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The Dead Motherfuckers Society
Shade
Dominic Shade, "Catman", "Wolf"
The main protagonist of the game and manager of the group. A 27-year-old ex-yakuza looking for a good time with his old friends.
- Affectionate Nickname: Nebraska calls him "Shado".
- The Atoner: Seems to feel guilty about something while talking with Oyabun, but he doesn't say what. During the game ending it's shown that he accidentally killed Nebraska's dad in a fit of rage against a store clerk. His mentor, Oyabun, took full responsibility for this and was punished with death. He fell in love with the man's wife later, but the amount of guilt he felt and the fear of her finding out drove Shade to abandon them, which just added to the weight.
- Animal Motifs: Cats, of course. They don't call him Catman for nothing. He's a deceptive, sneaky and sly ex-criminal who always manages to get what he wants and get out of any situation, one way or the other. Bonus points for actually liking cats. Back in his young yakuza days, he fit his wolf moniker "Wolf", being a cool and quiet at one moment but absolutely vicious when those he cared about were threatened. He reclaims this moniker in the Black Door ending after he resolves to stop running from the consequences of his actions and decides to face them when his time comes.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Subverted. He has the looks, but he's no badass and his suit gets a lot less "nice" than it starts off after some unfortunate encounters.
- Big, Thin, Short Trio: The thin to Duque's short and Knife's big.
- Cool Shades: Needless to say.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Oh man, where to even begin? He was apparently a half-American orphan in Japan, which made him target of a lot of mockery and bullying. Later, he and his best friend became yakuza, but were still disrespected and beaten up constantly, which led to his friend trying to kill a store clerk that insulted them, resulting in him being severely hurt. Trying to defend his friend, Shade shot the clerk, only to hit a bystander. His master and father figure took the responsibility for it and was punished accordingly, resulting in his death, while Shade and his friend were forced to leave the country. He later fell in love with the wife of the man he killed. After years of having a lovely and healthy relationship with the woman and her daughter, the guilt and fear of what he had done got to him and decided to abandon them without explaining why, which only fueled his insecurities.
- Deal with the Devil: He made one prior to the events of the game for unknown reasons. It allows him the chance to come back in the end.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Downplayed. In the black door ending he survives the shot and gets to overcome his inner demons, although the gang splits up after a while.
- Expy: Definitely inspired by bragging, sneaky-like characters from old anime, like Vash the Stampede or Spike Spiegel.
- Freudian Trio: The ego, acting as a middle ground between Knife's optimism and Duque's grumpy realism.
- Four-Philosophy Ensemble: The realist. Shade doesn't come close to Knife's honesty and optimism but isn't as grumpy or skeptical as Duque. He always takes a middle ground, trying to take the best course of action without ignoring everyone's well being at the same time.
- Guilt Complex: As Oyabun puts it, he's too willing to forget the good he does in favor of the mistakes he made.
- Half-Breed Discrimination: He has a substantial chip on his shoulder as a result of the bullying he received throughout his childhood and in the yakuza over being half-American.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: He believes himself to be trash regardless of what he does and will openly admit as much.
- Hidden Depths: He's very into Korean dramas thanks to the time he spent with Neb and her mother.
- Killed Off for Real: In the white door ending, where he's killed by a stray bullet during the final shootout.
- Meaningful Name: His most noticeable characteristic? His shades.
- Parental Substitute: To Nebraska.
- Smoking Is Cool: Never seen without a cigarette in his mouth.
- Supreme Chef: He makes very good omelets. They're so good that Neb manages to sell several of them for very high prices and still get buyers.
- Yakuza: He used to be a small-fry one.
Knife
Knife Leopard, "Pineapples", Alban Liege
The youngest of the group and Cowboy's pilot. A 24-year-old kind-hearted, easy-going guy who just wants to have a good time.
- Ace Pilot: Depends on your playstyle, but Knife's able to defeat a good lot of experienced pilots during the game
- A Day in the Limelight: You get to control him for a bit outside of battle at several points. The first time reveals that he's quite insecure despite his easy-going attitude, while the others have him interacting with the secondary cast that Shade typically only talks to.
- The Baby of the Bunch: The youngest member of the group, lampshaded by Shade and Duque calling him "kid".
- The Big Guy: While not really a physical type of guy, Knife's definitely the biggest member of the gang.
- Big, Thin, Short Trio: The big to Shade's thin and Duque's short.
- Blood Knight: He's always itching to get into Cowboy's cockpit to do some competitive fighting. It's usually more in a Spirited Competitor sense, but his unlockable masochist stance makes him rather bloodthirsty.
- Cool Uncle: To his nieces, Tiara and Ribbon. He periodically brings up doing activities like playing video games with them. He's also seen as a Honorary Uncle by Neb, who cheers him on during the mecha battles.
- Deuteragonist: The only other character you'll be controlling aside from Shade and Nebraska, and the one who gets the most hindsighted aside from him.
- Distressed Dude: He's kidnapped by Trinket and Killer during the Final Fortnight to disqualify Cowboy. The group manages to get around this by sneaking Neb into the cockpit and having her take his place until he's rescued.
- Everyone Has Standards: He's a mellow, friendly guy to everyone typically, but SKA constantly nitpicking Cowboy's aesthetics and movements wears out Knife's patience enough for Knife to bluntly tell him, "Shut the fuck up."
- Four-Philosophy Ensemble: The Optimist, definitely. Knife always has a positive look on everything, believing that he and his friends can take care of their problems and that everything's going to be fine.
- Gentle Giant: An absolute unit of a guy and one of the kindest and good-natured characters in the game.
- Hidden Depths: During a segment where you can play as him, you get to see Knife's a lot more insecure than he let's out, being afraid of disappointing those he cares about. It's also revealed that he carries trauma from his little brother wandering off into the woods one night, and what he saw during then still haunts him.
- A conversation with Nebraska reveals he's actually very good at math and can solve calculus problems very easily. Then it's revealed that he used to work at the bank he would later help the Dead Motherfuckers Society rob.
- Insult of Endearment: Peepoo always calls him "Donkey". It was just a straight insult early on, but it evolves into this as Peepoo grows to like him.
- No Shirt, Long Jacket: When he isn't piloting, he typically wears a coat with no shirt underneath, though it's something that shows up more on his overworld sprite than his character portraits.
Duque
Duque, "Wizard"
A 32-year-old anthropomorphic dog that acts as the mechanic of the group. He's grumpy and more level-headed than Shade and Knife.
- Big, Thin, Short Trio: The short to Shade's thin and Knife's big.
- Four-Philosophy Ensemble: The cynic. Duque's distrustful of everyone and everything, prefering to get the easy way out instead of dealing with sketchy stuff. He outright wants to sell Cowboy rather use it for fights and always expects the worse of people, especially Shade. He's grumpy and mean to almost everyone too. He's a more downplayed example though: when things do work (and not in his intended way), he happily takes it and starts acting as cheery as Knife even.
- Furry Reminder: He nags Shade about getting rid of a cat in the hangar, chalking it up to natural instinct that keeps him on edge around them.
- Grumpy Old Man: While not actually and *old* man, he has the looks and the attitude to be one.
- Younger Than They Look: He looks and acts like a Grumpy Old Man, but he's only 32.
G.W
G.W, "Cowboy"
The now-deceased founder of the group. Not much is know about him aside from what his friends talk about him and his long-lost monologues between scenes.
- Beneath the Mask: It's implied via G.W.'s occasional monologues that underneath the persona of the All Dead Motherfuckers Society's cunning leader, he constantly grappled with the notion of life being a repetitive cycle with no more miracles and an obsession with his right to a "glorious death". Shade outright says that they had no way of knowing what was going through his mind or what he was going through, period, to do what he did to himself that resulted in his death.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: It's said that Shade found his corpse "in pieces." What left him like that is unknown, though it's mentioned that it was self inflicted.
- Dead Person Conversation: Shade seemingly talks to G.W during Wormgod's return. The place is pitch-black though, and whether he was real or not is never explained.
- Deal with the Devil: When Shade meets G.W in the present, he instructs Shade that when offered, to do different from him and choose "the correct door", a choice Shade has to make when meeting Foam Gun at the end of his life.
- Driven to Suicide: It's mentioned that G.W's death was a suicide, and a rather grisly one at that.
- The Faceless: G.W is never shown at any point in the game.
- Four-Philosophy Ensemble: The Apathetic. Even for his three dear friends, G was a big enigma that they never quite figured out, with most of his actions and attitudes being rather nonsensical.
- The Leader: Of the group, apparently.
- Posthumous Character: Been dead for some time by the start of the game.
- The Voice: His physical appearance is never shown, but he narrates the events prior to the main story and speaks in a few of the flashbacks. During the single instance where he appears in the present, the screen is completely black, masking what he looks like.
Rain City
Nebraska
Nebraska Jones, "Neb"
A 14-year-old girl from Shade's past who has tracked him down to Rain City and inserted herself into the group.- Affectionate Nickname: Shade calls her "Neb".
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: She pilots Cowboy during the battle against Trinket and Killer, on account of the latter two kidnapping Knife. It's not just a cosmetic difference as she has a completely unique moveset.
- Delinquent Hair: She wears her hair in an unkempt Mohawk. This is apparently a new development for her, one that her mother hates. In the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, it's revealed she let her hair back down afterwards, with the only remnant being some small spiky tufts atop her head.
- Genki Girl: She's generally loud, bombastic, and enthusiastic about everything that interests her.
- Karma Houdini: Shade mentions in the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue that she somehow avoided charges for burning down her school.
- Kick Chick: When piloting Cowboy, she has access to a kick attack, which happens to be the most powerful attack in her arsenal. She's notably the only pilot in the entire game with that kind of attack.
- Photographic Memory: She has an eidetic memory, and can recall anything she did on any date regardless of how long ago it was. However, she can only recall what pertains to her; things like textbooks she has issues with.
- Stepford Smiler: She generally acts cheerful and enjoys her time hanging around Shade's group, but she later admits that she still hates Shade for abruptly leaving her and her mother.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: It's revealed one of the reasons Neb came to visit was to avoid repercussions from burning down her school.
Peepoo
Peepoo
A junked all-purpose robot found in Bounty Hog's Yard. Shade reluctantly takes him in to act as Knife's trainer.- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He might be an obnoxious mood-swinging robot, but he does get tangible results when it comes to training Knife.
- Jerkass: To put it lightly, Peepoo is a colossal dick to everyone, even the people he's supposed to be helping.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: From time to time, he does begin to show that he legitimately cares about Knife, particularly after Knife briefly has a meltdown over Duque's apparent disappearance.
- Mr. Exposition: He's the one who provides information about each upcoming opponent; at least until the Final Fortnight, where Fancy Jack takes over their duties.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: He would be this if they weren't programmed to say "PEE!" in the place of any actual curse word. Expect to hear him say "PEE!" a lot in his dialogue.
- Sound-Effect Bleep: His creator for whatever reason programmed them to always block out any curse word he might say with "PEE!". Peepoo finds it incredibly annoying, to say the least.
- Training from Hell: We only hear it secondhand, but Peepoo's training regiment for Knife is apparently very strenuous at the start, at least before Knife's body starts to adapt later on.
ZZ Zowie
ZZ Zowie, "Zee", "Witch"
An elderly lady who runs Rain City's old scrapyard, known colloquially as the "Crapyard". Shade hires her early on to improve Cowboy's design, though she only really shows up around the group right before they have to fight their next opponent. She has a rivalry with Bounty Hog.- Cool Old Lady: She's a fairly chill and level-headed woman who happens to know a lot about mechas.
- Crazy Cat Lady: She has a reputation for being one, and her scrapyard does host enough cats to fill out the alphabet, but she otherwise has a fairly stable head on her shoulders, subverting this trope.
- Gadgeteer Genius: She has decades more experience than Duque in the field of mecha and is the one responsible to designing Cowboy's improvements.
- Kind Hearted Cat Lover: Her scrapyard is littered with cats, and she's ultimately a Cool Old Lady.
- Nice Girl: She can get snippy whenever Bounty Hog is involved, but otherwise she's a polite and friendly woman who will always provide a constructive word when things are looking down for the group.
- Rags to Riches: The publicity brought about by Cowboy's performance in the Final Fortnight nets her a number of business opportunities in the mecha world, soon making her a millionaire.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: She has a rivalry with Bounty Hog. A Running Gag is them exchanging "gifts" with each other that are apparently quite revolting.
Bounty Hog
Bounty Hog
The owner of Rain City's current scrapyard and Fancy Jack's uncle. His scrapyard doubles as an arena for Cowboy's opening bouts. He has a rivalry with ZZ.- Cool Uncle: He's supportive of Fancy Jack's career as a mecha pilot and even converted his scrapyard into an arena to give him opponents to fight (and make money on the side).
- Serial Spouse: According to Fancy Jack, his uncle has enough ex-wives to form an army.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: He frequently snipes with Zee, referring to their dynamic as a Cold War.
Fancy Jack
Francis Warhol, "Fancy Jack"
The pilot of Fancy Boy and Bounty Hog's nephew. He's also Cowboy's first serious opponent. After his defeat, he appoints himself Knife's rival and tries to fight up the ranks behind him.- Combat Pragmatist: During his battle, he picks up cars from around Bounty Hog's arena to chuck at Cowboy.
- Distressed Dude: He's kidnapped by a seemingly resurrected Godworm and strapped to the front of his mecha.
- Friendly Rival: In between working his way up to fighting Cowboy again, he casually hangs out with Shade and is cordial with the rest of the group. He's also the one who initially gives the tip to the group to research their opponents before fighting them.
- Mr. Exposition: He provides the opponent information during the Final Fortnight.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Despite his loud, boisterous nature, he isn't one to harbor a grudge. It's a shock to everyone else when he demands blood after finding out that Godworm's mecha, which he was forcibly strapped to and handicapped him, is participating in the Final Fortnight.
- Verbal Tic: He always says "yepo" in the place of just "yep" or "yes".
Joy
Joy
The bartender and current owner of the Midnite Rider. She's one of Cowboy's earliest supporters and hosts the group's celebrations whenever they win a match.- Eyes Out of Sight: Her large afro covers her eyes at all times.
Outside Rain City
Oyabun
Sekisushai, "Oyabun"
Shade's mentor and father figure from the past. He's long-dead by the events of the game, but his ghost converses with Shade periodically.- Neighborhood-Friendly Gangsters: He was a lieutenant for the yakuza, but he only worked his way up to the position to protect as many innocent communities as he could.
- Posthumous Character: He's already dead before the start of the game, though his ghost is still around to talk to Shade.
- Sophisticated as Hell: Delivers sagely advice while also swearing like a sailor.
- Spirit Advisor: Serves as this to Shade, trying to push him to let go of his Guilt Complex and enjoy what he has in the present.
- Taking the Heat: How he met his end. He took the blame when Shade accidentally shot and killed a civilian, which resulted in him being sent to prison to a place called "The Hole" to rot.
- True Final Boss: In the Black Door ending, Shade has to fight his spirit in order to finally let go of his guilt.
Foam Gun
Foam Gun
The host of Midnight Strut, presenting the player with updates in the world of mecha fighting. She acts as the announcer for any match that doesn't take place in Bounty Hog's Yard or the Final Fortnite. She's actually the Devil, having made a deal with Shade prior to the events of the game and counting down the days towards when his contract with her expires.- Catchphrase: Frag-a-jam.
- Fourth-Wall Observer: She directly addresses the player on multiple occasions, and her commentary during combat seems more directed towards the player than Knife.
- Greek Chorus: She is the one who introduces the story as soon as the game starts and spends the rest of it delivering comments on Rain City's locales and the events going on the mecha world. Makes sense that she can have this level of oversight, considering she's actually the Devil.
- Noble Demon: For as blunt and crass as she is, she still gives Shade the chance to return to the land of the living after his contract with her expires.
- Perpetual Smiler: Regardless of what she's saying, she always has a large Slasher Smile on her face. She drops it when revealing herself to Shade.
- Scary Teeth: Her default expression has her flashing rows of exclusively sharp teeth like a shark.
