Revolution Z / Characters

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The band

Konstantin "Tino" Vladimirov Krumov

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/t_2.jpg

The band's founder and lead guitarist.

Big Brother Instinct: Deconstructed, since his sister Lily sees it as more smothering than helpful.
The Hero: Tino always stands up to defend people against any injustice, whether it's someone getting mugged, bailing his friend out, standing up to his mother's cheating boyfriend, protecting his little sister, organizing a protest when a teacher gets unjustly fired, stealing a car to save his girlfriend's life, or rallying the students into protecting their school. Whether or not he's had a beef with those people doesn't matter, either.
Hero with a Unique Name: Not his name, but his nickname is "Tino", rather than the more typical "Kosyo".
Hero with Bad Publicity: Because he refuses to obey any corrupt or even misguided authority, and his answer of whether To Be Lawful or Good is Chaotic Good, everyone thinks of him as a troublemaker, even if it's mostly not his fault.
It's All About Me: Sometimes he forgets that others have dreams or problems in their lives. Happens often with the other band members, when he forgets that while they all love playing in a band, he is the one who has this as his single biggest dream.
Lovable Rogue: He's a rebellious rock musician, disregards authority and does small harmless mischiefs such as stealing the neighbor's SUV for a little drive every now and then. Otherwise, he's cool.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: His good deeds often require disobedience and breaking the rules, sometimes the law, and he gets caught.
The Mourning After: With Denitsa, an attractive but dumb fashion model after Ani dumps him a second time. It doesn't last.

Boyan "Bobby" Danailov Vălchev

Tino's best friend, classmate and bass guitarist.

Addled Addict: After he sees Tino with his ex-girlfriend he develops a cocaine addiction, and for a while gets pale, waxy and twitchy. He gets better.
Betty and Veronica: Veronica to Tino's Betty for Ani early on.
Bromantic Foil: From the start Tino only has eyes for Ani. Bobby, despite several crushes, mostly Really Gets Around before going steady with Mira.
Digging Yourself Deeper: He has this talent with Mira's father, getting increasingly awkward and offensive when he aims to impress him. For example, when Mira asks him to pick a stylish birthday card to go with a present she chose (a luxury cigar box) he picks a tacky one with a lewd joke about sexual prowess of aging men, then tries to fix the mood by placating Kadieff that if he can't perform, at his age it's fine and that medicine is advanced... only for Mira to shut him up and point out that her father is really sensitive about age.
- Later that evening, Bobby starts badmouthing sea coast natives to make himself sound cool. Kadieff interrupts, saying he's from there. Bobby mutters something about the people in question not really being from the coast, just coast guard working there, only to learn that Kadieff himself used to be coast guard.
Kid A Nova: He's very popular among schoolgirls.
Ladykiller in Love: He's always getting swarmed by girls and has zero trouble picking up a random girl whenever he wants. However, when he sees he can't readily have some girl, he falls hard for her.
The Load: He doesn't contribute much to the band's creative process, except for playing. He also frequently gets Tino into trouble. Later he grows out of this, becoming The Face and handling some of the band's PR.
Nobody Loves the Bassist: Zigzagged. He has lots of fangirls, but his girlfriend's father, a music producer, throws a lot of shade at him for being the bassist, but it's all because he's dating his daughter.
Kadieff: You know how we call a bassist with half a brain? (Beat) Gifted!
Red Oni, Blue Oni: While Tino is hot-blooded enough when defying authority, Bobby reacts impulsively to everything and Tino is the only person who can rein him in.
Serial Romeo: He oscillated between this and The Casanova. While he's used to sleeping around, he has longer and stronger infatuations with Ani, Marinova and finally Mira.
Sir Swears-a-Lot: In line with being the hot-tempered one.
Toxic Friend Influence: He's the one who gets himself and Tino in trouble, but it always gets pinned on Tino.

Anna "Ani" Kirilova Mateeva

Tino's love interest who joins the band as the singer.

Berserk Button: Lies. Never mind if it's her father lying about no longer drinking, the band keeping from her that she's been kicked out, or her boyfriend hiding having slept with someone else, she goes ballistic.
Beware the Nice Ones: Ani is sweet and very friendly, but betraying her trust makes her hate you.
Girl Next Door: In contrast to Mira's high-maintenance Team Prima Donna.
The Heart: She's the one who brings warmth to the band.
Light Feminine Dark Feminine: With Mira. Ani is natural and outgoing and enjoys simple things, while Mira is seductive, elitist and strives to be glamorous.
The Mourning After: She has two superficial relationships serving this purpose:
- In Season 2, she starts dating Rado, a New A Ge Retro Hippie, in order not to think about Tino. It only lasts until he is revealed as a fraud. She doesn't have sex with him exactly because the relationship wasn't serious.
- In Season 3, Vladislav, a rival musician, chats her up and she jumps into a relationship with him after dumping Tino again. While she does try to commit and even has sex with Vlado, his possessiveness and other traits annoy her and she breaks up with him when she realizes she's been in denial about loving Tino.
Outdoorsy Gal: Ani's domain is a park bench to have a beer at, an inexpensive bar, or the mountains. This drives her into a conflict with her Nouveau Riche third boyfriend whose idea of a picnic is going to a high-end restaurant in the mountain.
Tranquil Fury: She does yell, but when she gets angry and doesn't intend to forgive quickly, she speaks in quiet tones and puts on an icy glare.

Filip "Fipo" Stanimirov Stoychev

Ani's best friend and the band's drummer.

All Drummers Are Animals: He's normally very shy and docile, but behind the drums he gets really into it. Tino even introduces him as "Filip the beast".
Beta Couple: Krissy and him have their own problems, but they're more comedic than those of Tino and Ani or Bobby and Mira.
Conspiracy Theorist: For all his nerdiness, he is a firm believer in pseudoscientific theories, specifically anything related to aliens.
Dumb and Drummer: Inverted, he's a genius.
Fetish: He gets a false reputation for having one for aliens. ^note. While he does obsess over aliens, it's in an Agent Mulder way and not sexual.
Geek Reference Pool: He's a fan of Star Wars, Star Trek, Avatar, War of the Worlds and Transformers, among others.
I Have Many Names: People, specifically Bobby, give him nicknames such as "The Comet" (for his astronomy passion), "Ficus" or "The Filipino".
Innocent Innuendo: Rule of Funny dictates that as the most romantically inept guy of the group, he's most prone to those:
- He first goes to talk to Krissy because Tino and Bobby set him up by telling him she's also into astronomy:
Filip: If you come to my place sometime in the evening, I can show you Arcturus^note, it's going to blind you.
Krissy: Show me what?
Filip: I have a telescope - it's this big ''(holds hands apart)'' and it's really powerful.
Krissy: (slaps him) Peasant!
- When Krissy badmouths him to her friends behind his back on their first date at the mall:
Krissy: I can't stand it! He talked at me for three hours about aliens and energies and stuff! He's pumping my head full!
Filip: Here's your popcorn, here are your tickets, I won't pump anything of yours anymore.
Nerd Glasses: Sports a pair. He's Blind Without 'Em.
Non-Action Guy: He doesn't play sports, doesn't fight and doesn't attend his aikido classes. Later he learns some aikido techniques and uses them on guys who harass his girlfriend.
No Social Skills: Filip is a walking encyclopedia, but has no idea how to talk to people, especially girls.
Occidental Otaku: He's also an anime and manga fan.
Out of Focus: In the first season. In the opening sequence, his shot only lasts for a split second.
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: It's especially evident when he's talking about mundane things.
Technician Versus Performer: His preppy approach to sex often ruins the romantic mood for him and Krissy.
Filip: Champagne, flowers for you, condoms... and the telescope for tonight.
Krissy: (deadpan) Nice, you've prepared great.
Sickly Neurotic Geek: A textbook case. He's frail, shy and allergic to a bunch of things.
Took a Level in Badass: Later on he gains enough courage to get his girlfriend's bully down in one punch. He also finally learns aikido.
TV Genius: He talks in Technobabble about anything from astronomy through biology to psychology and has encyclopaedic knowledge of everything that's not human interaction. He also cracks a century-old mathematical problem in a matter of days and that gets him a NASA internship.

Other students

Miroslava "Mira" Slavova Kadieff

A transfer student to the school and the band's main rival. Later becomes a couple with Bobby and joins the band.

Alpha Bitch: She demands the respect of everyone and wants to be the queen of the school.
- Manipulative Bitch: Early on she's a full-on example of this, trying to extort Savov with a False Rape Accusation threat, leading Bobby on and even bribing him with cocaine (knowing full well that he almost died from an overdose and he's trying to fight off his addiction), causing trouble for Ani when she runs away from home (she alerts the social services that Savov has taken Ani in, which almost has Ani shipped off to a remote town to her aunt) and using her connections to compromise Revolution Z in a contest by leaking their song and having it used in a commercial.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: She gets friendlier and later befriends the main cast, but remains haughty, domineering and status-obsessed.
Alto Villainess: She has a deeper voice than Ani's mezzo-soprano, both when talking and singing.
Break the Haughty: After she loses the second music contest to Revolution Z despite her machinations (including having her father cancel the contest once after she didn't win) and after falling for Bobby, she doesn't stop being manipulative, but no longer cares about being a queen bee.
Dating What Daddy Hates: Her father really doesn't like Bobby, especially when he acts immature, and makes his life hell. Mira even lampshades it.
Defeat Means Friendship: Downplayed. After she and the rappers get bested by Revolution Z in a contest for young music artists, she starts dating Bobby and gradually befriends the band.
Fille Fatale: She was this to the French teacher in her previous school, from where she was expelled. Immediately after transfer, she tries to seduce Savov and when he doesn't give in, frames him of statutory rape.
Foil:
- To Ani, naturally, being the catty, manipulative, glamor obsessed queen bee who focuses on anything but music in her career (to Mira, styling, marketing and PR are what makes a successful artist).
- To Tino for the same reasons, but also because they are the more driven and domineering partners in their respective couples, and tension between those couples really comes when the two of them clash. When it comes to Bobby, they have a Friend Versus Lover dynamic, and early on Mira is the manipulative girl who wins the trust of Bobby's mother, while Tino is the friend who wants to help Bobby out of trouble but is blamed by his mother for it instead.
I Love You Because I Can't Control You: She really falls for Bobby when he breaks free from her manipulations and puts her in her place. Deconstructed in that while she admires him for that, she is hurt by his cheating and promptly cuts him off. Bobby, in turn, only stops regarding her as just another conquest and falls in love with her when she punishes him for being unfaithful.
Music Is Politics: She is a firm believer in this, taking her father's lessons to heart.
Mira: (after Bobby refuses to bribe an artist with drugs at a party) "That" is part of the business, and business is image and PR.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: She leaks Revolution Z's song into a commercial to have them disqualified from a contest. But when she doesn't win, she has her father make a call and annul the entire contest so it can be done again. Revolution Z take this chance and win.

O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Early on, Mira has a strong icy facade. But when Ani pokes her about being in love with Bobby, she gives her a Big "SHUT UP!".
The Rival: Starts out as a rival to Revolution Z after Tino rejects her for her "kifla"^note style.
Sex Sells: Early on she cultivates a diva image and emphasizes on her music's sex appeal rather than substance. Her audience being Hormone-Addled Teenager boys, it works when she needs it to.
Slave to PR: She believes PR to be the most important thing and tries to groom Bobby into it, too.
Spell My Name With An S: She insists on her last name being spelled Kadieff^notemale surname with a Westernized suffix, instead of Kadieva^notethe proper female version or even Kadiev^note.

Kristina "Krissy" Veleva

A girl from Ani, Filip and Mira's class. Mira's friend who later hooks up with Filip.

Beta Bitch: She becomes Mira's friend and emulates her.
Book Dumb: She performs poorly at school and is ignorant of most things Filip mentions.
Brainless Beauty: She isn't interested in many things other than sex and being popular.
Gossipy Hens: Enjoys gossiping more than Ani or Mira.
Their First Time: She is way more concerned about it than Filip is.
Town Girls: The Femme to Ani's Butch and Mira's Neither.
Virgin Tension: She wants to lose her virginity and pressures Filip about being more forward with it (he wants is too but he's shy and wants to do everything right).

Genadi "Gencho"/"Ghetto 2nite"

The leader of the school's hip-hop gang "Дуло в тила" ([Dulo v tila] - "Barrel to the back of the head") and a weed dealer.

Battle Rapping: He's very creative at this and constantly thinks up freestyle taunts on the spot to hurl at everyone.
The Bully: He and his friends beat, harass and mug people, notably Filip.
High-School Hustler: He's a textbook example, selling weed to people at school, even the principal.
Pretty Fly for a White Guy: As is common for Eastern European hip hop fans, he and his friends imitate African-American vernacular, including -izzle speak the N-word^note.
The Informant: For the principal, informing him about any gossip in exchange for the right to skip class, pass the year and not get in trouble for drug dealing.

"Sony Bonanza"

Gencho's best friend.

The Bully:
Number Two: He's Ghetto's right-hand man, emulating him in everything and chanting whatever Ghetto says.

Liliana "Lily" Vladimirova Krumova

Tino's little sister and Ani's friend.

Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: She isn't bothered by it much, but Tino lovingly makes fun of her and her "ahhetohhics" (rhetorics) hobby.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: She gives Tino sound advice, especially about Ani, but he ignores her because she's his little sister. She always proves right.
Only Sane Woman: She's the only one that never loses her head.
Surrounded by Idiots: She frequently reacts this way to many characters.
The Snark Knight: No one is spared from her sarcasm. Not her brother, not her mother, not her teachers, no one.
Too Clever by Half: She successfully conducts an investigation of a school accident that Tsekov and Pesheva try to cover up.

Rossen ("Roska")

A classmate of Bobby and Tino who has an obsessive hobby of capturing everything important on camera.

Covert Pervert: Some of his camera footage contains shots focusing on the... assets of attractive girls dancing.
Intrepid Reporter: He walks around with his camera, often to the displeasure of people captured by it.
Punch-Clock Hero: The band sometimes enlists his help as a cameraman, and once he brought his cousin to become their make-up artist.
Punch-Clock Villain: Gencho's gang sometimes coerce him into assisting them because of his IT savviness.
School Newspaper News Hound: He would be this if there was a school newspaper.

Polly

A classmate of Ani and Filip who lusts over Bobby.

All Women Are Lustful: She isn't afraid to show that she wants to have sex with Bobby.
Alpha Bitch: She is a popular and haughty girl.
Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: She drags a drunk Bobby into the toilet to have sex and brushes off his protests that he's in love and doesn't want to cheat with the motif that he's drunk so it doesn't count. He manages to escape by forcibly vomiting.
You Need to Get Laid: She scoffs when her classmate Krissy, who is a virgin, asks naive questions about sex.

Atanaska

A girl who harasses and mugs her female classmates, such as Ani.

The Bully: A female version.
- Barbaric Bully: She is thuggish and aggressive.
- Loving Bully: She is revealed to have a crush on Ani.
Fat Bastard
Psycho Lesbian: She confesses to Ani that it was her who leaked sensitive details about her to the press, precisely because she has a crush on her.
Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: She bumps into other girls, then beats them up for it. Mira gives her a taste of her own medicine, bumping her expensive bag against her and threatening her with having to pay.
Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Early on she steals Ani's necklace and then claims in front of Savov it was the other way around.

Valeri

A student one year ahead of the main cast, frontman and lead guitarist of the death metal band Zombie Funeral.

Jerkass: He's authoritarian in his band and considers everything that's not death metal sissy stuff.
Metalhead: A typical one.

School staff

Bogomil Tsekov

The principal and German teacher, Tsekov is trying to keep up the image of his school.

The Comically Serious: He's uptight to the point of being goofy, which makes him an ineffective principal.
Dean Bitterman: His main concern is maintaining outward discipline and professinalism, otherwise he can be a jerk to his colleagues and students.
Foreign Culture Fetish: He adores all things German, bar Nazi Germany.
- Freudian Slip: One time he does mention a lot of great composers being from the German race... ahem, civilisation.
Gibberish of Love: It need not be love. Tsekov gets easily flustered around women he's attracted to, romantically or sexually. Aside from his love interest, Pesheva, Marinova causes this because he lusts after her.
Godwin's Law: As is bound to happen, what with him being a jerk of a principal and a German teacher, he gets called a fascist and one time Bobby draws a Hitler mustache and comb-over on his portrait.
- Being a Germanophile, he also knows how to invoke it to Pesheva when she replaces him and proves to be an even more tyrannical principal:
Tsekov: Damn Führer, that one!... You want a war, huh? You Göbbels.
Innocent Innuendo: Uptight as he is, he often gets flustered when he says something about whatever the subject at hand is "pulling it out" or "blowing".
- Freud Was Right: But when talking to Marinova, it's pretty obvious why he goes on and on about it's good that she got some new balls... for the gym, that is.
Large Ham: He loves giving grand speeches and the like. In his personal life he also tends to be melodramatic, which clashes with his uptight professional persona that prevented him from handling his emotions.
Narcissist: Has a portrait of himself on his desk.
Sitcom Archnemesis: Starts out as this with Savov, whom he resents for being popular with women. They later evolve to Friendly Enemy and even Vitriolic Best Buds, when they do things such as placing bets on their fighting coworkers.
Still the Leader: When he gets demoted and Pesheva (whom he's dating at the time) gets appointed as acting principal, he acts this way, giving her unsolicited mentoring about anything and everything, walking into her office like it's still his, and talking over her in meetings. She has none of it.
Totally Radical: He tries to speak in slang to endear himself to the students whenever he needs to. It mostly fails, especially when he engages in rap battles with Gencho and his "rap" ends up sounding more like satiric poetry.

Emilia Pesheva

The math teacher, she is exceedingly strict.

The Comically Serious: Like Tsekov, she maintains a very serious façade which is the object of ridicule.
Control Freak: She wants to be on top of things, in her personal as well as professional life.
Drunk with Power: When she gets Tsekov's post, she starts bullying her coworkers, enforces Draconian measures against students she so much as suspects told a joke about her, and takes a bribe from a food delivery firm.
Everybody Hates Mathematics: She is aware of that, and hates everyone for hating mathematics.
Godwin's Law: Like Tsekov before her, she gets called a Nazi in a graffiti. She also gets some from Tsekov, after he takes a selfie with said graffiti, no less.
Hysterical Woman: She has an explosive temper, especially when her personal life is going downhill.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: She acts very haughty and dismissive, but the icy demeanor is hiding some deep-seated insecurities.
Large Ham: She is melodramatic when it comes to romance and sexual tension, especially with Tsekov, having always been too uptight to learn to manage her emotions.
Quickly-Demoted Woman: Between her inexperience, poor emotional control, tyrannical leadership and Tsekov's efforts to undermine her, she rules for just a few months before incidents, gaffes and violent public breakdowns cause the ministry to demote her and restore Tsekov.
Sadist Teacher: When she's in a bad mood, the entire class is likely to get failing grades just for being there.
Tyrant Takes the Helm: Her tenure as acting principal sets the whole school against her in a matter of days.
Woman Scorned: She is Not Good with Rejection. Tsekov finds out firsthand. Multiple times.

Nikola Savov

The physics teacher, he dreamed of becoming a scientist, but instead is put in charge of unruly high school students.

Abomination Accusation Attack: The first season is for him a long series of accusations of being a sexual predator:
- First, Mira frames him of sleeping with her while drunk, which he can't even deny because he got so drunk the night before that he can't remember a thing. It was Dimitrova he slept with and she clears things out later.
- Then, Marinova gets sick of his lack of commitment and accuses him of sexual harassment. Tsekov, who's lusting after Marinova himself, is eager to have him fired and jailed, but Savov makes it clear to the police that the sexts were consensual and mutual, and the woman calls off the investigation.
- Finally, he takes Ani in because she ran away from her abusive father and resisted when Savov took her to the social services, as any reasonable adult would have done. Mira, again, frames him of sexual assault of a minor.
Cool Teacher: He gets along with the students, allowing them to talk with him freely about sex, drinking and other adult themes; later he steps out of his way to help them, especially when they are misunderstood by their parents, teachers and peers.
Emotional Regression: He slips into this when he refuses to commit to a relationship and wants to continue his immature, hedonistic bachelor lifestyle.
Former Teen Rebel: Nowadays he yells at students coming late to his class, but he used to play in a band himself.
Hot Teacher: At least two female coworkers, three mothers of students and one student (Mira) are interested in him, not to mention his conquests.
Knight in Sour Armor: He likes to uplift the kids, but his past failures (in love as well as his career) and the system full of "a bunch of Tsekovs" have made him a cynic.
Old Flame Fizzle: He only manages to move on when he crashes the New Year party of his ex-girlfriend of twenty years and receives a cold welcome as she tells him she "grew up" and threw everything that reminded her of him out of her life.
Pædo Hunt: Mira frames him when he refuses to let her seduce him. He the gets hit by this again after he took Ani in and got falsely accused, again, by Mira. ^note
Selective Obliviousness: He is very socially savvy, except when it comes to indirect messages from women. When a woman is mad at him, he never has any idea why.
Teacher/Parent Romance: Starts one with Maria, Tino's mother. It fails when he slides into immaturity.
Teacher/Student Romance: He does not engage into that, but is accused of it, twice. Once by a girl who tried to seduce him and/or have him under her thumb, and then by the same girl when she saw him take another girl in because she ran away from home and resisted being taken to the social services.
The One That Got Away: He's still avoiding relationships for one-night stands after his girlfriend dumped him for their mutual friend twenty years ago. Later he takes a whole year to move on from Maria after their relationship failed.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Early on, when he's stable enough, he is the one to offer guidance to the students.
Refused by the Call: He's stucks as a teacher because his applications for a CERN project keep getting rejected. He gets accepted in the end, but he declines it to stay together with Marinova.

Dessislava "Desi" Marinova

The PE teacher.

The Alcoholic: She's trying to deal with alcoholism, including going to therapy.
Dude Magnet: Aside from her on-again-off-again relationship with Savov, she is lusted after by coworkers (Tsekov and Duncan), students (notably Bobby) and other men.
First Girl After All: Desi's wish for Nikola to commit and resentment when he doesn't pushes him away from her and into the hands of Maria. However, when that relationship starts falling apart, he has a drunken one-night stand with Desi, which gets her pregnant, causes Savov to run from his wedding with Maria, destroying his relationship with her, and getting together with Desislava to raise their child, eventually marrying her in the end.
Only Sane Woman: She's noticeably better adjusted than most her colleagues, bar Savov at times.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: From the beginning she tries to get Savov to commit, but he wants to keep being Friends with Benefits.

She succeeds.

Woman Scorned: Early on, when she wants to go steady with Savov but he continues to treat her like a booty call, she takes advantage of the principal's overprotectiveness of her and files a fake sexual harassment complaint against him, using sexts which were consensual and mutual.
- Later, after it happens again, she vents her anger on a random woman's blouse she finds in his apartment, staining it with wine. The blouse belongs to a woman Savov bumped into at the mall parking lot, and not being able to return the stained blouse causes him and that woman (Maria) to hook up.

Sofia Dimitrova

The Bulgarian language and literature teacher.

Abhorrent Admirer: She has a very obvious and awkward crush on Savov, constantly trying to pass him hints during Season 1. He's not amused.
Cloudcuckoolander: Deconstructed, as it shows how everyone just rolls her eyes at her.
Gibberish of Love: Being around a man she has a crush on (Savov) causes her to slip into it.
Melodrama: She acts this way when it comes to men, whether it's making dramatic declarations to Marinova, or introducing her husband as a prince on a white horse, literally.
Mills and Boon Prose: An erotic story written by her in this style ends up in a magazine, becoming popular both among the Hormone-Addled Teenager students, and the uptight Tsekov and Pesheva who won't admit it.
No Social Skills: She wears her heart on her sleeve and is oblivious to any social cues.
Paralyzing Fear of Sexuality: Early on she exhibits this, having trouble even speaking the word "sex", and it's all but stated that she's a virgin. A one-night stand with a very drunk Savov causes her to enter a provocative phase, becoming demonstrative and outspoken about sex.
Sanity Slippage: After her husband turns out to be a bigamous scammer, she loses it and starts teaching esotherics rather than Bulgarian language and literature, smoking pipes and sitting on cushions during class.
Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: She has a phase of that regarding romance and sex to cope with her crush on Savov. As a result, she acts like an edgy teenage girl.
Thinks Like a Romance Novel: She uses flowery expressions like "prince on a white horse" unironically and believes in things like secret admirers and courtly love.
Unknown Rival: To Marinova, first about Savov, then when she thinks Marinova is hitting on her husband, when in reality it's the other way around.
What the Fu Are You Doing?: Does that twice with Marinova, acting like a nerdy schoolgirl who throws punches around and flails awkwardly. It's quadruply embarrassing because, first, she's a grown woman and a teacher, second, Marinova knows sambo and effortlessly has her in a headlock (while being weirded out about the whole thing), third, the kids are watching, and fourth, either there is a school inspection and she compromises the school, or the headmistress arrives and suffers a collateral punch in the face, which causes her to slap Dimitrova and drag her by the ear to the teachers' room.

Dorothea Kostova

The music teacher.

Apathetic Teacher: She doesn't care much about who wronged who, only that her choir is performing well.
Driven by Envy: She is spiteful to any coworker who's more successful than her.
Gossipy Hens: With Pesheva.
Teacher's Pet: Bobby is hers, since she likes his voice and wants him in the choir. Bobby really doesn't mind, since that gives him a lot of time with the choir girls to hit on, who are all over him.

Simeon Gerdjikov

The history teacher.

Artistic License – History: When Tsekov and Pesheva plan to escape (It Makes Sense in Context) to a German city and choose Königsberg, he points out that it's now Kaliningrad, Russia, since the map depicts 17th century Europe. Being a Bulgarian history teacher, he should at least be aware that his own country (not to mention other European states such as a unified Italy and Germany) being on the map places it past 1878, and its exact borders narrow it down to 1885 - 1908.
Ascended Extra: He gains a bigger role in the final season.
The Mole: For the 190th school which bribed him with a vice principal post to compromise the 197th and have the Ministry close the 197th down.

Glenn Duncan

Dimitrova's husband, he met her when on a trip to Bulgaria and gets a job as the school's English teacher.

Big Fancy House: Makes plans with Dimitrova to buy one. It's a scam. With her savings.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When his wife is present, he acts incredibly sweet. When her back is turned, he hits on other women (Marinova) and it's revealed he's trying to scam Dimitrova into drawing a loan, as he did his first wife to whom he's still married.

Mr. Lyubenov

The new physics teacher after Savov gets temporarily sacked.

Ambiguous Disorder: He seems focused on his subject, somewhat socially awkward, and an obsessive germaphobe.
Sucksessor: The kids want their old teacher back, so they pull a prank on Lyubenov on his first day, gluing his pants to the chair so he has to take a taxi home in his boxer briefs.
Terrified of Germs: He's enough of a germaphobe to wipe his hands with a tissue after opening the door to the teachers' lobby, and the forst thing he does when he enters a new class is to inspect how clean their hands are.
Thumbtack on the Chair: His tenure as a teacher only lasts for a day because Tino and Bobby pull a similar prank on him (put glue on his chair). He storms off, handing his ripped trousers to the caretaker, and gets a taxi while in his underpants.

Angel "Gele" Asparukhov Gelev

The school janitor.

The Alcoholic: This is exploited by various characters who place a bottle or two of spirits so they can get him drunk and sneak into the school undetected.
Alcohol Hic: He's almost always drunk and incoherent.
Bumbling Sidekick: To Tsekov.
The Guards Must Be Crazy: He's not very observant even when he's sober, but people get him drunk for good measure.
Irony: The one time he proves competent and catches a student selling drugs, which he brings to the principal as proof, is the exact moment Tsekov wouldn't want him to do so because there's an inspection and it should appear as if no such activities take place at the school.

Ivanka ("Vanche")

The cleaning lady.

Hypercompetent Sidekick: To Pesheva when she's an acting principal, reminding her of tasks which she forgot because she let power get to her head.
Simpleton Voice: She speaks with an accent typical for Sofia's rural surroundings, mocked as a peasant stereotype.

Parents and relatives

Maria Tomova

Tino and Lily's mother, Maria works as a make-up artist at the National Theatre.

Glamorous Single Mother: She manages to take care of herself and her two children quite well, and attracts the attention of at least four men.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She wants a man who treats her well, has attraction with her, is ready to commit and can get along with her children.
Teacher/Parent Romance: Starts one with Nikola Savov. Subverted, as initially she doesn't know he teaches her children.

Peter

Maria's boyfriend, with whom she has broken up numerous times.

Evil Sounds Deep: He has a very gravelly voice, especially when he's acting intimidating.
Fat Bastard: He's overweight and a jerk.
Wicked Stepfather: He bullies Maria's children, orders them around and manipulates their mother against them.
You're Not My Father: Maria's children refuse to accept him as a father figure, as they do any of their mother's partners.

Kiril Mateev

Ani's father who's struggling with alcoholism.

Abusive Parents: He beats his daughter and then pawns her guitar for money to drink.
The Alcoholic: His main problem.
Character Death: He obtains alcohol in the addict clinic he's been sent to, gets drunk and decides to visit his daughter, falling off a staircase.

Col. Stanimir Sabinov Stoychev

Filip's father, a colonel from the army.

Awkward Father-Son Bonding Activity: He's been trying to do this for years. Finally, his wife drags the whole family to a therapist who makes it mandatory for him and Filip to engage in this. The colonel tries to teach his son to shoot, chop wood, etc., but it all backfires.
Badass Family: He prides himself on hailing from one. His grandfather fought in World War II all the way to Vienna. Perhaps not incidentally, the commander of that Bulgarian army was a colonel named Vladimir Stoychev.
Former Teen Rebel: Just as his son is a drummer, Col. Stoychev used to play the saxophone when he was young. He doesn't like being reminded of it. On the other hand, he's quick to brag about having trained dancesport when hitting on some girls close to his son's age.
Four-Star Badass: While he doesn't fight in the series, his foster daughter's boyfriend raiding the fridge is enough for the colonel to escort him out at gunpoint.
Heteronormative Crusader: He's overjoyed when he finds some panties in his house and assumes Filip had sex with a girl.
Col. Stoychev: My Filip isn't gay!
Jock Dad, Nerd Son: He resents how unathletic his son is and wants to make a "real man" out of him.
Military School: He graduated from one and brags about it made him a "real man". He often threatens his son and Ani with being shipped Off to Boarding School into one, or directly to the army.
Col. Stoychev: Boy, if you touch the drums again, I'm sending you into the army.
Filip: Draft's long been abolished.
Col. Stoychev: You're underestimating me! And you know I have connections, too! One call and I'm making you a Russian citizen, and they do have draft, trust me.
Papa Wolf: He agrees to take Ani in as a foster child, intercepts the car of the social services shipping her to a remote town and strong-arms them into agreeing.
Red Baron: Filip and his friends refer to him as "The Colonel".
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: As a colonel, he is well connected. He uses it to send his son to a math teacher who will keep him on a short leash and threatens him with arranging him army service^note. He also gets his commanding general to legitimize adopting Ani as a foster child when she flees from her father.
Standard '50s Father: He fits the trope to a T in The New '10s - conservative and strict, he applies curfews and corporal punishment to his son and wants to make a real man out of him.
We Want Our Jerk Back!: When his wife drags him and Filip to a counselor to learn to bind and they're instructed to try to tolerate each other's oddities, the mental strain of those forced pleasantries becomes too much for both of them and they revert to their usual hostile dynamics.
Filip: (gets a low grade on purpose so he can possibly his dad off enough to be punished) I've had it with that passive aggressor.
You Need to Get Laid: He has this opinion of his son and feels exceedingly proud every time he thinks Filip has finally lost his virginity.

Galya Stoycheva

Filip's mother.

My Beloved Smother: She spoils her son.
Teacher/Parent Romance: One-sided - she has a crush on Savov, which he uses to sneak Filip and Ani out to an important concert when they are grounded.

Sabin Stoychev

Filip's grandfather.

Cool Old Guy: He bought a set of drums so his grandson could play without his father learning of it, fully supports, Filip's music career and his hobbies, and is always ready to help the band. He can also play on said drums.

Velina Vălcheva

Bobby's mother, an attourney.

Mama Bear: She is very protective of her son, sometimes leading her to misjudge others.
Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal: She insists it's never Bobby's fault and almost always blames someone else, such as Tino. When something proves to unequivocally be Bobby's fault, she loses her trust in him.
Properly Paranoid: She has a hard time trusting her son after he almost dies from a cocaine overdose.

Danail "Dan" Vălchev

Bobby's father.

Adults Are Useless: He's detached from his son.
Henpecked Husband: Velina is the one who makes all the decisions about their son. Dan just nods and agrees.
The Other Darrin: His actor is changed between the first and second season.
Pervert Dad: He hits on Ani after Bobby intrudoced them. As if hitting on an underage schoolmate of his son isn't enough, Ani was Bobby's girlfriend at the time.

Slav Kadieff

Mira's father, a prominent music producer.

Archnemesis Dad: When Mira tries to start an independent career, he cuts off all her options.
Benevolent Boss: He might be profit-driven, but he appreciates the artists working for him and treats them nicely when they perform well.
Team Dad: When he becomes the band's producer, he's stern and demanding, but gives credit where it's due, encourages and mentors the team.
Twerp Sweating: He likes doing that to Bobby, even though later he gains respect for him as the boy matures and starts coming under his mentorship.

Others

Emil and Todor

A pair of music producers who offer a contract to the band after they win a contest.

Executive Meddling: They only care about profit and disregard how the band members feel, so they pressure them into anything, including kicking Ani out of the band because they thought it would be more profitable to have a boy band.
Fat Bastard: Both are obese and unpleasant to work with.
Good Cop/Bad Cop: Emil is forceful and rude with the band members, coercing them into accepting his plans. Todor is more soft-spoken, trying to coax them instead.
Music Is Politics: They force the band to realize that.
Those Two Guys: They work together and are encountered even later when Revolution Z cuts ties with them.

Music Duke producer

A producer who offers the band a contract after they break it off with Emil and Todor.

Connected All Along: She reveals that she's working for Kadieff who used to play against Revolution Z.
Team Mom: She provides more level-headed input than her exhuberant boss Kadieff and helps placate the team members.

Veselin ("Vesko")

Dessislava Marinova's flatmate and best friend.

Blackmail: When Duncan starts hitting on Marinova and threatening her against exposing him as a fraud, she asks him out to a bar. Instead of her, she sends Vesko, who snaps a photo of him kissing Duncan on the cheek and threatens to leak it unless Duncan lays off Marinova.
Camp Gay: It causes him to be the subject of homophobic remarks from every straight man he meets.
The Caretaker: He helps Marinova fight her alcohol addiction.
Gay Best Friend: To Marinova.
Magical Queer: He's the one who can read Marinova's and Savov's true feelings.

Mario

A gigolo that Ghetto and his crew hire to keep Pesheva happy.

Chippendales Dancers: He's also a stripper.
Gold Digger: He happily agrees to break up with Pesheva when Tsekov pays him 300BGN (about €150) while his rate is €100 per night.
Instant Seduction: He's a master at it, causing the icy Pesheva to toss him onto her bed in a matter of minutes from the moment they met.
Jerkass: He is aware Tsekov is in love with his target, but belittles him amd milks him for money before agreeing to reveal to her that he's been hired.

Quicksilver

The owner of the garage the band has rented for rehearsals.

The Aggressive Drug Dealer: He is one. when Bobby finds his stash of weed in the garage and sells some for his own profit, Quicksilver forced him to sell for him and even sold him some cocaine.
Creepy Monotone: He speaks in a low, quiet drawl, like he's vaguely amused or annoyed.
Evil Debt Collector: when Bobby sold some of his weed, he strong-arms him into becoming a dealer until the debt is paid.

Radoslav ("Rado")

Ani's boyfriend when she gets kicked out of the band.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He wishes Tino good luck with "his girl" (Ani, who's dating him) but becomes aware, at least subconsciously, that Tino wants to get Ani back.
Cock Fight: He criticizes Tino's guitar solo and might have stolen the lyrics of the song Tino devoted to Ani because of this, or simply because he's that out of touch with the world. On Tino's side, it's on from the start.
Hanlon's Razor: He might really be that clueless as to believe that it's OK to raid the fridge at his girlfriend's foster parents and argue (with a gun to his head) that Earth is for all so he's free to stay in the house. Or that a very personal love song he just so happened to stumble upon is up for grabs to devote to his girlfriend as if he wrote it. However, it becomes increasingly likely that he's Obfuscating Stupidity.
Hollywood Tone-Deaf: He comes to a rehearsal of the band and decides to give them some "backup" which is completely off-beat, to the point where Bobby tells them he's playing a different song.
Jungle Drums: He plays a djembe.
The Mourning After: Ani dates him to forget Tino because she can't forgive him for letting the producers remove her from the band. It doesn't last once she learns that not only did Tino want to devote her a love song, but Rado "found" it and passed it as his own.
NEET: He doesn't do anything but smoke pot and play the djembe.
New-Age Retro Hippie: He plays reggae, smokes weed and carries himself like a hippie. He also blabbers a lot about new age things like vbrations and negative energy.
Obfuscating Stupidity: He pretends to be ignorant of concepts such as home ownership or intellectual property, since at least his intuition works perfectly when he wants to get a raise out of someone.
Plagiarism in Fiction: He "finds" a very personal text for a ballad Tino wanted to devote to Ani, and sings it to her, slightly modified and accompanied by a reggae beat, making it sound goofier and less romantic.

Ministry of Education

Deputy Minister Daskalov

Always a Bigger Fish: He gets sacked when attention of his scheme is brought to the Minister.
Corrupt Politician: He is lobbying for the 197th to be demolished so a business center can be built in its place.

Inspectors Balabanov and Stoyanov

Agents of the Regional Education Inspectorate, tasked with undertaking school revisions.

Friend on the Force: Balabanov plays this role for Tsekov, trying to favor the 197th and give Tsekov a heads-up within the confines of his legal capability.
Inspector Javert: Stoyanov is the less sympathetic of the two.

Characters / Revolution Z

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