Characters / Something*Positive

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Davan MacIntire

The main character and Author Avatar, based upon Milholland when he was a younger man. Davan starts the strip as a cynic; snide, sarcastic and takes most of life with an uncaring, unsympathetic nature, which often gets him into trouble. Still, he cares deeply for his friends and family, despite his cynical nature, and as he matures over the years, he settles into a (relatively) happy life with Vanessa.

Randy's own words on the subject: "Near the end of the first year. I realized quickly I didn't want this comic to be autobiography. Even when it started, Davan wasn't who I was then - he was who I'd been a few years before and, I should add, someone I didn't like (I find it funny when detractors claim Davan is who I think people should be and is "cool" - it proves they've never spoken to me or done a bit of research. Davan's an asshole and a lot of the misery he's gone through, he brought on himself)."

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• Affectionate Nickname: "Monkey Butter", for Aubrey.
• Anti-Role Model: When Milholland learned that there were readers that wanted to name their children after Davan, appalled, he stated that Davan is not a character is certainly not a role model for any children, or even adults, to follow.
• Author Avatar: From a time in Randy's life when he was especially cynical and dreary.
• Berserk Button: Never sass Mister Peppermint around Davan.
• Better as Friends: Decided this about himself and PeeJee and reveals it to her long after the fact.
• Comedic Sociopathy: He makes fun of all his closest friends. Notably, when Mike is surprised that Davan is acting friendly instead of "making fun of me like you usually do", Davan points out that if he and the others wouldn't make fun of him if they didn't like him.
• Cosmic Plaything: Earlier in the strip, to the point that God himself was eagerly awaiting Davan's reaction to a new bit of shit thrown his way.
  Angel: Lord, I know you like watching shit happen to that guy, but, you see, there's this war about to happen, and the prayers are really backing up.
  God: Shhh! You're gonna make me miss the look of complete horrific realization and that's the best part!
• Deadpan Snarker: His chronic, over-arching trait, and one that bothered many people, including then-girlfriends Eva and Celie. While he's mellowed out in many ways since then, this is a trait that never quite left him.
• The Eeyore: To the point that Nancy even calls him this, but also deconstructed. The very core of Davan's character is the negativity he exudes; it has a serious effect on most aspects of his social life, especially his relationships with women. He also doesn't know how to handle positive input from others very well, either aggravating him or just plain confusing him.
• Fatal Flaw: His negativity. Davan embraces the inherent cynicism of the world he lives a little too much for even his own friends, notorious cynics in their own right, to be comfortable with and he can barely function when met with genuine positivity.
  • This is actually the biggest problem he has in his relationships with other women as the ones that are willing to give him a chance are ultimately driven off by his pessimistic behavior. The only working relationships he has had have been with women that are a bit off in their own ways.
• Freudian Excuse: Played with. The large amount of misfortune that has happened to his family definitely feeds into Davan's cynical outlook on life, but isn't clearly defined as the cause of it.
• Happily Married: With Vanessa. Randy has confirmed he'll stay this way for the foreseeable future, at least partially out of spite.
• Hard Drinking Party Guy: Back in the early days of the strip, he was much worse. He has stated that his combined German, Irish and Native America heritage makes it literally impossible for him to allow alcohol to be wasted. In fact, it's because his life is horrible, his day job is to tell people that their life-saving ambulance rides won't be covered by insurance so they're now drowning in debtf, and his girlfriends keep cheating on him. Also his apartment burns down and his parents adopt the koala-fucking semi-lesbian he knows.
• Ignored Enemy: Ollie Pompey, the nephew of Avagadro, really, really hates Davan because of the 'Shock Treatment' fiasco. Davan, who had damn good reason for stopping the show, almost entirely forgot about Ollie after it; only really remembering him after Kharisma warns Davan about Ollie's vendetta- mostly just finding the whole thing pretty pathetic on Ollie's part.
• Informed Deformity: A Running Gag in the early years of the strip involved women reacting to Davan as if he was the ugliest human being alive (despite his depiction being rather ordinary, if not "plain" even). Admittedly, most of this is anecdotal, and comes from Pee Jee, Aubrey and even Davan himself, though it has a basis in reality.
  • This is one of the traits that plays into his status as the Author Avatar—Randy himself doesn't like his appearance. Similarly, he was alleged to have a Carpet of Virility in this strip, but his naked scenes haven't depicted it.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Branwen and Davan had a pretty healthy relationship going for a while, before Branwen got a dream job offer that would unfortunately require her to move away. Davan tells her to take it.
• Jerkass: Randy specifically calls him out on a lot of it. Eventually evolves into a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
• Kavorka Man: For all his supposed unattractiveness, Davan has slept with upwards of six or seven hot women since the strip began in 2001.
• Law of Inverse Paternity: Played with. When Davan was hinted at possibly being Rory's father, while reluctant, he was at least willing to step up and play the part (unlike the other candidate, who ghosted). Even after finding out via paternity test that he wasn't Rory's dad, Davan still happily became his Parental Substitute, even wishing that he had been Rory's father. Nowadays, they treat each other as biological father and son.
• Like Brother and Sister: With Aubrey.
• Limited Wardrobe: He does wear a few different outfits, but the one shirt he's most seen in is a uniform shirt from his father's old job in a helicopter factory. It's Played For Tragedy later, after Fred's passing, when the dryer shreds the shirt.
• Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: A recurring trend is for Davan to meet up with women who inevitably turn out insane. At least Branwen and Vanessa are comedically nuts.
• Parental Substitute: To Rory. Davan took the role somewhat reluctantly, but as of the current strips they're close enough that they might as well be biological relations.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With PeeJee.
• Queer Establishing Moment: After Rory comes out to Vanessa, she mentions that Davan dated several men when he was younger. When Rory questions him about this, he says it was never a big deal for him.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Davan clearly takes after his dad, especially in his dealings with Rory and Gris.
• Troll: Especially when working together with Jason.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Pretty much the nature of the comic. They all prank and tease each other mercilessly.

Penelope Jennifer "PeeJee" Shou

A Canadian girl who moved down to Boston to meet up with some online friends, PeeJee is a devoted pal to the others. She's much like Aubrey, but far more emotional and liable to feel sympathy, or the need to cry. Randy has stated that she represents "those friends who aren't quite as tough as they seem". One of her key early traits was a huge crush on gay cast member Jhim. Despite the vitriolic nature of most of the characters, they openly felt sorry for her.

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• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Lampshaded in one strip, when one of Pee Jee's coworkers notes that she's been dying her hair different colors for close to a decade, yet she's suffered no hair loss, nor is the hair underneath the dye grey or damaged.
  Coworker: I don't get it. You should be like Charlie Brown with tits.
  Pee Jee: I considered it, but then I'd feel bad about stealing the one thing that makes you special.
• Benevolent Boss: Much like Aubrey, Pee Jee is good to her bar's employees, often taking their side against unreasonable customers, being understanding and accommodating of their needs and preferences, and generally treating them with respect (though, also like Aubrey, she's not above pranking or demeaning them if they get on her nerves).
• Collector of the Strange: Her new hobby is looking for the most fucked up sites possible, having filled up four external hard drives worth of 'em.
  Vanessa: I have seen suicidal notes less depressing than this.
  PeeJee: Oh, really? Are there any suicide notes that mention cool sites involving Russian amputee mail order brides?
  Vanessa: I dunno. Are there?
  PeeJee: ...Yes. Sixty-three. They're on hard drive two.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: She'll deny it until the cows come home, and she'll throttle you if you point it out, but she's a kind person deep down.
• Kaleidoscope Hair: For a long time, PeeJee would have constantly changing hair, until Randy got tired of changing it.
• Knight in Sour Armor: She has a deep idealism about the world and a secret yearning for romance, but it's buried under a lot of snark.
• The Not-Love Interest: To Davan, something he decided long after the fact, and to Mike, on the grounds that it was a one-sided infatuation and Mike had blown any chance at something deeper.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Davan, and...
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Aubrey. Everyone else is fair game, though largely in the earlier days.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: PeeJee has a crippling fear of puppets, and often reacts violently to their presence (once breaking Aubrey's hand with a hammer when Aubrey snuck up on her with a hand puppet). She got over it for long enough to help Rory with a class project (though dove right back in after accidentally wearing a puppet that was infested with wolf spiders) and has recently been trying to overcome her fear in the pursuit of her latest relationship (with a puppet-maker).
• Yaoi Fangirl: In earlier strips, her obsession with gay men was a running gag. Sometimes she lusted after men she knew were gay; other times she just ran smack into the wall marked Incompatible Orientation. It was Played for Drama in a series of strips where she had to choose between her feelings for Jhim and Jhim's own happiness; it broke her heart, but she let him go in the end.

Aubrey Chorde

Davan's best friend from childhood, and completely platonic. She's the devious schemer of the group, and rarely gets overly-sympathetic or mushy. She's based off of Randy's own best friend from childhood, anime voice actress Clarine Harp.

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• Affectionate Nickname: "Woogie", for Davan. In return, he calls her "Monkeybutter".
• Benevolent Boss: As seen below, she's very well-liked by her employees at Nerdrotica, to the point that one she'd given a dream gig to said "I just hope, one day, I find a special someone who gets me as well as you do." For the less reasonable employees, however...
  • It's also been noted that, although the idea of her selling the company has come up a few times, she's resolutely stated that she won't do it unless she can be assured that the new owners won't screw her employees over.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: She's rather prone to odd (and sometimes disturbing ideas and tangents, and is probably the most eccentric of the core cast.
• Disappeared Dad: She seems to only have her mom around for family, with her dad never being mentioned and her often treating Fred as if he were a Parental Substitute. What happened to her father hasn't been addressed.
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: She & PeeJee got away with this a lot in the early days, often as the punchline to a comic strip.
• Happily Married: To Jason.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: She definitely doesn't want her kind moments to be publicized.
• Jerkass: One of the most malicious and sadistic cast members...
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: ...though she does have a kind side when it comes to her friends and family, especially Davan.
• Like Brother and Sister: With Davan, whom she grew up with.
• Mama Bear: Brutally crushes the hand of a Monster Clown who attempts to threaten PamJee.
  Aubrey: Touch my child again and you will learn that eating solid food is a privilege I can and WILL revoke.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Aubrey is the kind of person who sees an opportunity in everything- and the more disturbing that idea is, the better. In fact, Nerdrotica (which is still going to this day) started when she heard about the possibility of a dual purpose phone-sex/tech-support phone line, and she keeps a room full of her less successful ideas in the Nerdrotica building.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Curiously enough, she runs a tight ship over at Nerdrotica, her combination tech support/phone sex company. Her early sadistic antics do not translate over to her employees, who at worst suffer harmless pranks or demeaning (but necessary) job details.
• Relationship Upgrade: Eventually marries (and adopts a child with) Jason.

Jason Chorde (né Pratchett)

A jovial fat guy who was an early acting friend of the gang, and stuck around in all later arcs. Probably the smartest of the gang, and most manipulative. He's the most committed to his schemes (such as the catgirl webcomic).

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• Abusive Parents: His dad was one of the emotional variety, and unrepentant at that. The only reason he and his mother regret not inviting his father to his sister's wedding was the missed opportunity to punch his lights out.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: Setting aside his horrible relationship with his father, Jason also has circus workers (clowns, specifically) in his family tree. When his daugher PamJee discovered this, she was positively giddy.
• Gag Penis: Women have recoiled in fear of it.
• Girl-on-Girl is Hot: At one point Aubrey and PeeJee tease him with the possibility of a threesome, though only to mess with him.
• Happily Married: To Aubrey.
• Kavorka Man: Despite his obesity, he has a mathematical program designed for easy short-term dating success (ie. hook-ups).
• Pornomancer: He was a major ladykiller in the earlier strips, with one particular encounter where he promised - via contract! - a minimum of two orgasms for the woman he was hooking up with.
• Relationship Upgrade: Eventually marries (and adopts a child with) Aubrey.
• Took the Wife's Name: He took the opportunity to do this when he married Aubrey, because of his hatred of his father.
• Troll: Especially when working together with Davan.
  • And given his delight at being given their own parking space for parent-teacher conferences, this appears to be his approach to parenting.

Fred MacIntire

Davan's cranky, sarcastic father. It's fairly clear which parent Davan takes after. Passed away shortly after Halloween 2020.

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• Commander Contrarian: He has a streak of this when it comes to Davan.
• Disability as an Excuse for Jerkassery:
  • As a young boy, he was admitted to a hospital for an ear infection, where he was antagonized at every turn by a boy in a wheelchair. Eventually, Fred and his friends team up to scare him and teach him a lesson... whereupon it is revealed that the boy is in the hospital for a heart condition, and the shock of the scare ends up killing him.
  • Not that he feels the need to make excuses, but a consolation of his Alzheimer's diagnosis- in his eyes- is the myriad opportunities it allows him to fuck with people.
• Grumpy Old Man: Must be where Davan gets it, 'cuz the boy damn sure didn't get it from Faye.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As with most people in the strip, Fred is this. Despite his abrasive personality and sharp tongue, his heart is firmly in the right place.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Quite a few examples, but this one stands out; His response to a "Hell House"^note a fundamentalist soapboxing masquerading as a haunted house telling him he has to "choose Jesus" if he wants to leave is to sit down in the middle of the floor.
• Second Love: Faye was his. We don't know much about his first wife.

Faye MacIntire

Davan's loving and devout mother. While less sarcastic than Fred, she has a bitingly sharp wit. Passed away in 2006.

• Beware the Nice Ones: Faye is easily the most openly gentle and sweet member of the MacIntire family, but if pushed, she turns out to have the sharpest tongue of all of them.
• Romancing the Widow: Gender-inverted. She and Fred fell in love and married, despite her having to put up with bigotry from neighbors and even his family members for marrying a widower.
• Southern Belle: An example of the modern subtype.

Dahlia MacIntire

Davan's older sister. She was partially paralyzed in a car accident about 10 years before the start of the series (she uses either a walker or a wheelchair, depending on the situation).

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• Action Girl: She was very athletic before the crash, on the volleyball and basketball teams.
• Berserk Button: She hates being treated as Inspirationally Disadvantaged.
• Disability as an Excuse for Jerkassery: This is her on a bad day. It's only exacerbated by the people who think that "disabled" = "incapable".
• Disabled Means Helpless: This constantly happens to her, because of her disability, and she hates it with a passion. Examples include the new neighbor who sees she has a walker and starts talking to her as if she's developmentally disabled, and the date that calls her "inspirational" for "choosing" to live. This pisses her off.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She used to look rather different, with blonde hair and no glasses, but nowadays she resembles Davan a lot more.
• Super Wheelchair: To deal with the Christmas crowds while out shopping, she takes her wheelchair... and attaches a cowcatcher to the front. It's quite effective, too.

Monette MacIntire (formerly Donnelly)

Initially a recurring annoyance that kept insisting that she was a lesbian (despite somehow finding herself in delicto flagrante with multiple men- and once, a koala), Monette eventually became a member of the regular cast when she moved down to Texas, decided to hang out with Davan's parents, and somehow eventually got adopted by them. Eventually getting a girlfriend and settling into her identity as bisexual, she moved to West Hollywood to appear in a bad UPN sitcom.

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• Character Development: From comedic Butt-Monkey slut character to a worthy cast member with her own foibles and rare flashes of insight.
• Deadpan Snarker: Develops shades of this as time goes on, possibly from exposure to Davan's parents. In fact, one of her first reveals of this side causes Dahlia to respond, "Welcome to the family."
• The Ditz: Especially in her first few appearances.
• Happily Adopted: Into the MacIntires.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: While the consequences of her terribly neglectful father have been played a bit more seriously, the exaggerated level of this neglect has been used for Black Comedy.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Played for Laughs when her biological father insults her intelligence.
• Really Gets Around: Despite her insistence that she was a lesbian, her entire character in the early strips was this; to the point that she once got drunk and had sex with a koala, and actually had Lisa wear a koala mask for her first actual lesbian experience.
• Sincerest Form of Flattery: When Monette gets the chance to write for her TV show, she creates a character that is a clear Expy of Davan- to the point of using some of Davan's own lines.
• Too Dumb to Live: How she started out, to the point that she actually tried teaching a spider how to write "Some Pig" in an effort to save a pig from slaughter, only to get bit for her trouble.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Her pregnancy ended with an off-camera stillbirth. The strip that indicated this was fairly subtle, however, so "What happened to Monette's baby?" started as a serious question and then became a fandom in-joke.

Vanessa Cubbins

Davan's girlfriend upon his move back to Texas, later becoming his wife. She's a quirky, short bisexual girl who is a lot more innocent than the usual S*P character, making her quite unique to this world.

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• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Once she got a taste of that kaiju power, there was no going back; there'll be days where she just walks around in a kaiju outfit like someone wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Hell, her wedding dress was a Godzilla onesie with a veil.
• CloudCuckoolander: Her mind goes to weird places sometimes, which she is self-conscious of: She ends her first date with Davan by telling him she's going to go inside to "unleash all the clumsy and crazy I've been holding in all evening", and after prefacing it by making sure she won't "scare [him] away with [her] crazy", she likens her love for Davan to a small lizard that has found the perfect sunning rock; He makes her "lizard-happy".
• Covert Pervert: She's bisexual, and just as dirty-minded as everyone else; This tends to be easily forgotten due to just how damn cute she is.
• The Cutie: Endearingly awkward, petite, nerdy, and cute as a button; Occasionally dresses up as a giant monster... Which is to say she's exactly the same size, but now wearing an adorable monster costume.
• Flirty Stepsiblings: Inverted; her first heterosexual romance was with an acquaintance who would later become her stepbrother. Awkwardness ensued.
• Happily Married: With Davan. And Randy intends for them to stay that way, out of spite for some of the readers that didn't like the idea of Davan being happy.

Rory Sawyer

The son of Davan's childhood friend, Donna. Initially believed to be Davan's son, a paternity test revealed another man to be the father. However, Davan has happily taken up the role of surrogate father.

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• Brutal Honesty: Like Davan, he's not one to mince words when annoyed.
• Coming-Out Story: In an arc beginning in 2018.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's picked up some of this from Davan, though he clearly gets it from his mother, as well.
• Transparent Closet: He's not especially good at hiding his orientation prior to coming out.

Choo-Choo Bear

Davan's "pudding cat". An amorphous pink blob of fur and petty spite.

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• Adorable Abomination: At best.
• Blob Monster: His silly putty-like consistency was originally assumed to be the result of old age plus a whole catalog of medical issues. It's since been retconned as being a whole new species of cat, though we see only one other 'pudding cat' outside of Choo-Choo Bear and his various offspring.
• A Dog Named "Cat": A cat named Choo-Choo Bear.
• Eldritch Abomination: And not afraid to exploit it.
• Hammerspace: Various things can be found in the depths of Choo-Choo's body; dead dogs, cash and jewellery being only a few examples. It got to the point that Davan simply accepted it and started intentionally storing stuff inside the cat- and Choo-Choo actually finds it quite pleasurable.

Pamela Joycelyn "PamJee" Chorde

The adopted daughter of Aubrey and Jason, named in honour of Pee Jee. She has taken after the both of them, creating a mischievous terror of a child.

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• Creepy Child: Ever so much. Pamjee is essentially a distillation of her parents- Aubrey's violent tendencies and Jason's passion for theatrics- and she is capable of combining them horribly effectively.
• From the Mouths of Babes: Given her parents, she is rather more worldly than most children her age.
• Happily Adopted: She lampshades this when a bully at school tries to use it for mockery.
• Little Miss Snarker: Pretty much a given, seeing who her parents are.
• Monster Clown: Ever since learning that her father has circus people in his ancestry, Pamjee has leaned into this hard, seemingly attempting to become the creepiest character in the strip. Subverted in that it's mostly a hobby, and she's quite well adjusted otherwise... at least for somebody with Aubrey and Jason for parents.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: One of her biggest traits, and the older she gets, the more creative she gets
  Aubrey: Pamjee, I'm gonna need you to not break your father.
  Pamjee: But it's a new type of fear I'm mastering! "My child is growing up and I can't stop it" might be my favorite flavor.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: In her kinder moments.

Hugh

Peejee's current boyfriend and a puppeteer. He first appears as he opens a children's theatre next to Peejee's bar. Despite her phobia of puppets, they quickly hit it off and began dating.

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• Black Humor: He is quickly revealed to share Peejee's dark sense of humour, furthering their compatability.
• Family Business: His parents and grandparents were puppeteers, and he continues the family business.
• Gentleman Snarker: Is informally polite and well educated, and it shows in his wit.
• Hand Puppet: Owns and builds a wide variety of these, to Peejee's discomfort.
• Mr. Fanservice: A very handsome and well-built man who, when Peejee meets him, is shirtless. She is quite impressed.
• Shirtless Scene: As he is in the midst of painting a building, he is introduced this way. Peejee takes notice.

Kharisma Valetti

An early recurring antagonist, Kharisma was a high-and-mighty actress with a love for money, and a hatred for the ugly little people (like Davan). After doing many horrible things to many people, she met with a few Pet the Dog moments by giving Davan some much needed advice about quitting his job. Then she got into a murder pact with Avagodro Pompey, got arrested, got broken out of jail, and now she's on the run with a possibly-real psychic manifestation of annoyance called Fluffmodeus.

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• Action Survivor: Extremely bad, typically illegal, and occasionally lethal things end up happening around Kharisma, with or without her knowledge. A large part of her Character Development is evolving from a repulsive, flighty, gold-digging brat into a scarred, street-tough, half-mad ex-con.
• Asshole Victim: Horrible things happening to a horrible person.
• The Brainless Beauty: Pre-Character Development, Kharisma was by her own admission "a cheerleader in high school who specialized in seducing nerds", a mindset that carried into her adult life.
• Butt-Monkey: Does sketchy odd jobs include freelance collections agent/legbreaker and babysitter for stupid druggies. This is after getting framed for a murder she was going to commit anyway but didn't have a chance to, scorching her own face with an Aerosol Flamethrower, spending time in jail, and finding out that the benefactor that helped her out of prison was an anti-stuffed-animal-cruelty vigilante.
• Character Development: Went from a stupid Rich Bitch to a more sympathetic (but possibly insane) fugitive, and has settled into a life doing sketchy odd jobs under the name Nancy in a vague rural location.
• Hidden Depths: An early 2020 storyline reveals that she had Parental Neglect while growing up, and Fluffmodeus is bewildered by her feeling nostalgic for them.
  Kharisma: Because it's the only family I ever knew. (Fluff's eyes get closer to her arm) What are you doing?
  Fluff: Hugging you. I feel too sad to have a body right now.
• Imaginary Friend: Fluffmodeus, aka "The Little Blue Thing". Whether it is just a manifestation of Kharisma's fear and woefully underdeveloped survival instincts, or a separate and ill-meaning entity who only shows itself to Kharisma has been a matter left deliberately ambiguous.
• Insistent Terminology: No, Kharisma, the police aren't going to lift the murder charges just because at the time Avogadro died you were merely "trying" to kill him "with his blessing". Enjoy prison.
  • Fluffmodeus meanwhile has a somewhat sinister habit of always calling Kharisma "New Friend".
• Laser-Guided Karma: Look up. Nearly every bad thing that has happened to Kharisma has been a direct result of her own poor judgement, before prison anyway.
• Older Than They Look: Casually mentions being "almost fifty" in 2021, the only visual indicator of which is some lighter hair around her temples. Her makeup for hiding her facial scars likely helps.
  • This also means she was in her thirties during her early appearances, where she looked identical to the main cast who were in their mid-twenties.
• Pet the Dog: A rare few times: Notably, she gave Aubrey the idea for Nerdrotica, her combination tech support/phone sex company, and besought Davan to quit his horribly medical billing job, telling him "I wouldn't wish it on the worst person in the world. Or you, either."
• Rich Bitch: Though only due to aggressive gold-digging. Prior to her stint in prison, Kharisma's only marketable skill was identifying the most successful (and receptive) man in the room and bedding him.
• Sleeping with the Boss: Kharisma makes no secret that she'll sleep with anyone for advancement (and is later fired without ceremony when the boss' fetish goes from redheads to blondes).
• Took a Level in Badass: Kharisma's skill at seduction and gold-digging didn't translate very well to life in prison, forcing her to drop the spoiled brat routine and sharpen up lest she get killed. Now that she's on the run and doing various extra-legal things to provide for herself (including leg-breaking and drug-running), "Nancy" is almost a completely different character.

Mike Dowden

An antagonistic, whiny nerd, Mike was and whiny, always insisted on being right, and made "friends" with girls in hopes of seducing them. Basically, he was Randy's version of a lot of needy, misogynistic geeks who chase after women. Eventually he made real efforts to change, found a girl, had a baby... and then broke down again, chasing some friends off. Usually, if the plot requires some regular character to be wrong, it'll be Mike. He's still sometimes sympathetic, but he's usually the universe's Butt-Monkey.

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• Butt-Monkey: The strip's biggest recurring example. He gets a lot of beatings.
• Character Development: Has gotten much better over the years, to the point where he could currently be considered one of the nicest characters in the strip. Is now a legitimate superhero (of the "real superheroes" variety).
  • In a realistic inversion/back to straight playing of this trope, Mike briefly regressed to his original jerkish persona (due to being under a great deal of stress) before recovering and getting back on track.
• Cosmic Plaything: A couple of strips have shown God actively plotting to fuck with him.
  Mike: Somewhere there's a genie with his middle fingers permanently up at me.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: How he's introduced; it's not clear at first why anyone would hang out with a Jerkass like him, though he eventually grows out of it.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Averted. Turns out there's a whole bunch of folks in town doing the "dress in a superhero costume and do community service" gig, but the Pythagorean is one of the first to gain positive recognition as something other than "some geek in a cape"...
  • Humble Hero: ...which makes the Pythagorean something of a minor celebrity, a fact Mike was completely unaware of until a group of other "capes" help him escape a shady blogger bent on publicly unmasking him.
• Jerkass Has a Point: One of the major signs of Mike's improvement involved this - PeeJee was becoming increasingly angry at work because her boss' new girlfriend was blatantly and unapologetically racist (particularly towards Asians like PeeJee). Aubrey called a meeting to reveal a plan to mollify PeeJee, and Mike objected due to it not solving the underlying problem. For one, it showed Mike showing genuine concern for another person with no ulterior motive. For another, the rest of the cast agreed with his main point, and went ahead with their plan only because it would be a useful distraction.
• Mistaken for Gay: His Pythagorean costume is an all-purple affair with a large rainbow triangle on the forehead. Mike insists it's a mathematical reference, but his friends are understandably concerned other people might not get it, with his wife likening it to a giant "I cordially invite you to fuck with me" sign. Showing his Character Development, he keeps it, because 1) it's not a bad thing to be gay or to be thought of as gay and 2) if it helps upset the stereotype and let gay people be recognized as good then it's a good thing because 3) it's not about Mike getting recognition, it's about helping people.
• Munchkin: A bad habit that makes playing with him almost untenable; If he can't play his ridiculously overpowered amalgamation of stats, feats, and equipment that almost resembles a character if you squint a bit, he'll pout and complain the whole time.
• Nice Guys Finish Last: Subverted heavily — a major point of Milholland's (and Davan's) is that a lot of supposed "Nice Guys" are actually self-involved, self-pitying jerks like Mike, who are actually quite selfish, and only after most girls because of their looks (something they hypocritically accuse the girls of doing with the "jerks" they go out with). And that said "Nice Guys" often pretend to be girls' friends just to potentially seduce them later, while pining over them like stalkers, none of which is "nice" behavior at all.
  • However, after his Character Development he now has a girlfriend, a baby, and the respect of his friends (well, as close to respect as Davan, Aubrey, et al can actually express) for his superhero career.
• Noodle Incident: Steve Jackson has a restraining order against him.
• Non-Powered Costumed Hero: One day he decided he wanted to affect a positive change on his community, specifically by becoming a superhero. His daily heroics as Pythagorean include helping people with their groceries, finding lost pets and generally just being a nice guy and he is well loved by the community at large for it.
• Oblivious to Love: His total lack of self esteem and inexperience with any kind of flirting, despite being married makes him unable to tell that the multiple women (and at least one man) who gave him their phone numbers were hitting on him.
• Posting What You Shouldn't: Mike uploads footage of a play one of the main cast was in as a child. Unfortunately, due to the costume design and the low quality of the footage it looks like he uploaded child porn (not to mention doing this without even asking the character involved) and gets reamed out for it.
• Straw Loser: Initially he was written into scenes only to do and say all the wrong things, but he improved with time and effort. Now he can carry entire storylines without any of the main cast, and his misfortunes come across as sympathetic instead of karmic.
• Took a Level in Badass: The eventual result of his superhero career, much to everyone's astonishment (particularly his own).

Jhim Midgett

Ironically, Jhim, the only recurring gay male character, is the Straight Man of the group, often rejecting the bizarre habits and statements of the others. He tended to get dragged into whatever crazy thing the rest of the gang was doing. He left Boston after a couple years of the strip after several failed relationships (one to a heavily-closeted man with a wife and son), and only returned when Davan left, making him a very rarely-recurring character. He's proven to be a bit of an Ensemble Dark Horse, being one of the most-requested characters for the "Old Familiar Faces" arcs.

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• Oblivious to Love: He never caught on that PeeJee had a crush on him, and would say stuff like this rather routinely.
• Out of Focus: He used to be one of the main cast, and now more than a year often goes by between appearances.
• Shipper on Deck: For Davan/PeeJee.
• Straight Gay: He's far less camp than most of the people he hangs out with, despite stereotypical interests like ballet and theatre. That said, his Superhero persona is "Jim Dandy", a fact Davan is delighted to point out.
• Straight Man: (ha ha). If he's in the room with any of the main cast, he's typically the one to take the mess they're in seriously and provide the set-up line for their snark.

Mr. Sanderson

A rich investor that meets Davan after the implosion of a play he invested in, later hiring Davan partially out of pity and because he was impressed by Davan's character. He's rich, snide, an enthusiast of drugs and alcohol, and somehow still manages to be one of the most decent people in the cast.

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• The Alcoholic: His primary hobby besides "produce plays of dubious quality" seems to be "drinking expensive alcohol".
• Benevolent Boss: Treats Davan more like a colleague than an employee and goes out of his way to try and help Davan have some fun in his life. Davan actually dislikes this, partly due to not handling positivity in any form well and partly because Sanderson's good intentions have a way of backfiring on Davan.
• Cheater Gets Cheated On: One strip has him being shocked that he found his mistress cheating on him with his wife's lover in his (the boss) own bed.
• Eccentric Millionaire: Rarely if ever are profits or losses mentioned in conjunction with the plays he produces, and yet his fortune endures, so either the plays are successful or he's got money to burn.
• Happily Married: To his wife, in an open marriage that seems to also involve prostitutes who sometimes break his heart by having affairs with his wife's boyfriends.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's willing to listen to Davan's advice and shows him a fair deal of respect and leeway; A far cry from Davan's boss at his Medicaid job.
• Uncle Pennybags: Very wealthy, and very generous with that wealth.

Avagadro Pompey

A repulsive, yet prolific, theater producer. Racist, sexist and many other things ending with 'ist', Avagadro exemplifies the worst sort of thespian. Eventually dies of cancer, despite Kharisma's attempts to kill him.

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• Bad Boss: So much this. He introduces himself to the actors under his direction by declaring himself their genetic superior, using only their first names for evidence.
• Creepy Uncle: Poor Ollie can't catch a break; if it isn't his dad's (alleged) physical beatings, it's Uncle Avagadro's sexual abuse.
• Too Kinky to Torture: After his death and damnation, he keeps complaining to the demon overseeing his eternal punishment that Hell is nothing like the travel guides suggest. Said travel guides are Bibles, and said demon has no idea how he keeps managing to get copies of it in Hell of all places.

Pepito Sanchezberg

Avagadro's personal dwarf sex slave, who manages to escape and live with the main cast for a while. After Avagadro dies, he inherits his former employer's estate and lives it up- before being ripped apart by a horde of rabid catgirls at a con.

• Asshole Victim: You'd think it would be hard for a Mail-Order Bride illegal immigrant dwarf Sex Slave abused by the monstrous and monstrously diseased Avogadro to be unsympathetic, but you'd only think that because you're unaware of Milholland's capacity for writing anyone and everyone as a jerk. Pepito is cannibalized by tween catgirls and it's not really a bad thing.
• Suddenly Bilingual: Inverted. For the longest time after Pepito was introduced, he only ever spoke (deliberately poorly translated^note Milholland used the crappy translation software available at the time to translate Pepito's dialog several times to make sure it was gibberish) Spanish. However, after finding his way back to Boston, he accidentally reveals that he can speak English too; much to Davan's chagrin.