Characters / PvP

The characters of PvP

Cole Richards

The founder and chief executive officer of PvP Magazine, Cole Richards is, along with Jade, the grounding center of the main cast, often contrasting with the wild antics of the main cast (though he's been known to go off the reservation himself). Brent's college roommate and best friend since high school, Cole is was the only married member of the main cast. He is was also the only one with children. Allegedly based on Richard Stockton, a friend of Scott Kurtz's.

• Benevolent Boss
• Da Chief
• Happily Married: More or less, for awhile. Not quite so anymore.
  • Sadly, he is now divorced, and went through a particularly bad Heroic BSoD at the time.
• Henpecked Husband: When he was still married. This was eventually Deconstructed during the events that led to his divorce, showing that its the signs of an unhealthy relationship, not a sign of affection.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Brent. Cole even consistently lampshades it.
• Moral Myopia: Regarding his conflict with Max Powers, where Cole takes their "rivalry" completely out of perspective.
• Nostalgia Filter: Cole and Brent both engage in this, to some extent, but Cole is particularly distanced from modern pop culture, a source of conflict between him and Francis.
• Proud to Be a Geek
• Straight Man: Cole is the only one who consistently insists on actually working on the magazine.
• Team Dad: Takes on this role for the PvP staff. Eventually lampshades this towards Jade, which Brent finds creepy.
• Write Who You Know: Cole is based on a friend of Scott's.

Brent Irving Sienna

The co-founder of PvP Magazine and Cole's closest friend, Brent Irving Sienna-Fontaine, is in many ways Cole's Foil. Where Cole is (usually) responsible, Brent often is brash and egotistical, and where Cole is proud of his geekiness, Brent vehemently denies it. Cole uses Windows, Brent uses Macs. You get the idea. However, while the two are very different, they also share many similarities, such as similar interests. Also, as of May 2008, Brent has left his place among the comic's bachelors and is now married to his long-term girlfriend, Jade Fontaine.

According to Scott Kurtz, Brent isn't based on anyone in particular, but his marriage with Jade is a "reflection" on his to his own wife, Angela.

• Animal Motif: The panda. He even dresses like one most of the time. The "Panda Whisperer" believes that the Office Panda attacks him because he considers Brent a rival Panda.
• Arch-Enemy: With the Panda. Eventually became Fire-Forged Friends.
• Big Brother Instinct: Becomes Francis's big brother figure by accident. Jade later points this out to him.
• Blind Without 'Em: Until he switched to his current pair of glasses, he was blind without his sunglasses due to wearing them for so long.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Although Brent is obsessed with boobs (or as he calls them "zoom a zooms"), he never cheats on Jade or is caught doing anything else particularly untowardly.
  • Brent claims this is because Jade controls his "boob supply," thereby rendering him subject to her judgment.
• Closet Geek
• Cool Shades: His trademark look is a pair of sunglasses with round lenses, which for most of the strip's run he never takes off. A joke is made during his wedding to Jade when he does so while delivering his vows that he's been blinded by the light. He finally took them off for good in the strip of 11/25/11. But put them back on again on 10/3/14 in a strip titled Back In Black.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Fire Forged Pandas
• The Lancer: Although Cole isn't The Hero, Brent more or less serves this role for him.
• Happily Married: With Jade.
• Geeky Turn-On: One of many things that can turn Brent on is using a Mac.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Consciously claims to be evil (as a joke), bitterly snide and cynical, and generally rude to others, Brent nonetheless has a warm soft center you can get to if you try, often shown to Jade or to Skull (ironically given Skull is the one he is often most derisive of).
  • Francis actively gave him this title when he felt that his Character Development caused his Jerk with a Heart of Gold nature to overtake his Deadpan Snarker.
• Must Have Caffeine: Actually not, but he acts as though he does. When he went off coffee for a while, he actually ended up working better. Then he encountered something that required his caffeine-fueled drive. Then it turned out that he only needed to believe he was drinking caffeine. He went back to drinking coffee anyway.
• Nerds Are Sexy
• Proud To Be An Apple Geek: Is so obsessed with Apple products that when he was banned from all Apple stores for cutting the line of an iPhone line, thereby starting a fist fight, not only did he almost go into a coma, but he affected the sales of Apple so much that they lifted his ban.
  • Played a bit sadder here.
• Running Gag:
  • For a long time, the fact that Brent never took his sun glasses off and no one in the cast had seen his eyes was one. Ever since The Reveal happened (when he married Jade), this is no longer as much an issue.
    • Curiously, the gag was actually dropped on one separate occasion, as part of a different joke. Every other time, it was played straight, to truly ridiculous levels, such as one time he was in a full-body cast. Jade says he never takes off the glasses. Never.
    • Since The Reveal, it has been made clear that Brent wears his sunglasses so often that his eyes can't handle the sun.
    • It's been permanently dropped now that Brent has started wearing regular glasses, in part because his constantly wearing his shades damaged his vision so badly.
  • Another Running Gag that's been dropped has been his constant suffering at the hands of the Office Panda, which started when he tried to replace Skull with the Panda. As of 2010, their feud has stopped and they're even friends — of a sort.
• Sensei for Scoundrels: For Francis.
• Shipper on Deck: Less enthusiastic about it than Jade, but he does help get Francis and Marcy back together and also takes part in the attempt to hook up Miranda and Reggie.

Jade Evelyn Fontaine

Jade Evelyn Fontaine-Sienna is, along with Cole, the most responsible member of the PvP staff and most likely to get work done. However, her work ethic strains against her own impulses for mischief and addiction to online gaming. Nonetheless, Jade is something of a maternal, governing figure for the group, who is at least as likely to try and be responsible as she is to goof off. For a long time, she was also the only female, before Marcy and later her sister Miranda were hired.

In 2008, Jade married her long-term boyfriend Brent Sienna, after several failed proposals on the latter's part. After debating over whether to change her name or not, the couple settled on a compromise. This made her, along with her husband and Cole, the only married character in the series.

• Addiction Displacement: A recurring problem for Jade, who goes from being addicted to Ultima Online to Everquest to Dark Age of Camelot to World of Warcraft, much to Brent's frustration. Also was addicted to email for awhile, though this seems to have been dropped.
• Art Evolution: Moreso than even the other characters. Compare her in 1998 and her in 2010.
• Author Avatar / Write Who You Know: According to Scott, Jade is partially modeled after his wife. According to Angela (Scott's wife), Jade's more similar to him. Take your pick.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Not really. But the rest of the cast acts as if her single night in juvenile hall and teenage antics are a traumatic backstory, though in sort of an Evil Is Cool sort of way.
• Dating Catwoman: This is how Cole and Brent (to a lesser extent) saw her date with Max Powers.
• Fanservice Pack: Directly tied to the above mentioned Art Evolution. In response to criticisms of the new design, Kurtz said he had wanted from the start to make Jade sexy, but his art skills at the time weren't up to the task.
• Gamer Chick: Averted. While Jade is a gamer and she is a woman, she doesn't fall into the particular stereotypes this trope exhibits.
• Geeky Turn-On: How did Brent get back together with Jade after their nasty break-up? By courting her online as a player on Dark Age of Camelot, dressing up in a big chainmail suit, and asking her to a romantic get-away in Las Vegas (where they had broken up the year previous).
• Happily Married: With Brent.
• My Beloved Smother: Her mother is overbearing, and she's not on especially good terms with her because of it. Jade's mother was introduced by going behind Jade's back and cancelling all the reservations in an attempt to cancel her wedding to Brent.
• Nerds Are Sexy: Everyone except her mom thinks she's smoking hot.
• Shipper on Deck: Jade maneuvers Francis and Marcy into getting back together and also tries to hook up her sister Miranda with any responsible man she can find. Double Subverted when her attempt with Miranda and Reggie backfires, only for them to get together anyway.
• Straw Feminist: In the strip's early days, Jade was a lot more extreme regarding her views of sex relations, particularly as they pertained to gaming. Over time, she's mellowed out and it's no longer an issue in the comic, possibly due to the increasing awareness of female gamers in pop culture.
• Team Mom

Francis Ray Ottoman

Initially the only minor in the cast, Francis is both a vindication and indictment of Generation Y (1980s through mid 1990s), both being incredibly intelligent and quick on his feet but also being self-centered and often obnoxious. Initially cast as something of a hardcore PC user, both as a contrast with Brent's Apple obsession and as a commentary on gamers deriding the console experience. Since then, however, Francis has branched out in other forms of nerdom and no longer has a particular prejudice against either Macs or consoles. Typically, Francis is used to represent the youth opinion in a battle of generations or as an example of a nerd who's truly proud to be one with no reservations.

• Brilliant, but Lazy
• Can't Hold His Liquor: He had an interesting reaction to his first and only beer of that comic.
• Child Prodigy: Although too lazy to do anything with it, Francis has been established many times to be something of a technical genius. Which is why PvP hired him in the first place.
• G.I.R.L.: Francis plays a female superhero called Catfight, allegedly because, as he put it "If I'm gonna be staring at an ass in tights all day, it might as well be a nice ass!" Also played at least one female character in Cole's Dungeons&Dragons game.
• Important Haircut: Averted. While Francis does change his hairstyle significantly at one point due to Miranda calling it "cute," it turns out to be completely unimportant character-wise. It stays that way, though.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Less so than Brent, but he's shown genuine compassion and concern for others a lot more frequently as of late.
• Harmless Villain: Early on in the strip, his "evil" tendencies were played up, particularly by Brent, who played the part of Sensei for Scoundrels. Mostly, his "acts of evil" amounted to finding ways to get out of work, digital piracy, and pretending to stand in line for Episode III.
  • In a Bad Future averted by Jade destroying the causality-breaking Tivo, Francis turned out to be a Not-So-Harmless Villain. This character development has evidently been averted.
• Level-Up at Intimacy 5: With Marcy.
• Plot-Relevant Age-Up: With Level-Up at Intimacy 5.
• Proud to Be a Geek: To a point where he's often oblivious of non-nerdy opinions.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Has this to an extent with Marcy. Their relationship is often tempestuous, she kicks his ass at almost every video game, and their romance is even fueled by this rivalry.
• "Stop Having Fun" Guys: Originally was this towards console gamers, but after playing a Dreamcast until dawn, he mellowed out. Still has a minor feud with Brent over Macs. invoked
• Tagalong Kid: Before Marcy showed up, he was the only significant character younger than 18. He's now over 18.
• The Smart Guy
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between him and Marcy, after their first time. Best exemplified (and invoked) in this comic. Finally resolved when Francis and Marcy get married during a gaming competition in Vegas.
• Viva Las Vegas!: Francis is sent to Vegas with Marcy by Lucille to represent the magazine at a major gaming competition, despite (and in part because of) the conflict over their feelings for one another. They get drunk and marry, the subsequent freakout leading to them abandoning the tournament.

Skull Theodore Troll

Skull Theodore Troll is a 400-year old troll who is the only non-human member of the PvP staff. Childish and innocent, Skull is something of an odd match even discounting his mythical nature, being completely sweet and good-hearted, quite large, and also unpaid (he works there officially as an intern). Skull was originally imported from Scott Kurtz's earlier comic, Tales By Tavernlight, and was modeled (at least initially) after the trolls featured in Ultima Online. Since then, however, he's become an integral part of the cast, the comic's mascot, and developed a rich backstory. His flatulence has also become a subject of great notoriety within the strip.

It was later revealed that Skull has in fact been Brent's guardian angel since Brent was a small child. How this fits in with his earlier backstory is unclear.

• Author Avatar: To a certain extent, Skull represents Scott Kurtz.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Skull is the most good-natured of the cast, but he is a giant troll and it isn't a good idea to anger him. When he and Val get into battle during their first meeting, he effortlessly catches her dwarf hammer with one hand before joining the fray. Fortunately, the animosity didn't last long.
  Skull (catches hammer): Big mistake.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The entire method by which Skull's species (and all other mythical creatures) exist. Without people's belief in them, they cease to exist.
• Expansion Pack Past: Initially, Skull was just an import from Tales By Tavernlight, which was set in the world of Ultima Online. Then, it was later established that the characters of Tales By Tavernlight actually existed in the historic past. At some point, it was revealed Skull was present during the War of the Ring. Then, his cousin Shecky was revealed. Lastly, it appears that in addition to all these other details, Skull has also been Brent's guardian angel / imaginary friend since childhood.
• Fartillery
• The Heart:He's definitely the most Pure of Heart within the cast.
• Hidden Depths: Though most know better now, the cast initially didn't take Skull seriously at all and thought of him at best as a charming man child.
• Not-So-Imaginary Friend: For Brent. Overlaps slightly with [[spoiler:Guardian Angel, since his job was to guide Brent to becoming a better person and a fully mature adult.
• Opposites Attract: Skull is a giant troll and his girlfriend Val Bronzebottom is a dwarf battle maiden (Trolls and dwarves are mortal enemies). After a brief Slap-Slap-Kiss during a role-playing tournament, they began dating and have been together ever since.
• I'm a Humanitarian: An early Running Gag was Skull wanting to eat Francis. It was never made clear if this was true or if Skull was just joking around. Another early one-off joke had Skull note that monsters use Big Macs as a unit of measure for high-calorie food - a fat Bavarian child was apparently the equivalent of 150 of them.
• Samus Is a Girl: Early in the strip Skull announced he was female. This was later revealed to be a joke on Skull's part to get attention.
• Species Surname
• Weirdness Censor: Certain people can't see Skull. It's unclear exactly how this works, since while it was initially suggested only the Pure of Heart could see him, this had a principle flaw: the person in question who couldn't see him (Max Powers) isn't any more evil then Brent, who can. Furthermore, later on, Shecky shatters Max Powers' inability to see him.
  • Fridge Brilliance hits when you realize that the reason Max and others can't/couldn't see Skull likely has to do with them not believing in mythical creatures. Most people who can't see Skull see a dog (or a gorilla) instead, even though he doesn't look like either.

Giant Panda

A giant panda that Brent found and brought to the office one day. For many years, he would jump out and maul Brent.

• Replacement Goldfish: When Brent first brought him to the office, he claimed that this was Skull, who had gone missing at the time.
• Speak of the Devil: Usually shows up whenever someone talks about or even mentions pandas. Brent sometimes takes advantage of this for entertainment value.
• The Voiceless: Zig-zagged. He doesn't usually speak, but has had dialogue with other animals.

Scratch Fury: Destroyer of Worlds

Originally a stray found by Skull, Scratch was an ordinary cat later turned genius by an intelligence altering machine Skull had created after he himself had gained superior intelligence. Hellbent on taking over the world and enslaving all humans and dogs, unfortunately he still suffers from being a cat and occasionally having a soft spot for his owner Skull and supposed "nemesis" Kirby, Cole's dog.

• Cats Are Mean
• Cats Are Superior - How Scratch sees the world.
• Cat Up a Tree - How Scratch became Kringus.
• Hidden Heart of Gold - Despite seeming to hate Kirby, he genuinely does care deeply for him.

Max Powers

Arch-ennemy of Cole... Or so he seems to think about him that way. His animosity towards him dates back to college, where Max "stole" a girl Cole liked.

• Character Development: Max becomes more and more likable as the comic goes on, he literally gains a beard, becomes able to see Skull (he was the only one at the office not able to see him), saved the magazine... And moved the entire cast to Seattle.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Max broke into Cole's office to search for bank statements because Cole was ignoring Max's concerns about the magazine's finances even though Cole knew they were pretty much screwed.
• I Reject Your Reality: In a post, Kurtz explained the reason he couldn't see Skull was because he refused to accept him because of his ego. An abandoned concept from the Tales by Tavernlight crossover would have featured his counterpart unable to see the Delorean. The fact that he can see him now is a sign he's grown.
  • As Websnark noted, the reason Max was so insufferable is that he refused to acknowledge that the others didn't like him. A turning point for his character was him finally confronting Brent and Cole on this.
• Mistaken for Gay: Much of the cast suspects Max Powers is gay. He's hinted as much, but won't give a straight answer (as it were). Lately, he seems to be dating someone... named Chris.
  • And afterward, Jade ran into him at the market, where she saw him holding hands with a unknown guy...
    • And now, it's confirmed: Max is gay.
• Mr. Vice Guy: He really did have a big ego when he was introduced, even if he wasn't as bad as Cole made him out to be. This mellows out after his self-discovery.
• "Reason You Suck" Speech: When he tried to celebrate Lucille's birthday, she revealed that she filled her calendar with fake birthday entries. Obviously, she doesn't like her birthday, and doesn't want anyone to celebrate it. This led to the following exchange between them:
  Lucille: Smarter men than you have tried and failed to discover my birthday. Nice try, though.
  Max: Yeah, well smarter women have tried to convince themselves they're happier being alone, Lucille. And failed. Nice try, though.
  [Beat]
  Lucille: April twenty-seventh.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: In the beginning. It's even repeatedly lampshaded by the comic that Max isn't bad; Cole and Brent just hate him.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Subverted. The audience is initially warned that he's one, but upon closer scrutiny, it turns out that Max is actually a pretty decent guy (if a bit of a dork).
  • Prior to his Great American Journey sanding off the obnoxious edges of his personality, he was routinely treated as one, even though he didn't really deserve it. Cole hated him with a passion; none of the others felt quite so strongly, but they found his dorkiness so incredibly grating that it overshadowed his numerous redeeming qualities.
• Straight Gay
• Tall Poppy Syndrome: Kinda suffers from this.

Lucille Delacorte

A high ranking exec of Wizards of the Coast. Was first introduced following a cooperation between Kurt and WotC, and slowly developed into a more important character.

• Break the Haughty: It's implied that her breakdown many years ago had this effect.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Death Glare
• Emotionless Girl: Most of the time.
• Face Framed in Shadow: At her introduction.
• Full-Name Ultimatum: Uses one against Francis, who tries to talk back to her... To no avail:
  Lucille:Francis Ray Ottoman. You will tell me what happened in Vegas. Now.
  Francis: *deadpan* Oh, I'm sorry. I thought that was my name, not a make me tell you stuff spell.
  Lucille: *Death Glare*
  Francis: We got married in Vegas.
• Heroic BSoD: If her backstory is anything to go by, she suffered one when she had a breakdown.
• Hidden Depths
• Magnificent Bastard: She managed to save PvP, and to get back Cole in the team (who, at the time, quit his job). Later, she manipulated Cole so he would get back in the game and start dating again.
  • She decided to send both Marcy and Francis to Vegas (originally only Marcy was to go) after realizing that the heated rivalry driving their relationship could benefit the company at the gaming competition, conveniently also leading to Marcy and Francis reconciling their relationship (though it is made clear their eloping caught her by surprise).
  • In the recent LARP arc, Lucille denies using the game to force the PvP staff to come together and fight for their company after leaving a note that she intends to disband the magazine and reassign the staff lying around for Brent to find.
• Mrs. Robinson: Averted, but Francis really feared that it might be the case. However, the trope is zigzagged when she made it very clear that she is not a bobcat (note: a bobcat is a cougar who only wants to snuggle):
  Lucille: Francis, let me make one thing perfectly clear. Were I romantically interested in you... Lucille Delacorte NEVER snuggles.
• Parental Substitute: To Francis.
• Perpetual Frowner
• Self-Deprecation: She tries to joke about it, but it appears that she doesn't have a so high opinion of herself:
  Lucille: Darren was kind and generous when we got married. I'm the one who made him bitter and cruel. I—I'm afraid I'm not a very good person. *ahem* Now you know why I have people sign NDAS prior to my drinking.
• Serious Business: Before beginning negotiations between PvP and WotC, she challenges Francis to a duel of cards. Magic: The Gathering is serious business.
• The Stoic
  • Not So Stoic: She had a breakdown years ago, when she was still married to Darren. Also, when a very drunk Cole reveals that he tattooed Kermit the Frog on his right buttocks, she burst out in laughter.
• Team Mom: Despite her cold demeanor, she fills this role. Lampshaded here, after Francis and Marcy marry.
  (to Cole) "Honey, you won't believe what the kids did today."
• When She Smiles