History Characters / Gorillaz

[[SarcasmMode You may be surprised by this revelation]], but Gorillaz are a "virtual band", which makes their capacity to perform on live tours somewhat limited, outside of a few (fairly disastrous) attempts at the MTV EMAs and the Grammys. To facilitate this, the "Gorillaz Tribute Band" [[note]]really Damon Albarn and his various collaborators, the actual singers behind the band[[/note]] appear onstage to fill in for their animated counterparts.

* [[Kayfabe]]: In the early days, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett made more of an effort to maintain the façade that Gorillaz were a real band, so they would conceal themselves or arrange for expensive (and often faulty) holograms of 2D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel to perform live. [[SubvertedTrope After a while, they stopped bothering and Damon just started performing as himself]].

* NotAllowedToGrowUp: Averted. The band ages in real time. While this is most noticeable with Noodle, [[ShesAllGrownUp who has grown from a little girl into an adult woman]], it's rather impressive how Murdoc has steadily been drawn to be more and more visibly middle-aged over time.
** That said, Jamie Hewlett has implied that the band won't age much more past their current designs, since cartoon ageing only goes so far. Tellingly, the three men of the group have not visually aged much compared to Noodle, [[OlderThanTheyLook despite being close to middle-aged in the later phases.]]

* NotAllowedToGrowUp: Averted. Despite debuting in his mid-thirties, he has visibly become middle-aged (he is 50 years old by the time phase 4 rolls round), with his skin becoming increasingly more wrinkled and his hair graying as time has gone on. He has also slipped in and out of possessing a beer gut.

* WomenAreWiser: Consistently portrayed as being the most emotionally stable, intelligent and competent member of the band, compared to the ditzy, pill-popping 2D; the satanic, asshole-ish Murdoc; and the bitter, supernaturally disturbed Russel.

* LeadBassist: Type C since he's the band's co-founder, as well as a major AttentionWhore. His actions also generally tend to drive the plot more than the other three's do.

* MonochromaticEyes: Seemingly as a result of being a ghost, he possesses a pair of these.

* EvilBrit: He's British and is, at the best of times, a despicable asshole. He can be a full-on VillainProtagonist when he's in a particularly nasty mood.

* TheQuietOne: She's pretty chatty in Phase 1 (though she only speaks Japanese), but from Phase 2 onward she rarely speaks, spending plenty of the music videos without uttering a single line.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: While he's not ''really'' a zombie, 2D -- himself a huge fan of classic zombie films like ''Film/DawnOfTheDead'' -- clearly has a zombie motif going on, what with his seemingly eyeless sockets, getting revived from an inescapable coma, and having brain damage.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: 2D or 2-D?

* GutturalGrowler: His speaking voice is rather grating and raspy.

** TheBusCameBack: In a fashion in Phase 4, where the real Del has occasionally performed live with Albarn and crew.

* VocalEvolution: His voice has been getting deeper since ''Music/DemonDays''. This goes for both his singing and his speaking voice

* StealingTheCredit: Before ''The Fall'', Murdoc made it a habit to try and claim that every album his band made was his sole creative invention; the first was heavily influenced by Russel's (at the time) superior musical expertise, ''Music/DemonDays'' was masterminded by Noodle, and the third owed most of its brilliance to the musicians that Murdoc kidnapped and invited to Plastic Beach.

* TheHeart: After composing ''Music/DemonDays'', everyone showed up in Kong at her mere word. Also, after her supposed death, the whole band split up and went their separate ways. For the third album, Murdoc only managed to get 2D, and even that he did by force.

Russel comes from Brooklyn and is perhaps best known for being possessed by the souls of his dead friends, that he lost in a drive-by shooting. Ever since he has been the most psychically unbalanced out of the group, what with the demons inside him taking advantage at times. Russel himself is a melancholic, well-spoken person -- even if our character quote doesn't quite prove it -- who deeply cares for Noodle. He provided drums for "Gorillaz" and "Music/DemonDays", but he was not invited to play on "Plastic Beach" because nobody could find him. Of course, [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever he didn't have this problem when Phase 3 rolled around.]]

* TheFourHorsemenOfTheApocalypse: He's the fifth one.

* TheGrimReaper: Explicitly ''isn't'' the Grim Reaper, who has been shown as a separate character at various points, but shares much in common with him. He's a supernatural soul collector that appears in the form of an ominous skeletal figure dressed in black

* TheFace: 2D and Murdoc handle most of the "in-person" band interviews, with Noodle and Russel only getting involved in such promotional exchanges on very rare occasions. When it comes to music videos, 2D and Noodle tend to be the focus, with Murdoc and Russel mostly staying in the background.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: According to an interview with Jamie Hewlett, "the Boogieman" is simply a nickname; his true name is [[FailOSuckyname Flatulence]].

* FaceOfTheBand: [[invoked]] 2D and Murdoc handle most of the "in-person" band interviews, with Noodle and Russel only getting involved in such promotional exchanges on very rare occasions. When it comes to music videos, 2D and Noodle tend to be the focus, with Murdoc and Russel mostly staying in the background.

* Cult: The story arc of the ''Cracker Island'' album has Murdoc start one based on a dream he has, with the others tagging along in the hope it can be used for good.

** Promotional materials for ''The Now Now'' have also suggested that he has stepped up as TheLeader of the band in Murdoc's absence and has finally found motivation and drive in the form of attempting to inspire positive societal change across the world.

* UnrequitedLoveSwitcheroo: A rare platonic example in Phase 3. He spent Phase 1 and 2 constantly pestering Murdoc, who wanted nothing to do with him, but it's the other way around throughout ''Plastic Beach''.

* PeekABangs: Sports these a few times in Phase 5.

* ADayInTheLimelight: ''The Fall'' and ''The Now Now'' were composed pretty much entirely by 2D, with ''The Fall'' in particular also being performed almost entirely by him. The music video for "Sleeping Powder" also consists of nothing but him dancing around.

* DartboardOfHate: He has one in his new room at the Spirit House. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments It's a picture of Murdoc]].

* ADayInTheLimelight: Phase 3 is more or less his solo album. As a result, he eclipses the other three in screen time by a sizable margin throughout it.

* DealWithTheDevil: Murdoc earned the success of Gorillaz for the price of his soul and his middle name, which he legally changed from Alphonse to {{Myth/Faust}} as a symbol of the contract.

A Japanese girl who arrived in a Fed Ex crate at age eight at Gorillaz' doorstep, not being able to speak a word in English [[note]]Aside from her own name, "noodle".[[/note]], [[ChildProdigy but playing the guitar like a virtuoso.]] Before the ''El Mañana'' incident, she was known for being very energetic and high-spirited, as well as being the smartest and most down-to-earth member of the band most of the time. As of the ''El Mañana'' video, she supposedly died, then turned up alive sometime after, but was dragged to Hell -- she officially came back as of ''On Melancholy Hill''. Sometime after the events of ''Rhinestone Eyes'', she was seen living in 212 Wobble Street, London, with the rest of her bandmates in [="DoYaThing"=].

* ADayInTheLimelight: Phase 2 explains her backstory, ''Demon Days'' was apparently mostly composed by her, and two videos -- "Dare" and "El Mañana" -- focus exclusively on her.

* DisneyDeath: ''El Manana'' has her floating island being bombed, but Phase 3 reveals that she survived the attack.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: From Phase 4 onwards her style often channels that of {{Music/Bjork}}.

* ScarsAreForever: Received a scar on her right eye after getting hit in the face with debris during the ''El Mañana'' video. During Phase 3, it was so unsightly that she wore a cat mask almost constantly to conceal it. It's still visible after the unspecified TimeSkip by ''[=DoYaThing=]'' but it has faded significantly and is obscured by her bangs. Defied in Phase 4 since it seems to have faded completely.

* AbnormalLimbRotationRange: Is able to rotate his head an entire 360 degrees during a live performance of "Clint Eastwood".

* KickTheSonOfABitch: While it hardly balances out the atrocities he's committed, Murdoc tends to get hurt during the music videos.

* AbnormalLimbRotation: Is shown turning his head ''360 degrees'' during the 2010 BRITs performance of "Clint Eastwood".