What do you think are each character's biggest formative moments--that made them who they are today. I'd say Torg's was in the Dimension of Lame, when he became a demon-killing hero who couldn't save DoL Zoe ...
What about the others?

Riff: 4U City
Gwynn: Bug, Witch and Robot / Mokhadun
Zoe: Stormbreaker Saga
Bun Bun: Oceans Unmoving
Aylee: Zombie Dimension

I've written before that I feel Zoe is due for a major storyline focused on her development and her choices. I mean, she's not some porcelain doll, she's the gosh darn Stormbreaker!

Either that or she'll be killed off. Muahaha.

Edit: Oh wait, that's been done before.

I'd say the Wayang Kulit arc also contributed to some character development for Bun-Bun.




Coincidentally, during that same chapter, Zoe had some sort of "anti-development" where she kinda "threw under the bus" her friends without their permission, for the sake of her personal career.




Not without consequence, mind you


As much as one might consider that to be out of character, many times, she had considered the zaniness the team put her through has costed her career opportunities and felt like they owed her to be able to use that for a career boost, for once.


This arc probably has Zoe at her most mean-spirited level we have ever seen, but it's interesting to see this aspect of her.


Anyway, this whole arc is really Zany and while everything goes wrong for her,



No lesson is really learned:




And she keeps on going with zero remorse (mostly because the monkey incident is Gwynn's fault in the first place)


One last thing worth of note, though, is that this is basically her last gig before she get killed. After that, she no longer attempt to attain an "normal adult" career. Mostly because of the whole Hereticorp/K'Z'K business forcing them to be on the run/in hiding, but maybe also because this aspect of the business is somethign she no longer wish to visit?

I also agree that Zoe is do for some significant exploration of her character. I'm not sure it will be for a while, but in Schlock's station, We do learn that she's still trying to make sense of her death and being brought back in 4U City, at least pre-anima dimension, and I don't think she's had "on screen" time processing that, though she did get some closure with her family following the anima dimension (at the staff of the chapter!

I think one of the unifying principles of all the characters (besides maybe Torg and Riff?) is that they start out on some level or another feeling like they're a "normal" outsider looking in on this madness - even ironically as an alien or talking rabbit or assassin clone - or alternatively that the madness is happening to them not with them, a commonly repeated fallacy within the comic. And one by one every character slooowly (or less slowly) has a reckoning moment where they realize that no, they are not normal. There is no such thing as normal. They each have just as much a capacity to inflict madness upon the world as anyone else in their group, and it's okay to embrace that aspect of themselves, and their responsibility to use it in productive ways. I think that's the key lesson each character needs to learn in their own way.

I like this idea in particular, "it's okay to embrace that aspect of themselves, and their responsibility to use it in productive ways." Some elaborative thoughts: this is a lesson whose acceptance varies by person and across time. I think it's been tempting, especially for Gwynn, to resist it because keeping that, "madness is happening to them" mindset means it's not her fault. She can blame Riff or Torg for the situation.

In addition, this concept of responsible use initiates a lot of tension, both internal and external, as Riff and Torg in particular take different approaches. I have a sense, and I'm not sure if it holds true throughout the history of the comic, that we have more access to Riff's internal struggles more than we have access to Torg's.

For Torg, we see his internal struggles first in his often hectic and over the top but strategic actions or abrupt emotional reactions, and then he tells us after everything has fallen apart/succeeded.

However, for Riff, because he talks less, what he says is more significant and his expressions, when they shift, give us more insight.

Of course, there are always exceptions to these generalizations. What do you all think?

I'm kind of feeling my way into this explanation. What do you think?

This is very good, it could actually be read as an overarching theme of the whole story. Zoe actually seems to be the focus of that theme (or the character through which it's seen more clearly). In a way she's had a lot of defining mini arcs, as seen in GUIGUI's comment.