Tony Flansaas - The comic's resident evil overlord, and the fulcrum on which most of Real Life's more far-fetched story lines revolve. They have made many attempts over the course of the comic's existence to take over the world, and has even succeeded a couple of times. Dave Reynolds - Resident powergamer and supernerd. While the real Dave's currently in the Navy, that doesn't stop him from showing up and adding some of his cynical, nerdy point of view to a strip. Dave rivals Tony in technical ability. However, whereas Tony seems to be a genius in all subjects, Dave's genius seems to lie mostly in computers. In one of the earlier comic strips, Dave upgraded his computer into a sentient being. The computer, PAL, went on to become a minor character in the strip, and was joined over time by several other technologically improved computers and consoles. Crystal - Maelyn's girlfriend when the strip started, but they broke up in 2001. She is no longer mentioned or appears in the strip, but was an integral part of the first year of the strip. The Cartoonist - Cartoonist Maelyn primarily appears in the strip to make an announcement, to answer questions that readers occasionally send her or to complain about a possible lack of ideas for the strip. Her appearance originally was differentiated from her comic counterpart by a change of colours (light brown overshirt, black tee with white stripes), and slightly shaggy hair. When the character came out as transgender, the Cartoonist was differentiated with longer hair and a different outfit. Harper Dean - a daughter of Maelyn and Liz. Born on July 29, 2011. Reception Maelyn Dean won the "Outstanding Reality Comic" category of the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards four times: in 2001, 2003 (when her webcomic tied with Nowhere Girl), 2004, and 2005 (when her webcomic tied with The Devil's Panties). Collected editions Real Life: The Year One Collection. Starline Multimedia Inc. 2004-08-25. Real Life: The Greg's Notes Edition. Lulu. 2008 References External links 1990s webcomics 2000s webcomics Webcomics in print Blank Label Comics American comedy webcomics Video game webcomics Science fiction webcomics Reality webcomics Webcomics about fandom Web Cartoonists' Choice Award winners 2010s webcomics 1999 webcomic debuts 1999 establishments in the United States Transgender-related comics LGBT-related webcomics