Characters
Though Buttercup Festival has little, if any continuity from one strip to the next, and does not build on past strips, the same protagonist appears in every strip, and several other characters recur.
- The strip's protagonist resembles the Grim Reaper, dressing in black robes and carrying a scythe. However, he is not intended to be Death; rather, his appearance was a parody of the Goth sub-culture, and he never uses the scythe except occasionally to nudge things. On one occasion a cloaked figure with scythe was shown, his head a skull as death's is traditionally portrayed, though it is unclear if this figure is indeed the main character. The protagonist's defining characteristics include limitless optimism (he once successfully built a hot air balloon out of cinder blocks, using his "unsinkable affection for the world" as fuel) and an idiosyncratic perception of reality (in one strip, for example, he thinks that his Game of Life board is a city map). He seems to play various musical instruments, including guitar, trumpet, tambourine, and banjo. It is also worth noting that the protagonist has been identified as 37 years old, and apparently has both a son with whom he plays "catch" with and a daughter. In early strips, his actions are often highly destructive (both to his own well-being and to his surroundings).
- The voice of an unseen and unnamed character comes from off-panel in many strips. This character is frequently a foil for the protagonist, questioning his actions and correcting his misperceptions.
- Rodney the second-grade T-ball jockey is, as the name suggests, a second-grader with an aggressive attitude whose life revolves around tee ball.
- Future Boy is a jet pack-wearing boy who occasionally appears and reveals interesting facts about what happens in the future.
- An alien being called 'Cosmic Protean Intelligence' is sometimes featured conversing with the protagonist in an alien language. The reader gathers an understanding of what the being says from the protagonist's replies in English.
- A couple of strips feature a sentient balloon that believes itself to be human.
- A caricature of the musician Moby has appeared in several strips.
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Famous quotes containing the word characters:
“I have often noticed that after I had bestowed on the characters of my novels some treasured item of my past, it would pine away in the artificial world where I had so abruptly placed it.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“The naturalistic literature of this country has reached such a state that no family of characters is considered true to life which does not include at least two hypochondriacs, one sadist, and one old man who spills food down the front of his vest.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“A criminal trial is like a Russian novel: it starts with exasperating slowness as the characters are introduced to a jury, then there are complications in the form of minor witnesses, the protagonist finally appears and contradictions arise to produce drama, and finally as both jury and spectators grow weary and confused the pace quickens, reaching its climax in passionate final argument.”
—Clifford Irving (b. 1930)