He has an odd affinity for a large cardboard tube, which he had fantasies of wielding as a wandering samurai, often in ancient Japan (see Cardboard Tube Samurai below). He practices line dancing with the Kansas City Hotsteppers. He has a fascination with unicorns, a secret love of Barbies and is a dedicated fan of Spider-Man and Star Wars. He also has feet that are similar to hands, which he can use to grip things, a physical trait that is an annoyance to Tycho. He has a Pac-Man tattoo on his right arm, as well as a tattoo in honor of SNK on his back. He is energetic and free-spirited, but has a propensity to become extremely angry (with his eyes sometimes turning red, just like Tycho) and has murdered and robbed at least one person. Jonathan 'Gabe' Gabriel is Mike Krahulik's comic alter ego. Tycho also does this with his name at the end of his blog posts. They're both members of a gaming clan called Clan Walrus, and prepend 'CW' to their nicknames in games. Penny Arcade's two main characters spend their time bickering about games, game makers, movies, each other, or just popular culture in general.

Gabe (left) and Tycho (right) are the personas of Krahulik and Holkins respectively.

Penny arcade fruit fucker