Unmarked Spoilers ahead!
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Main Characters
Bianca Abercrombie
Dr. Albright is busy at the moment, so I will be treating you today.
A young nurse working at the Albright Clinic. Aloof and snarky with a hidden heart of gold, she faces all kinds of horrors in this Crapsack World with indifferent professionalism.
- Badass Adorable: Don't let her cute appearance fool you, Bianca is very much capable of defending herself.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: In Don't Worry Bianca gets infected with the mushroom parasite, causing her to become hostile toward Michaelis. Fortunately, Michaelis is able to cure her before she completely loses herself.
- Brutal Honesty: Bianca doesn't think much of feigning politeness or interest. People she talks to will always know exactly what she thinks of them, especially when it's not much.
- Celibate Hero: It makes a lot of sense given her personality, but the pride month illustration made it clear that Bianca identifies as asexual.
- Combat Medic: Bianca knows enough self-defense to hold a grown man down on the floor and she uses her syringes expertly.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: In a city where Body Horror is linked to a lot of illnesses, you'd have to be.
- Deadpan Snarker: If Bianca ever cracks a joke, expect it to be a snarky one-liner at someone else's expense.
- Gamer Chick: She plays plenty of video games when she isn't busy with patients.
- Everyone Has Standards: Bianca’s more than used to seeing people stuck in horrible situations (or even actively choosing to stay in them), but the Eternal Gaming Café sickens her beyond words.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: While Dr. Albright is the head of the hospital, Bianca tends to do a majority of the work. Bianca often has to press him into doing something.
- I Have No Son!: Inverted. Bianca doesn't consider her mother as such anymore, likely due to how abusive she was when Bianca was still a child.
- I'll Tell You When I've Had Enough!: When Dr. Albright ends up giving her an energy drink, Bianca goes wild and supposedly has five and asks for a sixth before Dr. Albright decides to drag her out of the bar.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite how cold she acts around others, she shows to genuinely care about the livelihood of other people quite often.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Bianca is a Deadpan Snarker and never smiles, but she's also a very dedicated nurse and has stood up to defend innocent people more than once over the course of the comic. The Eternal Gaming Café Arc has her investigate and thoroughly chew out a gaming café that lets its customers play video games for days on end, without taking sufficient measures to ensure they'll stay in good health. She herself was neither one of its victims, nor does she really know anyone there. She just intervenes because it's the right thing to do and these people need help.
- Like Mother, Unlike Daughter: While Bianca and her mother are very similar on the surface, they couldn't be more different personality-wise. While Dr. Abercrombie is a Dr. Jerk with a Lack of Empathy, Bianca is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who genuinely cares about helping people and is only blunt when the situation calls for it.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Bianca briefly becoming a Perpetual Smiler and optimistic after the mushroom infection gets to her is done to show just how much the Hive Mind warps the personalities of everyone part of it.
- Perpetual Frowner: Bianca's only expressions are variations of the same disinterested scowl. Though, given the fact that she lives in a rundown city crawling with monsters and diseases and spent her childhood with a mother who made it a misery, you can't really fault her for that.
- Pointless Band-Aid: Bianca has band-aids patched all over her arms. Nobody knows what they're for.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: She was a lot more cheerful as a child, but supposedly became the way she is because of her mother.
Dr. Charlie Albright
Let's cure our patient.
Head of Albright Clinic. He’s jolly and not serious per se, but very caring towards Bianca.
- The Atoner: His current work as a Backalley Doctor is his way of making up for his previous job as a medical researcher in the Yellow corporation.
- Back-Alley Doctor: He runs the Albright Clinic, an unofficial clinic on the top floor of an apartment building.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He is often very friendly and upbeat if a bit goofy. Talk down to Bianca though, and he will drop it momentarily to give you a cold Death Glare.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Currently has the thickest eyebrows in this series.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He doesn't look like he would be the best doctor at first due to laziness, but when he steps out to operate, he shows he can be pretty competent.
- Dirty Business: He sells illegal drugs to rich people and has a semi-legal arrangement with the director. It's implied he does this to keep the clinic afloat, but doesn't actually enjoy doing it, as he warns Bianca away from it several times.
- Ditzy Genius: Dr. Albright seems more interested in playing video games than in running his clinic, but he's nonetheless a very competent doctor and a talented pharmacist.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: A blonde and a very caring doctor. In episode 58 he gives a homeless person money for medicine after identifying early stage-mutation on his body.
- Hidden Depths: He might not act like it, but he takes his job as a doctor very seriously and genuinely wants to help his patients. At the same time he's mature enough to accept that he and Bianca can't help everyone and that sometimes the best they can do is prescribe drugs that make a patient's last living moments more bearable.
- He’s also very observant, being able to tell that Bianca is upset just by a slight furrow between her eyebrows.
- He also genuinely cares for Bianca. He takes her education very seriously, openly warns her away from Dirty Business, and encourages her to come out of her shell more. In episode 31 it's implied he has a Dark and Troubled Past that he doesn't like to talk about.
- Older Than They Look: If that picture he has with her mother is anything to go by, he’s old enough to be Bianca’s father. Comparing the current Dr. Albright to himself during the time the photo is taken, he seems to age backward.
- Perpetual Smiler: In contrast to Bianca's Perpetual Frowner, Dr. Albright has such an extreme sunny disposition he almost comes off as obnoxious. This makes the moments when he isn't smiling or cheerful all the more poignant.
Side Characters
The Librarian
- Abhorrent Admirer: She adores Bianca, and always looks at her with...shameless eyes. Let’s put it at that. Bianca is indifferent to it at best.Bianca, deadpan but visibly annoyed: “Why are you touching me?”
- Cuteness Proximity: Gushes over Bianca in every single moment possible.
- Hot Librarian: She's a very attractive young woman and runs the city's library.
- Nervous Wreck: Her first reaction to any problem is "panic and run to the Albright Clinic for help".
The Director
"So... You want money?"
Head of the Capital City bank. She frequently does business with the Albright Clinic.
- The Bus Came Back: After being absent for a significant amount of chapters, the Director returns in the "Golden Swan Club".
- Dirty Business: She pays Dr. Albright huge sums of money in exchange for workers made from one of his concoctions.
Sarah
- And Then John Was a Zombie: Sarah is among the people infected by Dr. Adler's mushroom parasite and comes close to infecting Bianca as well.
- Butt-Monkey: Things don't tend to go well for Sarah. From getting an eye parasite that feeds on her nostalgia to drinking an energy drink that makes her sick. She's lucky her friend is a nurse that deals with those kinds of things.
- Break the Cutie: Although she presents her usual smile around Bianca, as shown in the second comic of the second season, the mushroom parasite event really had an impact on her.
- Genki Girl: She's always chipper and enthusiastic, which is quite the accomplishment if you live in a Crapsack World like Capital City.
- Odd Friendship: The happy, optimistic Sarah likes to hang out with The Stoic, cynic Bianca.
- Shipper on Deck: Sarah believes Bianca and Michaelis would be cute together (all while being blissfully unaware that Michaelis isn't even human). When she sees the two of them walking to school together, she immediately and excitedly asks if they are dating.
- Stepford Smiler: She appears to have become this after the mushroom parasite arc as she drops her usual smile when she is alone.
- Ungrateful Bitch: Implied and zigzagged. following the mushroom infection incident, the entire student body subconsciously hates Bianca for saving them. When Bianca states that Sarah appears to be about ready to agree with the body, only to stop as to not upset Bianca due to still considering Bianca her friend.
Michaelis
How most people see him.
True Form
A hideous blob of flesh and Bianca's classmate.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: He's very friendly to Bianca due to her keeping his secret. It's really shown how much Bianca's kindness meant to him when he cures her of the mushroom infection while she is stabbing him. After curing her, he apologizes and calls her his first friend, leaving the cured Bianca devastated.
- Benevolent Abomination: He's a writhing, slimy mess of tentacles and flesh without his pheromones. He is also one of Bianca's closest allies.
- Big Damn Heroes: Arrives in the nick of time to save Bianca from getting infected by a mushroomed Sarah.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Just misguided at worst. He's introduced fooling the girls in school into falling in love with his Human Disguise, but cuts it out as as soon as Bianca tells him to and seems to be on fairly good terms with her after that.
- Human Disguise: To a majority of people, he looks like a beautiful young boy. His true form, as seen by Bianca, is actually that of a giant blob of flesh.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Implied. When Bianca sees through his disguise and goes right to taking a sample on Dr. Albright's orders, the first thing he worries about is that she'll spread the word about him being a monster and that his classmates will hate him. He's visibly relieved when Bianca tells him she won't do that. Because of this, he considers Bianca to be his first actual friend.
- Invisible to Normals: Michaelis's pheromones disguise his appearance to humans, but mutations and Bianca are able to see his true form. Humans infected with a mushroom parasite are also able to see through the disguise.
- Nice Guy: He's actually easy to get along with, compared to most of his kind.
Big Father
A giant environmental mutation who lives in the sewers with his children.
- Blob Monster: he is a giant blob, and his children are also blobs (albeit much smaller).
- Heel–Face Turn: He and his children led Bianca into a trap with intent to kill and devour her. After she saves him from dying to sanitizer which she sprayed him with, he and his kids are grateful enough to promise not to attack humans anymore and even offer to aid her when she needs help.
- Weaksauce Weakness: As their bodies consist of bacteria and pathogens, hand sanitizer is enough to cause Big Father and his kids agonizing pain which can kill them if untreated. A large enough amount will kill them instantly.
Antagonists
Mister Yellow
- Connected All Along:
- Episode 56 reveals that the Eternal Gaming Café runs on his company's funding.
- Dr. Albright and Bianca's mother worked for his company. Dr. Albright left after a Heel Realization. It's unknown if Bianca's mother still works for him, but it's highly likely.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: His company performs dangerous experiments in populated areas and with how fast he stays up-to-date on said experiments, it can be inferred he has a lot of friends in high places. He also bought up all of the citiy's pharma companies and raised the prices for medicine up to a ridiculous level.
- Greater-Scope Villain: He was responsible for the blob monster that caused damage in Capital City, and was the main backer behind pretty much every other antagonist in this Antagonist section. He hasn't had a moment to play Big Bad, but he definitely has proven to be responsible for some big problems with more coming in.
- Villain Has a Point: Shady as he is, he does have a point in that pharma companies would most likely focus more on competing with each other than actually finding a cure for the country's Body Horror - epidemic, given the choice.
- Villain with Good Publicity: The Yellow Corporation is Capital City's leading (and only) pharma company and supplies the citizens with medicine that works against mutation. Downplayed, as it's implied a lot of people see right through the company's benevolent act, but just have no choice but to buy from them.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: When asked by a reporter if he thinks it's morally right to have his corporation assimilate every single company in the pharmaceutical industry, he counters that having the drug industry compete with each other like they did before the takeover would only lead to rushed trials, which in turn would lead to medication that wasn't ready. Uniting the pharma companies would erase the need for competition and bring the focus back on creating medicine that actually stopped mutations. However, it's possible this is just an excuse to eliminate competition with his company and to line his pockets, considering that the medicine he sells is absurdly overpriced.
- In the Golden Swan arc, he claims that he desires to seal everyone in a comatose virtual utopia to escape the mutations running rampant in this Crapsack World. According to him, it's going to be voluntary, although the fact that he's a backer of Dr. Tyler Adder (who tricked everyone he could into his Brainwashed and Crazy mushroom network involuntarily) brings his sincerity into question.
- We Used to Be Friends: In Golden Swan Club Pt. 3, Bianca sees a picture of them playing together as children, and he says they used to be friends.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Has white hair and it's obvious he doesn't mean Capital City well.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: He has yellow eyes and is the Corrupt Corporate Executive of a pharma company that conducts highly unethical experiments. It's also revealed that the Eternal Gaming Cafe, where people waste away while being trapped in video games until they either die or their time runs out, runs on his funding, and that he was the villainous Dr. Tyler's backer.
Bianca's Mom
Everyone dies. You'll die. I'll die. Don't whine about it.
A very sought-after doctor with a cold demeanor.- Abusive Parents: Often caused Bianca emotional distress, rarely praised her or showed her affection and kept her from forming any sort of relationship with the man she took for her partner.
- Brutal Honesty: Deconstructed. Flashbacks show her as honest to the point of callousness, bluntly telling Bianca her beloved grandfather passed away while he sent her to get ice cream for the both of them, making his attempt to not make Bianca sad null and void. Right before that she also called Bianca's drawing for her grandfather ugly.
- Darwinist Desire: Many Years Ago and Don't Bother Strangers reveal that she desires the perfect child and chose her partner based on if he matched her intellectually to achieve that goal.
- Dr. Jerk: A brilliant medical doctor she might be but her bedside manner seriously leaves something to be desired.
- Hate Sink: What little we've seen of her paints her as a thoroughly unpleasant woman with no regard for her daughter's emotional well-being and an extremely cold attitude.
- Lack of Empathy: Her interactions with Bianca in the flashbacks show her as very aloof and uncaring about the feelings of others, even her own daughter. So much so that she doesn't think to comfort Bianca when her grandfather dies and instead coldly tells her that everyone dies eventually, so Bianca shouldn't "whine" about it. She also genuinely doesn't seem to understand why Bianca might want to build a relationship with her father, whom she has met for the first time in a long while, and tells her not to bother "strangers".
- Perpetual Frowner: Much like her daughter she has a permanent scowl on her face and rarely displays any emotion other than scorn.
- Shadow Archetype: Bianca's mother is pretty much who Bianca would be if she really was as cold as she appears. A cold doctor thoroughly lacking in empathy who cares about nothing and no one but her career.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: According to Mr. Yellow, sealing people away in a virtual Utopia to escape reality was her idea. In particular, she's the one who proposed making it available to everyone instead of just rich people.
Dr. Peter Barnes
Bianca's father, whom she has only met once in her life.
- Chosen Conception Partner: Bianca's mother picked him specifically for his high intellect, in order to have, as he puts it, a "perfect child".
- Disappeared Dad: He had very little contact with Bianca outside of introducing himself to her after she was already older, courtesy of her mother not bothering to let her daughter get to know him.
- Nice Guy: Downplayed. He was very warm and friendly with Bianca and genuinely seemed to want to get to know her, but he also openly admits to her that her mother chose him so they could produce the perfect off-spring, suggesting that he was more than okay with it.
Eternal Gaming Cafe Employee
The employee giving Bianca a tour of the café.
- Cheshire Cat Grin: He has a way too wide smile on his face almost constantly that borders on Slasher Smile at times.
- Anti-Villain: The establishments he works at lets people play video games over long stretches of time and doesn't take sufficient measures to keep them in good health. He himself sees nothing wrong with that and even believes he and his employers are doing these people a favor by allowing them to die in a fun game world instead of the miserable real world.
- Faux Affably Evil: He works at and promotes the café despite knowing how negligent it is towards it's customers. When Bianca has enough of his fanatic ramblings and tries to attack him, he grabs her roughly and tries to convince her to become a customer as well.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He seems to believe in Mr. Yellow's goal to seal everyone away in a comatose virtual utopia, which he claims will have a lack the nasty "side effects" of health atrophy that plagued the Eternal Gaming Cafe due to a higher budget.
Dr. Tyler Adler
- Arc Villain: Serves as the primary antagonist for the Mushroom Parasite arc, being the patient zero for the original parasite and aiming to not only infect the university, but the whole world.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He comes off as a very polite guy that everybody seems to love, but Michaelis's reaction to him makes it clear that there is something off about him. When he kills some of the trash blobs in front of Bianca, that makes it clear to her that he can't be trusted.
- Dead All Along: Michaelis reveals Dr. Adler died months ago, which means this is either an impostor or his corpse reanimated by the mushroom mutation. The latter is ultimately confirmed.
- Hate Sink: Establishes himself as one pretty early on. Not only is he a massive Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, being charming and friendly in public but showing a much more sinister personality once he controls almost the entire school, he also deliberately outs Michaelis as a mutation, talks about dissecting him and sics his brainwashed students on both him and Bianca when they don't willingly let themselves get infected by his mushroom parasite.
- Hive Mind: Anybody infected by his mushroom parasite is connected to him no matter where they are, allowing them to sense the wherabouts of others and even feel like they are in another place as evidenced when Bianca felt like she was in the botanical garden.
- Hypocrite:
- He opts not to have his mutation removed on the claim that it isn't harmful, but he kills some of Big Father's kids claiming mutations, especially environmental ones, are dangerous.
- He claims that Michaelis is a danger to the university and shouldn't be considered a person, but rather a creature. This despite the fact that Michaelis has done nothing to harm his classmates, while Dr. Adler is actively brainwashing them and plans to use them to take over the world.
- Villainous Breakdown: When Bianca pours the cure to Dr. Adler's mushroom infection into the school's water supply, the parasitic doctor completely loses his previous composure and viciously attack her.
- The Virus: Despite his claim that his mushroom mutation isn't dangerous, some of the girls start growing mushrooms on their heads for being in close enough proximity to him, which Bianca notices. It is eventually shown that his mutation is very contagious and parasitic with almost all of the school growing mushrooms that infect their brains, and he only needs to touch them to spread it.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Paints himself in this light, claiming that the Fungal Network he establishes is only making people happy and that that's all he wants. How sincere he is about it is up for debate.
