History Characters / QuestionableContent

* HiddenBuxom: In their security uniform, Evan appears to be [[https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4937 flat-chested.]] Outside of it, they have an [[https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5032 impressive chest]] which seems bigger than Moray's. Justified in that their vest would be concealing and restrictive.

* TeensAreShort: Again, barely qualifies, but she's over a head shorter than Marten and a good few inches shorter than Claire.

* AnythingThatMoves: ZigZagged. He'll hit on anything that seems female, whether it be human, robot, animal, or a non-intelligent robotic limb. But in an early storyline, he gets weirded out after realizing he was hitting on a boy robot, though he seemed to get over it pretty quickly and maintained interest in the robot in question.

* OutOfFocus: Though originally the main character of the strip, ever since [[spoiler:entering a mostly drama free relationship with Claire]] he has appeared less and less while the spotlight shifts over to Bubbles and Faye. Nowadays Marten's appearances are more sporadic, usually to give advice or support whenever Faye and Bubbles go back to their apartment but months can go by in real time before he actually appears in a strip or has anything to do.

* ExtravertedNerd: Despite their geeky presentation, Tilly isn't the least bit shy and jumps at the chance to befriend Hannelore and Winslow.

* HandsomeLech: Far, FAR less sleazy than Sven, but Steve has his HandsomeLech moments.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: See "SpyFiction" below.

* RatedMForManly: Downplayed, Steve's actually a pretty emotional guy, especially when drunk. However, he did manage to bag himself a date by showing her a picture of him flexing in front of a stuffed grizzly bear.
* RedOniBlueOni: Red to Marten's Blue.

* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Manly Man to Marten's Sensitive Guy.

* TookALevelInBadass: During his recent stint as a secret agent.
* WeirdnessMagnet: It starts when he's recruited as a secret agent by the U.S. government...

* BigEater: Mentioned [[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=329 here.]]

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Ever since shedding her armor, she hasn't worn any footwear.

A young lady Marten meets in a bar, who turns out to be his upstairs neighbor. Germophobic, adorably neurotic and born to a MadScientist father and a CorruptCorporateExecutive mother, she naturally became a fan favorite. She is slowly getting over some of her issues with the help of her friends. She is romantically lonely but not far enough past her germaphobia and other issues to seek out a partner -- yet. [[spoiler: Leaves the comic to travel the world in [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3649 3649]]. Comes back in [[https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4047 4047]].]]

Hannelore's father. A world renown scientist who lives on ''Ellicott Chatham Technologies Clarke Station'' orbiting earth.

* OverprotectiveDad: He [[https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2147 threatened to throw Marten out the airlock]] when he thought Hannelore meant something else by "physical contact".

* ShrinkingViolet: Is introduced wearing a large hoodie, with their face [[PeekABangs covered up by their hair]], and barely able to raise their voice to conversational levels -- which is followed by [[DefrostingIceQueen a frankly breakneck coming-out of their shell]] -- with hood lowered and [[ExpositoryHairstyleChange hair brushed out of the way]] -- in the course of talking to Bubbles, a fellow shy person. Of course, as soon as some of Sam's spray clients come in, [[SubvertedTrope the hood goes right back up]], and is pulled shut for extra measure. (They eventually discard the hood completely when someone points out that it's a hot day; they'd been ignoring the fact, but are actually on the verge of heatstroke.)

* {{Pride}}: As seen in the above flashback, this is part of her flaws, having resulted in not asking for any sort of help up to and including [[TooDumbToLive calling a plumber to unclog a toilet.]]

* HasTwoMommies:
** Well, he was not ''raised'' with two, but he does eventually have two fathers when [[StraightGay his father]] remarries another guy. [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2399 Marten is cheerful about the idea.]]
** And gets even more cheerful about [[spoiler: his mom dating Jim. "I could end up with three dads! That's, like, so many dads!"]]

* NoSocialSkills: She takes her duties as head of security seriously, but flusters ''immediately'' at the implication that she may have been planting surveilance equipment in Claire and Marten's guest quarters. [[spoiler:The fluster only continues as this ends up being the last straw for Claire's patience with Cubetown, and while Even leads them--mostly Claire--down to meet the Director, she asks that Marten stay with her because the Director's area creeps her out.]]

Marigold's RobotBuddy (sometimes addressed with "Momo-tan"). She's friends with Pintsize and Winslow. [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1995 Apparently has a 97 terabyte hard drive]].[[note]]A solid-state drive of this size [[https://nimbusdata.com/press/nimbus-data-launches-worlds-largest-solid-state-drive-100-terabytes-power-data-driven-innovation/ became possible]] [[TechnologyMarchesOn less than 8 years after this strip was posted]][[/note]] Originally small and chibi-like, she's gotten a new chassis that looks more like a young human girl.

* RidiculouslyHumanRobot: Even before the chassis upgrade, she has some elements of this. After, she is virtually indistinguishable from a human teenager.

* CantHoldHerLiquor: She gets handsy and takes off her pants when she's had too much. And since she's a small girl, “too much” isn't really much.

* CantHoldHerLiquor: Initially. Her first foray into alcohol was disatrous, the subsequent ones less so.

* CantHoldHisLiquor: Abbie quickly loses her professional air, and clothes, when drunk.

'''Jeph's Rant:''' Steve only had [[CantHoldHisLiquor two drinks.]]

* CantHoldHerLiquor: Considering Liz is extremely small, has two artificial arms (which means she has less blood volume), and had not consumed alcohol before, it's justified how quickly she gets inebriated on her first beer.
* {{Cyborg}}: Both of her arms are artificial.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: [[https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=913 Compares]] Hannerlore's friendship with "those beneath [her] station" to her grandfather "civilising" African tribes. Approvingly.

* CommonalityConnection: Hanners and Beatrice eventually [[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=921 bond over martinis]], and this seems to have led Beatrice to take a more active interest in her daughter's life. Both can get very scary and commanding when compelled to, as well.

* FriendlessBackground: Her lack of social skills, Moray's attempt to respect her boundaries and the whole ... ''thing'' of Cubetown, meant that when she started spiraling from lack of direction, there was nobody there to even notice, much less help.

* GenkiGirl: Is very... enthusiastic during Claire's job interview; you'd think she was trying to ''befriend'' the young lady rather than hire her, and in fact wants to keep talking even after plans are set for Claire's visit because she was having fun. At one point she gets so excited she literally springs a leak. When meeting Claire and Marten at the airport, she has to physically rein herself in because of how excited she was to meet them in person, which included at least one [[TheGlomp glomp]]. [[spoiler:Assuming that's the same Moray that gave the interview.]]

[[folder: Ol' Boaty]]
An AI boat who works as a ferry taking passengers between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Cubetown.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: He's a boat.
* NoSympathy: When Marten gets seasick, Ol' Boaty is not impressed.
-->'''Ol' Boaty''': This one's weak. I say we toss him overboard and get young Claire here a '''real''' man.

[[folder: Reeves Gabrels]]
An AI who works on the docks at Cubetown and has a sentient arm, named Armold Palmer, with which she often disagrees.

* {{Bifauxnen}}: She has short-cropped purple hair.
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Well, fairly famous: Reeves Gabrels was Music/DavidBowie's lead guitarist for several years, and Arnold Palmer was a legendary American golfer.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Reeves and Armold are in an "experimental symbiotic partnership" but appear to genuinely dislike each other.

[[folder: Evanescent Incinerator]]
An AI who's head of autonomous security at Cubetown.

* DeceptivelyHumanRobots: After Bubbles, who looks like a a very tall, heavily muscled, dark-skinned human woman, Evan is the next most human-looking robot in the strip so far, with only her neck seam, her pink irises and her randomly-assigned name giving away the fact that she's a robot.
* DoesntLikeGuns: Is horrified by the thought of carrying one, let alone actually needing one. Instead she carries a squirtgun which she insists is [[InverseLawOfUtilityAndLethality much more practical]], and uses the remaining pouches on her tactical gear for various snacks. Marten goes with fruit leather, but she also has granola bars!
* FairCop: She's head of security and rather attractive.
* HiddenBuxom: In their security uniform, Evan appears to be [[https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4937 flat-chested.]] Outside of it, they have an [[https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5032 impressive chest]] which seems bigger than Moray's. Justified in that their vest would be concealing and restrictive.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Played for laughs in her case: she tells Claire and Marten that her name was randomly generated, and they should just call her Evan.
* NeatFreak: A minor case, but she spends so long rearranging the bedsheets in the guest room that the guests walked in on her, she panicked and hid on the balcony.
* NoSocialSkills: She takes her duties as head of security seriously, but flusters ''immediately'' at the implication that she may have been planting surveilance equipment in Claire and Marten's guest quarters. [[spoiler:The fluster only continues as this ends up being the last straw for Claire's patience with Cubetown, and while Even leads them--mostly Claire--down to meet the Director, she asks that Marten stay with her because the Director's area creeps her out.]]
* {{Sleepyhead}}: Evan gets exceptionally groggy. Moray specifically says that Evan has [[https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5034 "severe sleepyhead disorder."]]
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Evan considers it a routine part of her job that she may have to "talk down a scientist who's decided it's their turn to blow up the planet".

[[folder: The Director]]
[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Director of Cubetown]]. [[spoiler:Big ol' glowy robot jellyfish.]] Wants to research and understand everything. Results thus far have been mixed.
%%this is largely just a placeholder. update as needed

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: In an attempt to better communicate with Claire, they construct a "facilitator" [[spoiler:identical to Moray X-21 called Moray-44]]. If this is their primary method of relating with most folks, it would explain Cubetown's latent oddity.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: By far the ''weirdest'' character in the strip thus far. Yes, even weirder than Melon. They live deep enough in the sea that the local sealife is disturbed by light. Their declared goal is to research everything to figure out everything, and organized a research facility that tends to attract like-minded eccentrics. They attempt to hire Claire to be their librarian/Head of Information Science/[[BreadEggsMilkSquick Data-Mistress]] based solely on the criteria that "'''SHE SHOWS PROMISE'''". And oh yeah [[spoiler:they're a big glowy jellyfish]].
** BunnyEarsLawyer: That said, they are capable of great leaps of lateral thinking that lead to amazing scientific breakthroughs, the most dramatic of which was finding a link between "computational fluid dynamics" and "algorythmic paper clip sorting" ([[TechnoBabble whatever those are]]) that resulted in [[spoiler:the ability to construct Moray units]]. Plus, it turns out that Claire might very well be ''perfect'' for the position she interviewed for, it's just that none of her qualifications are ''on paper''.
* HiddenDepths: ...Forgive the pun. The Director comes across as aloof and almost totally alien to other characters, but have apparently made "learn everything" their life's purpose, and [[spoiler: the Morays they construct and whom share a portion of their consciousness are all uniformly overjoyed and excited to advance that goal. The Director might very well share their zeal and excitement for learning and experiencing new things, but simply be incapable of expressing it- Moray-44 mentions that The Director loves to learn new slang]].
* MindHive: [[spoiler:A result of constructing and reabsorbing Moray units is that all their experiences live on as part of The Director; this is apparently how The Director learns new information.]]
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Doesn't speak in ''sentences'' so much as groups of words. Is also very loud, but that may be a result of being so large. Talking may be difficult for them, what with [[spoiler:being a jellyfish and not having a mouth]] and all, hence the "facilitators".
--> '''THERE HAS BEEN''' - '''SOME DISCORD''' - '''REGARDING''' - '''YOUR VISIT?'''

[[folder:"Facilitators"/[[spoiler:Moray units]]]]
A series of SlimeGirl AIs used by The Director to "facilitate" communications with other sentients. Some stick around for a while, others only stay for as long as a single task.
----
* AngstWhatAngst: Once her task is done, 44 allows herself to be reabsorbed with little more than a passing comment to Claire about being cool with it.
* AppliedPhlebotinum: The non-Newtonian liquid processor substrates that allow Morays to exist are a technology that The Director came up with on their own, hence Cubetown is the only place that has Moray units.
* CastFromHitPoints: The Director constructs them by dispensing some of their own substance and forming it into an [=AI=]. Each Moray unit is ''literally'' part of The Director.
* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Don't wear or apparently have much use for clothing save for lifevests during boat trips; it's probably for the best, as it'd leave The Director's visitation area looking like the rapture when enough Morays got reabsorbed.
* MadeOfIndestructium / MadeOfPlasticine: The fact that they're each a puddle of slime that walks like a girl allows them some flexibility in the durability department. X-21 lets a child at the airport stick his arm clear through her head with no ill effects, and another one was apparently just fine (aside from emotional damage) after being splatted apart by a shipping container, they just had to find all the bits of goop and smoosh them back together. That said, at least one was eaten by a whale and couldn't just shrug it off.
* MouthOfSauron: The Director has trouble with interpersonal communication, and created the Morays to serve as their go-between, each of whom share some of The Director's consciousness, and The Director seems to only produce them as needed.
* PerkyFemaleMinion: The role they serve to The Director. They are all uniformly exhuberant in comparison to The Director's apparent expressionlessness.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Some Morays ask to be reabsorbed early, even if the task they were made for wasn't completed: Moray-64 was squashed by a shipping container and tapped out as soon as they could put her back together.
* WeHardlyKnewYe: Moray-44 only sticks around for the duration of Claire's meeting with The Director. According to X-21 [[WeAreAsMayflies this is not unusual]], with Morays like her that stick around being the exception rather than the rule.
* YouAreNumberSix: "Moray" is less a name than a overall model designation, thus X-21, 64, and 44 can be considered their "actual" names. X-21 confirms in a later strip that each facilitator chooses their favorite number, so the designations are not even sequential; yes, there was a Moray-[[FourTwentyBlazeIt 420]][[LOL69 69]]. She was the one that got eaten by a whale.
--> [[TheRant the cubetown discord is completely unreadable]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Elizabeth Appleboom]]
A child prodigy scientist who somehow got simultaneous [=PhDs=] from Harvard and M.I.T. and now works in Cubetown, where she is apparently not popular.
----
* AdorablyPrecociousChild: Invoked in that Moray thinks Elizabeth is this, but Elizabeth very much resents it. For her part, Elizabeth insists she's an adult now, "just short", hence the lab coat that is clearly designed for someone a foot or so taller.
* BrattyHalfPint: Her insistence on being an adult and not a child only intensifies this.
* CantHoldHerLiquor: Considering Liz is extremely small, has two artificial arms (which means she has less blood volume), and had not consumed alcohol before, it's justified how quickly she gets inebriated on her first beer.
* {{Cyborg}}: Both of her arms are artificial.
* HatesBeingNicknamed: Despises being called "Lizzie" as she thinks it's too childish.
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: Begins tailing Claire, Moray, and Marten as soon as they leave The Director's area. She can be seen [[https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4959 in]] [[https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4960 several]] [[https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=4967 pages]] before making herself known to Marten.
* NoSocialSkills:
** She introduces herself to Marten by whispering to him from behind a barrier that she knows where he can get coffee, which spooks him. She compounds this by insisting "I have a perfectly normal amount of social skills" while still hiding behind a barrier.
** During her flashback, she introduces herself to her prospective new coworkers by saying that she's [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial not a child now, she's an adult]] and that she was smarter than all of them.
* TeenGenius: She got simultaneous doctorates while still in her teens. Still barely qualifies, as she's 19 by the time she appears.
* TeensAreShort: Again, barely qualifies, but she's over a head shorter than Marten and a good few inches shorter than Claire.
* TrashOfTheTitans: Her office is shown accumulating a veritable pool of trash from not cleaning from the time she starts at Cubetown.
[[/folder]]

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Her electrical self-defense has amperage within the lethal range. Also, upon gaining her new chassis, her first acts were attacking Pintsize and threatening Marigold. Even the author hypothesized she had suppressed violent impulses.
** Even before that she could delve into this occasionally, like when she forced Marigold to go to the store and get some food besides Pocky by threatening to tell Angus that she'd been [[ADateWithRosiePalms masturbating]] and become dehydrated. Apparently this was Pinstsize's influence at work.

* Cyborg: Both of her arms are artificial.

%%* BrattyHalfPint: Im NoT a ChIlD iM An AdUlT Lizzie you are doing yourself no favors so far

* TeenGenius: She got simultaneous doctorates while still in her teens.

* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Faye, for the longest time, until TheyDo.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: While she is a relatively BenevolentBoss, she [[EveryoneHasStandards has her limits]]. [[spoiler:[[YouHaveFailedMe She fires Faye, of all people,]] [[SuddenPrincipledStand on the spot for drinking on the job]], though she relents a little when Faye ends up drinking herself into the hospital, saying that she's not "officially fired until the insurance pays for this"]]

* CharacterBlog: Like many characters in the strip, he has a Website/{{Twitter}} account. Notably, virtually every post he makes is SchmuckBait to some image that even [[Website/FourChan /d/]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards would not touch]].

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}

Marten's current boss at the Smif College library, perpetually stuck in an all-girl [[UsefulNotes/ForTheLoveOfMany polyamorous]] LoveDodecahedron. Her Twitter account is "tai_fighter", named after her [=DJing=] [[Franchise/StarWars stage]] [[PunnyName name]]. She had a crush on Dora, and half-heartedly tried to get with her after she and Marten broke up. They eventually became a couple.

* GeniusDitz: Despite [[AsianAirhead all]] [[ChaoticStupid her]] [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} other]] [[NightmareFuelStationAttendant characteristics]], she is apparently a genuinely and surprisingly [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3180 brilliant materials-engineering programmer.]]