Halloween Cosplay: One of the original cosplayers in 2004 as Slimer. Later years brought us the memetic "Sagatha", a blue-skinned Medusa costume with a metal bra and not much else.
This year (2010) she's cosplaying as Cleopatra
Never Mess with Granny: Not a grandmother yet, but one piece of dialogue from a zOMG! quest involving her suggests that she finds the Animated more of a nuisance than an actual threat, and makes trips to Durem despite them and the barricade (and the rumored greater Animated presence in Durem).
There's also her fearlessness in putting her body on display every Halloween...
Just Friends: There is a lot of speculation about Barrett and Mirai's relationship. But they probably put the fish before their own relationship.
Barrett definitely shows signs of interest in Mirai. And seeing as the two were based on a real-life couple among Gaia staff...
Manly Tears: He will shed some when one of your fish dies.
Carl: Apparently runs "Junk In The Trunk," and by "apparently," we mean "he's a perfectly normal elk standing behind the counter of a shop." And by "perfectly normal," we mean completely mundane.
Berserk Button: Apparently loud sounds are enough to get Carl riled up, but if you value your crew's life in Frontier Skies, do not kill his kin!
Glowing Eyes of Doom: The whole "deer caught in the headlights" look. Very creepy.
The Millstone: You could choose him as a guide during the Summer '10 event, which was an Affectionate Parody of The Oregon Trail. Among other things, he would eat your bullets and/or throw them overboard... and kill you if you shot other elk while hunting.
Talking Animal: Averted. Some holiday season errors result in him accidentally praising you for Christmas carols or Trick Or Treats.
Damian "Ian" Von Helson: Owner of Barton Boutique, a clothing shop specializing in costume items. He's the firstborn son of Vladimir Von Helson, and elder brother of Louie Von Helson.
Dhampyr: Vampire on his father's side, human on his mother's.
Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Due to years of exposure in the human world, Ian, by far, doesn't request much for his vampire needs, and gets along with people very well.
Took a Level in Badass: Halloween 2K7 movie MMVII part II. Ian transformed into vampire battle mode, swanged Zhivago 2 full circles in midair, tossed him up in the air, and send him off with a flykick. Later got stabbed by Zhivago again on the hand, but not only did Ian took a bite in paining Zhivago off the building, he pulled out the dagger in his hand in full ease.
Item Crafting: Makes bouquets from flowers you picked in Gaia Towns.
Les Yay: She asked Nicolae if he was selling Alruna's Rose during the zOMG intro comic, specifically mentioning wanting "a sexy succubus", and then supported Sentinel's Infernal Nation during Halloween 2009. I wonder why.
Lethal Chef: The "special cupcakes" she sells have flowers in them and make people sick, and she's also made such things as a "chocolate-rhubarb-sausage pie".
Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: A minor plot point in zOMG! He has a pair of pants he can't wear, because they don't have a zipper, so there's no place for his tail.
Hidden Depths: The updated rerelease of Frontier Skies reveals her to know a fair bit about wilderness survival, handwaved as an interest in do-it-yourself stuff.
Straight Gay: Was this at first, but that was only before we even knew anything about him. Soon after he was revealed gay they replaced his big muscles and red wife-beater with a lean frame and a pink button down shirt.
Edmund: Runs H&R Wesley, a shop specializing in formal wear. Also a brilliant scientist who used to work for (and occasionally works with) Johnny K. Gambino.
Beware the Nice Ones: Russell Ace specifically bribes you not to tell Becky he lost to you at Blackjack.
...although it could just mean he has a crush on her.
Black Comedy Rape: Becky's aversion to dressing up in holidays stems from the attentions of a very amorous horse while she was in the back of a horse costume.
Killed Off for Real: There was even a funeral held for him by the Staff, complete with dramatic sobbing. His profile and avatar have been changed to be a memorial, and the GCD is still a little bit in denial.
The denial's well-founded. He'd recently acquired an interactive role, walking new members through the process of adding others to their friendslist, giving out items, and even more recently performed the Anniversary 2010 announcement.
Not to mention his apparent penchant for wearing nothing but a bathrobe around the house in later years. Fanservice to some, Half-Naked People Are Funny to others
Bishounen: Played straight during the Fusion Dance plotline, has since been deconstructed: his skinniness is caused by poor health.
Butt Monkey: Anything happens to this guy. He's lost his memory, has no talent with women, has disappeared three times, has his house burned three times, was infected by the G-virus, was made fun of constantly by the people in his boarding school and then got possessed by a clam. While naked.
Love Makes You Evil / Driven By Envy: Towards the end of the Masque arc, Gino became violently jealous over Sasha's relationship with Ian. This led to the confrontation that ended in the explosive end of the fusion effect.
Spoiled Sweet: In 2009's Valentines event, he responded most favorably to users with less than 10,000 gold.
Took a Level in Badass: During the Masque arc, when he became a masked superhero due to the fusion with his father. Subverted when the arc ended and he went back to being wimpy. Since making friends with Overseer and Sentinel, he seems to be developing more of a backbone again.
Sasha: Owner of Gambino Outfitters, a shop specializing in beach and summer wear. Has swapped spit with Gino (and possibly his father, due to a Fusion Dance plotline) Also has dated Liam with the full knowledge of Gino and Ian having an interest in her.
Friend to All Living Things: In Animal Quackers, he somehow gets into almost every enclosure at the zoo and gets along with all of the animals just fine. This is visibly lampshaded at least twice in the gorilla encounter.
Demoted to Extra: Used to have a nice character picture like the other shopkeepers. But a few updates later she's now pretty much been reduced to a teeny tiny modified avatar head standing behind a window.
She's been making more of a comeback as of late, probably thanks to popular demand.
In zOMG!, we learned that he has a bad case of the Cloning Blues and is experimenting with the Animated to destroy Gaia in revenge for being neglected by Johnny Gambino.
Anna Corinne Von Helson & Marie Von Helson: Twin daughters of Vladimir Von Helson. Half-siblings of Louie and Ian Von Helson. Anna Corinne wears blue. Marie wears red. That's about the only difference between them.
A Glass of Chianti: The twins were having a toast when a skyscraper hit them in the face.
Eyepatch of Power: Apparently just for looks; Marie flips it up in one of the manga updates, revealing that her eye is more or less normal underneath.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: After the aforementioned skyscraper incident, Marie has a ragged "evil" scar across her right eye, providing a more convenient way to tell them apart.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: From their first appearance, they were very obviously based on the Hilton sisters. That aspect's been played down since then, though.
The Vamp: Until Liam swayed them with the power of his "pythons."
Louie Von Helson: Son of Vladimir Von Helson, and younger brother of Ian Von Helson. Current leader of Gaia's vampires. May or may not be a Vegetarian Vampire.
Hellish Pupils: Standard for vampires. Louie's a pretty nice guy, though.
Hollywood Genetics: His father had dark auburn hair. His mother was a blonde. Louie has black hair.
I Do Not Drink Wine: ... but he does eat double-cheeseburgers (one of the possible events in "Frontier Skies" has him raiding your food supply), and he does eat pies (placed in the final six for the "Pie Hard" event). According to the comics associated with the latter, human-style food is palatable but unpleasant.
Eyes of Gold: Vampires have this whenever they're about to do something Badass, otherwise their eyes are gray. Zhivago apparently has this effect going all the time.
Subverted in recent manga updates. After taking out Gambino, Zhivago balks at the thought of going after Gino... only for Don Kuro to reveal that he no longer has a choice in the matter.
Real Men Wear Pink: In zOMG! he occasionally sics ladies' handbags on you.
Ladies' handbags that basically are bats with huge teeth, mind. They're also the most plentiful enemy around the castle.
The Beard: Went to a prom event as Devin's date, even though it was known at the time that Devin doesn't swing that way. This, along with her choice of a tuxedo rather than a dress for the event, fueled speculation that Flynn was a lesbian.
Innocent Innuendo: Lampshaded when Devin has an explosive Nosebleed at Lance bringing him a big, hard package.
Yaoi Guys: Promageddon 2009 ends with Lance and Devin as dance partners, probably indicating a promotion to "couple".
Dr. Singh: Hosts weekly Evolving Item reports. Apparently raised Timmy, though not very well.
Evilutionary Biologist: She put Timmy in a barrel of G-corp goo and spent several weeks gleefully observing his mutations.
Jerkass: "Quit whining about your possibly-infected stab wounds, already!"
Karma Houdini: One of the options in a Timmy-related poll was to have him punish her for his mistreatment. People voted to make him an evolving item instead.
Timmy: Dr. Singh's muchly-abused assistant. Used to be a cute kid. Was infected with pure evil once. Then he came down with megapuberty and got a Plot-Relevant Age-Up.
The Pollyanna: Until after his jailtime, Timmy would always immediately forgive Singh for anything bad she did to him as soon as the situation was resolved, refusing to believe it was her fault, and was optimistic throughout his mutations. He seems to have grown out of it now, though.
The Orion Siblings: A collection of starpeople, consisting of Saiph (first appearing in the finale for the Fallen Wish EI,) his younger sister Hatsya (from the Lonely Star RIG,) and their older brother and sister Rigel and Mintaka (who now run the Cash Shop.) The latter two are assisted by Jet, the Dark Kitten Star.
Captain Ersatz: the comparisons between Rigel and Mintaka and Team Rocket did not go unnoticed by users.
Early-Bird Cameo: Rigel and Mintaka appeared as SDPlus dolls in the Perfect Tragedy RIG with their faces obscured, a month before their proper introduction.
Sibling Rivalry: Saiph and Hatsya like it on Earth, but Rigel and Mintaka want none of that. Too bad for them, then, that Orion punishes them by exiling them to Gaia...
Promotional Characters
Here because Gaia is in it for Money, Dear Boy.Julie:RunsRan the MTV shop until late 2010.
Jaws: A cute little sharkboy found in the special Venus Garden world. During the Demonbusters storyline, however, he took over for the Overseer in the aquariums while the latter was battling on the frontline. Is currently still there while the Overseer's fate is left uncertain.
A number of quirky personalities that were the focus of the plot during October 2004. Considered by many to be the most promising characters in the history of Gaia's storyline; sadly, they appear to have been Killed Off for Real.013: Tried to escape after finding out some of G Corp's darker secrets, but was laid off by 247 as a security measure.
123: See zOMG! characters.126: Portrayed as relatively intelligent compared to some of his coworkers. Secretly married to 912.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: The "boa wrestling" scene, given 101's description of what he overheard. Also, what could they have been doing with those sundae ingredients...?
Happily Married: Presumably. The only problem seems to be the need to keep it secret in the workplace.
137: Hardworking; eventually surpasses 247 in this trait. Tries to maintain a masculine image. Has a thing for 138.
The Overseer: A demi-god of old transformed into a clam. Until Demonbusters, he was found in your aqarium. Took over Gino's body during the Demonbusters event; turned into a mortal human by Jack after the event.
Biological Mashup: Between himself and Gino. Picture a nude Gino with a clam for a head. You're welcome.
Make sure it's "dear lord eat something"-Gino, not the ultra-hot Gino from the Fusion Dance arc.
Blinding Bangs: Lifted just enough to show his eyes at the very end of the Demonbusters storyline, when he was made mortal.
In fact, his Nice Hat also emulates the effect. The Blind Seer trope might or might not be present...
Cloudcuckoolander: Spending a millennia as a clam might justify him being out of touch with some things, but when the one who spent it in a box is more street-smart than him...
Demonic Possession: Subverted, as the possessor in this case is the good guy.
Mr. Fanservice: When in his mortal form they seem to put a lot of effort in drawing in his toned muscle, nipple shots (most Gaian men don't seem to evenhavenipples), and even a small shot of his underwear. woo!
Expy: In looks only, but... without that hat, he looks an awful lot like Souji Seta.
Goofy Print Underwear: He got 'em (with little fish prints all over.) When he feels like wearing clothes that is.
Humanity Ensues: Jack transformed him into a mortal human at the end of the Demonbusters event.
The Sentinel: A demi-goddess of old. Was stuck in a box for 1000 years, where she went mad. Tried to take over the world during the Demonbusters event; made into a mortal human by Jack after the event.
Stripperiffic: Her debut outfit appeared to have mostly been painted on. Her outfit in "When Gods Fall" appears to be a (too-tight) plastic trash bag and panties. You get the drift.
Grave Danger (Halloween 2k10) Characters
All Ghosts
And I Must Scream: All of the ghosts were trapped in their graves for varying amounts of time, thanks to Omnidrink.
Cursed with Awesome: He isn't too worried about being unable to move on to the afterlife, since he's always wanted to be a ghost. Judging by the polls, users disagree.
Labtech Rory: The ghost of one of Gambino's labtechs and a coworker of the ones from 2004. Doesn't realize he's dead - in fact, he doesn't even believe in ghosts.
Flat Earth Atheist: Somewhat justified, having died weeks before the first known "fantasy" race (the 2004 zombies) appeared.
When someone made a joke comparing the members of his fanthread (with which he had often interacted) to an Estrogen Brigade, he became indignant and asserted the respectability of the users in question. *
Some of them did have a tendency to act rather fangirlish, making the accusation not entirely unfounded, but either he was too naive to pick up on it
, or he cared enough to stand up for them anyway.]]
Indeed, he crashed the Labtech X fanthread and asked if he'd forgotten a gift for the birthday party— and we spent a while trying to get him to "remind" us when Labtech X's birthday was.
Too Dumb to Live: He died because he ate a piece of magnesium on a dare.
Megan McNulty: A dentist who loves causing other people pain.
Michelle Nguyen: An insufferable hipster who carries a guitar "ironically," as she doesn't even play.Nancy McCoughlan The ghost of "an ace gunfighter with impeccable aim."
Old Rusty: A ghost who wanders around in chains dragging a ball. Is really fond of breaking mirrors for some reason.Pancakes: The ghost of a stack of pancakes.
Ignored Epiphany: Kind of... He's learned to value his son, but is still fairly corrupt.
Ironic Hell: Not only was he trapped in his grave like the other ghosts, but he gets to be trapped while knowing that it's due to his own insensitivity.
Captain Cresento: Owner of Gaia's only airship. Debuted on April Fools' Day of '09 in zOMG!, but has since barged into the main storyline.
April Fools' Day: Captain Cresento appeared on April Fools' Day 09 in zOMG!, where he offered to take your character to a new area. The joke was that zOMG! would 'crash' just before the new area loaded.
Jerkass: He's got an ego the size of Manhattan Island, easily. When he crashed his airship into the Overseer's makeshift airtubship, one of his remarks was, "I hope you have insurance, Overseer. I think your garbage pile scratched my airship."
It then paved the way to an item contest, challenging site members to make their own nice hats.
Our Elves Are Better: Blink and you miss it: when informed that Cresento and Nicolae have been assigned to the same task as he, Zhivago refers to them as a human and an elf. Nicolae's pretty clearly human, so that makes Cresento the elf...
Genre Savvy: Surrenders and starts telling your characters everything he's learned about Ghi and the Animated... to keep you distracted while he pages for backup. Then while the backup has you distracted, he teleports away.
Boldly Coming: In the "Whatever Happened to Ron Bruise?" 4koma, he's making movies for the Zurg. One involves a bed scene with a fuzzy purple lipstick-wearing creature, who looks quite satisfied.
Understandably for them, because Ivan/Meredith used to be only a cute-looking crackpairing with some following. Had it never gotten a bait-and-switch Ship Tease in the Dark Reflection, which single-handlely confused the fanbase into whether that was a confirmation or a refutal, it wouldn't have been sunk in such a Wall Banger-ish way.
Chekhov's Skill: His interest in alchemy, introduced to justify his Item Crafting service in zOMG!, comes back in the Bad Guy Side Story, where he starts trying to convince Cresento to let him run a shop out of the airship.
Early-Bird Cameo: Appeared in the Olympics '08 comics and in the Halloween '08 comics before being introduced as the shopkeeper for zOMG! power-ups.
Fanservice: And if the sly personality, oral fixation, and apparent bisexuality weren't enough, his creator loves drawing suggestive pictures of him.
Gold Sink: The Alchemy shop is pretty unrepentantly one, and also focuses a lot on recycling old RIG dummy prizes.
Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: Justified, he's a con man and probably on the run from the law. We've seen him selling stolen goods, selling zOMG power-ups, crafting items from zOMG! loot, and now in the comics as a mercenary who's been hired to kill Gino.
He's also opened an Alchemy shop with Cresento, apparently while still running Back Alley Bargains out of his wagon in the Bifrost's cargo hold.
Brennivin: Owner of Dernier*Cri, who gave up being a wizard for fashion. Is also the presumed owner of the Dark Reflection, as he appeared as the "Mysterious Man" in the RIG's Game Over scenario.
Always Camp: The fact that he's so fashion-obsessed, coupled with his attractiveness, has led way too many people to believe that he's gay. Or at least metrosexual.
Early-Bird Cameo: See above. Oddly, the SDPlus dolls of him released in the Dark Reflection showed him in his current appearance well before it was revealed to the public, possibly invoking this trope even more.
Expy: Basically Christian Siriano in cartoon form.
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Rarely if ever does anything 'wizardy'. Last spell he cast was to find Gino, but ended up getting an email of his location first.
Possibly justified, since he did give up wizardry to pursue his passion for fashion. Aside from the spells needed to create new stock, it makes sense for him to be out-of-touch.
Kanoko: First introduced in the Midsummer Swirl RIG, Kanoko is an exchange student who just has no luck with keeping a job. Is currently employed as Brennivin's assistant at Dernier* Cri, but we'll see how long that lasts.
Dojikko: The plot of the Dark Reflection kickstarts with her tripping into it, after all.
Early-Bird Cameo: Like Brennivin, she and Radio Jack were designed for the luxury item shop, but introduced through RIGs. Not a lot of people realize this because of how much earlier Kanoko and Jack were introduced.
Halloween Cosplay: For H2K9, she was all dolled up as fellow NPC Hatsya. Something of a Mythology Gag, considering the two characters were both created by the same artist (Ethe.) In 2010, she dressed up as Hermione.
Lethal Chef: Possibly, but since it's only Rina's cooking that gets tasted out of both their efforts, we can't say for sure.
Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: Something of a Running Gag with her — so far, she's been an ice cream vendor (fired by Ivan for forgetting to charge tax on her sales,) a star mascot for a planetarium, and, as mentioned, Brennivin's assistant. It got so bad that she even tried to apply for a place in the Halloween event while she was still employed.
Now she's currently running a temp job over at Rina's shop while Brennivin is away.
Radio Jack: Also introduced in the Midsummer Swirl, as an "avid proponent of summertime evil". However, that "evil" really only extends to being a snarky little critter. Is speculated to either be owned by (or even created by) Brennivin.
Early-Bird Cameo: Like Brennivin, he and Kanoko were designed for the luxury item shop but introduced through RIGs. Not a lot of people realize this because of how much earlier they were introduced.
Meaningful Name: Possibly inverted. The timing of his appearance and the fact that his name can be separated into "died rich" led to many theories regarding some connection with Gambino. There is no other evidence for any of it.
Diedrich: Fact: Most airships explode and the crews burn and suffer horribly for hours on end! No matter how much they cry out for help or mercy, it never comes! :D
Bruce Hardcastle: A sports announcer introduced during the Rejected Olympics of '09. Choked on a potato and died before Halloween; brought back to life during Halloween by Jack, and re-killed afterward when Jack crammed a potato down his throat. Currently roaming around as an angry ghost.
Back from the Dead: Twice; Sentinel brought him back to life after he choked on a potato then Jack re-killed him after the 2k9 Halloween event; now he's come back as a ghost for the 2k10 event.
Jacob Marley Apparel: He's wearing the same thing he wore when he choked on a potato.
Meili: A god found on Dref Dur that also happens to be a son of Gaia (as in Mother Gaia) and the god that the Overseer and Sentinel seek to try and see if they can gain their powers back through him.
Bishōnen: As with most to all of Reapersun's male creations.
Hellish Pupils: His irises seem to be slitted (none of the pages gives you a good look at his eyes anyways), but (if true) subverted in that he's actually quite nice... to Gino, at least.
Heroic Sacrifice: Battles Zhivago to buy time for Gino to escape. Possibly subverted, as Meili was also one of Zhivago's targets.
