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Main Characters in the S.O.N.A.I.S. Webcomic
Custom Brand Names in the S.O.N.A.I.S. Webcomic

Main Characters in the S.O.N.A.I.S. Webcomic

At this point, there is not really a single protagonist. The whole team of the SONAIS company is currently equally important. Some may get more ‘screen time’ than others, some extra characters may be introduced later on, and perhaps some will eventually move to the forefront, but we'll see how things evolve.

The best way to learn to know the characters is of course to read the comic from the very beginning, but for those who want to jump right in, or who are simply as bad at names as I am, this can be a handy cheat sheet.

Alana • Steve • Adil • Heidi • Max • OIB-A271 • Zhang

Alana

Alana

Alana founded the company together with Steve. She is probably the most diplomatic of all characters, a necessary quality to herd the diverse group working under her command. Still, don't test her patience too much, or she can start showing some mean traits.

Steve

Steve

The grumpy sysadmin, a relic from the old internet days which he will hark back to whenever there is an opportunity. Although he may appear rude at times and dislike some modern trends, he always remains professional and correct.

Adil

Adil

The least technical person in the company by far. He has sort of a love-hate relationship with geeks. Secretly he does aspire to be a geek himself, but he does not really succeed in this, and his attempts will sometimes bring him in trouble.
Being thoroughly imbued with the spirit of marketing, he has trouble pronouncing some words related to ethics.

Heidi

Heidi

Also part of the company from nearly the very beginning, Heidi is mostly focused on research and development. Being a bit of a crazy inventor, she sometimes comes up with weird things that often do not really work out, but sometimes are brilliant, if not a little dangerous.
Having German origins, she will often exhibit the typical Deutsche Pünktlichkeit (punctuality).

Max

Max

Perhaps the most normal of all the characters, at least at first sight. His wide skill set is a perfect match for the still small company where everyone might need to get outside their comfort zone from time to time to get things done.
Being a movies and music lover, Max will often throw in a pop culture reference when a situation reminds him of it.

OIB-A271

OIB-A271

The unlikely result of combining a first-generation ‘Oiba’ robot (equivalent of Aibo in the comic universe) with ‘Deletium’ remnants of the first Midtown Madness game, somehow leading to a self-conscious robot with cognitive capabilities that far exceed what could be expected from its hardware. If you have played MM a lot, you might recognise occasional fragments of the game's announcements in OIB-A271's speech.

Zhang

Zhang

Passing the job interviews with flying colours, Zhang became responsible for Quality Assurance and processes in general. He might be a bit too enthousiastic about testing things, because he will often keep doing it outside the context of his work.
Being the son of Chinese immigrants, he does have a full Chinese name 张雨, Zhang Yu. As is common, people will usually address him with his surname Zhang.

Custom Brand Names in the S.O.N.A.I.S. Webcomic

Most if not all brand names occurring in the comic are ‘mutated’ real-world names. This is both for comical effect and to avoid potential copyright issues, by making it obvious that the companies featured in the comic are parodies. Often, the name is deformed such that it sounds similar enough to be recognisable, but sometimes a larger leap is taken that goes beyond mere phonetic mutation.

For reference, here are names that have occurred in the comic universe so far, with the real-world counterparts they hint at [and their first occurrence]. (As an extra bonus, the logo for some of these mutant brands is available as well.)

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