Along with Pim, Charlie Dompler is one of the two main protagonists of Smiling Friends. He is a yellow creature that helps out at Smiling Friends Inc.
Appearance
Body
Charlie is a big yellow animal with a big nose and big lips. His eyes are small, black and beady and he has six (6) individual hairs on the back of his neck. He has a rather stocky build and light hair on his chest and belly. Charlie seems to have an average build. When shocked, surprised, or in pain, his eyes widen to reveal white sclerae.
Clothes
Charlie regularly wears a brown cap, an orange hoodie with a gray tank top, dark gray pants, and a white pair of nondescript shoes. Charlie is also shown wearing white boxer shorts. In cooler temperatures, Charlie wears dark red gloves and a brown beanie. In “Enchanted Forest”, Charlie dons a full suit of plate armor.
Personality
Charlie is a nonchalant and laid-back creature with a fairly rational and calm outlook on life, if not slightly pessimistic. He tends to speak in a monotone voice, raising his voice only in moments of fear, panic, surprise, or pain. Charlie often acts as the straight man and encourages the other characters to calm down in a nonchalant way. Despite this, Charlie considers himself the ‘alpha male’ and sometimes escalates situations by trying to take control, such as when he twice tries to wrestle a gun from a distraught DJ Spit in “Frowning Friends”. Charlie often bickers with Pim about mundane topics and semantics, even escalating to an argument that causes Charlie’s death in “Charlie Dies and Won’t Come Back”, but the two eventually settle their differences.
Compared to Pim, Charlie is much more pragmatic, often trying to help people in ways that might help in the long run, such as when he tries to fix Mr. Frog’s image, when the disgraced host said he was not sorry for swallowing a TMZ reporter, or when he tried to help Shrimp become more attractive and move on rather than trying to win Shrimp back, realizing there was probably a reason the two broke up. However, this pragmatism is often in the form of sheer laziness, as he often tries to get the job done as quickly as possible despite the consequences, such as suggesting that he and Pim get Desmond killed rather than help fix it. Charlie also seems to care more about his image than Pim, or at least doesn’t like subverting the culture, stating that he doesn’t dress up for Halloween in case his costume is deemed offensive ten years from now. Despite his laziness and selfishness, Charlie has some basic moral principles as he opposes murder of any kind and tries to solve the murder of Simon S. Salty.
Unlike Pim, who seems to be trying to find a relationship, Charlie is dating a human, even though the two seem to argue about pointless things. Charlie may be bisexual because he retaliated against Mipo’s attempt to seduce him in “Enchanted Forest”. In “Who Violently Murdered Simon S. Salty?” Mustard also tries to seduce Charlie – this could mean that Charlie is seen as an attractive creature.
Charlie likes fast food – especially Salty’s. In “Charlie Dies and Won’t Come Back”, Charlie is seen playing Rust on his gaming laptop in the Smiling Friends office, much to Pim’s annoyance.
Background
Charlie’s family seems to be cursed with bad luck and violent accidents often happen to his family. In “Mr. Frog”, Charlie mentions that he took a bottle of sleeping pills from his uncle that were prescribed for him after he crashed his car into a crowd of people. In “Shrimp’s Odyssey”, Charlie tells Pim that his grandmother died after eating peanuts. In “Charlie Dies and Won’t Come Back”, Charlie’s grandmother tells Charlie that he lives in hell permanently because she said “hell” in 1958 when she saw her husband shot in the head by a burglar. Charlie himself dies earlier in the same episode after a Christmas tree he was cutting down falls on him, killing him instantly. In the end, however, he was revived by God and removed from hell.
Relation ships
Pim Pimling
Pim is Charlie’s best friend and co-worker at Smiling Friends Inc. Cynical and laid-back, Charlie tends to question Pima’s ambitious methods of making his clients smile, and often suggests doing something more practical and requiring less work. However, there are times when Charlie finds Pim’s optimism and energy humorous and has shown that he values his friendship with him. Charlie is quick to point out Pim’s naivety in this area, such as when Pim mistakes a human woman for a shrimp, when he tries to reunite Shrimp with his estranged girlfriend, and when he shouts “I love children” in public. Charlie becomes very defensive when Pim criticizes his pessimism and laziness in Charlie dies and doesn’t come back.
Meep
Charlie managed to make up with Mip while he was at work to keep the Princess of the Enchanted Forest smiling. He was very appreciative when Mip offered a potion to cure his headache. With Mipa’s guidance, Charlie completes several quests and becomes a famous warrior and is chosen by a dwarf to deliver a gift to the princess. Although horrified by Mip’s brutal death, which was partially his fault, Charlie was thoroughly disturbed to learn that Mip was actually the princess’ stalker, and reacted with shock when Mip’s gift was actually a makeshift bomb.
Prawns
Shrimp is one of Charlie’s clients. While Charlie sympathized with Shrimp’s desire to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend, he decided it would be best to instead help Shrimp build a better character to attract a new partner. Charlie comforted Skreck as he cried over his failed relationship.
Alan
Alan is Charlie’s co-worker at Smiling Friends Inc. The two appear to be on good terms, with Charlie calling Alan a “crazy character” while coldly flirting with him, during which Alan playfully bites his nose. Charlie reacted with surprise when Alan arrested him while working for the Frowning Friends security.
Boss
Charlie didn’t show much direct interaction with the Boss, but did show concern when he became paranoid when the Cloudy Friends set up shop across the street. Despite this, the boss seems to trust Charlie with the work he assigns him, and shortly before he is resurrected, he delivers a poetic eulogy at Charlie’s funeral.
Desmond
Desmond is one of Charlie’s clients. Charlie was surprised to find Desmond preparing to commit suicide after losing his family and realized he might be a lost cause. He didn’t make much of an effort to show Desmond that life was worth living, insisting that he just sign the paper that the Smiling Friends couldn’t make him smile. At the office, Desmond shoots Bliblie who tries to attack him, and Charlie assures him that he “has to do it”. Desmond then found a new purpose in life by founding Desmond’s Bliblie Control. Charlie seemed pleased with the outcome.
Mr. Frog
Mr. Frog is one of Charlie’s clients. Charlie responded with