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** Despite how he views Block as "just another mouth to feed", he has enough decency not to throw the poor kid out after his own family apparently abandoned him.
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* EveryoneHasStandards: Despite her neglectfulness towards her own kids and the fact it took her months to realize she accidentally swapped Shapey for him, when Block refuses to go back home and his mom didn't care and slams the door without him, an annoyed Bloberta stills has decency to take him and Shapey home.
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* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Plenty of his odd and "bad" behaviors can be attributed to the terrible advise he receives from the questionable authority figures of Moralton. There are plenty of examples like [[ItMakesSenseinContext bringing a loaded gun to school,]] [[note]]Clay was trying to teach Orel how to shoot a gun for their father and son hunting trip and made him carried it everywhere [[/note]] or when he started drinking at age of 12.
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* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Plenty of his odd and "bad" behaviors can be attributed to the terrible advise advice he receives from the questionable authority figures of Moralton. There are plenty of examples like [[ItMakesSenseinContext bringing a loaded gun to school,]] [[note]]Clay was trying to teach Orel how to shoot a gun for their father and son hunting trip and made him carried it everywhere [[/note]] or when he started drinking at age of 12.
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* SurvivalMantra: "Why not?" Initially, she's shown saying it in response to Orel asking [[WhatDoesSheSeeInHim why she married Clay in the first place]] (the fact that it's a {{Non Answer}} is very telling). In "Help," it's shown that she said it to cope whenever she was left out of something despite her desire to be part of a group, and most poignantly, she said it as part of ''her wedding vows''.
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In Orel's folder, removed the extra space in "...a serpent would) chases..."
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** In one episode Orel's makes an stop motion film that shows his everyday life about what he has learned from the town's teachings, one of the things that stand out the most it's the portrayal of his father Clay [[RuleOfSymbolism who is shown as a drunk snarling wolf,]] this harsh portrayal coupled with a line from Orel's film: ''"I need to teach you what you did wrong by beating you in my study, because that's what I do in the study to you, I beat you and then I lecture you and that's it nothing else, come here Orel as you Pull you pant up from my spanking''" and a scene in which [[NightmareFuel a belt (in a way a serpent would ) chases and warps around a figurine which is meant to represent Orel]] ignites a comment from a citizen questioning if his father was actually molesting him. The abuse gets very horrifying without being sexual. As shown in the episode "Nature".
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** In one episode Orel's makes an stop motion film that shows his everyday life about what he has learned from the town's teachings, one of the things that stand out the most it's the portrayal of his father Clay [[RuleOfSymbolism who is shown as a drunk snarling wolf,]] this harsh portrayal coupled with a line from Orel's film: ''"I need to teach you what you did wrong by beating you in my study, because that's what I do in the study to you, I beat you and then I lecture you and that's it nothing else, come here Orel as you Pull you pant up from my spanking''" and a scene in which [[NightmareFuel a belt (in a way a serpent would ) would) chases and warps around a figurine which is meant to represent Orel]] ignites a comment from a citizen questioning if his father was actually molesting him. The abuse gets very horrifying without being sexual. As shown in the episode "Nature".
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* StepfordSmiler: Throughout the series, it's heavily implied that on some level, Orel does recognize that the way both [[AbusiveParents his family]] and [[DysfunctionJunction most of the residents of Moralton]] behave is definitely not normal, and his devotion to religion is his way of coping with it. Case in point: in "Grounded," when Clay forbids Orel from attending Church, thus taking away Orel's one "safe space," Orel immediately begins undergoing the above-mentioned {{Sanity Slippage}}.
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* StandardFiftiesFather: Deconstructed to a horrifying degree. He tries to keep his home in line with a 1950's style of living, but it becomes obvious he does it to hide the fact that he's a pathetic, abusive, self-pitying drunk who hates his life.
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* StandardFiftiesFather: Standard50sFather: Deconstructed to a horrifying degree. He tries to keep his home in line with a 1950's style of living, but it becomes obvious he does it to hide the fact that he's a pathetic, abusive, self-pitying drunk who hates his life.
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** His entire life has been this, really. He started off a spoiled and unempathetic but well-meaning child, progressed into a cynical but mostly harmless young man, but upon discovering alchohol, he progresses into a warped version of a StandardFiftiesFather who was still at least occasionally willing to admit his mistakes, though usually [[InsaneTrollLogic in an illogical]] fashion, and based his actions on a warped sense of what was best for his family. By the end of season 1, he has fully abandoned this and now sees himself as completely infallible and doesn't give even an iota of a shit of what happens to anyone. It's difficult to see what else would have happened if the series hadn't been cancelled but he could have only gotten worse.
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** His entire life has been this, really. He started off a spoiled and unempathetic but well-meaning child, progressed into a cynical but mostly harmless young man, but upon discovering alchohol, he progresses into a warped version of a StandardFiftiesFather Standard50sFather who was still at least occasionally willing to admit his mistakes, though usually [[InsaneTrollLogic in an illogical]] fashion, and based his actions on a warped sense of what was best for his family. By the end of season 1, he has fully abandoned this and now sees himself as completely infallible and doesn't give even an iota of a shit of what happens to anyone. It's difficult to see what else would have happened if the series hadn't been cancelled but he could have only gotten worse.
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* BigShutUp: One of the phrases Shapey is often heard screaming.
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* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The very first shot of "The Lord's Greatest Gift" shows the Puppingtons driving to church; with each bump the car hits, Shapey bounces in the back seat, showing that he's not wearing his seatbelt. When Orel admonishes Shapey to behave, Shapey replies with a bratty {{Big Shut Up}}. Then, when Clay swerves the car to park it by the curb, Shapey flies out the window and onto the sidewalk.
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* IJustWantToBeLoved: Underneath her "perfect little housewife" persona, it's clear that Bloberta has a desperate desire to feel wanted and loved. She was {{The Unfavorite}} in her family, and she trapped Clay in their {{Awful Wedded Life}} by tricking him into believing she was "helping" him. In "Numb," after Clay and Orel leave for the hunting trip, Bloberta attempts an affair with multiple men in order to have an actual meaningful relationship, to the point that she [[BodyHorror mutilates her own genitals]] to make herself appealing to Dr. Potterswheel. This also explains why she still breastfeeds Shapey; using her body to feed her (seven-year-old) baby shows her worth as a mother.
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** He's well aware of how strange it is that his wife still hasn't weaned Shapey from breastfeeding.
--->'''Clay:''' Bloberta, he's ''seven''!
--->'''Clay:''' Bloberta, he's ''seven''!
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* SilentTreatment: As a child, Clay was subjected to this by his father Arthur after his prank causes the death of his mother Angela, with Arthur telling Clay he's not even worth hitting. Unfortunately, this backfires horribly as Clay would then cause trouble on purpose just so he could receive any form of attention. As a result, Clay would come to associate abuse with worth.
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* StartOfDarkness: When his father begins ignoring him after his mother's death. Even then, he appears to be a half-decent guy, but then Bloberta introduces him to alcohol. Given how quickly he takes to it, the alcohol probably let loose all those years of pent-up frustration.
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* StartOfDarkness: When his father begins ignoring him after his mother's death. When Clay explains he felt worthless, his father Arthur has a flashback to the exact moment he told Clay he wasn't worth it. Even then, he appears to be a half-decent guy, but then Bloberta introduces him to alcohol. Given how quickly he takes to it, the alcohol probably let loose all those years of pent-up frustration.
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Catchphrase is now a disambiguation page.
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* {{Catchphrase}}: Before every SpoofAesop spouted by Clay, he would find Orel and say a sentence that ends with "In my '''study'''." Cue gulping.
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* {{Catchphrase}}: CharacterCatchphrase: Before every SpoofAesop spouted by Clay, he would find Orel and say a sentence that ends with "In my '''study'''." Cue gulping.
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What Exactly Is His Job is about the rather vague role of a teammate. Obliquely Obfuscated Occupation is a more accurate trope.
* ObliquelyObfuscatedOccupation: To the point where his kids don't even know. [[spoiler:He's the Mayor.]]
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* WhatExactlyIsHisJob: To the point where his kids don't even know. [[spoiler:He's the Mayor.]]
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[[WMG:[[center:[-''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' '''[[Characters/MoralOrel Main Character Page]]'''\\
'''The Puppingtons''' | [[Characters/MoralOrelMoraltonResidents Moralton]]-]]]]]
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'''The Puppingtons''' | [[Characters/MoralOrelMoraltonResidents Moralton]]-]]]]]
----
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* PushoverParents: She gives in to everything Shapey wants only to stop him from screaming so she's not seen as a "bad parent" by the neighbors/
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* PushoverParents: She gives in to everything Shapey wants only to stop him from screaming so she's not seen as a "bad parent" by the neighbors/neighbors.
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* NonindicativeName: You probably wouldn't guess from her name that she's a thin, attractive young woman.
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* EvenEvilHasStandards: Lets out a BigWhat when Dr. Potterswheel wondered if he molested Orel in his studies.
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* EvenEvilHasStandards: EvenEvilHasStandards:
** Lets out a BigWhat when Dr. Potterswheel wondered if he molested Orel in hisstudies.studies.
** He's visibly horrified upon walking in on Orel [[BloodBath bathing in his friends' blood]].
** Lets out a BigWhat when Dr. Potterswheel wondered if he molested Orel in his
** He's visibly horrified upon walking in on Orel [[BloodBath bathing in his friends' blood]].
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* AbusiveParents: After his mother's death, his father briefly becomes this. He stops when he considers smacking him not worth it, but it only made Clay even ''worse''. It results in Clay associating abuse with worth and affection. The cycle of abuse continues with his treatment of Orel. PlayedForLaughs initially, but [[MoralEventHorizon not so much after the "Nature" two-parter]].
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* AbusiveParents: After his mother's death, his father briefly becomes this. He stops when he considers smacking him not worth it, but it only made Clay even ''worse''. It results in Clay associating abuse with worth and affection. The cycle of abuse continues with his treatment of Orel. PlayedForLaughs initially, but [[MoralEventHorizon [[CerebusSyndrome not so much after the "Nature" two-parter]].
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* BigBad: At the end of season 2, Clay's injury of Orel makes him into a full ArchnemesisDad, and he is the cause of the main conflicts from the season 2 finale onward through the entirety of season 3.
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* BigBad: Although it's not apparent at first, Clay's terrible advice to and treatment of Orel is what causes most of the conflicts of the series. At the end of season 2, Clay's injury of Orel makes him into a full ArchnemesisDad, and he is the cause of the main conflicts ArchnemesisDad from the season 2 finale onward through the entirety of season 3.
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* ByronicHero: A ''very'' twisted example. On the outside, Clay Puppington is a charismatic, devoted Christian and family man who happily gives his son advice. Beneath the surface, he's [[TroubledAbuser broken]], cynical, [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex self-loathing]], and highly [[{{Narcissist}} narcissistic]], and he regularly [[AbusiveParents abuses Orel]] because he doesn't know how else to show "love" towards others and [[NeverMyFault can't bring himself to admit his own wrongs]] due to his troubled childhood.
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* TragicVillain: Clay's abusive behavior stems from the abuse that he himself suffered as a child, causing him to grow up to become a deeply miserable person who takes his issues out on others, while being too prideful to ever change his ways.
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-->'''Clay:''' You've been having ''[[EroticDream whats]]''? About ''[[{{God}} who]]''!? Doing '''WHAT'''!?\\
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-->'''Clay:''' You've been having ''[[EroticDream whats]]''? About ''[[{{God}} who]]''!? Doing '''WHAT'''!?\\'''WHAT'''!? I think you know what this means young man!\\
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'''Clay''': ''(Puts the belt back down, [[EveryoneHasStandards squicked out]])'' Just go to my study.
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'''Clay''': ''(Puts the belt back down, [[EveryoneHasStandards squicked out]])'' Just go to Just… just meet me in my study.
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-->'''Arthur:''' ''*rejects Clay's hug*'' I don't want any of your "leftovers".
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-->'''Arthur:''' ''*rejects Clay's hug*'' I don't want need any more of your "leftovers".
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* WalkingSpoiler: It's difficult to talk about Clay without bringing up his actions in the series' biggest WhamEpisode, where he shoots and permanently cripples his own son in a drunken outburst.
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A Date With Rosie Palms is no longer a trope
* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: Orel gets caught masturbating in "God's Chef".
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* ADateWithRosiePalms: Orel gets caught masturbating in "God's Chef".
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** In one episode Orel’s makes an stop motion film that shows his everyday life about what he has learned from the town’s teachings, one of the things that stand out the most it’s the portrayal of his father Clay [[RuleOfSymbolism who is shown as a drunk snarling wolf,]] this harsh portrayal coupled with a line from Orel’s film: ''”I need to teach you what you did wrong by beating you in my study, because that’s what I do in the study to you, I beat you and then I lecture you and that’s it nothing else, come here orel as you Pull you pant up from my spanking''” and a scene in which [[NightmareFuel a belt (in a way a serpent would ) chases and warps around a figurine which is meant to represent Orel]] ignites a comment from a citizen questioning if his father was actually molesting him. The abuse gets very horrifying without being sexual. As shown in the episode "Nature".
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** In one episode Orel’s makes an stop motion film that shows his everyday life about what he has learned from the town’s teachings, one of the things that stand out the most it’s the portrayal of his father Clay [[RuleOfSymbolism who is shown as a drunk snarling wolf,]] this harsh portrayal coupled with a line from Orel’s film: ''”I need to teach you what you did wrong by beating you in my study, because that’s what I do in the study to you, I beat you and then I lecture you and that’s it nothing else, come here orel Orel as you Pull you pant up from my spanking''” and a scene in which [[NightmareFuel a belt (in a way a serpent would ) chases and warps around a figurine which is meant to represent Orel]] ignites a comment from a citizen questioning if his father was actually molesting him. The abuse gets very horrifying without being sexual. As shown in the episode "Nature".
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* AmbiguousInnocence: He is an interesting example. Orel is generally a good kid who always attempts and likes to do good. He wants to help everyone around him, is open to different perspectives and doesn’t judge people for their appearances nor beliefs. He's described as being pure and innocent by his grandpa and the Reverend, but this innocence makes him unable to distinguish what is morally right to what is morally wrong. This coupled with the adult's dubious advice, lack of good role models, and his town’s backward morality results in Orel causing a lot of harm, sometimes doing outright cruel things. It’s not that he wants to do harm, but simply that his lack of moral understanding clouds his judgement. He grows out of this by the end of the series, becoming a genuinely good person by the end of the show once he stops following the dogma of Moralton.
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* AmbiguousInnocence: He is an interesting example. Orel is generally a good kid who always attempts and likes to do good. He wants to help everyone around him, is open to different perspectives and doesn’t judge people for their appearances nor beliefs. He's described as being pure and innocent by his grandpa and the Reverend, but this innocence makes him unable to distinguish what is morally right to what is morally wrong. This coupled with the adult's adults' dubious advice, lack of good role models, and his town’s backward morality results in Orel causing a lot of harm, sometimes doing outright cruel things. It’s not that he wants to do harm, but simply that his lack of moral understanding clouds his judgement. He grows out of this by the end of the series, becoming a genuinely good person by the end of the show once he stops following the dogma of Moralton.
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* AwkwardFatherSonBondingActivity: Orel and his dad go hunting. "Awkward" would be a bit of an understatement. [[spoiler: His dad ends up shooting Orel accidentally and then denies any responsibility or guilt for it cause he was drunk at the time.]]
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* AwkwardFatherSonBondingActivity: Orel and his dad go hunting. "Awkward" would be a bit of an understatement. [[spoiler: His dad ends up shooting Orel accidentally and then denies any responsibility or guilt for it cause because he was drunk at the time.]]
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* CallingTheOldManOut: [[spoiler:"To Clay in "Nature". "You become a bad person when you drink!", and after Clay drinks the rubbing alcohol that he was supposed to use to treat Orel's wound, Orel says, "I hate you." To which Clay replies, "[[InsultBackfire Hate away, sister.]] [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint hate away.]]"]]
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* CallingTheOldManOut: [[spoiler:"To Clay in "Nature". "You become a bad person when you drink!", and after Clay drinks the rubbing alcohol that he was supposed to use to treat Orel's wound, Orel says, "I hate you." To which Clay replies, "[[InsultBackfire Hate away, sister.]] [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint hate Hate away.]]"]]
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[[foldercontrol]]
!Main Family
[[folder:Orel Puppington]]
!!Orel Puppington
[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/orelp.png]]
->'''Voiced by''': Carolyn Lawrence
The show's protagonist.
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* AbusiveParents: Orel’s parents Clay and Bloberta Puppington qualify for this. Clay often takes his son into his study and belts him whenever his exploits cause [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity to Ensue]] before giving out a SpoofAesop based off of bigoted 1950s beliefs. [[CerebusSyndrome He gets even worse as time goes on.]] In one of those, he instinctively reaches for his belt even though Orel hadn't done anything wrong and had to (innocently) have this pointed out.
** In one episode Orel’s makes an stop motion film that shows his everyday life about what he has learned from the town’s teachings, one of the things that stand out the most it’s the portrayal of his father Clay [[RuleOfSymbolism who is shown as a drunk snarling wolf,]] this harsh portrayal coupled with a line from Orel’s film: ''”I need to teach you what you did wrong by beating you in my study, because that’s what I do in the study to you, I beat you and then I lecture you and that’s it nothing else, come here orel as you Pull you pant up from my spanking''” and a scene in which [[NightmareFuel a belt (in a way a serpent would ) chases and warps around a figurine which is meant to represent Orel]] ignites a comment from a citizen questioning if his father was actually molesting him. The abuse gets very horrifying without being sexual. As shown in the episode "Nature".
** Bloberta [[ParentalNeglect leaves her kids unsupervised]] and provides them with dangerous tools to keep them entertained. When Orel comes from school covered in bruises and blood, she’s far more concerned with the fact that the supplies budget is gonna rise than with Orel’s state, and she doesn't realize it when her younger son Shapey gets switched with another kid for a long time.
* AbsurdlyYouthfulMother: Gender-inverted. In "God's Chef", in order to masturbate and not sin at the same time, he fills his pastry bag with his semen, breaks into women's homes, [[BlackComedyRape and fills them up with his baby batter]]. This causes a string of unexpected pregnancies, and a FreezeFrameBonus in "Alone" implies it's still canon even once the show became serious. Orel's age is also barely in the double-digits.
* AdorablyPrecociousChild: Seriously, the kid wants to help anybody whenever possible. Too bad that most of the people he tries to help in Moralton are jerks.
* AmbiguousInnocence: He is an interesting example. Orel is generally a good kid who always attempts and likes to do good. He wants to help everyone around him, is open to different perspectives and doesn’t judge people for their appearances nor beliefs. He's described as being pure and innocent by his grandpa and the Reverend, but this innocence makes him unable to distinguish what is morally right to what is morally wrong. This coupled with the adult's dubious advice, lack of good role models, and his town’s backward morality results in Orel causing a lot of harm, sometimes doing outright cruel things. It’s not that he wants to do harm, but simply that his lack of moral understanding clouds his judgement. He grows out of this by the end of the series, becoming a genuinely good person by the end of the show once he stops following the dogma of Moralton.
* TheAllAmericanBoy: Deconstructed. At first, he fits the bill of a typical child from a loving, Christian family, but once the people around him start to fall apart, his chipper attitude starts to fade.
* AwkwardFatherSonBondingActivity: Orel and his dad go hunting. "Awkward" would be a bit of an understatement. [[spoiler: His dad ends up shooting Orel accidentally and then denies any responsibility or guilt for it cause he was drunk at the time.]]
* BadassAdorable: He's a cute child who, despite having not hit puberty yet, is capable of taking down people who are much bigger than him purely through his physical strength and no weapons.
* BirdsOfAFeather: With Christina, who is basically a gender-bent version of him.
* BlackComedyRape: Using a pastry bag with his own seed to impregnate women so he won't go to Hell for masturbating.
* BloodBath: At the beginning of "Grounded", Orel's dad walks in on him bathing in the blood of his friends, much to his horror.
* BreakTheCutie: The events of "Nature" completely shatter him, as he realizes just how awful his father really is.
* BreakingTheCycleOfBadParenting: Orel's parents have consisted of an abusive father and a neglectful mother. Both had awful parents that turned them into the bitter, hateful people that they are today. The third season shows Orel finally starting to realize this for himself and, in the Distant Finale montage, he's shown in what appears to be a happy family with his childhood crush.
* BrokenPedestal: He used to look up to his father, but once the hunting trip happened and Clay showed him his true colors, he loses all the respect he once had for him.
* CallingTheOldManOut: [[spoiler:"To Clay in "Nature". "You become a bad person when you drink!", and after Clay drinks the rubbing alcohol that he was supposed to use to treat Orel's wound, Orel says, "I hate you." To which Clay replies, "[[InsultBackfire Hate away, sister.]] [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint hate away.]]"]]
* CharacterDevelopment: He started out as a naive child who took everything an authority figure said at face value, then he slowly started seeing the flaws of the system he is in and of the people that surrounded him (mainly his father). [[spoiler: Ultimately becoming one of the few people with real faith and a loving family by the end of the show.]]
* CheerfulChild: He was a happy little boy until Clay shot him.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Orel is so trusting and naive, he takes everything he learns from the adults at face value. Lampshaded several times through the series.
-->''Dear Orel, always remember, son, even though you are the perfect candidate for brainwashing in this town, you're also too pure and good-hearted to be corrupted. -Love, Grandpa"
* ColorMotif: Blue, as a four year old he wears a blue jumper, as an 11 year old and as an adult he wears a buttoned blue shirt and it's seen to wear a blue suit to church, and then there's the Blue Herron that follows him through the events of "Nature" which according to WordofGod is meant to symbolize Orel's innocence.
* CorruptTheCutie: It's implied that this is the reason why Clay treats Orel so badly-if his son grows up to be as abusive and maladjusted as he is, it'll prove that his own horrid actions and personality were [[NeverMyFault completely inevitable]]. It ultimately fails, as Orel resolves to be a better parent than Clay was.
* CovertPervert: Despite being "pure pureness in its purest form", Orel once had a masochism fetish and he masturbates in secret.
* CreepyChild: Falls into this at times, particularly his even younger self in ''Beforel Orel'' when [[spoiler:he tries to murder his brother after misinterpreting another lesson]].
* ADateWithRosiePalms: Orel gets caught masturbating in "God's Chef".
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Despite the hardships in the final season, Orel manages to come out of it well-adjusted.
* EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes: Even when someone wrongs Orel, he holds no grudges against them. His father, Clay ends up becoming an exception. He outright tells him "I hate you" after he was shot in the leg.
* {{Expy}}: Orel bears a good deal of resemblance to Davey Hansen from the ''WesternAnimation/DaveyAndGoliath'' religious edutainment series.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: In "Nature", until the second part.
* GenerationXerox: To his father and grandmother.
** Orel resembles his own father Clay Puppington in his younger years, going as far as sharing the same color scheme, a somewhat similar personality before clay started drinking and a similar [[TheChainOfHarm toxic father-and-son relationship]] with their own respective fathers.
** Orel’s grandmother used to be very religious and was the one to come up with the “lost commandments” who then passed them onto Clay who later attempted to pass them onto Orel.
* AGodAmI: Orel gains a short-term "god complex" in "Grounded" after weeks of not going to church as punishment. This folds onto itself as he experiences a revelation (during a coma, no less) of how the Lord can be praised everywhere indiscriminately.
* GoodFeelsGood: So much that when Reverend Putty gave a sermon about how evil takes a pleasant form, he started to physically punish himself wherever he made a good action. Shown in a positive light when it was revealed that [[spoiler:in the finale it was Orel’s good nature what allowed him to live a happy and fulfilling life as an adult]].
* GoodParents: In the finale, one of the only characters in the series definitely shown to be this.
* GoshDangItToHeck: Being a strict Christian child, he doesn't swear at all, not even a PrecisionFStrike.
* HappilyMarried: To Christina in the finale.
* HopeSpot: On the episode “The best Christmas ever” Orel is left outside in the snow, alone on Christmas after his parents threaten to divorce, the episode ends with Orel praying to God hoping that even though there’s only 2 minutes left before Christmas is over that somehow everything will turn out to be alright, the last two minutes of the episode ends with a silent slow zoom out of him and the whole town.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: He has no idea of how bad a kid Joe is until he starts beating up two presumed gay boys. He has no idea how crazy Miss Censordoll is, and he had absolutely no idea on how horrible his father is until the hunting trip.
* IAmNotMyFather: Orel and his father are shown to be similar throughout the show, both having a very difficult childhood and sharing a toxic father-and-son relationship with their own respective father. With the crazy amount of abuse, repression and exposure to toxic habits and cycles Orel was exposed during his childhood he could have had turned into a very screwed up adult not so different than Clay, but while Clay wallows in his own misery harming the ones surrounding him, Orel [[spoiler:chose to become a better man becoming everything that his father couldn't.]]
* IChooseToStay: According to WordOfGod Orel decides to stay in Moralton to make it a better place.
-->“Does adult Orel still live in Moralton? at first I thought he might have moved away but then I wondered if he would stay and try to help the town.”
-->'''Dino:''' Orel’s not one to run away. I see him staying in Moralton and trying to make it a better place. [[http://web.archive.org/web/20141121012515/http://boards.adultswim.com/t5/Moral-Orel/A-Final-Q-amp-A-Possible/td-p/47747798/page/4 Source ]]
* IgnoredEpiphany: He's spanked into forgetting his Gnostic Epiphany in "Grounded", when he rejects the church doctrine of a FluffyCloudHeaven, and the idea that you have to be in a church to worship the Lord.
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: An interesting example as he is literally too pure to understand when he's doing something wrong, but once he knows he's done something wrong, he can bounce back and shake off any vices he may have picked up along the way without any trouble.
-->'''Putty:''' Holy Moley! You are pure pureness in its purest form. It's almost irritating.
* InHarmonyWithNature: In the episode "Nature", at least until the second part...
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Orel can commit downright cruelty to others out of good intentions. It's not that he's sadistic, but he doesn't ''realize'' that he's doing sadistic things.
* InnocenceLost: It’s a theme in the series that Orel slowly starts to become aware of the town’s lies, and misery developing a better judgement in the process. The most prominent example of this trope being when [[spoiler:his father shoots him and has a breakdown in front of him in the “Nature” special]]. and if the series had continued further than it did Orel would have dealt with a crisis of faith, WordOfGod also confirmed that the blue heron was a representation of Orel’s innocence which is covered with flies by the end of the episode ”Nature”.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: With Stephanie, Coach Stopframe and with his grandpa, which relationship would have been explored further if the show hadn’t been canceled.
* JadeColoredGlasses: He dons a pair in the final season, where he becomes more cynical.
* {{Keet}}: Orel is definitely an enthusiastic kid, but especially as a 4-year-old.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: Before "Nature", Orel aspired to be like his father.
* LiteralMinded: He tends to take any advice he's given at face value. Probably not helped by being raised never to think about what his elders tell him.
* LoudGulp: Orel does this every time he has to go to Clay's study. This changes when he loses his fear of it, but Clay forces him to anyway.
* MeaningfulName Orel means “light of god” in Hebrew, which makes him not knowing what god means as a little kid and then subsequent strong faith later in life kind of ironic. Meanwhile his last name Puppington it’s a play on the words Puppet which are used on stop motion, which it’s the format of the show itself and one of Orel’s favorite hobbies.
* NakedOnArrival: "Oh... I guess your clothes don't die ''with'' you!"
* NiceGuy: He is definitely a sweet kid in contrast to the citizens of Moralton.
* NotAfraidOfYouAnymore: He used to be afraid of his father’s beatings ([[RunningGag "I’ll see you in my study"]]), which were supposed to be reprimands for every time he did something bad. Orel's misbehavior was in reality the result of the neglect and horrible advice given by the adults of Moralton. By the end of the third season, after been able to see through Clay and the town's hypocrisy, he's seen to be rather apathetic and annoyed of his punishments.
* OnlyAFleshWound: Averted, after [[spoiler:Clay shoots Orel in the leg and then waits two whole days to take him to the doctor due to being drunk. From there on, Orel is shown wearing a cast for the rest of the series. In the finale, the cast is finally removed, but Orel will walk with a limp for the rest of his life.]]
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: At the end of "Sundays", when Orel arrives at church ''depressed''.
* OnlySaneMan: He becomes more aware of Moralton's flaws as the show continues to run, but he does his best to keep himself chipper.
* ParentalSubstitute: Reverend Putty, and Stephanie, at the very end. They end up being one of the ''few'' adults in Moralton who end up as positive influences on him. Coach Stopframe arguablly qualifies as well especially in "Honor", where he acts as a somewhat decent father figure for Orel. Had the show never been canceled, Arthur Puppington would have become this.
* PintSizedPowerhouse: While Orel usually doesn't get into fights, the kid shows that he's surprisingly strong for his age. A big example is when he managed to utterly thrash his own father in "Turn The Other Cheek" from [[GroinAttack kicking Clay in the family jewels]] to breaking a paddle on Clay's face as the final blow.
* ThePollyanna: The early episodes have him blissfully unaware of his actions or how draconian the adults of the town can be.
* PrecociousCrush: On Stephanie, which is over by the end of "The Blessed Union".
* PreMortemOneLiner: When he reluctantly shoots a bear in order to rescue Clay.
-->'''Orel:''' [[ApologeticAttacker Sorry, Mr. Bear, but my dad’s a jerk.]]
* SanitySlippage: In "Grounded", after Clay forbids him to go to church for a month, Orel goes crazy and starts writing fragments of Bible verses all over the walls of his bedroom and constructing a cardboard church while muttering "church church churchy church" to himself. Then after Clay throws away the cardboard church, Orel puts it on and starts believing that he is a church, imitating the sound of a church bell by saying "Bong, bong, bong, bong..."
* SaveTheVillain: As said in the above trope, he begrudgingly rescues Clay from getting mauled by a bear, even after Clay had shot him with no remorse. When Clay asks Orel if he shot the bear, Orel just denies it and convinces Clay that ''he'' shot the bear as payback.
* SingleTear: He sheds one at the end of each of Reverend Putty's sermons in Season 1 due to finding them beautiful.
* SuperGullible: Orel tends to be overly trusting of authority and interpret his rituals very literally.
* SuperiorSuccessor: He’s able to lead a happy and fulfilling life as an adult in spite of everything bad that happened to him as a child, something that his parents were never able to achieve.
* TooKinkyToTorture: It happens to Orel for one episode when he misinterprets the preacher's sermon about renouncing worldly pleasures as getting rid of everything that feels good; unfortunately, what makes Orel feel best of all is his relationship with the Lord. He tries to counteract this by subjecting himself to 24/7 torture, but ends up... well, ''looking forward'' to his father's next discussion "in the study."
-->'''Clay:''' You've been having ''[[EroticDream whats]]''? About ''[[{{God}} who]]''!? Doing '''WHAT'''!?\\
''(Clay holds up [[DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff his belt threateningly]], and Orel gives an aroused grin.)''\\
'''Clay''': ''(Puts the belt back down, [[EveryoneHasStandards squicked out]])'' Just go to my study.
* TokenGoodTeammate: He is the only member of his family that has ''any'' sense of [[MeaningfulName morality]]. As stated above, he is the only one to move on with his life unlike his deadbeat parents.
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Plenty of his odd and "bad" behaviors can be attributed to the terrible advise he receives from the questionable authority figures of Moralton. There are plenty of examples like [[ItMakesSenseinContext bringing a loaded gun to school,]] [[note]]Clay was trying to teach Orel how to shoot a gun for their father and son hunting trip and made him carried it everywhere [[/note]] or when he started drinking at age of 12.
* WideEyedIdealist: Orel has a very naive worldview as a result of his religious affiliation.
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: During their father and son hunting trip, Orel loses all respect for his father [[spoiler:after he shoots him in the leg. As his father lies asleep in a drunken stupor, a bear enters their camp, and Orel, hesitant to shoot anything all day, kills the bear to save his father. Once Clay wakes up, he sees the dead bear and asks if Orel shot the bear, saying "Make me proud son, tell me you shot that bear". Orel thinks on it for a few seconds, and not wanting to make Clay proud, claims that Clay shot the bear while he was drunk.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Clay Puppington]]
!!Clayton Middleinitial "Clay" Puppington
[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clay_8.png]]
->'''Voiced by''': Creator/ScottAdsit
Orel's dad, who was abused by his own dad, Arthur, and Bloberta's alcoholic husband.
----
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: No one likes him as mayor, and the whole town hates him as a person. The only reason he doesn't lose to the only other candidate against him is because that candidate drops out of the race at the last second.
* AbusiveParents: After his mother's death, his father briefly becomes this. He stops when he considers smacking him not worth it, but it only made Clay even ''worse''. It results in Clay associating abuse with worth and affection. The cycle of abuse continues with his treatment of Orel. PlayedForLaughs initially, but [[MoralEventHorizon not so much after the "Nature" two-parter]].
* AlcoholicParent: With the amount of liquor he imbues, it's a wonder his liver hasn't given out. Following the show's CerebusSyndrome, Clay's status as this is PlayedForDrama, particularly in episodes like "Nature", in which he gets more and more drunk during a hunting trip with Orel, culminating in him going into a rage and shooting his son in the leg.
* AllTakeAndNoGive: His parenting and his general approach to his relationships. He craves attention and affection from other people, but does nothing except abuse them and take his frustrations out on everyone.
* AmbiguousStartOfDarkness: Even before his mother died, he was a selfish brat, and while some of his brattish behavior could be explained by his mother's treatment of him, he was regardless incredibly lacking in empathy for a child of his age.
* AnimalMotif: In the two-parter ''Nature'', flies cover his face and the blue heron that symbolizes [[BreakTheCutie Orel's]] [[InnocenceLost innocence]]. It evokes the name of {{Beelzebub}}, Lord of the Flies.
** In ''Orel's Movie Premier'', his son depicts him as a clay figure of a puppy because he is [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter "loyal and good"]], [[ScaryTeeth sharp fangs]] and [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]] notwithstanding.
* ArchnemesisDad: As the show goes on, Clay begins showing more of his darker side. At first, Clay just gives Orel bad advice, is a little too strict, and has signs of being an abusive parent. Towards the end of the show, Clay has shot Orel in the leg and not only expressed no remorse for it, but said he was glad to have shot Orel for refusing to go along with his re-election campaign for mayor of Moralton. In kind, Orel grows to hate his father, and Clay spends the last few episodes as a full-blown antagonist.
* AttentionWhore: Years of being smothered by his fanatical mother warped Clay into serious case of this. His father, Arthur made it even worse when he told Clay he wasn't even worth hitting after his prank caused his mother's death. From then on, Clay came to associate abuse with worth and attention.
* AwfulWeddedLife: He's in a relationship with a woman he utterly hates, only married to Bloberta because she trapped him into marriage. His alcoholic rants reflect this mindset, especially when he goes camping with Orel, where he rants about how women and children squeeze the life out of men. And he won't consider a divorce because Moralton's religious views frown upon such a concept.
* AssholeVictim: Because of how much of a [[HateSink selfish, bigoted and cruel]] {{jerkass}} he is, it's very hard to feel sorry for him whenever he's humiliated or things don't turn out his way.
* {{Backstory}}: "Passing" and "Help" do a great deal in showing how Clay turned into what he is.
* BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad: This is basically what's wrong with Clay; he's psychologically wired to believe that pain is a form of love, which leads him to abuse his family and subordinates while believing he's showing how much he loves (and hates) them, making lying easier than breathing. This manages to ruin most of the town when he shoots his own son (the protagonist) in the leg and uses his ''mayoral'' connections to bail himself out. Getting karmic punishment still hurts him but it's clear that he ''needs'' the suffering for comfort.
* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: The first episode of the series where Clay's cruelty is really taken seriously is "Nature", which is entirely about him trying to make Orel kill things, with him killing a hunting dog at one point and not remotely caring.
* BeingEvilSucks: His cruelty and manipulation drive everyone away from him, and it tears him apart. He just refuses to learn or change.
* BerserkButton: Anything to do with his father will make him tense at best, and more often will make him immediately furious.
* BigBad: At the end of season 2, Clay's injury of Orel makes him into a full ArchnemesisDad, and he is the cause of the main conflicts from the season 2 finale onward through the entirety of season 3.
* BigNo: He yells this when Orel tries to get him to leave Coach Stopframe's home in the final episode. Unfortunately for him, Stopframe also wants him to leave.
* BigShutUp: "I said SHUT UP, Orel!" Said right when he drunkenly shoots Orel in the leg.
* BoomerangBigot: Clay accuses his ex-boyfriend Coach Stopframe of being a [[AllGaysArePedophiles pedophile]] when the latter emotionally councils Orel, despite the fact that Clay himself is bisexual.
* BreakTheHaughty: He starts the show very full of himself and loves to hear himself talk. However, it's soon revealed that he struggles with self-loathing. By the end of the show, he's lost the respect of his entire family, the town he governs, and finally his lover, and is powerless to do anything about it.
* BrokenAce: Clay is practically the poster child of this trope: a handsome, successful, Christian family man who's secretly an abusive, self-destructive, alcoholic jackass who hates everyone, ''especially'' himself.
* BrokenPedestal: For the first two seasons, Orel looked up to Clay as the epitome of a good man. However, Clay's actions in the "Nature" two-parter finally show Orel what a selfish monster Clay actually is.
* {{Catchphrase}}: Before every SpoofAesop spouted by Clay, he would find Orel and say a sentence that ends with "In my '''study'''." Cue gulping.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: While he was never a particularly sympathetic character, the early episodes showed him as an AffablyEvil figure who genuinely believed he was doing what was best for his family and would occasionally admit to being in the wrong, albeit usually ComicallyMissingThePoint in the process. From the S1 finale onwards, it becomes clear that [[FauxAffablyEvil his pleasant demeanour is entirely a mask and he hates everyone in his family with a passion]], as well as [[NeverMyFault making a point of never admitting to having made even the slightest mistake]]. Alternatively, one could interpret that he's been [[FromBadToWorse getting continually worse]] over the years.
* ChildHater: During his drunken rant in "Nature", he calls children "things that are like weights around your head". Want more proof? He hates Shapey as he's a reminder that Bloberta had an affair with Daniel Stopframe and he views Block as just another mouth to feed. Hell, when he saw Shapey and Block together, he thought they were an alcohol-induced hallucination. And as for Orel? He tried to make him into his image, but when that clearly failed, he tells Orel that he's ''glad'' he shot him in the leg.
* ChurchgoingVillain: He poses as a very dutiful Christian even by the standards of Moralton. But whether he really believes what he's saying or is putting on an act, he's still a self-centered abuser.
* ComedicUnderwearExposure: It's a running gag that his pants fall off whenever he takes off his belt to discipline Orel.
* TheCorruptor: Played with. He frequently tries to pass all his prejudices onto Orel. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but even when it works, it only works because Orel is so loyal to his dad, not because Clay actually succeeded in making Orel as hateful as him.
* DeathGlare: When Orel causes a disaster through misunderstanding, Clay will often give him one of these.
* DepravedBisexual: Clay appears to only love attention, [[DesperatelyCravesAffection loving anyone who will show him any amount of it]], regardless of who he will hurt in the process. He's had extramarital affairs with both Coach Stopframe and Miss Censordoll. It's this, combined with his abusive nature towards Orel, that causes Daniel Stopframe to ultimately reject him.
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: The episode "Passing" reveals this as the crux of Clay's pathology. After inadvertently causing his mother's death, his father is close to hitting him... but decides he's not worth the effort. After that, Clay acts out deliberately to get his father to pay attention to him, even if just to give him a DopeSlap. This carried over to adulthood, as "Sacrifice" has him delivering a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to other bar patrons in the hopes that they'll beat him up.
* {{Deuteragonist}}: While his son's the main character, Clay is the second-most important because of his neuroses and insecurities that drive the plot.
* DrowningMySorrows: In the first season, Clay's alcoholism is less pronounced and PlayedForLaughs. However, in the later parts of the second season and the entire third season, things take a darker turn.
-->'''Clay:''' Hate her. ''[drinks]'' Still hate her. ''[drinks]'' Toler-hate 'er. ''[drinks]'' Tolerate her!
* TheEeyore: A rare villainous example. Clay is a bitter, hateful, ''deeply miserable'' human being who loathes his job, his family and himself most of all.
* EnragedByIdiocy: As time goes on, Clay gets more and more frustrated with Orel constantly misinterpreting what he's told.
--> '''Clay:''' "For the MILLIONTH time, whatever I said, I didn't mean THIS!"
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Clay is shown to have loved his late mother. He actually has a bit of an UsefulNotes/OedipusComplex regarding her, something Ms. Censordoll takes advantage of.
* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: For the first couple seasons, Orel loves Clay no matter what he does. Even in season 3, Orel feels guilty and TRIES to still love his father, or at least honor him.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Subverted. A flashback to his youth shows him getting depressed when he finds out that he would have had brothers and sisters if his mom hadn't constantly induced stillbirths. He breaks out of his funk by yelling at his mother for lying to ''him'' about his being her "precious only-ever."
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Lets out a BigWhat when Dr. Potterswheel wondered if he molested Orel in his studies.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: When he's drunk, he tends to say things that only he finds funny. Even when his son is lying nearby with a broken leg, caused by Clay himself.
* EvilIsNotWellLit: Clay's study is very dark, no matter what the time of day.
* EvilLaugh: He lets out a sinister chuckle when showing Orel his gun collection.
* EvilMentor: For most of the show, Clay is Orel's main guide in life. His hypocrisy and self-serving morality are frequent causes of Orel extreme misinterpretations of the lessons.
* FatalFlaw: His incredible self-centeredness, which alienates everyone around him and drives him to attack those around him.
* FauxAffablyEvil: The guy almost constantly has a pleasant demeanor, which is just a mask because he's drunk all the time. In "Nature" his true colors are revealed when he sobers up. Even before this, how he can be so calm beating his own son, having to be TOLD Orel didn't do anything wrong since beating him is an impulse for him, his drunken demeanor makes him all the more horrible.
* FisherKing: [[spoiler:He's the mayor of Moralton. Probably explains a lot about why Moralton is so messed up.]]
* FreudianExcuse: Clay's mother gave him far too much attention while Clay's dad didn't give him enough. After she died, his father shunned him, which led to Clay deliberately provoking him into abusing him because it was the only way he could get his father's attention. His screwed up childhood is why he has no confidence in himself and virtually no parenting skills.
* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: That said, he's never depicted in justified for this reason for using it to justify any of his abuse, and his failure to even attempt to change his behavior is largely a result of his own moral weakness.
* TheFundamentalist: He does ''not'' think highly of those who believe differently from him, even on matters so small as the exact wording of the Lord's Prayer.
* TheGadfly: Clay is one of the darkest and most realistic depictions of one, especially as seen in "Sacrifice"; because he associates abuse with attention and affection, and because he's a HateSink the entire town seemingly tolerates at best, he spends most of his time abusing everyone in the bar attempting to get a rise out of them, but when cooler heads prevail, he starts to have a VillainousBreakdown.
* GayConservative: Clay is bisexual but (much like everyone else in Moralton) is extremely conservative to compensate for his percieved 'sin'.
* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: With him as the mayor, it's no wonder Moralton is so screwed up.]]
* GreenEyedMonster: He's extremely possessive of Coach Stopframe, to the point where he is jealous of his own son getting Stopframe's (non-romantic, of course) attention.
* GunNut: He owns an extensive collection of firearms in his study. This stemmed from his father passing off Ol' Gunny onto him not as part of the Puppington family tradition, but because he wanted nothing to do with it anymore after he used it in a prank that resulted in his mother's death.
* HatesTheirParent: He hates his father Arthur since he was neglected by him after the death of Angela. In the present day he still doesn't hold his dad in high regard, which Arthur doesn't blame him for.
* HateSink: Clay is intended to be loathsome in every possible way. This is ultimately {{deconstructed|Trope}} when the show goes onto depict, in crushing detail, how being such a ceaselessly awful person has led to everyone who's ever associated with him breaking ties with him out of disgust, and that he's so pathetically awful not because [[ForTheEvulz he enjoys it]] but simply because he's such a fundamentally ''broken'' person that it's the only way he knows how to get attention from anyone.
* HeelRealization: "Numb" reveals that he not only knows that he's a monstrous wretch, but he knows exactly why he is what he is. However, despite understanding that his self-destructive behavior also hurts the people he loves, he's unwilling to change his ways, making this an IgnoredEpiphany.
* HenpeckedHusband: Clay is a rather unfunny version, though he's not exactly sympathetic in the matter. Bloberta practically forced him to be his wife after being emotionally abused by her mother. The sad thing is that they were actually hitting it off when they first met, with Clay a devoutly religious man. However, once she introduced him to alcohol it went downhill from there until both were stuck in a loveless marriage with two kids.
* HisOwnWorstEnemy: He is shown time and time again to drive away people who care about him with his selfish behavior.
* {{Hypocrite}}: He commits almost every sin in the book, but expects Orel to adhere strictly to the Bible's teaching at all times.
* IUhYouToo: Whenever Oral says "I love you, Dad." Clay doesn't say "I love you, too." and instead says things like "I'm hungry too." or "Yeah, that's good."
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: On first glance, Clay seems to have an incredibly high opinion of himself and rambles about everyone except him is a moron and failure, but it becomes increasingly obvious that the person he hates the most is himself and he's attempting to shift the feelings of loathing onto other people.
* ItsAllAboutMe: His world revolves around him. As a child he was spoiled rotten by his mother; when she died and his father, who pretty much resented him for being the unintentional cause of her death, declared he was not even worth getting punished, Clay did everything he could to receive ''any'' kind of attention even if it's the negative kind.
* {{Jerkass}}: Clay is initially viewed (at least in [[CheerfulChild Orel's eyes]]) in a sympathetic (or at least tolerable) light, but is ultimately a pathetic, blundering, selfish jackass. His "crowning moment" of jerkassery and crossing of the MoralEventHorizon is when he drunkenly shoots Orel on a hunting trip and proceeds to blame it on Orel with a series of unconnected lies. Later, after attempting to give a half-hearted apology to Orel, he doubles down and says "And I'm ''glad'' I shot you!".
* JerkassHasAPoint: Clay's hatred toward his father is perhaps the only time his hatred of anyone is justified. Arthur admits he screwed up with Clay and begs him for forgiveness.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Any sign Clay provides that he actually cares for anyone is a lie to keep them from leaving him.
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: While through the first two seasons he never receives any comeuppance for his actions, in the third season he starts to unravel mentally and emotionally, culminating in the man he loves (or at least claims to love) rejecting him.
* KickTheDog: While most of his treatment of Orel is excused as "discipline", his abuse of Orel while camping in "Nature" isn't even given that pretext.
* KiddieKid: Due to his mother’s constant coddling, even still referring to his age by months, Clay often behaved more like a 5 or 6 year old than a 12 year old. When he constantly kept referring the (in reality, not real) Lost Commandments, his father stated it was cuter when he younger, but rather pathetic for a boy his age. [[PsychopathicManchild It seems that this mentality has seeped over into his adult age as well]], such as ordering apple juice at a wedding reception before he became an alcoholic, and still holding on to the "Lost Commandments" well into his adulthood.
* KnightOfCerebus: Of a sort. While he was a prominent character in the show from the very start, the show's dramatically dark turn in Season 3 began with Clay terrifying and shooting Orel in the Season 2 finale.
* LackOfEmpathy: To everyone except himself. Clay accidentally shoots his son and not only [[NeverMyFault refuses to take responsibility for it]], he ''mocks'' Orel for crying in pain.
%%* LikeFatherLikeSon: To Orel [[spoiler: until he shot him]]. Even moreso with his dad.
* MayorPain: [[spoiler:"Nesting" reveals that he's the mayor of Moralton. It's unclear if his leadership is why the town's so messed up, or if they simply chose him because his multiple issues made him perfect for leading a screwed-up place like Moralton.]]
* MeanBoss: From what we see of his job, he treats his underlings as callously as he treats his family.
* MeaningfulName: Clay is something that is easily molded. Not only was Clay himself molded into the person he is by his deeply religious mother, he now tries to mold Orel into someone who fits his distorted worldview. [[spoiler: This could also apply to his position as mayor of Moralton.]]
* MommasBoy: He enjoyed being coddled by his mother and being her "precious only ever".
* {{Narcissist}}: He lacks empathy or remorse, has a desperate pathological desire for attention, uses a grandiose veneer to cover up for his self-image problems, and demands all the resources from any romantic relationship he's engaged in.
* NeverMyFault: He actually hoists blame on Orel for ''getting drunkenly shot by his father''. And that's not all. When he was a boy, he denied that it was his fault that his mother died. The list goes on and most of the time he says it isn't his fault, it usually is.
* NotGoodWithRejection: Stemming from his mommy issues, he craves attention, and breaks down when it isn't given to him, whether by his "friends" at the bar or, eventually, by Stopframe.
* PlayingTheVictimCard: Besides being incapable to taking responsibility for his failings, he's also consumed with self-pity and is quick to start whining about his problems.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He's very closed to other beliefs, compared women and his wife with his alcohol addiction, compares children to parasites, considers natural disasters that destroy foreign cultures one of God's blessings and the mentally handicapped one of God's blunders.
* PragmaticPansexuality: An odd case. Clay's only real ambition is to be loved by others, and this has led him to have relationships with both a man and a woman without going through the trouble of emotionally settling with either of them.
* PsychopathicManchild: While Clay tries to act like a stable adult, his serious LackOfEmpathy, [[AttentionWhore pathological need for attention]], [[ItsAllAboutMe extreme egocentricity]] and [[NeverMyFault unwillingness to acknowledge when he's made a mistake]] make it obvious that he's completely lacking in any kind of emotional maturity. All of this can be traced back to his childhood, where his mother pampered him extensively because he was her first child after a string of miscarriages. After he accidentally caused her to suffer a fatal heart attack, his father alternated between ignoring him and physically abusing him. Because the abuse was the only kind of attention his father gave him, Clay came to associate abuse with affection, leading to him developing a very distorted idea of relationships in adulthood.
* {{Sadist}}: Occasionally, he'll show outright delight in hurting Orel, notably in "Nature", where he laughs about shooting Orel (and tearing up his lucky shirt), and "Grounded", where he's happy to see Orel going feral from church deprivation.
* SexlessMarriage: With Bloberta. Given that [[UngratefulBastard he doesn't even like being with her in the first place]], it's justifiable.
* SlaveToPR: He's primarily concerned with his image in Moralton above all else. This leads him to do such things as stay in a loveless marriage with Bloberta because getting a divorce would be seen as scandalous in the hyper-religious town. Also, he only apologizes for shooting Orel after it becomes clear that it's going to hurt his chances for re-election. Once Orel flatly refuses to accept the apology, Clay says he's glad that he shot Orel on their hunting trip.
* SnarkyVillainEarnestHero: Clay is prone to the odd sarcastic aside, usually about how much he hates his marriage, while Orel is of course the most earnest character you could hope for.
* TheSociopath: He is revealed to be a self-loathing alcoholic who shoots his son Orel in the leg during a hunting trip and later proclaims that he was glad that he shot him. He tries to invoke reactions from other people regardless if it ends with him being despised out of a desperate need for stimulation; he lacks empathy and remorse for any of his actions; and before his true nature was revealed, he acted like the stereotypical 1950s father as seen in television. That being said, associating abuse with affection and his self-centered but genuine relationship with Coach Stopframe may place him closer to narcissism.
* SpoiledBrat: Thanks to being endlessly fawned over by his mother. This left Clay darkly unable to handle the world not revolving around him, and only became worse when his mother died and he went from constant doting to zero from his resentful father.
* StandardFiftiesFather: Deconstructed to a horrifying degree. He tries to keep his home in line with a 1950's style of living, but it becomes obvious he does it to hide the fact that he's a pathetic, abusive, self-pitying drunk who hates his life.
* StartOfDarkness: When his father begins ignoring him after his mother's death. Even then, he appears to be a half-decent guy, but then Bloberta introduces him to alcohol. Given how quickly he takes to it, the alcohol probably let loose all those years of pent-up frustration.
* SuddenlyShouting: He tends to do this when he starts ranting, notable in "Nature" and "Sacrifice".
-->'''Clay:''' "I hate myself.
--> '''(To bottle)''' ''...WHY DO YOU QUIT WORKING ON ME?!?"''
--> '''Clay:''' "Over and over and over and over and over and over and over...
--> '''Dolly:''' "Alright, Clay, I get it."
--> '''Clay:''' ''"NO! YOU! DON'T!"''
* TookALevelInJerkass: He was a considerably worse father after "Nature", nearly disowning Orel.
** His entire life has been this, really. He started off a spoiled and unempathetic but well-meaning child, progressed into a cynical but mostly harmless young man, but upon discovering alchohol, he progresses into a warped version of a StandardFiftiesFather who was still at least occasionally willing to admit his mistakes, though usually [[InsaneTrollLogic in an illogical]] fashion, and based his actions on a warped sense of what was best for his family. By the end of season 1, he has fully abandoned this and now sees himself as completely infallible and doesn't give even an iota of a shit of what happens to anyone. It's difficult to see what else would have happened if the series hadn't been cancelled but he could have only gotten worse.
* TroubledAbuser: Clay physically and psychologically abuses Orel, but only because his own childhood has made him associate abuse with love and parenthood.
* UngratefulBastard: How Clay sees Orel, Bloberta... his entire family.
* UnwantedSpouse: With Bloberta. Being a UngratefulBastard who didn't even wanted to be married with her in the first place, it makes sense.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Although he had shades of being a SpoiledBrat, Clay as a child was definitely sweeter than he is now. [[GenerationXerox He was actually somewhat Orel-like]].
* VillainProtagonist: In the third season, which focuses more on him than the other two seasons. His alcoholism and lack of self-esteem pretty much alienate everyone he knows, and several episodes showcase his VillainousBreakdown.
* VillainousBreakdown: Clay has several of these in the third season, most notably in the episodes Nature", "Sacrifice", "Nesting" and "Honor", which explore his neuroses and pathology.
* WhatExactlyIsHisJob: To the point where his kids don't even know. [[spoiler:He's the Mayor.]]
* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: Clay grows to resent his son for being a sensitive and innocent child, claiming that he's been corrupted by everyone else.
* WouldHurtAChild: Throughout the two-part episode "Nature", he gets increasingly more drunk and increasingly more frustrated with Orel, resulting in him carelessly putting a bullet in Orel's leg.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Bloberta Puppington]]
!!Bloberta Puppington (neé Hymentact)
[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bloberta.png]]
->'''Voiced by''': Britta Phillips
Clay's wife and Orel and Shapey's mom, who married Clay to keep from being the OldMaid and to get away from her own dysfunctional family....only to end up in an even ''more'' dysfunctional family in the process. [[spoiler: She once had an affair with Coach Stopframe, who is the biological father of Shapey.]]
----
* AdultsAreUseless: While she is not physically abusive to Orel like Clay is, she is very neglectful and despite favoring Shapey, she merely lets him run wild and indulges his whims just to get him to stop screaming.
* TheAlcoholic: Actually used to be this herself.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Bloberta's siblings, according to her mother, and all her friends who were getting married, which prompted her to trap Clay into a relationship.
* AwfulWeddedLife: She didn't like Clay before they were married, but now utterly despises the man. She married him by trapping him into it, believing that it would change him for the better (it didn't), and that Bloberta desperately wanted to be married to someone. And she won't file a divorce because Moralton's religious ways frown upon the concept.
* {{Backstory}}: Explained in the episode "Help" how Clay and Bloberta ended up in such a loveless, hate-filled marriage.
* FreudianExcuse: As a child, she was TheUnfavorite to her parents because she couldn't sing as well as the rest of her family. She married Clay so that she could get away from her family and to have a sense of belonging somewhere. A decision she ''deeply'' regrets.
* GroinAttack: She uses power tools on her crotch to get aroused and seduce Potterswheel.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: She still married Clay out of desperation even after he proved himself a horrible drunk and a terrible womanizer.
* InLoveWithLove: She wanted to marry Clay because he showed her even a small amount of affection and appreciation. Also, everyone else was getting married, and Bloberta didn't want to be left out, so she married Clay the first chance she could, believing that things would ultimately work out and he'd change for the better. [[spoiler:Nope. Introducing him to alcohol just made everything worse, and she now utterly despises the man. The GrandFinale of the episode shows that Clay and Bloberta are still trapped in a loveless marriage, hating each other's guts, but refusing to get a divorce.]]
* HollywoodToneDeaf: She is a horrible singer which is why her mother preferred her siblings over her.
* MiddleChildSyndrome: Her older sister and younger brother were favored over her due to her not singing as well.
* NeatFreak: She would even freak out when her cleaning supplies got dirty. [[spoiler:After the events of the episode "Nature", we see her kitchen is messy and disheveled.]]
* OldMaid: Was afraid of becoming this before she married Clay... In hindsight, she probably would have been better-off as this trope.
* ParentalNeglect: While she's not overtly abusive like her husband, she is generally frighteningly apathetic towards her children. She lets Shapey play with loaded guns and other dangerous objects with no supervision, and when Orel repeatedly comes home from school with blood all over his shirt in one episode, her only concern is that she'll have to do the laundry more often.
* PetTheDog:
** In the last episode, when Clay says that the family is going to sing Christmas carols, Bloberta says that Orel should be involved in it too.
** She also takes Block in for no apparent reason other than the kindness of her heart after his mom abandons him. Moreover, Block seems to like Bloberta better.
** The very first episode has Bloberta and Clay poking fun at Reverend Putty for reusing an old sermon in a (very) rare instance of them both getting enjoyment out of something.
** In "Nesting", she is shown knitting banners to help support Orel in his exploits. The first time was for the egg-ban while the second time was to help Orel since he was Miss Censordoll's campaign manager...granted, the latter could have just been to spite Clay.
* PushoverParents: She gives in to everything Shapey wants only to stop him from screaming so she's not seen as a "bad parent" by the neighbors/
* SexlessMarriage: With Clay, given that he absolutely despises her.
* StepfordSmiler: And the cracks are very visible.
* UnderstandingBoyfriend: Bloberta always wanted one, tried to get one through multiple affairs, all of whom used her for an ulterior motive and had the series continued, she would have finally gotten one, when she began her affair with Officer Papermouth. Unfortunately the show was cut before this could happen.
* TheUnfavorite: The tone-deaf sibling in a church singer family.
* TheUnfairSex: She is just as arrogant, selfish and hypocritical as her husband Clay. However, by the end of the series, while Orel loses all respect for his father and comes to see him as the horrible person that he is, the poor boy still seems to have some love and respect for his mother. Justified, considering that she was a much less active force in his life.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: While Clay wasn't in a good mental state before their marriage, Bloberta pushed him into another level of cynicism and misery in a loveless marriage and being shackled to her and their family, all because Bloberta wanted to get married like her friends and simply chose Clay because he was the first man who met her rather low standards.
* UnwantedSpouse: With Clay, to the point that [[spoiler:she cheated on him for his lover Coach Stopframe]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Shapey Puppington]]
!!Shapey Puppington
[[quoteright:160:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shapup_5931.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by''': Tigger Stamatopoulos
Orel's little brother who's "off" in some way but it's not clear how.
----
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: He's a very whiny and destructive child who causes nothing but trouble for Orel. Orel never shows any annoyance towards him, but that's probably because his parents have ordered him to always accomodate his brother.
* BrattyHalfPint: His entire character revolves around how temperamental he is.
* TheBusCameBack: After Bloberta ''finally'' realizes she got him mixed up with Block.
* ChocolateBaby: One reason why Clay didn't get along well with Bloberta was because Shapey didn't look anything like him. "Numb" confirms that [[spoiler:Coach Daniel Stopframe is his real father]].
* InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals: Despite some distinguishing characteristics (namely head shape, hair color, and shirt color), Shapey and Block act exactly the same. They're similar enough that their parents accidentally took each other's child and didn't notice any difference. Bloberta eventually figured it out and [[TheBusCameBack got Shapey back]], unofficially adopting Block in the process.
* KiddieKid: Despite being 7 years old, he's still breastfed and openly throws tantrums like a spoiled toddler.
* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: The fact that Shapey doesn't look anything like his dad is yet another strain in the marriage of Clay and Bloberta. "The Best Christmas Ever" reveals that Clay initially didn't want Shapey on the grounds that Bloberta cheated on him, which the entire town knows about. When Clay points out that he doesn't even remember conceiving Shapey, Bloberta blames his lack of memory on his [[TheAlcoholic constant drinking]]. [[spoiler: Turns out Clay's suspicions are correct: Shapey is the result of an affair between Bloberta and Coach Stopframe, whom ironically is now who ''Clay'' is seeing behind his wife's back.]]
* NoIndoorVoice: He constantly screams or shouts phrases.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Neither he nor Block are able to be their usual destructively-hyperactive selves at the end of "Sacrifice", looking on with worried expressions that indicate they're well aware that things aren't right as Bloberta tears the house apart in search of Dr. Potterswheel's handkerchief. [[spoiler:And this is ''before'' he drops the WhamLine.]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: He acts and looks like a 3 year old. He's actually ''7''.
* PutOnABus: Or a moving van, really, Bloberta manages to get him back after finally realizing Shapey and Block were switched.
* StockAudioClip: Most of his lines and noises such as laughing and screaming are reused.
* StockScream: He has a very high pitched scream that's reused.
* TookALevelInKindness: He started to mellow out some in "Sacrifice". Had the third season kept its full length, there would've been an episode where Shapey and Block bonding is the reason why they're less bratty.
* TheVoiceless: Shapey's "dialogue" is nothing but incomprehensible screaming. [[spoiler:Subverted in the third to last episode, where Shapey quietly tells his mother that when he's thirsty, he feels like when he's alone.]]
[[/folder]]
!Extended Family
[[folder:Arthur Puppington]]
!!Arthur Puppington
[[quoteright:160:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/artpup_6254.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by''': Creator/DinoStamatopoulos (Younger); Joe Unger (Older)
Clay's abusive dad and Angela's husband. Weirdly, he's a doting grandpa to Orel.
----
* AbusiveParents: Not that it excuses it, but Clay was a spoiled brat who was responsible for his wife's death, and even then Clay's birth resulted in Angela becoming religiously fanatic about him, her "miracle baby". Following Angela's death, he immediately started then stopped hitting Clay because he felt Clay wasn't worth the effort. This resulted in Clay associating abuse with worth and attention. A flashback in ''Beforel Orel'' indicates that he did shun his son and he realized in the end that it permanently screwed Clay up.
* CruelMercy: Arthur subjected Clay to this, declaring he wasn't worth disciplining. To say this messed Clay up is an understatement.
* HollywoodAtheist: After the way his wife acted, he wants nothing to do with Christianity.
* JerkassRealization: In ''Beforel Orel'', when he realized the way he treated his own son has affected Clay horribly.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: Or rather, Like Grandfather Like Grandson. If the show continued, he would have had a good relationship with Orel.
** ''Beforel Orel'' finally explored what their relationship would have been like, only it focuses on a younger Orel just before Shapey was born.
** Tragically, Arthur ''was'' an abusive parent himself, which is part of the reason why Clay beats Orel the way he does now. He realizes this to his own horror as an old man, now that it's too late to make amends with the son he's hurt, or stop him from hurting others.
** Both became embittered because of the need for attention. Arthur resented Clay for sapping Angela's affection and causing a lonely SexlessMarriage, and thus chose to snub him out of spite after her death. This left Clay, already a complete AttentionWhore, associating ''any'' recognition, even negative cases like getting beaten, as good.
* MaternalDeathBlameTheChild: His wife, Angela, died after Clay faked his suicide as a cruel prank on his parents after learning of his mother's numerous miscarriages; the stress was too much for Angela's heart, which had been weakened by said miscarriages. After the incident, Arthur openly blamed his son for Angela's death, even passing off "Ol' Gunny" to Clay because as far as Arthur was concerned, the gun was stained with (symbolic) blood because Clay killed his mother with it.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In ''Beforel Orel'' when Clay rejects him in front of the police station after saving Shapey, there's a heart wrenching scene as he has a flashback to the moment he decided Clay wasn't worth it (and Clay would act out to such a degree that Arthur couldn't help to because Clay associated abuse with worth, attention and affection). He sees Clay as the bitter, spiteful man that his negligence helped shape.
* NotSoSimilar: The episodes Arthur features in show a number of similarities to Clay, both are cynical, short-tempered, and both physically and emotionally abusive. The difference is that Arthur came to regret his abusive behavior and admitted he was wrong whilst Clay never would and continued to abuse Orel. Arthur in his later years managed to live a happier life, regrets notwithstanding, while in the DistantFinale Clay is shown to still be miserable.
* NotWorthKilling: Or rather, he felt Clay was not worth hitting after his prank resulted in Angela's death. Unfortunately, this ended up backfiring horribly as from then on, Clay came to associate abuse with worth and attention.
* OlderAndWiser: In his old age, he's come to regret his mistreatment of Clay and tries to be a better grandparent to Orel.
* ParentalSubstitute: To Orel in ''Beforel Orel''.
* PsychopathicManchild: While he did grow up eventually, his abusive past with Clay can be best described as a long-term high octane sulk, giving his pre-teen son the SilentTreatment besides to punt him or engage in PassiveAggressiveKombat (which Clay often won). It is also made apparent that he resented Clay not just for unwittingly causing Angela's death, but because he was an ignored third wheel within their overaffectionate bond, and chose to snub Clay back as a childish tit-for-tat.
-->'''Arthur:''' ''*rejects Clay's hug*'' I don't want any of your "leftovers".
* TroubledAbuser: He lost his wife to a prank Clay pulled and Clay's constant attempts to get his attention he'd respond with hitting him or ignoring him. Later in life Arthur would come to realize how much his actions affected his son and does try to be a better parental figure to his grandson.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Angela Puppington]]
[[quoteright:160:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/angelacrying.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by''': Britta Phillips
Clay's mom, who had ten stillbirths and passed on the "Lost Commandments" to Clay.
----
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: A [[BlackComedy darkly comedic]] example: She attributes Clay being born alive and well to her prayers rather than the fact that she didn't smoke or do anything else incredibly stupid while pregnant
** EntertaininglyWrong: She did pray so much that praying took up most of her spare time and didn't do those wildly stupid things while pregnant with Clay.
* DeadlyPrank: Clay was so upset at learning that he wasn't her "precious only ever" that he faked committing suicide, when ended up causing her to have a fatal heart attack.
* DotingParent: She spoiled Clay rotten to the point of ignoring her husband due to how all of her previous children were stillborn.
* FamilyThemeNaming: She tells Clay that his siblings would've been named "Clark", "Clarissa", "Clementine", "Clara", "Clarice", "Clea", "Clarence", "Clinton", "Clancy", and "Clondike".
* HollywoodHeartAttack: A rather unusual example; when she learns that Clay didn't actually commit suicide, she goes from despair to joy so quickly that it overstresses her heart and she dies.
* MeaningfulName: '''Angel'''a.
* MiseryTrigger: Because of her numerous miscarriages, just saying the word "dead" in her presence (as well as any word that sounded close to it, such as "ended") would send her into hysterics.
* MissingMom: Died when Clay was twelve years old from a heart attack.
* InMysteriousWays: Her justification why she had ten failed pregnancies and only one that lived.
* TheLostLenore: Arthur wouldn't let her death go, including blaming Clay whose feigned suicide caused her fatal heart attack.
* NeverMyFault: She claimed she had miscarriages because she didn't pray hard enough, rather than due to her smoking and drinking.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Had '''ten''' stillbirths before Clay was born. It's because of these stillbirths that she came to hate the word "dead" or any words that rhyme with "dead" ("end-ed" for example).
* PosthumousCharacter: Died long before the start of the series.
* PushoverParents: Because Clay was her first living child after ten failed pregnancies, she basically treated him like royalty, giving him everything he wanted and never disciplining him when he misbehaved.
* SexlessMarriage: She acted very distant toward Arthur after Clay's birth, giving all her affection to Clay.
* TakeMeInstead: When Clay seemingly shoots himself with his father's gun, Angela hysterically pleads with God to take her instead of him. Unfortunately, when Clay reveals that he was faking, Angela takes this as God answering her pleas and cries out "I'm coming, Lord!" before collapsing in her husband's arms, dying right then and there from a heart attack.
* TooDumbToLive: Played with, she's more "Too Dumb to ''Reproduce''", as she didn't completely realize that high impact activities, heavy drinking, smoking, or any combo of the three would cause 10 of her kids being stillbirths. Somewhat justified considering that Stateesota appears to be extremely old-fashioned to the point where it’s not difficult to imagine she among others didn’t know the serious effects of drinking during pregnancy or smoking. Still played straight in the long run however, as her incompetent upbringing of Clay ended up causing her death.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Her excessive coddling of Clay (to the point of straight up ignoring other factors like her husband) led to a ''very'' strenuous life following her death, and her precious son, and to a degree the whole Puppington family tree, growing up a dysfunctional miserable train wreck.
[[/folder]]
----
!Main Family
[[folder:Orel Puppington]]
!!Orel Puppington
[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/orelp.png]]
->'''Voiced by''': Carolyn Lawrence
The show's protagonist.
----
* AbusiveParents: Orel’s parents Clay and Bloberta Puppington qualify for this. Clay often takes his son into his study and belts him whenever his exploits cause [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity to Ensue]] before giving out a SpoofAesop based off of bigoted 1950s beliefs. [[CerebusSyndrome He gets even worse as time goes on.]] In one of those, he instinctively reaches for his belt even though Orel hadn't done anything wrong and had to (innocently) have this pointed out.
** In one episode Orel’s makes an stop motion film that shows his everyday life about what he has learned from the town’s teachings, one of the things that stand out the most it’s the portrayal of his father Clay [[RuleOfSymbolism who is shown as a drunk snarling wolf,]] this harsh portrayal coupled with a line from Orel’s film: ''”I need to teach you what you did wrong by beating you in my study, because that’s what I do in the study to you, I beat you and then I lecture you and that’s it nothing else, come here orel as you Pull you pant up from my spanking''” and a scene in which [[NightmareFuel a belt (in a way a serpent would ) chases and warps around a figurine which is meant to represent Orel]] ignites a comment from a citizen questioning if his father was actually molesting him. The abuse gets very horrifying without being sexual. As shown in the episode "Nature".
** Bloberta [[ParentalNeglect leaves her kids unsupervised]] and provides them with dangerous tools to keep them entertained. When Orel comes from school covered in bruises and blood, she’s far more concerned with the fact that the supplies budget is gonna rise than with Orel’s state, and she doesn't realize it when her younger son Shapey gets switched with another kid for a long time.
* AbsurdlyYouthfulMother: Gender-inverted. In "God's Chef", in order to masturbate and not sin at the same time, he fills his pastry bag with his semen, breaks into women's homes, [[BlackComedyRape and fills them up with his baby batter]]. This causes a string of unexpected pregnancies, and a FreezeFrameBonus in "Alone" implies it's still canon even once the show became serious. Orel's age is also barely in the double-digits.
* AdorablyPrecociousChild: Seriously, the kid wants to help anybody whenever possible. Too bad that most of the people he tries to help in Moralton are jerks.
* AmbiguousInnocence: He is an interesting example. Orel is generally a good kid who always attempts and likes to do good. He wants to help everyone around him, is open to different perspectives and doesn’t judge people for their appearances nor beliefs. He's described as being pure and innocent by his grandpa and the Reverend, but this innocence makes him unable to distinguish what is morally right to what is morally wrong. This coupled with the adult's dubious advice, lack of good role models, and his town’s backward morality results in Orel causing a lot of harm, sometimes doing outright cruel things. It’s not that he wants to do harm, but simply that his lack of moral understanding clouds his judgement. He grows out of this by the end of the series, becoming a genuinely good person by the end of the show once he stops following the dogma of Moralton.
* TheAllAmericanBoy: Deconstructed. At first, he fits the bill of a typical child from a loving, Christian family, but once the people around him start to fall apart, his chipper attitude starts to fade.
* AwkwardFatherSonBondingActivity: Orel and his dad go hunting. "Awkward" would be a bit of an understatement. [[spoiler: His dad ends up shooting Orel accidentally and then denies any responsibility or guilt for it cause he was drunk at the time.]]
* BadassAdorable: He's a cute child who, despite having not hit puberty yet, is capable of taking down people who are much bigger than him purely through his physical strength and no weapons.
* BirdsOfAFeather: With Christina, who is basically a gender-bent version of him.
* BlackComedyRape: Using a pastry bag with his own seed to impregnate women so he won't go to Hell for masturbating.
* BloodBath: At the beginning of "Grounded", Orel's dad walks in on him bathing in the blood of his friends, much to his horror.
* BreakTheCutie: The events of "Nature" completely shatter him, as he realizes just how awful his father really is.
* BreakingTheCycleOfBadParenting: Orel's parents have consisted of an abusive father and a neglectful mother. Both had awful parents that turned them into the bitter, hateful people that they are today. The third season shows Orel finally starting to realize this for himself and, in the Distant Finale montage, he's shown in what appears to be a happy family with his childhood crush.
* BrokenPedestal: He used to look up to his father, but once the hunting trip happened and Clay showed him his true colors, he loses all the respect he once had for him.
* CallingTheOldManOut: [[spoiler:"To Clay in "Nature". "You become a bad person when you drink!", and after Clay drinks the rubbing alcohol that he was supposed to use to treat Orel's wound, Orel says, "I hate you." To which Clay replies, "[[InsultBackfire Hate away, sister.]] [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint hate away.]]"]]
* CharacterDevelopment: He started out as a naive child who took everything an authority figure said at face value, then he slowly started seeing the flaws of the system he is in and of the people that surrounded him (mainly his father). [[spoiler: Ultimately becoming one of the few people with real faith and a loving family by the end of the show.]]
* CheerfulChild: He was a happy little boy until Clay shot him.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Orel is so trusting and naive, he takes everything he learns from the adults at face value. Lampshaded several times through the series.
-->''Dear Orel, always remember, son, even though you are the perfect candidate for brainwashing in this town, you're also too pure and good-hearted to be corrupted. -Love, Grandpa"
* ColorMotif: Blue, as a four year old he wears a blue jumper, as an 11 year old and as an adult he wears a buttoned blue shirt and it's seen to wear a blue suit to church, and then there's the Blue Herron that follows him through the events of "Nature" which according to WordofGod is meant to symbolize Orel's innocence.
* CorruptTheCutie: It's implied that this is the reason why Clay treats Orel so badly-if his son grows up to be as abusive and maladjusted as he is, it'll prove that his own horrid actions and personality were [[NeverMyFault completely inevitable]]. It ultimately fails, as Orel resolves to be a better parent than Clay was.
* CovertPervert: Despite being "pure pureness in its purest form", Orel once had a masochism fetish and he masturbates in secret.
* CreepyChild: Falls into this at times, particularly his even younger self in ''Beforel Orel'' when [[spoiler:he tries to murder his brother after misinterpreting another lesson]].
* ADateWithRosiePalms: Orel gets caught masturbating in "God's Chef".
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Despite the hardships in the final season, Orel manages to come out of it well-adjusted.
* EvenTheLovingHeroHasHatedOnes: Even when someone wrongs Orel, he holds no grudges against them. His father, Clay ends up becoming an exception. He outright tells him "I hate you" after he was shot in the leg.
* {{Expy}}: Orel bears a good deal of resemblance to Davey Hansen from the ''WesternAnimation/DaveyAndGoliath'' religious edutainment series.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: In "Nature", until the second part.
* GenerationXerox: To his father and grandmother.
** Orel resembles his own father Clay Puppington in his younger years, going as far as sharing the same color scheme, a somewhat similar personality before clay started drinking and a similar [[TheChainOfHarm toxic father-and-son relationship]] with their own respective fathers.
** Orel’s grandmother used to be very religious and was the one to come up with the “lost commandments” who then passed them onto Clay who later attempted to pass them onto Orel.
* AGodAmI: Orel gains a short-term "god complex" in "Grounded" after weeks of not going to church as punishment. This folds onto itself as he experiences a revelation (during a coma, no less) of how the Lord can be praised everywhere indiscriminately.
* GoodFeelsGood: So much that when Reverend Putty gave a sermon about how evil takes a pleasant form, he started to physically punish himself wherever he made a good action. Shown in a positive light when it was revealed that [[spoiler:in the finale it was Orel’s good nature what allowed him to live a happy and fulfilling life as an adult]].
* GoodParents: In the finale, one of the only characters in the series definitely shown to be this.
* GoshDangItToHeck: Being a strict Christian child, he doesn't swear at all, not even a PrecisionFStrike.
* HappilyMarried: To Christina in the finale.
* HopeSpot: On the episode “The best Christmas ever” Orel is left outside in the snow, alone on Christmas after his parents threaten to divorce, the episode ends with Orel praying to God hoping that even though there’s only 2 minutes left before Christmas is over that somehow everything will turn out to be alright, the last two minutes of the episode ends with a silent slow zoom out of him and the whole town.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: He has no idea of how bad a kid Joe is until he starts beating up two presumed gay boys. He has no idea how crazy Miss Censordoll is, and he had absolutely no idea on how horrible his father is until the hunting trip.
* IAmNotMyFather: Orel and his father are shown to be similar throughout the show, both having a very difficult childhood and sharing a toxic father-and-son relationship with their own respective father. With the crazy amount of abuse, repression and exposure to toxic habits and cycles Orel was exposed during his childhood he could have had turned into a very screwed up adult not so different than Clay, but while Clay wallows in his own misery harming the ones surrounding him, Orel [[spoiler:chose to become a better man becoming everything that his father couldn't.]]
* IChooseToStay: According to WordOfGod Orel decides to stay in Moralton to make it a better place.
-->“Does adult Orel still live in Moralton? at first I thought he might have moved away but then I wondered if he would stay and try to help the town.”
-->'''Dino:''' Orel’s not one to run away. I see him staying in Moralton and trying to make it a better place. [[http://web.archive.org/web/20141121012515/http://boards.adultswim.com/t5/Moral-Orel/A-Final-Q-amp-A-Possible/td-p/47747798/page/4 Source ]]
* IgnoredEpiphany: He's spanked into forgetting his Gnostic Epiphany in "Grounded", when he rejects the church doctrine of a FluffyCloudHeaven, and the idea that you have to be in a church to worship the Lord.
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: An interesting example as he is literally too pure to understand when he's doing something wrong, but once he knows he's done something wrong, he can bounce back and shake off any vices he may have picked up along the way without any trouble.
-->'''Putty:''' Holy Moley! You are pure pureness in its purest form. It's almost irritating.
* InHarmonyWithNature: In the episode "Nature", at least until the second part...
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Orel can commit downright cruelty to others out of good intentions. It's not that he's sadistic, but he doesn't ''realize'' that he's doing sadistic things.
* InnocenceLost: It’s a theme in the series that Orel slowly starts to become aware of the town’s lies, and misery developing a better judgement in the process. The most prominent example of this trope being when [[spoiler:his father shoots him and has a breakdown in front of him in the “Nature” special]]. and if the series had continued further than it did Orel would have dealt with a crisis of faith, WordOfGod also confirmed that the blue heron was a representation of Orel’s innocence which is covered with flies by the end of the episode ”Nature”.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: With Stephanie, Coach Stopframe and with his grandpa, which relationship would have been explored further if the show hadn’t been canceled.
* JadeColoredGlasses: He dons a pair in the final season, where he becomes more cynical.
* {{Keet}}: Orel is definitely an enthusiastic kid, but especially as a 4-year-old.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: Before "Nature", Orel aspired to be like his father.
* LiteralMinded: He tends to take any advice he's given at face value. Probably not helped by being raised never to think about what his elders tell him.
* LoudGulp: Orel does this every time he has to go to Clay's study. This changes when he loses his fear of it, but Clay forces him to anyway.
* MeaningfulName Orel means “light of god” in Hebrew, which makes him not knowing what god means as a little kid and then subsequent strong faith later in life kind of ironic. Meanwhile his last name Puppington it’s a play on the words Puppet which are used on stop motion, which it’s the format of the show itself and one of Orel’s favorite hobbies.
* NakedOnArrival: "Oh... I guess your clothes don't die ''with'' you!"
* NiceGuy: He is definitely a sweet kid in contrast to the citizens of Moralton.
* NotAfraidOfYouAnymore: He used to be afraid of his father’s beatings ([[RunningGag "I’ll see you in my study"]]), which were supposed to be reprimands for every time he did something bad. Orel's misbehavior was in reality the result of the neglect and horrible advice given by the adults of Moralton. By the end of the third season, after been able to see through Clay and the town's hypocrisy, he's seen to be rather apathetic and annoyed of his punishments.
* OnlyAFleshWound: Averted, after [[spoiler:Clay shoots Orel in the leg and then waits two whole days to take him to the doctor due to being drunk. From there on, Orel is shown wearing a cast for the rest of the series. In the finale, the cast is finally removed, but Orel will walk with a limp for the rest of his life.]]
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: At the end of "Sundays", when Orel arrives at church ''depressed''.
* OnlySaneMan: He becomes more aware of Moralton's flaws as the show continues to run, but he does his best to keep himself chipper.
* ParentalSubstitute: Reverend Putty, and Stephanie, at the very end. They end up being one of the ''few'' adults in Moralton who end up as positive influences on him. Coach Stopframe arguablly qualifies as well especially in "Honor", where he acts as a somewhat decent father figure for Orel. Had the show never been canceled, Arthur Puppington would have become this.
* PintSizedPowerhouse: While Orel usually doesn't get into fights, the kid shows that he's surprisingly strong for his age. A big example is when he managed to utterly thrash his own father in "Turn The Other Cheek" from [[GroinAttack kicking Clay in the family jewels]] to breaking a paddle on Clay's face as the final blow.
* ThePollyanna: The early episodes have him blissfully unaware of his actions or how draconian the adults of the town can be.
* PrecociousCrush: On Stephanie, which is over by the end of "The Blessed Union".
* PreMortemOneLiner: When he reluctantly shoots a bear in order to rescue Clay.
-->'''Orel:''' [[ApologeticAttacker Sorry, Mr. Bear, but my dad’s a jerk.]]
* SanitySlippage: In "Grounded", after Clay forbids him to go to church for a month, Orel goes crazy and starts writing fragments of Bible verses all over the walls of his bedroom and constructing a cardboard church while muttering "church church churchy church" to himself. Then after Clay throws away the cardboard church, Orel puts it on and starts believing that he is a church, imitating the sound of a church bell by saying "Bong, bong, bong, bong..."
* SaveTheVillain: As said in the above trope, he begrudgingly rescues Clay from getting mauled by a bear, even after Clay had shot him with no remorse. When Clay asks Orel if he shot the bear, Orel just denies it and convinces Clay that ''he'' shot the bear as payback.
* SingleTear: He sheds one at the end of each of Reverend Putty's sermons in Season 1 due to finding them beautiful.
* SuperGullible: Orel tends to be overly trusting of authority and interpret his rituals very literally.
* SuperiorSuccessor: He’s able to lead a happy and fulfilling life as an adult in spite of everything bad that happened to him as a child, something that his parents were never able to achieve.
* TooKinkyToTorture: It happens to Orel for one episode when he misinterprets the preacher's sermon about renouncing worldly pleasures as getting rid of everything that feels good; unfortunately, what makes Orel feel best of all is his relationship with the Lord. He tries to counteract this by subjecting himself to 24/7 torture, but ends up... well, ''looking forward'' to his father's next discussion "in the study."
-->'''Clay:''' You've been having ''[[EroticDream whats]]''? About ''[[{{God}} who]]''!? Doing '''WHAT'''!?\\
''(Clay holds up [[DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff his belt threateningly]], and Orel gives an aroused grin.)''\\
'''Clay''': ''(Puts the belt back down, [[EveryoneHasStandards squicked out]])'' Just go to my study.
* TokenGoodTeammate: He is the only member of his family that has ''any'' sense of [[MeaningfulName morality]]. As stated above, he is the only one to move on with his life unlike his deadbeat parents.
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Plenty of his odd and "bad" behaviors can be attributed to the terrible advise he receives from the questionable authority figures of Moralton. There are plenty of examples like [[ItMakesSenseinContext bringing a loaded gun to school,]] [[note]]Clay was trying to teach Orel how to shoot a gun for their father and son hunting trip and made him carried it everywhere [[/note]] or when he started drinking at age of 12.
* WideEyedIdealist: Orel has a very naive worldview as a result of his religious affiliation.
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: During their father and son hunting trip, Orel loses all respect for his father [[spoiler:after he shoots him in the leg. As his father lies asleep in a drunken stupor, a bear enters their camp, and Orel, hesitant to shoot anything all day, kills the bear to save his father. Once Clay wakes up, he sees the dead bear and asks if Orel shot the bear, saying "Make me proud son, tell me you shot that bear". Orel thinks on it for a few seconds, and not wanting to make Clay proud, claims that Clay shot the bear while he was drunk.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Clay Puppington]]
!!Clayton Middleinitial "Clay" Puppington
[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clay_8.png]]
->'''Voiced by''': Creator/ScottAdsit
Orel's dad, who was abused by his own dad, Arthur, and Bloberta's alcoholic husband.
----
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: No one likes him as mayor, and the whole town hates him as a person. The only reason he doesn't lose to the only other candidate against him is because that candidate drops out of the race at the last second.
* AbusiveParents: After his mother's death, his father briefly becomes this. He stops when he considers smacking him not worth it, but it only made Clay even ''worse''. It results in Clay associating abuse with worth and affection. The cycle of abuse continues with his treatment of Orel. PlayedForLaughs initially, but [[MoralEventHorizon not so much after the "Nature" two-parter]].
* AlcoholicParent: With the amount of liquor he imbues, it's a wonder his liver hasn't given out. Following the show's CerebusSyndrome, Clay's status as this is PlayedForDrama, particularly in episodes like "Nature", in which he gets more and more drunk during a hunting trip with Orel, culminating in him going into a rage and shooting his son in the leg.
* AllTakeAndNoGive: His parenting and his general approach to his relationships. He craves attention and affection from other people, but does nothing except abuse them and take his frustrations out on everyone.
* AmbiguousStartOfDarkness: Even before his mother died, he was a selfish brat, and while some of his brattish behavior could be explained by his mother's treatment of him, he was regardless incredibly lacking in empathy for a child of his age.
* AnimalMotif: In the two-parter ''Nature'', flies cover his face and the blue heron that symbolizes [[BreakTheCutie Orel's]] [[InnocenceLost innocence]]. It evokes the name of {{Beelzebub}}, Lord of the Flies.
** In ''Orel's Movie Premier'', his son depicts him as a clay figure of a puppy because he is [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter "loyal and good"]], [[ScaryTeeth sharp fangs]] and [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]] notwithstanding.
* ArchnemesisDad: As the show goes on, Clay begins showing more of his darker side. At first, Clay just gives Orel bad advice, is a little too strict, and has signs of being an abusive parent. Towards the end of the show, Clay has shot Orel in the leg and not only expressed no remorse for it, but said he was glad to have shot Orel for refusing to go along with his re-election campaign for mayor of Moralton. In kind, Orel grows to hate his father, and Clay spends the last few episodes as a full-blown antagonist.
* AttentionWhore: Years of being smothered by his fanatical mother warped Clay into serious case of this. His father, Arthur made it even worse when he told Clay he wasn't even worth hitting after his prank caused his mother's death. From then on, Clay came to associate abuse with worth and attention.
* AwfulWeddedLife: He's in a relationship with a woman he utterly hates, only married to Bloberta because she trapped him into marriage. His alcoholic rants reflect this mindset, especially when he goes camping with Orel, where he rants about how women and children squeeze the life out of men. And he won't consider a divorce because Moralton's religious views frown upon such a concept.
* AssholeVictim: Because of how much of a [[HateSink selfish, bigoted and cruel]] {{jerkass}} he is, it's very hard to feel sorry for him whenever he's humiliated or things don't turn out his way.
* {{Backstory}}: "Passing" and "Help" do a great deal in showing how Clay turned into what he is.
* BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad: This is basically what's wrong with Clay; he's psychologically wired to believe that pain is a form of love, which leads him to abuse his family and subordinates while believing he's showing how much he loves (and hates) them, making lying easier than breathing. This manages to ruin most of the town when he shoots his own son (the protagonist) in the leg and uses his ''mayoral'' connections to bail himself out. Getting karmic punishment still hurts him but it's clear that he ''needs'' the suffering for comfort.
* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: The first episode of the series where Clay's cruelty is really taken seriously is "Nature", which is entirely about him trying to make Orel kill things, with him killing a hunting dog at one point and not remotely caring.
* BeingEvilSucks: His cruelty and manipulation drive everyone away from him, and it tears him apart. He just refuses to learn or change.
* BerserkButton: Anything to do with his father will make him tense at best, and more often will make him immediately furious.
* BigBad: At the end of season 2, Clay's injury of Orel makes him into a full ArchnemesisDad, and he is the cause of the main conflicts from the season 2 finale onward through the entirety of season 3.
* BigNo: He yells this when Orel tries to get him to leave Coach Stopframe's home in the final episode. Unfortunately for him, Stopframe also wants him to leave.
* BigShutUp: "I said SHUT UP, Orel!" Said right when he drunkenly shoots Orel in the leg.
* BoomerangBigot: Clay accuses his ex-boyfriend Coach Stopframe of being a [[AllGaysArePedophiles pedophile]] when the latter emotionally councils Orel, despite the fact that Clay himself is bisexual.
* BreakTheHaughty: He starts the show very full of himself and loves to hear himself talk. However, it's soon revealed that he struggles with self-loathing. By the end of the show, he's lost the respect of his entire family, the town he governs, and finally his lover, and is powerless to do anything about it.
* BrokenAce: Clay is practically the poster child of this trope: a handsome, successful, Christian family man who's secretly an abusive, self-destructive, alcoholic jackass who hates everyone, ''especially'' himself.
* BrokenPedestal: For the first two seasons, Orel looked up to Clay as the epitome of a good man. However, Clay's actions in the "Nature" two-parter finally show Orel what a selfish monster Clay actually is.
* {{Catchphrase}}: Before every SpoofAesop spouted by Clay, he would find Orel and say a sentence that ends with "In my '''study'''." Cue gulping.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: While he was never a particularly sympathetic character, the early episodes showed him as an AffablyEvil figure who genuinely believed he was doing what was best for his family and would occasionally admit to being in the wrong, albeit usually ComicallyMissingThePoint in the process. From the S1 finale onwards, it becomes clear that [[FauxAffablyEvil his pleasant demeanour is entirely a mask and he hates everyone in his family with a passion]], as well as [[NeverMyFault making a point of never admitting to having made even the slightest mistake]]. Alternatively, one could interpret that he's been [[FromBadToWorse getting continually worse]] over the years.
* ChildHater: During his drunken rant in "Nature", he calls children "things that are like weights around your head". Want more proof? He hates Shapey as he's a reminder that Bloberta had an affair with Daniel Stopframe and he views Block as just another mouth to feed. Hell, when he saw Shapey and Block together, he thought they were an alcohol-induced hallucination. And as for Orel? He tried to make him into his image, but when that clearly failed, he tells Orel that he's ''glad'' he shot him in the leg.
* ChurchgoingVillain: He poses as a very dutiful Christian even by the standards of Moralton. But whether he really believes what he's saying or is putting on an act, he's still a self-centered abuser.
* ComedicUnderwearExposure: It's a running gag that his pants fall off whenever he takes off his belt to discipline Orel.
* TheCorruptor: Played with. He frequently tries to pass all his prejudices onto Orel. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but even when it works, it only works because Orel is so loyal to his dad, not because Clay actually succeeded in making Orel as hateful as him.
* DeathGlare: When Orel causes a disaster through misunderstanding, Clay will often give him one of these.
* DepravedBisexual: Clay appears to only love attention, [[DesperatelyCravesAffection loving anyone who will show him any amount of it]], regardless of who he will hurt in the process. He's had extramarital affairs with both Coach Stopframe and Miss Censordoll. It's this, combined with his abusive nature towards Orel, that causes Daniel Stopframe to ultimately reject him.
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: The episode "Passing" reveals this as the crux of Clay's pathology. After inadvertently causing his mother's death, his father is close to hitting him... but decides he's not worth the effort. After that, Clay acts out deliberately to get his father to pay attention to him, even if just to give him a DopeSlap. This carried over to adulthood, as "Sacrifice" has him delivering a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to other bar patrons in the hopes that they'll beat him up.
* {{Deuteragonist}}: While his son's the main character, Clay is the second-most important because of his neuroses and insecurities that drive the plot.
* DrowningMySorrows: In the first season, Clay's alcoholism is less pronounced and PlayedForLaughs. However, in the later parts of the second season and the entire third season, things take a darker turn.
-->'''Clay:''' Hate her. ''[drinks]'' Still hate her. ''[drinks]'' Toler-hate 'er. ''[drinks]'' Tolerate her!
* TheEeyore: A rare villainous example. Clay is a bitter, hateful, ''deeply miserable'' human being who loathes his job, his family and himself most of all.
* EnragedByIdiocy: As time goes on, Clay gets more and more frustrated with Orel constantly misinterpreting what he's told.
--> '''Clay:''' "For the MILLIONTH time, whatever I said, I didn't mean THIS!"
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Clay is shown to have loved his late mother. He actually has a bit of an UsefulNotes/OedipusComplex regarding her, something Ms. Censordoll takes advantage of.
* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: For the first couple seasons, Orel loves Clay no matter what he does. Even in season 3, Orel feels guilty and TRIES to still love his father, or at least honor him.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Subverted. A flashback to his youth shows him getting depressed when he finds out that he would have had brothers and sisters if his mom hadn't constantly induced stillbirths. He breaks out of his funk by yelling at his mother for lying to ''him'' about his being her "precious only-ever."
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Lets out a BigWhat when Dr. Potterswheel wondered if he molested Orel in his studies.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: When he's drunk, he tends to say things that only he finds funny. Even when his son is lying nearby with a broken leg, caused by Clay himself.
* EvilIsNotWellLit: Clay's study is very dark, no matter what the time of day.
* EvilLaugh: He lets out a sinister chuckle when showing Orel his gun collection.
* EvilMentor: For most of the show, Clay is Orel's main guide in life. His hypocrisy and self-serving morality are frequent causes of Orel extreme misinterpretations of the lessons.
* FatalFlaw: His incredible self-centeredness, which alienates everyone around him and drives him to attack those around him.
* FauxAffablyEvil: The guy almost constantly has a pleasant demeanor, which is just a mask because he's drunk all the time. In "Nature" his true colors are revealed when he sobers up. Even before this, how he can be so calm beating his own son, having to be TOLD Orel didn't do anything wrong since beating him is an impulse for him, his drunken demeanor makes him all the more horrible.
* FisherKing: [[spoiler:He's the mayor of Moralton. Probably explains a lot about why Moralton is so messed up.]]
* FreudianExcuse: Clay's mother gave him far too much attention while Clay's dad didn't give him enough. After she died, his father shunned him, which led to Clay deliberately provoking him into abusing him because it was the only way he could get his father's attention. His screwed up childhood is why he has no confidence in himself and virtually no parenting skills.
* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: That said, he's never depicted in justified for this reason for using it to justify any of his abuse, and his failure to even attempt to change his behavior is largely a result of his own moral weakness.
* TheFundamentalist: He does ''not'' think highly of those who believe differently from him, even on matters so small as the exact wording of the Lord's Prayer.
* TheGadfly: Clay is one of the darkest and most realistic depictions of one, especially as seen in "Sacrifice"; because he associates abuse with attention and affection, and because he's a HateSink the entire town seemingly tolerates at best, he spends most of his time abusing everyone in the bar attempting to get a rise out of them, but when cooler heads prevail, he starts to have a VillainousBreakdown.
* GayConservative: Clay is bisexual but (much like everyone else in Moralton) is extremely conservative to compensate for his percieved 'sin'.
* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: With him as the mayor, it's no wonder Moralton is so screwed up.]]
* GreenEyedMonster: He's extremely possessive of Coach Stopframe, to the point where he is jealous of his own son getting Stopframe's (non-romantic, of course) attention.
* GunNut: He owns an extensive collection of firearms in his study. This stemmed from his father passing off Ol' Gunny onto him not as part of the Puppington family tradition, but because he wanted nothing to do with it anymore after he used it in a prank that resulted in his mother's death.
* HatesTheirParent: He hates his father Arthur since he was neglected by him after the death of Angela. In the present day he still doesn't hold his dad in high regard, which Arthur doesn't blame him for.
* HateSink: Clay is intended to be loathsome in every possible way. This is ultimately {{deconstructed|Trope}} when the show goes onto depict, in crushing detail, how being such a ceaselessly awful person has led to everyone who's ever associated with him breaking ties with him out of disgust, and that he's so pathetically awful not because [[ForTheEvulz he enjoys it]] but simply because he's such a fundamentally ''broken'' person that it's the only way he knows how to get attention from anyone.
* HeelRealization: "Numb" reveals that he not only knows that he's a monstrous wretch, but he knows exactly why he is what he is. However, despite understanding that his self-destructive behavior also hurts the people he loves, he's unwilling to change his ways, making this an IgnoredEpiphany.
* HenpeckedHusband: Clay is a rather unfunny version, though he's not exactly sympathetic in the matter. Bloberta practically forced him to be his wife after being emotionally abused by her mother. The sad thing is that they were actually hitting it off when they first met, with Clay a devoutly religious man. However, once she introduced him to alcohol it went downhill from there until both were stuck in a loveless marriage with two kids.
* HisOwnWorstEnemy: He is shown time and time again to drive away people who care about him with his selfish behavior.
* {{Hypocrite}}: He commits almost every sin in the book, but expects Orel to adhere strictly to the Bible's teaching at all times.
* IUhYouToo: Whenever Oral says "I love you, Dad." Clay doesn't say "I love you, too." and instead says things like "I'm hungry too." or "Yeah, that's good."
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: On first glance, Clay seems to have an incredibly high opinion of himself and rambles about everyone except him is a moron and failure, but it becomes increasingly obvious that the person he hates the most is himself and he's attempting to shift the feelings of loathing onto other people.
* ItsAllAboutMe: His world revolves around him. As a child he was spoiled rotten by his mother; when she died and his father, who pretty much resented him for being the unintentional cause of her death, declared he was not even worth getting punished, Clay did everything he could to receive ''any'' kind of attention even if it's the negative kind.
* {{Jerkass}}: Clay is initially viewed (at least in [[CheerfulChild Orel's eyes]]) in a sympathetic (or at least tolerable) light, but is ultimately a pathetic, blundering, selfish jackass. His "crowning moment" of jerkassery and crossing of the MoralEventHorizon is when he drunkenly shoots Orel on a hunting trip and proceeds to blame it on Orel with a series of unconnected lies. Later, after attempting to give a half-hearted apology to Orel, he doubles down and says "And I'm ''glad'' I shot you!".
* JerkassHasAPoint: Clay's hatred toward his father is perhaps the only time his hatred of anyone is justified. Arthur admits he screwed up with Clay and begs him for forgiveness.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Any sign Clay provides that he actually cares for anyone is a lie to keep them from leaving him.
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: While through the first two seasons he never receives any comeuppance for his actions, in the third season he starts to unravel mentally and emotionally, culminating in the man he loves (or at least claims to love) rejecting him.
* KickTheDog: While most of his treatment of Orel is excused as "discipline", his abuse of Orel while camping in "Nature" isn't even given that pretext.
* KiddieKid: Due to his mother’s constant coddling, even still referring to his age by months, Clay often behaved more like a 5 or 6 year old than a 12 year old. When he constantly kept referring the (in reality, not real) Lost Commandments, his father stated it was cuter when he younger, but rather pathetic for a boy his age. [[PsychopathicManchild It seems that this mentality has seeped over into his adult age as well]], such as ordering apple juice at a wedding reception before he became an alcoholic, and still holding on to the "Lost Commandments" well into his adulthood.
* KnightOfCerebus: Of a sort. While he was a prominent character in the show from the very start, the show's dramatically dark turn in Season 3 began with Clay terrifying and shooting Orel in the Season 2 finale.
* LackOfEmpathy: To everyone except himself. Clay accidentally shoots his son and not only [[NeverMyFault refuses to take responsibility for it]], he ''mocks'' Orel for crying in pain.
%%* LikeFatherLikeSon: To Orel [[spoiler: until he shot him]]. Even moreso with his dad.
* MayorPain: [[spoiler:"Nesting" reveals that he's the mayor of Moralton. It's unclear if his leadership is why the town's so messed up, or if they simply chose him because his multiple issues made him perfect for leading a screwed-up place like Moralton.]]
* MeanBoss: From what we see of his job, he treats his underlings as callously as he treats his family.
* MeaningfulName: Clay is something that is easily molded. Not only was Clay himself molded into the person he is by his deeply religious mother, he now tries to mold Orel into someone who fits his distorted worldview. [[spoiler: This could also apply to his position as mayor of Moralton.]]
* MommasBoy: He enjoyed being coddled by his mother and being her "precious only ever".
* {{Narcissist}}: He lacks empathy or remorse, has a desperate pathological desire for attention, uses a grandiose veneer to cover up for his self-image problems, and demands all the resources from any romantic relationship he's engaged in.
* NeverMyFault: He actually hoists blame on Orel for ''getting drunkenly shot by his father''. And that's not all. When he was a boy, he denied that it was his fault that his mother died. The list goes on and most of the time he says it isn't his fault, it usually is.
* NotGoodWithRejection: Stemming from his mommy issues, he craves attention, and breaks down when it isn't given to him, whether by his "friends" at the bar or, eventually, by Stopframe.
* PlayingTheVictimCard: Besides being incapable to taking responsibility for his failings, he's also consumed with self-pity and is quick to start whining about his problems.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He's very closed to other beliefs, compared women and his wife with his alcohol addiction, compares children to parasites, considers natural disasters that destroy foreign cultures one of God's blessings and the mentally handicapped one of God's blunders.
* PragmaticPansexuality: An odd case. Clay's only real ambition is to be loved by others, and this has led him to have relationships with both a man and a woman without going through the trouble of emotionally settling with either of them.
* PsychopathicManchild: While Clay tries to act like a stable adult, his serious LackOfEmpathy, [[AttentionWhore pathological need for attention]], [[ItsAllAboutMe extreme egocentricity]] and [[NeverMyFault unwillingness to acknowledge when he's made a mistake]] make it obvious that he's completely lacking in any kind of emotional maturity. All of this can be traced back to his childhood, where his mother pampered him extensively because he was her first child after a string of miscarriages. After he accidentally caused her to suffer a fatal heart attack, his father alternated between ignoring him and physically abusing him. Because the abuse was the only kind of attention his father gave him, Clay came to associate abuse with affection, leading to him developing a very distorted idea of relationships in adulthood.
* {{Sadist}}: Occasionally, he'll show outright delight in hurting Orel, notably in "Nature", where he laughs about shooting Orel (and tearing up his lucky shirt), and "Grounded", where he's happy to see Orel going feral from church deprivation.
* SexlessMarriage: With Bloberta. Given that [[UngratefulBastard he doesn't even like being with her in the first place]], it's justifiable.
* SlaveToPR: He's primarily concerned with his image in Moralton above all else. This leads him to do such things as stay in a loveless marriage with Bloberta because getting a divorce would be seen as scandalous in the hyper-religious town. Also, he only apologizes for shooting Orel after it becomes clear that it's going to hurt his chances for re-election. Once Orel flatly refuses to accept the apology, Clay says he's glad that he shot Orel on their hunting trip.
* SnarkyVillainEarnestHero: Clay is prone to the odd sarcastic aside, usually about how much he hates his marriage, while Orel is of course the most earnest character you could hope for.
* TheSociopath: He is revealed to be a self-loathing alcoholic who shoots his son Orel in the leg during a hunting trip and later proclaims that he was glad that he shot him. He tries to invoke reactions from other people regardless if it ends with him being despised out of a desperate need for stimulation; he lacks empathy and remorse for any of his actions; and before his true nature was revealed, he acted like the stereotypical 1950s father as seen in television. That being said, associating abuse with affection and his self-centered but genuine relationship with Coach Stopframe may place him closer to narcissism.
* SpoiledBrat: Thanks to being endlessly fawned over by his mother. This left Clay darkly unable to handle the world not revolving around him, and only became worse when his mother died and he went from constant doting to zero from his resentful father.
* StandardFiftiesFather: Deconstructed to a horrifying degree. He tries to keep his home in line with a 1950's style of living, but it becomes obvious he does it to hide the fact that he's a pathetic, abusive, self-pitying drunk who hates his life.
* StartOfDarkness: When his father begins ignoring him after his mother's death. Even then, he appears to be a half-decent guy, but then Bloberta introduces him to alcohol. Given how quickly he takes to it, the alcohol probably let loose all those years of pent-up frustration.
* SuddenlyShouting: He tends to do this when he starts ranting, notable in "Nature" and "Sacrifice".
-->'''Clay:''' "I hate myself.
--> '''(To bottle)''' ''...WHY DO YOU QUIT WORKING ON ME?!?"''
--> '''Clay:''' "Over and over and over and over and over and over and over...
--> '''Dolly:''' "Alright, Clay, I get it."
--> '''Clay:''' ''"NO! YOU! DON'T!"''
* TookALevelInJerkass: He was a considerably worse father after "Nature", nearly disowning Orel.
** His entire life has been this, really. He started off a spoiled and unempathetic but well-meaning child, progressed into a cynical but mostly harmless young man, but upon discovering alchohol, he progresses into a warped version of a StandardFiftiesFather who was still at least occasionally willing to admit his mistakes, though usually [[InsaneTrollLogic in an illogical]] fashion, and based his actions on a warped sense of what was best for his family. By the end of season 1, he has fully abandoned this and now sees himself as completely infallible and doesn't give even an iota of a shit of what happens to anyone. It's difficult to see what else would have happened if the series hadn't been cancelled but he could have only gotten worse.
* TroubledAbuser: Clay physically and psychologically abuses Orel, but only because his own childhood has made him associate abuse with love and parenthood.
* UngratefulBastard: How Clay sees Orel, Bloberta... his entire family.
* UnwantedSpouse: With Bloberta. Being a UngratefulBastard who didn't even wanted to be married with her in the first place, it makes sense.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Although he had shades of being a SpoiledBrat, Clay as a child was definitely sweeter than he is now. [[GenerationXerox He was actually somewhat Orel-like]].
* VillainProtagonist: In the third season, which focuses more on him than the other two seasons. His alcoholism and lack of self-esteem pretty much alienate everyone he knows, and several episodes showcase his VillainousBreakdown.
* VillainousBreakdown: Clay has several of these in the third season, most notably in the episodes Nature", "Sacrifice", "Nesting" and "Honor", which explore his neuroses and pathology.
* WhatExactlyIsHisJob: To the point where his kids don't even know. [[spoiler:He's the Mayor.]]
* WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent: Clay grows to resent his son for being a sensitive and innocent child, claiming that he's been corrupted by everyone else.
* WouldHurtAChild: Throughout the two-part episode "Nature", he gets increasingly more drunk and increasingly more frustrated with Orel, resulting in him carelessly putting a bullet in Orel's leg.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Bloberta Puppington]]
!!Bloberta Puppington (neé Hymentact)
[[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bloberta.png]]
->'''Voiced by''': Britta Phillips
Clay's wife and Orel and Shapey's mom, who married Clay to keep from being the OldMaid and to get away from her own dysfunctional family....only to end up in an even ''more'' dysfunctional family in the process. [[spoiler: She once had an affair with Coach Stopframe, who is the biological father of Shapey.]]
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* AdultsAreUseless: While she is not physically abusive to Orel like Clay is, she is very neglectful and despite favoring Shapey, she merely lets him run wild and indulges his whims just to get him to stop screaming.
* TheAlcoholic: Actually used to be this herself.
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Bloberta's siblings, according to her mother, and all her friends who were getting married, which prompted her to trap Clay into a relationship.
* AwfulWeddedLife: She didn't like Clay before they were married, but now utterly despises the man. She married him by trapping him into it, believing that it would change him for the better (it didn't), and that Bloberta desperately wanted to be married to someone. And she won't file a divorce because Moralton's religious ways frown upon the concept.
* {{Backstory}}: Explained in the episode "Help" how Clay and Bloberta ended up in such a loveless, hate-filled marriage.
* FreudianExcuse: As a child, she was TheUnfavorite to her parents because she couldn't sing as well as the rest of her family. She married Clay so that she could get away from her family and to have a sense of belonging somewhere. A decision she ''deeply'' regrets.
* GroinAttack: She uses power tools on her crotch to get aroused and seduce Potterswheel.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: She still married Clay out of desperation even after he proved himself a horrible drunk and a terrible womanizer.
* InLoveWithLove: She wanted to marry Clay because he showed her even a small amount of affection and appreciation. Also, everyone else was getting married, and Bloberta didn't want to be left out, so she married Clay the first chance she could, believing that things would ultimately work out and he'd change for the better. [[spoiler:Nope. Introducing him to alcohol just made everything worse, and she now utterly despises the man. The GrandFinale of the episode shows that Clay and Bloberta are still trapped in a loveless marriage, hating each other's guts, but refusing to get a divorce.]]
* HollywoodToneDeaf: She is a horrible singer which is why her mother preferred her siblings over her.
* MiddleChildSyndrome: Her older sister and younger brother were favored over her due to her not singing as well.
* NeatFreak: She would even freak out when her cleaning supplies got dirty. [[spoiler:After the events of the episode "Nature", we see her kitchen is messy and disheveled.]]
* OldMaid: Was afraid of becoming this before she married Clay... In hindsight, she probably would have been better-off as this trope.
* ParentalNeglect: While she's not overtly abusive like her husband, she is generally frighteningly apathetic towards her children. She lets Shapey play with loaded guns and other dangerous objects with no supervision, and when Orel repeatedly comes home from school with blood all over his shirt in one episode, her only concern is that she'll have to do the laundry more often.
* PetTheDog:
** In the last episode, when Clay says that the family is going to sing Christmas carols, Bloberta says that Orel should be involved in it too.
** She also takes Block in for no apparent reason other than the kindness of her heart after his mom abandons him. Moreover, Block seems to like Bloberta better.
** The very first episode has Bloberta and Clay poking fun at Reverend Putty for reusing an old sermon in a (very) rare instance of them both getting enjoyment out of something.
** In "Nesting", she is shown knitting banners to help support Orel in his exploits. The first time was for the egg-ban while the second time was to help Orel since he was Miss Censordoll's campaign manager...granted, the latter could have just been to spite Clay.
* PushoverParents: She gives in to everything Shapey wants only to stop him from screaming so she's not seen as a "bad parent" by the neighbors/
* SexlessMarriage: With Clay, given that he absolutely despises her.
* StepfordSmiler: And the cracks are very visible.
* UnderstandingBoyfriend: Bloberta always wanted one, tried to get one through multiple affairs, all of whom used her for an ulterior motive and had the series continued, she would have finally gotten one, when she began her affair with Officer Papermouth. Unfortunately the show was cut before this could happen.
* TheUnfavorite: The tone-deaf sibling in a church singer family.
* TheUnfairSex: She is just as arrogant, selfish and hypocritical as her husband Clay. However, by the end of the series, while Orel loses all respect for his father and comes to see him as the horrible person that he is, the poor boy still seems to have some love and respect for his mother. Justified, considering that she was a much less active force in his life.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: While Clay wasn't in a good mental state before their marriage, Bloberta pushed him into another level of cynicism and misery in a loveless marriage and being shackled to her and their family, all because Bloberta wanted to get married like her friends and simply chose Clay because he was the first man who met her rather low standards.
* UnwantedSpouse: With Clay, to the point that [[spoiler:she cheated on him for his lover Coach Stopframe]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Shapey Puppington]]
!!Shapey Puppington
[[quoteright:160:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shapup_5931.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by''': Tigger Stamatopoulos
Orel's little brother who's "off" in some way but it's not clear how.
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* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: He's a very whiny and destructive child who causes nothing but trouble for Orel. Orel never shows any annoyance towards him, but that's probably because his parents have ordered him to always accomodate his brother.
* BrattyHalfPint: His entire character revolves around how temperamental he is.
* TheBusCameBack: After Bloberta ''finally'' realizes she got him mixed up with Block.
* ChocolateBaby: One reason why Clay didn't get along well with Bloberta was because Shapey didn't look anything like him. "Numb" confirms that [[spoiler:Coach Daniel Stopframe is his real father]].
* InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals: Despite some distinguishing characteristics (namely head shape, hair color, and shirt color), Shapey and Block act exactly the same. They're similar enough that their parents accidentally took each other's child and didn't notice any difference. Bloberta eventually figured it out and [[TheBusCameBack got Shapey back]], unofficially adopting Block in the process.
* KiddieKid: Despite being 7 years old, he's still breastfed and openly throws tantrums like a spoiled toddler.
* MamasBabyPapasMaybe: The fact that Shapey doesn't look anything like his dad is yet another strain in the marriage of Clay and Bloberta. "The Best Christmas Ever" reveals that Clay initially didn't want Shapey on the grounds that Bloberta cheated on him, which the entire town knows about. When Clay points out that he doesn't even remember conceiving Shapey, Bloberta blames his lack of memory on his [[TheAlcoholic constant drinking]]. [[spoiler: Turns out Clay's suspicions are correct: Shapey is the result of an affair between Bloberta and Coach Stopframe, whom ironically is now who ''Clay'' is seeing behind his wife's back.]]
* NoIndoorVoice: He constantly screams or shouts phrases.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Neither he nor Block are able to be their usual destructively-hyperactive selves at the end of "Sacrifice", looking on with worried expressions that indicate they're well aware that things aren't right as Bloberta tears the house apart in search of Dr. Potterswheel's handkerchief. [[spoiler:And this is ''before'' he drops the WhamLine.]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: He acts and looks like a 3 year old. He's actually ''7''.
* PutOnABus: Or a moving van, really, Bloberta manages to get him back after finally realizing Shapey and Block were switched.
* StockAudioClip: Most of his lines and noises such as laughing and screaming are reused.
* StockScream: He has a very high pitched scream that's reused.
* TookALevelInKindness: He started to mellow out some in "Sacrifice". Had the third season kept its full length, there would've been an episode where Shapey and Block bonding is the reason why they're less bratty.
* TheVoiceless: Shapey's "dialogue" is nothing but incomprehensible screaming. [[spoiler:Subverted in the third to last episode, where Shapey quietly tells his mother that when he's thirsty, he feels like when he's alone.]]
[[/folder]]
!Extended Family
[[folder:Arthur Puppington]]
!!Arthur Puppington
[[quoteright:160:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/artpup_6254.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by''': Creator/DinoStamatopoulos (Younger); Joe Unger (Older)
Clay's abusive dad and Angela's husband. Weirdly, he's a doting grandpa to Orel.
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* AbusiveParents: Not that it excuses it, but Clay was a spoiled brat who was responsible for his wife's death, and even then Clay's birth resulted in Angela becoming religiously fanatic about him, her "miracle baby". Following Angela's death, he immediately started then stopped hitting Clay because he felt Clay wasn't worth the effort. This resulted in Clay associating abuse with worth and attention. A flashback in ''Beforel Orel'' indicates that he did shun his son and he realized in the end that it permanently screwed Clay up.
* CruelMercy: Arthur subjected Clay to this, declaring he wasn't worth disciplining. To say this messed Clay up is an understatement.
* HollywoodAtheist: After the way his wife acted, he wants nothing to do with Christianity.
* JerkassRealization: In ''Beforel Orel'', when he realized the way he treated his own son has affected Clay horribly.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: Or rather, Like Grandfather Like Grandson. If the show continued, he would have had a good relationship with Orel.
** ''Beforel Orel'' finally explored what their relationship would have been like, only it focuses on a younger Orel just before Shapey was born.
** Tragically, Arthur ''was'' an abusive parent himself, which is part of the reason why Clay beats Orel the way he does now. He realizes this to his own horror as an old man, now that it's too late to make amends with the son he's hurt, or stop him from hurting others.
** Both became embittered because of the need for attention. Arthur resented Clay for sapping Angela's affection and causing a lonely SexlessMarriage, and thus chose to snub him out of spite after her death. This left Clay, already a complete AttentionWhore, associating ''any'' recognition, even negative cases like getting beaten, as good.
* MaternalDeathBlameTheChild: His wife, Angela, died after Clay faked his suicide as a cruel prank on his parents after learning of his mother's numerous miscarriages; the stress was too much for Angela's heart, which had been weakened by said miscarriages. After the incident, Arthur openly blamed his son for Angela's death, even passing off "Ol' Gunny" to Clay because as far as Arthur was concerned, the gun was stained with (symbolic) blood because Clay killed his mother with it.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In ''Beforel Orel'' when Clay rejects him in front of the police station after saving Shapey, there's a heart wrenching scene as he has a flashback to the moment he decided Clay wasn't worth it (and Clay would act out to such a degree that Arthur couldn't help to because Clay associated abuse with worth, attention and affection). He sees Clay as the bitter, spiteful man that his negligence helped shape.
* NotSoSimilar: The episodes Arthur features in show a number of similarities to Clay, both are cynical, short-tempered, and both physically and emotionally abusive. The difference is that Arthur came to regret his abusive behavior and admitted he was wrong whilst Clay never would and continued to abuse Orel. Arthur in his later years managed to live a happier life, regrets notwithstanding, while in the DistantFinale Clay is shown to still be miserable.
* NotWorthKilling: Or rather, he felt Clay was not worth hitting after his prank resulted in Angela's death. Unfortunately, this ended up backfiring horribly as from then on, Clay came to associate abuse with worth and attention.
* OlderAndWiser: In his old age, he's come to regret his mistreatment of Clay and tries to be a better grandparent to Orel.
* ParentalSubstitute: To Orel in ''Beforel Orel''.
* PsychopathicManchild: While he did grow up eventually, his abusive past with Clay can be best described as a long-term high octane sulk, giving his pre-teen son the SilentTreatment besides to punt him or engage in PassiveAggressiveKombat (which Clay often won). It is also made apparent that he resented Clay not just for unwittingly causing Angela's death, but because he was an ignored third wheel within their overaffectionate bond, and chose to snub Clay back as a childish tit-for-tat.
-->'''Arthur:''' ''*rejects Clay's hug*'' I don't want any of your "leftovers".
* TroubledAbuser: He lost his wife to a prank Clay pulled and Clay's constant attempts to get his attention he'd respond with hitting him or ignoring him. Later in life Arthur would come to realize how much his actions affected his son and does try to be a better parental figure to his grandson.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Angela Puppington]]
[[quoteright:160:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/angelacrying.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by''': Britta Phillips
Clay's mom, who had ten stillbirths and passed on the "Lost Commandments" to Clay.
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* ComicallyMissingThePoint: A [[BlackComedy darkly comedic]] example: She attributes Clay being born alive and well to her prayers rather than the fact that she didn't smoke or do anything else incredibly stupid while pregnant
** EntertaininglyWrong: She did pray so much that praying took up most of her spare time and didn't do those wildly stupid things while pregnant with Clay.
* DeadlyPrank: Clay was so upset at learning that he wasn't her "precious only ever" that he faked committing suicide, when ended up causing her to have a fatal heart attack.
* DotingParent: She spoiled Clay rotten to the point of ignoring her husband due to how all of her previous children were stillborn.
* FamilyThemeNaming: She tells Clay that his siblings would've been named "Clark", "Clarissa", "Clementine", "Clara", "Clarice", "Clea", "Clarence", "Clinton", "Clancy", and "Clondike".
* HollywoodHeartAttack: A rather unusual example; when she learns that Clay didn't actually commit suicide, she goes from despair to joy so quickly that it overstresses her heart and she dies.
* MeaningfulName: '''Angel'''a.
* MiseryTrigger: Because of her numerous miscarriages, just saying the word "dead" in her presence (as well as any word that sounded close to it, such as "ended") would send her into hysterics.
* MissingMom: Died when Clay was twelve years old from a heart attack.
* InMysteriousWays: Her justification why she had ten failed pregnancies and only one that lived.
* TheLostLenore: Arthur wouldn't let her death go, including blaming Clay whose feigned suicide caused her fatal heart attack.
* NeverMyFault: She claimed she had miscarriages because she didn't pray hard enough, rather than due to her smoking and drinking.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Had '''ten''' stillbirths before Clay was born. It's because of these stillbirths that she came to hate the word "dead" or any words that rhyme with "dead" ("end-ed" for example).
* PosthumousCharacter: Died long before the start of the series.
* PushoverParents: Because Clay was her first living child after ten failed pregnancies, she basically treated him like royalty, giving him everything he wanted and never disciplining him when he misbehaved.
* SexlessMarriage: She acted very distant toward Arthur after Clay's birth, giving all her affection to Clay.
* TakeMeInstead: When Clay seemingly shoots himself with his father's gun, Angela hysterically pleads with God to take her instead of him. Unfortunately, when Clay reveals that he was faking, Angela takes this as God answering her pleas and cries out "I'm coming, Lord!" before collapsing in her husband's arms, dying right then and there from a heart attack.
* TooDumbToLive: Played with, she's more "Too Dumb to ''Reproduce''", as she didn't completely realize that high impact activities, heavy drinking, smoking, or any combo of the three would cause 10 of her kids being stillbirths. Somewhat justified considering that Stateesota appears to be extremely old-fashioned to the point where it’s not difficult to imagine she among others didn’t know the serious effects of drinking during pregnancy or smoking. Still played straight in the long run however, as her incompetent upbringing of Clay ended up causing her death.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Her excessive coddling of Clay (to the point of straight up ignoring other factors like her husband) led to a ''very'' strenuous life following her death, and her precious son, and to a degree the whole Puppington family tree, growing up a dysfunctional miserable train wreck.
[[/folder]]
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