Characters belonging to PowerWash Simulator and PowerWash Simulator 2.
The residents of Muckingham and Caldera County as a whole are numerous and todays client is tomorrow's friend, meaning many of them are back for the sequel!
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The Player
"Dirtfinder"
The player character, owner of a power washing business in the city of Muckingham who's hired to do a number of odd jobs around the city and its adjacent areas. By the events of the sequel their reputation as a cleaning virtuoso have spread far and wide.
- Almighty Janitor: Almost literally — their business is explicitly a dinky little startup, but they're so damn good at powerwashing things that they get jobs from not only the average people of Muckingham, but big names like Blake Thrust and Lara Croft. Eventually, they're even able to use their skills to save the world from a volcanic eruption.
- Alternate Self: Since most of the DLC packs take place outside of the main story's universe (with the possible exception of the Alice in Wonderland and Tomb Raider packs), the player character has different backgrounds during them, such as a tech-priest/engineseer during the Warhammer 40,000 pack, a Shinra employee in the Final Fantasy VII pack or a knight in service to the Washalot company during the Shrek pack.
- Alternate Species Counterpart: While still human in most of the DLC packs, in the SpongeBob SquarePants pack they're a basic fish denizen of Bikini Bottom, and in the Wallace & Gromit pack they're a robotic invention of Wallace's called WASH LAD.
- Badass Normal: The player ends up stopping a volcanic cataclysm event that would've likely destroyed the entire Pacific Rim. And all they did was use a pressure washer.
- Determinator: Cars, planes, backyards, houses, the Mars rover and even ancient statues, no job is too small or too big for Dirtfinder.
- The Faceless: Wears a full body protective suit for their job, so their face is never shown under the visor.
- Heroic Mime: As an avatar for the player, their character never actually speaks or interacts with their clients in any meaningful way besides some moments where a request or line was implied. They also end up saving the world. Them never speaking is actually lampshaded by Farquaad and Donkey in the Shrek DLC.
- Heroic Neutral: In both the standard career mode and the Midgar DLC the PC willingly works for both heroic and villainous characters, doing their best work for both.
- I Have Many Names: Dirtfinder, Doc, Wishy, the "Filth Amendment", and so on.
- The Perfectionist: They do not do incomplete jobs. You can't complete a map until every last speck of dirt is gone.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Naturally, because this is a stand-in for the player, they're never given a real name. Calvin Miller calls the player character "Doc", while Harper Shaw gives them the nickname "Wishy" later on. A lot of the other clients seem to settle for "Dirtfinder" (after one of Shaw's business name ideas), hence the usage for the folder. In the Shrek DLC, they're known as "Washalot."
- Saving the World: By cleaning the structures and the ancient temple near Mount Rushless, the protagonist manages to stop The End of the World as We Know It and save both Muckingham and the Earth itself.
Introduced in PowerWash Simulator
General tropes
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Different flavors of it for each new caller, but let's just say for this folder that the citizens of Muckingham can be a bit... eccentric.
- Conspiracy Theorist: A lot of them, given that it's a relatively smaller town and rumors go by fast in it. Much like with the above trope, the theories vary between each client.
- The Ghost: You only ever read their text messages to the player character, as there are no other modeled characters in-game. At most you get a hint they're watching you work (and you do get support from some of them during the final job) but never do you actually see anyone.
- Nice Guy: With a couple of exceptions the inhabitants of Muckingham seem to be a bunch of charming, well intentioned oddballs with nothing but praise for the PC and their fine work.
Harper Shaw
Jobs: Clean the Van
The player's first client and close associate who helps them get their business up and running. As of the second game, he has an office adjoining the player's at their HQ.- Cloud Cuckoolander: In his "quest" to find a good name for the player's business, apparently he ended up with several that ended up being spread around town, resulting in each new client calling the player something new. He also has some weird idiom choices (like saying an RV he couldn't buy would've been his "wasp-chewing chu-chu").
- Deadpan Snarker: Can get pretty snarky at times, like this gem from the sequel:Harper: Yep, that's my old phone alright. I'd recognize that distinct lack of features anywhere.
- Foreshadowing: During the fishing boat job, Harper mentions that he lost his phone while out in the desert. Not long after, someone uses his old number to tell the player to come see them back there, which turns out to be Ceruleon Skye in his flying saucer.
- Hidden Depths: He likes archaeology and helps Sonya with her excavations offscreen while the player works.
- Mission Control: The closest thing to this trope in the game, as he helps the player with some implied research requests and also keeps tabs on the going-ons around town.
- The Nicknamer: Calls the player "Wishy", and apparently one of his jobs is to help businesses with their name choices, hence why the power wash job you take ends up being called so many things.
Calvin Miller
Jobs: Clean the Backyard, Clean the Bungalow
A volcanologist who lives in Muckingham, interested in the recent surge of activity in Mount Rushless.- Animal Lover: Implied to own two dogs he calls his "girls", and tells the player they're "aspiring volcanologists" themselves after his backyard is cleaned, as they're already climbing everywhere. Apparently his patience reaches a limit with Ulysses, though.
- Badass Bystander: He leads the evacuation efforts when Mount Rushless is close to eruption.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Starts dating his childhood friend Floriane after meeting her again when he's rescued by the fire department, finding out she has become the pilot of the department's helicopter.
- Family Man: Loves his parents dearly, and calls upon the player to clean their bungalow as one of the earlier jobs after they're done cleaning his personal backyard.
- Mission Control: Shares this role with Harper as the client that talks to the player the most, giving them updates on Rushless' situation and how he's looking for Ulysses around town. He also helps coordinate the evacuation of Muckingham when the volcano nears eruption and tells the player he's also getting his parents to safety.
- The Nicknamer: His call-sign for the player is "Doc".
Leonard and Dolores Miller
Jobs: Clean the Racecar
Calvin's parents, a sweet elderly couple who lives in a small bungalow the player helps clean up. Leonard himself is also a retired racecar driver.- Cool Old People: They're both friendly and very personable, with Leonard getting extra cool points for being a former racer and having kept his "wagon" for personal use.
- Retired Badass: Leonard was a NASCAR driver, and still uses his old racecar on occasion. The player gets to clean it after Calvin sends his parents their number.
- Technologically Blind Elders: Leonard doesn't know how to use his phone well enough yet, resulting in his texts being all in CAPS LOCK. He still hasn't figured it out as of the sequel three years later.
- Scatterbrained Senior: Leonard is a jolly old fellow, but he can't quite wrap his head around text messages yet. He also mistakes a race he saw on TV for one he participated in, and Dolores has to step in and tell him to rein it back when he gets the urge to speed down a sewer tunnel with his racecar.
Sonya Alamuddin
Jobs: Clean the Ancient Statue, Clean the Ancient Monument, Clean the Lost City Palace
A member of the Global Archaeological Society, Harper's friend and co-worker. She calls the player to help with the results of the society's excavation in the desert.- Adventure Archaeologist: Downplayed. Despite the dangerous circumstances regarding the volcano, she doesn't place herself in the adventure to stop it, instead contacting the player to help out.
- Artistic License – History: In terms of archaeology; in real life, it's probably a good idea not to use a powerwasher to clean out ancient monuments as Sonya so casually requests, especially ones that were buried for so long under sand.
- Badass Bystander: She helps the player get to the Lost City Palace to clean it by helping Harper with some calls.
- Punny Name: "Alamuddin" sounds similar to "all mudded", referring to the dirt-covered ancient monuments she's located.
Park Warden
Jobs: Clean the Playground, Clean the Skatepark, Clean the Gnome Fountain (Bonus)
The warden of Muckingham's public park, a bitter individual who seems to hate the people who frequent his area.- Bad Boss: He's the one responsible for the upkeep of the public park, but apparently the absurdly-mucked playground has only the "odd fleck of dirt" on it "here and there", and the only reason he bothers asking for a clean-up of the skatepark is because of the recent media attention the town's been getting. Supposedly he has employees responsible for the park's upkeep but he doesn't seem to bother asking them for help.
- Grumpy Old Man: His age isn't ever stated, but this is his general demeanor regarding the people who frequent his park, resenting the parents of the children who got skin rashes off his dirty playground and the skateboarders who frequent the half-pipes.
- Hidden Depths: In the second game he shows an intimate understanding of volcanology (perhaps unsurprising given that he lives in the shadow of Mt. Rushless).
- Never My Fault: Kids getting dermatitis off the park playground? He chalks it up to a bunch of nagging parents, and it's totally not because the place is caked in mud and bird poop because of his negligence.
- No OSHA Compliance: Grumbles about the playground needing to be cleaned because of parents worried for their kids' safety, which he doesn't care about. Oh, but the skatepark, that definitely needs to be cleaned. There's a news group wanting to talk about it, after all.
- He also wonders why they made the playground's floor out of some fancy shock-absorbing rubber instead of creosote... despite admitting that creosote
is highly toxic if ingestednote
- He also wonders why they made the playground's floor out of some fancy shock-absorbing rubber instead of creosote... despite admitting that creosote
- Skewed Priorities: He cares more about cleaning up the skatepark for a news spot than getting the playground cleaned, despite the latter being so dirty that several kids who went there got rashes from using the equipment.
Aura Smith and Jenny Pebbles
Jobs: Clean the Detached House, Clean the Vintage Car, Clean the Recreation Vehicle
Two vloggers and cryptozoologists who recently acquired the house of Esther De'ath, a deceased former actress. Obsessed with the paranormal, the two hire the player to clean Esther's detached house and vintage car while talking about what they think are supernatural events.- Because You Were Nice to Me: With the player having done a good job for them repeatedly, they let them take their recreation vehicle (an RV) as a gift, or let them offer it to someone who wants it. The player then gifts it to Harper.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: The two jump at shadows whenever they think something strange is going on, with Aura confusing the sound of a washer for a ghost event for example. They also think the symbols drawn around the detached house are Enochian sigils when in reality they're just builder diagrams for the plumbers renovating the place's pipeline.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The two are cryptozoologists, so their job is to determine this trope regarding cryptids and, outside of that fascination, supernatural events. Aura mentions plenty of supposed "ghostly" sightings and sounds as the player washes the detached house, but they're all either caused by lack of research or jumping at every little sound they hear.
- Mistaken for Profound: You get a text noting Jenny opened her attic door only to hear a noise, see a grey blur, and see only a feather left behind. She assumes this is Ester's soul being at rest. Most people would realize from the description she had a bird trapped in her attic.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Downplayed; the two were hoping to start a vlog series about Esther's life history, but it flopped due to the watchers only caring about her patrimony and items being auctioned off online (such as the car). The two still made plenty of money on the bargain, however.
Denver Drill
Jobs: Clean the Fire Station, Clean the Fire Truck, Clean the Fire Helicopter
Muckingham's local firefighter brigade headed by an unnamed chief who serves as the client. He asks Dirtfinder for help with their firehouse and gear.- Big Damn Heroes: They use their fire helicopter to save Calvin when he gets too close to the smoke-spewing Mount Rushless looking for the mayor's missing cat, which requires the player to clean it up afterwards. They also use it to get the Dirtfinder's van to the Lost City Palace for the final mission, at Harper and Sonya's request.
- Chekhov's Gun: The fire helicopter that the player cleans, which they later use to help them get to the Lost City Palace.
- Cool Car: A big firetruck the player gets to clean as well.
- Heroic Fire Rescue: From the mouth of a volcano, as they saved Calvin after he became delirious from smoke inhalation.
- Lampshade Hanging: He tells the play that "power" washing requires heated water, so they should consider rebranding to show that they're a pressure washing business unless they're planning to upgrade.
- Only Sane Man: Between the Park Warden and the Mayor, the Chief is the only member of Muckingham's local government who is actually good at his job, and a good person, to boot.
Mayor Jeff Jefferson XIII
Jobs: Clean the Golf Cart, Clean the Mayor's Mansion, Clean the Frolic Boat
Mayor of Muckingham, a job passed down his family line for years. He's also corrupt and is suspected of having diverted the city's water supply for some selfish goal.- 0% Approval Rating: How he managed to stay in office for so long can only be chalked up to nepotism, as virtually no one in Muckingham has anything nice to say about him, implying he doesn't have a lot of voters. He's so despised, in fact, that even the local congregation of monks has taken it upon themselves to cover the front of his mansion with eggs.
- Even his far more pleasant sister, Bertha, doesn't like him. During the "Clean the Steam Locamotive" bonus job, she asks you not to judge her too harshly for being his sister, as she "didn't choose to be".
- Big Bad: Of PowerWash Simulator 2. Now as Mayor of Caldera County as a whole he wastes no time getting back up to his old tricks and harbors a grudge against the power washer from the events of the first game. He also demands Ulysses back not because he cares for "him" but because it'll make photo-ops look better.
- Corrupt Politician: Diverted the town's water supply from the local monk temple to fund a personal ally's greed-fueled search for an ancient civilization and is repeatedly stated to be involved in all manner of illegal activities.
- He's also wasting taxpayer dollars by having the fire department search all over the town to find his cat, to the point that they have to hire you to clean their fire station, a job they would normally be able to do themselves, and some of the areas he makes them search are incredibly dangerous, like a waterfall. It gets to the point that the Fire Chief has the player clean off an old, disused spare firetruck for him, with his plan being to put all of his rookie firefighters on that truck and have them deal with the cat, while all the other firefighters deal with actually important things.
- The Bonus Jobs reveal his family is extremely rich, with a massive family estate that includes part of a desert. His sister notes that he owns all of it, with her having inherited basically nothing.
- Dirty Coward: As soon as the player cleans his frolic boat, he messages them saying that they're skipping town with it. Basically, as soon as the cats go missing and the volcano starts rumbling, the mayor abandons his own city and even his pet to save his own skin.
- The Dragon: Ultimately this to Blake Thrust, as the one funding his research on the Lost City of Pacifists and giving him access to the town's water supply for his illegal mining, but staying mostly on the sidelines.
- He continues in this position in the sequel.
- Hypocrite: In PWS 2 he gerrymanders the region's districts to cut a local farm off from the river they need to keep growing their crops, all because they're neighbors with the monks who egged his mansion three years back. When the farmers overhaul their business model to make do without the water, he calls them petty for not lying down and going bankrupt as he wanted them to.
- Karma Houdini: Zigzagged. He was thoroughly humiliated in his attempt to deface the monk temple, and the town is well aware of his crime by the endgame. Even if he's successfully escaped, it's unlikely he can ever return even when things settle down.
- In the sequel, he's somehow able to shake off his allegations and become elected as mayor of the entire county as opposed to just Muckingham. Ultimately averted however, as Muckingham's population has not magically forgotten what he did as he appears to have expected, and once his role in the theft of the Muckingham Merman's jewels comes to light he's finally locked up.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Despite his sleazebag behaviour, the man loves his pet cat Ulysses and has a big fascination with cats in general, to the point his frolic boat has a big golden cat statue right at the bow. This is subverted when he skips town, though, as he pointedly tells the player that they can keep Ulysses if they find him (her), calling the cat a "traitor". Bear in mind, a volcano is about to erupt and the cat was last seen near it.
- The Fire Chief also suspects that he is only making such a big deal about the cat being missing in order to distract everyone from him diverting part of the town water supply
- More of his true feelings on the matter come to light in the sequel, as on his return he wants Ulysses back - not for the companionship, but because he views the cat as part of his public image.
- Manly Facial Hair: Described as having an utterly gigantic mustache on his face.
- Nepotism: The men of his family were all mayors of Muckingham before him, all of them equally rich in their accounts but bankrupt in morality.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: He pipes in later as "Timmy Timmerson I" while the player cleans a stunt plane he was riding on a few days earlier, and does a terrible job keeping his identity a secret. He even signs his first text message with his true initials.
- Further elaboration from the Fire Plane map indicates that he's now working as the manager of the airfield, and despite strongly resembling the mayor and owning several photographs belonging to the mayor, your client for the level can't quite put her finger on where she's seen him before.
- Skewed Priorities: Gets the entirety of the city's fire department out on the streets to...search for his lost cat. Apparently, Ulysses's presence at the spring festival is more important to him than stopping fires or dealing with vehicle accidents. It's later heavily implied that he deliberately made a fuss about Ulysses's disappearance to distract the town from his shady dealings with Blake Thrust.
Blake Thrust
Jobs: Clean the Drill, Clean the Private Jet
A billionaire who lives near Muckingham, fancying himself an adventurer and archaeologist buff using his money for research purposes. As it turns out, he's not using it legally.- Big Bad: The one responsible for Mount Rushless' incoming eruption after his illegal mining operation struck the magma flow and stirred it.
- Cool Plane: His private jet is outfitted with anti-gravity devices and a freaking laser gun, all of which he supposedly needs for his "excavation" work near the volcano. It doesn't last long against a flying saucer from the future either way.
- Evil Counterpart: With the Tomb Raider DLC added to the game, he becomes this to Lara Croft herself. Both are rich adventurers with archaeological knowledge and the means to do their jobs as they see fit, but Lara is ultimately benevolent in her searches and will go out of her way to stop criminals trying to use ancient relics or forbidden knowledge for selfish goals, even if her methods aren't always ethical. Thrust, on the other hand, uses his money for illegal operations he doesn't even bother conducting himself and is trying to unearth the secrets of a lost civilization purely for his personal gain. He is, in fact, precisely the type of greedy villain Lara Croft often fights against in her games.
- Idle Rich: Downplayed; his drilling machine is operated by people under his employ, never himself. He does fly his jet later to engage Ceruleon Skye's UFO in combat, however. All this with money to spare for his expenses.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Given his private jet, the pun is fully intended; His attack on Skye's ship ends with his plane being shot down and crash-landing somewhere outside of Muckingham (specifically, in a lake, as revealed in the sequel).
- Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds: His reckless mining projects under Mount Rushless were going to cause the entire Pacific volcanic chain to erupt, triggering at minimum a Class 3a apocalypse. This is only averted by Ceruleon Skye's time travelling to the past, and eventually preventing the eruption with the help of the Dirtfinder.
- In the sequel it turns out that his continued meddling with Pacifist technology has caused the freaking Moon to resume its own volcanic activity and go on a collision course with Earth, upgrading the Class 3a straight to a Class X that - again - is only averted by the Dirtfinder's timely intervention.
- Rich Jerk: His avatar on the player's received text messages is a dollar sign, just to flaunt how rich he is. He also uses his money for illegal goals.
Ceruleon Skye (UNMARKED CAREER MODE SPOILERS)
Jobs: Clean the RV (again)/Clean the Flying Saucer
The head of a group of time-traveling scientists from the future, investigating the impending eruption event that threatens to wipe out the world.- Big Damn Heroes: Not only goes back in time and gets the Pacifists to use their temple to help prevent the eruption, they fight off Blake Thrust in the present so he can't interfere.
- Field Trip to the Past: Basically what the scientists are doing.
- Flying Saucer: Their time-travel machine resembles one, to the point they make sure to clarify to you that they're not actually aliens.
- Hero of Another Story: We don't get to see any of their time-traveling adventures, just hear about them through texts.
- Mundane Wish: In addition to discovering the truth behind Mount Rushless and (eventually) saving the world, they hope to rediscover the recipe to red velvet cake, which was destroyed in a Great Offscreen War taking place in the future. They eventually succeed in all of their stated goals.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: They came back to figure out why Mount Rushless was on the verge of erupting, but suddenly stopped. When their craft was discovered and shot down by Blake Thrust's jet, their readings indicated the volcano would erupt, so they went further back to find a way to prevent the eruption from happening.
- You Already Changed the Past: Heavily implied. Their primary mission initially was to go back in time to investigate the mystery of why Mount Rushless started to blow its top, then suddenly stopped. When their ship was damaged by Blake Thrust's private jet, the timeline started to go into flux, prompting them to go further into the past to try and fix things. In the end, they (and the player) were the reason behind the volcanic non-eruption.
A civilization from the past (UNMARKED CAREER MODE SPOILERS)
The Pacifists
An ancient race of half-fish people who left ruins behind and had technology able to stop volcanic eruptions.- Benevolent Precursors: Converted an ancient palace into a monument to a being in the future they had never met in order to help stop an apocalyptic event that would take place thousands of years after their species had died out.
- Extra Digits: If the Ancient Monument is any indication, they have five fingers and a thumb on each hand.
- Fish People: Had webbed hands and feet and spines, and scaly skin.
- Fling a Light into the Future: At Ceruleon's request, set up a temple that would calm an active volcano thousands of years later.
- Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Translating the runes on the murals inside the Palace leads to this.
