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El Goonish Shive is a web comic by Dan Shive, launched on January 21, 2002, that mainly depicts the lives of a group of friends in their junior year of high school. Said lives contain transformation guns, alternate universes and a shape-shifting half-squirrel girl. It should be noted that EGS is not a simple gag strip; the characters are fairly complex and believeable despite existing in a setting where women can use Hammerspace.
El Goonish Shive does not have much of a status quo. Storylines are most often long and convoluted and rarely result in things returning to the way they were. Despite this, the author manages to keep everything making sense (within the context of the comic). Much like how the storytelling of The Matrix makes bullet time perfectly sensible, the storytelling of El Goonish Shive makes a shapeshifting squirrel girl quite normal-seeming.
Fans of the comic are styled bunnies for lack of a better name. According to Dan, soon after the comic launched and began to gather fans, the forums teemed with one question: "By what shall we call ourselves?" Dan had no clue, and picked the first thing that came to mind: bunnies. 1 (http://www.elgoonishshive.com/Filler/d/20020703.html).
Many of the subjects in the comic are incidently fictional fetishes, although the comic itself is fairly wholesome.
Characters
Main
- Elliot Dunkel – Once your average seventeen year-old boy, aside from studying anime-style martial arts, Elliot has encountered many interesting experiences since the beginning of the comic. So far, he has been transformed into both a cat and a female version of himself; fought a monstrous goo; had a female counterpart split off of himself; and been beaten up by a half-hedgehog. His best friend is Tedd, whose love for technology has caused a fair amount of Elliot's recent headaches.
- Tedd Verres – An androgynous teenage boy with a knack for trouble and technology, Tedd is in love with Grace, and is Elliot's best friend. He wears specially enhanced glasses which have several modes, including a recently-removed X-ray vision mode. He was once shy, being harassed for being so feminine-looking, but has attained a great deal of confidence since being entrusted with developing alien morphing technologies. (Of course, he uses them in his free time, but those are just perks in his line of work.) His relationship with Grace has been interesting, and it is often shown that he would do anything to keep her out of harm's way. Tedd also has what Grace referes to as a "furry fetish". He seems to like Grace's animal forms, mainly her half-squirrel and half-cat forms.
- Ellen Dunkel – the female duplicate of Elliot, after having been split from him. Acted as his evil twin for a while before coming to her senses. Elliot considers her his sister; Tedd considers her a hot female Elliot. Although the origin of the magical item that created her is rather murky, she's alive and well, and a newfound addition to The Crew. Can shoot a beam that mimics female variant #5 on Tedd's transformation gun.
- Sarah – Elliot's best friend turned girlfriend. Artistic and arguably the most normal of the crew, with no special abilities aside from the use of Hammerspace (which is a normal female ability in EGS) but she is not to be underestimated – a time may come in which she proves quite capable to fight.
- Grace Sciuridae – A shapeshifting were-squirrel who spends a good deal of her time as a human girl named Grace. She can transform into a variety of forms, including squirrel, half-squirrel, Tedd, and a human girl named Claire. She's been fortunate enough to save her were-"family" through some rather ... interesting events. Her last name is a direct reference to her squirrely nature. (Her first name may also be a pun, i. e. Grace Squirrel = Grey Squirrel.)
- Nanase Kitsune – Ex-girlfriend of Elliot, a student of anime-style martial arts. After a lot of speculation from Justin and the fans, Nanase came out as a lesbian to Elliot and Susan; the latter let it slip to Ellen and Justin. She has recently received a great deal of attention, not just due to her budding relationship with Ellen, but also because of the intrigue around what her family is going to do in reaction to her coming out.
- Justin Tolkiberry – Student of anime martial arts, though not equivalent in skill to Nanase or Elliot. Friends with the two and a part-time worker in a comic shop. Gay. Previous to more recent story arcs, Justin would taunt Nanase teasingly, hinting that she might also be gay.
- Tiffany Susan Pompoms – A somewhat jaded, cynical female high school student at about the same age as the rest of the main cast. Having a name contrary to her personality, she prefers to go by her middle name, Susan. Largely interpreted a sterotypical "man hater" due to her general, vauge distaste toward males. It is implied very heavily that this is due to Susan's father leaving her mother at a young age, smitten with his pert young secretary. Susan once begged Ellen to "turn" her lesbian, when in fact it was far beyond Ellen's capabilities. Has developed a crush on Justin.
Secondary
- Dr. Germahn – First billing himself as a stereotypical German doctor, he pops in whenever something scientific needs to be explained. Although considered a mad scientist by some, Germahn prefers to concoct experiments that wind up being strange but all in good fun.
- Amanda – Dr. Germahn's busty and naive lab assistant, who is often an unwilling volunteer in his weird experiments.
- TC – Also known as "Da Playah," he fits a simple generic macho archetype. The name itself is a reference to his job as a theater clerk, which is where the name stemmed from. Mostly used for comic relief.
- Nioi – A wise yet enigmatic anthro-skunk from the Alpha Dimension. She encounters several of the main characters at the end of the Painted Black story arc. Is at the service of the evil Lord Tedd. However, her intentions toward the main characters seem to be good. Has become somewhat of a favorite among many fans. "Nioi" is the Japanese word for "scent."
- Guineas, Hedge, and Vlad – Grace's "brothers," created in the same laboratory before Grace. Served Damien until recently.
- Damien – A rather generic villain with a superiority complex. Attempted to use Grace and her brothers in his plot to rule Earth, but was destroyed before it could come into fruition.
- Lord Tedd – Tedd's evil counterpart from what is known as the Alpha Dimension. Other than this, little is known about him or his past.
External links
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