A list of characters from the comic strip Pearls Before Swine.
Major Characters
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Rat
- Anti-Hero: He's not the nicest rat you'll ever meet.
- Babysitter from Hell: The Baby Blues-Pearls Before Swine crossover strip demonstrated that Rat is, bar none, the absolute worst babysitter that anyone can imagine.
- Batter Up!: Rat's weapon is the Louisville Slugger bat, which he's more than happy to use on anyone or anything that draws his ire — usually Stephan Pastis.
- Berserk Button: Oodles. Some of which include: stupid people, people he sees to be stupid, anyone who does a stupid trend (i.e. man-buns, selfie-sticks), people who disagree with him, PUNS; DO NOT make stupid, lame, or cheesy puns or he'll beat the crap out of you, like with Stephan Pastis.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: See With Friends Like These... below
- Catchphrase: When Pig does something stupid: "You dumb/stupid Pig!"
- Comic Trio: The schemer of the trio.
- The Cynic: He finds even the slightest bit of optimism as illogical.
- Cynicism Catalyst: It's heavily implied that his break-up with Farina caused him to be even more cynical and spiteful than before, when he wasn't even near being so.
- Deadpan Snarker: He's got a very dry sense of humor coupled with a love to passive-aggressively criticize.
- Felony Misdemeanor: says that he will make eating pineapple pizza a felony.
- Foil: To Pig. See below.
- Expy: There are many traits of Rat that fit the late George Carlin, such as his cynicism and threats of violence.
- Gun Nut: He fought with a Walmartopialand clerk for not selling him a rifle right away with the purchase, as the clerk kept insisting on a waiting period or a detailed analysis of his behavior.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: In a 2008 strip, he beat up Pig just for doing something completely harmless, yet stupid (drawing his body parts so that if he losers them he can identify them).
- Her Code Name Was "Mary Sue": When he hijacked the strip once
, he wrote himself as a "Raterpillar" who ate every single character in the strip. - Heroic Comedic Sociopath: He occasionally prone to acts of disproportionate violence against other people. It's always played for laughs.
- Jerkass: Unrepentantly and sometimes proudly so.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Rat is an asshole, no question, but his anger is occasionally directed at the rude behavior of others and his misanthropy is largely the result of being subjected to hundreds of little annoyances. When the mood strikes him, he's even capable of being nice to Pig, mainly by keeping him from harsh truths. It's also implied that his cynicism is partly due to Farina breaking up with him, as he wasn't nearly as bad before that. He's also not immune to random acts of kindness, such as treating a homeless man to a spaghetti dinner after thinking about how he himself could end up in those circumstances.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He sees himself as this, at one point refusing to look his love interest in the eye because he feels like she can see straight into his head and "it's not a nice place in there", though that shifts into Jerk with a Heart of Gold all the same, being aware that he is not a really good person and tends to be mean to everyone.
- Karma Houdini: Rat usually gets away with his schemes and outbursts of violence against the rest of the cast. However, he does sometimes get what's coming to him.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: He frequently does this. In fact, the strip's title comes from the fact that he says things he thinks are wise to the stupid and gullible Pig (putting "pearls" before swine).
- Lack of Empathy: Rat finds the misfortune of Pig, Goat, and others amusing. He once got a job writing cards for people. Guess how well that went.
- Large Ham...and the fat man is yelling "DIE, CRACKERS, DIE!!"
- Manchild: He is bratty and arrogant in contrast to Pig's innocence.
- Most Writers Are Writers: An aspiring novelist. Key word being "aspiring".
- New Job as the Plot Demands: "Rat gets a new job" makes up a fair portion of the strips content. Of course, Status Quo Is God and he always goes back to being unemployed (which is what you'd expect given his general attitude).
- Nietzsche Wannabe:
- Odd Friendship: Being a cynical, mean pessimist, he's best friends with a friendly Wide-Eyed Idealist. Huh?
- Rage Against the Author: Often criticizes or threatens Pastis when a bad Pun or Painful Rhyme is let off as a punch line. He also shows up at Stephan's house just to mess with him frequently.
- Sentimental Drunk: If this strip is any indication.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Expressed with Symbol Swearing.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Is this to Stephan and Goat, who he trolls constantly.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Very much so.
- Social Darwinist: Due to his far-right views, Rat opposes any form of government welfare for the poor but advocates heavily taxing them. Rat even idolizes rich, powerful CEO's of financial institutions or large corporations as heroes.
- Strawman Political: A very right-leaning conservative.
- They Killed Kenny Again: Once was run over by a car. Died again after exploding from the stress of smiling too much. Died from a heart attack when Pastis himself died in the strip. His head was cut off by Jim Davis for accidentally eating Garfield. He came Back from the Dead each time.
- Token Evil Teammate: Pig, Goat, and Zebra are all generally good, but Rat is nasty enough for the four of them.
- Troll: He appreciates the internet because it allows him to be anonymously rude. He also enjoys annoying Stephan by mocking his failures (being unable to win a Ruben award), getting him into legal trouble (ripping out a drawing of a bike from "Baby Blues" because Stephan can't draw bikes, leading to a angry phone call with the strip's creator), or screwing with the strip (spilling beer on a strip Stephan was working on, blurring the last panel).
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: A generally unpleasant and acerbic person whose snark happens to often be the punchline.
- Villain Protagonist: Sometimes, especially back when the strip lacked any characters outside him and Pig.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Type 1 with Pig. He is the primary target of Rat's abuse, but Rat really does care for him and they remain best friends.
- With Friends Like These...: He treats Pig badly, constantly trolls Goat and Pastis, and has sided with the Crocs whenever it would benefit him.
- You Dirty Rat!: Literally and figuratively.
Pig
- All-Loving Hero: His good nature leads him to make friends with even inanimate objects.
- Butt-Monkey: Was this in the early days of the strip, but recently the burden has been tossed to Goat.
- Even at birth he cannot avoid this; he was kicked repeatedly in the head by his siblings while he was a fetus.
- Characterization Marches On: Some early strips showed him to be surprisingly dishonest and underhanded, such as when he tried to make money by ripping off one of Rat's ideas for a toy. This side of him disappeared very quickly into the run of the comic.
- Cloudcuckoolander: He can come up with and say really weird things sometimes.
- Comic Trio: He's often the blind follower to Rat's schemes.
- Exposed Animal Bellybutton: Though all of the animal characters are unclothed, Pig is the only one with a visible navel.
- Fat Idiot: Much of the strip's humor is based on mocking him.
- Flat Earth: He believes the earth is just like a table, only a round table. Goat tried to dissuade him, but to no avail.
- Foil: To Rat. Pig's idealistic view on life contrasts with Rat's very cynical view. Both of them are manchildren, but while Rat is bratty and aggressive, Pig is kind and innocent.
- Kindhearted Simpleton: By far the nicest of the main cast despite being one of the dumbest.
- Manchild: His immaturity gets him ridicule from all of his friends.
- Odd Friendship: With Rat. Being a friendly, optimistic Wide-Eyed Idealist, he has no problems being friends with a pessimistic cynic.
- The Pollyanna: He keeps a positive attitude even when Rat abuses him.
- He's so optimistic that he fails at doing pessimistic things, like playing the blues.
- He once tried to go Goth, but failed abysmally, as he had Hannah Montana playing on his iPod, who is probably tied with Taylor Swift as the farthest thing from Goth.
- He's so optimistic that he fails at doing pessimistic things, like playing the blues
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Pastis hints in a strip dedicated to his father-in-law that Pig was based on him, a big optimist.
- Sherlock Scan: Yes, really. A Running Gag is that whenever Rat buys a pig-based meat product, (pork, bacon, sausage, etc.), it only takes Pig a single glance to correctly identify; how long the pig has been dead for, and whether or not its a relative of his, (and their names).
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Type 1 with Rat. Even when Rat abuses him, he remains best friends with him.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Even when Rat, Goat, and Zebra are all cynical, Pig remains optimistic.
Goat
- Bookworm: He's often seen reading while at the diner that he and his friends go to.
- British Stuffiness: Sometimes falls into this, as he has a British accent in the official animated shorts.
- Cannot Tell a Joke: The other characters reacted with visible dread when Goat was the only character who wasn't in prison, and thus the one who had to carry the humor of the strip. When the best he could do was a weak pun about reading the bard in a bar, Guard Duck offered to take him out.
- Catchphrase:
- Check, Please!
- After reading Rat's latest work: "You cannot put this in X!" (usually a children's novel) or "You really should stop writing X."
- "I give up", "Why do I even...?"
- Comic Trio: He's the smart yet powerless one between Rat and Pig.
- Deadpan Snarker: Being associated with jerks and idiots is bound to make him sarcastic.
- Enraged by Idiocy: Sometimes, his conversations with Pig will leave him enraged by the latter's stupidity.
- Face Palm: Or occasionally an Eye Take.
- Ignored Expert: His expertise is always getting ignored by Rat and Pig, due to the former's ego and latter's naive stupidity.
- Ineffectual Loner: Prefers to keep to himself and his books for the most part. This may be because many of the other characters are irredeemably stupid in spite of Goat's efforts to correct their misconceptions. He seems to get along best with the level-headed Zebra.
- Momma's Boy: Averted. Goat himself admits that he hasn't talked to his mother for a period of some years, though there is later a week-long arc when he does visit her. She's very critical and overbearing.
- Not So Above It All: Even he can't stand the puns the strip occasionally puts up. Also, he's usually the first one to take a shot at Rat whenever the latter lets his guard down.
- Only Sane Man: Along with Zebra.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Rat and Pig are both manchildren, with the former acting like a bratty sociopath and the latter being so stupid and annoying, he has literally driven Goat to run away screaming.
- Stage Names: He claims Goat is a stage name. His real name is Paris.
Zebra
- Breakout Character: He was supposed to be a one-shot, but fan demand brought him to major character status.
- Captain Obvious: He often has to state very obvious things to correct the crocodiles of the many flaws in their plans to kill and eat him.
- Deadpan Snarker: Towards the crocodiles, anyway.
- Hypocrite: While he doesn't want the Crocs or lions to eat him, he has no problem with eating lobster — though, to be fair, it's not the same thing as stalking and threatening a living creature. However, he did kill Larry when he got stuck on a desert island with no food when Larry became a crab, and when Larry got shrunk in the "Alice in Wonderland" story arc.
- In Touch with His Feminine Side: He has some rather effeminate tastes and hobbies, much to the chagrin of his lion friends who are afraid their wives might take them as signs of weakness and hunt him.
- Only Sane Man: Usually, but not as often as Goat.
-
The Woobie: He tries his best to help his species and predators get along, but all his attempts have failed and many of his family members have died due to the predators refusing to change.
Zeeba Zeeba Eata/ The Crocs
A fraternity of crocodiles whose fraternity house is next door to Zebra. Their primary goal is to kill and eat Zebra, but due to their stupidity, they are unable to accomplish this.
- Arch-Enemies: Of Zebra, but they aren't on good terms with the rest of the cast.
- Butt-Monkey: Next to Stephan himself, the crocs take the most abuse of any regular characters in the strip.
- Catchphrase: "Hullo, zeeba neighba." and "Peese shut mouf."
- Dropped a Bridge on Them: Their plans constantly get their own members killed.
- Failure Is the Only Option: They will never eat Zebra.
- Funetik Aksent: See their Catchphrase above. They also occasionally lapse into You No Take Candle.
- Goldfish Poop Gang: Their plans mostly kill their own members rather than Zebra.
- Hidden Depths: They can swim. Yes, really. For all their idiocies, they can swim to save their lives. Rat found this out the hard way.
- In-Universe Factoid Failure: If any of their plans involves a famous person, odds are they not only get the person's history and/or personal details completely wrong, but the person is most likely dead.
- Painting the Medium: They speak in a unique, properly capitalized font in contrast to the Bold Inflation used by the rest of the cast.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: A frequent part of their schemes. Zebra is never fooled.
- Red Shirts: All of them, with the exception of Larry.
- Team Rocket Wins: They do occasionally succeed in eating their prey, like with an antelope family that moved in in one story arc.
- Too Dumb to Live: Literally, as noted above.
- Undignified Death: Many of them have met humiliating ends.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: They all speak with a very strange unidentifiable accent. One of them tells Zebra what it is when asked, but Stephan accidentally spills white-out on the answer.
Larry
- The Alcoholic: Often seen drinking beer.
- Birthday Hater: He's revealed to really hate his birthday. He tries some strange tricks like hiding from his birthday cake, and covering his ears(?) and saying "Me can't hear you!" more than once when his name is called in the "Happy Birthday" song. He does these things because he thinks he won't grow a year older if he does them. He wants to think of himself as 26 years old, when he's apparently twice that age.
- Bumbling Dad: To Junior. Like the other crocs, Failure Is the Only Option when it comes to his attempts to eat Zebra.
- Education Papa: Inverted. He doesn't want Junior to go to school, and instead just wants him to stay home and play Wii, at one point even tackling Junior to keep him from going to school.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While he's a murderous predator, he loves his son.
- Fantastic Racism: He’s extremely prejudiced against amphibians.
- It's All About Me: When Patty got kidnapped once, his first instinct was to beg for food until he realized she was gone. If it wasn't for Junior begging him, he probably would have let Zebra keep her.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his greedy nature, he loves his son.
- Manchild: He believes that tofu comes from a "Tofu Cow" (which he sculpts the tofu into), and will follow any Simon Sez order without question, for example.
- Mauve Shirt: Originally, "Larry" was just another generic name that the crocs used. However, he was eventually elevated to the status of a main character.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: This strip, roughly one month after the Parkland school shooting. Also a Tear Jerker.
- They Killed Kenny Again: Has died at least once.
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Wacky parent to Junior's serious child.
Patty
Larry's wife and Junior's mother. Puts up with a lot from Larry and is constantly disappointed in him.
- Damsel in Distress: Zebra kidnapped her for a few weeks in an attempt to get Larry and his fellow crocs to stop trying to eat him. He eventually returned her when he realized Larry really didn't care and Zebra was only hurting Junior.
- Fantastic Racism: Does not like her son dating a zebra and wants Larry to kill Zebra. Justified in that Larry's a predator. Later Subverted, in that, while she still wants Zebra dead, she's willing to put differences aside so Junior will come home for Christmas.
- Only Sane Woman: She's one of the only crocs that isn't completely brain-dead.
Junior
Larry and Patty's son. He tries not to be like the rest of his race and is not only friends with Zebra but a vegetarian. He has a zebra girlfriend named Joy, who happens to be Zebra's niece. Larry and Patty are not happy about any of this.
- Carnivore Confusion: Does not eat meat, yet Crocodiles cannot digest plant matter in real life.
- Interspecies Romance: With Zebra's niece Joy.
- Morality Pet: Larry clearly cares for and loves him very much. The only real reason Larry tried to plan a rescue of Patty was because of Junior's unhappiness.
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child: The serious child to Larry's wacky parent.
- White Sheep: He's one of the only crocs that doesn't try to kill Zebra.
Guard Duck
- Acrophobic Bird: He never learned to fly. Make fun of this at your own peril.
- Berserk Button: Don't insult him or talk down to him. It won't end well. And as the Crocs learned, don't mention Maura leaving him if you don't want to become a pair of boots. Also, don’t make fun of the fact that he can’t fly.
- Breakout Character: Was originally just another week of one-off strips, but the fans liked him enough that Stephan brought him back.
- The Caligula: During his brief term as Mayor he used the city's funds to get revenge on his enemies list, build a giant statue of himself, and saw All the President's Men as an instruction book on how to run the city.
- Characterization Marches On: Originally, he was just a very violent guard duck. Later, his personality shifted to paranoid and delusional soldier who sees Pig's neighborhood as a war zone.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Eventually comes to the conclusion that cows are in control of the world and he tries to convince Pig and his friends about this.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The most minor slights cause him to retaliate viciously, often with beatdowns or explosives.
- Feathered Fiend: Less in the “vicious bird of prey” way, and more in a One-Man Army way, but still.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Even before he adopted a military persona, it doesn’t take much to set him off.
- Heartbroken Badass: During the times Maura has left him he's made one of the Crocs into a pair of boots, and killed one with a copy machine.
- Heroic BSoD: After Maura, his non-anthropomorphic duck girlfriend, leaves him again he proceeded to stalk other couples in Paris and tell them how long he thinks the relationship will last and burns down the greeting cards section of a store.
- He's Back!: After his Heroic BSoD after Maura left him to be an AFLAC spokesduck, he takes out the last member of the Crocs "Fantastic Four" and destroys a puppet Rat had been using to torment Pig into obeying him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his violent tendencies, he did genuinely love Maura, is friends with Snuffles, and cares deeply about Pig.
- Killer Rabbit: When he first appeared, he was routinely shown savagely attacking or even murdering those who underestimated him.
- No Kill like Overkill: His usual solution for problems, often involving Stuff Blowing Up.
- Perma-Stubble: He’s occasionally depicted with stubble, despite being a duck.
- Psycho for Hire: Worked as one of these before coming back to Pig and Rat.
- Put on a Bus: Granted, we still saw snapshots of his life with Maura, but he left the main cast for a while to live with her.
- Trigger-Happy: Seriously so. His first response to almost anything is a rocket launcher.
Stephan Pastis
The creator of the strip. Frequently visits, or is visited by, Rat, to his never-ending frustration.
- Author Avatar: Literally.
- Author Guest Spot
- Butt-Monkey: He's criticized and threatened by Rat all the time. He doesn't get much love from the other characters, either.
- Characterization Marches On: He used to be He Who Must Not Be Seen, then an arrogant douchebag, and many other appearances until he settled on one modeled after himself.
- Interestingly enough, the cartoon design for his wife Staci (the rare times she's been drawn in the strip) has always been pretty consistent.
- Only in It for the Money: His motivation for creating "Licensable Bippy" (see down below).
- Self-Deprecation: Despite being the creator of the comic, his creations (especially Rat) do nothing but ignore or mock his sad life.
- Smoking Is Not Cool: Stephan is a non-smoker in real life, but he draws himself as a cigarette lover and characterizes himself as a pathetic, money-grubbing, and all-around lame Butt-Monkey. Pastis' author commentary reveals that he started drawing himself smoking because he intended to make himself look like a "degenerate loser".
- Writers Suck: Pastis is portrayed as a fat loser who delights in awful puns, and gets no respect from the other characters — even Pig and Zebra won't hesitate to insult him to his face.
Recurring Characters
Farina
- Bubble Girl: By choice, as she's really germaphobic. So is her father.
- Interspecies Romance: All her romances have been this, except when she was briefly married to another pig.
- Neat Freak: Hence being germophobic.
- Really Gets Around: Has dated both Dilbert and Hagar the Horrible while apparently with Rat and then left him for Ziggy. She's also apparently dating someone else now.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: After Rat sent letters to her in an attempt to get back together with her, instead of telling him that she got married and has a kid, she throws away his letters, which leads to her husband trying to kill Rat. Then in another strip, she has the gall to ask Rat to watch her child while she and her husband go on a honeymoon. Which leads to Rat attempting suicide. She then comes back to tell Rat that she divorced her husband, but when Rat asks to date her again she says that she doesn't want to because she just went through a divorce, but she is dating other comic book characters, like Dilbert and lies about to Rat, then when he finds out, she treats it like nothing.
Pigita
- Mood-Swinger: She didin't used to be called moody Pigita for nothing.
- Tsundere: Due to her mood swings, her interactions with Pig can switch from loving to hostile on a dime.
- What Does She See in Him?: She only sees the bad in Pig and threatens to break up with him constantly, but never does for long.
Snuffles
A cat that the Crocs bought to maim Zebra, but who ended up as Zebra's pet. Does shady activities including terrorism, selling stolen watches, and running a gambling ring. Also Guard Duck's best friend.
- Bash Brothers: With Guard Duck.
- Cats Are Mean: He's one of the most violent characters in the strip. However, despite his shady activities, he loves Zebra, as he let himself get arrested when Zebra got blamed for one of his activities.
- The Dragon: To Guard Duck.
- Friend Versus Lover: Would not leave Guard Duck and Maura alone when they were in Paris, to the point of chaining himself to the toilet and then threatening to blow himself up when asked to leave.
- The Unintelligible: Only says Meow.
Maura
A non-anthropomorphic duck and the love of Guard Duck's life. Left him to go south for the winter and later came back for him, only to leave him again to be a spokesduck for Aflac.
Jef the Cyclist
A rude cyclist that occasionally interacts with the main cast, usually to brag about his lifestyle.
- Hypocritical Humor: In one panel, he’s praising the virtues of a healthy life to Pig. The next, he’s injecting himself full of steroids when nobody‘s looking.
- Jerk Jock: Very rude and prideful about his habits as a cyclist.
- Sudden Name Change: He used to be called “Jeff”, but dropped the extra F from his name to reduce his body weight.
- We ARE Struggling Together: He doesn’t get along well with the other members of the Conference of the Self-Righteous, especially not Victor the Vegan.
Alphonse
A suicidal porcupine, though he mainly plans it for attention.
- Attention Whore: Most of his plans for suicide are for sympathy.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Anti-Suicide groups were not amused.
Annie May
Pig's arch enemy who's also a sea anemone.
- Back from the Dead: Became two sea anemones after Rat killed her the first time.
- Hurricane of Puns: Annie May, Pig's sea anemone enemy. The puns keep getting more exaggerated every time she appears.
- Noodle Incident: It's never specified how Pig, the strip's biggest Nice Guy, became mortal enemies with a sea anemone.
- Undignified Death: Cut in half by a garage door.
Leonard
A man who worked at an amusement park. Wore his costume all the time and moved in with Rat and Pig. Was eventually killed off.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Got his head stuck in a toilet and died. Justified in this case as Rat was put in charge of deciding how he died.
- Undignified Death: He got his head stuck in a toilet and drowned.
Wee Bear
A young bear and social activist.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He never really caught on.
- Soapbox Sadie: He's always quick to lecture the other characters on their misdeeds, though it sometimes backfires on him.
Chuckie the Non-Anthropomorphic Sheep
A sheep. That's about it.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Subverted. Though he's non-anthropomorphic, he does stand on his back legs a lot. Otherwise, he can only say "Baa!" and it's not certain that he understands what's going on around him.
Miss Bootyworth
A syrup bottle that Pig fell in love with until Pigita and Rat killed her.
- Undignified Death: Emptied and recycled.
Toby The Agoraphobic Turtle
A turtle who never leaves his shell. Drinks from a beer bong into it.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He never really caught on.
Angry Bob
A fictional character created by Rat. Dies at the end of almost every story, often in bizarre and unlikely ways.
- Back from the Dead: Or as Rat puts it, "Angry Bob undied."
- Failure Is the Only Option: No matter what he does to try and find happiness, no matter how good his motives, he will always get killed for his troubles.
- They Killed Kenny Again: He dies at the end of every story, but Rat always brings him back to life.
- Too Dumb to Live: There are times when he dies due to making a really stupid decision. For example, he once tried to fly a couch like it was a kite, and got crushed under it when it inevitably fell.
- Undignified Death: Some of his deaths are downright humiliating, like that time he choked while trying to eat a magazine.
Andy
A dog tied up to a chain in his owner's backyard, but that doesn't stop him from trying to follow his dreams. Not anymore, it would seem.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Had a girlfriend who was also chained up in the backyard for a while. They couldn't reach far enough to touch each other. She escaped in the middle of the night and did not try and help him. Ouch.
- He finally escapes to visit his dying father. Turns out his father couldn't care less about him.
The Killer Whale
A killer whale who tried to trick a family of seals by befriending them so he could eat them. Eventually died, but later "un-died".
- Affably Evil: Yeah, he's soft-spoken and friendly, but he still wants to kill and eat his neighbors.
- Back from the Dead: Made a brief appearance at a strip from October 28, 2008 (lampshaded by Rat in the strip afterwards) and again at the conclusion of the "Killer Dolphins" arc.
- Blatant Lies: Most of his attempts to get into the seals' house.
- Killed Off for Real: Was seemingly this at first, but then subverted in that Pastis decided to "un-die" him in a later strip.
- Painting the Medium: Like the crocs, he speaks in a unique, properly capitalized font in contrast to the Bold Inflation used by the rest of the cast.
- Villainous Rescue: He appeared to rescue Larry from the killer dolphins.
Jeffy
A character from fellow comic strip The Family Circus, but who is very different in characterization.
- Adaptational Jerkass: The worst the original Jeffy was in Family Circus was that he was a troublemaker. The Jeffy in PBS on the other hand is a violent, short-tempered prude who is willing to betray even Zebra to get out of a bad situation.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Despite his innocent appearance, he is a raging alcoholic and all around jerk.
"So I'm battling a few demons."
- Butt-Monkey: Along with the rest of the comic, he is the target of parody, violence, and even being kidnapped by the Crocs.
Controlling Connie
A girl rat dated. Very very controlling.
- Control Freak: Taken to the point where she was timing Rat's sneezes and tried to give him a different mother.
- Distracted by the Sexy: The only reason Rat put up with her is because he thought she was cute.
Christmas Tree Girl
A girl who sells Christmas trees and occasinally dates Rat.
Connie The Judgmental Cow
A cow that shouts insults from a distance.
Hobart
A train conductor for toy trains. Got laid off, then had his wife leave him and things just kept getting worse from there.
- Humiliation Conga: Lost his job, lost his wife, had her move the new guy into his house, got stepped on, was forced to move to the microwave, was almost cooked alive in said microwave, and then finally held on to Pig's balloon and got sent into a ceiling fan.
- Undignified Death: Killed by a ceiling fan.
Dickie the Cockroach
A comic strip character created by Rat that came to life. Kidnaps people who he doesn't like.
- Bound and Gagged: What he does to his victims.
- Disproportionate Retribution: As Rat puts it: "If you say something stupid, Dickie ties you up and slaps duct tape over your mouth."
- Turned Against Their Masters: Has done it to Rat on one occasion.
Danny Donkey
A children's book character created by Rat. Like to drink to forget his problems.
- Evil Counterpart: To Hobbes of Calvin and Hobbes
Ellie the Elephant
Another one of Rat's creations, Ellie is an elephant that has a terribly thoughtless boyfriend, Henry the Hippo.
- The Dog Bites Back: Her response to Henry Hippo's thoughtlessness is to stomp him on the head.
Max and Zach
A pair of Lions who live next door to Zebra. Despite being Zebra's predators, they are actually on quite good terms with him since their wives do all the hunting and even warn him when their wives sense weakness in Zebra.
- Anti-Villain: Really, they have no reason to antagonize Zebra since their wives catch plenty of other animals for them, but they still eat other zebras and antelopes.
- Beware the Nice Ones: They are usually friendly and harmless, but when the Crocs steal their meat, they proceed to viciously hunt them until the one responsible (or at least the one Larry framed) was caught.
- Nightmare Face: Max demonstrates one after their first set of wives leave.
- Polyamory: As it is in nature, the wives are really not assigned to either of them and are free to mate with whichever one they feel like at the moment and vice versa.
- Predator-Prey Friendship: They're friends with Zebra despite being his natural predators. Justified, since their wives do the hunting, but also deconstructed, since they're afraid their wives will target Zebra if they think he's weak.
- Spanner in the Works: Help Zebra avoid being eaten.
Licensable Bippy
A character that Stephan created to grab a quick buck. He is described by his creator as bland, big-eyed, and smiling.
- Butt-Monkey: Abused by Rat as soon as he was introduced.
- Contractual Purity: Unfortunately lost his licensable status once Rat got him drunk.
- Perpetual Smiler: An integral part of his licensable status.
- The Voiceless: He never speaks.
The Lemmings
A group of lemmings, always standing on top of each other in a group of four, who plan to leap off their cliff to their deaths. Often, however, they will do silly things prior to this, diminishing the impact of said deaths. Even away from the cliff, they will always stand on top of each other, even on a date.
- Mattress-Tag Gag: One lemming decides to pull the tag off of a mattress before jumping to his death. The others are stunned, since he seemed so law-abiding.
- Suicide as Comedy: They are lemmings, after all.
The Penguins
A group of penguins — including Moe and Saul — living on a tiny ice shelf in the South Pole. Originally their strips involved a polar bear trying to eat them, then we saw them struggling to tell their wives apart. To escape from the polar bear, they got adopted by the Crocs, who thought they were Oreos due to their colour scheme.
Neighbor Bob
- The Generic Guy: Stephan Pastis only uses him when the strip calls for a human character to interact with the main cast.
- Planet of Steves: Pastis confirmed in one of the treasury books that there are many "Neighbor Bobs" in the comic strip, and are never meant to be the same individual, even if they are all drawn similar.
Wise Ass on the Hill
A donkey who lives on a mountaintop.
- Hermit Guru: He lives alone, and only interacts with those who seek his advice.
