Web Video / Satellite City

Satellite City is a live-action/CGI series created by and starring Sam Fennah. The first episode can be found here; be warned — it may be considered too dark in subject matter for children. (Not to mention that some of the characters cuss a lot.) In place of Satellite City, Fennah is has begun writing a series of books called The August Few that take place in the Kivouachian universe, the first of these, Amygdala, was released on February 23, 2023. Satellite City has effectively been labeled by Sam as non-canon, essentially claiming that The August Few is a Continuity Reboot.

On October 24 2020, Sam Fennah announced he will be rebooting Satellite City into a series called First Night, which will be the same idea as the original series, but with all of the characters from the upcoming books as well as new models, voice actors, and a team to help him film as opposed to continuing to film all on his own. First Night has since been cancelled however.

In a manor in rural England lives a man named Sullivan. With him lives a small and... interesting menagerie of creatures called Kivouachians (and one who is something different). What those creatures are, why they are living with a man in the middle of nowhere, and what their goals are, are gradually revealed in due time....

Now has a characters page under construction.

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What a fuckin' useless bunch of tropes we are:

• Absurd Phobia: Lucy apparently has a fear of train stations. And trains.
• Admiring the Abomination: Lucy expresses a good deal of admiration for Jones, fondly recalling memories that others don't seem to find as pleasant. Given the typical Kivouachian mindset regarding violence and killing, she may simply see him as the apex of her ideals.
• Aerith and Bob: Kivouackian names range from the mundane (Lucy, Felicity, Dorothy, Ed) to the foreign but not unheard-of (Ludwig, Fleischer, Fontaine, Yeshua) to some that nobody has (Wexle, Helgan, Locket, Shale, and Mandus).
• Alien Arts Are Appreciated: Fontaine has a fondness for human literature. So does Wexle, apparently, given her making a reference to Harry Potter in episode 13.
  • Fleischer is apparently quite well-read and can read Braille, apologizing for the quality of a children's book written in Braille that Winifred and later, Fontaine, are seen reading. Shuck, who, by contrast, prefers lighter fare, criticizes Fleischer for being a showoff and reciting quotes from "some perfumed ponce" all the time.
  • When Sullivan celebrates human holidays like Christmas and Halloween, all the Kivouackians are quite eager to join him, Shuck, Wexle, and Winifred in particular. (Although Shuck's appreciation of Halloween may have more to do with the fact that Sullivan is apparently incapable of acquiring a Halloween pumpkin without resorting to murder.)
  • Despite his distaste for the "simian" creations, Ludwig apparently makes an exception for British desert pastries. When Sullivan brings a tin of biscuits home, he warns the others not to let Ludwig eat them all because "you know what he's like once he's had a fuckin' biscuit."
  • In the Christmas 2019 video aloud, Fleischer reads A Christmas Carol aloud to Winifred, Hyzenthlay and Lucy.
• Aliens in Cardiff: Well, "extradimensional refugees in a manor in rural England".
• Aliens of London: Played straight with most of the regular cast, but averted by all the Kivouackians in Vegas except Mystique. Luna and Yeshua have American accents, while Ed sounds slightly Southern.
• All Take and No Give: What Luna's relationship with Bob really is.
• All There in the Manual: The lore website (now only visible through the WaybackMachine) is a treasure trove of info about the story, characters, and world that hasn't yet been significantly explained or mentioned in the series proper, including such interesting tidbits as Helgan being Ludwig's first relationship, Wexle being the one who broke Shuck's horn, or that Felicity once rescued Fleischer from slavery and imprisonment after he apparently committed a "serious crime".
• Animalistic Abomination: All of the Kivouachians who live at Sullivan's, with the exception of Hyzenthlay, who's just a (mostly) regular squirrel, and Fleischer, who looks like a normal (if small) dragon except for having Extra Eyes.
• Ambiguously Gay: Lucy's interactions with Winifred, Wexle, and Hyzenthlay are equal parts "I'm going to cut her head off and snuggle with her body" and flirtation. With her, there may not be a difference.
• An Arm and a Leg: Felicity is missing her right front leg and her left wing.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Yeshua does this to Bob to show Luna he's incapable of love. Whenever Yeshua asks if Bob loves someone, Bob answers with an enthusiastic "I love (name)!" including people he's never met before or have done harm (both physically or emotionally) to Luna. This reveals to Luna that Bob is incapable of love.
• As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Fennah uploaded a video of himself playing the guitar aptly titled "A Waste of Your Time." As for what he's saying....your guess is as good as ours.
• As the Good Book Says...: In his introductory scene, Yeshua (appropriately enough) makes his entrance quoting the Bible, specifically a passage from the book of Isaiah.
  "'Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous hand,' or...or some shit."
• Audience Surrogate: Sullivan is the primary human window into the Kivouackians' world, and it usually falls upon him to ask the same questions the audience would about how exactly their society works. Interestingly enough, and somewhat unusually for this trope, he seems to command a fair amount of respect with the Kivouackians, even the leaders like Ludwig and Fontaine, who treat him more-or-less as an equal.
• Author Avatar: Sullivan, played by series creator Sam Fennah, is both this and an Audience Surrogate. The lines between the character and the creator are somewhat blurred, which is especially evident in the special update videos, which are done by Fennah more-or-less in character as Sullivan and usually with one or two of the Kivouackians in the background.
• Authority Sounds Deep: Ludwig easily has the deepest voice of any of the Kivouachians, and he's the big man in the house.
• Ax-Crazy: LUCY. Oh, so very much. It's implied that Sullivan may be becoming this too as a consequence of the time spent around Kivouachians, he complains about having to "deal with" some teenagers who saw Lucy, and he uses a huge kitchen knife as a letter opener. Oh, and he and Shuck apparently killed fifteen people just to get a proper Halloween pumpkin.
• Bait-and-Switch: In "Don't Panic!" (made as a response to the global coronavirus epidemic), Sullivan leaves the house to go for a run and happens across a woman sneezing, claiming it's her allergies. Sulllivan reaches into his coat and pulls out a hatchet while the trope-naming "Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain" clip is superimposed onscreen, implying he's going to kill her with the hatchet...then uses the hatchet to scrape a line in the dirt between them, demanding that she practice social distancing. He starts to walk off, but then when she asks him, "Are you okay, sir?" he whirls around and charges at her with the axe anyway.
• Bearer of Bad News: Quinn's first appearance is simply to tell the Kivouachians that "it got out".
• Been There, Shaped History: The more active Kivouackians, as revealed in "Fiction", have inspired everything from cryptid sightings to deities, with one example being that the stories surrounding the Norse god Loki were inspired by Lucy.
• Big Bad Ensemble: In Ludwig's absence, Hayden and Dorothy have released former Grand Voice Locket from her captivity, and all three seem to have roughly equivalent power, authority, and villainy. Locket was once the dictator of all the Kivouackians and is the most frighteningly powerful Kivouackian yet seen, has apparently survived Dizzy Jones, but seems to be recovering from severe injuries while Hayden and Dorothy nurse her back to health. Hayden's powers and combat prowess have not been yet observed, but he is working to usurp Ludwig, who temporarily promoted him to serve in his stead while the former is visiting Sullivan and the others. Which of the two between Hayden and Locket holds the real power and which of them is manipulating the others (if they're not all manipulating each other) remains to be seen.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: The Kivouackians can be dismembered and reassembled without any lasting harm, apparently heal from any wounds, and some of them have apparent semi-magic powers (like Lucy's ability to shapeshift into a cloud of flies.) Not to mention the ridiculous variation in size, appearance, and form among them, to the extent that none of them look like they're even a part of the same species.
• Black-and-Gray Morality: Ludwig and his entourage have...questionable moral intentions at the best of times, and seem to have no trouble with murdering and mutilating others beyond how it may inconvenience the group. On the other side, there's Dizzy Jones and Grand Voice Locket, who apparently ruled like a tyrant in her prime and seems to have no problems with killing anyone who opposes her, or even those who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, like Holly.
• Black Comedy: VERY much so. A major Running Gag is the fact that Sullivan and Lucy are strongly implied to be serial killers.
• Blank White Eyes: Winifred; she's blind.
• Bloody Hilarious: Lucy makes...er...romantic(?) overtures towards Hyzenthlay with beautifully illustrated drawings of her dismembering and killing the poor squirrel in increasingly graphic fashion.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Killing (and beheading) other creatures, eating their mates, violence in general are all seemingly considered acceptable, if not necessary, by the average Kivouachian. When confronted about an attack on Hyzenthlay, Lucy protests that she's merely living up to her nature, and that it's the others who are behaving aberrantly. Fleischer was, or is, apparently disliked (and at one time, imprisoned) for giving aid to the sick and wounded instead of just allowing them to die.
• Body Horror: A lot of the Kivouachians, but especially Ludwig, whose entire body appears to be lined with teeth-filled open slits.
• Break the Haughty: Winifred was apparently once a proud and arrogant Kivouackian noble. Then she met Mandus, who apparently did something that left her in her current state.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the first episode, when Sullivan makes an Aside Comment about what he has to deal with on a regular basis, Lucy asks the camera who he's talking to. Then Sullivan asks who she's talking to, and she admits that's a good point.
• Brick Joke: In "Hello Stranger", Sullivan complains about the fact that whenever a Kivouackian gets knocked unconscious, their Overly-Long Tongue comes out and leaves a drooly mess all over his floors. In the climax of that episode, Wexle decapitates Dorothy, and sure enough, out comes the tongue.
• British Humour: Sullivan practically exemplifies this, with his dry, barely interested reactions to the demonic horrors infesting his house.
• Broken Bird: Poor Winifred.
• Broken Pedestal: Not that it was all that high of a pedestal, but:
  Hyzenthlay: "I just thought you were better than this."
  Lucy: "I suggest you lower your expectations."
• Brutal Honesty: Helgan flatly lays out to Hysenthlay that once Ludwig and Wexle create a more advanced hybrid, the Kivouachians will have no further use for the squirrel, ending any sort of protection from Lucy - and that on her next visit, Helgan expects to see Hyzenthlay's "dead, contorted body" on the porch. Even Sullivan seems rather taken aback.
• Butt-Monkey: Poor, poor Winifred and Hyzenthlay. Wexle, too, considering that she usually seems to bear the worst of Ludwig's harshness. And Sullivan, too, whose primary occupation seems to be cleaning up the literal and figurative messes that the Kivouackians make around his house. He does, however, give as good as he gets when it comes to sarcasm, of which there is an abundance.
  • Quinn doesn't seem to have the best luck either: he gets pushed around and taken advantage of by the others regularly, he has a very thankless job which gets him shot by a farmer, and on top of that his Healing Factor doesn't work like all the others, so the previously mentioned bullet wound is a lot worse for him than it would be for any other Kivouackian.
• By the Lights of Their Eyes: Wexle's eyes seem to be nothing more than glowing points in black voids.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: Shuck implies this about Fleischer. "A bloody fetus would drink you under the table."
• Cast of Snowflakes: Not only do none of the Kivouackians resemble each other at all, they don't even look like any of them are from the same species.
• Cosmic Horror Story: The story has elements of this, including an ancient race of alien, monstrous beings that predate the existence of the universe as we know it, who want to destroy humanity due to their lack of genetic flexibility and adherence to morality and still follow the credos of a society that promotes Might Makes Right. Meanwhile, the only human character who even knows of their existence and could live to tell of it isn't just not stopping them- he's helping them try to achieve their goals under the pretense that humanity's hubris and in-fighting would result in their destruction anyway. Even if enough of humanity learned of their existence and intentions, also learned about their Weaksauce Weakness to fire, and sufficiently wiped the Kivouachians out, it could still be considered this trope by proxy of the fact that the creation of the Universe, and thus humankind, was completely unintended- the universe only came to be with the destruction of the Kivouach, and there have been no hints of there being a benevolent higher power or an afterlife.
• Cerebus Call-Back: The first two episodes play Lucy's threats to kill Hyzenthlay for laughs - but Helgan later tells her that her senseless murder is basically inevitable - and, by Kivouachian standards, for good reason.
  • Likewise Lucy's abuse of Winifred. At first it's played as Comedic Sociopathy, but it's later shown that there is a lot of animosity behind it.
• Character as Himself: Winifred is credited as playing herself in "Hello Stranger" for, well, obvious reasons.
• The Chew Toy: Winifred, literally.
  Fleischer: (to Lucy) And stop biting Winifred!
  Lucy: She likes it. (to Winifred) Don't you, love?
• Cool Old Guy: Fontaine, who's Ludwig's former mentor.
• Country Matters: Lucy and Sullivan both use it on occasion.
• Covered in Scars: Winifred. For extra sadness, they're self-inflicted.
• Creepy Doll: Ludwig has the appearance of an evil-looking wooden doll. Shuck lampshades this: "If wood could talk."
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Bob. Of course he, deserved to die for emotionally manipulating Luna. But, being thrown into a furnace until his eyes explode is still a very nasty way to go.
• Cryptic Background Reference: Although the series has a deep and complex backstory that's explained in depth on the lore website, most of it has only been mentioned offhand or only explained in quick snippets in the show itself. So far, very few questions have been answered in the actual episodes, like what role Winifred had in the Kivouack, how long they've been on Earth, and why Fleischer is considered an outlaw.
• Curbstomp Battle: Wexle confronts two of Locket's assistants, both equal to her in size. She mops the floor with them inside of a minute.
  Dorothy: I've waited a long time to shame the mighy Wexle.
  Wexle: You'll be disappointed in the results.
• Cute Monster Girl: Pretty much every humanoid female Kivouachian barring Locket in the series thus far. Helgan, aside from being twenty feet tall and a bit of a bitch, is much less scary-looking than the other Kivouachians, being mostly just enormous and pink. Played with regarding Wexle, she actually looks pretty sinister and creepy until you get to know her. Luna and Maargit also fit this category to an absolute T.
• Cute Mute: Winifred. Word of God is that she is physically capable of speaking, but chooses not to, for whatever reason.
• Cluster F-Bomb: The whole cast swears abundantly, but Lucy, Sullivan, and Shuck are particularly foul-mouthed.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Shuck, who's somewhat rude and has red and black fur, but isn't all bad deep down, and Wexle, who's a black-eyed, grey-skinned humanoid covered in tentacles, but is actually rather sweet.
  • Fleischer, too, is a rather sinister-looking bluish-black dragon with Extra Eyes, but he's quite possibly the most well-adjusted person in the entire cast, and is basically Winifred's self-appointed guardian.
  • Yeshua is dark red with four arms and four glowing yellow eyes, and has a rather harsh and violent personality to boot, but his intentions are compassionate.
• Deadpan Snarker: Basically everyone except Quinn, Hyzenthlay, and Winifred, but Sullivan might take the crown jewels, holding his own against the eldritch creatures infesting his house primarily through force of sheer sarcasm alone.
• Depraved Bisexual: Lucy is, by her own admission, a slut, although actual sex isn't exactly what she has in mind, at least not exclusively, when "flirting".
• Dom Com: Arguably qualifies as this, since most of the episodes follow the Kivouackians and Sullivan just kind of dicking around his house and getting on each other's nerves in amusing fashion, and there's only been a few episodes that have shown the world outside of Sullivan's estate.
• The Dreaded: Dizzy Jones, AKA Mandus, and with good reason; he's apparently responsible for Winifred's condition. Ludwig calls him a monster and implies that he is the cause of the Kivouachians' situation, and does NOT react well when Lucy says "you're a bit like him". Former Grand Voice Locket also falls under this; Ludwig seems to indicate that she can track people down through forms of communication- even letters- and she stalks and attacks some poor bloke walking through the city at night by tracking him through his phone..
• Dysfunction Junction: Let's see...you have a blind Cute Mute who cuts herself out of stress, a morose jackass with a violent past, a lab-experiment naive amnesiac squirrel, an unstable sociopath who constantly talks about wanting to dismember and mutilate the others, their human host, who's possibly even crazier than the demons infesting his house, and Fleischer, who's actually pretty normal and well-adjusted.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Some of the designs for the Kivouachians in Fennah's earlier videos are quite different from how they appear in the main Satellite City lore.
  • Hyzenthlay's fur was much lighter in color.
  • Fleischer was also lighter in color. Also, he more closely resembled Draco from Dragonheart.
  • Shuck lacked horns and more closely resembled a mix between a feline and a bat.
  • Lucy’s design has evolved considerably over the years, her earliest incarnation didn’t even have her trademark grin.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Kivouackians, available in both bipedal and bestial flavors.
• Ensemble Cast: Although some of the characters are more prominent and get more screen time than others, there's no real main protagonist, with Lucy, Ludwig, and Sullivan taking turns in the spotlight the most. The closest to a traditional lead is Sullivan, but he mostly just serves as a window into the Kivouackian lifestyle without being directly involved in their politics or stories.
• Establishing Character Moment: The first episode is basically a collective one for the whole cast. Sullivan warns them not to piss Ludwig off, Lucy openly talks about her desire to decapitate Winifred and Hyzenthlay and play with their bodies, Shuck rolls his eyes and pipes in with a dry "Obviously" in response to her threats of violence, Fleischer tells her to stop biting Winifred, Hyzenthlay just sort of watches quietly, and Sullivan is more concerned about Lucy spitting her teeth up over the carpet and clogging the vacuum cleaner than he is about her planning to murder the others.
  Sullivan: What a fuckin' useless bunch of cunts we are.
  • Wexle's moment comes when she asks Ludwig if they can stay at Sullivan's house for Christmas because she's started to love the human holidays, and later, celebrating the holiday by singing "Let it Snow" to herself by the lake.
  • An additional moment for Shuck comes in "Trust" when he tries to help Winifred get a loose bandage off her antlers, but gives up in exasperation when she snarls at him.
  Shuck: Fuckin' sour-power vinegar tits.
  • Fleischer gets a secondary one in "Black Snow", when he finds Winifred sitting on her own, gives her a Braille children's book he got her as a present, apologizes for it not being as good as he'd like, and wishes her a happy Christmas as her ears visibly perk up.
• Everyone Has Standards: Despite being a violent hitman, Yeshua is incensed to discover how Luna is addicted to Bob and does everything he can to help her.
• Exotic Eye Designs: The cross-shaped pupils of all Kiv are very noteciable, especially on multi-eyed individuals such as Fleischer.
• Evil Brit: Many of the characters have very English accents.
• Evil Counterpart: Bob is this to Hyzenthlay. Both are genetically mutated hybrids between Kivouchian and animal (squirrel for Hyzenthlay and goldfish for Bob). However, Hyzenthlay is considered the pinnacle of the hybridization experiments and is capable of forming meaningful relationships with others. Bob on the other hand, is a failed experiment and is a selfish childish sociopath.
• Evil Sounds Deep: "Evil" is perhaps a bit of a stretch, but several of the male Kivouackians have impressively deep voices, Ludwig, Ed, and Hayden in particular.
• Expressive Ears: Winifred is blind and doesn't talk, so most of her emotion is conveyed through drooping or raising her large ears.
• Extra Eyes: Fleischer and Quinn both have six eyes, but while Fleischer's can move and blink independently, Quinn's are more conventional (if without pupils). Hayden has dozens all over his face and horns. Yeshua not only has four eyes but four ears as well.
• Eye Scream: Lucy nearly takes out one of Hyzenthlay's eyes with her claws after the squirrel slaps her.
  • How Bob is killed. He's thrown into a furnace and screams until his eyes explode.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Shuck's right horn is splintered at the end, and Winifred's right antler is broken at the base.
• Fantastic Drug: Word of God has mentioned that the way Luna uses Bob is a metaphor for addiction.
• Fantastic Racism: Ludwig refers to humans as "simians" and has a low view of their intelligence and traditions, criticizing Wexle for something so harmless as enjoying Christmas and confiscating a Braille children's book that Fleischer gave to Winifred.
• Fourth-Wall Observer: Sam Fennah addresses the audience more-or-less in character as Sullivan in the update videos, with the other characters usually making cameos or providing commentary in the background, without seeming to process who Sullivan is talking to.
• Fluffy the Terrible: "Dizzy Jones". Sullivan spends most of episode 13 discussing at length how humorous he finds it.
• Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke: Hyzenthlay was born a simple red squirrel, and is a first attempt at mixing Earth-creature DNA with that of the Kivouack. The goal is to create an entire planet full of intellectual rivals to humanity in order to force competition to select for greater intelligence.
• Genre-Busting: It's sort of a dark fantasy Cosmic Horror ensemble dramedy sitcom...thing.
• Genki Girl: Felicity (the dragon-creature who surprises Quinn in a field) certainly comes across as this.
• Godiva Hair: Well, Godiva tail, which Helgan drapes over her chest like a feather boa.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Winifred was once a prideful and arrogant Kivouackian noble, but after an encounter with Mandus, he did something to her that left her mute, blind, and a meek shadow of herself, constantly clawing at her own wounds.
• Good Samaritan: Maargit, an Earth-born Kivouachian who encounters an injured Quinn and and helps jump-start his healing powers.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: Kivouackians can heal very quickly and can recover from dismemberment with little trouble, and decaptitation is more of a disabling prospect than a deadly one. There does seem to be some limits to this: Felicity and a few others are missing limbs, so removed limbs and heads can be reattached, but they don't regenerate. Genetics also plays a part in their healing; Quinn was shot and claimed he didn't heal quickly because of bad genetics, while Winifred's wounds don't seem to close given what Dizzy Jones did to her left her blind, effectively mute, and severely traumatized. Immolation, and implicitly long-term decapitation, are two known ways of permanently killing a Kivouackian.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Grand Voice Locket, at least if Yeshua is to be trusted. Winifred was apparently her chief lieutenant.
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Lucy, for a given value of "cartoon". She wears only a hat and cravat; other quadrupedal Kivouackians Sullivan interacts with do without, while bipedal ones wear more conventional clothing.
• Hates Being Touched: Winifred, who snarls at Shuck and claws herself when he tries to help her get a loose bandage off her antlers.
• Healing Factor: A possible explanation for Winifred and Wexle both having survived multiple beheadings by Lucy. In fact, this may be a regular Kivouachian trait; Quinn states that Lucy can "rip off her arm and chew on it, then pop it back on like nothing happened".
• Hellish Pupils: Most of the Kivouachians have odd pupils, either plus-shaped (reminiscent of harlequin designs) or white pinpoints. It hasn't yet been shown in the series what Winifred's eyes looked like before she was blinded.
• Hell Is That Noise: An echoing popping sound presents itself when Locket is on the hunt.
  • Lucy lets out a creepy hissing noise when violence is on her mind.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Lucy, so very much. Shuck and Sullivan aren't far behind her, considering how they apparently killed over a dozen people in the process of trying to get a Halloween pumpkin.
• Hidden Depths: Lucy is an exceptionally talented artist. A pity she seems to like to draw scenes where she decapitates and disembowels others. In "Slice of Life" she also seems to have a surprisingly philosophical side to her, as she gives Hyzenthlay some genuinely reassuring words about who she is and not underestimating herself (which is a pleasant surprise on it's own, since the hybrid is more often than not a target of Lucy's grotesque advances), and she even gives Shuck a spiel about how their immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be.
  • Fontaine can apparently read Braille, which we see when he reads the Braille children's book that Ludwig confiscated from Winifred (for being a "simian" book). Right in front of Ludwig. So can Fleischer, presumably, since he's apparently read enough of the book to not think it's very good.
  • Shuck is at least as talented an artist as Lucy is. Also like Lucy, "Slice of Life" gives his character some more depth, which consists of him stating that, in life, "the thrill is in the chase, not the capture", as well as him seemingly lamenting an unrequited affection.
  • Winifred starts out as The Woobie, where she's mute, blind, prone to self-injury, hates being touched, constantly abused by Lucy, and disregarded by all others but for Fleischer, who's determinedly one of the few decent people of the household. Winifred was also formerly a high-ranking commader of Locket's, and back then she was apparently a person of dignity and cruelty, her actions then carry a lot of animosity to the present. It's hinted her association is what caused Dizzy Jones to do a number on her that left her permanently traumatized and blind. For as much as she's a tragic and pathetic figure, there's a great deal of implication that she's not a sympathetic one.
  • Sullivan discovers a photo of a human woman in Ludwig's study, heavily implying that perhaps he doesn't hate the "simians" as much as he pretends to.
  • Sullivan, of all people, turns out to be surprisingly talented at playing the ukulele.
• Homosexual Reproduction: According to the lore website, the gender of the participants is irrelevant in the Kivouackian reproductive system, making this possible, as well as allowing two parents to impregnate a third creature.
• Horned Humanoid: Wexle.
• Horns of Villainy: Possibly subverted. Their overall intent is unclear, but of the three horned Kivouachians who Sullivan deals with (Winifred, Shuck and Wexle), none of them is overtly evil- though Shuck is known to have had a violent past. Played straight with Hayden, apparently.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: Winifred apparently once occupied a rather lofty station in Kivouachian society, "Grand Whisperer" to "Grand Voice" Locket. Lucy takes great pleasure in mocking her current circumstances.
• Huge Girl, Tiny Guy: Winifred is a fair bit taller than Fleischer, who is almost always accompanying her.
• Humanoid Abomination: Locket, full stop. She's some sort of asymmetrical, mannequin-looking thing with black cracks in her white plasticene skin and fangs showing through a broken cheek. After lurching down a street in pursuit of her prey, she lunges in screaming with her head doing the Jacob's Ladder shake. In The Stranger she looks like she's bleeding in between her pieces, which don't always move in conjunction with the parts around them, but she looks more symmetrical now.
• Humans Are Warriors: Maargit has this view; she fears that if humanity as a whole discovered the existence of the Kivouachians, the results would be "cataclysmic".
• Hypocrite: Despite constantly criticizing all the others (Wexle, Winifred, Flesicher) for enjoying "simian traditions", even ones as minor as reading children's books or celebrating Christmas, Sullivan discovers a photo of a beautiful human woman in Ludwig's study, the implications of which are fairly clear.
• Immune to Bullets: Definitely not Quinn; a shotgun blast ends up leaving him out of action in the woods, until Maargit comes along. He blames "bad genetics" for not being able to heal himself.
• The Ingenue: Hyzenthlay; she's soft-spoken, naive and reserved.
• In Medias Res: The first episode begins with Sullivan reading from notes during a meeting with Winifred, Lucy, Shuck and Fleischer; no explanation at all is given as to why they are there. Backstory is sprinkled throughout later episodes.
• Insult Backfire: When Fleischer demands that Lucy stop torturing Winifred:
  Lucy: I decide when I stop, outlaw!
  Fleischer: Yeah, an outlaw dictated by a set of laws that no longer mean anything!
• Interface Screw: Video and audio distortions occasionally pop up when Locket is nearby, rather reminiscent of some portrayals of Slender Man.
• Interspecies Romance: Sullivan finds a photo of a beautiful human woman on Ludwig's desk, heavily implying this trope.
• In Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves: Sullivan's justification for siding with the Kivouachians.
• "It" Is De-Squirrel-izing: When talking to Fontaine, Ludwig refers to Hyzenthlay as "it" and speaks of her more as a science project than a thinking, feeling creature.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Shuck. Lots of jerk, not much gold, but it's there.
  • Yeshua. He comes off as brash and crude, but he does genuinely care for others. He's the one that shows Luna what Bob is really like and ultimately kills him to snap her out of the toxic relationship.
  • Ludwig is a humorless stick-in-the-mud who looks down on humans and their creations, but his intentions towards the other Kivouachians are ultimately noble.
• Kick the Dog: Has one of the characters done something very rude or cruel to one of the others? Nine times out of ten, they've done it to Winifred.
• Killer Rabbit: Lucy is barely larger than Hyzenthlay (who is a squirrel) and yet terrifies nearly everyone who knows her. Even the larger and more imposing Kivouachians who interact with her are guarded.
• Kill It with Fire: Fire is the only thing that can stop a Kivoauchian from regenerating, and, by extension, the only thing that can permanently do one in.
• Knight of Cerebus: The wacky, darkly humorous "sitcom with interdimensional monsters" mood abruptly drops out completely and the tone becomes very serious as soon as Dizzy Jones, aka Mandus appears.
• Large and in Charge: Ludwig is nine foot six according to Wordof God (he fills a normal doorway) and holds a lot of power in the Kivouachian settlement system; Helgan is even taller, and serves as Ludwig's substitute in the Kivouachian chain of command while he's away. Sullivan accurately describes her as the only one "who makes Ludwig look like a fuckin' plush toy." And when Locket first appears, she dwarfs both of them, and is about half as wide.
• The Leader: Ludwig. He doesn't enjoy his station, but carries out his responsibilities without fail.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Sullivan addresses the camera at the end of the first episode. Lucy does so immediately afterwards, wondering who he's talking to. Then someone asks HER who SHE's talking to.
  Lucy: "I don't know! That's a good fucking point!"
• Losing Your Head: Kivouachians can survive being decapitated, which is both fortunate and unfortunate for everyone that Lucy loves playing with (i.e. Winifred and Wexle).
  Sullivan: (to Lucy) Head back on the body when you're finished!
  • The book explains the body remains alive after decapitation, but is immobile unless the head is reattached. During Locket’s reign decapitation and brain destruction was a common consequence of incompetence and the headless bodies were used for anything from chairs to meat.
• A Love to Dismember: Lucy apparently loves cutting cute girls' heads off and playing with their bodies. She repeatedly states her desire to do this to Hyzenthlay and Winifred, and she's apparently done this before to Wexle.
  Sullivan: Lucy, do you know what necrophilia is?
• Medium Blending: Shot on-location with all the Kivouackians in CGI.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Many of the Kivouachians have influence from many different animal species in their designs, without resembling any one animal in particular (except for Fleischer). Felicity resembles a cross between a bat, a donkey, and a dragon, while Quinn looks a lot like a furry axolotl. Dorothy sort of looks like a mixture of a shark, a komodo dragon, a snake, and a beluga whale.
• Monochromatic Eyes: Quinn has six of these.
• Monstrous Cannibalism: Although they may not look like they're actually the same species, cannibalism is apparently quite common among the Kivouackians, with Helgan off-handedly menioning that she ate several of her former mates. Lucy also expresses a desire to eat Hyzenthlay on a regular basis (although to be fair, they may not really consider Hyzenthlay to be actually one of them, and that might also just be Lucy being Lucy.)
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Lucy has a set of teeth that would make any shark cringe- and much like a shark, she apparently sheds them at a rapid pace, enough to kill off Sullivan's vacuum cleaner.
  • Winifred's number of teeth doesn't seem that extreme, until you realize that she has them on both the inside and outside of her jaws.
  • While he doesn't nearly have as many as Lucy does, Yeshua certainly has quite a set of human-looking choppers. Said teeth also light up and change colors.
  • Ludwig's entire body appears to be covered in long, yawning, mouth-like-slits filled with what look partly like teeth and partly like spines or ribs.
  • Ed has a Glasgow Grin that stretches all the way down his neck and across the rest of his body.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Fontaine, who has six arms. He promises Helgan- who is EASILY three times his size- "a damn good thrashing", and absolutely nobody present treats it as a jest.
  • Yeshua not only has extra arms but extra tails as well.
  • Averted with Quinn, although he has six legs, he's anything but dangerous.
• Mundane Fantastic: Although later episodes have been picking up the plot more, most of the series just follows the day-to-day interactions and daily verbal pissing matches between one (mostly) otherwise normal British man and the deadly, eons-old interdimensional beings that are basically his house guests at a manor in rural England. While the Kivouackians have their own complex, violent, and heavily interwoven history, their esteemed host is mostly just concerned with their freshly-shed teeth clogging up his vacuum cleaner, or how having a hellhound-in-residence makes it easier for him to acquire Halloween pumpkins without paying for them (read: murder.)
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Sullivan apparently considers the rest of humanity to be a bunch of "dull dimwits doomed to self-extinction", which may be why Ludwig (who seems to loathe anything associated with humans) nevertheless treats him more-or-less like an equal. It still has not been explained how exactly the Kivouackians first met and started living with Sullivan, although they've apparently been on Earth for hundreds if not thousands of years.
• Named After Their Planet: They are Kivouachians, from a place called the Kivouack.
• Nice Girl: Hyzenthlay, Wexle, and Felicity are all total sweethearts. For the guys, Quinn is very friendly, if shy, and Fleischer is a bit gruff (albeit mostly to Shuck, so you can't really blame him) but very kind-hearted, especially to Winifred. Fontaine's pretty chill, too.
• Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: Surprisingly, Quinn. Felicity easily goads him into a race despite the urgentness of the message he needs to deliver.
• No Flow in CGI: Averted to an almost astonishing degree for a non-profit, independent series animated primarily by one guy. The vast majority of the Kivouackians are realistically, almost adorably fluffy, and covered with thick, luxurious fur of differing lengths and textures. Even the ones that aren't as furry (or at all) like Fleischer, Wexle, and Fontaine, usually have some other part of their body that's free-flowing and loose, like Fleischer's wings and tail, Wexle's coat, and Fontaine's poofy haircut. They even get visibly soaked with raindrops during the outdoor conversation in Episode 14.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Two for the price of one, when Wexle mentions "not after last time" to Lucy's decapitation fetish, Sullivan adds something about three garden fences, a brick wall, and a group of teenage witnesses that he had to "deal with".
  • Ludwig talks to Shuck about a previous point in his life (Blythburg, 1577) where Shuck would "snatch people from the cobblestone roads". Shuck does not remember that era fondly and states "my bloodletting days are behind me".
  • "And don't let Ludwig eat them all, 'cause you know what he's like once he's had a fuckin' biscuit."
  • Shuck mentions the time he and Lucy tried making blackstrap rum and burnt down half of London.
• Nothing Is Scarier: We don't know much about Dizzy Jones, AKA Mandus, other than how freaked out the others are by him and whatever happened during an encounter with him reduced Winifred to her current state. Even the lore website, which goes into fairly significant detail about all of the characters who've appeared so far (and even some who haven't) has very little to say about him. Except for the fact that he's on the same level of power as Locket, we know absolutely NOTHING else about him.
• Number Two: Wexle is Ludwig's, Dorothy is Hayden's. Fleischer appears to be this for Sullivan, too, or at the very least he's the only Kivouackian who Sullivan can trust to uphold any sense of order or logic around the house.
• Off with Her Head!: Lucy has decapitated Wexle and Winifred (who can survive it) several times, and repeatedly talks about wanting to do the same to Hyzenthlay (who most likely cannot survive), complete with detailed illustrations! Apparently, she likes to play with the bodies, and feels that the head "gets in the way".
  Lucy: A head's just a hat for your torso.
• One to Million to One: Lucy has the apparent ability to transform herself into a swarm of flies and exit a location.
• Only Sane Man: Fleischer is easily the calmest, most well-behaved and least poorly-adjusted of the Kivouachians, and the only one who really tries to keep order in the house aside from the rather sinister and imposing Ludwig and the somewhat hapless Sullivan.
  Fleischer: You're all fucked in the head!
  Lucy: The good kind!
  Fleischer: There is no good kind!
• Oop North: Many of the Kivouachians have very thick accents, Lucy, Felicity, and Shuck in particular. Sullivan, too.
• Our Demons Are Different: Wexle's horns, grey skin, glowing eyes and tentacles give her a demonic appearance, but she's actually quite pleasant in personality.
• Our Dragons Are Different: One is a color-changing, self-mutilating blind-mute, one is a black-furred Jerk with a Heart of Gold, and one has six eyes. Oh, and the largest of them is only about the size of a Great Dane. Quinn sort of looks like a pink-furred cross between a dragon and a dog.
• Pals with Jesus: Shuck at least claims that he used to work for, and was taught how to play chess, by Death himself. Though it's likely that Shuck meant another Kivouachian named Death.
• Papa Wolf: Fleischer is affectionate towards and protective of Winifred, though he's too scared of Lucy to confront her over her repeated abuse of Winifred, and Sullivan complains that Fleischer just comes after him instead. (Then again, Fleischer does directly confront Lucy about it in "Slice of Life", which casts some doubt on what Sullivan says on the matter.)
• Platonic Life-Partners: The main two male/female Kivouackian pairs (Shuck/Lucy and Fleischer/Winifred) have this kind of relationship with one another.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: Lucy is approximately the size of a house cat, but she's one of the most dangerous of the Kivouachians, and by far the most unstable.
• Primordial Chaos: The Kivouack was what there was before the Universe. Sullivan and the Kivouachians aren't just trying to bring chaos. They're trying to bring it back.
• Psycho Lesbian: Lucy, unless you consider "decapitating her and playing with her body" to be a normal thing to do with a cute girl you like.
• The Quisling: Sullivan could be seen as this, considering that he's harboring a group of extradimensional monsters bent on altering Earth's fauna into fully-intelligent rivals to humanity- with only the excuse that he finds the world "a dull landscape of dimwits and self-extinction".
• Really Gets Around: Lucy is a slut, by her own admission. She makes no overt sexual advances towards anyone, but it's entirely possible that she sees decapitating and mutilating someone as arousing.
  • Helgan matter-of-factly says that she has had multiple mates. And ate them.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Lecturing others about how they've failed as Kivouackians is seemingly one of Ludwig's favorite pastimes. He gives an especially cruel one to Wexle in Episode 7 because she committed the heinous crime of enjoying Christmas and other human holidays.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Shuck and Fleischer's dynamic, literally, right down to their respective color schemes, and the two of them argue frequently. Shuck was apparently once a "feared bloodletter", Fleischer was ostracized for his pacifism. Shuck goes drinking with Lucy regularly, Fleischer Can't Hold His Liquor. Fleischer reads a lot and quotes Oscar Wilde, Shuck prefers Monty Python. Shuck pals around with Lucy in his spare time, Fleischer is almost always near Winifred so he can take care of her.
• Red Right Hand: None of the Kivouackians have what you would call spotless moral codes, but even by their standards, Lucy's complete instability is recognizable from her clouded lazy eye.
• Retired Monster: Shuck, apparently.
  Shuck: My bloodletting days are behind me.
  Ludwig: Right behind you.
  Shuck: I'm not going back. If that means being a joke to you, then fuck it. Hope you get a good long laugh out of it.
  • Later episodes suggest that, considering how bad Grand Voice Locket was implied to be, it's possible that Winifred of all people is one of these too. Which may have something to do with why she constantly claws herself.
• Roommate Com: Arguably, the first few episodes fall into this, before the story starts advancing and Continuity Creep sets in. You think your house guests are bad, just try living with a bunch of Kivouackians in your house!
• Sad Clown: Shuck is rather abrasive and constantly sarcastic, but he has a dark past, one that he doesn't seem very proud of.
• Sanity Slippage: Sullivan gets bored rather easily without the Internet, and ends up stabbing a can of food with a knife.
• Self-Harm: Winifred bears multiple scars from clawing at herself, and her forelimbs have open wounds (poorly) covered by bandages. Ludwig states that she gave herself new ones after he confiscated the book Fleischer gave her.
• Shapeshifter Weapon: In "Hello Stranger", Wexle transforms her forearms into a pair of bone blades, and puts them to good use.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Even though he hasn't yet been shown outside the confines of his own property, Sullivan is rarely seen wearing anything but a nifty Waistcoat of Style.
• Ship Tease: It's implied that Fleischer's feelings for Winifred (and vice-versa) may not be entirely platonic in nature, (especially taking into account how much she Hates Being Touched) when he gives her a Braille book for Christmas and she gratefully reaches out to pet him.
  • "Hello Stranger" strongly hints towards Shuck/Felicity as well. The two of them spend pretty much the whole episode together (with Shuck even trying to teach Felicity how to play chess), he comforts her after Lucy's taunting, and jumps at the chance to go to Scotland with her. Considering that Lucy behaves towards her in a way that can be very easily read as jealousy (telling Shuck "he can do so much better than [Felicity]", etc.), it arguably hints towards Shuck/Lucy as well.
• Shout-Out:
  • Winifred, especially after her redesign, arguably resembles a (slightly) cuddlier-looking Vicar Amelia.
  • According to Word of God, Fleischer's name is a tribute to the animation company Fleischer Studios.
  • Hyzenthlay is also the name of a character in Watership Down.
  • Sullivan mentions that Dizzy Jones being a silly alias for a menacing name is the opposite of what Voldemort did.
  • Shuck could be the Black Shuck of eastern English folklore. He isn't a dog, but he does have black fur and red eyes.
  • Bob may be a reference to the character of the same name in Earthworm Jim.
  • Mystique and Ed's hotel room is room 1408.
  • Fleischer gets irritated when Shuck remarks that something is "Only a Flesh Wound" and asks him if he's ever seen Life of Brian. Shuck fires back at him by saying that Fleischer has no room to speak, since he apparently quotes Oscar Wilde all the time.
  • In one episode, Sullivan shows up wearing a top hat that he stole from a child who he describes as having a forehead like Megamind.
• The Sociopath: Lucy. She considers other to be "toys" and sees no problem with murdering and decapitating another living creature for her own amusement. This may actually be normal for Kivouachian society.
  • Bob is a variant. While he is non-violent, he has absolutely no emotional attachment to anyone and merely sees others as beings to take care of him.
  • Sullivan qualifies, as he sees no issue with assaulting children and killing entire families for things like pumpkins and hats.
• Sophisticated as Hell: Many of the characters, Shuck in particular, alternate between insults that are eloquently florid and hilariously foul, or both. Yeshua has these tendencies as well, expressed in his very first line of dialogue:
  Yeshua: Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed for I am your god. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous hand, or, or some shit.
• Southern Gentleman: Ed has this sort of accent, albeit with a slightly lecherous twist.
• Statuesque Stunner: Helgan. She's nearly twenty feet tall, able to push over (small) trees without effort and makes the ground thud as she walks; she's also exceptionally curvaceous and appears to have a rather impressive bosom under her tail.
  Helgan: I've had plenty of mates.
  Sullivan: What happened? You fuckin' roll over and crush 'em to death?
  • Although it's only by comparison to the others, of all the cat or dog-sized Kivouachians at Sullivan's house, Winifred is easily the tallest, being about the size of a Great Dane, and is considered attractive by both Fleischer and (unfortunately for her) Lucy.
• Straw Nihilist: A big reason behind Sullivan's efforts to help the Kivouachians regain control of the universe is due to the fact that he sees humanity as a species doomed to it's own hubris and self-extinction.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: A momentary gag in "The Journey So Far" demonstrates the problems with having creatures of the Kivouackians' size in a house built for humans when Winifred's antler almost gets caught on the chandelier.
• Take That!: Sullivan peruses some artwork by Lucy (actually fan art of Satellite City's characters) and likes what he sees... until he comes upon a ponified version of himself. And then a handcuffed drawing of Winifred. And then an anime version of Wexle.
  Sullivan: "Lucy, have you got a fucking DeviantArt?"
  • The first Satellite Short has Sullivan criticizing the CGI Bob the Builder reboot, complaining that it makes the title character "look like a fuckin' bell-end."
• Terms of Endangerment: "Little dove", Lucy's nickname for Hyzenthlay.
• The Social Darwinist: The Kivouchian's society, both before the Big Bang and in modern times, is pretty much this; morality takes a back-seat in favor of genetic superiority, and to say that they promote survival of the fittest would be a massive Understatement (to the point where rendering aid to a fellow Kivouachian can be prosecuted as a crime).
• Token Evil Teammate: None of the Kivouchians are all that well-adjusted or altruistic, but Lucy is the most unstable by far. Ludwig is quite accurate in referring to her as a "liability."
• Token Human: Sullivan. We don't see a single other human at all until episode 12, with the unfortunate guy that Locket hunts down and kills in the streets at night. Even on the lore website, it's still not been explained how exactly the Kivouackians got connected with Sullivan and started living at his house.
• Too Many Mouths: Fontaine's eyes appear to be mouths, or at least have tooth-like markings around them. There are visible pupils within them.
• Tranquilizer Dart: Lucy hits Winifred in the thigh with one of these; it drops her within seconds.
• Tsundere: Ludwig is a mild example; he can at one moment berate a subordinate and the next commiserate with them.
• Unfazed Everyman: Sullivan, full stop. He's just a normal Englishman who responds to this scenario of otherworldly creatures with varying mixtures of aggravation and snark.
  • This appears to be both a consequence of and a front for insanity, given that he's helping beings of chaos spread that chaos across the planet, thinks humanity is stupid and doomed anyway and becomes unstable whenever he gets bored.
• Urban Fantasy: A race of Animalistic Abominations living at a modern manor house on the outskirts of London...yup, it fits.
• Voice Changeling: Locket can mimic the voice of someone she is impersonating, though her mental instability shows through.
• Voice of the Legion: Locket speaks this way.
• Villain Protagonist: "Villain" might be a strong word, but most of the cast are explicitly Social Darwinist demonic creatures from another dimension (plus their questionably normal human host), and their collective morality can largely be described as "unconventional" at best.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Lucy and Shuck are good friends who like to get drunk together, but that won't stop them from spitting a few barbs at each other. According to the lore site Shuck is also friends with Fleischer and they're much more vitriolic than he and Lucy are.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: A rare female example in Wexle, though while she has visible nipples only occasionally hidden by her vest, there is only a flat chest behind them.
• Wainscot Society: London has become this; the Borsia crime family is interfering with the Kivouachians' operations, though the humans don't yet know that their rivals are extradimensional aliens.
• Waistcoat of Style: Sullivan's most common outfit.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Holly and Bob both die in the same episode they're introduced.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: While watching the moon rise overhead with Shuck, Lucy, of all people, has an epiphany of sorts, reflecting on the fact that since the Kivouackians don't die of natural causes and live for eons, life is much less meaningful to them than it is to the mortals who only live about 90 years at best. It's actually quite moving.
  Lucy: We're not living forever. We're dying forever.
• Word Salad Title: Thus far, the city has appeared only briefly, and no satellites have appeared at all.
  • Future plot relevance aside, the title is almost definitely named after a song by the creator's father, called....... Satellite City.
• World of Snark: It seems like Hyzenthlay and Quinn are the only ones associated with Ludwig who don't resort to snark at the drop of a hat. And Winifred, because of, uh, you know.
• Worst Aid: After taking a shotgun blast, Quinn attempted to remove the pellets himself.
  Maargit: Did you remove the metal?
  Quinn: Yep. Uh... did more damage to myself than the bullets did.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Fleischer tells Winifred this when he finds her clawing herself again.
  Fleischer: We all have shadows at our heels. But you need not let them consume you. You need only to turn on the light.