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Characters: El Goonish Shive
Here's a list of characters from the Webcomic El Goonish Shive.

Given the amount of gender bending in this series, Gender Bender should only be noted for a character under special circumstances like Tedd or Vlad.

For a comprehensive list of appearances and statistics, see at this fan-site or at this wiki.

    open/close all folders 

Heroes

    Elliot 

Elliot Daniel Dunkel

One of the first characters introduced in the comic, Eliot started off as pretty much an everyman and foil to Tedd's devious antics. Since then he developed into a well-meaning, if somewhat inhibited, sufferer of chronic hero syndrome who would do anything for his friends and loved ones. He attends Moperville North with Tedd, Susan, and Sarah. He's Tedd's best friend and Ellen's brother/father.

Associated tropes:

    Tedd 

Tedd Drew Verres

One of the first characters introduced in the comic, Tedd is a self-avowed pervert and mad scientist. Despite being one of the least magically capable characters in the main cast, his extensive research on the subject makes him the resident expert on the finer workings of magic. Originally written as a sex maniac, his relationship with Grace has caused him to mellow out somewhat. He attends Moperville North with Elliot, Susan, and Sarah.

Associated tropes:

    Sarah 

Sarah Brown

Sarah was the first female character in the comic and spent most of her time dealing with Eliot and Tedd's schemes to get her to appear in a bikini. Once the story started to incorporate more fantastic elements, she was made unique by being the most "normal" one of the bunch, having none of the gifts in magic or science the other main characters enjoy. She attends Moperville North with Susan, Tedd, and Elliot.

Associated tropes:

    Grace 

Grace T. Sciuridae

Grace is a part-human, part-alien, part-squirrel shapeshifter who lives with Tedd and his father. Entire story arcs have been dedicated to her Dark and Troubled Past. Despite her history (and possibly being the most powerful character in the main cast), she maintains a positive, bubbly attitude and a strong belief in pacifism. She attends Moperville South with Ellen, Nanase, and Justin.

Associated tropes:

    Nanase 

Nanase Kitsune (狐 七瀬 Kitsune Nanase)

Nanase is Tedd's cousin. Martial Artist, magic user, all-around badass. Coming from an extremely strict and traditional household, she tends to over-think the potential problems until she makes a mountain out of a mole hill. Still, it's hard to find anyone less hard-working or dedicated than she is. She attends Moperville South with Ellen, Grace, and Justin.

Associated tropes:

  • The Ace: Discussed in-universe by Tedd.
    Tedd: "She's athletic, smart, trilingual, can kick the ass of anyone who messes with her, is theoretically good looking enough that most people are nice to her by default * and when she's not burned out, she's an insanely potent magic user."
    • Broken Ace: Currently a type 2, trying so hard to be great at magic and eventually succeeding with her "Angel Spell", but it broke her in the process, leaving her magically burnt out.
  • Action Girl: Apart from Grace and Super!Elliot, Nanase is by far the strongest out of the main cast, due to both her physical and magical prowess. As of the end of Sister II, she temporarily burnt out her magic, but is still a very strong fighter without it.
  • All Lesbians Want Kids: ...someday. Not that it would be a really big problem given that her cousin developed TF Gun.
  • Armoured Closet Gay: Her mother found out anyway.
  • Big Eater
  • Brought Down to Normal: Though it's supposedly only temporary.
  • Cool Big Sis: Maybe not to the cast as a whole, but Akiko sure seems to think so.
  • Cute Bruiser: A five foot four girl who can bench press 160 lbs — and complains about it because she used to be able to press 200.
  • Declaration of Protection: She starts with trying to keep Ellen sane. Later her desire to save Ellen gives her a new spell.
  • Effortless Amazonian Lift: Can shove around couches unassisted when asked for it.
  • Fiery Redhead: Formerly.
  • Flying Brick: Angel-form.
  • Freudian Excuse: Her overbearing mother is the reason for her closeted behavior (even though this is somewhat of an Informed Attribute). Especially odd considering she hangs out with and is good friends with Justin, Ellen, and Grace.
    • It should be noted that the latter two have only recently become her friends, (with Ellen especially having a big impact on how she deals with her sexuality), and the former was outed against his wishes and bullied so badly that he considered suicide.
  • Functional Magic
  • Honesty Is The Best Policy: After nearly dying because of Abraham, she decides she doesn't want to die living a lie and decides to be as honest as she can be. This includes being open about her homosexuality, wearing the clothes she like and not lying to those close to her about as many things as possible without divulging government secrets or breaking The Masquerade.
  • Incompatible Orientation: with Elliot, though she was unaware of it at the time.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Angel-form, in addition to being steel tough, flies very fast.
  • Lipstick Lesbian: She is a Girly Girl and very Feminine.
  • Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places/Single Woman Seeks Good Man: As evidenced recently, before dating Elliot and eventually becoming an Official Couple with Ellen, she used to date quite a lot of guys. Enough to get a reputation, as one of her exes brings up. This becomes Fridge Horror when one remembers that, even when she started dating Elliot, she was never actually attracted to him other than for his moral standards, instead hoping she would become attracted over time, which we can now chalk up to her underlying lesbian nature. All well and okay on its own, and everyone's okay with it. Now apply it to the, evidently long, list of guys she's dated, none of which she was likely ever attracted to.
  • Meaningful Name: Kitsune are Japanese werefox tricksters.
    • She nicknames her summoned double "Fox".
    • Animal family names aren't very common though...
    • Nanase means Seven Currents, but it's also a fairly common Japanese name.
  • My Beloved Smother
  • Noodle Incident: The school trip to Paris. Averted, having been explained just recently.
  • Really Gets Around: Dated nearly every boy in school hoping to find at least one she was attracted to. Makes for some awkward moments now.
    Gerald: I should have known you'd run out of men in the school eventually.
  • Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Her mother's view of her relationship with Ellen.
  • Rule Abiding Rebel: A "big act of defiance?," sure. She didn't expect her mother to take it so well. invoked
  • School Girl Lesbians: With Ellen.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Also With Ellen.
  • Squishy Wizard: Averted. Nanase is both the most powerful Martial Artist and the most powerful magic user of the cast because her magical power stems directly from the physical and spiritual discipline cultivated by her martial arts, and her magic provides her with superhuman combat abilities while also boosting her raw physical strength.
  • Supernatural Martial Arts: Even moreso than Elliot, and also trains as a magic user separately.
  • Themed Harem: It's a coincidence!
  • Transparent Closet: Many a joke was made (mainly by Justin) about Nanase being a closeted lesbian before it was made official.

    Justin 

Justin Tolkiberry

Justin is an amiable, level-headed comic shop clerk and Nanase's best friend. Since Elliot is also the one who introduced him to Nanase and the rest of the main cast by extension, Justin feels a huge debt of gratitude and an unrequited crush towards him. He also suffers from a seemingly irresistible compulsion to mess with long hair, though he is bothered by the stereotype. He attends Moperville South with Grace, Nanase, and Ellen.

Associated tropes:

    Susan 

Tiffany Susan Pompoms

The group's resident cynic, Susan (as she prefers to be called) was introduced in the comic as Sarah's man-hating best friend who would often give Eliot and Tedd grief. Interacting with the rest of the cast (and exploring her own history) has improved her opinion of the male gender to a strong degree, but she still maintains a high level of snark. She lives with her mother in a three-story house, works in a video store, and is the founder of Moperville North's Feminist Club.

Associated tropes:

    Ellen 

Ellen Danielle Dunkel

Elliot's more outgoing Opposite-Sex Clone created through magic. She originally thought she only had a few days to exist and decided to be a villain about it, but the revelation that she was here to stay caused her to lighten up. She inherited Eliot's magical aptitude, although most of her spells revolved around "spreading her curse" by turning her targets into sexy women. She attends Moperville South with Grace, Justin, and Nanase.

Associated tropes:

  • Beware the Nice Ones:
    • Do NOT mock Grace in Ellen's presence; the resulting death glare alone was enough to stun two other girls into silence.
    • Even Justin was not safe from her wrath after he upset her brother.
    • Vlad should consider himself lucky Ellen didn't kill him after he nearly killed Nanase.
  • Bi the Way: There have been times when Ellen's bisexuality has shown through, even though she's currently in denial about it, since most of her memories are Elliot's (ie, a man's), so she's rather weirded out by the idea of being attracted to men, her biological sex notwithstanding.
  • Big Sister Instinct
  • Brutal Honesty: She calls Elliot out on his motives behind his failed relationship with Sarah.
  • Conflict Ball: Off and on; demonstrated best when completely apropos of nothing she cornered Tedd and started yelling at him about wanting to help Nanase, revealing that she has seriously conflicted feelings about Tedd.
  • Chivalrous Pervert
  • Cloning Blues: played straight at first, but mostly subverted in the long run.
  • Closet Key: For Nanase.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: She started with the memories of Elliot. After fully expecting to die in a month and then getting over the identity problem she embraced "live today" attitude.
  • Divergent Character Evolution: From Elliot, it's gotten to the point that Dan himself would rather her just be Elliot's twin sister.
  • Evil Twin: Tries to be one during her initial Cloning Blues crisis, but doesn't really manage to pull it off.
  • Expendable Clone: Felt like one long after the other characters had accepted her as a person in her own right. Subverted, as she went on to become a major character.
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: Ellen's gradually lengthening hair symbolizes her growing acceptance of herself as a real person and a girl.
  • First Law of Gender Bending: Both her current status, and that she can inflict it on others.
  • Half Identical Twin: According to her cover story (she's actually a clone.)
  • Hot Blooded: She shares Elliot's hot temper but exhibits less control over it.
  • Hot Chick in a Badass Suit: When she tries to act as Elliot's Evil Twin.
  • Hypocritical Heartwarming: Her typical approach to Elliot ("You're like me if I were being directed by George Lucas.") Elliot actually gets more upset when she doesn't tease him because he feels guilty she got created (and stuck as a girl) in the first place.
  • If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: She said it to Tedd when he offered to study Nanase.
  • Jumping the Gender Barrier: As someone on the WMG page put it, Ellen's problems derive more from not being Elliot than being female, which she doesn't seem to mind terribly.
  • Like Sister And Sister: She mentions how quickly she got over not being with Sarah. The fact that she considered Sarah a sister was why.
  • Most Common Superpower: Her body is based on "Female Variant #5" (designed by Tedd), so she's probably the best endowed of the cast. And since that is her default form, the "Female Variant #5" modification gets applied again on top of it whenever she zaps herself.
  • No Bisexuals: In denial, perhaps to show solidarity with Nanase and perhaps because of an incident in her dream life, though she has also claimed that that she feels squicked by the way her admitted attraction to men was artificially grafted onto her personality by the transformation gun.
  • Official Couple: With Nanase. It has become even more official after the arc Sister II.
  • Opposite-Sex Clone: Of Elliot.
  • Poke the Poodle: After she was first created, she tried to be Elliot's Evil Twin but failed miserably.
  • School Girl Lesbians: With Nanase.
  • Sibling Rivalry: Ellen lives to tease Elliot — but god help anyone who actually hurts his feelings.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: She and Nanase tend to be this.
  • Supernatural Martial Arts: She got it in ready form from Elliot, with some extra power on account of being a magical creature.
  • Tangled Family Tree: As seen here, it's... complicated. And that isn't even close to some of the fans' ideas. Here is her family tree. She was created magically instead of being born and can be thought of as having up to four mothers: one of which is also her twin brother, and father, two are mother figures and the fourth is her mother due to being her twin brother/father's mother. By the same logic, she has up to three fathers: one because he's a husband figure to one of her mother figures, one due to her biological relationship to her twin brother, and one due to being her twin brother/father's father. Also, by the same logic, she is dating her aunt, but that is only because of the biological relationship she has with one of Ellen's father figures, so it probably doesn't count. And Magus seems to be another father.
  • Verbal Tic: Has picked up/inherited "Za?" from her brother/father.
  • Younger Than They Look/Older Than They Look: Chronologically, she is less than a year old. Biologically, she is around 17. In terms of memories and life experience, she is around 35 (17 years of Elliot’s life and 18 years of alter-Ellen’s life).

Humans

    The Feds 

Mr. Edward Verres

Tedd's father and a significant figure in the paranormal community. He works for a government organization tasked with dealing with the supernatural and extraterrestrial and does a pretty good job at it. He acts as a mentor figure to the kids and trusts them to keep a tight lid on the fantastic stuff that goes on. Has been known to spout expository dialog ad nauseum.

Associated tropes:

Agents Wolf and Cranium

Federal agents who work for Mr. Verres.

Associated tropes:

Arthur J. Arthur

"I do not waste time."

Mr. Verres' successor (and predecessor) as head of the office of Paranormal Affairs. Reputed to care more about keeping secrets than helping people. Mr. Raven is on non-speaking terms with him.

Associated tropes:

    Family 

Mrs. Kitsune

Nanase's overbearing and traditional Japanese Mother. Initially a complete tyrant in her home, her later appearances made her somewhat more reasonable. Has a very strong opinions on duty to family in general and motherhood in particular. She apparently knows more than she lets on.

Associated tropes:

Mr. Kitsune

Background Character. All we know about him is Nanase's belief that her father won't back her against her mother.

Akiko Kitsune

Nanase's little sister. Brave enough to defy their mother (albeit in secret) by sneaking Nanase cookies, but a cypher otherwise. Rarely speaks.

Associated tropes:

The Dunkels

Elliot and Ellen's seemingly oblivious, unflappable, and ridiculously permissive parents.

Associated tropes:

Mrs. Pompoms.

Susan's embittered mother. Appears to have lost all faith in men (and perhaps humanity in general) after her husband's betrayal. Embarrassingly over-aggressive when it comes to "protecting" Susan's interests.

Associated tropes:

  • My Beloved Smother: Bullied the school into allowing Susan to go on the field trip to France, much to Susan's embarrassment.
  • Straw Feminist: To the point where she openly wishes Susan were a lesbian because it would allow her to totally exclude men from her life.

Carol Brown

Ed, I grew up in Moperville. Weird stuff happens here.

Sarah's older sister. A pretty, determined, and gung-ho television reporter who covers the Moperville area. Apparently immune to the Weirdness Censor that prevents other people from crediting the weird stuff that goes on in her home town.

Associated tropes:

    Teachers & Mentors 

Sensei Greg

Master and founder of the now-closed School of Anime-Style Martial Arts, which he founded after a marathon anime viewing session, Greg is heavily versed in otaku culture and applies it in his fighting style.

Associated tropes:

  • Ascended Fanboy: Comic book & anime geek who learned how to unlock "ki" (Magic By Any Other Name) after watching 168 hours of anime straight. Much of his instructor "wisdom" comes from comic books.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: He's a nice guy and a goofball, but he'll still threaten to punch you through your face if you do anything evil.
  • Black and Nerdy: Breaks the trope somewhat by being a seven-foot-tall martial artist.
  • Cosplay: In fact, Greg has dabbled in crossplay.
    Dex: And... haven't I seen you cosplaying as Chun-Li?
    Greg: Yep!
  • Dirty Old Man: Because of anime martial arts examples such as Happosai and Master Roshi, he considers the fact that he does not fit this trope to be a point of shame.
  • Enlightenment Superpowers: An already experienced martial artist invented his own style after a feat of ascetism ending with a big insight. Shive knows the classics, all right. In Greg's case, it's 168 hours of watching anime without breaks for lunch and sleep — which accounts for the style's... peculiarity.
  • Gentle Giant: Easily towers over everyone in the main cast, yet as a black-belt level martial artist, he's not big on unnecessary violence.
  • Giver of Lame Names: "...you might want to hire a marketing consultant."
  • No Man Should Have This Power: He closed the dojo in part due to worries that there's no way to ensure that good powers would be granted to the right people. Just before the dojo was wrecked by a sleepwalking (and possibly mind-controlled) magic-user and a dragon anyway.
    Greg: You three are good kids, but my training could inadvertently give a sociopath atomic breath or something. While awesome, that would be totally irresponsible.
  • Scary Black Man: Played with. While he certainly looks the part, he's actually more of a geeky otaku type at heart.
  • Supernatural Martial Arts: Literally. As in "closed his dojo when he realized his training techniques only worked with people who already had a predisposition for magical powers".

Adrian Raven

Moperville South's apparently sinister and demanding history teacher. He's been a teacher there for a very long time and has quite the reputation as a menacing and cryptic individual. The reality of the matter is that he's an elf who has dedicated his time to assisting "gifted" children. Also Pandora's son.

Associated tropes:

    Students - Moperville North 

Catalina Bobcat

"Jackasses!"'

Member of the Moperville North Feminist Club with a crush on Susan.

Associated tropes:

  • Schoolgirl Lesbians:
    • What she wants with Susan.
    • Getting it with Rhoda.
    • She is at least somewhat bi, as apparently she was interested in Tedd; however, Tedd being as girly as he is, she's probably not that bi, and identifies as lesbian.

Liz

The Goth-esque member of the Feminist club. Seriously addicted to cigarettes.

Sandi

The airheaded member of the Feminist's club. Tony's girlfriend.

Associated tropes:

Tony

School Bully, Tedd's tormentor, and Elliot's nemesis.

Associated tropes:

  • The Bully: Picks on Tedd a lot because of how girly he looks.
  • Stupid Sexy Flanders: Grace theorizes that Tony is upset by his own attraction to the feminine aspects of Tedd's appearance.

Matt Cohen

The Head of the Student Council. Because of his position, he often has to announce the latest "ideas" of the Principal.

Associated Tropes:

  • Ambiguously Jewish: His last name and hairstyle suggest that he might be Jewish, though it hasn't been explicitly stated.
  • Beleaguered Assistant: Implied. He seems to love his job, but he is not a fan of the Principal's school uniform idea.
  • Deadpan Snarker:
    • He's gotten in one snark. It wouldn't be very noteworthy, except it was toward Susan. Whether this a defining trait, remains to be seen.
    • His speech about the uniforms was full of this, seemingly designed to get across his contempt for the system and the principal. Kind of impressive, given that these were after he was told to stick to the cards.
    "Black ties are encouraged but not required for uniforms, for reasons surely not related to those costing extra."
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Possibly... But considering Dan spent an extra comic because he didn't want to let Matt's intentions hang in the dark, it seems he's pure Nice Guy.
  • Foreshadowing: This and this turns out to be so for this. All of this took place over the course of five years. Only Dan Shive, everybody...
  • I Want My Fellow Student To Be Happy: Matt seems to understand quite clearly that Susan doesn't want to date him, and respects it. When he hears that she's never dated at all, he gives an earnest piece of advice to think on whether or not she'd regret not dating in High School. Even if it's not with him, he just wanted to make sure Susan would be okay.

    Students - Moperville South 

Diane

The Queen Bee of Moperville South. She is often seen with Lucy and Rhoda, the latter of whom she is quite protective.

Associated tropes:

  • Alpha Bitch: Was portrayed like this at first, but then...
  • Does Not Like Men: Not to Susan's (pre-character development) extent, but she does assume men are jerks until proven otherwise.
    • This may be the reason why she is fixated on Elliot, who she overheard being described as very passive.
  • Girl Posse: Lucy, Rhoda. Lucy fades into the background as time goes on, and she treats Rhoda more like a daughter, so she doesn't quite count in later comics.
  • Gold Digger: Shamelessly. Her plan is to marry a kind, compassionate, rich guy who will obey her every whim.
    Rhoda: What if you just fall in love with someone someday and they fall in love with you?
    Diane: That's adorable.
  • Identical Stranger: Distinguishable from Susan only by personality and the fact that Susan is slightly taller. They have the same face, the same build, the same voice, the same natural hair color, and they were apparently born only 20 minutes apart. The subtext with her similarities to Susan is even more blatant after the time skip: both girls have shown an interest in Elliot at the same time, although for drastically different reasons. While Susan has developed her friendship with Elliot by bonding over common interests, Diane apparently sees him as something to be used. It has been strongly hinted that Susan and Diane are identical twins separated at birth — in addition to being nearly identical apart from height and hair color, they were born twenty minutes apart at New Year's.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: At least when it comes to Rhoda.
  • Mama Bear: She punches out a reporter trying to get Rhoda to interview for a men's magazine.
  • Neat Freak: "OK, you had both better have clean hands!" Another coincidence with Susan?
  • Weirdness Censor: She sees someone who looks exactly like her with blue hair... and doesn't even notice. When it's pointed out, she does admit there is some similarity, but doesn't see it as enough to get worked up over.

Lucy

The snarky member of Diane's Girl Posse.

Associated tropes:

Rhoda

The sensitive member of Diane's Girl Posse who serves as Diane's Morality Pet and Lucy's Acceptable Target.

Associated tropes:

Melissa

Justin's former best friend who outed him after he told her he was gay by thoughtlessly confiding in her blabbermouth sister, and who hasn't exactly repaired their relationship with her subsequent behavior.

Associated tropes:

  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Invoked. Justin tells Susan that Melissa is a Smug Snake who almost destroyed his life. Noah tells Elliot that Melissa is a tragic heroine who nearly destroyed her own life as well. Their respective stories are pretty consistent in the details, it's just that Justin seems to hold her more responsible than he does her sister and is thus less willing to forgive her.
  • The Atoner: See Set Right What Once Went Wrong below.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: See Psycho Ex-Girlfriend below.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: She got a surprising Crowning Moment of Awesome by jumping between knocked down "Cheerleadra" and a monster and trying to stare it down.
  • Hidden Depths:
    • Dan claims that her referring to MythBusters is a subtle hint of this.
    • Less subtly, she said her faith in Noah was based on seeing how he had beaten something, compared to which a bulldog faced fireball-breathing dragon the size of a half truck is a misbehaving pup. Which also explains her treatment of it.
  • Incompatible Orientation: She's still attracted to Justin, but it certainly isn't mutual.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Eventually gets the hint that Justin wants nothing to do with her, and promised to leave him alone. Doubles as a Tear Jerker as it comes from the realization/belief that if it took Justin this long to forgive her, then they probably shouldn't and won't be friends again anyway.
  • Last Het Romance: Justin's first, last and only girlfriend
  • Love Makes You Crazy/Love Makes You Dumb: Pick the one you prefer. When her obsession with Justin kicks in, she acts like a complete lunatic unless she remembers to Dope Slap herself out of it.
    • Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: An annoying example... Except that it's been revealed that her motives are a bit more complex than that. Not to mention that she is fully aware that her attempts to win over Justin are pointless and do nothing but make her come off as annoying and quite possibly psychotic, but can't seem to stop herself.
  • Retcon: Originally, she was just some girl who Justin dated once and who wouldn't let go, but later became a childhood friend who had been in love with him for a long time, making her story more tragic.
  • Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Noah believes that Melissa has deluded herself into thinking she can make everything right again by winning Justin back.
  • This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!

Noah

I have been told I can make straight men see rainbows.

Melissa's androgynous boyfriend who rarely uses contractions. An orphan, Noah appears to be the ward of Mr. Raven and recently made friends with Elliot. He is the mysterious hooded figure previously only known as "The Child Left Behind" who has been seeking Grace to repay his debts to her for killing Damien.

Associated tropes:

Victor von Hip

A self-publishing schoolboy who tries to be very helpful.

Associated tropes:

    Supporting Characters 

George

An average nerd and Justin's coworker at the comic book shop.

Associated tropes:

  • Ambiguously Gay: There are some only slightly ambiguous hints that George has a crush on Justin, but this isn't confirmed and could be a Red Herring, and all of the signs (except perhaps for one) could realistically be due to other reasons.
  • Author Avatar: He parrots what Dan says a lot in the commentary and interrupted a Q&A in comic to act as his mouth piece. However, he's not solely existent for that. Dan's actual Author Avatar has shown up less since he was created, though.
  • Fanboy: A parody of opinionated geeks as a straight-up Expy of the Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons.
  • Fanon Discontinuity: Invoked: George feels this way about Star Wars ep. 1-3.
  • Meta Guy: The reason he was created.
  • Shipper on Deck:
    • Possibly; repeatedly refers to Elliot as Justin's boyfriend, but maybe he's just being sarcastic... or jealous.
    • Given this comic and the commentary regarding Landmark Sale, it's pretty obviously jealousy.

Dr. Sciuridae

Grace's "Grandfather" who substituted his own dead daughter's DNA (the original Grace) for the intended genetic sample when Project Lycanthrope created their fourth assassin "Shade Tail."

Associated tropes:

Dex

A regular in the comic shop where George and Justin work, a very hairy and very unkempt guy of less than athletical body shape, though not quite emaciated. He found himself right in the epicenter of the magic mayhem in "New And Old Flames" arc.

Associated tropes:

  • Ascended Extra: He was just a creepy dude who hung around the comic shop where Justin worked. And than he walked into Greg's dojo...

Mr. Tensaided

Susan's, and (during the summer) Elliot's, boss at the video rental store. A huge nerd who has an entire leveling system for his employees, he was unimpressed with Elliot's unfamiliarity with movie references and only hired him because Susan told the half-truth that Elliot knows Cheerleadra. Is bombastic and hammy, and rather obsessed with the things he's a fan of.

Associated tropes:

  • Fanboy: Perhaps even more so than George, in presentation though he's a lot more enthusiastic rather than snarky but angers easy when people don't get references he makes whereas George would just snark them.

Villains

    Villains 

Guineas

Guineapig/human/alien hybrid and the "oldest" of Grace's brothers. Stays in his hybrid form most of the time, in which he is unable to speak any human language. He isn't shown to be particularly bright or strong. He seems to be willing to take orders from Damian, but he also reports to Hedge on the side.

Associated tropes:

  • Mr. Fanservice: The sight of his fully human form prompts Ellen and a female soldier to stare openmouthed and high-five.
  • Heel Face Turn: Once Damien is gone, he willingly goes with the authorities to be evaluated if he is fit for release as a normal citizen.
  • The Guards Must Be Crazy: Too busy cleaning out his ears to notice Elliot slips his bonds (and clothes) via shapeshifting.
  • Minion with an F in Evil: When his brothers are having climactic combat showdowns with the protagonists, Guineas engages Ellen... in a thumb war (and loses!)

Hedge

Hedgehog/human/alien hybrid and the self-appointed "Big Brother" of Grace's animal-hybrid family. Spent most of his first appearances spying on Grace and her friends before he kidnapped Elliot (who he thought was another hybrid). Spends most of his time in his human form, as his hedgehog form can't speak.

Associated tropes:

Vlad/Vladia

Bat/falcon/leopard/alien/human hybrid and the final brother introduced in the comic. The giant mix-match of creatures used to create him made his first attempt at transforming a life-threatening experience, so he decided to stay in his hybrid form permanently, even though he hates being seen as a freak. This lasted until he got turned into a girl by Ellen's beam, so now s/he's decided to stick with that form just so s/he can look normal.

Associated tropes:

Damien

One of the first Big Bads in the series. He's technically another one of Grace's brothers, not that you'd guess it. Damien is a murderous Chimera with fire-based powers and a messiah complex. He wants to create an army of chimeras with him as their king.

Associated tropes:

Abraham

The creator of the Dewitchery Diamond that created Ellen. Abraham swore an oath to hunt down and destroy all new creatures created by the Diamond because, due to the nature of curses, those creatures tend to be vicious monsters. However, after learning that Ellen, the Diamond's latest creation, is an innocent human being (and is loved by her friends and family), he begins to question whether or not he is in the right anymore.

Associated tropes:

  • Anti-Villain: Especially towards the end of his arc.
  • The Atoner: First for making Dewitchery Diamond, then for trying to fix this problem too enthusiastically. See for yourself. But he's still incorrigibly dramatic.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Was first mentioned in in the first Sister arc, but only appeared recently.
  • Didn't Think This Through: His defining trait. He enchanted the Dewitchery Diamond to separate a lycanthropic friend from his curse without considering the potential consequences, didn't think about things like the cosmetic use of magic when he swore that oath, and managed to forget that Adrian Raven was a wizard while in the middle of fighting him. No wonder that two of two wizards who spoke of Abe called him "idiot."
  • Heel Realization
  • Hero Antagonist: in his own mind, at least.
  • Idiot Hero: Double deconstructed, if that's the right way to put it. First, because of his stupidity, he made his friend's condition worse instead of selling the gem to someone more skilled, and it only went downhill from there-that's the example they have written on the Playing With A Trope page for Idiot hero. Then, because he was so stupid, he didn't think about cosmetic magic, such as, say, someone's best friend turning them into a girl or something less drastic, such as a change of hair color, he came to the conclusion that he had to kill Ellen. It's not cute and funny, it's the cause of a horrifying Knight Templar. I mean, he didn't even think to throw the damn diamond in a volcano. Was he even really trying?
  • I Gave My Word: This leads to the To Be Lawful or Good problem below.
  • Kiai: Lets one out here.
  • Knight Templar: Somewhat. He's fully aware that his goal is morally wrong, but feels that it has to be done regardless.
  • Lawful Stupid: If it wasn't for his oath to kill anything born from the Dewitchery Diamond, he wouldn't even qualify as a villain.
  • Meaningful Name: In The Bible, Abraham was commanded by God to sacrifice his own child, but at the last moment, an angel stopped him, announcing that God was just testing his faith. Now consider that Ellen was created by the Dewitchery Diamond, which means that Abraham is Ellen's father in a roundabout way. Now consider that his oath to God led him to try to kill Ellen. Now consider that Nanase looked awfully angelic when she convinced Abraham to spare Ellen's life.
  • Never Live It Down: In-universe example. Apparently, "Every properly trained wizard has heard of Abraham, the idiot apprentice who recklessly enchanted a massive diamond instead of selling it to pay someone more skilled to fix his cursed noble friend."
  • Punch Clock Villain
  • Really 700 Years Old: Has managed to live for several centuries with his statue spell.
  • Taken for Granite: A voluntary version. He puts himself into suspended animation to prolong his life.
  • To Be Lawful or Good: Abraham swore an oath to destroy anything spawned by the Dewitchery Diamond, and feels obligated to kill Ellen, even though he's very reluctant to harm any innocent people.

Lord Tedd

Alternate Universe version of Tedd, presumably in control of significant chunks of his dimension along with the ability to slip a few surprises into nearby ones.

Associated tropes:

The French Aberration

A vampire-like creature who plays an important role in Susan's Back Story.

Non-Humans

    Aliens 

William and Gillian

American-born Uryuom couple. They're not aliens, they're citizens!

Associated tropes:

Lavender

Mr. Verres' Uryuom secretary. Claims not to be an alien and probably isn't in the strictly legal sense of the term.

Associated tropes:

    Immortals 

Immortals are a class of supernatural beings who exist only on the spiritual plane and who are normally limited to advising and guiding mortals to act in real world.

While Immortals live forever, they need to "die" to reset their memories and personality every 200 years or so to prevent their growing intelligence and power from butting up against increasing boredom and decreasing sanity.

  • All-Powerful Bystander: Immortals are only allowed to guide and empower mortals without incurring the wrath of other immortals. Chaos is bending these rules, probably with the intent of tearing the whole system apart so that her son is no longer bound by them either.
  • Born-Again Immortality: However, to retain their full potential, they have to do this voluntarily. If they are killed or rushed in the transition, they lose a lot of their memories and power.
  • Immortality Immorality: Not going through death and rebirth tends to leave immortals with a dangerous combination of power, boredom, and insanity. It's hinted that this is part of why Chaos is so dangerously unbalanced.
  • One Steve Limit: Since they adopt their own names, this can be averted with hilarious consequences:
    Grace: ...You're an immortal named Jerry?
    Jerry: Hey, you should be glad I'm named Jerry! Most immortals go for elitist names from ancient mythology. Let me tell you, there is nothing more hilarious than the legendary hissy fits that result from two or more immortals named "Zeus" running into each other.
  • Pointy Ears: All immortals seen so far have has pointy ears in their default humanoid forms. Their "elf" half-human children inherit this too.
  • Super Empowering: Immortals can give a person a magic mark which allows them to use an ability related to their innate talents or strongest desire, with that person's knowledge and consent. However, trickery and lies of omission can be used to get that consent as the French Immortals did, and Chaos outright forces marks on people and edits their memories to manipulate them.

Pandora (Chaos) Raven

An Immortal that can change her form at will. Virtually nothing is known about her except that she occasionally forces Magus to do her more dirty work. She is mostly an observer, but occasionally tries to influence events, particularly when she feels she has been slighted. Oh, and she's Raven's mother.

Associated tropes:

The French Immortals

A pair of elf-like creatures who awakened Susan and Nanase's magical powers in Paris and now watch over Elliot, presumably at the behest of Mr. Verres.

Associated tropes:

Jerry

Elderly immortal about to undergo rebirth who nonetheless takes time to aid Susan's Character Development. Looks remarkably like Santa Claus. First encountered here.

Associated tropes:

  • Chivalrous Pervert: The backstory of the hammers. They were meant as a release valve to encourage flirting and harmless, dirty-minded shenanigans — not as a deterrent.
  • Eccentric Mentor: Less so than Mr. Verres, but he still fits the bill. He's been a little wacky in his life, and some things like his Hyperspace Mallet idea were kind of weird, but bear in mind he's a 200 year old immortal at the height of his power — for now, — and he's also a master of Serenity-Inducing Fluffy Animal Attack.
  • Elderly Immortal:
    • Physically, he's a Type B. Given that he was preparing to "die" and be reborn when first met, this will change in his next appearance.
    • As matter of actual passage of time, there's no way to really tell who is actually eldest, though it's hinted that Chaos has held onto her current incarnation for far too long for her mental health's sake.
  • Fat Bastard: Calls himself this, while he's anything but. The worst thing we've seen him do was the real origin story for the Hammers, which he admits was an adolescent prank that he didn't realize Susan would take so seriously. Otherwise? He really is just a Cool Old Guy.
  • Hidden Depths: Despite initially coming off as jolly and cheerful, he's able to handle Susan's angst-induced awakening with a minimum of complications and is shown to be very unamused when he hears about what the French immortals had Susan and Nanase do.
  • Hyperspace Mallet: Actually created and powered the artifact allowing females access to these hammers. Now that he's dying, he needs to take back in the power of these hammers.
  • I Gave My Word: A very honorable person. When he hears Susan's backstory, he is deeply offended by how Susan was treated and says that immortals owe her a debt — one which he swears an oath to uphold himself.
  • Mr. Exposition: He explains a lot about immortals, awakening, and of course, the hammers.

    Other Supernatural Creatures 

The Demonic Duck

Master of Distraction

Some sort of magical summon that takes the form of a red duck with horns and a cartoonish pointy demon tail. He's called forth whenever someone needs the attention taken off of them for a second, usually so they can make a quick getaway. It is possible to be distracted by the duck even if you're the one who summoned him.

Associated tropes:

Magus

A wizard tricked into transporting to environs of our universe and largely unable to interact with it, that occasionally does "favors" for Chaos for the sake of ending his limbo. Has the ability to amplify the emotions of others. Like Chaos, very little is known about him, but what is known is that he wishes to return to life, and believes that Ellen is the key to making this possible. He claims to be Ellen's "Father", which implies that he orchestrated her creation in the first place.

Associated tropes:

Nioi

A female Human/Skunk seyunolu sorceress working for Lord Tedd. While doing private research for her little court intrigue (in Lord Tedd's best interests, as she sees it) in an Alternate Universe where the main cast lives, she accidentally met them and saved Grace using her magical shield. She "fixed" (and later contacted) Ellen as an expert in magical artifacts in general and the Dewitchery Diamond in particular after carelessly running into it while enchanted, thus accidentally creating Kaoli.

Associated tropes:

Sirleck

A body-snatching aberration who currently uses the body of an old man. Has allied himself with Magus after the latter cut ties with Pandora.

Associated tropes:

The "Whale"

A bizarre looking creature that is introduced in the "There Be Whales" story-line. Feeds on magic in the air and it's kind is attracted to Mopervile because of the growing magic in the area.

Associated Tropes:
  • Eldritch Abomination: States that it is both of and not of this world. Seems to be benevolent though and acts as Mr. Exposition for Tedd.
  • Mind Rape: Played down. Its psychic conversation with Ted only gave him a minor headache. Ted even assumed that it kept its conversation so short because it didn't want to cause this to him.
  • Mr. Exposition: At least to Ted so far.
  • Starfish Alien: It looks a little like a cross between a whale and a bottom feeder.
    "Whale:" We prefer to be compared to whales. We like whales.
  • Year Inside, Hour Outside: Its psychic communication seems to cause this, with its conversation to Tedd only lasting "less than one literal second" (later confirmed to be about two-thirds of a second) outside.


    Fourth Wall Mail Slot 
Note that in the 'Newspaper' or 'Sketchbook' sections, any character can do this; these almost only show up when talking to the viewers.

Dr Germahn

A stereotypical Mad Scientist, and proprietor of Germahn Laboratories, complete with accent.

Associated tropes:

Amanda

Dr Germahn's lab assistant. Perky, happy, and eternal victim of Dr. Germahn's experiments, almost always involving shrinking.

Associated tropes:

Lisa

Amanda's roommate, and prospective lawyer. Apparently has a crush on Amanda, but as of the last Q&A comics, she's reluctant to voice it where Amanda can hear.

Chika

Amanda's colleague.

Associated tropes:

Dan

Author Avatar. Rarely shows up, of course, but there are times.

Associated tropes:


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