Sam & Fuzzy / Characters

Sam & Fuzzy has had a truly staggering amount of characters over its long run. Some have admittedly become more important than others and are recorded here. Characters are introduced in the order of appearance.

Warning: For those just starting out, this page contains major spoilers of the comic's overarching plot and major characters and not all spoilers are marked. You are warned.

Currently under construction.

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The Main Duo

Sam

Our hero (or the closest thing the story has to one). Sam (last name unknown) starts the story as a twenty-something college dropout who works for a taxi company in a small town, and over the course of the story is involved in various wacky (and not-so-wacky) adventures that sees his fortunes rapidly wax and wane. Sam spends most of the early story as the The Straight Man and the Unfazed Everyman who keeps getting pulled into one crazy situation after another, often due to no fault of his own but just as often as a result of his own bad decisions.

Tropes:

Action Survivor: In the "Noosehead" arc particularly.
Arbitrary Skepticism: Sam's immediate reaction to learning of The Pit is to state how silly and unrealistic the whole concept sounds. This is immediately lampshaded by his conversation partner, a talking dinosaur.
The Chessmaster: He tried to be, albeit with mixed results.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: After Character Development starts to set in.
Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: His condition when he's first introduced.
Embarrassing Last Name: one of the perks of having his original identity erased is that Sam is able to hide the fact that his actual full name is Sam Samms.
Fatal Flaw: Sam suffers from both self-doubt and pride. At the beginning of the comic Sam is extremely pliable and tends to fall into the path of least resistance because he lacks the self-confidence to make his own choices. When he does obtain power over others (whether as a book store manager or the emperor of a crime syndicate) he ends up over-compensating in the other direction, and needs to be prodded (or thrown) into considering the effect his actions and beliefs have on others.
He Who Fights Monsters: Over the course of "Ruined Everything" and "Missing Inaction" he comes dangerously close to becoming just as bad as many of the people he's trying to beat.
- Parodied in one filler strip where Malcolm talks about what happened to the various characters who have been Put on a Bus ever since Cerebus Syndrome set in for real, and the final panel reveals that the real Sam is actually being held prisoner in his basement by an Evil Twin.
Kavorka Man: Despite being portrayed as scrawny (and somewhat chubby after the Time Skip) and rather dorky looking, he's dated several very attractive women over the course of the comic, including heavy metal starlet Nicole.
Never Be Hurt Again: His transformation during the 'NMS' and 'Ninja Emperor' storylines was partly caused by not wanting to feel as helpless as he felt when Candice died or when Black and Blank were using him as a pawn.
Nice Guy: He loses his way for awhile, but Sam is ultimately kind and decent at heart.
Pinball Protagonist: In the final volume, Sam does an awful lot, but almost none of it contributes to resolving the plot. Which is actually thematically appropriate given Sam's character arc at that point, and Sam lampshades it in his final conversation with Fuzzy before Fuzzy shoots him down by claiming what he did saved them all.
Survivor's Guilt: Over Candice's death in the first arc. He's finally able to get a reproachement with her memory in the final arc, shortly before it fades away.
Took a Level in Badass: Over the course of the "Noosehead" arc and again in the Time Skip between "Noosehead" and "Fix Your Problem." He specifically mentions that he's been taking combat lessons so he can belivably run the Ninja Mafia. He's still nowhere close to most of the other badasses in the comic, but still.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Between the ending of "Under the Influence" and "Ruined Everything."
Toxic Friend Influence: Initially influenced in his behaviour by Fuzzy, and eventually ends up becoming this to Devahi. She ends up turning this on its head and making Sam realize what a jerk he's become.
Weirdness Magnet: Fuzzy outright calls him one in the NMS arc, pointing out that while they live in a World of Weirdness where the average person may have a once-in-a-lifetime encounter with the unnatural Sam gets exposed repeatedly.

Fuzzy

The second main character, "Fuzzy" (real name unknown for much of the story) is a three-foot anthropomorphic bear-thing with a poor sense of ethics and even poorer impulse control. Brash, lazy and loud-mouthed, Fuzzy has an almost infinite propensity for pulling Sam into trouble with his big mouth and poorly thought-out get-rich schemes. Over the course of the story Fuzzy becomes more of his own bear and his own (unknown) past and exactly why he looks like a living teddy bear in what is ostensibly real-life America begin to take centre stage.

Tropes:

All Take and No Give: Fuzzy's Fatal Flaw, in many ways. As revealed by the NMS arc, His history with Hazel post-awakening probably explains some of it.
Amnesiac Dissonance: As Eric, he was apparently Hazel's Morality Chain.
- Played for Laughs when he discovers Eric used to wear clothing.
Berserk Button: Has several.
- The first (and less serious one) is his eyebrows. Don't touch his eyebrows.
- Betrayal really gets his goat, revealed to be due to Hazel abandoning him after they became partners.
- This later matures into one about anything related to Hazel Kim, who he hates for her role in wiping his memory, effectively erasing his original personality
- People who tell him to just "move on" from his grudge because his new life as Fuzzy is better than the one Eric had anyway
Deuteragonist: After awhile he stops being Sam's sidekick and has his own parallel plotlines, often separate from Sam.
Disembodied Eyebrows: Don't point that out though, he hates it.
Et Tu, Brute?: Despises abandonment and betrayal, even in his early comedic moments. Of course he never applies this standard to his own behaviour, at least not at first.
Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Wears only bowties. It turns out Eric wore clothing and only wore bowties when pretending to be a teddy bear. Fuzzy is outraged that Hazel never told him.
Heroic Comedic Sociopath: During the early arcs Fuzzy was essentially an unchecked Id who freely rampaged against Sam, or anything else that annoyed him, with no consequences. As Cerebus Syndrome set in, this behaviour (or rather, the no consequences part) disappeared entirely and Fuzzy's behaviour became a lot more Played for Drama, disappearing entirely by the N-M-S arc.
The Imp: In the first arc.
It's All About Me: In his worse moments.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Though it's a very deeply hidden heart of gold, especially in the early volumes.
Living Toys: Possibly, see the Eric entry
Meaningful Name: Not only is he literally fuzzy, being a teddy bear, but his identity is 'fuzzy' due to his Laser-Guided Amnesia and Mysterious Past. The name was given to him by Hazel on their first encounter when he mentions this.
Mysterious Past: Because of his mindwipe, Fuzzy has no recollection of his past, his family or even his species. So far the comic has not shown anyone of the same species as him, the closest being the Buddy Bots which are just copies of him
Never Be Hurt Again: Much like Sam, the events of the 'NMS' arc (or more specifically, the parts of it that delve into his backstory) reveal that Fuzzy's behaviour was caused by Hazel abandoning him.
Quest for Identity: Fuzzy's character arc comes down to this during the N-M-S arcs onwards, when he comes into contact with Hazel again. The story ends with him burying what was left of Eric and realizing his old identity will never return.
Past Experience Nightmare: Fuzzy is haunted by bad dreams that are revealed to be Eric's last moments before Brain 'killed' him.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Although it's not shown often in modern strips, Fuzzy is much stronger than his knee-high frame suggests, having successfully held down a job as a metal band roadie for at least a year.
The Power of Hate: An unusually positive example. His hatred of Brain for ruining Hazel's life and leading her to her death grants him the mental focus that is needed to control the Tar which he uses to destroy it all (along with Brain and Hart). In his own words, all that mattered was "wiping that smug piece of @#$% off the face of the Earth."
Refuge in Audacity: Repeatedly makes use of the trope In-Universe.
Robot Me: allowed Sin to make an army of robot clones of him before he lost his memory.
Snarky Nonhuman Sidekick: His main role before Cerebus Syndrome sets in.
Toxic Friend Influence: Was this to Sam during half the comic, being responsible for the events that ended the Classic Series and the N-M-S services arc. It took most of Fuzzy's character arc to admit this to himself.
Unscrupulous Hero: After verging on Nominal Hero in early volumes, Fuzzy tends toward this trope.
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Fuzzy's appearance is not really commented on in the early comics aside from a few gags, and it's eventually shown that after his mind was erased, Hazel taught him that if you just act like you belong somewhere, people will be too afraid of looking insensetive and ignorant to react otherwise. After he becomes a TV star with Teddy Knows Best, Fuzzy has been claiming that he suffers from an obscure medical condition. The occasional background character is still weirded out.

Characters from the first arc (X-Per-S Taxi and Bunton's Books):

Mr. Ackerman

The boss of X-Per-S Taxi. Ackerman is an old man near pension age with no indoor voice but a big heart. It turns out he's independently wealthy and runs his company mostly as a way to keep listless young men employed and off the streets. He retires after the first arc, leaving the story (and X-Per-S Taxi to Lance).

Tropes:

Bad Boss: Parodied in his initial appearance, where he's shown as a gigantic man who yells at the top of his lungs at Sam and Fuzzy for being late, except the things he yells are actually nice and supportive.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite his odd personality, he's a very successfull businessman, to the point that running the cab company is mostly a hobby.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Acts kind of batty and delusional, hinted at being the result of his age and drug use.
Happily Married: Was, at least. He still carries around a photo of his lost wife, who died before the comic started. Well, actually, he carries around a photo of a toaster, he accidentally put the real photo in the laundry once.
Large and in Charge: An absolute mountain of a man and Sam's boss for several years. Hell, he remains the biggest character in the comic, not counting background characters like werewolves even in later years.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The fact that Sam crashing his taxi and losing the courier package that the Ninja Mafia stole genuinely makes him angry, which turns out to be a very bad thing for Sam.
Tough Love: Thinks firing Sam for his last screwup is this, and that Sam will flourish without Ackerman enabling him. He's sort of right; Sam completely falls apart after getting fired and ends up with a major depression. It takes Fuzzy throwing him out his bedroom window to snap him out of it.

Lance

Lance is Sam's "rival" at X-Per-S Taxi, to the extent that either side is willing to entertain the notion of 'rivalry'. Initially Sam's foil, successful at everything Sam isn't, Lance's life eventually gets pulled through his own (much more mundane) troubles and he ends up going in a different direction. He leaves the story after the first arc, with intermittent appearances afterwards.

Tropes:

Happily Married: To Alexa, with a child.
Jerkass: Not the nicest guy, especially towards women, until being around Fuzzy for a day teaches him what it's like to be on the recieving end of a narcissist egomaniac.
Jerkass Realization: Courtesy of an attempted "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Fuzzy. Halfway through, Lance suddenly realizes he's quoting his ex-girlfriend (who was blowing up at him) verbatim.
Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: He originally appeared as a parody of this, as the only "rivarly" existed in Sams head, and Lance was far better at being a driver than he was.

Carlyle

Literally nothing is known of Carlyle apart from the fact that he's one incredible guy or rather, an incredible family of guys and gals. His face is never seen, his presence is rarely felt, and yet everyone knows that Carlyle is just so freakin' awesome. Why a man of such incredible talent is working at a dead-end taxi job in a small town is anyone's guess, but either way he does a brilliant job at it. Carlyle is currently not a part of the plot... Or maybe he is. Nobody knows, except that he's possibly out there somewhere, being incredible.

Tropes:

The Ace: Basically exists as an impossible standard for Sam to live up to. Also gives out sage advise and saves blind, hairless orphans.
Catchphrase: "I can take you where you need to go".
The Faceless: In his intermittent appearances, Carlyle is only seen as a shadowed silhouette in the front seat of whatever he drives.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: Kat helps people because she feels that if she doesn't, no one will see any value in her.
Legacy Character: The "Carlyle" who appears over the course of the strip's run was at least two separate characters: Kat Carlyle and her father. And they belong to a long line of family members devoted to helping people and taking them where they need to go. The Carlyle who figured in the plot of the strip's earliest volumes was probably Carlyle Senior, given that Ackerman, Lance, and Fuzzy all referred to him with male pronouns, but according to Word of God, the Carlyle in any scene where there's no indication of gender could be either Kat or her father.
The Shrink: Essentially his on-screen role. If someone is down, Carlyle will give them the advice they need (even if they don't want it).
Phrase Catcher: "It's like talking to a fortune cookie" and variations thereof.

Fridge

One day, Satan decided to possess Sam's refrigerator. No-one knows why. After spending the X-Per-S arc insulting Sam and Fuzzy and being a general inoffensive pest, Fridge eventually escapes the Fridge and possesses a Ninja Mafioso, kicking off the plot that's defined the comic ever since.

Fridge is eventually the target of a major Cerebus Retcon. See 'Hart' for tropes regarding his true self.

Tropes:

Body Surf: His main means of survival once he's loose.
Call a Human a "Meatbag": Or rather "heatbag," his favorite term of derision.
Even Evil Has Standards: Refuses to possess Sam or Fuzzy out of standards. He makes an exception for Sam once Candice has killed everyone else in the room, and adds that he's tempted to stay in Sam just to torment her.
It Came from the Fridge: A play on this trope, though his real origins are a lot more complicated. See 'Hart' for the complete story.
Mole in Charge: The Ninja Mafia suspects that a demon has attacked and possessed some of their men; they have no idea that it's possessed the Emperor himself.
No Indoor Voice: Since fridge mold are mostly into nonverbal communication, it may be Fridge was using the pump to make noises. Or maybe it was just funnier that way.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: In the earliest strips he's treated like a pathetic joke. He claims to be Satan, but he's stuck in some loser's refrigerator and can't do much harm beyond verbal abuse. Then he finally gets loose and turns out to be an absolute nightmare.
Red Right Hand: Anyone Fridge possesses gains Scary Teeth and a forked tongue, which go away when he abandons their body. They also get a tattoo saying "SATAN WUZ HERE" on their chest, which appears to be permanent.
Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: He absolutely despises DJ Positive, a radio jockey whose on-air persona involves an eternally sunny disposition. Subverted once he actually escapes: Positive quickly becomes an ex-DJ courtesy of ninja attacks.

Rikk Estoban

An 'alternative comic artist', Rikk was originally intruduced in one of Fuzzy's get-rich-quick schemes that went bad. He quickly found his own way to fortune and fame (as it turns out, what 'went bad' in said scheme was Fuzzy being involved) and has intermittently appeared in the comic ever since.

Tropes:

Attention Whore: He latches onto the anti-vampire movement mostly as a way to get attention.
Ax-Crazy: His original characterization, toned down after he gained mainstream popularity.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: A somewhat twisted example.
Lean and Mean: Not a directly evil character, but definitely on the jerkass side of the spectrum.
Morality Pet: Rikk adopted Chompy after Fuzzy dumped him in a garbage bin, and despite everything else wrong with the man he seems to have taken good care of him.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of Jhonen Vasquez initially. He eventually grew into more of his own character, especially with the reveal that 'Rikk Estoban' isn't his original name.
Old Shame: A bizarre painting he made early in his career while still using his original name, which was panned by an art critic and it's implied it led him to his current persona. Aside from the painting itself, the only remaining evidence of his past life is a newspaper clipping of the art show.
Stalker with a Crush: To Candice, briefly.
That Man Is Dead: He reacts this way to the name of Dexter Williams, adding that artists reinvent themselves all the time.

Alexa

Sam's first on-screen girlfriend. Alexa is a go-getter intent on making Sam improve himself and get out of his current situation, which puts her in conflict with Fuzzy (which she sees as the main reason for his current situation). She later reappears as Sam's co-worker at Burton's Books, and leaves the story after the first arc. She eventually ends up married to Lance.

Tropes:

Freudian Trio: Served as the Superego during the Burton's Books arc, with Sam as Ego and Andrea/Fuzzy as the Id.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Her personality is coarse as all heck, but she's fundamentally a decent person trying to help people... She just tends to deliver advice in a way that makes people disinclined to listen.
Sentimental Drunk: Once she gets a few beers in she's liable to start cautervauling about how crappy her life is.
Working with the Ex: Forced to with Sam at Burton's Books.

Andrea

Sam and Alexa's coworker at Burton's Books. Andrea is fun-loving and sarcastic with a strong conciliatory streak, and spends most of the arc prodding Sam, Fuzzy and Alexa together in an attempt to avoid them burning down the bookstore with infighting. She leaves the story after the first arc.

Tropes:

Freudian Trio: The Id to Sam's Ego and Alexa's Superego during the Burton's Books arc.
The Gadfly: One of her defining features, using sarcasm and light-hearted mockery to take the wind out of Sam, Alexa and Fuzzy's sails.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's a nice person, joking personality aside, and is even able to get on well with Fuzzy by not being afraid to snark back at him.

Candice

A delivery girl for a bookselling company who eventually ends up dating Sam. Her past, and Sam's involvement in her attempts to resolve it, ends up being the other major catalyst that starts the main ninja plotline. While she dies at the end of the first main arc, she goes on to play a role of sorts in later volumes, so beware of endgame spoilers.

Tropes:

Berserk Button: Don't bring up her father. He was murdered and it's a touchy subject to her.
Bespectacled Cutie: She wears glasses all the time and is described as being very attractive in-universe. As shown by her secondary identity, the glasses may not be wholly for show but she is definitively not Blind Without Them.
Cessation of Existence: Implied to be her final fate after Brain's destruction. The memory trapped inside Hart gives a final few words to Sam before dissipating into nothingness.
Daddy's Girl: She was this when she was younger, by her own admission. She moved to Newport to be near him, only for him to get murdered by ninja.
Deadpan Snarker: Very fond of teasing Sam with snark.
Enemy Within: The echo of Candice that lives inside Brain is a rare heroic example.
Everyone Has Standards: She'll lie to Sam, take a side job as a ninja, seduce Rikk for information on demons, kidnap Sam for an audience with the Emperor and behead the entire Ninja Ruling Council without missing a beat, but the moment Fridge possesses Sam her Killing Intent vaporates entirely.
Head-Turning Beauty: Gets Sam and herself booted from a restaurant by being mistaken for 'a lady of negotiable affection'.
Hero of Another Story: The Burton's Books arc is really Candice's story, but we don't see most of it firsthand. The strip only depicts how her actions affect her relationship with Sam, who is Locked Out of the Loop until it's almost over.
Late-Arrival Spoiler: If you started reading the strip at one of the later jumping-on points, then it was basically impossible to avoid finding out that Candice died while killing the Ninja Emperor and his Council.
Only Mostly Dead: She didn't fully die during her Heroic Sacrifice, an echo of her managed to cling to the dying Hart, leading to both of them being trapped inside Brain when he devoured Hart's remains
Senseless Sacrifice: Thanks to Hazel and Brain, her death failed to kill Hart permanently.
Taking You with Me: Kills herself in an attempt to destroy Fridge.
Two Aliases, One Character: Fuzzy mainly knows her by her Ninja codename, Sexxica.
Unwitting Pawn: Everything she did was part of a larger plan by Hazel and Brain, who deceived and manipulated her in an effort to get the Ninja Emperor's Pit code.
Walking Spoiler: Let's just say that her story role goes a bit beyond delivering books and leave it at that.

Scott, Jackson, Sexxica and Ox

Fuzzy, in order to shore up Sam's finances, eventually takes a job at the Ninja Mafia and ends up in a squad with a (deliberate) cliche Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Scott, the hard-nosed leader, Jackson the sassy rebel, Sexxica the liberated sexpot over-achiever, and Ox the dumb lunk with a heart of gold. Despite their Cliché Storm appearance, all of the members have some secrets that end them up with larger roles in the story. Except Scott.

Tropes:

Action Girl: Sexxica.
An Arm and a Leg: Jackson 'accidentally' loses his right hand when he makes a pass at Sexxica. It is later replaced with a cyborg hand.
The Cynic: Jackson, who treats the mafia mainly as a hobby he's not even very involved in.
Dumb Muscle: Ox. He speaks entirely in simpleton speak and was apparently illiterate until the Noosehead arc.
- He's so dumb that Fridge was unable to function while possessing him, despite being more intelligent while possessing the mold in Sams fridge.
Four-Temperament Ensemble: Ox is sanguine, Sexxica is choleric, Scott is melancholic and Jackson is phlegmatic.
The Generic Guy: Scott. He's so generic that his last appearance in the comic before becoming permanently Out of Focus is him being used as a table leg.
Gentle Giant: Ox again.
Never Learned to Read: Ox, unsurprisingly. Sam apparently taught him how during their time as roadies for Noosehead.
Of Corsets Sexy: Sexxica. Her costume choice is intentional, to showcase her liberated nature and make people pay attention to her.
Reassigned to Antarctica: While he's never actually moved from his original post, Scott effectively gets this treatment after his original squad was possessed by Fridge and went on a killing spree. By the time Fuzzy joins, they haven't been given any assignments for months, since Scott was blamed for the actions of his subordinates. When Fuzzy succeeds in a suicide mission against the Grrbils and is made the new squad leader, Scott is reassigned to a position "more fitted to his talents" - as a table leg.
- Eventually reversed, as while Scott is Demoted to Extra, he's shown as having regained his commander position after the collapse of the original Ninja Mafia, first while working under Mr. Black, and later as a member of Sam's resurrected Ninja Mafia.
The Straight Man: Scott, to the rest of the squad.
Third-Person Person: Ox does this, later switching to speaking in proverbs after Jackson and Sam get him a book of proverbs.

Characters from the second arc (Noosehead)

Mr. Blank

"Mr. Blank" (real name unknown) is a Ninja blankface; an elite Tyke Bomb in their organization who directly serves their Emperor and the council. After the events of the first arc, Blank is introduced on the hunt for those responsible and he turns out to have a design in play involving Sam in order to keep the mafia going.

Tropes:

And Now for Someone Completely Different: He's the viewpoint character for the first thirty or so pages of the Noosehead Arc. It's only gradually revealed why Sam is nowhere in sight and why Blank is hunting him down.
Ax-Crazy: The mask makes it hard to see sometimes, but he is dangerously bonkers.
Berserk Button: Don't disparage the mafia within earshot, or things will go badly for you.
Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The crux of Blank's relationship with Sam: He needs Sam to officially resurrect the Ninja Mafia but he has no wish to see Sam actually lead it. When Sam appoints Gertrude as his successor in an attempt to defeat Black, Blank is all too happy to murder him on the spot.
Character Death: Kicked off the side of a flying skyscraper by Fuzzy.
Culture Justifies Anything: Believes that following and preserving the traditions of the Ninja Mafia justifies any action, no matter how immoral or ridiculous.
The Determinator: Will resurrect the ninja mafia, no matter the cost.
Disney Villain Death: Played with. He ultimately falls to his doom, but shortly afterward Fuzzy points out the unsightly results of him landing on the ground (which are thankfully left off-panel).
Friend-or-Idol Decision: It's foreshadowed from the beginning of the Noosehead Arc that sooner or later Black is going to directly get in the way of Blank's plan for the Mafia and force Blank to try and stop him for real. When finally put in that position, Blank murders Black rather than leave the Mafia.
Hoist by His Own Petard: He might have survived his fatal fall from the SIN building, if not for the corpse of Mr Black, who he had murdered earlier, knocking Blank off the ledge to his death
Implacable Man: Provided he's not in a comedy strip, Blank isn't getting stopped. The final chase scene in SIN headquarters plays this to the hilt, as Blank powers through Black's guards, then Black, then Gertrude, chases Sam to the top of the skyscraper on foot (Sam took the elevator) and onto the roof, gets attacked by Fuzzy, gets his face torn off by a robot clone of Fuzzy, almost shanks Sam before tripping off the side, gets kicked off the side by Fuzzy, still manages to grab hold of the building and climbs back up before the Hoist by His Own Petard moment above. And even then Fuzzy tries to invoke Never Found the Body on him.
Nerd Glasses: Wears them in his unmasked flashbacks, and apparently underneath the mask as well.
One-Man Army: Blank is the single deadliest individual in the comic, able to fight off hordes of Ninja mooks and deal Curb Stomp Battles to practically any named character who crosses his path. Even Brain, a near-Eldritch Abomination, couldn't contain him for very long.
Only Friend: To Mr. Black when they were still in the Mafia. Now, they're on opposite sides.
Sunk Cost Fallacy: He'll keep the Mafia alive no matter what, because to do otherwise would render his entire life pointless.
Tyke-Bomb: Trained from infancy like Black. Currently the trope's page image.
You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Said this word for word during his hunt for Sam, while trying to figure out the seemingly random pattern of cities Sam had been seen in only to notice a metalhead wearing a shirt with the last Noosehead tour schedule on it, and realize THAT is what Sam is following.

Mr. Black

"Mr. Black" is a fellow blankface who served as second-in-command to Mr. Blank. After the events of the first arc, Black drew the opposite conclusion of Blank and the two work at opposite ends for the second arc as a result. He spends most of the arc in employ of Mr. Sin as his Dragon, only to take up centre stage at the end.

Tropes:

Affably Evil: Black seems to genuinely believe that people deserve what they've worked hard for and are willing to seize, and maintains an attitude of Nothing Personal even as he repeatedly tries to kill or blackmail Sam.
- His attempts at rapprochement with Blank also appear completely genuine. Too bad for him Blank didn't reciprocate when the chips were down.
Brilliant, but Lazy: Had more natural talent than Blank but preferred slacking off and getting drunk to training.
Character Death: Impaled with Extreme Prejudice In the Back by Blank, who tears his corpse in half with his sword for good measure.
Evil Former Friend: To Blank, though the 'evil' here is a matter of perspective as they're both pretty despicable.
Hard Work Hardly Works: The fact that blankfaces, despite being the most hard-working and dedicated members of the Ninja Mafia, were essentially bodyguards and errand boys for the Emperor really got his goat, which is why he's all too happy to see the Mafia dead and buried.
The Heavy: He's not the ultimate threat faced by the main characters, but he directly drives the action more than the other members of the Big Bad Ensemble until Blank kills him.
Last Chance to Quit: Uses blackmail to offer Sam the chance to reveal that his claim is fake in return for Sidney. Which leads to...
Last-Second Chance: Sam offers him his personal squad and a seat on his inner council as a peace offering. Black was about to take it when Blank interfered.
Morton's Fork: Sam pulls one on him after telling Black's army that his claim is genuine: Either Black swears fealty to him or he gets outed as a traitor to the Mafia, or he kills Sam and Gertrude becomes Empress, which will also get him outed as a traitor to the Mafia.
Only in It for the Money: The main reason why he and Blank end up on different sides.
The Starscream: Betrays and imprisons his boss, Sin
Start My Own: His main motivation is to completely discredit the Ninja Mafia and dissolve it, so he can make his own crime syndicate from out-of-work ninja with himself at the top.
We Can Rule Together: Tries this with Blank repeatedly.

Earl

The manager of Noosehead. The extremely overworked manager, we might add. His subplot in the second arc involve trying to keep the band (and especially Sidney) in line, putting him in conflict with Crush and ends up with tragic consequences. He leaves the story at the end of the second arc.

Tropes:

And Now for Someone Completely Different: The first storyline in the 'Noosehead' arc focuses on Earl, and he continues to share focus with the band members and roadies, while Sam is seemingly nowhere in sight.
Butt-Monkey: Earl's job is one aggravation after another, at least until he becomes President of Sin Records
Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: A big part of his job is dealing with the fallout from the band members' nutty behavior.
Earn Your Happy Ending: After being forced to put up with Sin's crap for years and nearly having a breakdown over what happened with Sidney, Earl ends up becoming the new CEO of SIN Records after Sin's defeat.
Gone Horribly Right: His effort to get Sydney out of his cutesy phase breaks Syd so badly that Syd becomes an erratic, profanity-spewing wreck.

Sidney

Sidney "The Sicko" is the lead singer and frontman of the heavy metal band "Noosehead", a band with 17 members. To stick out in that kind of environment takes gumption, on-stage presence and drive, which Sidney has in abundance... In addition to a secret desire to become a folk singer. His on-stage persona and off-stage desires conflict and drive much of the story in the first half of the arc.

Tropes:

Black Eyes of Evil: Subverted. He has monochromatic black eyes and acts like a nasty piece of work on-stage, but off-stage he's perfectly nice. His eyes still remain completely black even when he's in 'nice mode'.
Character Development: A lot of the second arc's problem originate in Syd trying to become a better, happier person and being unable to reconcile it with his on-stage persona.
Creator Breakdown: After discovering that Nicole has already moved on from him, and he's never getting her back, he descends into one of these, to the point that he starts crying during one live interview.
Earn Your Happy Ending: After helping to defeat Sin and rescuing all the captive musicians on the Island of Lye, Sidney finally manages to earn one of these, as he makes a successfull transition to his new passion, becomes a beloved singles star as a folk musician, and as Malcolm eventually reveals, even makes a duet album with his friend Elton (the setting's Elvis Presley expy).
Jerkass: His original personality during his rise to fame, which is the basis of his success as a metal singer, but also led to him alienating all his real friends, and eventually cost him Nicole as well. His attempt at moving past this image gives him nothing but grief.

Nicole

Nicole is the second-in-command of Noosehead and main backup singer to Sidney, and also his off-and-on (and off again, and on again, and off again...) girlfriend. She turns out to be in a secret relationship with the roadie Crush, which starts its own subplot with consequences. She makes intermittent appearances throughout the third arc after the resolution of her subplot.

Tropes:

Art Evolution: Her original model is noseless, but from the NMS arc and onwards she has one one during the third arc. Lampshaded by Aaron and Fuzzy, who remarks she's had a 'nose job'.
Conspiracy Theorist: Starts dabbling in it with Malcolm after Sidney is shot.
Only Sane Man: She's got her issues, but Nic is pretty normal and levelheaded compared to Sydney and Malcolm.
Secret Relationship: With Crush. She maintains it with Sam during the NMS arc, breaking up with him after Sam resurrects the Mafia.
What the Hell, Hero?: She records a single about Sam and all the crap he did behind her back during the third arc (which was actually more due to Fuzzy, Sin and Aaron). It becomes a best-seller and kickstarts her solo career.
You Are in Command Now: Sidney makes her the lead singer of Noosehead at the end of the Noosehead arc.

Malcolm

Lead guitarist of Noosehead and conspiracy theorist supreme. Malcolm is usually a foil to Nicole and Earl and a plucky comic relief ranting about space gophers and Elvis not being dead. He leaves the story at the end of the second arc with intermittent appearances afterwards.

Tropes:

Anime Hair: His mohawk looks like a row of hooks.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: He makes the DCAU Question look positively sane by comparison.
Conspiracy Theorist: Big-time. He even has his own segment where he answers fanmail with (made-up) conspiracy theories. He grows disillusioned with this in the "Cult Classic" arc when he realizes that his fans don't admire him because he tells the "truth". They just want someone to validate their fears of the establishment.
Goggles Do Something Unusual: Well, his hairdo. It turns out a combination of its shape and his hair gel made his hair pick up radio signals from Sin's central communications server.
Heel Realization: He's horrified when he realizes that making up conspiracies just to stay popular with his fans was actually part of a plan to sell more merchandise. In other words, he is the conspiracy.
Nerd Glasses: His eyes are completely obscured by them.
The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: Deconstructed by the "Cult Classic" arc. When all of his conspiracy theories become accepted by the mainstream as facts, he suffers a Loss of Identity and falls into a depression.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers a subdued one to his fans, pointing out that they don't really want the truth but validation of what they already believe.
What Have I Become?: During the "Cult Classic" arc when he realizes that by making up new conspiracy theories in his desperation to keep his newly gained attention, and discovering he's being backed by the media industry, he's effectively become part of The Conspiracy himself.

Aaron

Aaron is a roadie for Noosehead, and a friend of Fuzzy's. Aaron shares Sam's neurotic personality and has a pathological fear of Ninjas as well as being extremely risk-averse. After the reveal of his true identity, he becomes a major character in the following arcs.

Tropes:

A Boy and His X: Played for Laughs during the N-M-S arc when Sam buys Aaron a discount goldfish. Aaron immediately bonds with the fish, names him "Buddy", and spends the rest of the strip as his life's companion and trying to make the confused fish happy.
Cynicism Catalyst: In his backstory, Aaron turned from a sweet guy into a Jerkass after a single bad day during which he had a terrible day at his soul-crushing job, his girlfriend left him, and his pet fish died.
A Day in the Limelight: "Aaron's Story" fills out his background and explains his fixation on Buddy.
Decoy Protagonist: Takes over Sam's role as a foil to Fuzzy on in the 'Noosehead' arc in the former's absence, and is eventually revealed to be the Red Herring as to Sam's true identity.
Ditzy Secretary: His main role in NMS.
First-Name Basis: A meta example. He's only ever referred to by his second name during the first arc, and permanently switches to his first name when unmasked.
Identical Stranger: Downplayed in that he and Sam don't look exactly alike (Aaron has Big Ol' Eyebrows and Sam doesn't, their hairstyle is different), but they look similar enough that it becomes a plot point more than once.
The Reveal: He's actually Jackson from Fuzzy's Ninja Mafia Squad, hence the cyborg hand.

Crush

Another roadie for Noosehead, a friend of Fuzzy's and Nicole's secret boyfriend. Crush is more laid-back than Aaron, providing the balance point between Fuzzy's uninhibited Id and Aaron's high-strung Superego. He shares Sam's propensity to get himself into trouble. After the reveal of his true identity, he becomes a major character in the following arcs.

Tropes:

Embarrassing Nickname: He's called "Crush" because he dropped an amp on his foot during a move.
Perma-Stubble: It's one way Sam disguised himself, besides the weight gain and the hat.
Stout Strength: He's notably heavier than both Aaron and Fuzzy, and his job involves carrying heavy objects. He slims down a bit later in the arc, but not to the degree he looked in the first arc.

Mr. Sin

CEO of Sin records. Mr. Sin is an extremely Corrupt Corporate Executive and altogether unpleasant fellow... We'd say 'person' but Sin's 'humanity' eventually turns out to be highly suspect. He serves as on-and-off major bad guy for most of the comic's run, and turns out to have his hands deep into a lot of the main plot, even as it develops in new directions.

Tropes:

Ambiguously Human: Sin's character design is unusual from the get-go, what with his Slasher Smile, Bald of Evil, Disembodied Eyebrows and his Monochromatic Eyes. Of course, it turns out that he's anything but human.
Beware the Silly Ones: One of strip's goofiest villians but also one of the most dangerous.
Big Bad Ensemble: Forms one with Mr. Black and Mr. Blank in the 'Noosehead' series, and then another with Hazel and Brain in the 'Very Famous' and 'Missing Inaction' volumes.
Character Death: Eaten Alive by Brain.
The Chessmaster: Out-maneuvers everyone during the latter part of 'Missing Inaction.' Only Hart unexpectedly giving Brain a second wind stops Sin from taking out all of his rivals at once.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Sin is only in it for himself. Even when forced to cooperate with others, he's always looking into how to advance his own agenda.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: During the Noosehead arc, he (amongst other things) had no idea how to operate a telephone.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Introduced as a shady music company executive.
Diabolical Mastermind: Can play this role when fortunes allow. Depending on how well his current alter-ego is doing he can possess the requisite evil lairs, death traps and hordes of minions needed to make this a reality.
Disembodied Eyebrows: Played for Laughs — his eyebrows are just one modular part of his suit and he has to put them on manually. At one point he only realizes this after he's held a meeting.
Enemy Mine: Forms a tense alliance with Sam against Hazel. It doesn't last.
Even Evil Has Standards: Apparently believes firmly that friends shouldn't hurt each other. Of course, he has no friends, so...
Evil Genius: Created the Buddy Bears and Fig Pig, among other things.
Faux Affably Evil: Can play nice (or, rather, his own weird approximation of 'nice') when he wants something from someone, but has no real morals or loyalties of any kind.
The Friend No One Likes: His relationship to The Committee, who pretty much all despise him for his repeated flaunting of The Masquerade.
I Have Many Names: Whenever his plans mess up, he buries his old personality, has a new one manufactured, and sets up a new shop under a new (fake) first name. During his introduction in the Noosehead arc he's already gone through all first names starting with the letters A to Q.
Mobile-Suit Human: Is actually a tiny "Space Gopher" piloting a human-shaped suit.
Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: It's implied that he came to Earth from his home world because there he could use his superior technology to lord over people.
Outside-Context Villain: It's all but stated outright that Mr. Sin is an extraterrestrial of some sort, explaining his true inhuman form, and his incredibly advanced technology. This also means that he is virtually the only non-human character in the setting who ISN'T a product of The Pit.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one to Sam right before getting interrupted and eaten by Brain
Sharp-Dressed Man: Always dressed in black-and-white suits with tie. They come standard for his suits.
Slasher Smile: Sin's smiling face is not a friendly face. Both Earl and Sydney have suffered panic attacks from seeing it.

The Island Of Lye

A secret island prison/resort that is unwillingly inhabited by a group of legendary musicians believed to be dead, while in reality their deaths were faked by their record labels when they wanted to branch out into music genres other than what made them famous. The inmates includes names such as punk rock pioneer Curtis Cutter, rock n' roll legend Elton Priesty, pop star Christy Spelling, and gangsta rap artist Big Pimpin G Moneydogg.

Dead Artists Are Better: Invoked. Mr Sin's entire scheme, not only can he keep making a fortune off his former employees work and images, he doesn't even have to share the profits anymore, other than trading goods for new music.
Elvis Lives: Pretty much the entire concept of the island, every music star, cut down in their prime with a fan following that refuse to believe they're dead, that you'd care to name have an Expy on the island, including one of Elvis himself.
Evil Counterpart: The gag punchline for one strip (the one quoted under Hates the Job, Loves the Limelight further down in fact) reveals that the Island of Lye is this to another island run by an Honest Corporate Executive named Mr Sun. This island, which is presumably an artist commune rather than a prison, allows it's inhabitants record any kind of music they want, no matter how obscure and unprofitable.
Genre Shift: The reason for why the island exists, the labels weren't crazy about their biggest sellers deciding to switch genres, especially far less profitable ones such as polka for Cutter and jazz for Spelling.
Hates the Job, Loves the Limelight: Christy ended up recording a pop song for Sin despite not wanting to be a pop star anymore. Not because she wanted the material benefits, but because as a professional entertainer the thought that none of her fans would ever hear any new work of hers, ever again, became too much to bear. It's implied most of the other artists feel similarly, or at least strike a middle road between Moneydogg (who records for the money) and Elton (who absolutely refuses to sell out).
Christy: Do you want to be an artist? Or an entertainer? Because you can't be both. Not on this island.
Money, Dear Boy: Moneydogg is the biggest sellout on the entire island, happily churning out new generic gangsta rap albums about drugs, guns and hookers, in return for a life of luxury. He's released far more material as a dead guy than he ever did while officially alive.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: Of the characters we're shown, there's Kurt Cobain (Curtis Cutter), Elvis Presley (Elton Priestly), Christina Aguilera/Britney Spears (Christy Spelling) and Tupac Shakur (Moneydogg).
Posthumous Popularity Potential: Apparently, record labels have been banking on this for decades, faking the deaths of their biggest artists rather than risk losing their fanbase with an unwanted change in genres, and keep raking it in through their legacy.
The Power of Hate: Curtis willingly shows up to Sin's visits in the hopes he can one day develop psychokinesis and make Sin's head explode.
Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Elton is the only musician on the island who's never made a single new song his old label wanted him to make, and as such, is only given the absolute minimum to survive.
True Art Is Incomprehensible: Surprisingly, Moneydogg was guilty of this, which is why he ended up on the island, he wanted to branch out into "atonal percussion sound collage". He's managed to sneak in a bit of his artistic ideas in one of his new albums, which uses cowbells as part of the track. So much in fact that it apparently required a Parental Advisory sticker on the cover.
Sidney: I didn't know parents were so concerned over this.
Christy: Oh yeah, kids are getting into percussion younger and younger these days.

Cooper and Morris

A pair of police offers sent in to investigate Noosehead halfway through the second arc. (Rebecca) Morris is stone-cold serious, while (Sarah) Cooper is more light-hearted and witty. The two eventually begin to uncover a major conspiracy involving Mr. Sin and Noosehead, leading them into their own subplot that interweaves the main characters' for most of the arc. Morris re-appears in arc three as a major supporting character, being Sam's main source of legitimacy as he tries to toe the line as professional problem solver while staying above the board.

Tropes:

Everyone Is Related: Morris is Gertrude's aunt, though the two have so far yet to meet in the main storyline (and probably never will).
The Gadfly: Cooper, who enjoys verbal sparring and is given to light-hearted snark.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: Cooper gets her mind erased by Brain between the Noosehead and NMS arcs. Her new personality is identical to the old one, but her memories are gone.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Morris serves this role in the NMS arc, being the sole source of Sam's legitimacy and generally letting Sam get away with some borderline illegal things in the interest of serving the public peace.
Relationship Upgrade: The two end up dating post-NMS arc, as Cooper is no longer in the police.
Twofer Token Minority: The strip's art style makes it less than obvious, and it's only mentioned once or twice, but Morris is black as well as gay. However, she was only really a token character in her first appearances, before the strip's cast started to get more diverse.
Unequal Pairing: Morris never considered dating Cooper simply because she was her superior.
What the Hell, Hero?: Morris gives Sam one after he reappears surfaceside after the events of the NMS arc.

Gertrude

Gertrude DuPont is the daughter of one of the elite ninja families and a strong contender for the throne of the Ninja Mafia emperor... A life-goal that Sam somehow ends up foiling again and again and again by pure coincidence. She ends up joining forces with Sam to solve the main plot of the second arc, and in the process goes through her own subplot that sees her come into her own as a person. She re-appears in the fourth arc as a sideline character after an arc of absence, having become a major player in the underground with a burlesque empire.

Tropes:

Action Girl: She aimed to become the heir of the Emperor through skill at arms at least once, is deadlier than most people on this page and was able to pull a stripper pole out of a catwalk and use it as a bludgeoning weapon. She was even able to get a shot in on Mr. Blank and knock out Mr. Y, though in both cases they were sneak attacks that rapidly backfired.
Affably Evil: Even though she's genuinely friendly to Sam and Devahi, it's made clear Gertrude is one of the more morally black of his companions. Even Sam being nice to her only gets her as far as 'wanting to pretend to be a better person around him'. It's later implied she took over the Saucy Hippo through murdering the previous owners, and in the finale she's more than happy to leverage her new-found wealth and titles for her own corrupt benefit.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "You gave me exceptionally poor taxi service!"
Best Served Cold: After Sam uses her to smoke out a traitor during the "Five Finger Discount" arc, Gertrude cuts all ties with him. She later pays him back during "Off the Sauce" by using him in the exact same manner.
Blue Blood: Born part of one of the elite ninja families. She takes the fall of the mafia, and Sam being appointed heir of the remnants, very badly at first.
But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Multiple times in her past, Gert met Sam in person and he did something that totally screwed up her life, but each event was totally unmemorable to Sam.
Distracted by the Sexy: Not above taking advantage of this in combat.
Earn Your Happy Ending: After everything she had been put through, in the end she is named the new Empress of the Ninja Mafia and leader of Sub-Newport.
Fallen Princess: Her introduction is a montage of unrelated events (that all involve Sam) leading to her fall from grace from heir-apparent of the Ninja Mafia to handing out flyers for a strip club.
Girlish Pigtails: Her hairstyle since she was a child.
He Is Not My Boyfriend: Is clearly annoyed by people assuming that she and Sam are romantically involved or interested in each other.
Improbable Weapon User: Uproots a stripper pole and uses it as a bludgeon in her first appearance.
The Not-Love Interest: To Sam. She's the one woman who's interacted with him the closest with neither side showing any romantic interest for the other. People occasionally assume they're intimate In-Universe, which annoys both of them.
Self-Made Woman: After being Put on a Bus following the "Noosehead" arc, she spends the interim years taking over and building up her own franchise of burlesque dancing clubs called the "Saucy Hippo" on her own. When next she appears, she's become a second-tier power player in the Underground.
Sour Supporter: She's often critical of Sam, and her assistance comes with a side of snark, but she saves his life even when letting him die would be to her advantage, and she's vital to the success of several of his plans.
Sweet and Sour Grapes: Dreamed for most of her life of being in charge of the Ninja Mafia, but it only happens after she's let go of her dream and decided that she prefers being a Self-Made Woman
Unknown Rival: To Sam, for much of their lives.
What the Hell, Hero?: Gives Sam a big one at the end of the "Five Finger Discount" arc.

Dr. Crab

A therapist who happens to be a talking crab. Generally pretty bad at his job. Treats Sam briefly during the latter's first sojourn through the Underground, then turns up unexpectedly in a few later storylines.

Carnivore Confusion: Is shown eating crab at a restaurant.
Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Clearly doesn't actually know anything about psychology or psychiatry (including which of the two he's pretending to practice). His "success" stories are complete flukes, and really just gave his patients new problems that were worse than their old ones.
Mobile-Suit Human: When disguised as Dr. Love
Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Tricked his assistant into consenting to a lobotomy, might be a cannibal, and has made most of his patients worse rather than better.
The Shrink: Though not a very good one; when he does manage to help people, it's usually by accident.

Conscience Cat

It's a flying cat. It tells people what's right and wrong using life-advice posters. Why would someone's conscience be a cat? We don't know. Only appears to Gertrude and later (as she leaves the cast) re-appears to Devahi.

Tropes:

The Conscience: A really, really bad one.
Deadpan Snarker: Gets increasingly snarky the more Devahi begins to pour on paper-thin justifications for bad behaviour.
Good Angel, Bad Angel: His bad counterpart Corporate Cat was headhunted by a venture capitalist firm in the 80ies.
Noodle Incident: He apparently has a restraining order on him from the entire cat race.
Start My Own: After a pep talk from Carlyle (Jr), Conscience Cat finally decides to go into business with the only part of the "conscience" bit he excelled at: making signs.

Characters from the third arc, first half (Fix your Problem - Under the Influence)

Hazel

Hazel Kim is a cat burglar (cat included) who first shows up in a flashback partnering up with Fuzzy after he woke up in a dumpster with his memories gone and helping to form his outlook on life. She works in the Underground as a freelancer, doing burglary jobs for the rich people who run The Committee. As the story progresses we learn the deeper agenda she has in play, but also her connection to Fuzzy's past.

Tropes:

And Then What?: As shown by the time she was a teenager, Hazel has no idea what to do with herself during downtime, everything she is centers around her identity as a thief, she has no real interests or passions outside of it.
Anti-Villain: She's a selfish and unscrupulous thief, but she has the odd Pet the Dog moment, and the more we learn about her Friendless Background and how Brain exploited it to manipulate her emotions, the more sympathetic she becomes.
Batman Gambit: Instead of trying to sneak her way to her targets, she exploits their greed, knowing that if she steals something that they want, it will get her close enough to use Brain to extract their codes from their memories.
Berserk Button: Reminding her of what she did to Eric.
Character Death: Pulled into The Pit and dissolved. Then subverted when she re-materializes following Brain and Hart's defeat, albeit with her memories of herself erased.
Classy Cat-Burglar: When she's not on the job she enjoys a pretty good standard of living, and she knows how to rock a pantsuit.
Doom Magnet: She has a habit of screwing over anyone who gets involved with her life for too long, more than not unintentionally. This leaves her with a number of trust issues, as well as having No Social Skills.
Even Evil Has Standards: Deconstructed. As Brain points out, her reluctance to kill or mindwipe people often causes small problems to mushroom out of control, causing more people to get hurt in the long run and forcing Brain to resort to extreme measures on her behalf.
For the Lulz: Deconstructed. Her entire motivation for finding The Pit boils down to "why not?", as a result of Brain's influence on her. She has breakdown over it when it looks like The Pit was only a lie all along, realizing that she doesn't even have any motivation underlying her decades-long obsession with the place.
Freudian Trio: When working with Eric and Brain. She was the Id.
Freudian Excuse: Grew up on the streets of the Underground, forced to steal just to survive, until she met Brain who proceeded to place parts of himself inside her mind, ensuring that she'd never develop too far from the pawn he needed her to be, and ensuring she'd never emotionally mature from her street thief days. As a result, stealing and planning for heists is really all she has.
Impossible Thief: Has cultivated this reputation for herself, but her skills as a thief is really due to training, meticulous planning, and Brains abilities.
Irony: Her relationship with Fuzzy is steeped in it, given that he used to be the closest thing she had to a friend, but both of them kept things from each other that led to Eric's Death of Personality. While their initial relationship is friendly but built entirely on a lie, they later become a case of Enemy Mine who are completely open and forthright with each other.
It's All About Me: Claims to care about other people, but doesn't do a great job of showing it.
Laser-Guided Karma: After being complicit in Eric's mind wipe, she ends up having her own memories of her identity erased by The Pit.
More than Mind Control: A victim of it by Brain. The reason Brain chose her to be his pawn in the first place was because she already had a mindset that was nearly perfect for his goals. He barely had to alter her mind at all.
My God, What Have I Done?: Her implied reaction to having erased Eric's memory. Later stated outright by Hazel quoting the line verbatim.
Never My Fault: She feels guilty about some actions, but she tends to blame others or argue that she had no choice when she does something really harmful. Given who raised her, this is not really too surprising.
No Social Skills: Terrible at interpersonal relationships. Courtesy of Brain, who intentionally screwed her up.
Only Friend: Eric was by her own admission the only person she could relate to. After his death, she attempted to bond with Fuzzy only for it to go horribly wrong.
Replacement Goldfish: An unusual case, in that she tries to use Fuzzy as one for Eric when Fuzzy actually is Eric, minus his memories.
Scarf of Asskicking: Usually wears a long striped scarf on heists, which serves little purpose beyond impressively blowing in the wind.
Sticky Situation: Her attempt at manipulating The Tar leads to it sticking to her hands and then reacting by pulling her into The Pit, which dissolves her. Definitively not Played for Laughs.
Toxic Friend Influence: Basically turned Fuzzy into a tiny version of herself, much to her shame.

Brain

Hazel Kim's right-hand cat, except not really a cat and not so much 'right-hand' as 'equal partner'. Brain is a nasty piece of work even by the Underground's loose standards who hides a lot of his true nature under the guise of being a pet. His machinations are the current driver of the main plot, putting him in direct conflict with Mr. Sin.

Tropes:

At Least I Admit It: Brain openly admits to being a selfish person who's only into the Pit-hunt to further his own agenda. Subverted insofar he uses these admissions a lot as a smokescreen to hide his real thoughts, and constantly encourages Hazel to believe that these admissions makes him the only honest person in a world of liars and hypocrites.
Blob Monster: This is the closest thing that descibes his real nature, as a living embodiment of the psycho-reactive tar. Unlike "normal" products of the Pit, who become flesh and blood despite their origin, Brain is the result of a tar sample being exposed to complex thoughts over a prolonged period of time (Rexford's, in fact), eventually gaining sentience without transforming into anything else. His cat form is essentially just a shell to allow him to retain cohesion, and it's slowly breaking down.
Cats Are Mean: He's not really a cat (and in fact most real cats in the strip are aversions), but he hits a lot of the notes of this trope when in cat form.
Character Death: Dies alongside Hart when Fuzzy detonates The Tar.
Cruel Mercy: He has no problems with simply re-wiping Fuzzy's memories and letting him go free after Fuzzy helps him find The Pit, noting that Fuzzy is of absolutely no threat to him once his memories are gone and that he 'owes' him for his help.
Deadpan Snarker: Even for a World of Snark like Sam and Fuzzys, Brain stands out. Especially since his snark tends to be belittling and mean-spirited instead of being used for humour with most of the other characters.
The Dog Bites Back: Finds himself on the receiving end when Fuzzy unexpectedly seizes control of all of the tar and decides that after everything Brain has done, there's no deal Brain can offer that's worth trusting him...or letting him live.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He either can't understand that people can be motivated by altruistic reasons, or (more likely) pretends that everyone else is simply cloaking their true agendas in order to manipulate others.
False Friend: The only reason he "befriended" Hazel was because he realized she would be a nearly perfect assistant.
Freudian Trio: With Eric and Hazel during their team-up, being the Ego. Also the Ego between himself, Candice and Hart.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Implied. He subtly edited Hazel's memories and implanted tiny pieces of himself in her order to make her the 'perfect' partner. While it works, it also backfires on him big time, as the piece of Brain inside Hazel is probably what allows Hart and the echo of Candace to hijack's Brain body six years later, and then during the Grand Finale, thinking about how Brain rendered Hazel incurably screwed-up is what leads Fuzzy to reject both Brain and Hart and blow them up.
Immortals Fear Death: His main motivation. His body is slowly breaking down, and only the Pit can heal it.
Manipulative Bastard: He intentionally groomed Hazel from a young age to be his partner, turning her into a lonely, paranoid wreck of a person so that she would never have anything of value in her life that would compete with her search for the Pit.
Never My Fault: Brain is really good at doing this as a source of manipulation. He never admits fault for anything and cloaks his vices in At Least I Admit It.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: He essentially resolves the last arc by attempting to manipulate Fuzzy with the exact wrong words and making Fuzzy realize just what he's lost. If not for his interference, Hart would have destroyed the world.
Nightmare Fuel: The source of some of the strip's most horrifying visuals.
Oh, Crap!: Right before Fuzzy destroys him and Hart with the power of stubbornness.
Really 700 Years Old: The timeline is vague, but he formed from the tar that pre-mindwipe Rexford stashed in his cellar, which puts his age probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 400, give or take a couple decades.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives Hazel a pretty incisive one. Said speech is pretty much steeped in hypocrisy given that we later learn Brain pretty much raised her as a single-minded tool in his search for the pit — he's essentially complaining that she shows any kind of free will at all.
Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: When Unit 01 tries to steal all of his memories, the fact that he has three different consciousnesses inside himself at the time overloads Unit 01's system.
Toxic Friend Influence: Constantly pushes Hazel to betray and abandon others and to trust no one else except him. Starting when she was around eight years old.
Walking Spoiler: The fact that he's not just a cat is a major twist, and virtually everything revealed about him is directly tied to the strip's Myth Arc.
We Can Rule Together: During the climax of the Myth Arc, this is the argument he uses to tempt Sam into helping him overcome Hart, showing him a world where the two of them have made a virtual utopia, with The Committee now operating in the open with Sam in charge, using their resources so both the surface and the Underground can co-exist in harmony... while Brain discreetly removes people who genuinely can't be brought on board through diplomacy, reason or bribery, such as Keller. All for the greater good of course. It almost works, until Candace manages to snap Sam out of it.

Eric

Eric was Hazel and Brain's former partner as a thieving trio, serving as the reliable voice of reason and moderating influence that kept them together and reasonably moral. He died prior to the comic's run and what became of him is a major spoiler that influences Hazel and Brain's current course and decisions.

See 'Fuzzy' for tropes relating to his later days.

Tropes:

Death of Personality: To the extent that he's considered Killed Off for Real. Fuzzy ends up joining up with Hazel and Brain on the off-chance The Pit might be able to restore him, before realizing in the finale that no-one can help bring Eric back to life and ultimately he needs to let go.
Freudian Trio: Was the Superego, with Brain as Ego and Hazel as the Id.
The Ghost: Has never made a single on-screen or speaking appearance, even in flashbacks. Hazel's flashbacks always cut away before meeting him or after leaving him, and Sam Logan stated on the record that he always wanted everything about Eric to be revealed second-hand.
Living Toys: While it's never actually confirmed, it's heavily implied that this is Eric, and thus Fuzzy's, true origin, once the reality behind The Pit are revealed. The reason for why they look like a living teddy bear is because that's exactly what they are; a living toy created by the psycho-reactive Tar.
Mysterious Past: Both Hazel and Brain mention that Eric never revealed anything of his past and his inner workings remained unknown even to them, and he apparently never interacted much with anyone else. With the destruction of The Pit and Sin, Hazel and Brain's deaths, there appears to be no-one left of note who remembers his existence.
Posthumous Character: Of a Death of Personality kind.
The Quiet One: According to Sin, anyway. He preferred to let Hazel do the talking.
Small Role, Big Impact: Eric has never shown up in a single panel in the comic, but his 'death' has impacted Hazel, Brain and (naturally) Fuzzy in major ways.

Jess

Jess Star is a ten-foot pustulating slug monster, although you wouldn't know it from looking at her. As she's a shapeshifter who can take any form as long as she stays out of sunlight, she prefers the form of a twentysomething human female and identifies as human (albeit one who can change her face, height and rack size whenever she feels like it). After showing up as a minor character in one of Fuzzy's flashbacks she becomes involved in the main story during the fourth arc.

Tropes:

Ascended Extra: Starts out as an apparent one-off joke character.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Her 'life hacks' forget (or ignore) that most people can't simply change their size or body shape at will, or that humans usually wear clothes.
Minion with an F in Evil: When she was working for Mr. Sin.
Shapeshifter Baggage: Jess can shift into something smaller than her default form by compressing her mass, though it’s implied to be increasingly uncomfortable the smaller she gets.
Shapeshifter Default Form: Her human form, which she defaults to when she's not being asked to act as someone else.
Spotting the Thread: When she’s impersonating Mr. X, she’s missing the wrong arm.
Technically Naked Shapeshifter: Averted when she's in human form, because "being her own clothes" is difficult to do convincingly and she just doesn't like it. When impersonating something non-human, though, she sometimes has no choice but to run around nude.
Trans Nature: She identifies as a human girl, rather than a ten-foot pustulating slug monster of secret gender (most real-life slugs are hermaphrodites).

Rexford

Rexford is CEO of Rexford Industries and the chairman of The Committee, the secret underground organization that runs at least modern-day America if not the world itself. He's an aging, refined gentleman and a firm believer in stability, secrecy and the status quo. He's also a dinosaur, which granted colours some of his personality, but amongst all the other stuff you find in the Underground nobody holds that against him.

Tropes:

Affably Evil: Rexford's moments of politeness and friendliness are genuine, barring his first appearance with Hazel. He also genuinely believes that the Committee is a necessary evil and that his harsh measures are saving lives in the long term.
Amnesiac Dissonance: Before he mind-wiped himself, Rexford was actually planning to double-cross his colleagues and continue studying the tar in secret. When post-wipe Rexford learns of this, he's outraged.
An Arm and a Leg: Loses a hand to The Tar during the finale. He is later seen with robot replacements.
Antiquated Linguistics: Downplayed example, but he has a very formal way of speaking, especially during his early appearances.
Create Your Own Villain: An accidental example, it's heavily implied that Brain was created from a cannister of Tar in a hidden room in Rexford's office being exposed to decades of Rexford's thoughts and personality.
Foil: To Fuzzy, surprisingly. Both are seemingly the only one of their kind, don't know where they came from, and are haunted by the actions of pre-amnesia selves who had very different personalities from them. But while Fuzzy became more selfish and aimless after his mind wipe, Rexford became rigidly devoted to maintaining the status quo.
High-Class Glass: Sports a monocle.
I Hate Past Me: See the Amnesiac Dissonance entry. Rexford says he considers his past self to have been an utter idiot.
Large and in Charge: He dwarfs the other Committee members physically and is also their chairman.
Last of His Kind: All other dinosaur species went extinct millions of years ago, and technically, Rexford was one of them, until The Tar brought him back to life at some point.
Laser-Guided Amnesia: He is one of the original Committee members, who all erased their own memories to keep the location of the Pit hidden.
Laser-Guided Karma: Played for Laughs. With the Broken Masquerade and the destruction of Retropolis, The Committee is rendered essentially impotent and Rexford's last act as chairman is to dissolve it... Before retiring to a life of luxury on the basis of all his assets outside of Retropolis.
Last-Name Basis: His first name is "Arturo" according to The Underground RPG. He eventually introduces himself as "Tiberius Rexford" in the comic when he's forced to hold a press conference during the finale.
Mysterious Past: Having erased his own memory alongside the rest of The Committee, he doesn't know anything about his past, other than what his past self left for him, anything else is just guesswork and conjecture, even his origin
One-Liner: Rexford has a tendency to get the last word in during dramatic strips, to the degree that the author eventually lampshaded it in The Rant with "Rex knows a lot of good one-liners".
- Bond One-Liner: After overthrowing Keller, Rexford comments "He bit off more than he could chew. I didn't."
Really 700 Years Old: The exact timeline is left vague, but he's the last original member of the Committee, which had already been around for a long time as of the late 1600s. He doesn't seem to age either, atleast not in any notable way.
Secret-Keeper: Rexford has pretended for centuries to know nothing about the Pit in order to keep what he knows hidden.
Surrounded by Idiots: Seems to feel this way during most Committee meetings.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Brain was 'created' from his thought-waves reacting to the Tar sample in his attic, which ultimately ends up undoing all of Rexford's work.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Sees the Committee as necessary to maintain stability in the world and willing to do some extremely unethical things to keep it going. Unlike practically every other committee member, he sees his personal power as a means to keeping his Committee seat, rather than the other way around.

Devahi

Devahi is another listless twentysomething similar to Sam. She becomes involved with NMS as an intern early on in the third arc after saving Sam and Fuzzy from a sticky situation involving a band of killer gerbils and a mutagenic wine and serves as viewpoint character and Sam's staunchest supporter for much of it and the following arcs.

Tropes:

The Conscience: Tries to be Sam's when he starts to suffer a case of He Who Fights Monsters. It doesn't go well. Also gets one of her own for a while in the form of Conscience Cat.
Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Just like Sam.
Foil: Goes through similar Character Development to Sam at first, but as Sam becomes more cynical and manipulative, Dev tries much harder to hold onto her idealism.
The Lancer: In later volumes she tends to fill this role for Sam when Fuzzy isn't around.
Perpetual Poverty: Was a struggling college drop-out who was one bounced check away from eviction when she met Sam and joined NMS. And stayed that way due to NMS's own financial problems. It's not until she joins Sam's resurrected Ninja Mafia that her finances improve.
Replacement Flat Character: Initially one for Sam.
Took a Level in Badass: Another parallel between her arc and Sam's: she goes from a beleaguered everywoman to an Action Survivor to a BFG-wielding mafia ninja.
Tritagonist: From her debut arc onward she gets subplots that are nearly as important as the title characters'.

Mr. X and Mr. Y

Mr. X and Mr. Y are ninja blankfaces, of the generation following that of Blank and Black. After Sam forms the NMS, they are the two ninjas who still stick around him because Sam feels they're too dangerous to cut loose. The two serve Sam unquestionably, as any 'good' blankface would.

Tropes:

Ambiguously Bi: One series of gag strips, featuring the characters pitching ideas for spinoff comics, had Y come up with a very innuendo-filled story with himself and X. X was very much not interested.
An Arm and a Leg: Mr X lost BOTH his arms over the course of his work for Sam, the first one to Mr Y, and eventually during the assault on Sin's Buddy Bot factory. He didnt really mind much.
Blood Knight: They both revel in 'honourable ninja combat'. Nevermind that ninja aren't really very 'honourable'. They return to save Sam and Dev precisely because they got to fight in so many awesome battles while working for Sam. Even if Sam was a fake Emperor, he gave them the glorious battles that past blankfaces could only dream of having.
Broken Pedestal: They abandon Sam in disgust as soon as they learn that he didn't really kill the previous Emperor.
Changed My Mind, Kid: After dumping Sam for lying to them, they realize that he was still the best boss they'd ever had, and drop in at the last second to save Sam and Dev from the Erasers.
Cyborg: After losing both his arms, X becomes one, outfitting himself with two advanced cybernetic arms, that not only gives him enchanced strength, but also contains guns and a flamethrower.
Easily Forgiven: Due to their unpredictability and lethality, Sam didn't originally want to fire them and risk them putting their skills to use in the wider world. Instead, he had them endlessly fight eachother by telling each of them that the other was a traitor. Since they were equally skilled, it was supposed to be a constant stalemate, and it was for quite a while... until X managed to trap Y in an exploding building, costing him his arm in the process. Sam was eventually forced to tell the truth after X's spiralling paranoia caused him to lock Sam in his office and bar the doors to "protect" him. X at first seemed understandably furious at this deception... then immediately dropped it, and happily professed relief that it was all over. As it turns out, these kinds of mindgames were apparently fairly common in the original Ninja Mafia, so X didn't mind much.
Handicapped Badass: Mr. X chooses not to replace his first missing arm with a prosthetic, even though the setting is full of cyborgs, because he likes showing how badass he can be with one arm.
Highly-Visible Ninja: Even by ninja mafia standards they don't really do 'surprise' very well.
Informed Flaw: Sam doesn't use X and Y for any non-combat tasks because they're supposedly too crazy to pull them off. While not exactly stable in battle, they're shown to act perfectly calm and rational otherwise, especially when they're not wearing their masks.
Major Injury Underreaction: Mr. X. is unfazed by losing an arm in an early appearance. Exaggerated when he loses his other arm and initially wants to try to do his job armless.
Mask of Confidence: Played with. They're still badasses when unmasked, but both note that donning their masks seems to activate their Boisterous Bruiser tendencies.
Mr. Fanservice: We learn that they are both strikingly good-looking under their masks just in time for a story arc in which they have to impersonate burlesque dancers. X is a Pretty Boy while Y is more ruggedly handsome.

Edwin

Edwin Colin is a vampire. More to the point, he is a royal pest, convinced that Vampires Are Sex Gods when the truth is he's closer to 'that creepy sleep-deprived guy you meet at a convenience store at 11:30 PM'. Sam and Fuzzy are sent in to help rehabilitate him from his tendencies, lest things get so out of hand that he needs the 'stake treatment' (It's not what it sounds like, it's a rehab clinic called Stake. And either way, literally staking vampires dont work in this setting).

Tropes:

Because You Were Nice to Me: Very friendly to Devahi because she actively went out of her way to help him in the NMS arc after Sam had called it quits.
Bizarre Alien Biology: Vampires look human on the outside aside from their fangs, but on the inside, they're a horror show of inhuman nonsense. For one thing, their lungs and heart are contained in their heads, while their torsos are mostly filled up with 17 appendixes. Only 11 of which are vital.
Casanova Wannabe: Constantly claims to be in love with random women he meets, mostly just creeping them out in the process.
Explosive Leash: When he's falsely accused of biting humans and quarantined Underground when he refuses to turn in the vampire who's actually guilty, he's fitted with a chip that will turn everything above his neck into a Jackson Pollock painting if he tries returning to the surface. It's removed when Sam exposes vampires to the world, and Edwin is made a public figure for PR reasons.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He has his good moments. They're rare, but they're there. Sam turns him into a species ambassador for vampires to humanity by way of making him write a very popular online blog about his experiences as a vampire.
Stalker with a Crush: The underlying problem with Edwin's particular type of vampire, they have obsessive romantic urges that manifest as creepy stalker behavior.
Super-Strength: The only vampire power Edwin has, and it's not much of it either, he's only a bit stronger than an average human.
Take That!: While his name is a clear reference to one particularly famous fictional vampire, Word of God states that he's a more general parody of "decades of wanky vampire goth romance."
Vegetarian Vampire: Like most vampires in this setting, Edwin buys synthetic blood in cans, and finds the idea of actually feeding on humans disgusting, comparing it to humans going out to kill and eat a raw cow.
Wangst: Some of his lines are intentionally written to evoke this.

Characters from the third arc, second half (Ruined Everything - Race to the Bottom)

The Committee

The Committee is an Omniscient Council of Vagueness that represents the major power players of the Underground, and by extension manipulates much of the overworld's technological advancements, culture and politics. The committee has a total of 31 seats that are held by successors of its original founders, and many of said seats contain minor characters that are covered here.

Major seat holders include Rexford, Mr. Sin, Keller, and later our protagonists.

Tropes:

All There in the Manual: Several of the Committee members get (slightly) more fleshed out in The Underground RPG.
Ancient Conspiracy: The Committee has been in existence at least since the 17th century and most likely longer: It's just that their records do not reach back any further.
Decided by One Vote: The council has an odd number of members for this reason. The death of the ninja emperor temporarily breaks this arrangement and causes a decision on Hazel Kim to come up as a tie for the first time in centuries.
Fantasy Kitchen Sink: They represent most of the power blocks of the Underground and thus are this. Vampires rub elbows with robots, human Mega Corps, giant sentient worms and some guy who's also an elephant.
Klingon Promotion: Claiming a Committee seat can be done either as the legitimate heir of the deceased, or by killing or otherwise defeating a Committee seat holder while being powerful enough to function as replacement. Sam gets his seat by being the 'legitimate' heir of the Ninja Mafia (Ah-hem), while Fuzzy got his seat by buying the Graves Group and claiming their seat. The Underground RPG reveals Sin got his seat by murdering a seat holder. Sam later claims Sin's seat after the latter's death, which is revealed to be unprecedented but not outright illegal.
The Men in Black: The Erasers, made up of humans living Underground whose job it is to keep The Masquerade from being broken in the 'normal' world. They mostly run independently and are only called into direct action on the Committee's request after a majority vote.
Running Gag: Expect Colonel Tusks to show up whenever anyone uses an elephant-related aphorism.

Keller

Head of the Cyborg Mafia, a rival to the Ninja Mafia and arch-enemy of Sam in particular once he obtains a Committee seat. Keller is a short-tempered, evil-minded and extremely suspicious man who has Sam on his perpetual hitlist.

Tropes:

Ambition Is Evil: His endgoal is to succeed Rexford as Committee head and become the dominant power of the Underground. He even views The Pit as merely another source of power.
Arch-Enemy: He serves as this to Sam on the Committee.
Big Bad Wannabe: He thinks he's a major player and he does get the upper hand on Sam and Rexford for a little while, but he never really grasps the true stakes of the game. Which is why he's blindsided and quickly removed from the equation once the Pit is opened and all heck breaks loose.
Character Death: Killed offscreen by Rexford.
Eaten Alive: It's implied this is what Rexford did to him
Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: It's unknown what he was like before he got his enchancements, but he's one of the biggest assholes in the entire series, which is saying something, and he's obsessed with the idea of getting more.
Flat Character: All that matters about Keller from a story perspective is that he's on the Committee and he really doesn't like Sam.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Extremely short-tempered for a Diabolical Mastermind at the head of a major criminal organization.
Jerkass: Rexford considers Keller learning the location of The Pit to be one of the worst things possible.
Last-Name Basis: His first name is "Maxwell" according to The Underground RPG, which is never revealed in the comic strip.
Riddle for the Ages: Sam Logan has stated on the record that he has no freaking idea how Keller's mouth works, and that it mostly comes down to Rule of Funny.
Two-Faced: He's cyborg down the entire left side of his body, giving his head and face this appearance.
Underestimating Badassery: He underestimates Sam's cunning during the Vampire Blood arc, which costs him a lot of face. Then he underestimates Rexford who, even without his political influence, is still a freaking dinosaur. This appears to have cost him his face, head, and probably most of his upper body.

Colonel Tusks

A sentient, bipedal elephant, who for some reason dresses in stereotypical big game hunter clothes, and one of the lesser members of The Committee. Originally introduced for an "elephant in the room" gag.

Entertainingly Wrong: Like the other members, Tusks has his own idea what the Pit really is. In his case, he thinks it's the homeland of a race of psychic elephants.
Failed a Spot Check: Not him, but one of his predecessors who was on the original Committee centuries ago. Due to his amnesia, he didn't even realize he was an elephant until another member pointed it out to him.
Feather Fingers: Averted, he's an elephant, so he uses his trunk to write or pick stuff up with. He gets rather defensive when Paxton asks about it.
Tusks: How do you do it, stub-nose?!
Flat Character: We know very little about him, other than that he's one of the lower-level Committee members, and his business revolves around "clubs" of some sort.
Those Two Guys: Is often seen with Paxton, especially later in the comics run.
Rugged Scar: Has a scar over his right eye.

Robert Paxton

Billionaire and CEO of Clover, a media empire similar to FOX, and one of their main sources of media control. One of the more normal members of The Committee.

Badass Normal: Unlike virtually every other member of The Committee, Paxton is just a "normal" billionaire businessman, with no known supernatural or superhuman resources.
Expansion Pack Past: His actual role was only hinted at during the comics main run, the rest was revealed in supplementary material released after the finale, along with his first name.
Fantastic Racism: Doesn't like vampires, and is one of the main proponents of keeping them all in the Underground rather than letting them pass as human like they've been doing for centures.
Those Two Guys: With Tusks.

Hart

"Hart" represents two people: Firstly, he was a scientist working on a secret program to look at the effects of 'the tar', a mysterious substance that seems to alter itself based on the thoughts and desires on onlookers, and currently the #1 suspect of what may be inside 'The Pit' that Hazel and Brain are seeking. Secondly, Hart is a being similar to Brain made by the tar through absorbing the former's thought and desires. After escaping captivity, the tar-being Hart killed the human Hart and everyone else associated with the program before escaping into the wild. After a run-in with Brain that almost killed him, a piece of Hart survived and possessed Sam's fridge mold.

See 'Fridge' for the role he played as Sam's loud-mouthed satanic refrigerator. Tropes below mostly regard the tar-being Hart, as the human one wasn't around for very long.

Tropes:

Arch-Enemy: To Candice.
Big Bad: Is this for the first main arc and "Six Years Earlier," and fills the role again in the Grand Finale.
Character Death: Dies alongside Brain when Fuzzy detonates The Tar.
Demonic Possession: Of the Body Surf variety, able to take control of anyone nearby. He also pulls this on Brain at the worst possible moment, allowing him access to The Pit.
Enemy Within: To Brain, as of 'Sin's Gambit'
Eviler than Thou: Has no problem with Brain's ruthless tactics but chides him for his lack of any ambition beyond self-preservation.
For Science!: His mentality being created by having been experimented on by cadre of scientists means Hart very much wants to use the Pit to satisfy his own curiosity.
Freudian Trio: The Id of the three personalities inside Brain, wanting to use The Pit for power instead of just survival.
Hoist by Their Own Petard/Gone Horribly Right: In the Grand Finale. He offers a Deal with the Devil with Fuzzy to wrest control of The Tar from Brain and Candice. Unfortunately, Fuzzy turns out a bit too good as a guiding mind, and when Brain presses his Berserk Button Hart is powerless to stop him from self-destructing the Tar.
Not Quite Dead: He survives being eaten by Brain when some of his 'blood' lands on Sam's fridge mold, then survives being killed by Candice by hiding inside of Hazel until he has a chance to hijack Brain.
Omnicidal Maniac: Upon wrestling control of The Pit from Brain he unleashes The Tar upon North America, immediately flooding several major cities in the stuff and putting millions at lives at risk because he can. He even hints that his ultimate wish is a world in which nothing exists but him.
Theme Naming: The researchers on the project were named Hart, Legge, Hans, and Boyle.
Troll: He seems to enjoy taunting his enemies, and especially Brain.
Walking Spoiler: The fact that he exists at all is a huge twist.
Your Head A-Splode: Dies when Fuzzy detonates his head. Even if his memories were distributed elsewhere the rest of the Tar petrified shortly after, losing its psycho-active abilities and 'killing' Hart.

Roan

A rogue Eraser who was kicked from the unit after Hazel exposed him for using Erasers' equipment and privileges for personal gain. Roan ends up crossing the path of Hazel and Fuzzy during their hunt for the Pit.

At Least I Admit It: Claims he's comfortable with being a thief and con artist while Hazel isn't, though as the hypocrite entry below shows, he has a very selective view of No Honor Among Thieves.
Bullying a Dragon: Tries to humiliate Hazel without taking into account that she's untied, angry and within reach of both his head and an improvised weapon. In a much later storyline, also tries threatening Jess with physical violence and promptly gets put in his place.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Betrays someone in every storyline he's in, though so far it's backfired on him every single time.
Hypocrite: Planned to betray Hazel in their first appearance, but gets extremely angry when she responds by outing his side-gig to the Erasers. Apparently the former was Nothing Personal, but the latter is unforgivable.
Only Known by Their Nickname: "Roan" is the diminuitive form of "Roanoke", implying that it was originally some form of code name.
Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: After first demanding an absurdly high sum to help remove Hazel's chip, he instead backstabs his associates and attempts to dump Hazel in Retropolis for revenge. He adds that at this point he wouldn't help her for all the money in the world.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives an extended one, mixed with a Motive Rant, concerning Hazel during their second encounter.

Tats Palegaardsen

A gothic pop star from 'northern Transylvania', Tats is one of the first vampires to go public after The Masquerade around them is forcibly broken and becomes a spokesvampire for vampire-human relations. For this purpose he teams up with Nicole, with whom he also has vampire-human relations.

As Long as It Sounds Foreign: His surname is stereotypically Swedish, while his stated region of origin lies within modern-day Romania, Ukraine and Hungary.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Has a tendency to go on somewhat strange tangents with his thinking, and bought Fuzzy's line about "Ursual Faceticis" hook, line and sinker despite being a native of the Underground.
Interspecies Romance: In a relationship with Nicole.
Literal-Minded: Perhaps as a result of English being his second language, he's not good at figurative speech.
Nice Guy: Which is used to repeatedly compare him to Sam, who has become somewhat more morally compromised at the time of his introduction.
Walking Shirtless Scene: Walks everywhere without a shirt.

The Robots

A race of self-aware machines that inhabit Megalopolis, once the main development house and think tank of The Committee, now the homeland of the robot race, and more importantly, the Committee member Unit 01.

Cargo Cult: Played for Laughs with The Unitologists, who consider The Santa Clause to be a highly spiritual work, because it was Theo Designers favorite movie.
Creative Sterility: While free willed, the robots have a degree of difficulty with artistic endevours, especially compared to the Buddy Bots who are capable of the same kind of creative thinking biological lifeforms are. One robot chef spent ten years studying before she realized she could shape her flavorless meal paste into geometric shape, and her entire world view falls apart when one of the Buddies spontaneously reshapes his meal into a duck.
Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Unit 01 gives all his creations complete free will like any sentient being... and nothing else. As a result, many of them are left desperately searching for meaning in the design of their robot bodies, while others look for it in the outside world. Still others try to find meaning in religion.
Do Androids Dream?: Well, these ones do. Problem is, they don't know what to DO with those dreams.
Robot Religion: The Unitologists (they were going to call themselves Unitarians, but that was already taken), who belive that the original ruler of Megalopolis, Theo Designer, merged with Unit 01 upon creation, and has some higher purpose in mind for all his creations. They're wrong, Designer was murdered by Mr Sin who used his own brain as a template for 01, and has been churning robots out at random to try and make mindless slave minions

Fidgital Mc Digits

A robot who makes a living fencing stolen technology. Also one of the Saucy Hippo's most lucrative (and least discerning) clients.

The Anti-Nihilist: His reaction to learning that Unit 01 had no special plan for any of his creations and was just spitting them out at random is surprisingly optimistic.
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Fidge has an...interesting mind.
The Hedonist: Fidgital is up for experiencing absolutely everything, to the point where even Jess is a little weirded out by the breadth of his tastes.
Intrigued by Humanity: Like his partner Pintsize, Fidgital is fascinated by human, and humanoid, culture in general, and is one of the few robots who spends all his time away from Megalopolis so he can enjoy all of it.

Unit 01

Unit 01 is the leader of Robotopolis, an underground collective of robots. The unit is believed to contain the mind of their creator, the original engineer who created the first artificial intelligence. Unit 01 is extremely secretive and does not communicate with the outside world, instead sending an ambassadorbot to sit in its council seat on its behalf. It crosses Sam (and Fuzzy)'s path(s) during their hunt for The Pit.

Also known as 'Mr. Cin', which spoils much of its identity. See 'Mr. Sin' for several shared personality traits.

Tropes:

A.I. Is a Crapshoot: A more literal case than usual, in that he creates sentient robots using random parameters in the hope of eventually getting around the blocks placed on his memories.
Brain Uploading: Contains the personality and memories of Sin from a time before he met the main characters.
Hijacked by Ganon: After being built up as an enigmatic new character, he's revealed to be a consequence of yet another of Mr. Sin's schemes.
Other Me Annoys Me: Had a falling out with the original Mr Sin and considers himself superior. He doesn't even care that Brain killed the original.
Restraining Bolt: He knows that he should know how to make killer robots because of Sin's memories, but he's blocked from using those specific memories.
Walking Spoiler: Almost nothing about him can be discussed without mentioning the big reveal about his origins.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Unit 01's final fate after his battle with Hazel and Brain is unknown, but given that Brain absorbed his main power source and method of generating new robots, it's likely his remaining power is limited.

17th Century Chemist Robert Boyle

Originally just one of several running gags of the strips early years, famous chemist Robert Boyle is revealed to have faked his death in 1691, and travelled across the ocean to the New World, where he would become involved in the nascent development of The Underground, as well as research into the mysteries of The Pit.

Tropes:

Apocalyptic Log: Sam and Devahi finds a journal detailing the last moments of Robert Boyle under his remains in the hidden lab.
My God, What Have I Done?: Deeply regrets having ever become involved with the research of The Tar.
Posthumous Character: Having died for real in 1699, Boyle is long dead.

Characters / Sam & Fuzzy

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The Main Duo

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Characters from the third arc, first half (Fix your Problem - Under the Influence)

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