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Family
Elliot and Ellen's Family
The Dunkels
Mr. and Mrs. Dunkel
Elliot and Ellen's seemingly oblivious, unflappable
, and ridiculously permissive parents.
- Absurdly Youthful Mother: Implied by Elliot's mother responding to Ellen's arrival with thinking that she had always wanted a daughter and then that this time she won't have to drop out of anything, and then confirmed when Sarah realizes that she would have had to have been 21 or younger when she gave birth to Elliot.
- Cloud Cuckoolanders: How else can you interpret their non-reactions to all the wackiness in their lives combined with their unexpected seriousness about things like going to the store for furniture?
- Comically Missing the Point: Basically their defining trait. Or, as the commentary puts it...A good rule of thumb for writing Elliot and Ellen's parents is to go not serious enough, and/or too serious.
And yes, I do mean "and/or". They can easily be too serious about the wrong thing while also being not serious enough about another thing. - Crazy-Prepared: A pre-mission briefing — complete with poster-sized charts — for a trip to the store. An ersatz Ikea, but still.
- Fantastically Indifferent: Capable of taking some very far out things in stride. For example, their son breaking into a government facility and creating a female duplicate in the process.
- HA HA HA—No: When Elliot asks if he can have a girl over while the elder Dunkels are out, Mr. Dunkel's first reaction is to laugh in his son's face that he would even think of doing anything objectionable on a second date. His second: SERIOUSLY DO YOU HAVE PROTECTION.
- Hidden Depths: They know how to organize a search party including incorporating aerial assets. The comic Lampshades the fact that this would not normally be expected knowledge for an Accountant (Possibly?) and a stay-at-home Mum.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Mr. Dunkel's overblown "assault plan" for furniture shopping.
- Mundane Utility: Mrs. Dunkel cheerfully (and off-handedly) suggests that Elliot could use his Gender Bender powers as a form of birth control.Mrs. Dunkel: If you are going to do anything, however, maybe keep it between girls? Safety first!
- One-Hour Work Week: Mr. Dunkel is not shown working, ever. Even Ellen and Elliot aren't sure what exactly their father's job is.
- Open-Minded Parent: They're ridiculously lax and accepting of all the things their kids gets involved in, which is Lampshaded repeatedly.Elliot: Your daughter is a cat. You could at least pretend this is odd.
[later]
Mr. Dunkel: If you're going to be out late fighting evil, you need to call home first!
Ms. Dunkel: That's right. It affects our ability to plan supper and alibis. - Trademark Favorite Food: Brownies.
- The author feels the need to specify that these contain no... questionable ingredients.
- The author feels the need
Tedd's Family
Edward
See Mr. Verres on El Goonish Shive Magic Community.
Noriko
See Noriko on El Goonish Shive Magic Community.
Van
Van
A young British seer.
- Clingy Child: He spends the meeting with Magic clinging to Tedd's legs because he's scared of Arthur.
- Long-Lost Relative: Tedd's younger half-sibling. They actually met when summoned by Magic to decide if things should change or not, but Magic decides that, while Tedd shouldn't know of their relationship yet, Van should.
- My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad: The first thing he says after waking up in the council with the Will of Magic is that his mum is a monster hunter and will cut you up if anyone hurts him.
Sarah's Family
Carol
Carol Brown
- Aloof Big Brother: It was years before she was shown interacting with Sarah and didn't even recognize her little sister's best friend when she interviewed Susan.
- Intrepid Reporter: How else do you describe a reporter who arrives on the scene via airdrop?
- Leg Focus: She exploits this trope by wearing short skirts that show her legs to boost ratings.
- She Is All Grown Up: The in-universe reason that Elliot didn't recognize her is that she's grown up a lot from the last time he met her.
- Sibling Rivalry: Note Sarah's reaction when Elliot makes the above assertion.
Grace's Family
Dr. Sciuridae
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."
- Deadpan Snarker: Even in the most precarious of situations:Dr. Sciuridae: [We] were assigned to work on a project to create deadly super assassins.Grace: What kind of company would assign that?!Dr. Sciuridae: A shady one.Grace: Ah.
- Only in It for the Money: He knew his bosses' ideas were completely nuts, was fully aware of the dubious morality of his job, and hated the company, but it paid the bills and helped him provide for his daughter.
- Motherly Scientist: Grew very attached to Grace, because Grace is his genetic granddaughter.
- The Stool Pigeon: He was the snitch who gave out the Project Lycanthrope to Mr. Verres after he grew attached to Grace.
Grace's Siblings
See Guineas, Hedge, and Vladia on El Goonish Shive Non-Humans.
Nanase's family
Mrs. Kitsune
Mrs. Kitsune
Nanase's overbearing and traditional Japanese mother. Initially a complete tyrant in her home, her later appearances made her somewhat more reasonable in the aftermath of Nanase's near death experience. Has a very strong opinions on duty to family in general and motherhood in particular. She apparently knows more than she lets on.
- Berserk Button: Mentioning her sister Noriko is one, demonstrated in one of the Q&A sessions. Whatever falling-out they had hasn't yet been elaborated on, but it was apparently so bad that she sided with Edward when he and Noriko divorced.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Has strong magical potential, like her sister and daughter, but apparently never really tried to reach her full potential in that field, perhaps related to her feelings about her sister.
- Delayed Reaction: Upon finding out that Tedd has a girlfriend.
- Disowned Sibling: She quite dramatically declares that she has no sister during a Fourth-Wall Mail Slot strip when asked about Tedd's mother. It's stated a few times that during Noriko and Edward's divorce she sided with Edward despite her blood relation to the former.
- Education Mama: She constantly hounds Nanase about her education in spite of wanting her to be a housewife.
- Everyone Has Standards: She may have her bigotry issues and can be controlling, but she despises her sister Noriko (Tedd's mother) for abandoning her family.
- Innocently Insensitive: It can be pretty harsh to watch her excitedly freak out over Tedd and Grace's relationship but not even acknowledge Nanase and Ellen's as real.
- My Beloved Smother:
- Downplayed. She constantly nags Nanase about her education, but is at worst mildly disapproving of Nanase's clothing choices.
- Perhaps as a reaction to her sister's abandonment of Tedd, she's shown to be comically emotionally overprotective of Tedd as well, commanding Nanase to help him out as much as possible (even though, as Nanase points out, Tedd doesn't really need it).
- Noble Bigot: She may not acknowledge Nanase and Ellen's relationship, but she does care about her and her happiness.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Apparently knows not only that Nanase has Magic, but knows enough about Magic that she was consulted first when Nanase burned out, demanding that the Agents keep Nanase in the dark about the fact that she knows. Agent Cranium complies, though feels guilty for forcing Nanase to keep "Lying" and states as much to her Mother. Given the power levels of her Sister and Ex-Brother-In-Law (Whom she apparently maintains polite contact with) and her own untapped potential, this makes sense. Nanase has later started to suspect that she knows, but is unsure of how to get her to admit it to her.
Mr. Kitsune
Mr. Kitsune
Background character. All we know about him is Nanase's belief that her father won't back her against her mother.
- Doting Parent: When he finally gets speaking lines, he's promising Akiko three cookies when they get home, in spite of her protests that she only wants one. He's yet to show this behavior towards Nanase.
- Henpecked Husband: Always in the background, rarely speaks, his wife is more important as a character and he never stands against his wife to defend his elder daughter. His only important trait is being the father of one of the most powerful characters in-universe.
Akiko
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.
- Boys Have Cooties: "Real boys are weird and gross." Nevertheless, she does seem to (at least subconsciously) appreciate the attractiveness of certain fictional boys...
- Cheerful Child: She's sweet, upbeat and well-behaved. In fact, she's so well-behaved that she refuses more than one cookie because "cookies are a sometimes food."
- Children Are Innocent: Though, as Ellen and Nanase are reminded, this does not mean that they're stupid. Akiko actually has a pretty sharp mind and is good at telling when someone's not being honest with her... but she doesn't quite have the capacity to grasp the complexities of sexuality, bigotry, and prejudices.
- Fangirl: She is like this. Rapunzel, her own sister, and whatnot.
- Hero-Worshipper: Towards her sister. Enough to disobey her mother by giving her cookies after Nanase was grounded.
Justin's Family
Jim
Jim Tolkiberry
Justin's uncle and the owner of the comic shop.
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Seen here in a Flashback tussling Justin's hair back when he was still miserable after being outed.
- Benevolent Boss: He's a very laid-back guy and on good relationships with Justin and George. Plus, he outright gives the job to Grace just off of Justin's voucher, only asking her if she's sure she can live-up to Justin's insane work ethic.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: After appearing in the storyline where Grace gets hired, he disappeared from the comic. Presumably he exists somewhere off-panel, just like the many other unseen comic shop employees.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: George asks him if he warned Grace about how the attention she's going to get from male customers, which Jim fires back that he wouldn't insult a young woman's intelligence. It then cuts to Grace surrounded by boys, oblivious to all of them hitting on her. Jim then backtracks and adds that she'll get used to it.
- Manly Facial Hair: He has a notably epic mustache. When Grace first meets him, she blurts out "mustache" before correcting herself. He laughs it off and says his facial hair is quite the conversation piece.
Susan's Family
Mrs. Pompoms
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.
- Freudian Excuse: Her husband cheated on her with another woman.
- Lady Drunk: First seen with a glass in hand and has a very misanthropic attitude.
- My Beloved Smother: Bullied the school into allowing Susan to go on the field trip to France, much to Susan's embarrassment.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: A more minor example. She meant well but genuinely thought that telling her young daughter that Daddy cheated on Mommy because he's a man and men can't help that sort of thing was helpful since it kept Susan from thinking that Daddy did it because he didn't love her or Mommy.
- 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.
Diane's Family
Rhea
Rhea
Diane's older adoptive sister, as well as Charlotte's roommate.
- Happily Adopted: Despite teasing Diane quite a bit, it's clear that Rhea cares for her as a sister.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: "Hard drinking" is maybe a bit of a stretch, but she gets pretty sloshed at her New Year's Eve party from a few too many drinking games.
Teachers & Mentors
Principal Verrückt
Principal Verrückt
The strict and somewhat bumbling principal of Moperville North.
- Characterization Marches On: He first appeared in a very early strip for a Cutaway Gag where the principal was Hitler, complete with Gratuitous German. He ditched the hairpiece in his next appearance and was a completely different character from then on, personality and appearance-wise.
- Cuteness Proximity:
- Ellen gets him to agree to go along with her cover story about being Elliot's cousin with a dose of the Puppy-Dog Eyes.
- He lets Sarah slightly break the school's Dress Code, because her beret is adorable. Much to Susan's annoyance.
- Dodgy Toupee: He originally wore one before Ellen pointed out it made him look like Adolf Hitler.
- Insistent Terminology: He only refers to Susan as Tiffany or Ms. Pompoms, since he refuses to use her "street name".
- Meaningful Name: German for "crazy".
- Stern Teacher: He tries to be a "tough but fair" kind of principal, although his inability to understand kids makes him come off as just stern.
Greg
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.
- 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: Averted, but discussed. 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 non-stop 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.
- Super-Strength: He once swatted a fly and exploded the punching bag it was on.
- 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".
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Has cosplayed as Chun-Li from the Street Fighter series.
Raven
Adrian Raven
Click here to see his true form (spoilers).
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.
- Accidental Pervert: He just can't seem to catch a break with Grace, his 18-year-old student who keeps getting him into... problematic situations. Grace is completely unaware of that, poor Adrian is not, such as when Grace cheerfully tells him that she's not a minor, so he can "do all sorts of things with [her]"note or when she shapeshifts in in front of him and ends up naked. He's appropriately horrified.
- Armor-Piercing Response: His mother brushes off most of his angry criticism toward her behavior, but when he responds to her justifying Revenge by Proxy on werewolves over one killing his father by calmly stating "Father would hate what you've become", Pandora immediately falls silent and leaves a moment later, realizing that everything her son criticized her for is right.
- Badass Teacher: Oh yes.
- Big Good: Shaping up to be the second one after Mr. Verres.
- Bizarre Alien Senses: When in his true form, he can taste magical potential. With his ears, apparently.
- Celibate Hero: His romantic encounters are rare enough that when he is informed he fathered Diane and fathered Susan's family line, he is quickly able to narrow down the possible times it could have happened.Raven: My goodness I was in my actual twenties...
- Combat Pragmatist:
- Dark Is Not Evil: He can act "creepy and weird" and even comes off as somewhat sinister at times. His rather harsh attitude toward his students doesn't help. However, he's definitely on the side of the heroes and is noted to be, alongside Mr. Verres, one of the authority figures they know they can trust.
- Evil Laugh: Though not actually a villain, he's perfectly capable of them.
- Expy: A cross between Severus Snape and Miles Edgeworth. He even called 'objection' once.
- Good Is Not Nice: He's very strict and intimidating, but his main purpose is acting as a guardian towards magical or otherwise not entirely mundane students.
- Half-Human Hybrid: He's the son of a human and Chaos.
- Immortal Procreation Clause: Is sterile. At least, he believes himself to be...
- It's All My Fault: Blames himself for Noriko abandoning her husband and son.
- Kubrick Stare: Delivers one along with a soft-spoken, but still very effective threat.Raven: I can act directly if the situation involves magic or is an immediate threat to myself or others. You are a homicidal wizard invading a public school. No one will care if I kill you. Final warning. Surrender, or die.
- Large Ham: Not always screaming, but he puts up a good show whenever possible.
- Living Distant Ancestor: Is revealed to be this to Susan, who is a descendant of a woman Raven was with way back in his actual twenties.
- Long-Lost Relative: Is Susan's distant ancestor and Diane's father.
- Magic Knight: Is a good spell user and knows how to fight with a sword.
- Martyr Without a Cause: His greatest wish is to join the military, serve a noble cause, and to protect people — but he's not allowed to. His mother is opposed to him risking his life for mortals and points out that his desire to serve "his country" is meaningless when he doesn't even really have a country.
- My Greatest Failure: According to him he was even more encouraging than he is now, especially to Tedd's parents and because of that considers himself completely at fault for Mrs. Verres departure from her family.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- He greatly regrets his role in causing Noriko's departure from her family.
- After discovering that he is Susan's ancestor and Diane's father (it doesn't help that Pandora is forcibly reset immediately after this revelation, causing considerably more grief), he distraught over incidents he believed were simply one-night-stands of little consequence because he believed he was sterile - he knows who Diane's biological mother is, but he can't even remember her full name, much to his shame, and he isn't thrilled to tell Susan that her lineage likely began when he was in his actual twenties.
Raven: "I'm a scoundrel!" - Older Alter Ego: He disguises himself as an elderly man, but his true form still looks to be his early 20s. Then again, the old man form is much younger than he really is, so maybe it's a younger alter ego?
- Older Than They Look: Ellen speculates that he's much older than he looks, since he's been teaching at the school since at least Nanase's mother's time. She's more right than she thinks.
- Our Elves Are Different: Is the resultant offspring of a human and an Immortal. Such hybrids are called elves.
- Parental Substitute: He's raising Noah, whose parents were apparently killed by Damien.
- Really 700 Years Old: His exact age isn't known, but Pandora was 156 when he was born and is believed to be at least 500 suggesting that he is at least 350 years old.
- Secret-Keeper: Mr. Raven's real job is assisting and protecting students with magical abilities.
- Spit Take: Grace's note to him nearly caused this reaction.
- Stern Teacher: Most definitely stern; the "loved by all his students" part, not so much.Nanase: Raven's version of "liking" people is expecting the world of them. If you get anything less than an "A" on anything, he will tear you a new one.
- Strong Family Resemblance: In his natural form he strongly resembles his descendant, Susan's father.
- Sword Cane: Has a walking cane which hides a sword.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting
- He reverts to his elf form when fighting Abraham.
- Or occasionally at home.
- He reverts to his elf form when fighting Abraham
Students - Moperville North
Catalina
Catalina Bobcat
"Jackasses!"'
A member of the Moperville North Feminist Club. She's loud, energetic, and often doesn't think through her actions, but she's also as loyal and brave as a friend can be. Although she had a crush on Susan, she started dating Rhoda after helping save her from a giant boar.- Cannot Keep a Secret: She has a hard time not yelling any secrets she knows out loud. She did learn to get better at it by keeping her relationship with Rhoda secret at her request, eventually to the point where she's able to keep quiet about having magic without cracking.
- Catchphrase: She's a big fan of yelling the word "Jackass(es)". This gets a tragic and somewhat Bathos-y twist where she tearfully says "assjack" after she asks Susan out only to find out that Susan's not a lesbian like she thought.
- Cat Girl: As Elliot put it, she "seems just a tail short from being a cat-girl." Thanks to a magic mark from Pandora, she actually gains the ability to turn into a cat girl. By default she's just A Little Bit Beastly, but can push herself all the way to full-on werecat.
- Cute Little Fangs: She's drawn with very prominent canines, which no other fully-human character has. They become even more pronounced when she's in her Cat Girl form.
- Didn't Think This Through: When there was a rumour going around that Elliot was gay, her solution was to tackle-kiss him in the hallway and declare herself to be his girlfriend. This (shockingly) helps, although only due to Elliot not playing along and just saying he's not gay but doesn't care if people think he is. The part she didn't think through was what she did getting back to Rhoda.
- Does Not Like Men: Downplayed. Susan describes her attitude toward men as "[they're] sleazy until proven otherwise." She was very friendly to Elliot and Tedd, even showing No Sense of Personal Space to the latter, because she deduced that any men Susan were willing to befriend must be decent.
- Fiery Redhead: Has the right hair color and she is very hotheaded.
- Genki Girl: Has plenty of enthusiasm and energy. Just look at her doing a backflip while "pumped on awesomeness".
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Involuntary; she sees herself more as Dame Diatribe, but there are some lines she can't cross at school, and all the situations that make her want to swear are at school.
- Incompatible Orientation: With Susan. Susan gets a lot of this, apparently. Even with Susan realizing that she's not as heterosexual as she thought, she probably wouldn't have been comfortable with the making out that Catalina would likely have wanted to do, and views her more as a friend.
- Our Werebeasts Are Different: She's able to turn into an intimidating werecat monster.
- Personality Powers: Defied. Being a Cat Girl has absolutely nothing to do with Catalina's personality. As Pandora points out, the only reason she gets that spell is her name-based affinity blocking out more fitting magic. When Susan tries to not-so-subtly ask if Catalina has cat magic, she dismisses it as boring and says she'd probably have loudspeaker magic instead, which Susan can't help but agree with.
- Power Tattoo: Grace learns through a dream that Catalina has a Magic Mark, and surprise surprise it turns her into a Cat Girl, though more feral looking than most. She also Awakened at some point off-screen, since the mark is gone when Sarah and Susan are trying to figure out whether Catalina has magic or not.
- Quirky Curls: Her hair is naturally flat, but she styles it this way to match her boisterous personality.
- Rescue Romance: She meets Rhoda when she helped save her life from the giant boar, and the two start dating shortly afterwards.
- Steven Ulysses Perhero: Apparently, the reason Pandora was able to mark her with a Cat Girl spell was that her very name resulted in her having an affinity for it. Although she points out that her tail is too long to actually be a bobcat.
Liz
Liz
The Goth-esque member of the Feminist club. Originally addicted to cigarettes, though not anymore. Friends with Ashley.
- A Day in the Limelight: In the "Party" arc.
- Ascended Extra: She was just a background character at the beginning of the comic, but she started to appear more and more after Ashley was introduced.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Part of why she's so protective of Ashley is because she helped her quit smoking, despite having first met when Liz was cranky from withdrawal and snapped at Ashley when she bumped into her in the hallway.
- Big Sister Instinct: Is extremely protective of Ashley to the point of making Elliot promise Ashley will be safe at the party for her here.
- Fantastically Indifferent: Part of her charm is that crazy things can happen in front of her and she'd just go "meh".
- Fetish: She mentions that she likes fantasies about getting mind-controlled by a vampire, but she would never allow it to happen in real life.
- Flat Character: Her indifference is her entire characterization, until she gets more focus later on.
- Out of Focus: After an introduction very early in the comic, Liz all but disappeared. According to Dan, he liked the character but didn't have many opportunities to use her since she had little relation with the main cast. Since then however, her friendship with Ashley has given her a lot more screen time.
- Not a Morning Person: See her response to Ashley.
- Power Tattoo: Was marked by Pandora, though it's unknown what spell she has. Or if she's even currently aware of it.
- Recovered Addict: She used to smoke, but Ashley helped her stop.
Sandi
Sandi
The airheaded member of the Feminist's club. Tony's girlfriend.
- The Ditz: Some of her actions can be quite eccentric. When she rejoins the Feminist club, at the end she casually says that it wasn't her lunch period and she was skipping class just to say sorry.
- Heel Realization: She and a bunch of other girls rudely quit the Feminist Club right as Susan needed people the most. She eventually realizes how much of a jerk she was thanks to Tedd sticking up for Susan and officially rejoins as an apology.
- Out of Focus: As Tony disappeared from the comic, Sandi, who already had less appearances, went with him,
Tony
Tony
School bully, Tedd's tormentor, and Elliot's nemesis.
- The Bully: Picks on Tedd a lot because of how girly he looks.
- Demoted to Extra: He appeared constantly in early comics as a major source of conflict. Over time, he started showing up less and less. His disappearance not-so-coincidentally happened alongside Tedd becoming more comfortable with their appearance and gender identity. The last major story beat Tony had was when it was revealed that his nameless friend was the "Ronin" that spread rumours about Elliot being gay. Otherwise, his character is sort of redundant at this point, being essentially a more actively malicious version of Rich.
- Jerk Jock: Is an athlete who bullies Tedd.
- Stupid Sexy Flanders: Grace theorizes that Tony is upset by his own attraction to Tedd's appearance, and she might be right.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Elliot back in elementary school. Their friendship started getting strained after he gay-bashed kids who were making fun of Elliot and him, and officially ended when Tony shoved a girl (who was actually Tedd).
Matt
Matt Cohen
The Head of the Student Council. Because of his position, he often has to announce the latest "ideas" of the Principal.
- 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.
- 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 Beloved 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.
Tom
Tom
A very effeminate boy who's interested in Susan. Ashley's ex, and far more manipulative than he first appears.
- Accidental Public Confession:Tom: I am a fantastic liar!
Beat Panel: [shows that every single woman in the (packed) cafeteria heard him]
Susan: Not when a mark goes off-script, you're not. - At Least I Admit It: He tells Susan that everybody uses little lies and word choice to manipulate others. He claims he's more honest than most people because he at least is able to admit it to himself. Susan concedes that he's not entirely wrong, but she adds that at least most people who do it have decent intentions. According to her Tom toys with the feelings of others for his own selfish reasons, or deeper still, for his own amusement. As a result, nobody trusts or likes him.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Which is lampshaded when Tom was drawn in color.
- Informed Ability: What his alleged skills as a Manipulative Bastard become in the face of Susan. When she unknowingly hits him with a Spanner in the Works, she starts to pick up on his rather sad attempts to recover his footing. It goes so far that he ends up yelling that he is a fantastic liar. Understandably, Susan answers by saying that he isn't when the mark goes off-script.
- Nice Guy: Not really, it's an act.
- Manipulative Bastard: Ashley revealed that he is incredibly underhanded and emotionally manipulative when he wants something. Currently, that something is Susan. When he is outed, he claims that everyone is just as manipulative, but as Susan points out, intention is what separates the average white lie from his selfish games.
- Self-Proclaimed Liar: Combined with Accidental Public Confession above.
"Good" Tom
Tom
A side-character who is good (unlike Tom, who is not).
- Ascended Extra: Appears here briefly before Dan decided to use him again a year later.
- Jumped at the Call: "A puppy is in danger."
- One-Steve Limit: An inversion, as used as a gag in his introductory page.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: As noted above, he has the ability to sense when a puppy is in danger, thanks to Pandora marking him.
- Nice Guy: The nicest, apparently. It seems to make him a bit annoying to hang out with, if his girlfriend's reaction is any indication.
Students - Moperville South
Lucy
Lucy
The snarky member of Diane's Girl Posse.
- Ambiguously Gay: Besides the avatar mentioned under Hidden Depths below, in the past after Diane defended her against a group of boys in Junior High, and told her that she was beautiful. Lucy developed a crush on Diane from that point on though whether it's because she's a full on lesbian or just a case of Single-Target Sexuality is still up for debate as she said she wouldn't care if Diane was a guy.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Gives one to Diane after Diane's very public attempt to dispel the rumors about her. To her surprise it's recriprocated.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Diane asks her why she kept going on double dates with her despite knowing of the "reputation" they were getting, she doesn't react well, and doesn't answer before the bell rings.
- Ascended Extra: In a sense. She was always a tertiary character to Diane whose appearances could probably be counted on two hands. Even as Diane and Rhoda started appearing more frequently and with more importance she rarely showed up and seemed to be pretty much forgotten about. Come "The Legend of Diane" she's given a large amount of focus eventually resulting in her starting a romantic relationship with Diane.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Her feelings for Diane seem to have developed at least in part due to Diane's defense of her against boys who were giving her unwanted attention after she started "developing", and reassuring her that she was beautiful.
- Beta Bitch: She's the naughty and snarky member of Diane's group. She wasn't always like that however and her greater focus in The Legend of Diane arc heavily implies it developed over a long period of time due to her unrequited crush on Diane. Or, at least, she thought her crush was unrequited.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: A bit regarding Diane, which is why her attitude towards Rhoda improved when she realized that she and Catalina were dating.
- D-Cup Distress: Went from being bullied for being tall to being an object of desire for boys in junior high once she started developing. Unfortunately for her, this wasn't a positive development.
- Deadpan Snarker: Observe her response to Diane's reasoning to concluding Ellen and Grace are new students.
- Demoted to Extra: It's pretty easy to forget that she's part of Diane and Rhoda's group, but she got more focus in the "Legend of Diane" storyline.
- With Friends Like These...: She's quite critical of Rhoda. And anyone else, for that matter. To a lesser degree, even Diane.
- Although Dan has stated that Lucy and Diane's friendship is strong enough to have lasted since childhood implying that the two know each other well enough to be honest, even brutally honest, without offending each other.
- Although Dan has stated
- Height Angst: When in Junior High, boys made fun of her for her height, then hit on her when she started "developing". Later, she outright wishes that she could be smaller sometimes, seeing herself as almost gorilla-like in the mirror.
- Hidden Depths:
- It's veeeeeery subtle, buuut... observe this avatar-based online-chat. Diane is wearing the same avatar as Susan was a bit earlier (providing more fodder for the 'sisters' reveal), but isn't Lucy's avatar of a female, dragonslaying knight strangely familiar too? Maybe a reference to a certain novel Nanase was reading 9 years earlier, back when she was still in the closet?
- A flashback to Junior High reveals that she had some major insecurities regarding her appearance, particularly her height, due to boys making fun of her (and, after she stared "developing", hitting on her) before Diane defended her and complimented her, and her comment about how she wishes Diane was a boy implies that she may have feelings for her.
- It's veeeeeery subtle, buuut... observe this avatar-based online-chat
- Relationship Upgrade: With Diane.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Like Diane, she knew about Rhoda dating Catalina, which is why she started to be nicer towards her.
- Shout-Out Theme Naming: Like the other girls in her posse, Lucy is named after a famous sitcom character. Her namesake is Lucille Ball from I Love Lucy.
- Statuesque Stunner: Bordering on Amazonian Beauty, she's far taller and far more "developed" than any other female character. Her height looks like it might even rival most of the male characters. Just compare her to Diane and Rhoda.
Rhoda
Rhoda
- Affectionate Nickname: Diane calls her pup.
- Amazonian Beauty: Can make herself this using her Sizeshifter powers. In a Sketchbook, this prompted a Stupid Sexy Friend reaction from Diane.
- Ambiguously Brown: Dan is specifically keeping her ethnicity vague until it becomes relevant.
- Animal Motif: Rhoda is often compared to and treated like a puppy. She's also commonly seen with dog ears, paws, or a tail in Fantasy Sequences and the choker she usually wears looks like a collar. It sets up a minor Cat/Dog Dichotomy with her girlfriend.
- The Archmage: Is apparently one of the most powerful and versatile magic-users in the comic, on the same tier as Nanase. When Luke catches a glimpse of her aura, it appears as a giant, flaming beacon around her.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Apparently she has spent enough time with her girlfriend that she's picked up Catalina's favourite insult, as shown when she gets frustrated by a fellow student cutting in line while waiting for pizza.Rhoda: Back of the line, Jackass!
- Breast Expansion: This was one of the things she tried while experimenting with her Sizeshifter powers. She also briefly considers giving Kitty gigantic boobs to stop her from chasing her and Catalina, but quickly decides that's a terrible idea.
- Combo Platter Powers: Although her magic is primarily based around changing the size of things, Rhoda has the potential to gain a wide variety of different spells if she keeps practicing. Similar to Nanase, her power level is to the point where she could theoretically get any kind of spell she needed. In The Rant for one comic, Dan said she was basically a wizard in EGS terms minus the actual Power Copying.
- Everybody Knew Already: Both Diane and Lucy figured out that she and Catalina were dating well before she told them. She is not happy about that, since she kept it secret and caused herself anxiety for nothing.
- Fetish: Rhoda seems to have a Cat Girl fetish, which makes perfect sense given her relationship with Catalina.
- Grew a Spine: When Rhoda was first introduced, she was timid and easily pushed around by others. Either because of Catalina's influence or developing her own magic gave her a confidence boost, she later grew out of it and refuses to let herself be pushed around anymore.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Non-romantic version. Rhoda is so petite, she looks tiny next to just about any guy. Six-foot Justin practically towers over her. This is actually why she's only been shown interested in girls despite being bisexual—she gets freaked out by people who are much bigger than her, which most guys are.
- Morality Pet: She served as one to Diane even before the latter started defrosting. Diane doesn't seem so bad when she's comforting a sobbing Rhoda who forgot her math homework.
- Personality Powers: Given magic's habit of this and her issues with size perception, shrinking and growing things is a fitting starting power.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Despite being a little bean, Rhoda is possibly the most powerful magic user in the comic. Her Sizeshifter powers are effortless and several magnitudes more powerful than what Tedd can do, and that's with very little practice or training. A non-canon NP storyline gave a taste of what she could do with more practice, never mind other spells she'll unlock along the way.
- Power Perversion Potential: Take a look at the immediate first thought she had for how to sneak a tiny Catalina out of the mall. Catalina definitely had the same idea.
- Power Tattoo: She didn't know about it for a time, but she has one that lets her alter the size of herself or anything she points her palms at. By the time of the EGS:NP arc Escape From the Mall, she's at least learned about her powers and told Catalina about them. And then the same arc reveals that she's somehow Awakened in the meantime, meaning the tattoo is now gone.
- Precision F-Strike: She did not take it lightly when she found out that Diane and Lucy already knew/suspected that she had a girlfriend when she came out to them, despite having kept it a secret like she did in the first place due to fearing their reactions.Rhoda: You #&%$ing knew?!
- She Cleans Up Nicely: She looks plain when she dresses stereotypically nerdy, especially when she's doing it on purpose to avoid notice. However, when she dresses to look nice, she looks really nice.
- Ship Tease: Dan specifically says that he knows nothing about either
boats or mailing things that wouldn't fit in envelopes once she and Catalina meet. - Sizeshifter: The Power Tattoo granted by Pandora gives her the ability to alter both her own size and others. She usually tends to shrink herself and make others grow, but the events of Escape From The Mall end up reversing that norm out of necessity.
- Shout-Out Theme Naming: Like the other girls in her posse, Rhoda is named after a famous sitcom character. Her namesake is Rhoda Morgenstern from The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda.
- Shrinking Violet: Rhoda's perception of her own size literally shrinks when she feels intimidated.
- Took a Level in Badass: Escape From The Mall reveals that at some point she'd Awakened when Pandora wasn't looking. She also becomes generally more confident and outgoing after growing into her magical powers.
- Transparent Closet: She thinks her relationship with another girl is a complete secret, but Rhoda and Catalina are so bad at hiding it that even people she's never met knows about it.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Being attacked by a wild boar accidentally set off her Power Tattoo, which made the boar grow into an enormous, territorial brute.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Unlocked such a spell at some point after Awakening, allowing her to transform into a busty adult woman with long hair. It's unclear if the spell grants her a distinct new form or more general shapeshifting abilities.
- Wig, Dress, Accent: After getting fed-up with people harassing her for appearing on the news when Pandora manifested, she disguised herself with a ponytail, Nerd Glasses, and baggier clothing. She kept it up until everyone forgot about the incident.
Melissa
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.
- 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: She betrayed Justin's trust and outed him, then spent years trying to convince him that being gay was just a phase. Eventually she realises that she can't repair their friendship, and for that makes whatever atonement she can by promising not to bother him again.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: She got a surprising action moment by jumping between knocked down Cheerleadra and a monster and trying to stare it down.
- Driven to Suicide: If Elliot hadn't stepped in and saved Justin from the gay-bashing bullies, Noah pretty much spelled out that Melissa would've ended her life.
- 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.
- When Cheerleadra gets hurt, Melissa is also quick to make sure she doesn't show any signs of a concussion, implying she has at least some basic medical knowledge.
- Incompatible Orientation: She's still attracted to Justin, but it certainly isn't mutual. It's strongly implied that she's gotten over it as of the end of "New and Old Flames".
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Eventually gets the hint that Justin wants nothing to do with her, and promises to leave him alone. 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: 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.
- Revision: 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.
- Secret-Keeper: Knows about Noah's powers as she knew screaming would bring him to fight a dragon-like monster.
- 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. She finally comes to terms with how absurd that is at the end of "New and Old Flames", and she realises that their friendship will never be what it used to be.
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Here comes a new challenger, bitch!
- Wounded Gazelle Warcry: When encountering a monster, she first comes off as a hysterical Screaming Woman, but it becomes clear that she invoked this to alert her super-powered boyfriend to come and handle the monster, which she knows he's capable of.
Noah
Noah Raven
"I have been told I can make straight men see rainbows."
Melissa's androgynous boyfriend who rarely uses contractions. An orphan, Noah is the adopted son of Mr. Raven and made friends with Elliot during the Swedekea arc.- Agent Peacock: He's quite effeminate in appearance and personality, but that doesn't make him any less badass.
- Ambiguously Human: Apparently his aura is similar to Grace's, and the person commenting this also refers to his pigtails as "prehensile tendrils." His hair does look suspiciously similar to the antennae Ellen's half-human friend Archie had in her dreams. There is a lot of evidence that he might be a seyunolu beyond just his hair (which has been shown to be able to move on its own accord). Examples include that he values his relationship with Melissa for "physical warmth and comfort", another common trend in seyunolus, and his apparent lack of social exposure.Noah: Have you ever heard of a television show called "The Simpsons?"
Elliot: I am aware of it.- The ambiguity is finally dropped here, where it's revealed that he's a human-uryuom seyunolu.
- The ambiguity is finally dropped here
- Berserk Button: Intentionally evil acts cry out for vengeance!
- Best Served Cold: He trained for years to kill Damien to avenge someone long dead.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He speaks formally in order to control his temper, which is apparently pretty bad if pushed too far.
- Bizarre Alien Senses: He has the same feedback sense as Grace, which lets him pick up details from his surrounding. Unlike Grace though, he doesn't seem to be able to turn it off.
- Black Bead Eyes: Well, black bead eye. One of his eyes takes from his uryuom heritage.
- Camp Straight: His speech, mannerisms, and androgeny made Elliott surprised to learn he had a girlfriend.
- Cannot Tell a Lie: Lending credence to his Alternative Character Interpretation of Melissa.
- Captain Obvious: He has a tendency to say incredibly obvious things as if they were mind-blowing facts. He is very smart, but sometimes doesn't understand what is or isn't common knowledge.
- Chekhov's Gunman: First appeared six years before his formal introduction.
- Closet Key: He's apparently the reason that Elliot realized that he has some attraction to men.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: He has some strange and often absent-minded ways of doing things, such as entering Raven's office through the ceiling.
- Dark Is Not Evil: His "The Child Left Behind" form looks like a black silhouette with white outlines, similar to Magus. He's definitely one of the good guys.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Even more so than Tedd in that he also dresses in androgynous clothing. He killed a Running Gag: in comparison with Noah, Tedd doesn't look "just that androgynous" at all.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Discussed.Noah: Is it jealousy? I have been told I could make straight men see rainbows.
- Face Fault: He actually manages to trip while sitting down. Twice.
- Flying Brick: "The Child Left Behind" is super-strong, tough, and can fly.
- Friendless Background: Wants friends, but has difficulty making them because he is shy and has poor social skills. He also hated having to lie about his antennae and Bizarre Alien Senses, which made him come off as even more of a loner to other kids.
- Friends with Benefits: He's dating Melissa despite her still being in love with Justin, and they "provide close comfort and pleasure for each other."
- Half-Human Hybrid: He's at least part human and part uryuom.
- Happily Adopted: Lives with Raven, who he considers a father-figure. Later revealed he'd been pondering for awhile on how to ask for permission to call him Dad. Eventually he casually calls him that while trying to comfort him about Pandora's "Death before immediately backpedaling on it, only to be hugged.
- Hidden Depths:
- Nearly won a race through the "Swedekea" store with super-powerful martial artist Elliot, and later tells Raven that he was holding back. To be fair, Elliot was too, but still...
- In gym class, he faked mediocrity so well that Ellen remembered him at all only because of his strange hairdo.
- He also once beat the snot out of two guys who later went on to become college football offensive linemen.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: One of his eyes is covered by his hair at nearly all times. It's because the eye that's always hidden is an almond-shaped uryuom eye. Presumably the few times both eyes have been seen, it's either shapeshifted away or hidden with an illusion.
- In the Hood: Wears one when fighting magical beings that obscures all of his features, except white dots for his eyes and a drape of hair.
- Keet: Quieter than most, but the dude can flounce and produce sparkles at will.
- King Incognito: He implies that he's royalty, since he tried to knight Raven. Of course, Raven points out that he doesn't actually have the authority to knight people, so who knows.
- Mysterious Past: All we know of his past is that his parents are dead, presumably at Damien's hand.
- Open Secret: Him being The Child Left Behind. To be fair, it's kind of hard to keep your Secret Identity when you disappear suddenly then a mysterious shadowy guy shows up just in time to save your girlfriend's life, all right in front of Justin. Noah and Melissa still act like it's a secret afterwards.
- Revenge Before Reason: In a throwaway gag, he reveals that he was looking into selling his soul for power before Raven dissuaded him.
- Sensory Overload: His antennae give him feedback on his surroundings to a minute extreme, which makes him uncomfortable in crowds. He describes everything as being "loud".
- Shock and Awe: He attacks the pug-dragon with a lightning blast.
- Spock Speak: One of his more notable traits.
- Unknown Relative: As the adopted son of Adrian Raven, Noah is Diane's brother and Susan's distant uncle, as well as distantly related to Tedd. It's not by blood, but he still introduces himself to Diane as her brother.
Victor
Victor von Hip
A self-publishing schoolboy who tries to be very helpful.
- Badass Boast: "The Greek God Of Pamphlets!"
- Crazy-Prepared: He already has pamphlets for every occasion, no matter how strange. Check out his pamphlet on his pamphlets.
- New-Age Retro Hippie: Has the looks and some of the mannerisms.
Charlotte
Charlotte
An enthusiast of the supernatural who graduated from Moperville South.
- A Friend in Need: Despite having been angry a moment ago with Diane for her thoughtless outburst (see under Did You Think I Can't Feel?), Charlotte unhesitatingly tackles a monster threatening her. When Diane expresses astonishment at her doing that for her, Charlotte says simply, "Of course I did. You're my friend."
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Charlotte is introverted and socially retiring, yet manages to tackle a spider-vampire about to launch a surprise attack on Diane. The creature easily tosses her away, but still.
- Black and Nerdy: Charlotte spends her free time either investigating the supernatural, discussing it online, or gaming.
- Did You Think I Can't Feel?: Despite her normally stoic demeanour, she reacts to Diane's outburst, "Have you ever even been on a date?" with a genuinely hurt look and retreats into silence, testily rebuffing Diane's attempt to apologize.
- No Social Skills: While she's not completely lacking in sense of humour or conversational ability, her introverted nature makes her uncomfortable in conventional social situations. When her housemate Rhea throws a party, Charlotte, upon meeting Nanase and Ellen, cuts right to the chase about their paranormal investigative abilities and, ignoring Rick's invitation to join the party, suggests the couple join her upstairs for video games.
- Not So Stoic: Her near-emotionless veneer cracks in the fifth chapter of "So a Date at the Mall." When Diane casually dismisses Tara's intuition that she has vampire-hunting potential as nonsense, and instead focuses on her own romantic prospects or lack thereof with Elliot, Charlotte is genuinely appalled and castigates her for her priorities. Then, when Diane counters with an angry jab at her introversion and thoughtlessly asks whether she's ever dated, Charlotte shows her hurt feelings so visibly, if silently, that Diane realizes she's gone too far.
- Only One Name: As of current her last name is unknown. Lampshaded in an NP stoyline where she and Susan are the inventors of a super army robot (Grace). In the final strip she addresses Susan as "Dr. Pompoms", who responds by calling her Dr. Last Name Not Known Yet.
- The Spock: Charlotte is all about logical deduction. She generally has a limited emotional range, and her facial expressions rarely veer from Dull Surprise or Fascinating Eyebrow except when startled, annoyed or amused; even then, her face normally shows those reactions as minimally as possible. She even uses Spock Speak in the strip that introduces her, almost completely avoiding contractions and informal speech; this is relaxed in her subsequent scenes.
Jay
Jill / "Jay"
A student at Moperville South who is also a wizard. She is also Arthur's granddaughter, and apparently does not get along with her grandfather for whatever reason. Her legal name is Jill, but she prefers to go by Jay.
- Acting Unnatural: When she cant use her Compelling Voice, her attempts to make natural conversation with people she's suspicious of leave something to be desired.
- Ascended Extra: Like Sam, her design was originally used for a minor background character before becoming a major character; unlike Sam, her character (grandchild of Arthur who has an unspecified conflict with him) was planned to appear regardless, but Dan simply reused the design because he found the others he was considering up with too boring.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Antagonistic as Jay is to her grandfather, she does care enough about him to go into a rampage when she thinks Myst did something bad to him during a lucid dream sequence.
- Compelling Voice: When delivering the pizza to the party, her text style changes into the same font as Diane's when she's using her own Compelling Voice, and Jay even notes under her breath that "she's not even using it right". It's very likely that Jay copied the spell from Diane at some point, probably when she used it in the cafeteria.
- Connected All Along: Long after Jay is introduced, it is revealed that Arthur is Jay's grandfather.
- Delinquent Hair: A shaved mohawk and a long, flowing ponytail. It fits with her style and rebellious attitude.
- Elemental Shapeshifter: She copied Camdin's spell, allowing her to turn into a cloud of smoke.
- Everyone Has Standards: She may be intrusive and not just a little bit stalker-ish, but she draws the line at invading people's dreams to milk personal information out of them, as her first NP storyline shows:Narration: Jay may not be a saint, but come on now.
- Gossipy Hens: She loves gossiping as an end in and of itself.
- Hates Being Touched: She's glad that Grace has the awareness not to hug her, since she doesn't like being touched.
- I Have Many Names: She refers to herself as "Jay", but the teachers call her "Jill" (prompting a comparison to Susan), and in an NP storyline she calls herself "Jack" as an alias. It is later clarified that "Jill" is her legal name, while "Jay" is her nickname.
- Our Mages Are Different: Refers to Diane as "a bard" and Grace as "a druid" which isn't wrong, necessarily, but isn't correct in universe either. The terms do accurately describe their abilities, though.
- Power Copying: As a wizard, she can copy the spells of others if she sees them use them, and seems to be deliberately seeking out transformation spells. She cannot copy Grace's transformations, however.
- Psychological Projection: With a peak at her inner monologue, she thinks that Grace is collecting followers rather than friends and is only faking her bubbly personality. Grace really is that friendly, but Jay is applying her own deceitfulness to her.
- Super Smoke: One of her copied transformation spells allows her to take on a smoke-like form.
- Touched by Vorlons: She gained her wizard abilities by being Awakened by Pandora.
Camelia
Camelia
A student at Moperville South who attends gym class with Grace.
- Ascended Extra: She appeared as a reoccurring background student at South before getting some characterization (and a name) in the Jestful Statement NP arc.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: She was drawn extremely angular early on, being made almost entirely of triangle shapes. This was significantly toned down later.
- Innocently Insensitive:
- She's one of the students who was spreading untrue rumours about Diane... unknowingly right to Diane's face, since she didn't recognize her.
- The "Jestful Statement" storyline starts because she poked fun at Grace for her weird mannerisms.
- Meaningful Name: She's named after a type of evergreen tree with rose-like flowers, in reference to her spiky Anime Hair.
Conan
Conan
An absurdly buff nerd at Moperville South.
- Competition Freak: He admits that this is the reason he challenged Grace to a volleyball contest.
- Geek Physique: Inverted. He is extremely buff, despite being a nerd.
- Meaningful Name: Conan is both a Shout-Out to Conan the Barbarian and a name that means "exalted" in reference to his intelligence.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: As part of his nerd getup.
- Stereotype Flip: He's first introduced like he's a standard jock (minus the jerk part) wearing gym clothes. When he see him in his normal outfit, it's revealed that he's actually a huge nerd.
Other Humans
George
George
An average nerd and Justin's coworker at the comic book shop.
- 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. All of the signs (except perhaps for one) could realistically be due to other reasons.
- In one of the "Summer Moments" comics, George has a pretty curious expression towards two guys going out to the movies with each other. It is still pretty ambiguous.
- And finally confirmed here (or at least confirmed that characters in universe are thinking the same way), with the commentary even stating that, for some readers, it was a "FINALLY" moment.
- 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.
- Deadpan Snarker: It's probably easier to count the number of conversations where he's NOT snarking at the person he's talking to.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Despite usually being pretty on-the-mark at figuring out people's secrets, he has made a few wrong assumptions.
- He assumed that Elliot was Justin's boyfriend, which led to him acting a lot more surly until he was corrected. According to him, it was because Justin having a boyfriend made him uncomfortable. Up to interpretation.
- He figures that since Ellen acts like Elliot but is more confident, is dating the girl that Elliot used to date, George knows that Elliot can turn into Cheerleadra, and never saw the two together at the same time, then Elliot and Ellen must be the same person. Dan admits in The Rant that this makes way more sense than what actually happened.
- 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.
- Fantastically Indifferent: He's pretty observant, noticing for example Tedd's hair color change in the middle of the game tournament, but doesn't pass it more than a nonchalant comment.
- Geek Physiques: Of the obese sort.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's rude and obnoxious, but not actually a bad person, and surprisingly generous with honest advice. Sarah sums him up as a "giant rude Yoda."
- Locked Out of the Loop: During Who Is Ellen, George thinks about his frustrations about being excluded from the magic-related loop that he knows Justin is in in spite of outright telling him he knows that Elliot is Cheerleadra during New and Old Flames.
- Meta Guy: The reason he was created.
- Secret-Keeper: Both for Elliot being Cheerleadra and for some of Tedd's magical shenanigans.
- The Social Expert: Despite appearing rather indifferent most of the time, he actually has a good insight into people.
- Stealth Mentor: Dispenses surprisingly good advice to the kids while feigning indifference, coaches Sarah in the card tournament when everyone else is too preoccupied to notice.
Dex
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.
- Ascended Fanboy: A fan of anime, videogames and the like before getting a spell that lets him summon various creatures.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He was just a creepy dude who hung around the comic shop where Justin worked. And then he walked into Greg's dojo...
- It's a Small World, After All: He and Greg remember seeing each other at a convention.
- Power Tattoo: Though he can't remember how he got this, probably due to not being sober-minded at the time.
- Summon Magic: With just his own power, he can do something like Susan's twist of Nanase's fairy doll spell. When empowered by an immortal, his mark is powerful enough to summon fire demons and dragons.
Tensaided
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.
- Benevolent Boss: Always shown to be friendly and respectful to Susan to spite her being a total misandrist when she started working for him. And when she's close to finishing her last year of school he calmly approaches her to discuss her last day knowing that she probably won't have time to work there while in college, making it clear he's not forcing her to leave and can stay as long as she likes.
- 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.
- Graceful Loser: He's a Munchkin Min-Maxer who is often sure of his strategies (and to his credit, he's pretty good), but he'd be the first to admit defeat when it happens, even by luck.
- Hidden Depths: Arthur is impressed by his education and considers him a potential candidate for a college teacher.
- Incoming Ham: Tends to make an entrance with a loud booming voice or a quote of some sort.
- Informed Ability: He's never actually won a game on-panel.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- He was more than willing to let Grace borrow his Star Wars DVDs regardless of winning or losing against Justin (he just made the wager to beat him in a card game). He also invited her to join his roleplay group due to just how into the Magic game she was getting.
- During the card game storyline of "Squirrel Prophet," he taunted Sarah for not considering "a deck to win the game". When Sarah won their match, Tensaided made a loud and dramatic declaration that she is "a true geek", mostly to make sure she wouldn't get picked on by the more abrasive geeks like Larry and Rich.
- And then, after Sarah defeats Larry, he gives him a piece of his mind after hearing him treat Sarah so poorly.
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!": A big fan of Cheerleadra, as evidenced by his :D face.
- Mundane Utility: He hit upon a way to turn Elliot's ignorance of movies into an asset by turning Susan's education sessions into a web show.
- Punny Name: Tensaided's name is derived from the ten-sided dice used for role playing games. It doesn't carry a particular deep meaning other than the fact that he's a nerd.
- Shout-Out: Likes to pepper his speech with movie quotes, like when he quoted Ghostbusters to describe Elliot's worthiness for a summer job.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: For Justin, who he believes lacks sufficient respect for old-school gamers and gaming. Probably not all the time, but certainly during game nights.
- Stout Strength: Not really apparent in the main story but
his appearance during the non-canon Grace-A-Monsters arc shows that he's got a decent amount of muscle and Word of God is that this part of his appearance is canon.
Luke
Luke
A freshman in college and former Magickal Gatherings nerd with a Power Tattoo that gives him Aura Vision. Shows up in "Squirrel Prophet Part 2" to get a look at Justin's aura, and ends up competing in the tournament.
- Aura Vision: The ability granted by his magic mark. He's not precisely sure what it does, just that it lets him see auras, that people with powers like his have slightly larger auras and that he can apparently — in usual circumstances, at least — tell if someone has a mark or not ( he has not learned to recognize the difference between someone who has a mark and someone who had a mark yet). He doesn't really know what it means when he gets blinded from trying to look at Tedd.Luke: Was that even an aura? Was it from that guy? Or that pink haired guy? Or something I can't see? Oh my god we're dealing with magic it could totally be something I can't see.
- Berserk Button: He was originally planning to lose his first game as fast as possible without making it obvious that he wasn't trying to win. That went out the window when Rich called his fairy gay.
- Eating the Eye Candy: "Abs..."
- Heroic Wannabe: Camdin convinced Luke that they were meant to be superheroes (not hard considering a real superhero had recently surfaced and a bunch of people had woken up with inexplicable magic powers). Luke becomes rapidly disillusioned with that idea when no supervillains or monster attacks showed up for them to stop and he saw some really scary auras. Justin explaining what was really going on plus Camdin starting to act like a Jerkass were just the final nails in the coffin.
- Not Distracted by the Sexy: He disapproves of Slave Leia in Return of the Jedi, because he finds it pointless and an insult to her character. Grace uses the fact that he didn't drool all over her to prove to Justin that he's gay.
- Player Archetypes: In standard Magic terminology, he's a Spike, the guy who plays to win. He's something of a retired example (so to speak) due to problems with his old comic shop, but even when he's trying to lose, he ends up constructing a powerhouse deck almost by accident that completely curb-stomps Rich when he decides to play for real.
- Power Tattoo: He has one of the random tattoos Pandora's been handing out. His gives him Aura Vision.
- Straight Gay: Justin wasn't even certain he was gay until he saw Luke's reaction to his abs.
- Supernatural Sensitivity: He can tell who has magic powers via the aura they give off. Unlike some other magic detectors, they don't have to be actively using magic for Luke to see them and he can use it to see uryuom abilities, however he can't tell what spells they actually have, only vaguely how strong they are.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: This is how Luke feels about his Aura Vision, at least in terms of Camdin's idealized "We're superheroes!" belief. Luke points out that if he really was supposed to be a superhero, his power is basically useless for fighting crime. All he can do is see how hard his ass will get kicked before it actually happens.
Sam
Sam
One of the regulars at the comic book shop. He's recognizable by his excessive number of pockets and his tiny little beard. Turns out he's actually a transgender man.
- Ascended Extra: Not Sam himself, but rather his appearance was originally that of a nameless extra before Dan decided he liked it and made it Sam's. It's to the point that he has his own arc called The Secret of Sam.
- Bearded Lady: Grace mistakes him for one in a flashback. When he catches her staring at him, she apologizes and innocently says "It's just I thought only boys could grow be—" before he shuts her up. It's later revealed to be fake.
- Crazy-Prepared: He really likes his pockets. After the reveal that he's trans, it becomes clear that they're at least partly to hide his any feminine figure he might have.Tedd: What do you have in those pockets?
Sam: Anything I could possibly need ever. - Dark and Troubled Past: Apparently figured out that something was different about himself at an early age, but assumed, due to misconceptions and poor information, that he was just a lesbian, which was why he felt so masculine. He only figured the truth out after he had already come out as a lesbian, and he implies that the experience was rather trying, hence why he doesn't want to come out again. He realizes that his magic mark means that he'll have to do so eventually, but he's still trying to put it off for as long as he can, in part because he doesn't want to be the first person whose coming out involves magic.
- Gender Bender: Has apparently gained a magic mark that allows him to alter his physical form and become biologically male.
- Gender-Blender Name: Invoked. He gives Tedd some quick advice on choosing a less masculine name (Tess) on the assumption that he's male-to-female transgender.
- Keeping Secrets Sucks: Eventually he's actually glad that Grace ended up learning about him being trans, since he had literally no one else he could talk to about it.
- Power Tattoo: Pandora gave him a magic mark that allows him to transform into a body that matches his true self and back as one of her last acts before being reset.
- Stupid Sexy Friend: He apparently finds Grace attractive, though he seems to know that she wouldn't reciprocate.
- Trans Equals Gay: He knew that he liked girls early on, and due to lack of information and misconceptions about lesbians he had when he was younger, assumed that since he was attracted to girls, it made sense that he was masculine, only to realize the full story later due to being drawn to male roles in plays and cosplay. Part of why he keeps it secret is to avoid having to go through coming out "again".
Rich
Rich
A regular at the comic shop. Close friends with Larry.
- Abhorrent Admirer: Not realizing Tedd was a guy, Rich tried flirting with him, which made Tedd incredibly uncomfortable. Rich did not stop even when Tedd was being obvious about his discomfort.
- Casanova Wannabe: He thinks he's a hotshot, but he's not.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Alien conspiracy to be precise. The irony is that he's close to the truth but misses the point: aliens do exist but the real menace is a magical/mythical one; he suspects Tedd of being an alien but doesn't notice anything about his girlfriend.
- Everyone Has Standards: He isn't the most pleasant person to be around, but even he is appalled by animal sacrifice, and he goes from determined to prove Ellen is an overconfident Game Master to rescuing the kidnapped chicken of their roleplaying game.
- Fat Idiot: He's fat, and thinks he's smarter than he is.
- Heteronormative Crusader: Constantly throws out homophobic slurs, and even tells Larry that it would matter to him if he was gay.Rich: What if you hit on me or something?
Larry: That's really not something you'd need to worry about. - Jerkass: Right from his first appearance.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: He's a lot dumber than he thinks he is. Aside from his insistence that all the weirdness in Moperville is an alien conspiracy rather than a magical one, he also makes constant assumptions about people that he is convinced are right. Case in point in the "Who is Ellen?" NP storyline where he assumes that Ellen is a fake nerd while Nanase must be a super-nerd RPG expert, when actually Ellen has (second-hand) role-playing experience and Nanase has no idea what's going on.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: He believes that the "Do I Know You Anomaly" was caused by interdimensional aliens. Seeing as Mist, the perpetrator, is a lifeform not native to Earth and from an Alternate Universe, he is technically correct, but his answer was not derived from any sort of evidence.
- Straw Misogynist: Goes on an unseen tangent rant about Susan's feminist views, which are well after her own transition from a Straw Feminist to a more normal one, calling them "man-hating dumbness".
- Those Two Guys: With Larry at first, but rifts have started forming between them during The Squirrel Prophet storyline.
Larry
Larry
A regular at the comic shop. Close friends with Rich.
- Abhorrent Admirer: Albeit not quite as much as Rich, in that at least he was capable of, and did, learn better.
- Ambiguously Bi: He admits he still thinks Tedd is cute after learning he's a guy... although, it's still Tedd. The ambiguity is dropped, at least to the audience, when he outright says he's bi in a Q&A comic. No word on whether he's realised that in canon yet.
- Casanova Wannabe: Thought he was all that, but other people told him he's not. At least, he's improving, which is more than can be said for his friend Rich.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even before acknowledging his poor behavior and working on fixing it, he is disturbed by Rich's flagrant homophobic behavior.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Potentially. While he was exactly as rude as Rich in their first appearance together, he's at least shown since that he can be taught. And there's something strangely admirable about the fact that he wasn't turned off pursuing Tedd romantically when he came to the conclusion he was a gender-switching alien.
- Those Two Guys: With Rich at first, but rifts have started forming between them during The Squirrel Prophet storyline.
- Took a Level in Kindness: During the card game tournament, he takes all the pointers on his bad behavior to heart and not only apologizes directly to Sarah and Tedd for it, but promises to work on bettering himself so he doesn't do stuff like that again.
Kitty
Kitty
A girl with a fixation on cat girls.
- Blatant Lies: She vehemently denies having any interest in cat girls beyond a purely aesthetic one. That's even after discussing her totally-platonic interests gets her visibly hot around the collar.
- Meaningful Name: Her affinity for cat girl spells might be name-based, which is why Pandora missed her (though Pandora admits that she could have developed an affinity for cat girl spells as a result of her name rather than an inherent affinity and marks her).
Felix
Felix
Kitty's goth friend.
- Cat Girl: Kitty's first use of her new spell transforms them, and they like it.
- Fetish: They want to be Kitty's pet cat girl. Even though Pandora notes that they have gender dysphoria, the specifications of their fantasy clearly goes a lot deeper than that.
- Power Tattoo: Pandora is implied to have given them a magic mark, though we don't yet know what ability it grants.
Blaike
Blaike Raven
A wandering adventurer, Pandora's mortal lover, and the father of Adrian Raven.
- It's the Journey That Counts: A firm believer of this, he rejected Pandora's offer to help because that would ruin his quest for him. This is what led to Pandora following him around and sparking an interest in him.
- Mayfly–December Romance: He was in one with the immortal Pandora, which led to the birth of their son Adrian Raven.
- Morality Chain Beyond the Grave: After Adrian does some Calling the Old Man Out with his mother, Pandora is forced to reassess her actions. Being The Fair Folk, immortals have trouble grasping human morality already, and having lived longer than two centuries, Pandora finds it even more difficult and starts basing her morality on what she thinks Blaike would have wanted.
- The Lost Lenore: He was married to Pandora. While the problem of a Mayfly–December Romance troubled her, she felt it wouldn't be a real problem since she would be at about the right age to reset when he succumbed to old age, at which point she could continue to be part of her son's family. But Blaike ultimately died young, trying and failing to save a group of travelers from a monster. As a result, Pandora did not reset, and now suffers from With Great Power Comes Great Insanity.
- Manly Facial Hair: He's a fearless adventurer who willingly marched blind into the unknown, and he's shown wearing a full beard.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Everything to do with Pandora and her son Adrian extends from his tragic death.
- Posthumous Character: Killed by a rampaging monster, he's long dead centuries before the events of the comic take place.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Only in three strips of the entire comic, but he's the reason Pandora went past the Despair Event Horizon.
Camdin
Camdin
One of Luke's friends, who was also marked by Pandora. First appears in "The Secret of Sam".
- Bait-and-Switch: Camdin is set up to be the "Smoke" character that appears in The Secret of Sam. Then the camera cuts to him on the other side of town eating a sandwich.
- Chewing the Scenery: His body language is extremely exaggerated. He practically moves in rubber hose animation.
- Dirty Coward: The moment his naiveté and overeagerness to create a superhero team get him in over his head by his misguided attempt to recruit Catalina and Rhoda by chasing them in a deserted parking lot late at night, he immediately runs and leaves Luke behind, even pushing him in the shoulder in his blind panic.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Camdin's mark appeared in the comic almost five years before he did.
- Elemental Shapeshifter: His spell allows him to turn into a cloud of smoke.
- Heroic Wannabe: When he and a few other people gained magic powers shortly after Cheerleadra appeared in Moperville, Camdin was convinced they'd been chosen by a higher power to be superheroes. He doesn't like the idea that they were basically picked at random.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Based on the look on his face, he's really not happy he knocked Luke down and "left him to die".
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When talking to Luke about their close encounter, he barely moves as fluidly as normal and stands stiff with shock after Luke verbally beats him down.
- Perma-Stubble: He has a blot of Solid Cartoon Facial Stubble at all times.
- Personality Powers: He moves like fluid and turns into smoke.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Camdin thinks he and his friends were selected to be heroes. In truth, Pandora marked them as part of her overall master plan to break the masquerade on magic, and she considers them delusional. Camdin however dismisses anything that doesn't fit his chosen-one superhero narrative.
- Smug Snake: All in all, Camdin is nowhere near as "heroic" or logical as he thinks he is. He dismisses Justin as an information source almost immediately on the grounds that only "clueless people" would just call the magical beings that were giving people powers "Immortals." One wonders how his superhero narrative would have held up to the revelation that the "proper name" he was looking for was fairies. He also points out to Luke in the most condescending way possible that in a world with countless flavors of shapeshifting magic, Luke can't guarantee that Grace isn’t Cheerleadra, despite looking and acting nothing like her. Camdin's attempts at leadership culminate in him completely ignoring Luke's warnings to approach two girls in a deserted parking lot after midnight looking for answers, only to cut and run as soon as said girls displayed their powers in self-defense, leaving Luke behind. Unsurprisingly, Luke is not at all interested in listening to him after that fiasco.
- Super Smoke: Thanks to his magic mark, he's able to transform into a smoke-like form.
- Verbal Tic: He exclusively calls women "chicks". This is the first sign that "Smoke" wasn't him.
