637 Helping Hands.

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I made a poll on DeviantArt about who people’s favorite character is.  Unsurprisingly the girls won hands down.  Of them Jolene trounced Nina and Carol.  I wonder, however, if that holds true here.  I find that each site has its own flavor of people.  So, who is your favorite character?  In fact, if you feel like explaining what you like about more than one cast member feel free to do so.  I’d like to know if Brooksie will dominate here too.

136 Comments

Carol. I have a thing for redheads.

brooksie is the best

Seconded. Very amusing character, and she reminds me of a friend or two of mine.

Thirded! Brooksie is my favorite character (I also voted for her a few days ago at DA) I like the loose fitting clothing that almost swallows her whole.

Also it doesn’t hurt that she is the store ninja.

For me, its a difficult toss up between Nina and Brooksie. Brooksie is easily the most endearing character, but Nina is somewhat more realistic, and the kind of person you would love to have as a friend.

1. Jolene “Brooksie” Brooks. She’s unique and has a personality that seems like it would often inspire a protective-big-brother complex or relationship, plus she’s so darn cute.
2. Carol Graves. Sassy, smart, and scrumptious to boot. reminds me of Faye @ http://www.questionablecontent.net/ (without all the baggage though)
3. J. Thomas Blackwell. Gotta love the ringleader with random quotes and a method to his madness, not to mention all the character development put into him.
4. Nina Grace. Statuesque beauty who likes the new guy, plus her uncanny ability to become endearing to the audience with what few times she appears. Not to mention strong palms and lack of blood fear.
5&6. Tie between Edward Lincoln and John Kepler. Both are memorable and fun to see in the comic, unfortunately John goes mostly unnoticed because he’s smart enough to avoid trouble and drama. Meanwhile Edward’s personal insecurities deter from his likeability, but give a strong promise of further growth as a character, probably as Nina inspires him to grow up and really become his own man.
7. Miguel “Mike” Hernandez. With the stiff competition of the other key players in this strip it’s not surprising that he ends up at the bottom, but his almost childish and friendly ways help pull him from obscurity to at least being noticed and liked.

Reggie. The man’s got no redeeming features beyond “lol too arrogant for theft” and everybody else (Characters and readers) seems to hate him for entirely justifiable reasons, but damn it I want to see him thrive — not out of a misplaced sense of “this guy’s a funny ass” or out of a desire to see him get his ass handed to him constantly, but because he’s got nothing going for him, what with the arrogance and the incompetence and the only reason he still has a job being a certain family member.

The only way is (Hopefully) up, as long as he doesn’t keep snapping back to Absolute Dickwad Mode.

Thomas.

HIS WIT. YOU COULD DROWN IN IT.

But also because he’s just such a like-able character. He’s funny, smart, makes obscure references to old movies, and plays video games.
AND HE’S NOT FAT IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM.
I envy him.

I also like carol for obvious reasons, but also because she just works with Tom so well.

hehe i wanna help too

he was smart for asking but is probably gonna regret it later when his boner gets annoying

You’re supposed to rub the easy one out early in the evening anyway.

…that is fantastic, always needed to know that. And I should use another post for this but lazyness presides, my characters for the top five are thus:

1. Carol, cause I do like the womens of the thick and juicy (Sir-Mix-a-Lot lulz) type
2. Tom as I see myself in him
3. Jolene Ku- Brooks, cause her personality gives her character
4. Edward, mostly cause of the hair and developing wit (no one will beat grand master Tom at witty remarks)
5. And last but definatly not least, Nina, cause I am partial to tall women as well.

I’ll just copy what I wrote on deviantART:
Oooh. Tough one. I mean there’s who we like as a person (who we’d want to hang out with), who we like as a character (who we enjoy reading about), and who’s hottest (I don’t have to explain that one, right?)

I’m going to go with Brooksie as having the highest combined score in all three.

Every character generally comes off to a different appeal to everyone. I’ve talked with crave, he said some powerful stuff, but the best quote was

“something in the past of the sender must have resonated with the past that resulted in my work.”

anyway; do note, crave is a cool guy, give him an email or something, worth your time to talk to him.moving on…

Imma say, brooksie…I’ve always wanted a younger sibling, and she would be my ideal younger sibling.

Nina is by far my most favourite personality wise, but she reminds me of my best friends girlfriend…so its that mental handicap on me to say shes not my most favored character.

Carol, is a redhead, so shes not attractive, why? I’m a red head…being a redhead carol gives me a turn off; knowing subconsciously that her and I would look like brother and sister, but i can defiantly see why many would fall for her.

guy wise, they all kinda remind me of parts of my self, I jokingly act arrogant, I have that inner fight in me from past years of [now that i recall lame] insults, and i generally run the show…

mike is different though..see mikes goal [speaking in the name of the comic] is to make everyone else look better, a shameless role, given his personality [you instead of not liking him,] you pity him.

Gonna have to agree with Brooksie. She’s absolutely adorable, even her cigarette smoke exhales and speech bubbles are cute.

Also I have this weird liking for John, maybe it’s that I’ve had SO man guy friends who remind me of him and his obvious low self-esteem. He’s definitely second.

And third would have to be Carol’s breasts. Definitely Carol’s breasts.

Definetly Nina. She’s just so… I don’t know, warm. To me she stuck out the most as someone I would want to know for real. Then Thomas for his cunning, and Carol for her attitude.

Brooksie does absolutely nothing for me, I was quite surprised to find she was favored. I know way too many annoying people like that IRL. They just get on my nerves.

That’s pretty wild. Very few people dislike Jo so adamantly. Each to his own. ^__^ Nina is certainly worth of admiration too.

I have to definitely go with Carol. Curvy redhead with attitude is definitely my ideal woman.

Brooksie is cute too, in her own way, Nina’s sweet and pervy, which is a great combination, and Jessica should really show up more often. The women are all really interesting, strong, and well-defined.

Not to give the men short shrift, either. All the characters are really well-defined and interesting… well, maybe except for John. There’s got to be more to him than “like Thomas, but he’s a man-slut who smokes”. Hopefully we’ll get to see more of that as time goes on.

As long as there’s a lot more of Carol in between… ;)

You’ll get all the stuff you want by and by. Jess gets some more screen time real soon and there’s a story that showcases John to do once I feel like I can tell it right.

I have to say Nina followed closely by Brooksie are my favorites. Nina is real and down to Earth while still being quirky. Brooksie is humorous and captures your attention. However I do like all the characters.

Oh I also like John!!! i would like to see more of him

I agree with Taigan’s remark, “Oooh. Tough one. I mean there’s who we like as a person (who we’d want to hang out with), who we like as a character (who we enjoy reading about), and who’s hottest (I don’t have to explain that one, right?)”

I like both Brooksie and Ed for the complex appeal of their characters, but as a hetero male, Brooksie has an edge in sex appeal for me. In real life, both might be hard to hang with — they both have an intriguing darkside with the potential to make them interesting, but possibly hard to take in real life.

Nina’s raw sex appeal and cheery attitude make her instantly attractive. I once hung with a woman like her, but eddies in the river of time carried us apart. Damn!

Thomas & Carol have a lot going for them, too, but they fall just short of being finalists for my favorite character.

Oh, dear. It looks like Nina and Brooksie are in a dead heat for my choice as favorite character. Nina would be great fun to hang with and has smokin’ sex appeal, but Brooksie’s so intriguing I keep comin’ back to her. What a choice!

Sorry, Ed. I like you, but the girls come out ahead.

I dunno, I can’t really decide a favorite, I like almost all the characters for different reasons. Thomas is smooth, clever, and a bit of a magnificent bastard, Ed’s a relatable everyman, Brooksie’s cute and quirky, Carol is lovably terrifying, Reggie is fun as heel to despise and a bit likeable, but John hasn’t gotten much development and seems to usually not get involved with the issues (but, from what i understand, that seems to fit with his personality, so…). So, yeah, can’t decide.

I second this, and add that Carol is extremely underhandedly sexy, at least when she’s at the store. Love it that all the characters feel real.

Brooksie, all the way.

I really can’t even begin to describe how much I’d love to have a friend like her.

I love how everyone says this about Brooksie, when I know a girl exactly like her. (She even had blue hair at one point.) But she probably didn’t have AS much knowledge of movies, but she would probably be close.

At least one character should remind you of someone you’ve known, if not all of them.

Actually that’s what I love about this. For me, having worked only in retail so far, I really have come across ALL of these types of people. The guy secretly holding the place together (Thomas), the keep-people-in-line-girl (Carol), the harmless somewhat incompetent boss (Mike), the adorable shy girl (Brooksie), the complete tosser (Reggie). Add a couple stoned out and/or stressed out late teens/early twenties people working part time and this is EVERY job I’ve ever had.

Hell, even the fact that there’s people dating even though they aren’t allowed to be, is true to life.

Yeah, a lot of this stuff is archetypal. You could lay their skins over hundreds of other characters and they’d seem right at home.

Carol, for sure!

She’s voluptuous and confident! That’s not a combination you see too often in any sort of media, which is why I adore her so much, and why I admire you for portraying her in such a way. ? My hips and I thank you, sir. :3

It’s a real toss-up between Ed and Mike. I respect Ed for his standing up to Carol waaaaaaay back when; it bugs when people think they can say hurtful thinsg to others without any consequences because they mean it without malice. But I’d probably have to vote Mike, just because he’s so honestly dedicated to doing his best, even if he doesn’t quite know how yet. Plus, he’s the only character not to make a joke at the expense of the mentally disabled. (It’s a pet peeve of mine. ^^;)

Hmmm… I can’t think of Nina ever having done that. Actually I can’t think of but one specific time, but I don’t remember who said the line now. Anyway I’ll take your word for it.

Hello! Picking a favorite is so harrdddd~ Why you gotta’ ask all the tough questions, hrrmmm?

I would have to say Carol, because other than the red hair she reminds me of myself. Tough, sarcastic girls need love too, and YAY FOR WOMEN WITH CURVES!… :D Anyway, thanks for making me laugh like always! Whenever I catch up on these comics at work I always risk getting spotted but it’s worth it. They probably think I’m the weirdest person ever to walk the planet since my screen is always “suspiciously on task” and yet I’m there laughing! haha. It’s their loss for not being able to read this. Thanks for the dedication, you’re amazing as always and I hope everyone eventually gets a chance to keep up with this!

–A

Ps.) Good luck finding Transformers! They were sold out here in AZ! Bummerrrr….

–A

I can’t find any new transformers anywhere out here. All I have are shitty Wal-Marts. >:|

Anyway, fight the power, damn the man! XD Also thanks for reading.

Hmm I am kinda torn, on one hand, I would say Carol, (no, not for her assets, thats a bonus) mostly because of this hilarous flip flop of serious threatening, and serious comical. On the other hand, I want to say Ed, because he’s still kinda a unknown to me, that, and he has this down to earth personality that unlike john isnt moody somewhat, and in fact seems to have a new view to these topics than the other characters do.

While characters like Tom and Nina can be seen as the parents, and Carol, Mike, Brooksie can be seen as the kids, Ed is somewhat of a nephew, who, while he belongs in the group seems out of place at the same time. Sorry if I’m confusing anyone, it makes more sense in my head in a way I am desperatly trying to explain here.

Nina Grace, by a nose. I identify with Ed for some reason (strange since we look nothing alike) but I like Nina most of all. She’s tall, she’s optimistic, she’s whimsical, she punched Reggie. What more can I say? I like female characters in webcomics and Nina ranks right up there with Dora from QC in my very humble opinion.

I still enjoy this comic even though I’ve never seen an anime and never watched the Transformers :)

I’d have to go with Jolene “Brooksie” Brooks. If I were to put a finger on it, I’d say she reminds me so much of the nerdy girls from middle and high school that I’d have in my classes. They were the ones that would talk to the nerdy guys like myself and others like we were real people, instead of avoiding us like the plague until they need help on their homework. She’s just so cutely odd that I can’t help but like her, and want to see no ill will befall her.

I guess I’m reading too much of my own life into here, but hey, this is a slice of life comic, isn’t it?

Carol’s over rated by far here… I’m sorry, but too much of her in a row gets really old, probably my least favourite character of all (I understand this doesn’t hold true for a lot of people). Nina’s my favourite of the girls, although John and Ed need more time, surprisingly topping my list. Jolenes’ great, as is Mike, definitely keep them.

I wouldn’t mind meeting some new faces after all this time, see what else you can come up with after so long, give the existing guys some new interactions.

I don’t think you’re sorry at all… XD If we all liked dark chocolate there wouldn’t be enough to go around. Sometimes you just don’t like a person. I’ve certainly known people I disliked from day one that everyone else loved.

Anyway, it’s tough for everyone to get enough time since I only update 3 times a week and there are already so many cast members. It’s a tricky balance to strike. Plus with stories that take weeks and weeks to tell I can’t pick my members lightly. Although as I save my pennies I can scrounge up better tools and then work a little faster.

Even then I have new faces waiting in the darkness…

I Think my favorite is Thomas. especially like early in the comic he had like whole, ‘he can fix any problem’ kind of thing going for him, I thought. But yeah, he’s a great Character.

I found this comic just yesterday while looking through a site that lists web comics (can’t remember, but it might be webcomics.com). The first one i saw was “Helping Hands” and I was hooked, I had to know more, so I started at the begining. I got them all read through work yesterday and finished today and I have to say I’m an instant fan and can’t wait to see what you come up with next.

As for my favorite character… that’s tough. Like you said, it’s like picking which finger you want to cut off. But I can tell you which one I don’t like. Reggie. Can’t stand the guy, but it’s like Thomas said to Ed, every group has to have it’s Cartman. Being a nerdy gamer type I can really identify with Brooksie. Thomas, to me, seemed the main character of them all, so he stands out a little more. He’s the man with a plan for everything it seems. Nina’s Harry Potter fetish makes me giggle. John’s got the right idea wanting to stay outta the rest of the drama. I identify with that a lot. Even around where i work, if someone starts in with the gossip i always say, “i don’t wanna know.”

Anyway, I guess my vote lies with Brooksie/Nina too. It’s a bright spot when they appear in a page.

For my favorite girl character, it’s definitely Brooksie! I love her quirky ways, and her ninja skills. They never fail to make me laugh!
For my favorite guy character, I’d have to say Ed! He’s got a great sense of humor, and out of all the guys, he feels the most “real” to me.
The guy I’d love to see have more face time and give us some more insight is the mysterious John. His appearances always make me want to know more about him
But I love the dynamics of Thomas and Carol! You definitely write them great together, and I’m loving seeing them outside of the normal interactions at the store!
Btw, if anyone is interested – my website link is the link to the facebook group page of Between Failures. =) Just a little bit of advertising ;)

Brooksie is my hands down favorite, due to my love of the sneakiness. Coming in a close second is Ed, and 3rd is Thomas

Brooksie for the win, Nina a close second, Carol third(I too have a think for redheads, buttttt Brooksie is sooo much more cuter <3), then Tom, Ed, John, Mike, Reggie

Reasons, I see a lot of myself in Brooksie, I kinda shy around ppl, love to sneak around, dont have her amazing movie skills tho. Nina is a really nice, warm type person, so natural im drawn to her. I love Carol's tude, she makes me laugh when she torments someone. Tom, love the wisdow, and the cunning, don't forget the cunning. Ed, because he is a cool guy, long as u don't piss him off that is. John because he is funnuh almost every time he is around. Mike reminds me of the guy that trained me for my last job, he was a great guy, Mike himself is pretty awesome too. I am not a Reggie fan, dealt with way too many ppl like him in HS, then at my last job….

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