][[/labelnote]]
55
56[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 2]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/07cd3348_0f00_4c3c_8b87_5b016d5bc874.jpeg]][[/labelnote]]
57
58[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 1]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gorillaz-2-d-wallpaper_1024x768_7079.jpg]][[/labelnote]]
59
60
61->'''Voiced by:''' Nelson De Freitas (Phase 1 to Phase 3), Kevin Bishop (Phase 4 onwards) (speaking voices), Damon Albarn (singing voice)
62
63->''"I never really thought about anything as far as I can remember."''
64
65The ambition-lacking, thick-headed but sweet vocalist, who also provides keyboards and minor instruments (like melodica and panpipes) for the band. 2D used to look up to Murdoc and believed he "saved his life", [[TooDumbToLive despite the fact that Murdoc ran him over - putting him in a coma and fracturing his eyes - twice, beat him up frequently, stole his girlfriend, sold most of his belongings online and stole several of his internal organs]]. As of ''Plastic Beach'', however, 2D seems to have recognized that Murdoc abuses him - but seems hopeful that he and Murdoc can still be friends by [="DoYaThing"=]. Notable for being the only member to appear on each album (Russel and Noodle were absent during the making of ''Plastic Beach'', Murdoc was incarcerated during ''The Now Now'', and ''The Fall'' is essentially his solo album).
66----
67* AddledAddict: Many of the band's greatest hits focus heavily on 2D and his crippling painkiller addiction. It's often implied that he regularly dabbles in other drugs as part of his hard-partying lifestyle. The physical and mental effects of his addictions are quite obvious to see at this point.
68* AmusingInjuries: Constantly getting beaten up for laughs, though it becomes less funny when you realize [[DeconstructedTrope every injury he sustains has lasting effects]].
69* AntiHero: Generally a ClassicalAntiHero, being a cowardly, inept and vice-filled but ultimately kind and well-intentioned person. He becomes a bit more of a severe example during Phase 2, where he takes a [[TookALevelInJerkass noticeable level in jerkass]] as a result of constant abuse from Murdoc and carries knives around like a lunatic.
70* AntiLoveSong: ''The Now Now'', the second album where he is heavily featured, is loaded with these with Murdoc as the apparent muse as a broken "FREE MURDOC" title card can be found in 2D's notebook featuring the production's lyrics.
71* ArtisticLicenseMedicine:
72** 2D injured both his eyes in multiple car accidents (all caused by Murdoc). As a result he now has permanent hyphema in both eyes, which basically means that his pupils are full of blood. In a real-life situation, he should have been blind or have badly impaired vision, yet he appears to be able to see just fine.
73** In "Humility", after falling while rollerskating, his eyes go from white to entirely black, after which his vision noticeably suffers. It can be presumed it isn't permanent, but triggered by blunt trauma, especially since Russel has white eyes as well.
74** Also, he talks and sings with no pronunciation problems despite missing his front teeth (which he lost because of Murdoc's abuse).
75* AuthorAvatar: {{Averted}} for the most part. 2D is treated as a distinct entity from Damon Albarn as they both sing about very different subject matters. However, 2D and the rest of Gorillaz are occasionally used as mouthpieces for Albarn and Hewlett's real life views about celebrity culture and controversial political leaders.
76* BerserkButton: Murdoc bringing up the Paula incident around him during an iTunes interview in Phase 3 causes 2D to lash out and attack him. Of course, [[MoralEventHorizon Murdoc manages to overpower him fairly easily with chloroform]]. It's unclear if bringing up Paula around him at all is enough to set him off, or if it was merely the straw that broke the camel's back in [[TraumaCongaLine the long list of horrible things that Murdoc did to him throughout the Phase]].
77* BewareTheNiceOnes: In the iTunes sessions interview, he went as far as physically attacking Murdoc when the latter pushed his BerserkButton. Murdoc won the fight via chloroform.
78* BigEater: The first thing he does upon entering the abandoned house in the "Saturnz Barz" video is check out the fridge and start eating.
79* BlackBeadEyes: There is reason behind this, though. Murdoc drove his car straight into 2D, fracturing his eyeball, turning him into a vegetable. Later, when Murdoc attempted to do donut spins in Nottingham Park, he catapulted 2D out of the window fracturing his other eye, but reviving his mind.
80* BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine: He and Murdoc are a rare western example, where he is generally the boke.
81* BornLucky / BornUnlucky: Hard to tell which, but the many strange and painful things he's been through -- and ''survived'' -- certainly make it seem that fate's definitely working for him or out to get him.
82* BrainlessBeauty: One of his defining attributes. There's not much going on inside that pretty face of his.
83* BreakTheCutie: The poor guy's been through a lot.
84* BritishTeeth: His teeth are godawful, and while he ''does'' have countless blunt head trauma to blame for his missing teeth, the ones he has left are in terrible shape.
85* BumblingSidekick: Murdoc's, though he mostly loses both the "bumbling" and the "sidekick" part by Phase 3.
86* ButtMonkey: Almost always getting abused by Murdoc either physically or verbally and tends to have very bad luck in general.
87* CharacterDevelopment: He goes from an incredibly stupid WideEyedIdealist who was blissfully unaware of the world around him and a bizarre hero complex towards Murdoc in Phase 1, to a more self-aware but still nonetheless idiotic party animal in Phase 2, to the OnlySaneMan in Phase 3. By Phase 4, he's mellowed out, and while that seems to have caused him to lose some of the smarts that he gained in Phase 3, he still generally comes off as more confident and at peace with himself than he ever did before.
88* CharacterTics: Puts his tongue, as well as his fingers, up his nose a lot. He also has a habit of twiddling his fingers when nervous.
89* ClassicalAntiHero: He has a heart of gold and is an overall compassionate guy, but he's also dumb as a stump, which makes him generally either completely ineffectual or an outright danger to those around him in almost all situations. He's also not above doing things like fathering illegitimate children.
90* CoolMask: A clown mask, in the videos for ''Stylo'', ''On Melancholy Hill'' and ''Rhinestone Eyes'' -- he mentioned during an interview that he wore it in an attempt to hide the fact that he was badly hung over.
91* CovertPervert: After Murdoc lent him some movies, 2D commented that they're "A bit random, but very, very watchable." With titles like "Boning John Malkovich", "Tit's A Wonderful Life" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Bang", it's pretty obvious what kind of movies those were.
92** Also, 2D's various illegitimate children, as referenced in the book and on his computer on the old website.
93* CreatorBreakdown: InUniverse example, as neither him nor Murdoc were really doing well during the creation of ''Music/{{Plastic Beach}},'' with 2-D even having a full on mental breakdown at one point. It's implied that he wasn't doing great during the creation of ''Music/{{The Now Now}}'' either, with the already melancholy album's ending song [[BSODSong "Souk Eye"]] even ending with 2-D audibly attempting to keep from [[TryingNotToCry breaking down in tears.]]
94* CreatorThumbprint: Both of the albums he composed have the heaviest ElectronicMusic influence after ''Plastic Beach'', but they're a lot more subdued and minimalist than that album.
95* CuteButCacophonic: 2D is seen as incredibly attractive in-universe, and while his singing voice is amazing, his ''speaking'' voice is a high-pitched and shrill cockney screech. Of course, you could argue that it's also part of his charm.
96* DarkerAndEdgier: Phase 2 has him become a knife-flicking jerk [[ReallyGetsAround with kids all over the world]]. He's mellowed out by Phase 3.
97* DartboardOfHate: He has one in his new room at the Spirit House. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments It's a picture of Murdoc.]]
98* ADayInTheLimelight: ''The Fall'' and ''The Now Now'' were composed pretty much entirely by 2D, with ''The Fall'' in particular also being performed almost entirely by him. The music video for "Sleeping Powder" also consists of nothing but him dancing around.
99* DeadpanSnarker: Surprisingly, he snaps into this mode fairly frequently during interviews. He's really the only member of the band who is capable of keeping up with Murdoc in the quip department.
100* TheDitz: He's a bit brighter by Phase 3, but back in Phase 1 he really was quite harebrained.
101* DisneyDeath: Seemingly eaten alive by a whale during the ''Rhinestone Eyes'' video. During one of his radio shows, Murdoc nonchalantly declared him dead due to not having seen him since. While [="DoYaThing"=] reveals him to be alive and well, it wasn't until the beginning of Phase 4 where we learn that he really ''was'' eaten alive, but managed to avoid being digested due to the whale dying shortly after swallowing him.
102* TheDogBitesBack: He tried to do this to Murdoc during Phases 2 and 3, but it didn't take. In Phase 4, his most successful attempts at doing so consist of selling the bassist's geep on the sly without his knowledge and "accidentally" beaning him on the head with a golf ball during the ''Saturn Barz'' music video.
103* DudeLooksLikeALady: In-universe, at least. He's called "pretty" plenty of times, is occasionally shown wearing nail polish and shirts with low necklines, and the bruises around his eyes can make him appear to be wearing eyeshadow in certain pictures. (Sometimes he actually ''is'' wearing eyeshadow.) He apparently looks enough like a woman that he was able to place third in a WetTShirtContest.
104* DumbassNoMore: Downplayed. While not exactly Einstein, he seems to have wised up to Murdoc's abuse of him as of Phase 3.
105* EatenAlive: During the (scrapped) ''Rhinestone Eyes'' video, he and his entire room were swallowed by the whale Murdoc hired to patrol Plastic Beach. Fortunately, said whale died due to a poor diet not long after, and 2D was able to escape with his life.
106* ElmuhFuddSyndwome: Noticeable with words like "really" and "scary".
107* EruditeStoner: Despite spending most of his time high on painkillers and playing TheDitz for years, he still has brief moments of lucidity where he can be surprisingly philosophical, even profound.
108* ExtremeDoormat: Try as he might, 2D just can't seem to get Murdoc to stop walking all over him. He's slowly getting better, though.
109* EyeScream: Doesn't even begin to describe how he got his trademark black eyes...
110* {{Foil}}: Becomes progressively more of one to Murdoc as time goes on. 2D is stupid, has horrendous luck, no spine, and is a generally nice person while Murdoc is a [[EvilGenius genius]], [[KarmaHoudini escapes all punishments with a slap on the wrist]], refuses to back down during conflict, and is a despicable human being all around. To further this, 2D comes from a relatively normal family with two loving parents while Murdoc comes from a broken home with an abusive father.
111** Physically he's one to Russel, being a tall, rail-thin white man with black eyes to his short, fat black man with white eyes.
112* ForceFeeding: Gets force fed an entire fridge full of food courtesy of a ghost in the "Saturnz Barz" video.
113* FriendToAllChildren: The music video for ''Dirty Harry'' implies 2D has the instincts, at least. His smiles and demeanor implies that the only reason he's playing at all is to keep the children distracted from their dire situation (stranded in a desert) the only way he knows how; through genre busting music and ethereal vocals. That said, 2D's absentmindedness works against him in actually taking CARE of the children. He dances right past two boys in the middle of a slap fight, ignores blatant bullying and hair pulling, and is totally absent when a boy peaks up a girl's skirt, after stuffing a Dung Beetle's dung ball in his mouth.
114* FunTShirt: Has a wardrobe full of them, particularly in Phase 1.
115* GadgeteerGenius: Bizarrely builds some pretty advanced machinery during his many escape attempts from Plastic Beach, such as the Donkatron.
116* GeniusDitz: He can play a lot of instruments, he composed a lot of songs, and he even wrote some of the lyrics, despite his rather unimpressive mental capacity.
117* GiverOfLameNames: While all of the other band members have creative and personalized names for their respective song machine mix tracks, 2D's is simply titled "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Song Machine Made By 2D from Gorillaz]]", [[LiteralMinded suggesting that he didn't quite get what he was meant to do]].
118* GoodParents: While his parents are suggested to have been idiots of a similar breed to him, they were also very loving and involved in his life, something that none of his bandmates can relate to.
119* HartmanHips: Seems to have been given these in Phase 4, making him a rare male example of this trope. Interviews have revealed that he actually refers to the pants that he wears that accentuate his hips as "mom jeans", furthering this trope.
120* HeroicBSOD: Spends all of Phase 3 in the throes of one, to the point where his expression in the videos is pretty much permanently one of complete terror and confusion.
121* HeterosexualLifePartners: In one of the most twisted examples in all fiction, with Murdoc. Whether he likes it or not.
122* HiMum: Says this while introducing himself during an open-ended radio interview.
123* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: He worships a man like [[{{Jerkass}} Murdoc]] [[TheSociopath Niccals]] and was in a long-term relationship with a woman like Paula Cracker.
124* IdiotHero: ''Oh'' yes. Expect him to randomly mention how he has chlamydia completely unprompted during interviews. Even after becoming the OnlySaneMan in Phase 3, it's still very clear that he's an idiot.
125* IdiotSavant: He's very smash, but also a musical genius, having masterminded two of the band's albums, one of which (''The Fall'') he made entirely by himself.
126* InconsistentSpelling: 2D or 2-D?
127* InformedAttractiveness: He's supposedly considered incredibly good looking in-universe to the point of becoming an international sex symbol during Phase 2. Out of universe, while he certainly has his fans, he's generally considered something similar to UglyCute at best.
128* IOweYouMyLife: His loyalty to Murdoc is due to his belief in this, when in reality Murdoc was the one responsible for almost killing him.
129* KickTheDog: Surprisingly, Russell does the kicking in the Humility video by tripping 2D as he happily skates around Venice Beach.
130* KindheartedSimpleton: His defining trait. He's ([[GeniusDitz usually]]) dumb as rocks, but he is generally a very nice person.
131* TheLeader: Since Murdoc's arrest, he has stepped up as the main creative force behind the band's music.
132* LeanAndMean: Largely subverted. He's thin as a stick, but he's very nice despite the fact. Phase 2 played it more straight [[TookALevelInJerkass when he became]] a jerk who's always carrying a switchblade who [[ReallyGetsAround fathered several illegitimate children]], but since then all instances of him lashing out at others have been justified as being the result of him being under a great deal of stress.
133* LikeBrotherAndSister: His relationship with Noodle, who describes it as a "zen bond". After her supposed death, he apparently retired from music entirely before getting forced back by Murdoc in Phase 3.
134* LockedIntoStrangeness: 2D's hair is this color because of [[ArtisticLicenseBiology an accident early on in his life that caused all of his hair to fall out. When it grew out, it was a "deep, azure blue"]] -- though in Phase 1 it was more of a purple color, and Phase 2 it was a rather nice shade of teal. ''Rise of the Ogre'' implies that the curtains match the drapes, too:
135-->'''Murdoc:''' ''[upon hearing of the incident that caused 2D to become blue-haired]'' Wha-- Collars and cuffs?
136-->'''2D:''' ''[looks down awkwardly, scratching his head]''
137* MadnessMantra: While playing the pac-man game that Murdoc gave him in ''PAC-MAN'':
138---> '''2D:''' No stressing out no stressing out no stressing out no stressing out no stressing out no stressing out no stressing out no stressing out. [[BlatantLies No stressing out]].\
139
140* MeaningfulName[=/=]PunnyName: "Uh, Murdoc called me 2D because I've got two dents in my head from my ram-raid coma car crash episode in my life, it's not because I'm two-dimensional or anything like that." "Two Dents" is also a pun of "Too Dense", which aptly describes 2D's character; he's not exactly the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.
141** His pre-Gorillaz nickname -- Stu-Pot. Also, he went into a coma, making him a vegetable Stu.
142** In France, his nickname "2 Dents" is meaningful too in that "dents" means "teeth" in French, and he's obviously missing two of his front ones.
143* MonochromaticEyes: Black, but they're sometimes depicted as being white. Whether this is merely a stylistic effect or if his eyes actually change color depending on the circumstances is unknown.
144** The music video for Humility reveals that his eyes actually do change color, swapping from white throughout most of the video before shifting to black after Russell trips him. Whether this is voluntary or dependent on mood is debatable.
145* MrFanservice: While his attractiveness depends on your opinion of the art style, he's the designated pretty boy in-universe. Most so in the video for "Humility", where he wears short shorts and the camera pans on his well-defined butt.
146* MrViceGuy: He started smoking when he was just a schoolboy, but got into the harder stuff (booze, drugs, sex, etc.) after getting into the music business. Even after cleaning himself up in Phase 4, he has a worrying obsession with VideoGame/PacMan that's bad enough to distract him from important recording sessions.
147* NamedAfterTheInjury: "2-D" is short for "Two Dents", his permanently blackened eyes caused by hyphema from two car accidents.
148* NiceGuy: In contrast to [[{{Jerkass}} Murdoc]], 2D is almost always portrayed as being a friendly and considerate guy. [[BewareTheNiceOnes Most of the time]], anyway, since [[TookALevelInJerkass Phase 2 features him doing such things as fathering mulltiple illegitimate children]].
149** The very first image of him released for Phase 4 feature him sporting a sweet coon skin cap.
150* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: During ''Aries'', he takes Murdoc on a pleasant motorcycle ride to cheer him up. Murdoc repays him by backstabbing 2D and [[https://twitter.com/gorillaz/status/1258778002298671106?lang=en injecting him with a truth serum]].
151* NonActionGuy: Compared to the rest of the team, 2D is much more likely to curl up into a fetal position when trouble arises. By Phase 3 he's become gutsy enough to attack Murdoc but is immediately overpowered by him in the ensuing fight. His lack of any survival skills bites him in the ass in the backstory of Phase 4, where he was forced to live off of rotten whale meat after becoming shipwrecked due to his inability to fend for himself.
152* NoodleIncident: He was living in Beirut before being kidnapped at the beginning of Phase 3. What he was doing there is anyone's guess.
153* NoodlePeople: The most apparent example of this in the cast.
154* OlderAndWiser: By Phase 3, he became older, wiser and much, much more bitter. Phase 4 has a more traditional example of this. While he's arguably dumber than he was in Phase 3, he's also generally much more calm and confident in himself than he ever was before.
155* OlderThanTheyLook: While 2D ''has'' gained a few wrinkles over the years, he hardly looks any different in his mid-thirties than he did in his early twenties. If anything, he looks ''younger''. He finally looks closer to his age in more recent artwork, largely due to his shorter haircut.
156* OnlySaneMan: Went from perhaps the least likely of the group to play this role to the only person around with any common sense. This is saying something, as 2D is far past sane by that point. Driven home by the [="DoYaThing"=] video, where 2D is clearly sick of how broken his life has become.
157* OurZombiesAreDifferent: While he's not ''really'' a zombie, 2D -- himself a huge fan of classic zombie films like ''Film/{{Dawn of the Dead|1978}}'' -- clearly has a zombie motif going on, what with his seemingly eyeless sockets, getting revived from an inescapable coma, and having brain damage.
158* OverlyLongTongue: While not as extreme as Murdoc's, it is long enough for it to be able to reach into his nose with ease. Although, having no front teeth in the way can be a factor.
159* PinballProtagonist: Despite being the band's poster boy, 2D does almost nothing to advance the plot when compared to the other three, and instead just kind of stands around while stuff happens near him.
160* PrettyBoy: Repeatedly described as one, and while this is up to the viewer outside of their universe, it should be noted that his facial structure closely resembles the type used for females by Jamie Hewlett. Hewlett also seems to be drawing 2D with long, feminine eyelashes in Phase 5 artwork as shown here: [[https://2d-nos.tumblr.com/post/174665314860/what-brand-of-lashes-she-usin-tho]][[http://whatsnextgorillaz.tumblr.com/post/145300134312/new-2d-art-billy-fury]][[http://gorillaz-art.tumblr.com/post/174642429666]].
161** LongHairedPrettyBoy: His hair generally reaches down to just above his shoulders, though it varies in length depending on his current hairstyle.
162* PunnyName: His real name is a play on "stew pot".
163* ReallyGetsAround: If his multiple illegitimate children in Phase 2 are anything to go by.
164* RedOniBlueOni: The calm UnfazedEveryman to Murdoc's temperamental psychopath.
165* SanitySlippage: Phase 3. It did seem to make him a bit smarter, though.
166* SinisterSwitchblade: Develops a fondness for switchblades when he becomes a {{Jerkass}} during Phase 2, and is frequently shown flicking one in pictures.
167* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: The Sensitive Guy to Murdoc's Manly Man.
168* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: To a lesser extent than Murdoc, but he does seem to enjoy his hard-partying lifestyle and has a particular affinity for the "drugs" part. However, the "[=DoYaThing=]" video implies that he has grown weary of the decadence that the rockstar life brings, with his discovery of ''a bowl full of severed human ears'' in his kitchen on the morning after a huge house party barely phasing him anymore.
169* TheStoner: Along with being almost constantly high off of pain killers, a bong is visible in his room in both Kong Studios and Plastic Beach.
170* StraightMan: To Murdoc in Phase 3.
171* TakeMyHand: Does this for Murdoc at the end of the music video for "The Lost Chord," saving him from sinking with the remnants of [[spoiler:Plastic Beach,]] when everyone else was [[TheFriendNobodyLikes fully willing to leave him behind.]] It's notably one of the only instances in the band's canon where 2-D doing something nice for Murdoc ''hasn't'' come back to [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished bite him in the ass.]]
172* TheTeamNormal: Murdoc is an insane criminal mastermind who is quite possibly the AntiChrist, Noodle is a genetically engineered SuperSoldier, Russel is possessed by demons on a regular basis and later becomes a giant and 2D is... a slow-witted, extremely unlucky guy.
173* ThoseTwoGuys: Quickly became this with Murdoc. While character interactions were tested out between the entire band early on, it became clear that none of them had nearly as good back and forth as them. By Phase 2 it's much more likely to see them together than apart because of this.
174* ThrowTheDogABone: Compared to the misadventures experienced by his bandmates, his intermission between Phase 1 and 2 was practically a vacation. And while he did spend months marooned on what he thought was a desert island after the events of ''Plastic Beach'', it turned out he was actually in Guadalupe, New Mexico and was able to enjoy a massive rave when the tourists started coming in before heading back to London with the prize money from placing third in a WetTShirtContest. Contrast that to Noodle's accidental releasing of a demon into the Japanese criminal underground and how Murdoc and Russel spent much of the interim in captivity.
175* TokenGoodTeammate: Becomes this in Phase 3, though it's not exactly hard to do when your other two bandmates are [[PsychopathicManchild Murdoc]] and [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Cyborg Noodle.]]
176* TookALevelInBadass:
177** In Phase 3, after his initial complete mental breakdown, 2D becomes a lot more active, actually attacking Murdoc, hijacking boats and subs and continuously attempting to kill the whale through ThePowerOfRock.
178** Promotional materials for ''The Now Now'' have also suggested that he has stepped up as TheLeader of the band in Murdoc's absence and has finally found motivation and drive in the form of attempting to inspire positive societal change across the world. You can see the change in his demeanour in the music videos for "Humility" and "Tranz" where he seems much more cool and collected than when he was under Murdoc's thumb.
179* TookALevelInJerkass: In Phase 2, where he fathers several illegitimate children, frequently brandishes switch blades and has overall become much cockier. He even makes a few (terrible) attempts at picking on Murdoc, only to immediately back down and return to worshiping him. He was perpetually agitated during Phase 3, [[JustifiedTrope though considering the only character he was shown interacting with was]] [[{{Jerkass}} Murdoc]], it's hard to tell if he was like that with everyone. In Phase 4 he acquired some self-confidence that borders on arrogance, though for the most part its just posturing.
180* UndyingLoyalty: Towards Murdoc, big time. 2D will gladly give Murdoc anything he needs, be it a home, money or his internal organs because Murdoc "saved his life".
181** Seemingly gone by Phase 3, but revealed to still be there somewhere in [="DoYaThing"=], where 2D lets Murdoc live at his house ''and'' still hopes that they can someday be real friends.
182** Phase 4 has it back in full force, as while 2D isn't ''quite'' as much of a pushover around Murdoc as he's previously been, he's still more than happy to work as the bassist's personal butler/maid/pet at almost all times.
183** In Phase 5 however, Murdoc is in jail and 2D could not be happier for it. In fact, he is very vocal about not wanting him back on the band reminding supporters of Murdoc every one of the terrible things that he has done to him and the others.
184** In Phase 6 he's become the only member of the band who's still willing to give Murdoc the time of day, and in the [[WhamEpisode season finale]] for Season One of ''Song Machine,'' is also the only one who comes back for Murdoc as [[spoiler:Plastic Beach]] sinks into the depths of the ocean.
185* UnfazedEveryman: Part of 2D's humor is that he's a (relatively) normal guy surrounded by insane supernatural phenomena and only reacts to it with mild confusion at least, complete indifference at most.
186* UnfortunateNames: His original surname was "Tusspot", before his father, undoubtedly having endured a hell of a lifetime, had it legally shortened to "Pot" shortly after Stu's birth. Even then, he's still nicknamed "Stu-Pot". ("Tosspot" is an old term for an alcoholic.)
187* UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: A rare platonic example in Phase 3. He spent Phase 1 and 2 constantly pestering Murdoc, who wanted nothing to do with him, but it's the other way around throughout ''Plastic Beach''. It gets flipped around again by Phase 5, where 2D spends most of the album staunchly anti-Murdoc until the last few songs in which he appears to begrudgingly admit that he needs Murdoc in his life, no matter how much pain he puts him through.
188* VitriolicBestBuds: Type 1, with Murdoc and ''how''. In Phase 3, they tend to slide towards type 2, since 2D gathered the courage to insult Murdoc. Their relationship seems to have mostly returned to "normal" by Phase 4, though 2D is still much more willing to give as good as he gets when Murdoc puts him down than he was in the past.
189* VocalDissonance: His tall, lean figure, distant expression, and pitch black eyes match Damon Albarn's voice quite well. His speaking voice, on the other hand, is the most high pitched and hilarious cockney accent you'll ever hear in your life. Removed by Phase 3, where ArtEvolution has made his appearance fit his speaking voice quite well. Coincidentally, Phase 3 is the Phase where he's shown singing on screen the least.
190* VocalEvolution: His voice has been getting deeper since ''Music/DemonDaysAlbum''. This goes for both his singing and his speaking voice
191* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: He's deathly terrified of whales. This was used against him by Murdoc in Phase 3, where he hired a gigantic whale known as Massive Dick to patrol Plastic Beach to keep 2D from trying escape. His fear proved to be justified, as Massive ''ate'' him during the pirate attack that destroyed Plastic Beach. He may have overcome his fear, as he was forced to live off of Massive's carcass meat for several months when he became stranded on (what he thought was) a deserted island.
192[[/folder]]
193
194[[folder:Murdoc]]
195
196!!Murdoc Niccals
197
198[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/01a5197a_82fb_4ead_9d51_8236cde2392b.jpeg]]
199 [[caption-width-right:350:Murdoc as of Phase 6]]
200[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 5]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/574006a1_19de_450d_917e_bd07600f5949.jpeg]][[/labelnote]]
201[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 4]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/033347be_f7a4_4058_9572_557a0cab57c6.png]][[/labelnote]]
202[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 3]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3576701a_d353_451a_9317_2371949c1306.jpeg]][[/labelnote]]
203[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 2]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3a48d8ec_35f8_4e74_874f_e6ac15713263.jpeg]][[/labelnote]]
204[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 1]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1180365934_9809.jpg]][[/labelnote]]
205
206->'''Voiced by:''' Phil Cornwell (speaking voice), Damon Albarn ("Saturnz Barz" only) (singing voice)
207
208->''"Kids, eh? Little treasures. I love them. Couldn't eat a whole one, though."''
209
210Murdoc himself states that if you Website/{{Google}} his name, the first three words to pop up will be "sexy, edgy, dangerous". [[note]]They won't be.[[/note]] A more fitting choice would probably be "immoral, egotistical, hygiene-lacking". Murdoc has provoked both the birth and the demise of the band. While he hasn't been quite right in the head since the band's creation, Phase 3 has only been proving his derangement. As of early 2018, he's doing time. In the band, he focuses on playing the bass guitar, but he has also contributed with minor instruments.
211----
212* AbortedArc: Anything pertaining to his immortality and his possible status as TheAntiChrist was quietly dropped between Phases 3 and 4.
213* AbnormalLimbRotationRange: Is shown rotating his head an entire 360 degrees during a live performance of "Clint Eastwood".
214* AbusiveParents: Murdoc's father forced him to participate in embarrassing talent contests for [[ComicallySmallBribe a couple of pounds]]. Murdoc believes that he would have sold him on Ebay as a baby if the internet existed at the time.
215* AffablyEvil: While Murdoc is a horrible, horrible person, there's no denying that he's extremely charming.
216* TheAlcoholic: Was always one, but goes a step beyond in Phase 3, which he begins drunk off his ass and only gets more pissed as it progresses.
217* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: He's been turning green more as the Phases go by -- this is explained as his tanning turning him green, possibly as a side-effect of his deal with the devil.
218* AmbiguouslyHuman: Murdoc was always vile looking, but he originally has tan skin and was clearly human. By Phase 3 he has bright green skin, pointed ears and generally barely looks human anymore. The reveal that he's possibly TheAntiChrist might have something to do with it.
219* TheAntiChrist: Phase 3 raises the possibility that he's this. He's extremely excited at the prospect.
220* AntiHero: Besides being one of the protagonists, he doesn't really give the audience any reasons to root for him, and is generally a horrible person.
221* AntiRoleModel: He is an unhygienic satanist and a womanizer who treats people like shit. Hardly someone worth looking up to.
222* TheAtoner: Has become a ''very'' minor example in Phase 4. While he has no regrets about most of the horrible things he's done across his life, he expresses genuine disgust with himself over the way he treated women in the past, and has grown into perhaps the world's most unexpected feminist as a result.
223* AttentionWhore: Murdoc demands to be in the spotlight and will frequently attack or belittle 2D whenever the latter begins hogging his screen time.
224** {{Irony}}: The biggest attention whore of the band is the [[NobodyLovesTheBassist bassist]].
225* TheBadGuyWins: In a roundabout sort of way. ''Cracker Island'' has the band being arrested following the evens of ''Silent Running'', meaning the Last Cult will most likely be disbanded. Murdoc, however, manages to evade arrest and successfully resurrects the female leader of the Forever Cult, whom he hooks up with. [[spoiler:Ultimately subverted as, according to [[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XbJ-5d1YVI8 The Hollywood Ending]], Moon Flower shortly crumbled to dust, rendering his escape all for nought. He does keep her ashes in an urn, though.]]
226* BeardOfEvil: Downplayed; in Phase 2, Murdoc has faint hints of a mustache and goatee, and he has a bit of noticeable PermaStubble during the G-Shock promos.
227* BestialityIsDepraved: The music video for [="DoYaThing"=] [[{{Squick}} implies this]] -- on the other hand, if an old poster and Murdoc's Satanism is anything to go by, he might just be sacrificing the goat.
228* BigBad: While there are a few villains the band have been forced to encounter over the years, Murdoc is always the instigator of the conflict to the point where every problem the band faces can be linked back to him. The revelation that he has apparently been the cause of every major disaster throughout history also means he's one to humanity as a whole.
229* BigBrotherMentor: 2D used to view him as one [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter for some reason]], which he took advantage of frequently. He was actually something of this to Noodle when she was younger.
230* BlackCloak: Took to wearing one of these for the majority of Phase 2, [[PurpleIsTheNewBlack though it is often drawn as purple.]]
231* BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine: He forms a rare western one with 2D in which he generally plays the very violent tsukkomi.
232* CardCarryingVillain: Murdoc revels in all manner of abuse, depravity, and outright super-villainy; he considers his brief stint as the Antichrist a great badge of honour. Damon and Jamie have both claimed that he's a villain through and through, and while they may play up his sympathetic traits occasionally, they have no intention of giving him a typical "redemption arc".
233* CloudCuckooLander: Some interviews, particularly around Phase 4, portray him as an absolute nutjob incapable of holding a normal conversation without convulsing wildly or going on bizarre tangents.
234* CreepyChild: In the artwork of his pre-adolescent self, he looks pretty evil. His school bully, Tony Chopper even described him as a "creepy little runt".
235* CreatorBreakdown: InUniverse example. Both him and 2-D suffer this during the creation of the ''Music/{{Plastic Beach}}'' album, with 2-D having a [[HeroicBSOD full-on mental breakdown]] and Murdoc undergoing severe SanitySlippage, with his propensity for consuming [[DrowningMySorrows larger and larger amounts of alcohol]] as their situation gets [[FromBadToWorse worse and worse]] certainly not helping matters.
236* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: He may come off as a cruel but ultimately harmless thug most of the time, and has gotten [[OneHitKO knocked unconscious by a single punch]] from [[GentleGiant Russel]], but do ''not'' underestimate Murdoc. When he makes an enemy, he will ''always'' get the last laugh. Always. Even if that enemy happens to be the government, the mob, or the entire forces of Hell.
237* TheDandy: A strange case, as he's incredibly unhygienic. Despite this, his fashion sense has a distinct effete and flamboyant flair to it, including such things as high heels and capes, and he always carries himself with a swaggering charisma. Paula actually describes him as one when talking about why she decided to cheat on 2D with him.
238* DarkAndTroubledPast: He had a severely messed up childhood. He was abandoned on his father's doorstep as a baby, forced to participate in talent shows for measly amounts of money to pay for his dad's drinking habit, was beat up by his brother Hannibal and Hannibal's friends, got bullied in school, and was [[RapeAsBackstory sexually abused by a dinner lady when he was nine]].
239* DarkerAndEdgier: Phase 2 sees him go from a {{Jerkass}} and petty criminal to an EvilGenius at war with an entire Mexican drug cartel. Phase 3 sees him go beyond even this and become a straight-up super villain and possible harbinger of the apocalypse.
240* DarkIsEvil: He generally dresses in dark clothes and he's most definitely evil.
241* ADayInTheLimelight: Phase 3 is more or less his solo album. As a result, he eclipses the other three in screen time by a sizable margin throughout it.
242* DealWithTheDevil: Murdoc earned the success of Gorillaz for the price of his soul and his middle name, which he legally changed from Alphonse to Myth/{{Faust}} as a symbol of the contract.
243* DepravedBisexual: He'd deny it if asked when sober, but it's pretty obvious that Murdoc isn't exactly picky when it comes to sex.
244* DirtyCoward: He abandoned Plastic Beach to London after the events of ''Rhinestone Eyes'', covering it up by faking his death.
245* DoorstopBaby: Was abandoned in front of his father's house as an infant.
246* DrivesLikeCrazy: As seen in ''19-2000'' and ''Stylo''.
247* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference: If you're used to his green skin and more 'greasy' depiction in later Phases, it can be weird going back to Phase 1 and remembering what he started out looking like.
248* EmeraldPower: His skeen started to consistently be depicted as green during Phase 3, the same phase where he's built up to be some kind of immortal {{AntiChrist}}-like figure. Even when the later phases step away from this, his green skin is still a good indicator of his fondness for performing occult rituals.
249* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He did seem worried when he discovered that pirates attacking the real Noodle during ''On Melancholy Hill'', and he hurried to help her straight away. Generally, no matter what Phase it is, [[MoralityChain Noodle is the only one who can truly get him to act decently]].
250* EvenEvilHasStandards:
251** In the interviews, he spoke about "the Boogieman taking the poor manatee", and he was visibly shocked when he was exposed to it in the video.
252** During the "Stylo" video, he tries to keep Cyborg Noodle from shooting the innocent cop who's chasing them for speeding, and for a few seconds seems as dismayed as 2D is when said cop runs off the road and crashes. He also made a hand motion to cop, indicating that he was going to pull over for him had Cyborg Noodle not fired.
253** According to an interview with 2D, he's apparently fond of animals, stating that when he used to force him to dress up as a fox and hunt him around the woods with a crossbow, the only reason for it was that he would never hurt a ''real'' fox.
254** He's recently revealed that he's grown ashamed of the way that he has treated women throughout his life and has become a genuine feminist in an attempt to make up for it.
255** Despite being a horrible person who constantly puts his teammates in danger through recklessness and poorly thought ideas, even Murdoc is freaked out by Noodle's DrivesLikeCrazy antics in the music video for "Valley of the Pagans".
256* EvilGenius: While his pig-headed personality and tendency to be drunk during interviews may hide this, Murdoc is without a doubt incredibly smart, building high-tech super soldiers with relative ease and outsmarting police, drug lords, mobs, pirates, demons and much, much more on a regular basis.
257* EvilMentor: 2D was a perfectly nice guy before he met Murdoc, who exposed him to the world of SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll along with many other horrors.
258* FauxAffablyEvil: He has moments in the ''iTunes Session'' where he comes across as charming and insightful. Then his interactions with 2D remind us of how much of a bastard he is.
259* FemmeFatalons: Despite being a man, his fingernails are clearly going for this.
260* FiftiesHair: Sports a slick-looking pompadour in the G-Shock tie-in videos.
261* {{Foil}}: Becomes progressively more of one to 2D as time goes on. 2D is stupid, has horrendous luck, no spine and is a generally nice person while Murdoc is a [[EvilGenius genius]], [[KarmaHoudini escapes all punishments with a slap on the wrist]], refuses to back down during conflict, and is a despicable human being all around. To further this, 2D comes from a relatively normal family with two loving parents while Murdoc comes from a broken home with an abusive father.
262** His dealings with the supernatural also contrast Russel's - Murdoc ''willingly'' made a DealWithTheDevil for fame and fortune, while a personal tragedy resulted in Russel getting ''unwillingly'' possessed by the souls of his murdered friends, Del being one of them.
263* FreudianExcuse: He blames his father for the way he is. Whether or not this justifies his behavior is up to you.
264* TheFriendNobodyLikes: The band's fondness of him has gradually cooled over the course of the Phases. He has certainly achieved this status with his other bandmates by Phase 6 (except maybe 2-D), and it absolutely ''devastates'' him when they all leave him behind to go have fun together in the "Désolé" music video, to the point of [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness curling up in the fetal position on the couch and breaking down sobbing when he realizes.]] Considering his frequently terrible behavior, it isn't exactly a surprising outcome that after over 20 years of it the band is rather fed up with him never making much of an effort to change.
265* GadgeteerGenius: Despite having no knowledge of robotics, Murdoc created a physically identical robotic super soldier clone of Noodle with relative ease.
266* GenreSavvy: In the "Saturnz Barz" video:
267--> '''Russel''': We should [[LetsSplitUpGang split up and take a look around]].
268-->'''Murdoc''': Great idea, Russ! [[SarcasmMode Always works out well in horror movies]].
269* GiftedlyBad: His singing voice was described as sounding like a strangled cow.
270* GreaserDelinquents: Murdoc dresses as one during the band’s G-Shock promotion, complete with blue jeans, a black leather jacket, and a pompadour.
271* GreenAndMean: Sports green skin as of Phase 3 and is... not very pleasant, to say the least.
272* GreenIsGross: He's the least hygenic member [[TrashOfTheTitans of a generally unhygenic band]] and sports bright green skin to indicate just how filthy he is.
273* HeelRealization: Phase 6 seems to put him through one, as he is faced with the results of some of his worst actions, and struggles with the band no longer being as under his thumb as before. "The Lost Chord" music video shows him witnessing Plastic Beach's destruction, waking up with the mask of The Boogeyman on his face, seeing the dead Cyborg Noodle (which actually brings him to ''tears''), and being seemingly left behind by the band...only for [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther 2D to come back for him at the last moment]].
274* HeroicComedicSociopath: Murdoc's frequently awful behavior is frequently [[PlayedForLaughs played for laughs]] more often than not, though some of his more reprehensible actions (like kidnapping 2-D for the Plastic Beach album) do tend to take the "comedic" part out of the equation, and are played for quite a bit of [[NightmareFuel Nightmare Fuel.]]
275* HeterosexualLifePartners: A twisted example with 2D. Over time, he has developed a bizarre co-dependence with the singer, but he remains incredibly abusive towards him nonetheless.
276* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: See AbusiveParents.
277* HumanoidAbomination: May or may not be one of these, if his stories are true.
278* IAmTheBand: Has said "It's my band!" repeatedly from the beginning and he means it. By Phase 3, the band essentially ''is'' just him.
279* IKnowMortalKombat: If the Commentary Edition of the "Stylo" video is to be believed, Murdoc never took any driving lessons, which explains his DrivesLikeCrazy tendencies. He claims to have picked up driving from ''VideoGame/MarioKart.''
280* ImmuneToDrugs: Murdoc has been chugging bottle after bottle of rum since ''Plastic Beach'', and he's still alive.
281* ItsAllAboutMe: More or less incapable of thinking about anything unrelated to himself. [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes When it comes to Noodle, however...]]
282* {{Jerkass}}: In Phase 1. By Phase 2, he's more straight up evil than a jerk. It's a wonder how his bandmates put up with him all the time. By Phase 3, they don't, and he's forced to take more extreme measures to have them keep working with him.
283* JerkassHasAPoint: As pointed out in his above mentioned GenreSavvy moment, splitting up in a creepy old house you just wandered into isn’t a very intelligent idea, ahem [[GenreBlind Russel]]!
284* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He alternates between this and JerkWithAHeartOfJerk. The former mainly applies to [[MoralityChain Noodle]], though he's not ''completely'' incapable of also acting like one towards his other two bandmates.
285* KarmaHoudini: He's been arrested a few times, but he's always made it out no worse for wear. Gets taken to extremes in Phase 3, where ''the forces of Hell'' finally come after him only for him to escape unscathed.
286* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: Between Phases 3 and 4, the authorities finally caught up to him after the destruction of Plastic Beach and he spent time between Phases 3 and 4 in prison before he was released into the care of the bandmates he so terribly neglected and abused. Then, in Phase 4, he was captured by EMI and forced to produce a new album against his will to earn his freedom. He has since lost much of his bite and even his bullying of 2D has been reduced to wry low-key insults. He then spent most of 2018 in jail [[NotMeThisTime for something he didn't do.]]
287* KavorkaMan: Whereas 2D is considered attractive in-universe, Murdoc is frequently described as being gross and strange-looking. Despite this, he gets plenty of tail and has a massive female fanbase in real life.
288* KickTheDog: His speciality when it comes to his horrible treatment of 2D. A great example is in the music video for "[=DoYaThing=]", where he violently smacks 2D with a shoe for no reason whatsoever, all while 2D was naively reading a comic where Murdoc and he are lovey-dovey friends.
289* KubrickStare: A specialty of his. If he isn't giving a manic smile, he's giving one of these. Sometimes he does both at once.
290* LargeHam: Slips into this mode quite often.
291* LaserGuidedKarma: Phase 3's story involves him kidnapping musicians and forcing them to produce an album against their will to earn their freedom. Phase 4's story begins with him being captured by EMI and forced to produce a new album against his will to earn his freedom.
292* LazyBum: In the "[=DoYaThing=]" video, Murdoc is shown using a chairlift to get down the stairs despite having no mobility problems whatsoever.
293* TheLeader: For better or worse, he's the band's co-founder and most consistent (or at least [[AttentionWhore most vocal]]) creative force; he also seems to be the most involved with contract negotiation and PR. Downplayed somewhat from ''Humanz'' onward, where [[CharacterDevelopment the other three have settled more confidently into their roles as contributors]] and [[TookALevelInKindness he's lost a bit of his teeth]], and completely gone during the release of ''The Now Now'', where his arrest ended up pushing 2D into temporarily stepping up as leader.
294* LeadBassist: A Band Frontman since he's the co-founder, as well as a major AttentionWhore. His actions also generally tend to drive the plot more than the other three's do.
295* MadScientist: Without any knowledge of robotics, Murdoc ''created a cyborg from an actual person's DNA''.
296* MrFanservice: He ''tries'' to be one. Whether his shirtless scenes and bass gyrating are hot or [[FanDisservice kinda gross]] is up to the viewer. He appears completely nude in the video for Phase 4's "Saturnz Barz", and it was ''[[MaleFrontalNudity uncensored]]'' until [=YouTube=] cracked down and it was blurred. Back in Phase 1, he also stripped off in a proposed video for "5/4", which only reached the animatic stage.
297* NobodyLovesTheBassist: In-universe, he's the least popular member of the band due to his grotesque mannerisms and genuinely awful personality.
298* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: He's modelled after a young Music/KeithRichards and is often compared to him. Also doubles as a CelebrityParadox, as Murdoc, who is at least partially a Keith Richards parody, ostensibly inhabits the same universe as the real Keith Richards.
299* NoodlePeople: Not nearly to the same degree as 2D, as he tends to be drawn with more defined muscles and a noticeable beer gut, but he's still very lean.
300* NotAllowedToGrowOld: Averted. Despite debuting in his mid-thirties, he has visibly become middle-aged (he is 50 years old by the time phase 4 rolls round), with his skin becoming increasingly more wrinkled and his hair graying as time has gone on. He has also slipped in and out of possessing a beer gut.
301* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The band's surprise trip to [[spoiler:Plastic Beach]] during the music video for [[WhamEpisode "The Lost Chord"]] absolutely strips Murdoc of all his usual ego and bravado, leaving him alternating between [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone teary-eyed misery]] and [[WideEyesAndShrunkenIrises wide-eyed,]] [[OhCrap speechless panic.]] Out of all the band members, who otherwise react with a mixture of resigned sadness and bitterness, he certainly takes the situation the worst. Considering that [[spoiler:Plastic Beach]] practically acts as a monument to some of Murdoc's worst and most cruel acts both InUniverse and out, this reaction is rather understandable.
302* OurZombiesAreDifferent: He's been described as an immortalist that has been around for so long that his body is now [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cltJP71V_I "a rotting carcass of a human being"]] by Jamie Hewlett.
303* OverlyLongTongue: Claims that [[Music/{{KISS}} Gene Simmons]] ripped off his tongue.
304* ThePigpen: Personal hygiene is... not one of his strong suits. His Winnebago on the inside is a right mess.
305* PromiscuityAfterRape: He was sexually assaulted as a child, and as an adult, he has had a lot of sexual partners; one of his most consistent traits is that he's a very sexually driven individual.
306* PuttingOnTheReich: Wears an SS uniform in the "Fancy Dress" G-Bite, to Russel's chagrin.
307* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: He ''tried'' doing this in Phase 3 after the "death" of Noodle in Phase 2. The only band member that he succeeded in getting back to record for the new album was 2D, and even that he only managed to do through force.
308* RapeAsBackstory: Mentioned in several interviews and ''Rise of the Ogre'', when Murdoc was nine he was assaulted by a dinner lady at his school.
309* RedEyesTakeWarning: [[DependingOnTheArtist It comes and goes]], but Murdoc is usually drawn with one of his eyes being an evil red.
310* {{Reincarnation}}: [[UnreliableNarrator If Murdoc is correct,]] he has lived at least 14 times since the beginning of time. He claims to remember some details of his past lives, such as The Great Fire of London (which he started by flicking a cigarette out a carriage window), Roman times and being personally acquainted with Isambard Kingdom Brunel (whom he loved, because of his hat). How or why he keeps being brought back has not been explained yet [[AbortedArc and probably never will.]]
311* ReallyGetsAround: He's had many, many sexual partners. Countless women have gone on record stating that he stole their wallets after sleeping with them.
312* Really700YearsOld: He has apparently existed since the beginning of time.
313* RedOniBlueOni: The hyper-aggressive Red Oni to the passive 2D's Blue Oni.
314* ResurrectiveImmortality: He has apparently been around since the dawn of time, though he has a definite birthdate and we've seen pictures of him as a baby. His body is simply reborn every time he dies in an increasing state of decay.
315* SanitySlippage: Gets more and more corrupt and unstable with each passing Phase. By Phase 3, a game seems to have been made about seeing just how incomprehensible Murdoc can become.
316* SandInMyEyes: Whenever Murdoc gets teary-eyed, he blames his allergies or says that it's "eyeball sweat".
317* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Manly man to 2D's sensitive guy, though only in terms of sensitivity and temperament, as he's pretty foppish and effeminate himself.
318* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: He fits the lifestyle best out of all the Gorillaz, much like his [[Music/KeithRichards primary real life inspiration.]]
319* SignatureLaugh: A throaty guffaw, which can be heard in almost every interview and media appearance. Occasionally, it devolves into random grunts and groans that don't even sound like noises a human can make.
320* SignificantAnagram: Prior to changing it to {{Myth/Faust}} as part of his DealWithTheDevil, Murdoc's middle name was Alphonse. '''M'''urdoc '''A'''lphonse '''N'''iccals. WordOfGod states that had Phase 3 not been CutShort, he would've been confirmed to be the AntiChrist: the embodiment of all of mankind's sin destined to bring about the end of the world. The "MAN" referred to in ''THE BOOK OF MAN'' that prophecizes the end of all life is him.
321* SignificantBirthDate: He's a Satanist and possibly TheAntichrist, and was born on [[NumberOfTheBeast June 6, 1966]].
322* SlasherSmile: A master of giving these. When he bares his teeth, it can be ''very'' unsettling.
323* SmokyVoice: [[MrViceGuy A frequent smoker,]] Murdoc tends to slip into this during interviews. Tends to overlap with EvilSoundsRaspy, because Murdoc isn't [[KickTheDog usually on his best behavior during said interviews.]]
324* SmugSnake: While Murdoc genuinely ''is'' a talented musician, he'd be nothing if not for the other three's contributions to the band. Despite this, he is insistent that he is the sole creative force behind it.
325* SociopathicHero: Has ''very'' little empathy for others, and is willing to do plenty of horrible things to help himself get ahead in life.
326* SpotlightStealingSquad: He enforces it to the point where he starts to get violent when 2D starts hogging his screen time.
327* StealingTheCredit: Before ''The Fall'', Murdoc made it a habit to try and claim that every album his band made was his sole creative invention; the first was heavily influenced by Russel's (at the time) superior musical expertise, ''Music/DemonDaysAlbum'' was masterminded by Noodle, and the third owed most of its brilliance to the musicians that Murdoc kidnapped and invited to Plastic Beach.
328* StepUpToTheMicrophone: "White Light" apparently, though it wasn't so much sung as whisper-rapped. He also gets to sing with Damon Albarn's voice in "Saturnz Barz"... while hovering naked in outer space.
329* StrawNihilist: He often espouses very pessimistic views about humanity and our future on this planet, with Plastic Beach being the metaphorical "end of the road" for where we're going as a species, though he mainly uses nihilism as an excuse for his unpleasant and hedonistic behaviour.
330* TakeMyHand: 2-D does this for him at the end of the music video for "The Lost Chord," saving him from sinking with the remnants of [[spoiler:Plastic Beach.]] His look of [[WhenHeSmiles disbelieving joy]] at the sight is notably one of the only times he's ever genuinely let out a smile that doesn't fall into SlasherSmile or PsychoticSmirk territory, [[SugarWiki/{{CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming}} and is absolutely wonderful to see.]]
331* TallDarkAndHandsome: During Phase 1, which may explain his success with the ladies. Phased out over time, to the point where he looks like a gargoyle nowadays.
332* TeethClenchedTeamwork: He and Russel sincerely hate each other, but both acknowledge the other's skill as a musician.
333* ThoseTwoGuys: Quickly became this with 2D due to the immediate chemistry their characters shared. By Phase 2, they were rarely ever seen apart.
334* TokenEvilTeammate: While his bandmates are all flawed, they're also each fundamentally good people. Murdoc, on the other hand, is rather obviously very evil.
335* TookALevelInKindness: In Phase 4. While he's still a generally horrible human being, he seems to have backed down on the genuine super villainy that he pulled off in Phase 3. He's also cleaned up his act around women. In Phase 6, he [[https://twitter.com/MurdocGorillaz/status/1235614708343980033 states on his Twitter account he's "changed,"]] but considering his past actions that can be taken with a grain of salt. If anything, he's settling on being a (slightly less malicious) trouble-making goofball.
336* ToxicFriendInfluence: Supposedly, 2D was a fairly good kid before meeting him.
337* TrrrillingRrrs: When he's feeling hammy, he's prone to doing this.
338* UncleanlinessIsNextToUngodliness: He has a rather bad sense of personal hygiene, and he's generally a very, very unpleasant person to be around. Oh, and he may also be the Antichrist.
339* UngratefulBastard: 2D really would've been better off not giving Murdoc a motorcycle ride in ''Aries''.
340* UnreliableNarrator: He keeps changing his stance and role in the ''El Mañana'' conspiracy, as well as what actually happened to Noodle.
341** After ''Cracker Island'', he takes over the band's social media platforms to frame the rest of the group as not in their right minds, with whatever criminal activity allegedly taking place during or leading up to the events of the music video as AllPartOfTheShow.
342* UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: A platonic example with 2D in Phase 3. He spends Phases 1 and 2 constantly getting pestered by 2D, and ends up doing the same to him throughout ''Plastic Beach''. It gets flipped around again by Phase 5, where 2D spends most of the album staunchly anti-Murdoc until the last few songs in which he appears to begrudgingly admit that he needs Murdoc in his life, no matter how much pain he puts him through.
343* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Murdoc is a terrible person, but also a very amusing one.
344* VillainProtagonist: He was an asshole in Phase 1 but he was at least relatively harmless and showed some level of compassion toward Noodle. By Phase 3 he's lost any remotely positive trait that he previously possessed. Dialed back from Phase 4 onwards where, while still a horrible person, he no longer seems to be getting up to much criminal scheming.
345* VitriolicBestBuds: Type 1 with 2D before Phase 3, where it slid into Type 2. Since then its mostly returned to normal, to how it used to be, if perhaps a bit less one-sided and antagonistic.
346* WalkingShirtlessScene: He's seen without a shirt almost as often as he's seen with one.
347* WhenHeSmiles: Murdoc's look of absolute joy at the end of the music video for "The Lost Chord" [[TakeMyHand when 2-D comes back for him]] [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther has to be seen to be believed.]]
348* YoungerThanTheyLook: Murdoc's substance abuse and terrible hygiene make him look significantly older than he is. He looked like he could be in his late forties in Phase 2 when he was still in his thirties.
349[[/folder]]
350
351[[folder:Noodle]]
352
353!!Noodle
354
355[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/29bdd013_5eae_4199_8211_a0bf8055ee69.jpeg]]
356[[caption-width-right:350:Noodle as of Phase 6]]
357
358[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 5]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f1de3bba_7a26_4f6f_8e9a_0c5c7444a647.png]][[/labelnote]]
359[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 4]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/031abfe3_5f19_4fa9_a289_30376eeb0935.jpeg]][[/labelnote]]
360[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 3]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a6c280e5_e2ba_4e0f_b272_ffc7d151840b.jpeg]][[/labelnote]]
361[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 2]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/010c2f1b_7653_4ce3_89b6_8a774c3c4280.jpeg]][[/labelnote]]
362[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 1]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1180365954_4911.jpg]][[/labelnote]]
363
364
365->'''Voiced by:''' Haruka Kuroda (Phase 1 to Phase 4), Haruka Abe (Phase 5 onwards) (speaking voice), Damon Albarn ("Feel Good Inc" only), Rosie Wilson, Miho Hatori (singing voice)
366
367->''"Every great band is destroyed by their success. [[MediumAwareness Cartoon bands are no exception.]]"''
368
369A Japanese girl who arrived in a Fed Ex crate at age eight at Gorillaz' doorstep, not being able to speak a word in English [[note]]Aside from her own name, "noodle".[[/note]], [[ChildProdigy but playing the guitar like a virtuoso.]] Before the ''El Mañana'' incident, she was known for being very energetic and high-spirited, as well as being the smartest and most down-to-earth member of the band most of the time. As of the "El Mañana" video, she supposedly died, then turned up alive sometime after, but was dragged to Hell -- she officially came back as of ''On Melancholy Hill''. Sometime after the events of ''Rhinestone Eyes'', she was seen living in 212 Wobble Street, London, with the rest of her bandmates in [="DoYaThing"=].
370----
371* TheAce: Being a genetically-engineered super soldier, she was trained to excel at everything, from music to languages.
372* AllAsiansKnowMartialArts: While stereotypical, her martial arts skill mostly derives from her super-soldier training in her backstory.
373* AnimalMotif: Begins developing a light cat motif from ''Humanz'' onward, with a few of her outfits sporting cat ears and/or tails.
374* ArtShift: Briefly takes on the appearance of a ''{{Franchise/Peanuts}}'' character in the "PAC-MAN" music video, [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment without any explanation]].
375* BadassAdorable: When she was a kid/preteen in Phases 1 and 2, she was really cute yet also very athletic, going as far as to kick one of the zombie gorillas in "Clint Eastwood" (which Murdoc was struggling with). She's matured in Phases 3 and 4 but is still has her badass qualities.
376* BadassDriver: In Phase 4, she broke into Jaguar Racing's test track, took their Formula E racer for a joyride around the circuit, and beat the lap record.
377* {{Bifauxnen}}: In Phase 1 and to a much lesser extent Phase 2, her appearance is rather androgynous. Averted from Phase 3 onwards, where she is consistently drawn to be quite obviously female.
378* BlackBeadEyes: Only in Phase 1; the few times she widened her eyes showed that she possessed these.
379* BreakTheCutie: She was incredibly bubbly in Phase 1, and still cheerful in Phase 2. In Phase 3, she's almost never shown being happy since she's busy fighting for her life and had recently come back from the "dead". In Phase 4, with her troubles behind her and returning to a more stable life with her band members, she is shown to be happier.
380* CallingYourAttacks: During one of the Gorillaz Bitez shorts, Noodle does a flurry of kicks, punches, and jabs, while shouting them out to intimidate Russel.
381* CelibateHero: During a reddit AMA in 2017 to promote ''Humanz'', Noodle revealed that she isn't currently interested in dating anyone.
382* CheerfulChild: In Phase 1, she more or less constantly frolicked around madly without a care in the world.
383* CoolHelmet:
384** She nearly always wore her radio helmet in Phase 1, giving her a quirky edge.
385** In Phase 4, the driving helmet she wore when breaking Jaguar Racing's Formula 1 speed record thus becoming their Global Ambassador counted as one as well.
386* CoolMask: In Phase 3, she wore a mask with a cat face and ears. [[BeautyIsNeverTarnished Used to hide her bruised face.]]
387* CoolShades: By Phase 4, she has started wearing nifty-looking sunglasses.
388* CovertPervert: VERY subtly hinted at in "Humility." Her ''[[Franchise/HelloKitty Hello Kinky]]'' shirt features the implied mascot wearing a gimp's hood. Said logo also appeared on a shirt worn by 2D during Phase 1, though, so it may be intended as more of a MythologyGag than any kind of comment on Noodle's character.
389* CuteBruiser: She was originally trained to be a SuperSoldier and practiced martial arts.
390* DarkAndTroubledPast: Prior to joining Gorillaz, she was part of a Japanese government project which aimed to create 23 [[{{Tykebomb}} kid Super soldiers]], Noodle's specialty being music -- thus why she is very talented in playing numerous musical instruments. [[SoleSurvivor She was the only one of those children to survive]], while the remaining 22 were killed when the project was abandoned. She was rescued thanks to her creator, Mr. Kyuzo, who erased her memory -- leaving a trigger Phase, "ocean bacon" -- and escorted her to safety after reading the ad for a guitarist Murdoc placed online.
391* ADayInTheLimelight: Phase 2 explains her backstory, ''Demon Days'' was apparently mostly composed by her, and two videos -- "Dare" and "El Mañana" -- focus exclusively on her.
392* DisneyDeath: "El Mañana" has her floating island being bombed, but Phase 3 reveals that she survived the attack.
393* DoorstopBaby: Prior to Phase 1, her creator, Mr. Kyuzo, mailed her by parcel to Kong Studios to answer an online ad for a guitarist to protect her from being killed by the Japanese government when their {{Tykebomb}} project was scrapped.
394* DrivesLikeCrazy: Judging from the music video for "Valley of the Pagans," Noodle seems to have inherited this trait from her bandmates, to the point that her driving [[HorrifyingTheHorror actually freaks]] ''[[HorrifyingTheHorror Murdoc]]'' [[HorrifyingTheHorror out.]] The first thing she does when the gang gets launched out of a portal into the world of [[VideoGame/{{GrandTheftAutoV}} Los Santos]] is to crash the car that they're in, and she continually swerves about the road and speeds to the point that they get in ([[RunningGag yet]] [[CallBack another]]) police chase. One has to wonder if the portal dropping them all just outside of [[spoiler:Plastic Beach]] at the end of it was less random cruelty and more an act of mercy so that they wouldn't all get killed by her.
395* EveryonesBabySister: She's the youngest and only female member of the band and functions as the shared MoralityPet of the three older male members. When she's put in harm's way, even [[{{Jerkass}} Murdoc]] freaks out.
396* ExpositoryHairStyleChange: In some Phase 1 images she sported a ridiculous haircut, which emphasized her childishness and the fact that the other three weren't proper guardians. Her trendy bangs in Phase 2 shows her considerably grown maturity into a teenager, and the disappearance of them by Phase 4 when she’s an adult further this.
397* EyesAlwaysShut: Her eyes were often closed in Phases 1 and 2 -- she later averts this, with her eyes constantly shown in Phase 4.
398* EyesOutOfSight: She wore her bangs long in Phase 2, hiding her eyes majority of the time. She did not possess them in Phase 3, instead generally wearing a face-concealing mask. While she occasionally wears them in Phases 4 and 6, they are nowhere near as omnipresent as they were when she was a teen.
399* FanservicePack: After becoming a adult, artwork starts to play up her sex appeal quite a bit. A sharp contrast to the androgynous kid she started out as.
400* FriendToAllLivingThings: She had a pet dog in Phase 1, her monkey Mike in Phase 2, and now her [[KindheartedCatLover cat Katsu]] in Phase 4.
401* FunnyForeigner: In Phase 1, Noodle was a walking Asian stereotype mostly used for comic relief. Subsequent phases have steadily downplayed her stereotypical traits (such as her broken English, [[EyesAlwaysShut constantly slit eyes]] and FunnyBruceLeeNoises) into nonexistence.
402* GirlishPigtails: Wears a pair of very short ones in the "Saturnz Barz" music video, though it's mostly for fashion.
403* GratuitousJapanese: When she was introduced in Phase 1, Noodle spoke exclusively in Japanese, due to her lacking English speaking skills. She later shies away from this trope after becoming fluent in the language in Phase 2, though she still breaks into it if she's frustrated or angry.
404* HartmanHips: Her hips develop considerably by Phase 3.
405* TheHeart: After composing ''Music/DemonDaysAlbum'', everyone showed up in Kong at her mere word. Also, after her supposed death, the whole band split up and went their separate ways. For the third album, Murdoc only managed to get 2D, and even that he did by force.
406** In a meta sense, Noodle's appearance represents the theme of the Phase and the music.
407*** In Phase 1 she's an innocent kid with a backstory out of an anime, in line with the childish comic image of the band.
408*** In Phase 2 she's a teenager, much like the music, she's grown up and started taking herself more seriously.
409*** In Phase 3 when the music and story are at their darkest, she's thought to be dead for half of the Phase.
410*** In Phase 4 she's grown up, and laid back.
411* HumanMail: Arrived at Kong Studios pre- Phase 1 in a [=FedEx=] crate. In the backstory to Phase 4, she [[CallBack mailed herself the same way]] back to the band.
412* InexplicablyAwesome: In Phase 1, where her backstory was still unknown, she was a complete enigma. Back then, her obscenely prodigious guitar skills and talent for martial arts were simply chalked up to being because she was Noodle.
413* IntergenerationalFriendship: The bandmate closest to her in age is 2D, who is almost a full decade older than her. Despite this, she's quite close with all three of them.
414* LaserGuidedAmnesia: As noted in DarkAndTroubledPast, she had her memory of being a {{Tykebomb}} wiped by Mr. Kyuzo, who created the "ocean bacon" trigger phrase to reactivate her memories before shipping her off to Kong Studios to protect her from the Japanese government. She regains her memories between Phase 1 and 2 after hearing the aforementioned trigger phrase.
415* LikeBrotherAndSister: Noodle once described the three other members as brothers. In particular, her relationship with 2D is closer to one between siblings than the more parentally-oriented relationships she has with Murdoc and Russel, and she's described it as a "special zen bond". After Phase 4, she's constantly looking out for him in case he becomes a victim of one of Murdoc's schemes. She intervenes at the end of "PAC-MAN" by pulling the plug on 2D's game and forcing him to snap back away from embracing an unhealthy form of escapism.
416* MeaningfulName: Racial stereotypes aside noodling is a common practice of guitar players during warm ups.
417* MessyHair: Similar to 2D her hair is in a spiky uneven messy style.
418* MoralityChain: To Murdoc. During her disappearance in Phase 3, almost every hint of goodness inside of him disappeared.
419* MsFanservice: Ever since hitting puberty, she's begun wearing outfits that accentuate her figure. Played up especially in Phase 4, where more and more pictures have emphasized her legs and thighs.
420* NiceJobBreakingItHero: After Phase 3, she wound up separated from the group and ended up living with an elderly fisherwoman... and wound up freeing an ancient demon by accident when she thought she had found treasure to repay her. Thankfully, [[OffWithHisHead she corrected this mistake.]]
421* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: From Phase 4 onwards her style often channels that of Music/{{Bjork}}.
422* NoodlePeople: No pun intended. Not quite to the same degree as 2D as she's developed some curves over time, but she's still twig-thin.
423* NotSoAboveItAll: She came off as pretty mature in Phase 2, when she was a teenager. Despite this, [[https://youtu.be/2mL19xFGkIo?t=267 her reaction]] to Murdoc bringing a camera crew into a room during the "MTV Cribs" segment shows her age.
424-->'''Noodle:''' IS MY ROOM! GET OUT, GET OUT! ''(throws Game Boy at the camera)''
425* {{Omniglot}}: As part of her super-soldier training, she was taught to be fluent in every language, although she lost her language skills until she regained her memory between Phases 1 and 2.
426* OneOfTheBoys: While she's hardly unfeminine, Noodle spends most of her time with her three male bandmates. Though she is generally shown to have the most intellectual and refined interests of the group, she also seems to genuinely enjoy partaking in the same crass hobbies that the three men do.
427* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: She's still known only as Noodle, as far as anyone knows.
428* OnlySaneWoman: In Phase 2, she was the most sensible out of everyone else. Averted in other phases -- she was pretty wacky herself in Phase 1, she's not around enough in Phase 3 to count, and everyone's mostly calmed down in Phase 4.
429* OutOfFocus: She has much less of a presence in Phase 3 due to spending most of it away from the rest of the band. Despite this, though, it's clear that she was going to play a very important role during the phase's second half... [[WhatCouldHaveBeen which never got made]].
430* PerpetualFrowner: On the occasions where her face (or at least her mouth) was shown during Phase 3, she always sported a melancholy frown. Averted in Phase 4, where she frequently gives off the same cheeky grins that she did during the first two Phases.
431* PersonOfMassDestruction: She was originally created with the intended purpose of being a [[OneManArmy One Woman Army]] to be used in military combat. While she's thankfully gone against her design, she still has the potential to become a force of destruction.
432* PinkMeansFeminine: Noodle starts wearing pink clothing during the ''Cracker Island'' era, even going so far as to dye her hair pink as well.
433* PintSizedPowerhouse: Mainly in Phase 1, when she was only ten years old. In the "Clint Eastwood" video, she knocks out one of the zombie gorillas with one punch, and in the G-Bite "Game of Death," she easily [[CurbStompBattle mops the floor]] with Russel during their mock fight. Even as an adult, she's a good head and shoulders shorter than the others but still the best of the four in a fight by a longshot.
434* PluckyGirl: An energetic and occasionally downright wacky girl who has no problem keeping up with her much older male bandmates in Phases 1 and 2. While she mostly averted this in Phase 3, due to being consistently portrayed as somber and mysterious, it's back in full force in Phase 4.
435* ScarsAreForever: Received a scar on her right eye after getting hit in the face with debris during the "El Mañana" video. During Phase 3, it was so unsightly that she wore a cat mask almost constantly to conceal it. It's still visible after the unspecified TimeSkip by ''[=DoYaThing=]'' but it has faded significantly and is obscured by her bangs. Defied in Phase 4 since it seems to have faded completely.
436* SignificantWardrobeShift: After her maturation in between Phases 1 and 2, she stops wearing the radio helmets and baggy jackets she wore in Phase 1, and starts wearing clothes that are more like what her bandmates wear.
437* TheSmurfettePrinciple: The only female in the band. While two other women have temporarily played with the group ([[RobotMe one of them being her robotic double]]), they both did so while Noodle herself was not present.
438* SoleSurvivor: Of the project instigated by the Japanese government that created 23 child super-soldiers, including her. The only reason she survived at all when the project was abandoned and purged was her creator, Mr. Kyuzo, who wiped all her memories pertaining to her origin and shipped her off to Kong Studios in response to Murdoc's online ad for a guitarist.
439* StepUpToTheMicrophone: She provides lead vocals in DARE, a song she wrote. Downplayed, since she's provided backing vocals on other songs, particularly 5/4 and 19-2000 from the debut Gorillaz album.
440* ToHellAndBack: Phase 3 -- she went to Hell in the first place mainly due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time: After the ''El Mañana'' incident, Noodle supposedly died, but actually survived, and went to Kong Studios to search for her bandmates, and was dragged off to Hell by demons in place of either Murdoc or Russel.
441* TokenGoodTeammate: The only member of the band who has never done anything morally questionable throughout her life, and more or less the only one who could really be described as a hero.
442* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: While Noodle has developed plenty of traditionally feminine interests as she's grown up, the fact that she was raised by three unruly men can still be seen pretty clearly in her general behavior.
443* TriggerPhrase: "Ocean bacon", which brought back her erased memories before Phase 2 started.
444* {{Tykebomb}}: Was originally created as one by the Japanese government for a military project. Of the 23 kids created for the project, she's the only one still living, and thankfully gone against her design.
445* VerbalTicName: Her name is derived from the sole English word she knew upon first joining the band. She's since become fluent in several languages, English being one of them, but the name has stuck.
446* VocalEvolution: As she's gotten older, Noodle's voice has gone from high-pitched and childlike to deeper and more cohesive.
447* WaifFu: Despite her tiny body, she easily curb stomped [[TheBigGuy Russel]] when she was 10 years old. While the fight in question may or may not have only occurred in a video game, it was still clearly accurate to both of their physical capabilities.
448* WomenAreWiser: She is the only female in each situation, and is portrayed as being the most emotionally stable, intelligent and competent member of the band, compared to the ditzy, pill-popping 2D; the satanic, asshole-ish Murdoc; and the bitter, supernaturally disturbed Russel.
449* WrittenInAbsence: Noodle was absent for most of Phase 3, after suffering a DisneyDeath in the video for El Mañana.
450* YouDontLookLikeYou: Practically unrecognizable in Phase 4 when compared to her Phase 1 self. Justified, in that she's aged from 10 to her mid-20's across that time, so it's expected that she'd look different.
451[[/folder]]
452
453[[folder:Russel]]
454
455!! Russel Hobbs
456
457[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/404cbb00_af51_457f_b0dc_418e0fb36e92.jpeg]]
458 [[caption-width-right:350:Russel as of Phase 6]]
459[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 5]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dc098068_bfa3_4d1e_bbd9_a3893af72306.jpeg]][[/labelnote]]
460[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 4]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/903171b4_3f22_42cd_88a5_2fb6159848e7.jpeg]][[/labelnote]]
461[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 3]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f1c91085_35f8_475b_b75e_d0b799ca5f80.png]][[/labelnote]]
462[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 2]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b0cc1ffe_6a36_40c2_9d56_8549bbb980d7.jpeg]][[/labelnote]]
463[[quoteright:350:[[labelnote:Phase 1]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1180365847_1024x768_gorillaz-russel-wallpaper_6359.jpg]][[/labelnote]]
464
465->'''Voiced by:''' Remi Kabaka
466
467->''"You can't go dressin' up as a goddamn Nazi! You cracker-ass..."''
468
469Russel comes from Brooklyn and is perhaps best known for being possessed by the souls of his dead friends, that he lost in a drive-by shooting. Ever since he has been the most psychically unbalanced out of the group, what with the demons inside him taking advantage at times. Russel himself is a melancholic, well-spoken person -- even if our character quote doesn't quite prove it -- who deeply cares for Noodle. He provided drums for "Gorillaz" and "Music/DemonDaysAlbum", but he was not invited to play on "Plastic Beach" because nobody could find him. Of course, [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever he didn't have this problem when Phase 3 rolled around.]]
470
471As of [="DoYaThing"=], he is living with the rest of the band on 212 Wobble Street, London, where he sleeps on the roof of the apartment, though Phase 4 seems to have [[RetCon retconned]] this and he has shrunken back down due to an incident in North Korea.
472----
473* AllDrummersAreAnimals: Inverted -- Russel is the drummer... and yet, despite his issues, he's one of the more well-spoken members of the group, and often the most reasonable.
474* AntiHero: Russel is a goodhearted and caring person, but also a grouchy and highly unstable loner.
475* ArtEvolution: Went from being almost comically round in Phase 1 to much more realistically-shaped in the later phases.
476* TheArtifact: Somewhat. Russel's defining gimmick in Phase 1 was his ability to summon Del whenever he was unconscious. As Del was removed from his body during the gap between Phase 1 and 2, Russel has struggled to find another trait that allows him to stand out alongside his bandmates, causing him to fall into the background. This is even lightly acknowledged in-universe, as Russel experienced a near total mental breakdown upon losing Del, stating multiple times that he felt like he had lost a part of himself in the process.
477* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Was a giant for all of Phase 3, but was eventually undone due to North Korea capturing him (mistaking him for Film/{{Pulgasari}}), and feeding him nothing but rations of extremely poor quality.
478* BaldMystic: He's totally bald and is a world class drummer with close ties to the supernatural, what with being possessed by the souls of his dead friends. In addition, he's one of the most rational and intelligent members of the band.
479* BigBeautifulMan: He was even voted the third sexiest cartoon character of all time by Nerve.com.
480* BigEater: While he claims his weight is the result of a wheat allergy, he puts away ridiculous amounts of fast food constantly.
481* BigBrotherInstinct: Toward Noodle and to a lesser extent, 2D.
482* TheBigGuy: The biggest guy out of the group. He's strong, serious and gruff, but also a GentleGiant underneath it all.
483* BrooklynRage: He's from Brooklyn and has anger-management problems.
484* TheBroCode: Broke Murdoc's nose when he caught him fooling around with 2D's girlfriend, Paula.
485** Something similar occurs after the video for Aries, where an [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/kong/images/4/47/Aries_single_art.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20200914210742 exclusive image]] shows Russell full-on strangling Murdoc for injecting 2D with a truth serum, with Noodle physically trying to restrain him from beating Murdoc into a green mush.
486* ChasteHero: Details are actually unknown, but he's the only one of the male band members who doesn't openly [[ReallyGetsAround get around]].
487* ComedicUnderwearExposure: Splits his pants doing a sumo stomp in the "Game of Death" G-Bite.
488* ConspiracyTheorist: Seems to have settled into this characterization in Phase 4. Considering what he's been through, it's not hard to see why.
489* CosmicPlaything: His suffering isn't as blatant as 2D's, but it's there. His friends were gunned down during a drive-by shooting, their souls invaded his body and caused him to lash out in a possessed state which got him kicked out of private school, Murdoc kidnapped him to force him into the band, he was frequently infuriated and injured during the Gorillabitez, the Grim Reaper hunted him down and ripped said souls from his body after the Gorillaz movie imploded, the solo album he tried to produce with Ike Turner mutated into an assemblage so horrific that he buried all the associated materials (and it's implied his increasingly frayed mind might have imagined all that), he spent a lot of Phase 2 as a strung-out shell of his former self obsessed with taxidermy by way of necromancy, when he managed to get his head straight it was just in time to discover that Murdoc had replaced him with a drumming machine, his reckless attempt to swim to Plastic Beach exposed him to oodles of hazardous chemicals which turned him into a giant, he was denied his vengeance upon his arrival there due to a sudden attack by heavily armed pirates, and to top it all off, he spent the time between Phases 3 and 4 as a prisoner of the North Koreans, who had mistaken him for the fictional Film/{{Pulgasari}} in spite of the fact that he looked nothing like him. How did he get back to normal size, you might ask? The North Koreans more or less starved him into doing so by accident.
490* DemonicPossession: Being possessed by spirits has been an issue for him since his childhood.
491* DarkAndTroubledPast: First demons made him attack his classmates, resulting in an exorcism that left him in a coma for four years. Then he was the lone survivor of a drive-by shooting that killed all his friends.
492* DemotedToExtra: Steadily falls into the background as the story goes on, to the point where he not only doesn't contribute any music to the album during Phase 3 but also ''doesn't speak a single line of dialogue''. He's back in the spotlight somewhat in Phase 4, though his status as TheQuietOne still makes him the weakest presence of the band.
493* {{Determinator}}: Swam to Plastic Beach on his lonesome in Phase 3.
494* GeniusBruiser: He's as strong as he looks but is also surprisingly eloquent and well-read. He came from an upper-class family and was set to have a privileged education up until his first possession.
495* GentleGiant: He's big but also quite polite and very caring. Even more appropriate in Phase 3, where he grew so big that he had no problem ''picking up and throwing a whale'' -- by eating polluted material on his way to Plastic Beach.
496* TheGrimReaper: Russel was directly involved with the Grim Reaper who apparently exorcised Del's soul from him.
497* HeroicBSOD: This happened to him when the Grim Reaper eventually claimed the souls of his dead friends from his body.
498* HeterosexualLifePartners: Russel and Del, the ghost that was particularly open about haunting him. Russel claimed Del to be his "life-long soul-brother".
499* IAmBigBoned: Insists that his weight is the result of a wheat allergy.
500* InformedFlaw: Russell supposedly has anger management issues by his own admission, but we rarely actually see him get angry. Though his status as TheQuietOne might be to try to keep that aspect of his personality hidden from public view.
501* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's gruff and dour due to a lifetime of supernatural struggle, but is actually a pretty caring guy, especially towards Noodle.
502* KickTheDog: In the Humility video, Russell intentionally trips up 2D as he is happily skating around Venice Beach. Given 2-D's MonochromaticEyes switch from the white associated with possession to their usual black after this however, it might have been an impromptu exorcism.
503* LesserStar: While the group are always presented as an ensemble, Russel consistently receives much less focus than the other three. Even back when his possession gimmick was more prevalent he would often spend the majority of the music videos unconscious so that Del could hang around.
504* MagicPants: When he grew larger, his clothes did too.
505* MagneticMedium: Is connected to the supernatural, making him a target for possession amongst other things.
506* TheMentallyDisturbed: Ever since Phase 2 which saw him permanently lose Del from his subconscious, Russel seems to be on the constant verge of a complete mental breakdown and his behaviour becomes increasingly unpredictable, mostly due to his aforementioned status as a CosmicPlaything. He can be chill and friendly one moment, then hostile and bitter the next. Finally, Phase 6 shows him as a drooling, catatonic vegetable mindlessly watching TV in a hospital.
507* MightyGlacier: Strong enough to shatter bones with a single punch, but too slow to stand a chance of keeping up with Noodle in a fight.
508* MonochromaticEyes: They turned permanently white after the spirits of his dead friends took up residence in his head.
509* NoodleIncident:
510** Between the self-titled album and ''Demon Days,'' Russell struck out to produce his own album. But the loss of Del, his own mental instability, and various other occult happenings apparently made it go so wrong that he had to take medication for some time afterward.
511** His entire plot line during Phase 3 due to it getting CutShort. We know that he grew giant by eating polluted gunk on his way to Plastic Beach and... nothing else. We don't know ''why'' he was going to Plastic Beach, we don't know why he was so pissed off, and we don't know what he did after he finally arrived there. It took until the build-up to Phase 4 to find out what happened to him afterward, and even then everything that happened before it is still a mystery.
512* NotSoAboveItAll: While he's normally shown protecting 2D from Murdoc, even he can't resist messing with the singer sometimes. Examples include picking 2D up by the neck and shaking him ("Hey, Our Toys Have Arrived") and tripping him while he's rollerskating (the "Humility" video).
513* OnlySaneMan: He was the most rational member of the band during Phase 1, though his sanity has been slipping more and more ever since.
514* OutOfFocus: After losing Del in Phase 2, his screen time takes a major hit. By Phase 3 he's not around for 90% of the plot and does little more than transport Noodle to Plastic Beach. Notably, in Phase 3 lore, after Murdoc got the band back together, he felt 2D[[note]]Unwilling to come back[[/note]] and Noodle[[note]]At that point, ''[[KilledOffForReal DEAD.]]'' [[/note]] were important enough that he respectively kidnapped and cloned them, but didn't even bother to try and contact Russel, and instead used a drum machine in his place. This may have had more to do with the fact that the two of them hate each rather than Murdoc not considering Russel to be an important part of the band, though.
515* PapaWolf: Has acted as a protective guardian figure to Noodle ever since she joined the band. One interview in Phase 1 has him displeased at a rumour involving Noodle and a Japanese football player and tells her she's too young to be dating; and in Phase 3 the now-giant Russel looks after her after they reunite and he's concerned for her when a plane nearly attacks them again in the concert footage for "Broken".
516* ParentalSubstitute: Acts the most like a parent to Noodle.
517* PerpetualFrowner: In Phase 3, where his expressions ranged from scowling to seething. He's more emotive in other phases, though he's still generally more likely to frown than smile.
518* PlatonicLifePartners: He spends most of his screen time with Noodle, and is the closest with her out of all of the band.
519* ProperlyParanoid: Fears a cyborg uprising. Considering the world he lives in, he's probably right to worry.
520* TheQuietOne: Generally soft-spoken and gruff, in sharp contrast to [[LargeHam Murdoc]], [[CuteButCacophonic 2D]] and [[GenkiGirl Noodle when she was younger]].
521* RealMenWearPink: Russel is hands down the manliest of the three male members of the group, but he also expresses an interest in dressing like a prima ballerina.
522* RedOniBlueOni: The Blue to Del's Red.
523* SanitySlippage: Between Phases 1 and 2 he had all of the spirits living inside of him taken by the Grim Reaper, including his lifelong friend Del. He never managed to fully recover from the loss, and became much quieter and unstable afterward.
524* ScaryBlackMan: Russel is a large, quiet, serious and unsociable black man with the strength to match. He's generally a GentleGiant despite what first appearances may suggest, though.
525* SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan: He ''is'' the can, and his body housed dozens of spirits before the Grim Reaper took them from him.
526* SharpDressedMan: A substantial portion of his outfits consist of tailored suits with matching hats, which stand out when compared to his bandmates' usual attire, which ranges from [[UnderdressedForTheOccasion very casual]] to [[RummageSaleReject downright bizarre.]]
527--> [[LampshadeHanging "I've got an appreciation for fine clothes."]]
528* ShoutOut: a very British one, in that Russell Hobbs is a brand of kitchen electrical appliances
529* SleepyHead: It's never commented on, but Russel seems to be able to sleep anywhere. This includes ''on-stage mid-performance''. The first thing he does upon entering the spirit house in the "Saturnz Barz" video is to find the nearest bedroom and take a nap.
530* StepUpToTheMicrophone: He's the voice whispering "Let Me Out" in the titular song.
531* TheStoic: He was never the most expressive guy to begin with, but losing Del made him mostly close off his emotions from the rest of the world.
532* StoutStrength: He's incredibly strong along with being very fat. The video for "PAC-MAN" shows that he practices boxing in his spare time, suggesting that he's all muscle beneath his blubber.
533* TaxidermyIsCreepy: Has a fondness for creating Frankenstein-esque taxidermy crossbreeds, which are about as unsettling as they sound like they are. [[HorrifyingTheHorror Even]] ''[[HorrifyingTheHorror Murdoc]]'' [[HorrifyingTheHorror is unnerved by them.]]
534* TeamMom: He's the most maternal of the group, though since Noodle is significantly younger than most of them and 2D and Murdoc are, well... [[TooDumbToLive 2D]] and [[{{Jerkass}} Murdoc]], this isn't hard.
535* TeethClenchedTeamwork: He and Murdoc sincerely hate each other, but both acknowledge the other's skill as a musician and are willing to work together for the sake of producing albums.
536* TopHeavyGuy: In Phase 1, he was drawn with a massive upper body and squat, stumpy legs. The later phases tend to make him more reasonably proportioned, though he's still much wider than the other three.
537* VocalEvolution: From Phase 4 onwards, Russel's voice has become significantly huskier when he talks.
538* VitriolicBestBuds: He picks on 2D from time to time, but the two seem to generally get along pretty well, and Russel frequently sticks up for 2D when Murdoc starts bullying him.
539* WeirdnessMagnet: Supernatural entities seem strangely drawn to him.
540[[/folder]]
541
542!Former Bandmembers and Collaborators
543
544[[folder:Paula Cracker]]
545
546!!Paula Cracker
547
548[[quoteright:400:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/paula2_8920.jpg]]
549
550The original Gorillaz guitarist, first appearing in ''Rise of the Ogre''. She was the then-two-month-long girlfriend of Stuart Pot. During their time together, Paula was noted to be a sub-par musician (or at least, not as good as her successor). In a brief interview, she waxes nostalgic on her encounter with Mr. Niccals. One fateful night, Russel caught her with Murdoc inside the third cubicle of the bathroom. For her betrayal, she was promptly kicked out of the group.
551
552Clearly bitter and damaged from the ordeal, Paula seemed to be on edge when telling her side of the story, while unapologetic about the affair with the green-skinned satanist, she nevertheless goes on with her life.
553----
554* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: She describes 2D as "sweet", but instantly fell for Murdoc the moment she saw him.
555--->'''Paula''': Green skin, yellow teeth, then I thought: oh yeah, he's the one for me.
556* BitchInSheepsClothing: In the one interview with her, she comes off as surprisingly nice and quite bubbly, speaking fondly of 2D and generally seeming fairly well-adjusted. Then she starts talking about how she feels sick in the head and has urges to kill the entire band.
557* CoolShades: The one official piece of artwork that features her shows her wearing a pair of these.
558* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Has pale skin and black hair, along with being rather unsettling.
559* HateSink: While very little information has been given about her, all of it works to paint her in an unlikable light.
560* {{Jerkass}}: From what little we know about her, she seems to be an unpleasant person. Considering she cheated on her mentally handicapped boyfriend ''with the man who made her boyfriend mentally handicapped'' she falls here.
561* MotorMouth: In her interview for "Rise of the Ogre". Perhaps she's on some sort of medication...
562* MythologyGag: Based on an early scrapped design for the band's guitarist.
563* TheOneThatGotAway: It's not entirely clear how 2D actually feels about her, but the subject of how she got kicked out of the band remains a sore spot for him over a decade later.
564* OvershadowedByAwesome: We don't actually know how good of a guitarist she is, but Noodle's skills apparently blow hers out of the water.
565* ThePeteBest: [[invoked]] InUniverse, she was the band's first guitarist, but got kicked out before they hit it big.
566* PsychoExGirlfriend: 2D's, though she's thankfully stayed away from the group for the time being.
567* SanitySlippage: It's implied that the band taking off after she got kicked out of it did a number on her mental health.
568* SixthRangerTraitor: She was the last of the original four to join the band, but got kicked out after a few weeks when she cheated on 2D.
569* YokoOhNo: She even looks a bit like the real life Yoko.
570[[/folder]]
571
572[[folder:Del]]
573
574!!Del tha' Ghost Rapper
575
576[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gorillaz_del.png]]
577->Voiced by: Music/DelThaFunkeeHomosapien (rapping voice), Redd Pepper (speaking voice)
578
579Del was a rapper from Brooklyn who befriended band drummer, Russel Hobbs, when Russel was transferred to a high school in Brooklyn after being possessed and then exorcised. Russel and Del quickly formed a strong and lasting friendship until one day when Del, along with all of Russel's other new friends, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting of which Russel was the only survivor. The souls of Russel's friends, including Del, all took up residence inside of Russel for many years. Even as a ghost, Del's friendship with Russel continued to stay strong.
580
581Del was finally removed from Russel by the Grim Reaper and taken to the great beyond during the band's hiatus in-between Phases 1 and 2. Russel was affected greatly by this and had a nervous breakdown. Del has not been heard from since.
582----
583* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: He has blue skin. Less notable than Murdoc since it's presumably a side effect of being a ghost.
584* BoisterousBruiser: One of the first things he does in the "Clint Eastwood" video is break the ground beneath open by stomping onto it. He's also generally very loud and energetic.
585* ComicalOverreacting: Treats 2D attempting to jump over Russel's gut on a trycycle as a death-defyingly impossible stunt.
586* TheDeadCanDance: Along with rapping, he shows off some impressive dance moves whenever he appears in the music videos.
587* DidNotThinkThisThrough: During ''Jump the Gut'', he bets big money against Noodle that 2D cannot clear the engorged stomach of a sleeping Russel with his tricycle. While he wins the bet, Russel being awakened by having his torso landed on wakes him up, banishing Del, and causing Noodle to get all the money on the table anyway.
588* TheFriendsWhoNeverHang: While his friendship with Russel is said to have remained even after he became a ghost, both of the music videos and the short that he appears in suggest that Del can only move around outside of Russel's body when Russel is unconscious, meaning that they're never actually shown directly interacting with each other on-screen. While it's possible that the two can interact within Russel's mind, there's no evidence of this actually being the case anywhere.
589* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Russel, his "Soul Brotha".
590* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He messes with the rest of the band whenever he's around, but he's shown to deeply care about Russel's well-being.
591* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Russel's. Okay, undead emotional crutch, but as soon as he got taken out of the picture Russel broke down hard.
592* MonochromaticEyes: Like Russel, his eyes are completely white, seemingly as a result of being a ghost.
593* OddFriendship: Suggested to have one with Noodle throughout his appearances. Not entirely surprising, considering both are shown to be close with Russel.
594* OurGhostsAreDifferent: He looks more like a hologram than a ghost.
595* PutOnABus: Reaped by death between Phases 1 and 2, causing Russel to have a breakdown.
596** TheBusCameBack: Kind of; In Phase 4, the real Del occasionally performed live with Albarn and crew, but Del the character still hasn't appeared since Phase 1.
597*** He returns for real on the track "Captain Chicken."
598* RedOniBlueOni: The Red to Russel's Blue.
599* SixthRanger: Collaborated and hung out with the band on occasion when he was still possessing Russel.
600* TopHeavyGuy: He's got a burly torso and comparatively spindly legs.
601* {{Troll}}: When summoned during the videos, he seems to screw with the rest of the band just for kicks.
602
603[[/folder]]
604
605[[folder:Cyborg Noodle]]
606
607!! Cyborg Noodle
608
609[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/noodlesrnst_2169.png]]
610->'''Voiced by:''' N/A.
611
612-> ''"Beeeeeeep Beep;"''
613
614Built by Murdoc as a replacement for the supposedly deceased Noodle, the cyborg is a meticulously life-like replica of the guitarist. She has all the musical skills of the original with none of the personality and is programmed to obey Murdoc's every command. The cyborg is a firearm aficionado and often acts as a bodyguard, but also has to spend most of her time charging.
615
616At some point in Phase 3, she sustained a bullet wound to her head which eventually caused her to go haywire in the ''Rhinestone Eyes'' video. She was thought for a time to have been destroyed by the real Noodle after she arrived on Plastic Beach, but she was later shown to have assisted Murdoc in his escape from the island in Phase 4's ''The Book of Murdoc''. Her current status is unclear; with multiple conflicting stories being given regarding her fate.
617----
618* AxCrazy: [[http://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/hypebeast-wordpress/image/2010/10/gorillaz-rhinestone-eyes-storyboard-film.jpg Just look at her face]] during the battle in the ''Rhinestone Eyes'' music video.
619* BattleButler: She can shoot down demons, planes, ships and cops... and also serves drinks.
620* BerserkerTears: While shooting down planes and killing everything in her path in "Rhinestone Eyes", she sports her usual SlasherSmile... until a closer shot reveals tears streaming down her cheeks. It's unknown if this was simply leakage from her body, as she apparently went haywire shortly after the events of the video, or if she was genuinely crying.
621* {{BFG}}: Regularly seen carrying large rifles and shotguns.
622* DeadPersonImpersonation: Her original purpose, though Noodle was NotQuiteDead -- Murdoc didn't know at the time.
623* TheDragon: Murdoc's obedient muscle throughout Phase 3.
624* EmotionlessGirl: Seemingly the only emotions she's capable of showing in any capacity are violent ones.
625* EmptyShell: Spends most of her screen time as an emotionless weapon for Murdoc. Her occasional [[SlasherSmile Slasher Smiles]] and seemingly full on BerserkerTears during the unmade ''Rhinestone Eyes'' makes her status as this somewhat debatable, however.
626* EyesOutOfSight: Similarly to the real Noodle, her eyes are generally kept hidden beneath her bangs. [[UncannyValleyGirl The occasions where they become visible tend to coincide with her being particularly creepy]].
627* HypercompetentSidekick: The cyborg performs most of the heavy lifting for Murdoc throughout Phase 3, and is totally subservient towards him.
628* LiteralMinded: Her (now defunct) profile page on the website showed that she has difficulty interpreting unclear commands, though she can translate "Bad French".
629* MediumBlending: Was always rendered in 3D in the music videos, even when the rest of the band was animated in a 2D style.
630* OutOfCharacterMoment: Her characterization in her ''Us'' magazine interview is totally different from how she is otherwise portrayed. Namely, [[SuddenlyVoiced she can speak]].
631* RobotGirl: A robotic duplicate of Noodle. She's just as cute as the real thing and perhaps even more deadly, but also much more unstable and creepy.
632* RobotMe: An identical robot copy of Noodle. Due to Phase 3's story being CutShort, however, the full extent of her interactions with the real thing are unknown, with the two only appearing in a handful of pictures together across the phase.
633* SilentPartner: Possibly -- she's only ever spoken in [[http://www.usmagazine.com/moviestvmusic/news/us-reconnects-with-the-hot-gorillaz-guitar-player-201033 one interview]]; notable for how her answers speak of how different she is from the real Noodle.
634* SlasherSmile: If she isn't being completely emotionless, she's giving an absolutely horrifying murderous smirk.
635* ThousandYardStare: Several pictures depict her giving an unsettling wide-eyed stare behind her bangs.
636* UncannyValleyGirl: She looks exactly like the real Noodle, but is a silent killing machine who spends almost all of her screen time leaking excessive amounts of oil from a gunshot wound in her head, being hyper violent and flashing [[SlasherSmile Slasher Smiles]], all in all making her come off as infinitely creepier than the person she's modeled after. As if to further emphasize this, she's rendered in 3D even in videos where all of the other characters are 2D animated, making her always seem wrong and out of place.
637* UncertainDoom:
638** Partly because [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome she was largely dropped from the actual stories following Phase 3]], Cyborg Noodle's fate has been extremely vague and contradictory. Murdoc originally claimed that she had been destroyed by Noodle at the end of Phase 3, this was debunked in ''The Book of Murdoc'', which showed her driving the sub that he was using to escape from Plastic Beach. A few sporadic (and generally non-canon) mentions diverged even further; in a live interview, 2D claimed that [[https://youtu.be/-OPFbjEVXic?t=20m49s she was living in Lincolnshire and that he's still in contact with her]], and during the "Free Murdoc" campaign, Murdoc mentioned unfriending her, tired of receiving yoga pictures from her, while Noodle claimed in a Reddit AMA to [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Music/comments/682hwf/ama_we_are_the_gorillaz_ask_us_anything/dgva6iv/ be growing a bonsai out of her severed head]].
639** The video for "The Lost Chord" ended up forming a microcosm of this: after the band arrives on Plastic Beach over a decade since it was last seen, they encounter a submarine with a seemingly inactive Cyborg Noodle inside it. 2D's singing ends up giving a [[FreezeFrameBonus very brief spark of electricity inside]]. As the island begins to get torn apart and sinks into the ocean, we're given a shot of her in her submarine sinking into the abyss below, but with a different, eyes-open expression of shock. It's implied that 2D's singing gave her just enough life to see her sink into the dark abyss... [[HereWeGoAgain but now, her fate remains just as inconclusive.]]
640* VagueAge: It's unclear how old she is intended to appear physically. While most assume that she is based on Noodle's appearance during Phase 2, as that's when Murdoc saw her last, she is shown to be virtually identical to [[ShesAllGrownUp an adult Noodle]] in the handful of pictures that feature the two of them together.
641* TheVoiceless: Whether or not she could speak at all sort of flip-flopped throughout her run, but she was at least never shown speaking onscreen.
642** According to Murdoc in the commentary for the "Stylo" music video, getting shot in the head sometime before the video left her much less chatty... but much more violent.
643[[/folder]]
644
645[[folder:The Boogieman]]
646
647!!The Boogieman
648[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boogiemanhill.jpg]]
649Debuting in Phase 3, the Boogieman is an ancient force of evil with whom it was implied that Murdoc made his DealWithTheDevil. While his first shown victims were merely a cop and a manatee, it is shown in the video for ''Rhinestone Eyes'' that he wants to collect Murdoc's soul to complete their bargain.
650
651According to an interview with Jamie Hewlett, he is actually the fifth horseman of the apocalypse, Flatulence, who "carries an evil stink wherever he goes", and got kicked out of the group "before they made it big". How this ties into the plot at all is unknown.
652
653As of the video for [="DoYaThing"=], however, it seems that he's given up on that, now living with the band on 212 Wobble Street, London.
654----
655* AffablyEvil: If he's still evil by the events of [="DoYaThing"=], he is most definitely this, considering he's seen casually reading a newspaper and has a brief and nonchalant exchange with 2D.
656* ArcVillain: While the band has had to face off against several villains behind the scenes, the Boogieman was the first antagonist to ever actually be featured in the videos, and he serves as the primary antagonist throughout Phase 3.
657* BigBad: Was this for all of Phase 3.
658* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Nowhere to be seen after Phase 3. "The Lost Chord", released a full ten years later, includes a nod to him, but nothing more.
659* ContinuityNod: Murdoc wakes up wearing his mask at the beginning of "The Lost Chord" video.
660* DemBones: The storyboard for the "Rhinestone Eyes" video reveals that he hides an exposed rib cage underneath his cloak.
661* EnemyMine: Details are vague, but he appears to have been the one responsible for gassing and shipping 2D to Plastic Beach, despite being Murdoc's enemy. Whether this was a part of the deal he made with Murdoc that made them enemies in the first place or not is unclear.
662* EvilVersusEvil: Murdoc is far from the most heroic guy, particularly during Phase 3, but the Boogieman, his main opposition throughout it, is a malevolent soul-stealing specter.
663* FemmeFatalons: Though he never uses them.
664* ForTheEvulz: Seemingly the only reason that he kidnaps the manatee in the "On Melancholy Hill" video.
665* TheFourHorsemenOfTheApocalypse: He's the fifth one, named Flatulance. The other four kicked him out before they got big, so nobody knows that he was one.
666* GagNose: Has a prominent long, pointy nose.
667* {{Gasshole}}: Said to spread an evil stink wherever he goes. He's the horseman of flatulence after all.
668* GasMaskLongcoat: His entire design consists of a gas mask face and a tattered long coat.
669* GoKartingWithBowser: By "[=DoYaThing=]", he has seemingly given up whatever grudge he had against Gorillaz and can be seen casually reading a newspaper in the remains of an afterparty at their house, with 2D awkwardly greeting him before moving on.
670* GreaterScopeVillain: He's only seen briefly through "Stylo" and then "On Melancholy Hill", but his terrifying presence is definitely felt. He finally takes center stage as the [[BigBad main antagonist]] in "Rhinestone Eyes".
671* TheGrimReaper: Explicitly ''isn't'' the Grim Reaper, who has been shown as a separate character at various points, but shares much in common with him (in fact, they were coworkers before the other Horsemen kicked him out of the group). He's a supernatural soul collector that appears in the form of an ominous skeletal figure dressed in black.
672* HeelFaceTurn: Well... he's living with the Gorillaz in [="DoYaThing"=] and during his brief exchange with 2D they appear to be on pretty good terms.
673* HumanoidAbomination: Has the proportions of a human, but is most definitely not one.
674* IHaveManyNames: While he's referred to as the Boogieman in almost every instance where he's referenced, Mos Def used the name "Sun Moon Stars" when talking about him in an interview. Though it's very possible that Mos was just high out of his mind when he said it, the name has generally stuck with the character since then. Additionally, he is also known as Flatulence, the rejected Horseman.
675* KnightOfCerebus: Played like a legitimate threat in all of his scenes. His status as Flatulence, ThePeteBest of the four horsemen, and the fact that he's casually living with the band by [="DoYaThing"=] suggests that this was meant to eventually be subverted before the phase was CutShort.
676* LeanAndMean: He is quite thin, and steals souls for a living.
677* MalevolentMaskedMen: Wears a mask and is the primary villain of Phase 3.
678* NonActionBigBad: Seems averse to physical confrontations, if his reactions to getting cornered in the videos are anything to go off of. That said, he's nimble enough to sprint from Murdoc's base on Plastic Beach all the way to a distant pirate ship while getting shot at, so he's not exactly weak.
679* NoodleIncident: How or why he's living with the Gorillaz during [="DoYaThing"=] is never explained. Even before that, the exact specifics of the ill-fated deal he and Murdoc made with each other are unclear.
680* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: According to an interview with Jamie Hewlett, "the Boogieman" is simply a nickname; his true name is [[UnfortunateNames Flatulence]].
681* ThePeteBest: [[invoked]] Described as having been kicked out of TheFourHorsemenOfTheApocalypse before they made it big.
682* RedEyesTakeWarning: His gas mask at least has these, since we've never seen him without it to judge.
683* TheRuntAtTheEnd: Of TheFourHorsemenOfTheApocalypse. While the other four are shown riding terrifying demon steeds causing chaos in the "Rhinestone Eyes" music video, the Boogieman is trailing behind on a tiny donkey making everything smell bad. He was apparently kicked out of the group "before they got big".
684* SixthRanger: By [="DoYaThing"=] he's now living with the band.
685* TheSpook: While interviews with Jamie Hewlett have revealed traces of his background, in the videos themselves he is almost completely inexplicable, simply appearing as a silent, looming specter that is constantly pursuing the band.
686* UnfortunateNames: "The Boogieman" is a great deal more intimidating than "Flatulance," isn't it?
687* VillainHasAPoint: While the Boogieman's clearly a bad guy, he isn't exactly ''wrong'' for being upset with Murdoc for not upholding his end of their bargain and giving him his soul. The storyboard for the unfinished "Rhinestone Eyes" music video emphasizes this by giving him a SympatheticPOV flashback that frames ''Murdoc'' as the ominous and untrustworthy stranger that approached the Boogieman with an offer, rather than the other way around.
688* TheVoiceless: Never utters a word, either on screen or in text, throughout his appearances.
689* WeaksauceWeakness: He can be killed by ''bullets'' if his reaction to getting shot at is anything to go by.
690[[/folder]]
691
692[[folder:The Evangelist]]
693!!The Evangelist
694[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/evangelist_gorillaz.jpg]]
695A mysterious character said to be [[GoodCounterpart the embodiment of light to the Boogieman's shadow]]. Who they are and what exactly they do in relation to the Boogieman is unclear.
696----
697* TheCameo: Appears very briefly at the beginning of the second part of the ''Plastic Beach'' adventure game disguised as a postman in order to deliver a package containing the key to the lighthouse and recording equipment for Murdoc's radio show. This is notably their only appearance outside of the contest that determined their design.
698* CreepyGood: Not exactly the friendliest-looking character, but is the Boogieman's GoodCounterpart.
699* {{Cthulhumanoid}}: Has a relatively humanoid body, but a head that is a fishbowl overflowing with various tentacles.
700* DudeLooksLikeALady: Has a rather androgynous design, but is referred to with male pronouns by Jamie Hewlett in the one interview where he discusses them.
701* FanDisservice: The one official piece of artwork of them features their exposed briefs. Not something most people would want to look at.
702* FashionableAsymmetry: Their right shirt sleeve and pant leg are both noticeably longer than their left.
703* GoodCounterpart: Their entire character revolves around their status as this to the Boogieman. What exactly this means isn't clear.
704* HumanoidAbomination: Has the body of a human burn victim and the head of a fishbowl full of tentacles.
705* InformedAbility: Their status as the Boogieman's GoodCounterpart and everything that title suggests are only known due to the information given about them during the contest to determine their design. Within the story, all they do is deliver a package.
706* IntelligibleUnintelligible: Speaks exclusively in gurgling noises, but the player character in the adventure game has no problem understanding them.
707* MinorMajorCharacter: Despite being [[BigBad the Boogieman's]] GoodCounterpart, their only contribution to the plot is delivering a package that helps Murdoc organize a radio show.
708* OfficialFanSubmittedContent: [[invoked]] A contest was held where fans could submit their own designs for them, with the winner becoming their official design.
709* PaperThinDisguise: Disguise themselves as a postman during the ''Plastic Beach'' adventure game. The disguise is unconvincing, to say the least. As the player character has never seen them before, however, it still works.
710* SatelliteCharacter: Essentially all that is known about the character is their status as the Boogieman's GoodCounterpart.
711* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: After the considerable build up they received, they never appeared outside of their brief cameo in the ''Plastic Beach'' adventure game, leaving whatever their intended role was a mystery.
712[[/folder]]
713
714[[folder:Ace]]
715!!Ace
716[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_20180601_123544.png]]
717A guest member from the ''Franchise/ThePowerpuffGirls'' franchise, Ace filled in for Murdoc as bassist while he was incarcerated for an unknown crime during the release of ''The Now Now''.
718
719For tropes pertaining to him in his original appearance, see his section in the "The Gangreen Gang" folder on Characters/ThePowerpuffGirlsMainAntagonists.
720----
721* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: A requirement for qualifying as Murdoc's SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute.
722* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Left without a word after Murdoc got out of prison, and hasn't been heard from since. According to Murdoc in the commentry track for "Humility" he got a Christmas card from Ace saying he's moved out to the desert and stockpiling food and ammo for the coming of "the endless dark".
723* ComicBookTime: Averted. Like the other band members, he has aged in real time. Since he was 17 in [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998 the original [=PPG=] series]], he is nearly 40 years old here, and has the receding hairline to show for it.
724* CoolCar: According to [[https://noisey.vice.com/en_uk/article/gykj8j/gorillaz-interview-2018-now-now-humility-murdoc-ace this Noisey article]], Ace drives a pale yellow 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale, the same car driven by Ash Williams from the Franchise/EvilDead franchise.
725* CoolShades: Like in ''The Powerpuff Girls'', he always sports a pair.
726* DiscardAndDraw: The band responded to Murdoc's arrest by recruiting Ace to be their interim bassist, who is basically a greaser American version of Murdoc with pointier features.
727* EstablishingCharacterMoment: In "Humility", he catches a basketball, stabs it with a knife and lets it fly off. The camera then cuts to the guys who were playing with the basketball, who are not impressed.
728* {{Foil}}: To Murdoc. Both are green-skinned bassists with criminal backgrounds, but while Murdoc is an egomaniac ControlFreak who practically tortures the band with his presence and actions, Ace is relatively low-key and much more of a team player. The fundamental differences between the two are laid out in [[http://www.nme.com/gorillaz-big-read-interview-2018 an interview]] with 2D:
729-->'''2D:''' He’s cool and really respects me. Like this morning, I said, "Yo yo yo! S’up Ace?" and instead of insulting me or pulling my trousers down, he said, "Please can you get out of my way." You see? Note the "please".
730* GagNose: His long, pointy nose is one of his features that most distinguishes him from Murdoc.
731* GreenIsGross: Like Murdoc, his green skin immediately indicates that he's a grungey punk.
732* GuestStarPartyMember: Filled in as the band's bassist while Murdoc lived out a jail sentence.
733* HairTodayGoneTomorrow: His receding hairline is the clearest indicator that he has aged since his time on ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998''.
734* {{Jerkass}}: [[TeensAreMonsters Considering the kind of guy he was in his home series...]] His EstablishingCharacterMoment also suggests this, as he pops the basketball of two guys mid-game seemingly just for kicks. Of course, the face he makes after stabbing the ball makes it seem like he thought they'd think it was cool.
735* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While he may be a jerk, he generally seems to treat his bandmates a whole lot better than Murdoc does.
736* MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers: As Murdoc's replacement bassist, the two of them have never played in the band at the same time.
737* OlderAndWiser: He went from a rowdy and outright villainous delinquent in ''The Powerpuff Girls'' to the low-key bassist of a rock band.
738* RetiredMonster: While "monster" might be a bit harsh, Ace was a petty and cruel criminal who often beat up and bullied his own friends in his youth. As an adult, at least as far as has been shown, he seems to have reined it in enough to become a more stable member of society, and gets along relatively well with his bandmates.
739* SharedUniverse: Being from the ''Franchise/ThePowerpuffGirls'', he makes Gorillaz this towards said franchise. It goes both ways, as Gorillaz and ''The Powerpuff Girls'' have made [[ShoutOut Shout-Outs]] to each other as early as Phase 1[[note]]This is likely due to the fact that Jamie Hewlett is friends with the franchise's original creator, Creator/CraigMcCracken, who would eventually recreate some of the ''The Now Now''[='=]s illustrations in the art style of the franchise's [[WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998 1998 series]] for ''The Gorillaz Art Book''.[[/note]]; for instance, the back cover of ''G-Sides'' [[http://www.vblurpage.com/images/gorillaz_gsides_backcover_big.jpg features 2D wearing a Mojo Jojo shirt]], and ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirlsMovie'' features a [[TheCameo cameo advertisement]] [[https://2static.fjcdn.com/large/pictures/64/2d/642dde_6124862.jpg for Gorillaz Live in a newspaper]].
740* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Not only does he have green skin, but his behavior, at least in "Humility", is rather Murdoc-like. Even in-universe he was hired because of this.
741* TechnicolorEyes: His eyes are a bloodshot pink, just as they are in his home series.
742* TheVoiceless: He hasn't uttered a word to the public since joining the band, onscreen or in text. This is because the people behind Gorillaz could only secure the rights to Ace's likeness, but not his voice.
743[[/folder]]

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