Characters / Cul-de-sac

The Otterloop Family

Alice Otterloop

The strip's main character, a precious four-year old who goes to Blisshaven Academy Preschool.

• Annoying Younger Sibling: She's one to Petey, often barging into his room unannounced to talk about stuff he isn't interested in.
• The Bully: She sometimes bullies her other classmates, either by calling them names or throwing mulch at them.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: She has a few odd ideas, mostly fueled by her classmates and brother. Justified due to her age.
• It's All About Me: She can be fairly self-centered at times; for example, naming the kids who used to go to Blisshaven "the pre-Alicians".
• Little Miss Snarker: She often snarks at her brother's expense.
• Motor Mouth: She's quite the chatterbox.
• Precocious Crush: One arc implies she gets one on Andre after he scares a wasp away from her favorite dancing spot.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Petey.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Sophie; while she repeatedly forgets Sophie's name (much to her annoyance), they're still best friends.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She's scared of her grandmother's giant dog, Big Shirley.

Peter "Petey" Otterloop II

Alice's brother. He doesn't like doing anything and prefers to just sit on his bed and read comics, but is often forced into activities against his will, mostly soccer. Also a master of the shoebox diorama.

• Breakout Character: Slowly but surely evolved from yet another character Alice interacted with into the Deuteragonist.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Much like his sister, he has some odd beliefs about the world.
• Collector of the Strange: Collects expired coupons and puts them in a folder labeled "Missed Opportunities".
• Deuteragonist
• Geek Physique: He's a skinny comic book fan with an aversion to anything sports-related.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Andre, his closest male friend.
• Magnetic Hero: He has three and a half (he considers Ernesto half since he's not entirely sure if he's real or not) friends, all who he found by accident.
• Out Of Body Experience: Has a tendency to have these in high stress situations. They manifest themselves as a second Petey who narrates his actions and tries to encourage him.
• Picky Eater: He separates the parts of his food so they don't touch each other and regularly checks his status on a website dedicated to cataloguing the world's pickiest eaters.
• Puppy Love: Has a crush on Viola, but is unable to really express it.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue to Andre's Red.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Alice.
• The Slacker: Spends most of his time reading comics in his room.
• Terrified of Germs: One of the things he fears is germs, and as such he doesn't like going into dirty areas.

Madeline Otterloop

Alice and Petey's mother.

• Housewife: Her main job seems to be taking care of her kids.
• Only Sane Man: To the Otterloop family, and possibly the strip as a whole.

Peter Otterloop

Alice and Petey's Dad

• The Alleged Car: His car is a downplayed example; it's not broken-down or barely functioning, but it's so tiny one could easily mistake it for a kid's toy (Alice describes it as a "Honda-Tonka mix, with a little Cuisinart"). He's often seen struggling to get out of it, and one time Alice mistook it for a toy and brought it to her sandbox to play with.
• Bumbling Dad: Averted, he's a bit goofy but generally competent.
• Butt-Monkey: Often the butt of a few jokes, whether he's embarrassing his kids or trying to get out of his car.

Blisshaven Academy

Dill Wedekid

One of Alice's best friends and fellow classmate at Blisshaven. He's a rather odd kid with a tendency to talk about things unrelated to the task at hand. He also has four brothers who have a habit for mischief and contraptions.

• Big Brother Bully: His brothers are implied to be this from time to time; he mentions that they often break his toys.
• Big Eater: The opposite of Petey; he'll often put things like a computer mouse or an old snakeskin in his mouth.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Everyone in the strip is one to some extent, but he's probably the biggest
• Creepy Child: On occasion.
• Green-Eyed Monster: In the same arc Alice gained a Precocious Crush on Andre, Dil became jealous of him.
• Meaningful Name: His last name, Wedekid, sounds similar to "weird kid", and he's a massive Cloud Cuckoo Lander.
• Puppy Love: Towards Alice, who he says he's planning on marrying one day.
• Weird Aside: Often talks about completely unrelated things during discussions.

Beni

Alice's other best friend and fellow classmate at Blisshaven. An energetic boy with a love for tools

• Comically Missing the Point: When his mom said, "A child with a hammer? Why not just give him a nail gun then?" and took his hammer away, he was under the impression he was getting a nail gun. He got a squeaky hammer instead.
• Mr. Fixit: He's able to fix everyone's toys with his hammer.

Nara

Another one of Alice's classmates at Blisshaven.

• Always Someone Better: A mild case. Mostly because she's four-and-a-half rather than four years old like Alice, she's somewhat more sophisticated than her. For instance, it was Nara that initially took ballet lessons, after which Alice became covetous for the same.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Initially referred to as "Narjeel". Justified in-universe as a slip-up on her registration form for Blisshaven Academy.
• Flat Character: Compared to the other kids she's this, largely due to her lack of Cloud Cuckoo Lander traits.
• Girlish Pigtails: Wears her hair in these.
• Only Sane Man: She is perhaps the most normal of the Blisshaven students.
• Running Gag: Her duck shaped potato she always brings for show and tell.
• Token Black Friend: The only black kid at Blisshaven, who doesn't usually serve any role aside from being another friend of Alice's there.

Kevin

Another classmate of Alice's, he is the prime target of Alice's teasing.

• Butt-Monkey: Often bullied by Alice.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Buckethead Kevin, but only Alice calls him that.
• Generation Xerox: Shares his head shape with his dad.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Almost strikes one up with Petey, until the older kid learns that he loves potato salad.

Marcus

A nervous kid in Alice's class whose mother scrapbooks his every action

• My Beloved Smother: Has one who scrapbooks his every action.

Sophie

A girl in Alice's class who initially joined in the summer class, before coming occasionally in the regular class. Initially on bad terms with Alice due to Alice's tendency to call her "that weird new kid" or "Soapie", the two eventually bonded at a concert and have been best friends ever since.

• Berserk Button: If you call her "the weird new kid," she will mess you up.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Alice.

Miss Bliss

Blisshaven Academy's only teacher.

• Improbable Hairstyle: Her bun borders on this.
• A Simple Plan: Most of her efforts to introduce her students to "culture" go this way.
• Wiki Walk: Her students often take her on the conversational equivalent of these.

Mr. Danders

The Blisshaven academy class pet, who's highly intelligent.

• Everyone Calls Him Guinea Pig

• The Bus Came Back: Disappeared for a long time until he came back later as part of a nature show.

Timmy Fretwork

A performer who often helps out around Blisshaven.

• Butt-Monkey: His efforts to help out are usually ignored or criticized by the kids.
• Phrase Catcher: Whenever his relationship with Miss Bliss is brought up, you can always expect someone to say "You can't tie down a banjo man!"
• Will They or Won't They?: He's been in an on-and-off relationship with Miss Bliss at least since Petey was attending Blisshaven.

Petey's Friends

Ernesto Lacuna

A weird kid who Petey swears is imaginary. Plans on taking over the world someday.

• Badass Boast: After Petey states he still think's Ernesto is imaginary: "I AM BEYOND YOUR PUNY IMAGINATION!"
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: How Alice thinks he came into being.
• Clingy Jealous Guy: Towards Viola.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Petey even notes that Ernesto is weirder than him.
• Insufferable Genius: Intelligent and often brags about it.
• Large Ham: Arguably the hammiest character in the strip.
• Meaningful Name: A lacuna is an unfilled space or gap, perfect for a boy who may or may not actually be there.
• Mind Screw: Is he imaginary? Is he real? Is he both?
• Not-So-Imaginary Friend: While he's interacted with people outside of Petey before, general consensus is that he's still imaginary.
• The Rival: To Petey for Viola.
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Believes he can make feet fall asleep at will. He thinks this power is awesome.

Viola D'More

A girl with wild hair. Petey has a crush on her.

• Affectionate Nickname: "Petey Potterpoop" for Petey.
• Insistent Terminology: "It's a MARIMBA!"
• Puppy Love: Might return Petey's affections towards her, but it's unclear.
• Tsundere: Generally friendly with Petey, but occasionally torments him.
• Wild Hair: Her hair is fairly frizzy and voluminous.

Andre Chang

Petey's best friend who he met at Cartoon Camp. Andre is just as much of a comics fan as Petey but prefers superheros and lots of action.

• Asian and Nerdy: His last name suggests he's of Asian descent, and he's a comic book fan.
• The Big Guy: Of Petey's friends, he's the biggest.
• Gentle Giant: Physically large, but a nice guy.
• Large Ham: His love of onomatopoeia and action spills into his real-life interactions, resulting in this.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red oni to Petey's blue.

Loris Slothrop

A highly energetic girl and friend of Petey's who he met at Cartoon Camp. She's always a few steps ahead of everyone.

• Awesome, but Impractical: Her massive amount of hairbands (with only two visible) make her hair look cool, but they all shoot out whenever she get's excited.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: To the point where she apparently can see when Petey's having an out of body experience.
• Genki Girl: A hyperactive Motor Mouth of a girl.
• Ironic Name: Lorises and sloths are both incredibly slow animals, and she's a fast-talking Genki Girl.
• Motor Mouth: Talks fairly fast.
• Out of Focus: Outside of the Cartoon Camp comics, she appears far less often than Andre.
• Super-Speed: As a natural result of her incredibly hyper nature, she seems to have this power.