The characters of the webcomic Zap!:
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Excelsior's Crew, past and present
Zap Vexler
An amnesiac psychic spaceship captain. He sometimes lapses into a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass, especially when Reona is in danger. Most of the time he's the Idiot Hero, though.
- Amnesiac Dissonance: Zap, Efrem, and Gunner were on the same side, and Zap was much darker than his post amnesia personality.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: In the final chapter, he uses up too much energy and disperses throughout the universe. But after 3 years, thanks to the Power of Love, he is eventually able to piece himself back together.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Gunner attempts this on him, torturing and brainwashing Zap into helping him Kill All Humans.
- Falling into the Cockpit: Zap, on the run from the GEF, literally falls into the cargo hatch and is made captain by the sentient ship.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: When he's sufficiently angry and using his powers, his eyes glow electric green.
- Idiot Hero: For a good while, he's really just goofing around, being silly. Then Cerebus Syndrome happens and he begins to remember who he is.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Zap begins the story knowing, pretty much, nothing but his name.
- The Last of His Kind: Along with Gunner and Efrem, he is one of the last known surviving Lost Ones. He believes that there are others out there, but Gunner is not so optimistic.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: When you see Zap start to glow, some shit's goin' down.
- Love Redeems: He was originally working with Gunner to get revenge against the GEF. But after Efrem located the literal girl of his dreams, he was able to get Zap to join his side.
- Psychic Powers: Potent, but he can't remember how to use them, necessitating training from Gunner.
- Replacement Goldfish: There's various comments on how like Ephrem Zap is. At least one side character calls Zap Reona's "Replacement Boyfriend."
Reona Lightstar
The redheaded first mate of the ship with an Arm Cannon.
- An Arm and a Leg: She lost her right arm at the same time when Efrem was "lost".
- Arm Cannon: Reona had it installed it as part of her right arm prosthetic.
- Girl of My Dreams: Zap's dreams of her caused his Heel–Face Turn in the backstory.
- No Conservation of Energy: Averted, sort of, with a Handwave. Her Arm Cannon draws energy from Reona's own body, as confirmed by
Word of God. In this strip
, she got the power pack upgraded. - Number Two: To Efrem, and then to Zap. While they were both gone, she moved more into the role of The Captain.
- Tsundere: She seems to be Type A at first, but Character Development reveals that she's hiding emotional wounds and insecurities and is naturally a Type B.
Excelsior
The ship herself, who communicates via Robot and can choose her own captain.
- Sapient Ship: The Excelsior is sentient and chooses its own captain.
- Spaceship Girl: A spectral woman from Zap's forced flashbacks of his earlier life turns out to be the holographic projection of the Excelsior's AI.
Grontar Grott
A huge four armed Genius Bruiser, with overprotective tendencies towards Reona.
- Alliterative Name: Grontar Grott.
- Genius Bruiser: Big, strong, and a spaceship mechanic (this is rocket science).
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Four arms. Four muscled, strong arms.
- Undying Loyalty: To Reona. Less so to the Resistance. Everyone else can go hang, although he is fond of Kasey.
Robot
Formerly named XR-7439-Q, Robot is the Snarky Non-Human Sidekick, a sentient Robot Buddy (though the "buddy" part is involuntary and quite questionable).
- A Dog Named "Dog": Because Zap can't remember his real name, XR-7439-Q gets redubbed Robot.
- Last of His Kind: Robot is the last robot left with a learning AI.
- Moment Killer: Robot does this a few times.
- Restraining Bolt: He is programmed to obey the captain, like it or not.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: Rude, snarky, cowardly, apparently has a love life with AIs...
- Robot Names: XR-7439-Q is Robot's former name.
- Snarky Non-Human Sidekick: Very.
Kasey
Kasey is a lion-like Stickle, an enthusiast of robots and a Bungling Inventor.
- Bishie Sparkle: See for yourself.
- Bungling Inventor: A racial trait, actually. Kasey, having at least one invention that has not catastrophically failed, may be the least bungling inventor of the Stickles.
- Little Bit Beastly: Kasey has a lion's tail and slit pupils, plus long, pointy, and slightly floppy ears.
- Robosexual: This is apparently the norm for Stickles. Kasey, being a Genki Girl, is all over Robot and gets jealous when he interafes with other AIs.
- Wingding Eyes: Of the Heart Symbol type when she gushes over Robot.
Efrem Nutari
The former captain of Excelsior, presumed dead in action. Reona is the only one who believes otherwise.
- Battle Aura
- Brainwashed and Crazy: He was hinted to have been placed under mind control by the psychic crown he wears, but this turned out to be incorrect.
- Face–Heel Turn: It is later revealed that he hadn't and was only operating as The Mole.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom
- Heroic Sacrifice: He sacrificed his own life to save Reona and Grontar. Except maybe not. But played straight in the finale, where he runs out of energy and disperses.
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies: This turns out to be one of the real reasons he left Reona. He was heading off to rejoin and work as The Mole against Gunner's genocidal scheme and didn't want her drawn into the danger.
- The Last of His Kind: Along with Gunner and Zap, he is one of the last known surviving Lost Ones.
- Left for Dead
- The Lost Lenore: For Reona, until he pretends to try to kill her, anyway.
- Matchmaker Crush: Efrem had intended Reona for Zap all along, but formed a relationship with her due to wanting to have something Zap wanted.
- The Mole: He was seemingly this to the Resistance. Though he is actually this to Gunner. Gunner is well aware of this however, and has threatened to kill his "friend" if he actively goes against his plan.
- Never Found the Body: After Efrem's apparent death, the crew was teleported back to the ship.
- Psychic Powers: Only a psychic can pilot Excelsior.
Holly Kidson
A space pirate who kidnaps Reona and Robot seeking to use them in a rescue mission. She later joins the crew of the Excelsior.
- Space Pirates
- Talk Like a Pirate: Much to the confusion of her crewmates, sometimes.Holly: Arr, shiver her timbers, mates!
Inman and Scherzer: (confused looks)
Holly: Just... hit her on the head.
Inman and Scherzer
Holly's underlings, who refused to leave after she dismissed them.
The Rebellion
Justin Smith
A high-ranking member of the Rebellion, and Reona's superior. He was captured by William and held captive by the GEF until his rescue by Grontar.
Jason Wilkins
A Rebellion grunt who drinks too much. He pointed the GEF at Zap in the backstory, causing him to flee and land aboard the Excelsior. Captured by the GEF along with Justin.
Demonica
Demonica is Reona's friend - they used to work as waitresses together. She introduced her to Efrem. She has since taken over the Rings of Luck Casino and helps out the Rebellion.
- Alien Hair
- Knowledge Broker
- Prehensile Hair: Though it's not quite hair.
The Serpent's Faction
Gunner Stryfe
A mysterious psychic from Zap's past with a Meaningful Name.
- Combat Pragmatist: Gunner gets tired of the psychic battle and just shoots Zap.
- Depower: Unwilling to kill him, Zap strips him of his psychic powers and exiles him to an uninhabited planet.
- Firing One-Handed
- Glowing Eyes of Doom
- The Gunslinger: Helped by being a powerful telekinetic. He never misses.
- Kill All Humans: His ultimate goal is to annihilate the human race as revenge for the GEF destroying his.
- The Last of His Kind: Along with Zap and Efrem, he is one of the last known surviving Lost Ones. Zap believes that there are others out there, but he is not so optimistic.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: So pretty he's very much subject to
Draco in Leather Pants. - Meaningful Name: And not just his last and first name, either.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Gunner Stryfe, also known as the Serpent. And just look at this smile...
- Revenge Before Reason: Most of his race was destroyed by the GEF, and he seeks to Kill All Humans as revenge. He is willing to do anything to accomplish his vengeance, even torture or murder his best friends. Vitale knows that Gunner is beyond dissuasion, but points out just how pointless his actions are.
- The Unfettered: He is willing to kill anyone who gets in the way of his quest for revenge. Even his closest friends, the only other survivors of the destruction of his world.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: The GEF killed off his entire race, save three (as far as he knows). His response? Kill everyone.
Naveed Catlos
A deadly katana wielding Cat Girl. She cut off Reona's arm in a flashback.
- Berserk Button: If you like your insides where they are, don't damage her katana, and don't hit on Gunner. Or look like you might touch Gunner.
- Cat Girl
- Cats Are Mean: She likes to play with her food, so to speak.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: To Gunner. Implied to be the reason she wiped Zap's memories, or so she thinks. That was Zap's Memory Gambit.
- The Dragon: To Gunner.
- Femme Fatalons: They look sharp.
- Katanas Are Just Better
- Ms. Fanservice: Naveed provides lots of eyecandy with her stripperiffic outfits.
- Perky Female Minion: Not as much "perky" as "murderous sex kitten". But this woman is dissappointed when her "boyfriend" won't let her kill someone (who's still useful to the plan).
- Red Eyes, Take Warning
- The Vamp
- Undying Loyalty: Towards Gunner, not matter how much undeserved it is. She's entirely fine with getting marooned on an uninhabited planet, as long as it's with him.
Io
The leader of the the Galilean Satellites, Io has the power of fire. He seems to be serious in personality.
- Flaming Hair: When he's using his powers.
- Last of His Kind: With the other four Satellites, they are the last of the Elementaros.
- Playing with Fire
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After finding out that Naveed doesn't value Callisto's sacrifice all that much.
Callisto
One of the Elementaros, a race that can control the elements, and a member of the Galilean Satellites. Callisto has control over water.
- Elemental Hair Colors: Navy blue for Making a Splash powers.
- Heroic Sacrifice: She sacrifices her life to save Naveed.
- Last of Her Kind: With the other four Satellites, they are the last of the Elementaros.
- Making a Splash
- Water Is Womanly: The last Elementaro of Water.
Europa
One of the Elementaros, a race that can control the elements, and a member of the Galilean Satellites. Europa has control over wind.
- Blow You Away
- Elemental Hair Colors: White, flowing on Dramatic Wind, even when there is no wind.
- Expy: Of Storm, at least in design.
- Last of Her Kind: With the other four Satellites, they are the last of the Elementaros.
Ganymede
They youngest of the Elementaros, a race that can control the elements, and a member of the Galilean Satellites. Ganymede has control over earth.
- Child Soldier: He's, at most, an adolescent, shorter and younger looking than his teammates.
- Dishing Out Dirt
- Elemental Hair Colors: Green.
- Last of His Kind: With the other four Satellites, they are the last of the Elementaros.
The GEF
President Billings
The bungling head of the GEF, who has started a pogrom of Psychics.
- Asshole Victim: The President was not a nice man, but Gunner, the mastermind behind his murder, is arguably worse.
- Corrupt Politician: He forcibly annexes planets to the GEF and is mostly in it for the money.
- Evil Laugh: Seen here.
- A Glass of Chianti: Billings does this on one scene where he tries to be serious.
- Our Presidents Are Different: President Buffoon.
- Puppet King: While nominally in charge of the GEF, Maximus and Feonix are able to play him like a puppet by baiting him with promises of money. However, they apparently do get tired of technically answering to him and assassinate him. It turns out that they originally had been perfectly satisfied using him as a figurehead, but Gunner planted a desire in their minds to get revenge and seize direct power.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: While thoroughly evil and even genocidal, he is quite comical. Naturally, he gets assassinated by his own generals as the comic is taking a darker tone.
William Haskins
A GEF commander and the head of the Psychic Academy.
- Mind-Control Eyes: After being controlled by Gunner.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: At first, anyway.
Vitale
A powerful psychic and adviser to the President. Vitale adopted the orphaned William and raised him.
Maximus Verbatim
The general of the GEF's ground forces.
- Eyepatch of Power: It's metal and apparently riveted in place. Ouch.
- The Starscream: He was originally satisfied with using Billings as a Puppet King, but after Gunner plants a desire to rule directly, he works together with Feonix to murder the President in a coup to seize power for themselves
Feonix Yago
The general of the GEF's aquatic forces. His species rebelled against the GEF long ago, but Yago seemingly betrayed them and surrendered. Now he seeks to destroy the GEF from the inside.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After Gunner releases the mind control he used to make Feonix and Maximus murder the president, Feonix is absolutely horrified.
- Off with His Head!: He is killed by Zap.
- Really 700 Years Old: 712, to be precise.
- The Starscream: He supposedly betrayed his people, but in actuality did this to seize power inside the GEF on his people's behalf. For a long time, he was satisfied with using Billings as a Puppet King, but Gunner used his psychic powers to plant a desire for vengeance, resulting in him working together with Maximus to assassinate Billings and seize power for himself.
