Characters
Samantha, Jenny, and Dave are the only original characters left from the Day Care. Roger entered shortly after the strip began. The strip's original main character, a boy named Matt who was the son of the day care operator, was dropped early in the elementary school stretch.The "Other Clique"
These are our main characters. The souls who never fit into any of the school's official catalog of Cliques, so they were listed in the box marked "Other." Their own mascot is (appropriately) a cat who is the clone of a dog. They are always open to new members. Samantha Argus - Samantha is the main character, a woman with a hopeful nature and a genius scientific mind. However, she is a bit of a control freak and often attempts to help people, even when they don't need it. Her technical side enables her to see the world rationally and realistically, which comes in handy when you're surrounded by a mermaid, the spirit of a late grandmother, living dust bunnies and a genetic mishap that turned the family border collie into a school guidance counselor. She is now married to Dave Hamper and gave birth to their firstborn in September 2018. Her role on the mission to Mars was commander, or as she puts it, "Rocket Administrator". Since the mission's return she has been named head of the genetics lab where Rupert and Rosalind work. Dave Hamper - Dave is dyslexic, but found that instead of it being a disability it's simply an alternate yet perfectly viable way of interfacing with the world. He uses his unique special talents to achieve stardom on the basketball court. He was stationed with "Nuova Pallacanestro Firenze", a team inSamantha's family
Donald Argus - Donald is the safety inspector at Fastrack, Inc. (in crossover with '' On the Fastrack'', another comic strip by Holbrook) and is more frequently seen in that comic. Jeanine Argus - Started on the school board when Samantha was in high school, then became a state senator. In 2008, she was elected lieutenant governor. After one term was elected governor in 2012. Initially, Jeanine seemed clueless as to the genetic (and other) shenanigans that occurred around Samantha's life, but it is later revealed that she knew the whole time and was ready to step in if Samantha couldn't fix anything. In 2021 she is president of Beige University. Sophie Argus - Samantha's little sister. She accidentally drank some butterfly DNA as a child and was thus enhanced with extreme grace and agility which she uses to take up dancing. Shondra Argus - Shondra left school to become an artist and lived in the state capitol. However, she became disillusioned with that lifestyle in her 30s and returned to college, where she took courses to become a relationship counselor. Sylvester and Steve - Rarely seen, Sylvester and Steve are Samantha's older brothers. Both went into business related fields and only ever seen on the holidays. Grandma Argus - When the mother of Samantha's mom died, she left Samantha a magic ring. When wearing it, Samantha can speak to her grandmother in any reflection. A former daredevil with a wealth of adventurous experiences, she sees her post-life duty as making sure Samantha doesn't spend her years glued to the front of a computer screen. Laptop aka Dr. Brenda Scrim - Originally, the Argus's pet border collie (it was later discovered she was also half cat), Laptop later created a fictional character of Brenda Scrim to pose as the Guidance Counselor for Havens Junior High School. When it became apparent she was needed personally, she took a genetic concoction created by Samantha to become human. She later chose this as her permanent life, becoming the high school counselor and later Jeanine's political adviser. She was originally married to Dave's dog Clive until his death, and later married the state's governor (while Jeanine was lieutenant governor). She is the adopted mother of Palmtop, her genetic clone, and was the legal guardian of Remora. Palmtop aka Pam Topp - Samantha's first genetic experiment, Palmtop is genetic clone of Samantha's border collie Laptop. She was gestated in a cat and was born a cat (this was later discovered being due to Laptop being a dog/cat hybrid). Palmtop originally showed more of a canine personality than a feline, but this would later change as she developed a snarky feline persona. She briefly had a romance with an escaped lab experiment and they had a litter of striped puppies which were adopted by many of the main characters (most have since been written out). Palmtop eventually became human under the unfortunate name "Pam Topp", and served as the Residential Adviser in Samantha's old dorm. More recently she has decided to live as a cat, in Vince and Feryl's home, and only occasionally transforms into Pam Topp.Residents of Havens
Miss Callowood - Miss Callowood was the kids' elementary school teacher for several years. She had been rather trendy before becoming a teacher and had several facial piercings, although her face was never actually seen. She left teaching after getting married and having a child, and would only be seen during the Junior High years when Samantha would babysit for her. She returned occasionally during the High School and College years after it was discovered Dave was dyslexic, as a special needs teacher to help Dave learn to read. Miss Havens - Miss Havens was the operator of the day care and Matt's mother. She also was dropped when the kids entered elementary school, although she returned for a couple years as the day care teacher for the new generation. She also prepared the children's lesson plans for while they are on the mission to Mars.Beige University characters
Rupert and Rosalind - Samantha's research assistants. Accident prone, they frequently suffer from genetic mishaps that result in them changing into other animals or assuming their traits. They are married and have a son, Gregor, who has inherited some Venus Flytrap DNA and thus has green skin, conducts photosynthesis, and likes to chomp things that fly. Patina and Rusty Welding - Crossover characters from On the Fastrack, Patina goes to college at Beige University, is the Residential Adviser in Samantha's old dorm, originally alongside Palmtop, and is currently seen more often here than in ''On The Fastrack''. Samantha entrusted her genetic supplies to Patina for safe-keeping during her expedition to Mars. During the expedition Rusty also enrolled at Beige University and replaced Pam Topp as the other resident advisor. One of their current jobs is to keep the media away from Samantha and Dave. Vince Vole - A mouse that was turned into a human after an accident. He's decided to stay human and works in Samantha's lab and is an English major. He occasionally turns back into a mouse for the summer, and has since lost his tail in an accident. He dated and later married Feryl Farnsworth; they have a daughter named Morgana, appropriately for two people who give magic shows. Feryl Farnsworth - Formerly a dove that as a chick got turned into a human accidentally, and was raised as the daughter of the scientist/magician that transformed her; she occasionally turns back into a dove. She married Vince Vole, and they have a human daughter, named Morgana, appropriately for two magicians. She, and Vince, and Pam Topp regularly give magician shows for children, in which one of them is in animal form for the show. While Samantha was off to Mars only Vince transformed, because they were short of transformational elixir and Patina Welding was rationing it. Maria - A former time traveler, served as doctor on the mission to Mars. She and Bambi fell in love, became a couple and now live together. She corrected Leo, saying that she can't time-travel any more because then she will be unable to return to this time the same time as her younger self Maria Hamper. See Leo and Maria Hamper below. The Dodos, Paul and Mary - Samantha's graduate thesis work was to recreate and study the extinct species of dodo. To do this she found and extrapolated dodo DNA and turned two chickens into Dodos. Much to her surprise, she discovers that dodos were intelligent beings capable of speech, but have little to no sense of morals, ethics or self-preservation. They constantly seek fame and fortune, and it has since been an ongoing task to keep them out of trouble. They joined the mission to Mars as stowaways, and decided to remain there after the planet developed an ecosystem. Stan - Stan is a giant spider that lives in the duct work in the lab, and was tasked with keeping the dodos from escaping.The Children, aka "The Next Generation"
All of these children were also on the Mission to Mars. Marlon Fontenalia-Volant Marlon is the son of Remora and Thomas and the eldest of the children. He takes after his father's acrobatic inclinations, and prefers to hang from a trapeze. In 2014, Marlon began to show Remora's aquatic merfolk heritage as well, and has to spend 12 hours a day as a fish. Candide Fuerte - Luis and Jenny's first child, born New Year's, 2012, simultaneously with Clay. Very competitive with Clay. She shows her mother's tendency for material acquisition. Clay Delft - Don and Ming's first child, born New Year's, 2012, simultaneously with Candide. Very competitive with Candide. Leo - Son of Maria, see above. Leo is also a time traveler. He will grow up to be Leonardo da Vinci. Maria Hamper - Sam and Dave's first child, born September 2018. The strip of May 20, 2020 states that Maria will grow up to be Leo's mother. The same week Leo says that his mother can not come visit 'here' because she can not be in the same time space as her toddler self Maria Hamper.Book collections
References
* * * * *External links