Detentionaire/Characters

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A. Nigma High

Main Cast

Lee Ping

• The Ace: Played straight and subverted.
• Anime Hair / Multicolored Hair: Lee sports a with emo bangs, that's red on top and black in the back. And despite comments to the contrary, it seems to have grown naturally.
• Asian and Nerdy: Downplayed. He gets good grades, but uses his brain more for his investigations and is almost nothing like a stereotypical nerd.
• Brown Eyes: Mentioned in universe by Brandy or to be specific "Dark brown with flecks of gold with a slight hazel tint in the rain", fits him personality-wise as he's a down-to-earth guy.
• Catch Phrase: "Thanks, buddy." In both Sincere and Sarcastic settings.
• Clear My Name: His initial motive is to find the person who framed him for the big prank and be free from detention.
• Cool Loser: Being detached from any clique and having a few friends gives off this vibe. Though the prank boosted his popularity, he's still retains shades of this.
• Distinguishing Mark: His arm tattoo that he had for as long as he could remember which is actually hiding his three-banded birthmark (not that he knew it existed).
• The Hero
  • The Leader: Type II
  • Magnetic Hero: Ends up winning over students that would usually not give him the time of day.
  • Redheaded Hero: Well, he's a half-redhead.
• Heroic BSOD: Finding out that your latest rival is actually your brother, your mother might actually be a clone, and your father has been keeping all of this a secret for years can do this to you.
• The Immune: He is immune to all known forms of brainwashing including the prank song and Finnwich's direct control. Finnwich calls him "Manifestum" because of it.
• Meaningful Name: Lee's surname means "peaceful" or "level" in Chinese, which makes good sense for his character.
• Only Sane Man: One of the few well-adjusted students in this Academy of Adventure.
  • Not So Above It All: He does succumb to the wackiness from time-to-time.
• Power Tattoo: His arm tattoo can glow and give him nifty skills like sword fighting.
  • Subverted as the real power is coming from his hidden birthmark underneath it.
• Redhead in Green: His Limited Wardrobe consists of green shirts and jeans.
• Second Year Protagonist: The series takes place during his sophomore year.
• Socially Awkward Hero / Cannot Spit It Out: As eloquently put by Brandy:

You risk your life everyday, no big deal? But you can't tell a girl how you feel about her? Lame!

• You Are Grounded: In addition to having a year of detention, he's also grounded for the same amount of time by his mother, who intends to enforce it.

Camillio "Cam" Martinez

• All Guys Want Cheerleaders: That is until he starts getting interested in Brandy.
• Casanova Wannabe: Most of his appearances feature him hitting on at least one of the girls.
• Catch Phrase: "What the what?!"
• Deuteragonist: Gains this role in season 3.
• Embarrassing Middle Name: Esmereldo.
• Gratuitous Spanish: Tends to do this, and also gets away with Getting Crap Past the Radar.
• Hypno Fool: He acts like an ape whenever the Trigger Phrase "butterscotch" is spoken and stops for the phrase "queen of hearts". This was caused when he was hypnotized by The Amazing Finnwich at Lee's 10th birthday party until "Finding Finnwich" when the spell was finally lifted. This was also exploited by Lynch to help pull off the first prank.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's usually self-centered, but he really does care about his friends.
• The Lancer: To Lee, though it varies per episode.
• Lovable Coward
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Is usually referred by the short-hand of his name.
• Student Council President: Downplayed as he often shirks on his presidential responsibilities and is mainly in it for the fame.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: As evidenced by his love interests, particularly with his girlfriend, Brandy.

Holger Holgaart

• Bizarre Taste in Food: Heck, one of his favorite dishes is braised narwhal liver with fried aardvark.
• Camp Straight: He's the most flamboyant of the cast (even to the point of borderline flirting with Lee) yet is actually straight.
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Funny Foreign Exchange Student: See also Norse by Norsewest.
• Hair of Gold: He's quite naive and caring, goes with his role as The Heart.
• The Heart: Serves as this for Lee.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Partially obscured by his Cool Shades.
• Literal-Minded: Played for comedy.
• New Super Power: He seems to have gained them from getting hit with "eclipse beams" and spends a good portion of the following season trying to figure out what they are.
  • The Empath: He can sense "love vibes" in people and elevates The Matchmaker to a super-power.
• Norse by Norsewest: He's from bizarre version of Sweden.
• Plucky Comic Relief: He gets involved in some variety of antics in each episode. Sometimes, they even serve as plot-points.
• Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: Usually |"Dun-dun-dun!".
• Third Person Person

Biffy T. Goldstein

• Ambiguously Jewish: Last name ending in "-stein"? Check. Parents that use Yiddish as a Second Language? Check. Has bagels and lox for breakfast? Check.
• The Big Guy: He's the largest member of the cast next to Barrage.
• The Bully: Mostly as a facade which started off as a case of Does Not Know His Own Strength.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: He will outright deny this whenever it's brought up.
• Embarrassing Middle Name: Tawilager
• Foil: To Lee in a sense that he's a clique-less detention regular due to getting busted nearly every day for infractions that may or may not be his fault. He even has parents that deeply involved in the MWF conspiracy.
• Friend to All Living Things: He's quite friendly with animals, even feral ones, which might explain why he's a pesco-vegetarian.
• Genius Bruiser: In addition to being The Smart Guy, he can hold up his own in a Hazmat fire-fight.
• Genre Savvy: Can predict just about every possible move that Lee could make in his investigations.

"Dude, I know everything; it's scary sometimes."

• Gentle Giant: More obvious during his freshman year, when his attempts at fitting in caused him to get in trouble due to a case of his bulk causing him to unintentionally bully some students.
• Hidden Depths: Biff seems to have a passion for sewing, even making the costumes for the school play. His hacking skills when he helps Lee also count.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: With Kimmie.
• The Immune: Similar to Lee, the prank song doesn't effect him.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He displays his Jerkass nature to nearly everyone, usually only opening up to people that have earned his respect.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Cares a great deal for his pet, Rumplekittykat. He even carries her in his inner vest pocket at times.
• The Lancer: Engages in some playful banter with Lee, as the only guy he "tolerates", and doesn't really take kindly to working with others.
• Mission Control: Serves as this for most of Lee's exploits. Lampshaded in the first episode:

Biffy: Man, this like a spy movie or something! Wait. But wouldn’t that make me —?

Lee: The computer nerd? Sure looks that way.

• Real Men Wear Pink: Biff loves to knit and play with his cat.
• The Smart Guy: He's a hacker, strategist, and a near-genius.
• Sweet Tooth / Trademark Favorite Food: He's a big fan of cake.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Lee.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Kimmie in season 1. They eventually repair the relationship in later seasons.

Tina Kwee

• Adorkable
• Betty and Veronica:
  • The Betty to Brandy and Jenny's Veronicas for Lee's Archie.
  • Plus, she's also the Archie to Lee's Betty and Brad's Veronica.
• First Girl Wins
• Girl Next Door: With the Youthful Freckles for emphasis. Has been called plain and frumpy by the highly critical students.
• Intrepid Reporter: As one half of the school the school news team.
  • Going for the Big Scoop: Is willing to go to great lengths to get to the bottom of a story. And it seems to get her into just as much trouble.
• Only Sane Woman: She's usually the one to point out the flaws in various characters' actions when Lee isn't around.
• Plucky Girl: When she takes part in Lee's investigation.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: As shown in her interest in Lee and, initially, Brad.
• The Smart Girl: She's a true academic and uses her reporter skills for reference. Ironically, she's considered less intelligent than her family of geniuses.
• Straight Woman: Serves as this in the A. Nigma student news to contrast Chaz's often outlandish, self-centered reporting.
• Tsundere: Type B. She's usually generous and kind, but she will bite back on people that insist on annoying her.

Principal-General Wendell Barrage

• Bait and Switch Tyrant: He initially sets the school up as a totalitarian compound. As the series goes on, it's revealed that he truly cares about the students' well-being and doesn't take kindly to anyone manipulating them.
• Cyborg: He has cybernetic replacements for his left arm, right leg, and right eye, in addition to neck and torso augmentations. These prosthetic changes were produced by the Amazing Finnwich, who he has to visit for tune-ups.
• Dean Bitterman: Principal Barrage does everything he can to make Lee's life a living hell and even tries to get him expelled. The funny thing is, they're on the same side. Barrage just doesn't like Lee Ping.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: He's applies military discipline into his administration. If he had his way, the students would be wearing fatigues.
• Eyepatch of Power: A retractable one that reveals a bionic eye.
• Good All Along: Revealed to be this in the season 2 finale. However, this doesn't mean he's cutting Lee any slack.
• Badass
  • Badass Mustache: Of the handlebar variety.
  • Bald of Awesome
  • Handicapped Badass: He's a war veteran augmented with cybernetic body parts, remade into a near-literal fighting machine.
• Jerkass / Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Mind Control Device: The Council has implanted one inside his neck to keep him from recalling any memories related to them and to control him for their own purposes.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The school is run by a Cyborg Drill Sergeant Eyepatched Badass Principal.
• No Indoor Voice: He's usually seen yelling.
• One-Man Army: He's one of the few characters powerful enough to take on more than one of the Hazmats and Tazel-borgs.
• Papa Wolf: Say what you will about the man but, he will NOT leave his students behind. Does this for Lee Ping involving a Heroic Sacrifice in the Dance part 2.
• Sadist Teacher: He held Football tryouts that involved bombs and cannons. He takes pleasure in physically dragging Lee to Detention and has mocked him for missing out on school events because of Detention.
• Swiss Army Appendage: His left arm contains a variety of gadgets.
• Unwitting Pawn:Victoria manipulated him into committing various incidents that would've guaranteed dismissal from his position. Later, the Council take control over him after implanting a Mind Control Device.

Students & Cliques

Outcasts

Jenny Jerkins

• Ascended Extra: See "Sixth Ranger"
• Because You Were Nice to Me: After Lee decides to help her group out again (even after she stole his Cool Key), she soon helps out him out with his investigations.
• Betty and Veronica: The 2nd Veronica to Tina's Betty for Lee's Archie.
• Deadpan Snarker: Resorts to sarcasm whenever she's around people she doesn't particularly like.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Due to being ostracized for her uncontrolled habit, she's usually cold towards other people. She's more open to people with whom she has established a friendship or has a crush.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Rescinds her pact "No Dating Lee" pact with Tina when she realizes that two really care for each other.
• Love Makes You Dumb: Falls for this when she gained an infatuation for the Serpent and winds up losing the Book to him.
• Sixth Ranger: Becomes a member of Lee's team in Season 3.
• Tomboyish Ponytail
• Youthful Freckles

Mann, Wurst, Finnwich, Ping

The Founders

"The Amazing Finnwich"

• Badass Mustache: Has a curly gray one.
• Cool Old Guy/Eccentric Mentor: Comes off as this towards Lee, when he isn't trying to get the teen out of the way in some fashion.
• Cyborg: Aside from his head, his entire body is composed of Dieselpunk machinery. His arms and legs can also extend to increase his reach.
• Gadgeteer Genius: He built his own cybernetic body and his personal army of Mecha-Mooks. He also designed Barrage's prosthetic parts with a secret kill-switch.
• Last-Name Basis: He has only been referred to by his given name, Maxwell, once in the course of the series.
• Mind Manipulation: His hypnotic spells are so potent, they can last for years.
• Older Than They Look: Chalk that up to either his cyborg body or magical power.
• Power At a Price: He has a looming prophecy over his head that says meeting "the grand Manifestum" will be the end. The "end" being The End of the World as We Know It.
• Weapon of Choice: If he needs to, he'll rely on his Simple Staff that he could summon at will.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He isn't above eliminating people that interfere with his plans to prevent the end.

The Council

"The Serpent" Birth name: Li Ping

• Aloof Big Brother: He's five years older than Lee and demonstrated this before his heritage was revealed.
• Arrogant Kung Fu Guy
• Badass Biker: With a Cool Bike that looks eerily familiar.
• The Brute: Serves as the Council's enforcer.
  • Brute With an Agenda: Based on his obsessive interest with the Ping family.
• Cool Helmet: It even resembles a snake's head.
• The Champion: To Cassandra (and the Council by default). Revealed to be a case of Bodyguarding a Badass.
• Chekhov's Gunman: He was the baby in the mysterious picture Lee found on his dad's office.
• Distinguishing Mark: He has the same three-banded birthmark as Lee and Alfred. The reason why he didn't get a tattoo over it was due to his kidnapping as a baby.
• Evil Counterpart: To Lee.
• Evil Laugh: Of the high-pitched variety.
• The Heavy: As of Season 4, his actions directly affected the plot.
• Heel Face Turn: Upon finding out his heritage, he becomes a sort of ally towards Lee and his friends, though this is mostly overshadowed by his new-found enmity against Cassandra.
• Iconic Item: His ancient Tatzelwurm medallion, which really smells like its age.
• Identical Stranger: Maybe. In any case, he looks very similar to Lee. Now chalked up to Strong Family Resemblance.
• Knight of Cerebus: The series takes an even darker turn once he's been introduced.
• Lee, I Am Your Brother / Mr.Ping, You Are My Father
• Only Known by Their Nickname: After his Signature Move, the Serpent Strike.
• Plot Allergy: A severe one for fish. Exploited by Lee in their fights and served as hint to his parentage.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Based on both his Code Name and his pet snake, Priscilla.
• Revenge Before Reason: From targeting the Pings for supposedly abandoning them to going after Cassandra for kidnapping him from his family and turning him into an assassin. Unfortunately for him, the latter effortlessly incapacitates him. Twice.
• Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: He was trained in various forms of martial arts, assassination techniques, and fine dining.
• Long-Lost Relative / Separated at Birth: He was the baby in the mysterious photo that kidnapped from the Pings by Cassandra (under orders by "His Eminence").
• Stalker Without a Crush: Taking pictures of the Ping family both outside and inside their house.
• Weapon of Choice: His wooden Telescoping Staff
• Wicked Cultured: Implied based on his apparent knowledge of Shakespeare's works and skills to prepare crème brûlée.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Specifically a blue forelock.

Associates/Employees

Alfred Ping

• Bumbling Dad: Despite being a scientist, he gives off this vibe at times.
• Dark Secret: He has been working for Mann, Wurst, Finnwich for years and only recently found out they were Evil All Along and kidnapped his first son.
• Distinguishing Mark: Has the same tattoo as his son which is used to cover his own three-banded birthmark. Like his father before him, he gave Lee the same tattoo but didn't get to do the same for his first son, the Serpent.
• Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: He had hair back when Lee was much younger and has gone bald in the present.
• Lineage Comes From the Father / Single Line of Descent: Turns out that his and Lee's connection to the conspiracy is due to his father's connection to then Mann, Wurst, Finnwich, Ping.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: Gives off this impression due to his infrequent appearances in episodes, though it's subverted by Lee's lack of worry.