Realized I never posted my Groj family headcannons, so here’s some charts! Long post so sorry in advance!
First up, the Riffins:
Tre Riffin - His name is a callback to Corey’s early production name being Tre Trippin. Neptoon blog states that Corey and Trina were adopted by a single dad who was never married.
A washed-up musician who was bored with his monotonous life when two brightly haired babies were left on his doorstep. Unaware that he was “chosen” as their guardian by Corey and Katrina’s rock god parents because of his passion for music.
A very chill dude who is a little too “go with the flow” sometimes. Nevertheless, he loves his chaotic children.
Leo Penn - Father of Laney Penn and childhood friend/ex-bandmate to Tre Riffin. Though Leo comes off as grumpy and intimidating, he actually is a very softhearted man who loves his family more than anything. Is very overprotective of Laney, which the bassist finds more embarrassing than anything (has been pulling the “Dad! You’re embarrassing me!” card since she was 6).
Works as a music teacher, which is how Laney knows how to play such a wide range of instruments.
Lacey Penn - Mother of Laney Penn and childhood friend of Tre Riffin. Lacey is a very level-headed and rational person, but make her snap, and you will regret it. Is very proud of Laney and her daughter’s spit-fire attitude.
Works as a lawyer, and, though she is unaware of it, she’s gonna be helping out Grojband a lot in their teenage and adult years.
Chloe Penn - Neptoon’s blog has a post stating that Chloe is Laney’s sister, but then another post says that Laney is an only child. Thought that cousin felt like a good middle ground: still related to Laney, but not her sister, allowing Laney to be an only child.
A party girl who can often be found at any Peaceville event. Well-known for her friendly, often airheaded nature and her on-again, off-again relationship with Party Danimal. And yes, she did eat Nick Mallory’s dental floss that one time, as her cousin loves to remind her of. No regrets!
Dianne “D” Penn - Was actually shown in one of the Grojband shorts, where Mr. Mellow is offering her flowers before one of Corey’s badly aimed pick-flicks accidentally slices the bouquet.
Single mother of Chloe Penn (because Mayor Mellow ain’t no home-wrecker!). Dianne absolutely loves her daughter, and Chloe being her “mini-me” helps, though sometimes their relationship can be too much like friends rather than a mother and daughter. Nevertheless, Chloe loves her mother and knows she can always go to her with any issues she has.
Haruo Kujira - Name is a reference to Haruo Nakajima, who played Godzilla in 12 consecutive films.
A clumsy insurance adjuster who is a master of dad puns. Is Stunt-Duck's favorite human in the Kujira household (mainly because he accidentally drops cheese a lot).
Andi Kujira - Name is a reference to Andy Serkis, who wore the mo-cap for the 2005 King Kong movie.
An aerospace engineer who specializes in planes. Described as a very dependable and often quiet person by her coworkers, her family knows her to be very loud and easy to get a laugh out of.
There’s nothing the Kujira family loves more than cooking together and watching old Kaiju movies.
MaryAnne Beff - character from @indignannt-danndelion (the stuff including Mr. Beff stuff is my own spin on the character which I hope is ok). Single mother to Mina and Carrie Beff (meant to contrast to Riffin family dynamic).
A lawyer and professional rival to Lacey Penn. MaryAnne is a very distant and cold person. She wasn’t always like that, but then Mr. Beff up and left when the girls were still young, and MaryAnne still doesn’t know why. In her grief, she threw herself into her work and neglected Mina and Carrie. At a young age, Mina had to step up and take care of Carrie, which has contributed to the sisters' good relationship.
MaryAnne is very emotionally withholding with her daughters. As a result, Mina has a desperate need to try to “earn” love/validation (why she was “friends” with Trina for so long), and Carrie acts out, often picking fights with authority figures. Whenever MaryAnne is home, she and Carrie usually end up fighting, and Mina has to step in as a mediator.
Mr. Beff - personally like to headcannon/theorize that Mina is part Rock God, hence her wide range of skills (and her teal hair). Like to think Mr. Beff was the Rock God of roadies who fell for a human, but ultimately had to return to Rocklympus.
Jenny and Layla Nepp - Larry’s moms who are both doctors. Larry was born premature, so his moms are extremely overprotective of him. His asthma and allergies have not helped ease their worries. They are extremely grateful that Larry has found a love of music, though they are unaware of a lot of the shenanigans his band gets up to - mainly because Larry downplays it a lot.
If he hadn’t befriended Carrie, there’s a high chance Larry would have ended up as a “bubble boy” (yes, I took his one comment about an inhaler in Rock the House and ran with it).
Tama and Ken Kagami - Names are a reference to the Three Sacred Treasures of Japan. Since Kagami means mirror, it felt like a fitting theme with Tama meaning gem and Ken meaning sword.
The two are sweet parents, but suffer a bit with favoritism. They don’t mean to; it’s just that they have different similarities with different daughters.
Tama is the owner of Peaceville Beauty Salon and enjoys talking and experimenting with beauty products with Konnie - their talks actually spark the idea for Konnie to dye her hair.
Ken is a regular salaryman, but he is a gaming fanatic. The Kagamis’ basement is practically a gamer's paradise. Ken and Kim love playing games together and researching coding to make custom mods.
Rick and Missy Mallory - Honestly, haven’t given the Mallory family much thought, but from a lot of Nick’s comments about the importance of family/sibling relationships, it sounds like the Mallorys are at least a “healthy” family.
Though it does feel like their eyes in family photos follow you wherever you are in the room.
In 2011 I drastically reduced my DWJ book intake to dripfeed levels, so it was only in the 2024 new year that I finally decided to read Deep Secret. My god - out of all her books this seems targeted at me personally? Stressed late-20-somethings, making fools of oneself in vicinity of fav authors, artist alleys?? Also, blatant unmistakable LGBT-rep??? I can't believe I slept on this one for so long!!! Definitely putting it on the upper tiers of my DWJ bookshelf.
Anyway, here's some designs I've whipped up for the characters! As always, might tweak 'em if ever I draw more in the future, but that's what's fun about figuring out character designs. Rob in particular is a joy to me.
