Characters of The Whiteboard.
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General
Tropes applying to the cast in general:
- Funny Animal: Everybody. Earlier strips had faceless generic characters implied to be human, but they've been gradually phased out over the years.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: To such an extent that at least half the regular characters' real names have never been revealed.
Doc
Doc (a.k.a. Mortimer James Abraham Tiberius Nickelovich-Smythe
)
The irascible polar bear (Ursus maritimus) owner of the paintball store the strip revolves around.
- Acquainted with Emergency Services: He has the emergency services, National Guard, and window replacement guys on speed dial. Another comic showed that the fire department has a switchboard indicating what emergency he needs them for now (many of them explosions of some sort).
- Bears Are Bad News: The protagonist airsmith Big Eater Gadgeteer Genius grumpy polar bear has been known to strike particularly idiotic customers with a mallet, and isn't afraid of mauling people who've pushed him too far.
- Berserk Button:
- Doc's a stickler for proper equipment usage, safety, and maintenance. Given some of the inane or outright stupid customer requests he's had to deal with over the years, it's an understandable peeve, but it does seem kinda strange coming from a guy who's shop explodes several times a week. But then again, there's probably a good reason Doc's hobbies haven't killed him yet.
- Another major annoyance for him are customers making minor problems worse with their "repair" attempts and then expecting him to fix it or buying cheap crappy markers and then seeking to have them worked on by Doc to make them useful, which tends to be met with mallets or maulings.
- Big Eater: Once ordered and ate a whole deep-fried walrus.
- And with this strip, Sandy describes Doc's usual lunch as such:Sandy: And I assume that you'll want your usual 25,000 calories worth of meat, lard, salt, carbohydrates and partially hydrogenated soybean oil?Doc: And a large fries.
- And with this strip
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Doc has been repairing markers for so long, he can tell what was wrong with them... even after being reduced to dust in a rock tumbler. By snorting it.
- Genius Bruiser: Doc easily qualifies, being built like one would expect of a polar bear, and who builds things like pizza teleporters, mecha, and reality-altering devices (as a paintball gun!) as a hobby.
- Hard Head: Doc would have some serious problems without this.
- Healing Factor: Doc has one, powered by mountain dew apparently.
- Heavy Sleeper: As side effect of his Caffeine Addiction, anytime Doc crashes he crashes HARD (especially if he's been hitting the stims). And due to his size the "heavy" part is quite literal; Roger once had to use a forklift to move him.
- Infinite Supplies: Where does he get the money for all his crazy stuff? DARPA. It's probably best not to ask about the details.
- Lethal Chef: Actually averts the trope, even if he does come close to taking the trope name literally. Sandy insists that the same bear who cooks his steaks with liquid oxygen or alkali metals does actually make a perfectly serviceable steak.
- Mad Scientist: Builds paintball markers that shoot through time in his spare time.
- Mr. Fixit: On one occasion he has repaired a marker that had come to him as a mass of broken bits in a paper bag just by shaking the bag the right way. Fixing a marker that had literally been ground to dust took him a little longer. In his own words:"With the right filler rod I can fix the crack of dawn."
- Must Have Caffeine: Prefers Mountain Dew to coffee, but still falls under this trope and then some: His Dew is home-brewed because the normal stuff "isn't strong enough".
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Even the government just calls him "Doc". His real name isn't used in-comic until page 2153 and even after then Cara is the only one who calls him "Morty", causing confusion to those who didn't know Doc's real name.
- Overly Long Name: Mortimer J. Abraham Tiberius Nickelovich-Smythe, according to his entry on the cast page.
- Person of Mass Destruction:
- Given that Doc has his own "Threat Board" at the local Fire Department, that's saying something.
- He also caused a lot of damage when he overdosed on caffeine.
- He (apparently) did less the second time around he ingested that much caffeine.
- Given that Doc has his own "Threat Board"
- Sherlock Scan: A customer presents Doc with a marker reduced to powder in a rock tumbler. Doc then snorts some of the dust and is still able to identify the make, model and malfunction the marker was suffering before its demise.
- Unaffected by Spice: He and his friends go to a bar, and he orders "Death by Nuclear Inferno" hot wings. While flames do come out of his ears, he is otherwise nonplussed and even says they're a bit bland. Later on, as he's licking the plate the wings came on:Sandy: How is he not dead?
Swamp Fox: Hell, I'm surprised his pants aren't on fire. - Weirdness Magnet: Implied. Howie is pretty sure that Doc is the reason why characters from other web-comics show up so much, as seen here.
Roger
Roger (a. k. a. Roger Maximillian Hoffmann III))
Raccoon (Procyon lotor) tinkerer, electronics expert and part-time inventor.
- Mad Scientist: Occasionally makes Doc look sane.
- Playful Hacker: Hijacks Kill-Sats for fun. Generally, if he's shown with his laptop out, he's probably doing something he shouldn't.
- Rascally Raccoon: Roger only lacks the "scientist" part to be a fully-fledged Mad Scientist Gadgeteer Genius, and is prone to pranking others at Doc's paintball shop.
Swampy
Swamp Fox (a.k.a. "Swampy")
Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes kenaiensis) regular at the store, although he's generally more interested in hanging out on the couch and playing videogames than in buying anything. Helps out around the store or on Red's field on occasion. Currently dating Sandy.
- Butt-Monkey: If anything bad needs to happen to somebody, it's usually him.
- The Faceless: Swampy is almost never seen without his face obstructed by his hat or some object.
- Lethal Chef: His girlfriend Sandy, talking to Pirta about Swampy's cooking ability:Sandy: "As for actual cooking, like making from scratch, he has no idea how ingredients are supposed to go together."
Pirta: "Like using salt instead of sugar?"
Sandy: "Like using crumbled Cheetos instead of either one."
- Sandy: He once tried to make an omeet out of Cheez Whiz, licorice, and Boston Baked Beans.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: To the point where his actual name has never come up in the comic.
- The Slacker: His entire existence revolves around the couch at Doc's store, occasional paintball games and, these days, Sandy.
Bandit
Bandit
Another store and field regular. Ferret (Mustela furo). Prefers stealth and precision over the More Dakka approach common in modern paintball and does pretty well with it.
- Behind a Stick: He is so stealthy that he has hidden behind trees much too small to normally hide behind. He once hid behind himself.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Like Swampy, his real name has never even been hinted at.
- The Prankster: Combines stealth skills and an idiosyncratic sense of humor to great effect, and frequently gets away with it too.
- Stealth Expert: Capable of sneaking up on just about anybody on the paintball field and good enough to even pull off the occasional Stealth Hi/Bye. Not only can he hide Behind a Stick, but he manages to hide behind himself in this strip.
Rainy
Rainman (aka "Daniel")
A tourney player. Snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus). Very much a fan of the "spray and pray" method. Usually contrasted with Bandit.
- Meat Versus Veggies: Since he's an herbivore in a cast of mostly carnivores, his lunch orders tend to be the odd one out.
- More Dakka: Tends to blow a tube of paint just at the chrony.
- Super-Hearing: Claims to be better than Robin, and manages to generate feedback when his ears collide with another lapine.
Jinx
Jinx (a.k.a. James "Jimmy" Olsen)
An arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) kid who wandered into the store one day (in part to escape his many, many sisters) and has since become a regular and part-time employee both in the store and on the field (where he refs with the aid of a bullwhip-taser combo).
- Girls Have Cooties: His response to the suggestion that Kasi is sweet on him, though later he denies peeping at Pirta when she does her butt-wiggle.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Eight sisters (four older, four younger). He's the only boy. Small wonder he uses every opportunity to get out of the house (and into trouble with Doc and the gang).
- Powered Armor: While the suit in question is actually one of Doc's prototypes, Jinx has used it a few times. Despite it being built for someone with the build of a polar bear, he's apparently quite skilled in it; One of Roger's recommendations following an incident involving killer robots is that Jinx be hired to train people in the suit's use.
- Puppy Love: Seems to have one developing for Robin.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: His name is Jimmy Olsen. Admit it: You'd prefer to be called "Jinx" too.
Jake
Jake
A skunk (Mephitis mephitis) who works at a bank and plays paintball to relieve some stress. Tends to get dragged into the schemes and shenanigans of other characters against his will. In a relationship with Pirta.
- Only Sane Man: In almost every situation he is far more level-headed than his friends, and is often frustrated by their extremes (see Roger dragging him off during the PvP/The Whiteboard crossover). Still, he likes to play with machetes.
- Smelly Skunk: A Running Gag with him. In one memorable incident, he set off biohazard alarms and caused Doc's security system to trigger the Wildfire Protocol. Doc got to the override console with 5 seconds to spare.
Sandy
Sandy (a.k.a. Sandra Rae)
A fox (Vulpes vulpes) who got a job as Doc's secretary more or less by accident. Now does the paperwork and tries to hold on to her sanity when she's not sneaking off into the broom closet with Swampy.
- Beleaguered Assistant: Doing the paperwork for two bona-fide Mad Scientists tends to be hard on anybody's sanity, but so far she's managed to hold on.
- Only Sane Employee: The most level-headed and reasonable among the store's staff and hangers-on.
Pirta
Pirta (a.k.a. "PJ")
A snow leopard (Panthera uncia) descended from Kazakh immigrants. Extremely good-looking and not above making use of her assets. Used to work at the Asian restaurant down the street but ended up working in the store after said restaurant got blown up one too many times due to Doc's experiments. Dating Jake.
- Ax-Crazy: Probably the cast member quickest to resort to violence. Yes, quicker than Doc, even.
- Berserk Button: Doc.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Tends to have this effect.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Not helped by her pouncing instincts either.
- Sex Sells: Quite willing to weaponize her effect on the predominantly young and male customers of Doc's store in order to get a sale.
Larry And Daryl
Larry And Daryl
Squirrel brothers (implied to be twins) who started out as no-necks with names, became popular characters, and when the cast went all-furry, became squirrels.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Daryl frequently edges into this territory, particularly in his obsession with paint grenades (that usually backfire in hilarious ways).
- The Dividual: Of the Twindividual sort. They're almost always together, and it's hard to tell which is which (unless one is directly addressed).
Word of God says even their parents can sometimes have trouble telling them apart. - Inconsistent Spelling: Daryl's name has also been spelled Darrel, Darryl, back to Darrel, then Daryl (only four strips later!)...
- Those Two Guys: Always appear together when the plot calls for a quick two-man comedy routine...or a pair of hapless victims (frequently the same thing).
Kasi
Kasi
Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) girl who has become a friend of Jinx.
- Powered Armor: Kasi has to use Doc's version of the "Hulkbuster" when Jinx drinks a variety of Mountain Dew Doc made that turns him green and larger than Doc. The following strips show Kasi able to use it, with a Pass the Popcorn moment as Roger gets his own bag from a vendor.
- Puppy Love: Has a bit of a crush on Jinx. At present, the feeling is somewhat one-sided.
- Tomboy: While she's fairly stereotypically girly in terms of appearance (long blond hair, wears pink...), she does fit this trope in her behavior. Her introduction arc has her first running over Jinx by sledding way too fast, then crashing into Doc's office and starting an indoor snowball fight. She's into things going fast (a natural fit for a cheetah) and things blowing up (a natural fit for somebody hanging out in the vicinity of Doc and Roger), and she's a lot more assertive than Jinx.
Robin
Robin "Radar"
Fennec (Vulpes zerda) girl who recently moved to the area.
- Super-Hearing: She tends to use her large ears to find opponents.
