Characters / Cobweb and Stripes

Yeah, the famous duo may be back, but since this is a fan work that takes elements from both the movie and the animated series, as well as several original ideas by the author, the characters' personalities are a bit different than you might remember...

Betelgeuse

Everybody's favorite "Ghost with the most!", Betelgeuse is still the trickster we've come to love, but his personality in this series sits in between his movie and animated selves, rather than leaning too far one way or another. He's got his cartoon counterpart's more benevolent disposition but retains his movie counterpart's edge. He's also got a secret past and some hidden motivations...

• Anti-Hero: Though he comes off as more of an Anti-Villain at first, his true intentions are much more on the side of good than he'd like to admit.
• Anti-Villain: A self-proclaimed villain in his own mind, Betelgeuse nevertheless has a much kinder, nobler personality than he lets on. The worst he generally does to others is scare or trick them. Even when he's completely furious, he hasn't been shown to seriously harm anyone.
• Chivalrous Pervert: A cad who really gets around, BJ starts slipping into this territory after his feelings for Lydia begin to become genuine.
• The Con: Loves cooking these up and wants to get Lydia involved as well. She's a little less enthusiastic.
• Con Man: Just like in the movie and cartoon series proper, Betelgeuse tends to make his living on the shady side. However, he also seems to use his reputation as a con artist as a sort of defense mechanism when questioned about his growing feelings for Lydia.
• Creepy Good: He may be a centuries-old walking corpse, but he's shaping up to be this, in spite of what he may say about himself.
• Hates Being Alone: Despite saying otherwise, Betelgeuse clearly empathizes with Lydia's own feelings of neglect and loneliness. He also begins spending much of his time around her, even after it's no longer necessary.
• Hidden Depths: At first glance, BJ is a lecherous conman with zero empathy for others. Then you find out that not only has he been on the receiving end of something bad enough to keep him emotionally locked-up for centuries, but he's also completely unable to remember his life before he died - something which seems to eat at him more than he lets on.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Betelgeuse hides behind his (admittedly well-earned) reputation of being a jerk and a conman, but many of the things he does and is revealed to have done strongly contradict the persona he's putting on. When Lydia confronts him about this, he seems both amused and touched that she sincerely thinks he's a good person.
• I Was Just Passing Through: Does this several times in the comic. First when he comes back to see Lydia and claims he was just haunting in the neighborhood, and then he is later revealed to have literally done this in the past with Jacques and Ginger. Betelgeuse began walking by every day after taking notice of their desperate situation, and soon offered to help them out of it... in his own special way, of course.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: BJ is this in a nutshell. He claims to be all about himself, but it's gradually revealed that he's used his shady dealings to do a lot of good (particularly for Ginger) and that he cares for others much more than he lets on. While he is genuinely something of a jerk, it's implied that he acts much worse than he actually is to keep others at a distance as part of his Never Be Hurt Again gambit.
• Ladykiller in Love: While not a ladykiller per se, BJ uses his shape shifting prowess to bed many a woman. However, the only one for whom he shows any real affection is Lydia.
• Lovable Rogue: At least to Lydia, and to a lesser extent Ginger, who is grateful to him for giving her a second chance at (after)life.
• Mr. Vice Guy: Into gambling, conning, sexual escapades, drinking, and smoking, but is genuinely morally superior to thugs like Vincent and bullies like Claire, whom he detests.
• Never Be Hurt Again: Implied to be the driving force behind his reluctance to admit to liking others or forming genuine bonds. 'Old wounds' are mentioned by Jacques at one point, but not elaborated on by him or Betelgeuse. BJ does, however, make an odd comparison between himself and Lydia by mentioning friends, family, and a girlfriend, stating that they use you and break your heart... "Well, unless you don't have a heart."
• Really Gets Around: Uses his shapeshifting powers to pick up chicks (and men, it's implied, as a female). Ginger later states that the women are all from a brothel, however, and there is no love lost between Betelgeuse and any of his flings.
• Safety in Indifference: Though it's sometimes glaringly obvious that he cares, Betelgeuse never actually admits to it for this very reason. He even states early in the comic that no one can break your heart if you don't have one.
• Shapeshifting: Can shape shift into just about anything, from a gorgeous woman to a watering can.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Betelgeuse acts put off by just about everything and everyone who isn't Lydia. He's rude, abrasive, and foul-mouthed, but in the end it's suggested that he's hiding a lot of hurt.
• Stepford Snarker: Goes along with the sour outside, sad inside above. Betelgeuse loves to snark and has a very dry, sarcastic tone about 99% of the time. However, in the few moments when he's sincere, it's clear that he has reasons for why he's so cynical.

Lydia Deetz

The semi-perky goth girl who befriends our favorite ghost, in this version Lydia is squarely between the movie and series in disposition. Her backstory and age (18-19) are based on the movie's events, and she suffers from feelings of depression and abandonment. However, she is also morally upright and kind, serving as a perfect counterbalance to Betelgeuse.

• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: How she comes off to others. Unfortunately, she actually craves friendship, but her reputation makes it almost impossible at this point... at least, until Betelgeuse comes along.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Or, more accurately, beware her invisible best friend, whom she will sic on you if you tick her off enough.
• Bookworm: Very into literature, especially Edgar Allen Poe.
• Curtains Match the Windows: Has black hair and eyes, or at the least very dark brown.
• Goth: Is one of the poster-children for this trope.
• Goth Girls Know Magic: Betelgeuse explicitly asks her if she wants to exploit this trope in one of his latest schemes for a con. She would pretend to do magic while he actually did it behind the scenes. Later, however, she legitimately does start demonstrating a sixth sense after drinking the elixir that allowed her passage into the Netherworld.
• Hates Being Alone: Lydia admits to this very early in the comic, even telling Betelgeuse a story about how she tried to pick up softball in an effort to win friends. When she was too good at it, they began bullying her, which drove her to become the loner she is today. She actually weeps over her loneliness after the Maitlands leave her for too long.
• Loners Are Freaks: How the popular girls and college boys see her.
• Missing Mom: Her biological mother died when she was little.
• Morality Chain: A literal one at first, since the comic begins with them literally being chained together under the notion that she will conform Betelgeuse, or at least restrain him until he's dealt with by the law.
• Morality Pet: Slowly becomes this to Betelgeuse over time. Even after the chain linking them together is broken, he remains concerned for her and returns to visit frequently.
• Parental Abandonment: Of the emotional kind. Her stepmother is only concerned with herself and her father is too busy and clueless to realize how lonely his daughter feels.
• Perky Goth: Less so than in the animated series but more so than the movie. She can be sweet and fun-loving, but also has deep-seated feelings of abandonment and loneliness.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Befitting her gothic style.
• Shutterbug: Lydia loves her camera, just like in both versions of source material.
• Used to Be More Social: Or at least tried to be, until bullying drove her to become the loner she is today.