Characters first introduced in the sister series Lola and Mr. Wrinkles will appear on that character page.
open/close all folders
The titular duo
Brutus
A retired military dog adopted by a civilian family. Now Pixie's "big brother".
- Berserk Button: It probably goes without saying to harm, threaten, or even look cross-eyed at Pixie at your own risk. Not even inanimate or nonliving objects are immune to Brutus's wrath should they violate this; just ask the Roomba that inadvertently vacuumed Pixie's tail while she was napping.
- Big Brother Instinct: To Pixie, naturally. He’s very protective of her and plays with her. He once tried to teach her self-defense in case she encounters a creature that tried to hurt her. He also takes some porcupine quills to the face in order to keep Pixie from hugging an angry porcupine.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Brutus presumably saw a lot of nasty things in his military career and continues to be fairly dark and gruff. Pixie is a sweet little kitten who tries to make friends with everybody, happily offers to share her bed with Brutus, and apologizes for pouncing (which she's apparently unaware is too minor to hurt).
- Character Development: Brutus is quite awkward with Pixie in the early strips, where it seems like he doesn't know how to talk to her, and he's downright aggressive to the other neighbourhood pets. After a while, he's shown to be much more relaxed around Pixie, and slowly befriends the other animals.
- The Comically Serious: A large part of the comic's humor comes from Brutus continuing to act like a military dog in the much friendlier setting of a normal house, especially when contrasted with Pixie's innocence and enthusiasm.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Brutus wears an almost-perpetual frown, has two nasty facial scars, and took part in some form of combat. Upon meeting him for the first time, Lola and Mr. Wrinkles are shaken, and Lola says that Brutus looks like he breakfasts on nails. However, he easily falls into the role of sweet, protective big brother to Pixie.
- Deadpan Snarker: Often, given he is an aversion of the typical Dogs Are Dumb trope. Although, since Pixie is Sarcasm-Blind he occasionally has to clarify when he was being sarcastic.
- Defrosting Ice King: While he never loses his gruff demeanor, he unbends significantly under Pixie's influence.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Lola and Dexter both call him "Grandpa" when trying to poke him into doing something or when taunting him. Brutus hates the nickname.
- Face of a Thug: Not that he can exactly help it. Brutus' face is proof that the boy has seen some... stuff, but he is very calm and patient with his hyperactive new little sister. The neighbors' pets take a while to get used to it.Lola: You must be our— [Brutus turns to face them] ...new ...n-neighbor.
[Beat Panel while Lola and Mr. Wrinkles stare in horror]
Lola: ...yeeeah, so we just thought we'd introduce ourselves, a-and wish you a merry scar face—
Mr. Wrinkles: —CHRISTMAS - Feeling Their Age: Brutus is still formidable when the situation calls for it, but he shows signs of age slowing him down. He frequently naps and he is shown to be exhausted after playing racecar with Pixie.
- Female Feline, Male Mutt: The Male Mutt to Pixie's Female Feline.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Inverted; he's a good dog at heart but he sports a really nasty scar on his face and the injury that caused it also permanently blinded his left eye, making him look really intimidating.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: Treats every character except Pixie as a potential threat until he gets to know them.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Getting past his grizzled exterior, Brutus is a good guy with a good heart. He dotes on Pixie endlessly, and shows a remarkable amount of patience when giving Hugo self-defence lessons.
- Knight Templar Big Brother: Brutus will protect Pixie from being hurt, from smashing a TV showing “Nighttime on Elmo Street”, climbing up a tree with a grappling hook, or even the occasional threats to Randall and Gerald.
- The Mentor: Teaches self-defence to both Pixie and Hugo. It works with Hugo. It doesn't work with Pixie.
- Might Makes Right: Brutus is a firm believer in this philosophy, since being an experienced combat veteran, with the scars to prove it, he uses his intimidating appearance and brute strength to get his way, whether it's to threaten Randall into subservience, rescuing Pixie from an eagle who decide to adopt her instead of eat her, paying back Lola for a "prank" or aggressively chasing her down in a game of tag, or even preventing Pixie from being frightened by a horror movie by smashing the TV. Most explicitly, this is shown in a strip where Mr. Wrinkles takes Pixie bird watching, and Brutus tells him he's just prattling useless trivia, and when Mr. Wrinkles responds that all knowledge is good because "knowledge is power," Brutus towers over him and asks if his knowledge makes him the more powerful of the two of them, which causes Mr. Wrinkles to sheepishly take back his statement.
- Moe Couplet: With Pixie.
- Papa Wolf: He becomes quite protective of Pixie. When she’s telling him about Randal the Raccoon, Brutus makes a not-so-subtle threat that he would rip Randall’s tail off upon hearing how Randall treated Pixie. The lengths Brutus will go to, in order to protect Pixie, is also demonstrated in "Eagle". Even non-living objects like a rumba running over Pixie's tail are not safe from his wrath.
- Parental Substitute: Although they are officially adopted siblings, Brutus acts as more of a father-figure to Pixie, protecting her regardless of any danger to himself and often trying to educate her on subjects to which she is naïve.
- Protectorate: He declared his intention to protect Pixie immediately upon meeting her and has been doing so ever since.
- Scars Are Forever: He has a scar on his face, which he sustained after being slashed with a knife.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: A strip where a thunderstorm happens confirms his time in the military left him with PTSD.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: He is this to Randall.
- Survivor's Guilt: The strip "Too Fast
" indicates Brutus still feels responsible for not acting fast enough in the incident that gave him his scars and got his handler Sergio killed. - Used to Be a Sweet Kid: As this strip shows, he was adorable as a puppy.
Pixie
A cute little kitten and Brutus' adopted little sister.
- Bad Liar: Does not have a deceptive bone in her little body, and is laughably incapable of keeping a secret (especially from Brutus).
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Brutus presumably saw a lot of nasty things in his military career and continues to be fairly dark and gruff. Pixie is a sweet little kitten who tries to make friends with everybody, happily offers to share her bed with Brutus, and apologizes for pouncing (which she's apparently unaware is too minor to hurt).
- Catchphrase: Pixie says "Wowee!" when she's excited about something.
- Cats Are Lazy: Inverted; Pixie has the boundless energy and enthusiasm expected of a small child. Brutus, who isn't lazy either, lies down to take rests more than she does.
- Children Are Innocent: And Brutus will do anything to preserve that innocence.
- Cute Kitten: Kittens don't get much cuter than Pixie! She's designed to be as cute as possible, with big eyes and an innocent demeanor. While Brutus doesn't go into full Cuteness Proximity, he has a soft spot for her.
- The Defroster: Pixie has a softening influence on practically everyone.
- Fearless Fool: Pixie thinks porcupines hurting anybody who get too close to be nothing more than an offensive stereotype, and she offers a hug to one in spite of its insistence that it is an accurate portrayal and threats toward Pixie. If Brutus hadn't arrived to take the quills, Pixie would have likely gotten seriously injured for her carelessness. Notably, this ends up being the first time Brutus full-on scolds her for something.
- Female Feline, Male Mutt: The Female Feline to Brutus' Male Mutt.
- Genki Girl: She's got a lot of energy for such a tiny cat.
- Hidden Depths: She apparently has an encyclopedic knowledge of Simians as she could correctly identify a Hainan Black-Crested Gibbon at the zoo and corrected Brutus for calling it a monkey and not an ape.
- Horrible Judge of Character: She decides to hug a porcupine as proof that she trusts it despite its "bad reputation," oblivious to its loud insistence that it will spike her if she gets any closer.Pro tip: Don't approach someone who says they will stab you if you approach them.
- Interspecies Friendship: Her friend Gerald is an eagle.
- Malaproper: Brutus often has to correct her word usage. Justified, as she's a young child.
- Like a Daughter to Me: She refers to Brutus as "Big Brother" but their significant age difference usually sees Brutus in a more fatherly role to Pixie.
- Moe Couplet: With Brutus.
- Ms. Imagination: Multiple strips show Pixie acting out daydreams, with Brutus usually playing along.
- Nice Girl: She unhesitatingly accepts Brutus as her new family member.
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: Zig-zagged, some strips, such as "Flight", "Parkour" or "Time" portray Pixie to be at least a teenage cat. Here, she is shown to be more adventurous, rebellious and more conscious of how intimidating Brutus can be to others. Most of the time, though, she is depicted as her small kitten self.
- Rebellious Spirit: Pixie appears to gain one, when she gets older, if "Flight" & "Parkour" are any thing to go by.
Other characters
Randal
A raccoon who likes making mischief in the neighborhood. He finds his usual dealings a lot less easy once Brutus shows up.
- Accidental Hero: His completely made-up story to Pixie about a giant mutant vampire rat started the chain of events that eventually led to Jacko receiving treatment for his mange and being adopted into the family. When Randal is told of this, he immediately declares that this makes him Jacko's hero and begins "suggesting" various gifts through which the dog might express his gratitude, until Brutus intimidates him off.
- The Chew Toy: Much to his chagrin, Brutus's presence in the neighborhood has turned him into a hapless standing joke, whether it be Hugo sitting on him when Brutus teaches him to stand up to the raccoon's bullying, being cowed into playing along with Pixie's games, or being flung into a tree to retrieve a pretty feather Pixie wanted.
- Dirty Coward: Randal will threaten or bully pets who are too small (Pixie) or too timid (Hugo) to fight back, but when faced with a pet who refuses to take his nastiness without a fight, he quakes in terror.
- Everyone Has Standards: He may be a Dead Pan Snarker, and although his, toned down, bullying personality will come out from time to time, even he joins the other neighborhood pets in forcing a mischievous rabbit to apologize to Pixie for throwing a pinecone at her head for a cheap laugh.
- Heel–Face Turn: Influenced by Pixie's sweetness (and Brutus' ferocious protectiveness), Randal gradually becomes less of a jerk. While in the past, he would do nasty things to pets too small or timid to stop him, in more recent strips he's more lazy and smug than unpleasant. He even shows up with Pixie's other friends to scare a rabbit into apologizing after it hits her with a pinecone for no reason.
- Jerkass: Best shown when he intimidates Hugo into handing over his bones day after day while insulting his size to boot. He's also rather nasty to Pixie before Brutus shows up and scares the stuffing out of him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In one fan comic, after seeing how upset Pixie is from seeing her favorite squishy toy torn, he lets Pixie play with his tail to cheer her up.
- Has been confirmed as the years have gone by. He generally gets along much better with Pixie, and is even cordial with Brutus. Tellingly, when a mean-spirited rabbit kicks a pinecone at Pixie, Randall is right there with everyone else giving the rabbit a Death Glare.
- Mugging the Monster: He manages to greatly upset Brutus by threatening Pixie. He learns enough from this to not make such a dangerous decision again.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: When a crossover comic with The Mandalorian casts him in the role of the Storm Trooper out to hunt Grogu (Pixie) protected by the Mandalorian (Brutus) he complains that of course he'd be the one taking that particular part, then decides he's not having it and storms off.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Downplayed, but "Pumpkin Monster" shows that even he isn't fully immune to Pixie's innocent friendliness, as he appears genuinely touched that she would unhesitatingly risk being eaten by what she thought was a monster to try to rescue him from the same fate. "Sorry", meanwhile, has Brutus noting that the raccoon has been making less trouble around their neighborhood as of late.
Gerald
An eagle who befriended Pixie through some...unusual circumstances.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Not technically siblings - more "kinda-sorta almost adopted siblings" - but this is essentially his dynamic with Pixie. Or at least, he tries to be responsible, but he's not great at saying no and always reluctantly allows himself to be dragged into Pixie's antics.
- Interspecies Friendship: He's an eagle who's friends with a cat.
- The Klutz: How he managed to get his wing stuck in a vacuum cleaner is anyone's guess.
- Predator-Prey Friendship: His mother initially abducted Pixie to feed her to him and his siblings, but as she was taking her home, she grew attached to the kitten and decided to adopt her instead. It didn't stick, but strips set during Pixie's adult years show that she and Gerald remained friends nonetheless.
- Sarcastic Devotee: Plays along with Pixie's flights of fancy, but will usually have a comment or two about their basis in reality.Gerald: So, just to be clear, I'm wasting a perfectly good fish to use as bait for something you're pretty sure doesn't even exist.
Pixie: Well it sounds dumb when you put it that way.
Gerald: You mean the way it is?
Dexter
A Malinois whom Pixie and Brutus meet at the park. Much of his humor comes from being incredibly similar to Brutus, which tends to backfire for both of them.
- Embarrassing Nickname: When Dexter reinterprets Brutus' critical version of their breeds' differences, he points out that being smaller means he's more portable. Brutus promptly nicknames him "Backpack." Dexter hates the nickname, even yelling that it's not his name when Brutus uses it again after the move.
- Jerkass to One: Dexter is usually a friendly guy, being very kind to Pixie when they first meet and staying polite towards Lola, even though her overenthusiastic greeting clearly makes him uncomfortable. He's only rude to Brutus and even that only because Brutus picked a fight with him first and has stayed needlessly condescending toward him in every conversation they've had since.
- The Rival: When Brutus and Dexter first meet, they start comparing the differences between the two of them in front of Pixie with Brutus calling Dexter weaker than him, while Dexter says he is faster and more tolerant to hot climate. One strip has them competing in a series of challenges to see which one is superior. The competition ends in a tie, which satisfies neither of them.
- Too Much Alike: Brutus and Dexter are both competitive, assertive dogs with a low tolerance for jokes at their expense. Because of this, they're often occupied butting heads and trying to outdo each other.
- Worthy Opponent: After parting ways following their first meeting, Brutus acknowledges that he respects Dexter for how well he stands his ground.
- You've Gotta Be Kidding Me!: Dexter eventually moves into Brutus's neighborhood and is shocked and exasperated when he realizes he ended up next door to the "world's grumpiest dog."
The Owner
The kind man who owns Pixie and took in Brutus after the death of his previous caretaker.
- The Faceless: His face is never shown.
- Nice Guy: He gets little characterization, but he seems to be a kind and caring pet owner.
Jacko
First entering the story as part of a story Randal told Pixie, this dog looked like a "giant mutant vampire rat" to her, but turned out to be a friendly, shy stray with a bad case of mange. After being treated, he was adopted into Pixie and Brutus' household, just in time for the holidays.
- Dark and Troubled Past: He seems to have had a pretty rough life even before coming down with mange; one of his earliest memories is fighting with a seagull over some old french fries, and the fact that he didn't even have a name before being adopted implies he's been fending for himself for most of his life.
- Does Not Know His Own Strength: In "Wall", when he jumps on Pixie to scale a wall, she is not prepared for him to have a stronger weight than herself. She tries to walk it off when he fails to stick the landing and falls on her back.
- Extreme Doormat: Tends to be a bit of a follower in his dynamic with the more self-confident Pixie, going along with her antics regardless of any reservations he may have.Jacko: (to Brutus asking if he sees anything wrong with Pixie's plan to ride a skateboard down a hill) Well, at first I thought it was super dangerous... but Pixie said "It'll be fine" so I guess I was just worrying too much.
- Face of a Thug: Initially. When he was first introduced, he had no fur, a protruding spine, and Glowing Eyes of Doom. However, in regular light as opposed to the junkyard's shadows, he doesn't have the latter and after receiving treatment, he looks like a normal dog less scary than Brutus.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: His left ear is always slightly bent forward while his right is perked up straight, complementing his cute and youthful appearance.
- From Stray to Pet: He's first introduced scavenging food from a junkyard while suffering badly from mange but is adopted by Brutus and Pixie's owner.
- He Cleans Up Nicely: From a sickly, mange-infested stray to a healthy, fluffy dog. To the point Pixie is absolutely amazed at how fluffy and soft his tail is.
- Pets as a Present: A rare animal-to-animal example; when Pixie and Brutus' owner introduces them to the new pet, he says he got them an early Christmas present. Brutus' nose gives away the secret; Pixie is just distracted by whether it's "allowed" to have a Christmas present before Christmas.
