Characters / Death and Taxes

Currently under construction.

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Residents of Happy Town

Giggles

• All-Loving Hero: Friends with criminals, the disabled, pirates, and damn near everyone else in Happy Town.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Splendid saved her life once, and she never saw him again. Thirty years later she's risking everything to try and save him.
• Beware the Nice Ones: As soon as she realizes what he's done to Splendid, she lunges at Cuddles and attacks him with a broken bottle. Even the twins are startled by this.
• Deadpan Snarker: On occasion, although not as often as some others.
  Giggles: And for the record, I find it hard to take philosophical musings from a grown man who says 'Yarg'.
• Determinator: Giggles notably refuses to let Happy Town's crushing hopelessness get to her. In her first appearance, she derides her friends for being so pessimistic, and in future appearances she goes above and beyond to try and stop Flippy, who most people have given up trying against.
• Fun T-Shirt: 'BITCHES PROTECT BITCHES', which is briefly lent to Russell.
• Head Crushing: Her first death featured a picture frame falling on her head and destroying it. Since then, she's refused to do work under picture frames.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Although her actual work isn't shown much, her backstory revolves around being a hooker who just happened to be working in Happy Town when she got caught in the town curse. Ironically, working in such a small community where everybody knows her and permanent harm isn't a concern has given her an easier life than most. She's also the closest thing the fic has to a protagonist.
• I Found You Like This: Finds Russell washed up on the beach post-shipwreck, and nurses him back to health as best she can.
• Last Stand: Knowing she's being hunted by Flippy, Giggles and Lifty decide to confront him head on, knowing they're likely to lose. Luckily, Splendid's actions give them a fighting chance.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Her Fatal Flaw is her lack of planning before jumping in. As soon as she finds out where Splendid is buried she heads out to find him, and when that plan fails she decides to simply go fight Flippy herself.
• Loved by All: Due to her work and being an All-Loving Hero, she's commonly recognized and appreciated by other Happy Towners.
• Mommy Mobile: Giggles, a maternal character and one of the few female protagonists, drives a blue Minivan.
• Pink Is Erotic: Bright pink fur, and a prostitute.
• Streetwalker: Assumed to be one by Russell. Averted, however, because her clients usually come to her.
• Unproblematic Prostitution: Nobody can skimp her on money without retribution, nobody can hurt her in a way that matters, everybody knows and likes her, and STDs are presumably no problem at all. Giggles lives well.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Although it's never commented on, her putting on a shirt in chapter 9 retroactively reveals she's been topless every chapter prior. Given their Funny Animal Anatomy, this may or may not actually reveal anything.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Cuddles. They knew each other growing up, and drifted apart naturally in Happy Town. When they next meet each other, he's working for a serial killer and she's working to stop him. They have a remorseful conversation where she laments the path he's taken, and shortly after she stops feeling sympathy for him.
• Women Are Wiser: Within her group, Lifty and Shifty are The Cynic and Russell has more than a few screws loose. She's shown to be the one who tries the hardest to get things done.

Lifty / Shifty

Sully / Splendid

Sniffles

Petunia

Handy

Russell

• Actually Pretty Funny: Agrees with Shifty that the shirt he wears is 'pretty gay', and plays along with further gay jokes later.
• The Alcoholic: The Functional Addict type. Loves his alcohol, but is kept off it by Giggles save special occasions.
• Disabled Snarker: Being as jovial he is, he enjoys talking shit with Giggles in the time they spend together.
• Dressed to Plunder: Averted. He normally wears his trademark eyepatch, hook, and peg legs, but he lost all of them in a sea accident. In the present day he considers forgoing the eyepatch in the future too, since physical disability isn't rare in Happy Town.
• Friendly Pirate: Possessing none of the pillaging or looting pirates usually entail, he's this naturally.
• Guilty Pleasure: Despite his act, Russell drops a few hints towards being a fan of science fiction literature and film.
• Handicapped Badass: With one arm and no legs, he digs up a coffin underwater and pulls it to the surface. Granted, he had help, but still.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side: Wears Giggles' girly shirt without complaint, and even somewhat proudly.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Giggles and the Twins, both of whom are said to be much younger than him.
• Mystical Plague: Their diseases and ailments stick with them after death, a trait nobody else shares. This is implied to be Happy Town itself, angry at him for escaping its wrath on the lake.
• A Pirate 400 Years Too Late: Russell inexplicably walks, talks, and acts like a pirate, despite hints that it's all an act. Giggles points this out by referencing the Trope Namer.
• Suddenly Sober: Becomes this while regaling his backstory to Giggles, suddenly becoming quiet and contemplative.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: Being an otter, he can hold his breath for much longer than the rest.
• Survivor's Guilt: The only survivor of his shipwreck. Still haunted by his crewmate's cries.

Pop

• Curb-Stomp Battle: Pop is the only character in the story with the ability to take on Flippy singlehandedly, stemming from having the same military training and being of similar ages and experiences. Flippy endangering his child didn't help; When they fight, Pop takes him down effortlessly.
• Posthumous Character: Pop and Cub only appear in person for a single chapter, attempting to leave the town in the end. Despite this lack of screentime, Flippy's obsession with the former fuels much of his spiral into madness, especially once he finds Pop's abandoned truck.

Antagonists

Flippy

The primary antagonist of the story. A murderous sociopath who holds Happy Town in his iron grip, and doesn't show any signs of backing down. Over the course of the story, he only becomes more unhinged and ruthless as his power begins to slip.

• Abled in the Adaptation: Completely free of his Dissasociative Identity Disorder in this story, but nonetheless still monstrous.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: This fic gives him a past history with Pop, having both served in the military and gone to war together.
• Adaptational Jerkass: In the original show, Flippy suffers from a murderous Split Personality, but is kind otherwise. Here, he has one personality, and it's all cruel.
• Adaptational Villainy: Despite being less powerful and influential compared to the fic's other antagonist, he's so awful and vindictive that he takes the role of primary antagonist the heroes must take down.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: While it's not directed at anyone in particular, he begs for his life in his last moments, seemingly to his own God.
• AM/FM Characterization: He eventually comes to like Cuddles' ELO tape despite generally disliking electronic music, although he doesn't tell Cuddles this.
• Attention Whore: When he burns down a hospital, he revels in the attention he gets, and begins passionately monologuing to the gathered citizens.
• Ax-Crazy: Personally considers himself very stable, but his Berserk Button is easy to find, and will always end in a death.
• Badass Adorable: A fuzzy, elderly green teddy bear with an axe to grind.
• Bad Boss: Despite only having one minion, he's horrendous to them, and routinely kills them for fun.
• Bears Are Bad News: Naturally, given his species.
• Being Evil Sucks: His vileness has left him with no friends, no chance for a future, and no pity from anyone around him.
• Berserk Button: Cuddles innocently bringing up Pop gets his throat slit immediately.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: His usual treatment of others. When he finds Lifty and Shifty, he's surprised to realize they actually don't know who he is, and believe him to be the genuinely friendly old man he presents himself as. This only makes his treatment of them more enjoyable for him.
• Cheshire Cat Grin: Frequently as part of his role as the Perpetual Smiler.
• Childish Villain, Mature Hero: He reflects Splendid's definition of a bully to a tee; Somebody who's been through pain in the past, and decided the right response was to inflict pain on everyone else in return, whether they deserve it or not.
• Church Going Villain: Flippy is a very staunch Christian, and believes Happy Town to be a gift from God. When he finds Pop's truck, his first response is to pray to God for assistance. Soon after this, however, he begins to lose his faith.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: An oft-enjoyed habit of his, from locking people in coffins underground to cutting their arms off and feeding it to his cohort.
• Condescending Calmness: He particularly enjoys pretending the situation is fair when it isn't, such as denying Cuddles the water he offers Lifty and Shifty, for allegedly not working hard enough to warrant it. This despite the fact that Cuddles has been buried in a coffin up until now.
• Corporal Punishment: Heavily implied that he enacted this on Lifty and Shifty when they worked for him, given both of them walk with a limp after the timeskip.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Part of why people roll over for him is because of how quickly he quells any attempt at resistance. Even Splendid is easily folded in their first fight. The only exception is Pop, who had the same training as him.
• Deadly Euphemism: Offhandedly mentions a 'regiment' that 'keeps him active' to Lifty and Shifty, referencing his murderous habits before they know about them.
  I'd be happy to show you, if only you were staying longer.
• Death by Origin Story: The minimally mentioned Jonesy, allegedly a friend of Flippy's in the war. When he died, Flippy blamed it on Pop and grew to hate his old general.
• Decapitation Presentation: During his hospital burning, he shows Splendid's removed head to a crowd to further horrify them.
• Defeating the Undefeatable: His final death, after only losing one fight in the entire story up to that point.
• Determinator: Chapter 11 still sees him on his feet and fighting after losing usage of multiple limbs, powered on solely by his anger and fear of death.
• Devil in Plain Sight: Since Lifty and Shifty have never been in Happy Town, they treat him as they would any other stranger when they meet him, unaware of his evil.
• Dissonant Serenity: Has a habit of acting calmly while commiting crimes and atrocities. Both times he kills Cuddles, he treats it as dismissively as swatting a fly, even when sitting in a burning car.
  "Saved this for you. Take it easy, Cuddles."
  • In the final chapter, after becoming decreasingly sane for a while now, he becomes uncharacterstically calm and bold after deciding to kill everybody in Happy Town.
• Doesn't Like Guns: Explains as much to Shifty, despite likely being trained in using them. More than likely, this is just because he prefers close combat.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": To Pop alone, he demands to be called by his title of Lieutenant. Pop repeatedly refuses, up until his child is threatened.
• Do Wrong, Right: When he sees the stolen money Lifty and Shifty hid, he's noted as appearing disappointed, and quickly loses interest in it.
• The Dreaded: Because of how small the town is and how influential Flippy is, everybody hates and fears him.
• Driven by Envy: Part of his anger at Pop comes from how he got to return home to a loving wife and start a family, while Flippy had nobody to take him back. He believes he deserves more, which is part of why he graciously accepts Happy Town's curse as a gift from God.
• Egocentrically Religious: As mentioned under Church Going Villain. He firmly believes that Happy Town is a reward for suffering through the war, giving him a playground of victims who can't die.
• Establishing Character Moment: Before he even does anything cruel, his effect on Pop tells the audience the type of person he is.
• Evil All Along: To Shifty and Lifty, who first meet him with zero context and assume him to be a kindly retired vet. He entertains this veil for a bit, before eventually dropping the facade out in the desert.
• Evil Feels Good: He clearly enjoys what he does, going on and on about how fun killing is for him.
• Evil Former Friend: With Pop, back during the war.
• Evil Gloating: Tends to engage in this frequently, but forgoes it when burying Splendid. Instead he simply explains what is going to happen to him, in excruciating detail.
• Evil Old Folks: Flippy is heavily implied to have fought in the Vietnam war, which would already put him around his fifties at least in 1999. Trapped in Happy Town for thirty more years, he's nearing 100 in the current day.
• Evil Overlord: While not being one literally, he shares enough similarities that Giggles openly compares him to one. This hits hard for Cuddles, who used to enjoy fantasy novels and shortly after begins to see the similarities between Flippy and a classic fantasy villain.
• Evil Stole My Faith: Or evil had his faith stolen, as it were. After receiving a response to his prayers from Happy Town (Or hallucinating one), he loses his faith completely and begins openly scorning God.
• Expy: Shares traits with two Stephen King villains.
  • Big Jim Rennie, of Under the Dome. A murderous, Affably Evil (and very American) man who seizes power of a town once it becomes cut off from the rest of the world.
  • Randall Flagg of The Stand. A smarmy Satanic Archetype who seeks little more than complete control and to inflict as much pain and suffering as possible, who the protagonists must come together to make a stand against.
• Face Death with Despair: Upon realizing he's going to die for real, he completely breaks down begging.
• "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner: 'See You Soon' to Pop, since he knows (or at least, believes) he literally will.
• Family Extermination: Attempted on Pop when he tries to kill Cub in front of him, the only family he has left in Happy Town. Before this, Pop even accuses him of mowing down entire families in the past.
• Fanatical Fire: Averted. Flippy sets fire to the town hospital, but sees it as a response to the Lord and a rejection of his religion.
• Faux Affably Evil: Flippy enjoys acting chummy, despite everybody knowing how monstrous he is, in order to scare them more. This facade drops easily, turning into screaming fits at the drop of a hat.
• The Fighting Narcissist: Thinks himself one of God's chosen people, and won't hesitate to let his victims know.
• Final Solution: Upon realizing the curse is going to drop and he could be tried for his crimes, he decides to simply kill everybody in town so nobody can do anything to stop him.
• Flippant Forgiveness: He forgives Cuddles for betraying him... Shortly before setting him on fire.
• Foe Romance Subtext: While Pop doesn't reciprocate, Flippy seems to have something for him under his hatred. He compares the two of them to Butch and Sundance, and becomes distraught when he realizes the latter got away.
• Freudian Excuse: The death of Jonesy, which he blames on Pop. He describes only finding their leg on the battlefield, a memory that sticks with him to the present day.
• From Camouflage to Criminal: Upon coming home from service, moving into Happy Town and coincidentally running into Pop began what would become his reign of terror.
• Furry Reminder: His descriptions are full of repeated references to his species. In his final battle, he growls and roars at his opponents, and the protagonists derisively refer to him as 'Army Bear'.
• Green and Mean: Green furred as in the original cartoon, and wears a camo army jacket at nearly all times.
• Green-Eyed Monster: While talking to Pop, he not so subtly admits being jealous of them for having a wife and son.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: His Affably Evil facade is remarkably easy to break, with a prod in the wrong direction.
• Hated by All: It's very clear from the way people talk about him that nobody likes him. Cuddles is initially sympathetic to him, assuming Flippy suffers from murderous desires like he does, but quickly comes to fear him when he realizes Flippy actually enjoys those desires. Even the town itself flies into a rage at the merest mention of him.
• The Heavy: Despite Happy Town arguably being the bigger threat, Flippy is seen far more often and is much more hateable. Because of this, they alone get to be the story's Final Boss.
• Hero Killer: Takes great pleasure in taking out Happy Town's hero, the beloved Splendid, in front of a crowd.
• Hidden Depths: He admits to Shifty and Lifty an appreciation for western films.
• High on Homicide: Considers a kill 'orgasmic', and tends to be disturbingly calm and content during them.
• Hope Crusher: Part of the reason he takes out Splendid with permanent intent is that he knows the hero is seen as a symbol of hope to Happy Town's residents, and wishes to squash that immediately.
• House Fire: Deliberately inflicted on the town hospital.
• The Hyena: To go with his smiling.
• I'm a Humanitarian: While it's unclear if he himself partakes, he removes Shifty's arm and demands that Cuddles eat it raw.
• Immortality Immorality: More than anyone else in Happy Town, the curse of Resurrective Immortality drove him to cruelty that far exceeded his prior acts.
• Implacable Man: Due to his Resurrective Immortality, Giggles and crew know they can never escape him for long. Hitting him with her car was only an attempt to buy them some more time, and leaves them unable to return home since he can easily find out where they live.
• Internal Reveal: His being evil to Lifty and Shifty, who assumed him a kind stranger at first.
• Invincible Villain: He dies a few times throughout the story, but owing to the Happy Town curse, always comes back.
• Ironic Last Words: After repeatedly denouncing the idea of God and his religion in his last days, he ends up begging to God while bleeding out.
• Jerkass: Hurts people for fun, and enjoys it.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Happy Town technically has a higher kill count than him, and takes out its anger on innocents similarly. What ultimately separates them is that Flippy is an asshole.
• Kick the Dog:
  • When Cuddles has the gall to ask about Pop, he responds by simply slitting his throat and literally kicking him while he's down.
  • He offers Splendid a chance for some last words, and cuts him off at his first syllable.
  • He enjoys repeatedly relocking his burning jeep as Cuddles struggles to escape it.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: Literally kicks Cuddles after slitting his throat, while bleeding out. Later he crushes the head of a cheetah who was already unconscious, and had been pulled out of a fire.
• Knight Templar: It's clear he's very proud of himself for having served his country, and believes that the injustices he faced there justify all of his actions after. When he thinks Pop has escaped Happy Town, he quickly breaks down as a result, confused at why he's seemingly being punished for the actions he thought holy.
• Lack of Empathy: Completely, from how he considers everybody in Happy Town a toy given to him by God.
• Last Villain Stand: Chapter 11, where he confronts nearly every protagonist on his own in combat. Every stop is pulled out to defeat him, and even then he doesn't go easily.
• Light Is Not Good: His fur is a bright lime green, which in no way hints at his madness.
• Lightning Bruiser: He's described as moving incredibly quick when he wants to, which almost always leads to an instant dispatch of his foes.
• Limited Wardrobe: Given the general lax attitude on clothes in Happy Town, Flippy is odd for routinely wearing his army uniform and cap day after day.
• Madden Into Misanthropy: The inciting event (He claims) for his hatred and violence was the loss of a friend during the war he blames his general for. Since then, other life in general has become a toy for him.
• Messianic Archetype: Ironically, and mostly from his perspective. While resurrection isn't uncommon in Happy Town, he specifically dies to a blade both times, and the second after receiving wounds in each hand similar to stigmata. He also receives a message from who he believes to be God, and attempts to follow His word prior to losing his faith.
• Mood-Swinger: Can turn on a dime from pretending to be content to suddenly furious, and back again as soon as he's taken his anger out on someone.
• Moral Myopia: Refers to the other inhabitants of Happy Town as 'sinners', conveniently considering his own evil an act of retribution and justified because of this.
• Motive Rant: To Pop in his first chapter, explaining his jealousy at them.
• Narcissist: Believes himself to be chosen by God personally, which justifies everything he does. Overlaps with The Fighting Narcissist above.
• New Era Speech: Attempts to give one in front of the hospital he burns down. However, we as the audience don't get to hear it, because Giggles is too distracted on the hospital and the memory it represents.
• Not So Above It All: He privately admits to liking Cuddles' ELO tape, and listens to it while trying to kill Giggles.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: By his own beliefs, Happy Town is a blessing from the lord and everything he does inside it is simply his reward for suffering through the war. In reality, of course, he's just cruel and vindictive.
• Officer and a Gentleman: Part of his facade. He pretends to defer to Pop as his inferior back when they were in the war, and politely accepts Shifty's respect for his service when they first meet.
• Off with His Head!: To Splendid, leading into Decapitation Presentation.
• Older Than They Look: Due to his Time Abyss, Flippy appears more youthful despite being well into his 90s by 2023.
• The Paranoiac: Although he's usually too smug to worry, he has some traits of this. Cuddles notes that one of the few things he fears is being attacked in his sleep, leading him to lock his room at night and keep his current home hidden at all times.
• Perpetual Smiler: Flippy grins or smirks constantly, as part of his jovial appearance. How comforting this smile actually is varies.
• Pet the Dog: Rarely, and usually just to be a dick to someone else.
  • He seems to offer some respect to Pop's late wife, adding 'rest her soul' to a mention of her and patting his heart.
  • He revives Shifty from passing out, and helps him to his feet in the desert.
  • He offers Lifty and Shifty his canteen when they're finished digging up Cuddles, and congratulates them on a job well done.
  • He recovers Cuddles' ELO tape for him after initially losing it in a car wreck... After setting Cuddles on fire and leaving him to die.
• Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: To Lifty and Shifty, although his politeness is purely a facade.
• The Power of Hate: His hatred of Pop is what drives him, ultimately becoming a hatred of life in general over time.
• Prayer Is a Last Resort: After losing Pop, and one of his last, since he retires his faith immediately after.
• Precision F-Strike: Flippy swears infrequently, and then only with minor words like Damn or Hell, which makes moments where he goes higher more serious.
  "What possible fucking reason do you have to think I would fib about this?"
  "Now scream like a bitch."
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: His are often chummy and casual, even when he believes the deaths to be permanent. 'G'night, Sully' and 'Take it easy, Cuddles' are two examples.
• Pride: One of the sins he represents, being incredibly self absorbed to the detriment of those around him.
• Psycho Knife Nut: His most beloved belonging is his knife, which he uses as his primary method of killing.
• Rage Against the Heavens: When he interprets Happy Town's message as being from God, he quickly grows to hate his idea of the Lord, and burns down a hospital in order to send a message to him.
• Rasputinian Death: During his final battle, he breaks his leg getting run over by a car, gets stabbed in one hand, grabs a blade with the other one and slices his fingers to ribbons, and takes a brick to the back of the head. Even after all of that, he needs to be stabbed in the chest to finally put him down for good.
• Red Baron: Happy Town refers to him only as 'The Bear'.
• The Resenter: To Pop, for his success in life despite mistakes he made in the war.
• Returning War Vet: Flippy served, and the war massively impacted the person he would become later in life.
• Sadist: Naturally, taking joy he describes as 'orgasmic' in killing.
• Sanity Slippage: After believing himself abandoned by God, he begins acting more rashly and letting his veil slip more often.
• Sarcastic Confession: He jokingly confesses to homicide to Shifty and Lifty when they first meet, and they share a laugh about it. It doesn't stay funny for long.
• The Scottish Trope: His first mention is by Cuddles in chapter 1, who refuses to say his name and only refers to him as 'Him'.
• Screaming Warrior: While normally averted, he yells and growls animalistically in his final battle due to his desparation.
• Security Blanket: He keeps his knife on hand at all times, stored in his boot. When he loses track of it in his room, he promptly freaks out until he's reunited with it again.
• Serial Killer: To an incredible extent, that nearly everybody who encounters him at the end has been killed at least once before.
• Seven Deadly Sins: Represents three of them, with exception to Sloth, Gluttony, and Lust; He rarely sleeps or eats, and shows no sexual interest whatsoever.
• Shrouded in Myth: Little is known about his past pre-Happy Town, other than that he was in the military, and lost a friend under what he believes to be Pop's negligence.
• Slasher Smile: When his facade of politeness comes down, it's usually accompanied by a sadistic grin or sneer.
• Small-Town Tyrant: Which Flippy is aware of. When Happy Town's borders threaten to fall, he immediately realizes that the outside world will inevitably charge him for his crimes, and reflects that he's only gotten this far because of how small Happy Town is.
• Smug Snake: Not-so-privately believes himself above others, including his own cohort. He doesn't seem capable of speaking to other people without talking down to them, and is frequently described as having a cruel smile.
• Sociopathic Soldier: According to him, the war was when he began to show the first signs of the man he'd become. He mentions offhandedly 'killing a few more guys than we had to', showing how easily power goes to his head.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Deliberately on his end, since he knows it scares his victims more when he's not acting outwardly cruel at first.
• Strong and Skilled: A trained soldier who frequently takes down his foes with military precision, and possesses surprising strength and reflexes for his age. Cutting through solid bone with a knife strong.
• Stronger Than They Look: Appears as a harmless old man, but turns deadly when he needs to (or feels like it).
• Stupid Evil: His constantly changing plans, lack of real ambition beyond personal pleasure, and mistreatment of his only lackey present him as this. Even Giggles seems to regard him as an idiot, thinking of his New Era Speech as little more than 'his latest sick fascination'.
• Suddenly Shouting: While threatening Cub he speaks with his normal soft tone, until Pop begins to beg. At this point he grows angry and mockingly repeats Pop's words in a shrill screech.
• Tranquil Fury: When Cuddles brings up Pop, Flippy takes a moment to look wistfully off into the distance before violently slitting his throat.
• Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil: In his eyes, at least, he considers Cuddles' betrayal worse than anything he himself ever did.
• Underestimating Badassery: Because Pop wanted to keep his child safe, he never raised a finger against Flippy's abuse. Because of this, Flippy thinks him to be a weakling he can beat around. But the moment Flippy puts his child in danger, he snaps and effortlessly kills Flippy.
• Use Their Own Weapon Against Them:
  • Because of his attachment to his weapon, Pop stabs him with it when they fight.
  • In a Call-Back to this moment, Giggles kills him the same way in chapter 11.
• Vehicle-Based Characterization: His is a green jeep with a suspiciously red stain on the hood, indicating his military background and current hobbies.
• Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: Downplayed, but people fear him far more than they fear Cuddles.
• Villainous Breakdown: While praying to God, he begins professionally, but eventually his frustration leads him down this path. It's not clear whether the room 'laughing' at him is actually Happy Town's influence, or just his own rage filled delerium.
• Villain Respect: A tiny part of him respects Pop, as shown when he complements their fighting skills when they take him down. When Lifty and Shifty call Flippy 'the nicest person in town', he immediately defers the title to Pop and calls him 'a good friend of mine'. Even still, it's tiny, and extends to nobody else in his life, despite what he may seem.
• Villains Out Shopping: Shifty and Lifty meet him for the first time drinking at a bar, harmlessly enjoying the day. The worst thing he does is not pay for his drinks.
• Weapon-Based Characterization: His knife, a melee bladed weapon. It represents his clean precision and love of hands-on killing, as well as his military background.
• Weapon Specialization: Flippy's knife. He's one of the only characters who even wields a weapon period, making him all the more deadly.
• Wicked Cultured: Flippy's tastes seem to skew older, reflecting his status as a relic of time. He references Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to Pop, quotes directly from The Cask of Amontillado, and dismisses modern music as 'electronic junk'.
• Wise Old Folk Façade: To everyone he meets, although most are smart enough not to fall for it anymore.
• Would Hit a Girl: Anyone's game to Flippy, including trying to run down Giggles in his car.
• Would Hurt a Child: In his first appearance, Flippy threatens Cub with a knife, just to torment his father.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Unlike most villains, this serves to show off his patheticness. He repeatedly changes his plans for Lifty and Shifty on a whim, first to dig a trench showing him where the barrier is (which he plans to get more people for, but never does), then to dig holes to bury people alive in, and then gives up entirely on them. When Cuddles comes to check up on them after, even he doesn't seem sure on what they're supposed to be doing.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The first time Cuddles tries to betray him, Flippy instantly loses all patience and permakills him.

Cuddles

• Bullying the Disabled: His first abhorrent act is repeat killing the blind Mole, only because he can't fight back.

Spoiler Character

Happy Town / Mister Pickels

ALL SPOILERS UNMARKED

The Happy Town, and the source of the Curse that has brought its residents only misery and turmoil. Shows itself to Lammy in the form of a pickle, shortly before taking over her body.

• Adaptational Abomination: The first form it takes is of Mister Pickels, a character from the show only ever depicted as a Not-So-Imaginary Friend. Here, it's a vessel for the Genius Loci.
• Alliance with an Abomination: A reluctant one with Splendid- Happy Town brings back death, and Splendid kills Flippy for it.
• Animalistic Abomination: While wearing the form of Lammy, Splendid doesn't fall for its guise for even a second.
• Animal Motifs: While not connected to any one particular animal, the spirit of Happy Town is repeatedly referred to as a 'predator', making it more ironic when it possesses a sheep.
• Badass Boast: When Lammy asks what could be so terrible outside her home, it simply responds with 'Me'.
• Body Horror: To Happy Town, the land is its body. Having trees and stones ripped out and made into structures is described as excruciating for it, and having self described 'parasites' running around inside it is even worse.
• Dehumanizing Insult: Refers to its citizens as 'parasites' for how they crawl over it like worms in a corpse.
• Demonic Possession: Its possession of Lammy brings to mind this, seemingly leaping forms from the pickle to her.
• Eldritch Location: Aside from being one itself, it has the power to turn buildings into these, given they're still technically parts of Happy Town's body. It inflicts this on Lammy's house, turning it into a warped infinite tunnel.
• Evil Laugh: Flippy sees a vision (Or hallucination, or maybe just reality) of his own bedroom shaking and rattling while he's inside, which he interprets as Happy Town laughing at him.
• Genius Loci: It is Happy Town, or more specifically the land it was built on. It describes buildings and houses as its bones and organs, made from the resources that once grew on it.
• Motive Rant: Delivers one to Splendid when they meet, explaining its past.
• The Nameless: The pickle form is never named, despite having one in canon. Otherwise, it refers to itself as Happy Town, despite hating the fact that the town was built from it. It could be then that it genuinely has no name.
• Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Being locked in her own house for some time, Lammy assumes the talking pickle in her house to be a manifestation of her loneliness. Unfortunately for her, it's very real.
• Omnicidal Maniac: In a slow burn sense. Happy Town's plan is to torment its locals until they go insane, and can finally be considered 'part' of it.
• One-Word Vocabulary: For a while, it only ever says 'below me' to Lammy. Only once she begins listening and actually goes down to the basement does it begin talking again.
• The Philosopher: Before Lammy quite knows what it is, Mister Pickels talks to Lammy in overly eloquent sentences about the nature of death. Ocassionally, she argues back, not really having anything else to do.
• Sarcastic Confession: Lammy's pickle straight up tells her it's a manifestation of Happy Town upon first meeting her, but in a roundabout way that doesn't make the meaning clear. Lammy takes it in stride.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Being petty as it is, Happy Town occassionally breaks the rules of its own curse. Most notably, it refuses to restore Russell's body to health when he dies, instead bringing him back again and again with the same sicknesses.
• Sealed Evil in a Teddy Bear: The first form it takes to torment Lammy, a single pickle she bought from the market.
• Swallowed Whole: When Lammy comes to inside her own basement, she imagines the crawlspace as being Happy Town's throat, leading deeper inside it. The visual causes her to quickly panic and back out.
• Time Abyss: Since Happy Town was once the land itself, it may very well be as old as the Earth. It describes memories of natives living in harmony with it eleven thousand years before the present day.
• The Unapologetic: It flat-out states that it isn't sorry for what it's done, and only stops because it wants to be left alone.