Changes: Torg

Revision as of 00:51, 3 July 2013

A hapless freelance web designer and an incorrigible punster, Torg is the protagonist in most storylines, having appeared in more than half of the site's comics at last count. He's impulsive and not so bright, and yet he sometimes comes up with surprising but clever solutions to problems. Torg is the prototypical all-around good guy, who is well-liked by everyone who isn't evil.

Biography

Torg says he has some Viking heritage, which may explain his name. His family has never been introduced in the comic. Torg grew up with his best friend and current roommate Riff. As a child he displayed the same flair for good-natured mischief that he continues to have in his adult life. He presumably went to college and after college became a freelance web designer. Torg was a freelance web designer for many years before his business went bankrupt. Since then he has had little success with jobs, having a severe problem with a regimented work schedule or the very concept of having to be up before 9 AM ^[1]. He started working for Adversion Advertisement in May 2005, but was fired in January 2007 for constant absences from work. ^[2]

Because Torg has been a character in almost every story in Sluggy, the easiest way to understand his story is just to read the Sluggy archives from beginning to end. Included here is only a list of some of the more important stories for him personally.

Torg's first appearance is in the very first strip [1]. Soon he buys Bun-bun, which starts a long relationship of antagonism and good times (Along Came a Bunny).

Early on, Torg was transported by the DFA into the Dimension of Science Fiction Cliches, where he met Aylee. He eventually hired her as a secretary, and the two became friends.

Not long after, the DFA sent him to the Dimension of Pain, but he escaped to the Dimension of Lame and was eventually sent back to his own dimension by the DoL's alternate Bun-bun.

Back in our world, Torg had started slowly getting closer to Valerie, Sam's wife. Eventually he fell in love with her. It soon became apparent that she was a vampire who loved him only for his close resemblance to her deceased husband from several hundred years ago, and that she wanted to turn him into a vampire. Eventually Torg had to stake her in order to save his friends. Torg and Valerie met again when Torg and Zoë traveled back in time to stop K'Z'K. He failed to save her however, and she still became a vampire.

Then he goes camping with Bun-bun and Kiki and they run into Oasis who (accidentally?) falls in love with him but then explodes (see The Isle of Doctor Steve (Chapter)).

Torg travels quite a bit, visiting not only the Dimension of Pain and the Dimension of science fiction cliches, but also the Dimension of Lame, the Punyverse, Hell, a universe where earth has been taken over by zombies (see Aylee (chapter)), and Wispydale (twice, see K I T T E N).

Personality

Torg is marked by his amiable personality and his unwavering loyalty to his friends, which sometimes causes him to act in selfless (and sometimes reckless) ways. He has taken on an increasingly heroic and deep personality as several of his adventures have taken him far away from friends for long periods of time in ever more lethal situations. He was emotionally shattered after spending much of 2004 in the middle of a demonic invasion of a parallel universe.

His most normal and natural behavior, however, is of a bumbling and cheerful geek that usually (though unintentionally) cause all sorts of confusions around himself, a habit that often upsets his friends (particularly Zoë). However, they all acknowledge that Torg is good-hearted and never meant harm to them, and they tend forgive him after a short time. Despite this numerous signs of stupidity, Torg has proved on more than one occasion to be very cunning and creative when needed and has saved the day several times because of this. Sasha once even pointed out that Torg is much more clever than his immature antics lead other people to believe, borderline to downright genius level of intelligence ^[3].

Torg seems to have problems with steady or stable relationships, as most of the women with any romantic designs on Torg have generally found themselves dead, emotionally traumatized, or generally not very well-off. For example, when Torg gave Zoë a necklace found in a lost Egyptian pyramid, it turned out to be cursed and turned her into a camel. This pattern of girlfriend-destruction itself can even be seen as self-perpetuating, since one of the reasons Torg has not actively pursued a relationship with Zoë (or broken it off when it got too intimate) is that he fears that if he lets her become close she too will fall victim to one of the many weird dangers that Torg constantly finds himself surrounded by. This fear was increased after Alt-Zoë was killed in front of him in 2004, but after confronting this fear in the shadow world during the Wayang Kulit adventure, he has moved past it. He is now attempting to track down Oasis and sort things out to remove any danger to Zoë.

Despite his good nature, Torg can be quite vicious if angered. For exemple in Broken, after Torg was presented with evidence that seemed to point to Zoë's death, he apparently covered up the memory. When a psychologist forced him to face the memory, Torg snapped and beat up the man. He later repressed the memory again. Also, in Safehouse, after Torg's garden was eaten by woodland animals, he become outraged and started to daydreaming to make the animals suffer in Saw stile, much to Zoe's disgust ^[4]. Also, in recent times, Torg has become seriously determinated to bring down Herit-Corp, making Torg display a darker aspect of his personality that upsets Zöe to no end ^[5].

Attack Modifiers

Unarmed, Torg is not generally considered a dangerous person, although his fighting ability has greatly improved since his second stay in the Dimension of Lame. (Bun-bun: "Who upgraded Nerd-Boy?"^[6]). Another example of how skilled Torg is in hand-to-hand combat was when he effortlessly sliced several zombies in the dark within seconds (which prompted Riff to ask: "Dude! When did you learn to kick ass?"^[7]). He has shown some ability to handle laser guns and assault rifles. His current preferred weaponry is an enchanted sword named "Chaz," with which he was capable of slaying many demons during the That Which Redeems storyline.

Fashion Sense

Astute readers will note that Torg's trademark eternally plaid shirt is always filled with a series of neat vertical and horizontal stripes. Pete Abrams, who has demonstrated increasing artistic acumen over the years, appears to deliberately ignore all rules of perspective when drawing the shirt, so that overlapping folds of fabric or bending of the arms have no impact on its stripes. Crossover artists often imitate this design trait when drawing him.

Following the "That Which Redeems" storyline, Torg has taken to wearing a slightly wider repertoire of shirts. During the Wayang Kulit storyline, the plaid shirt appears to be associated with 'old Torg' or 'happy Torg', while the solid red shirt is associated with his increasingly heroic role in adventures (it is sometimes referred to as the "hero shirt" by fans). The white t-shirt, on the other hand, is associated with cowardice - Torg attempting to put on a face to hide from the problems which have begun to take a heavy toll on his psyche. The shirt and tie-Torg's "work clothes"-in this storyline seem to represent an attempt to escape his problems as well, or to deal with his problems by violence rather than coming to terms with them.

Relationships (should I draw you a flowchart?)

Riff is Torg's best friend and roommate.
Zoe is the girl Torg is secretly in love with.
Gwynn is Torg's friend, whom he regards as an older sister (a hot one, when not wearing her glasses).
Bun-bun is ostensibly Torg's pet bunny, but we know who wears the emergency pants in that relationship.
Aylee is Torg's alien friend, who seems to have moved past her initial attempts to eat him.
Kiki is Riff's pet ferret, with whom Torg shares a certain amount of innocent ignorance about the world.
Oasis is an assassin who thinks she's in love with Torg.

Also Known As

Torg has a number of pseudonyms in addition to being the victim of mistaken identity on occasion. As is common for major Sluggy characters, readers are never told Torg's real last name. Names he has used include:

Pheasant, the Peasant
Lord Torgamous
LeTurg, Turg LeTurgturg, etc.
Torg Potter, the Lastnameless One (a mistaken identity)

Alternates

Torg's known counterparts in other dimensions include:

Comic History

Torg first appeared on August 25 1997 ^[8].

References

[1] "Sluggy Freelance: 5/20/2005".

[2] "Sluggy Freelance: 1/11/2007".

[3] "Sluggy Freelance: 12/15/2009".

[4] "Sluggy Freelance: 10/12/2011".

[5] "Sluggy Freelance: 5/03/2012".

[6] "Sluggy Freelance: 3/16/2006".

[7] "Sluggy Freelance: 2/05/2009".

[8] "Sluggy Freelance: 8/25/1997".

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 Torg seems to have problems with steady or stable relationships, as most of the women with any romantic designs on Torg have generally found themselves dead, emotionally traumatized, or generally not very well-off. For example, when Torg gave [[Zoë]] a necklace found in a lost [[Egyptian pyramid]], it turned out to be cursed and turned her into a camel. This pattern of girlfriend-destruction itself can even be seen as self-perpetuating, since one of the reasons Torg has not actively pursued a relationship with Zoë (or broken it off when it got too intimate) is that he fears that if he lets her become close she too will fall victim to one of the many weird dangers that Torg constantly finds himself surrounded by. This fear was increased after [[Alt-Zoe|Alt-Zoë]] was killed in front of him in 2004, but after confronting this fear in the [[shadow world]] during the [[Wayang Kulit]] adventure, he has moved past it. He is now attempting to track down [[Oasis]] and sort things out to remove any danger to Zoë.
-Despite his good nature, Torg can be quite vicious if angered. For exemple in Broken, after Torg was presented with evidence that seemed to point to Zoë's death, he apparently covered up the memory. When a psychologist forced him to face the memory, Torg snapped and beat up the man. He later repressed the memory again. Also, in Safehouse, after Torg's garden was eaten by woodland animals, he become outraged and started to daydreaming to make the animals suffer in Saw stile, much to Zoe's disgust <ref>{{cite Sluggy|date=20111012}}</ref>.
+Despite his good nature, Torg can be quite vicious if angered. For exemple in Broken, after Torg was presented with evidence that seemed to point to Zoë's death, he apparently covered up the memory. When a psychologist forced him to face the memory, Torg snapped and beat up the man. He later repressed the memory again. Also, in Safehouse, after Torg's garden was eaten by woodland animals, he become outraged and started to daydreaming to make the animals suffer in Saw stile, much to Zoe's disgust <ref>{{cite Sluggy|date=20111012}}</ref>. Also, in recent times, Torg has become seriously determinated to bring down Herit-Corp, making Torg display a darker aspect of his personality that upsets Zöe to no end <span style="font-family:monospace;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;white-space:pre;"><ref>{{cite Sluggy|date=20120503}}</ref>.</span>
 ==Attack Modifiers==