Hermione Katze

"'I have a .75 caliber DIP blaster in my pocket that I keep loaded, and a bottle in my top drawer that keeps me loaded'" -Hermione Katze in a promotional comic for THE UNITED

Hermione Katze was the main character in Cameron Stephens' screenshot series, "THE DIP SAGA."

CHARACTER DESCRIPTION
Hermione Katze was an interesting character for the screenshot series to revolve around. Although she was the main character, she neither followed the tropes of either a hero nor an antihero, instead being depicted as a mentally troubled narcissist.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE
Hermione is a periwinkle cat, stated to be a German Rex, and is quite small in stature. Her signature outfit is a deep purple skirt with a bright yellow top with red detailing: usually a yellow shirt with red stripes, but occasionally a yellow hoodie over a red tee. She was born in Germany, but moved to Toontown when she was very small and has little to no accent.

In the original screenshot story, her eyes were always white with black pupils and was tailless, but most fan depictions of the character came to include lime-green eyes and a bushy, purple-tipped tail.

Although never fully verified, it can be assumed that Hermione was considered physically attractive in her world, due to her mentioning of a number of suitors. However, this may have been purely an invention of her egocentric mind.

Her age is never specified in THE DIP SAGA. She often behaves immaturely but due to her having a full-time occupation and living by herself, one may assume that she was a young adult.

PERSONALITY
Although her dealings with other people were often comedic to the audience, she was always rash and abrasive in her contact with people. She was depicted as something of a diva and was very absorbed with her own appearance. She was nearly always condescending as she spoke to others. Also, despite her weakened mental state, she was always depicted as extremely confident in her abilities, always considering herself to be the most intelligent person in the room.



The most apparent feature of hers, however, was how damaged she was. There was no backstory to explain her mental instability, perhaps it was her failed business practice as a private investigator, but it is implied that the business failed due to her instability, and was therefore not the cause of it.

Hermione is also implied to have many vices, such as alcohol and drug abuse. However, the series was posted on a board that could be frequented by children, so administrators enforced a "PG" rule on all posts made on the forum, so implication was as far as the series dared to go.

Many fan theories have arisen to justify her apparent psychosis, such as the death of her parents or some other sinister happening, but nothing was ever outright stated in the narrative.

RELATIONSHIPS
Although Hermione was an egocentric character who often led a solitary lifestyle, she had a few notable relationships in "THE DIP SAGA."

CAMELOT (pet)
Camelot was her green pet "doodle" that she neglected and often got angry at for seemingly no reason. Her pet never responded to her, but she would often hold one-way conversations with him, typically relentless insults that served no purpose nor held no warrant. Stephens noted that their relationship paritally inspired his later short, "MALCOLM THE STEAM ENGINE."

LITTLE FURBALL
Little Furball was a pink cat and a fan-favorite character, appearing to Hermione intermittently without any rhyme or reason, occasionally taking Hermione to fantasy worlds and constantly breaking the fourth wall. This character appeared to be Hermione's closest friend, but fans suspected that due to the surreal nature of their encounters that Little Furball was merely a figment of Hermione's imagination. It's later revealed that Anne has never seen this character, even though they had held conversations in the past (at least in Hermione's mind), and the theory that she was only an imaginary friend was justified, although never stated outright.

ANNE PENNYWISE
Hermione met Anne during the events of the first DIP CRUSHERS, in which the two help defend Anne's estate from a flood of DIP. Anne's assistance in the containment impresses Hermione, and the two form an alliance they playfully dub "The DIP Crushers."

Although Hermione is still standoffish and constantly insults Anne throughout the miniseries and "THE UNITED," Anne is apparent to be Hermione's closest friend (besides the probably-imaginary friend Little Furball). Anne serves as a 'straight man' to Hermione's insanity, and their constant banter may help Hermione stay in the realm of reality.

EVENTS OF "THE DIP SAGA"
Hermione begins the story already mentally damaged, but the stories illustrate a decline in her mental state as various happenings force her into a life of extreme peril and misfortune.

"THE DIP"
The storyline accompanied Hermione as she had to deal with the aftermath of a flood of DIP which eradicated a large portion of her neighborhood and destroyed her house. The story concludes with Hermione ultimately finding the primary site of DIP production and destroying the facility with the engine parts of her wrecked vehicle, as DIP is highly flammable.

"THE DETECTIVE"
Hermione Katze reestablishes her Private Investigator offices (which had been mentioned to be neglected for some time prior the events of "THE DIP"), after a number of toons go missing under mysterious circumstances, including Hermione's younger brother. Hermione's mental state worsens, hallucinating through much of the narrative. A fair amount of the story takes place in Hermione's dreams, which become more surreal and deranged as the narrative progresses. These dreams do end up being relevant, however, as they help her solve the disappearances case.

The story concludes with Hermione confronting the toon behind the kidnappings, a literal "fat cat" that was trying to expand his successful hypnotherapist business by testing mind-altering techniques on kidnapped victims. After a violent struggle, it is implied that Hermione drowns the cat in the lake beside her home. She ultimately rescues her brother, but he is now severely mentally damaged.

"DIP CRUSHERS" (miniseries)
"DIP CRUSHERS" took an episodic format and was not as serious as the main "DIP SAGA" storyline. This miniseries introduced the character Anne and new DIP weaponry, such as a handheld flamethrower and a DIP blaster. Unlike the central DIP storyline, this was a fairly comedic series.

"DIP CRUSHERS IN: TEAMWORK"
Blue cat Anne wakes up to find a DIP spillage pouring into her homestead and meets Hermione as she attempts to contain it, as she views it as her responsibility. Anne assists Hermione in containing the DIP, and ultimately asks to team up with Hermione in her quest to rid the town of the wretched substance. Hermione obliges and the "DIP Crusher" alliance is formed.

"DIP CRUSHERS IN: ANNE FINDS A JOB"
Hermione helps Anne find an occupation in order to pay off the increasing expenses required in containing the DIP. This light-hearted episode features Anne as she comedically fails in various jobs, such as lumber-jacking, pet training, and painting. Hermione offers sarcastic criticisms throughout, adding more humor to the situation.

"DIP CRUSHERS IN: HERMIONE TAKES A VACATION"
Anne convinces Hermione to take a vacation after noticing how stressed she's become over her private investigation and DIP-containing work. After much stress in actually finding a viable vacationing spot (almost checking in at a nursing home), the two decide to go to a nearby tropical island. However, they get onto the wrong aircraft and end up in a wasteland.

"DIP CRUSHERS IN: TIMESCAPE"
Anne and Hermione accidentally find themselves in a number of different time periods after a machine overload, having to escape from prehistoric animals with what little scraps they have left. This episode is implied to take place entirely in Hermione's head.

COMMUNITY
Although inherently an unpleasant character, many fans took to re-creating the Hermione character model for their own toons, oftentimes even naming the characters either "Hermione" or "Hermione Katze." Players that created these characters often role-played as "Hermione" as well, behaving comically antisocially. They would often use the the Speedchat "Stinky" menu to say phrases such as, "Please go away!," "Stop that!," and "You stink!" as well as occasionally used purchased phrases like, "of all the nerve!" and "Look what the cat dragged in," all phrases that had become associated with the character Hermione. After the first release of "THE DIP," the name "Hermione Katze" rocketed to the top of the toon naming board, followed by simply "Hermione." The names would get a surge of popularity each time a new installment of "THE DIP SAGA" was released.

TRIVIA

 * Hermione Katze said she was named after the spartan princess in the series, but in real life Stephens named the character after his real cat, Hermione, who was, in turn, named after the Harry Potter character.