Princess Ugly

A girl so hideous that her name comes with its own nervous response, Princess _(shudder) Ugly is the reigning monarch of Gorkel. She is beloved by her people, the Gorkels, despite her failure to live up to the high beauty standards of a race of gaunt, green apes.

You can tell where this is going. Doe-eyed, blonde, and elegant, Princess Ugly is the very picture of the fairy tale heroines with whom Planet Terry is familiar. Despite a rocky introduction, she has taken a shine to the boy, much to Robota's consternation.

Fiction

Princess Ugly was the ruler of the Gorkels The Saga of Princess Ugly on the planet Gorkel. The Secret of the Space Warp She was the niece of Vermin the Vile. Despite being hideous beyond belief, Princess Ugly was beloved by the Gorkels, and they were distraught when she was kidnapped by Vermin and placed under a sleeping spell in his Domed City so that he could rule the planet in her place. The Gorkels lived according to a tome of prophecies The Saga of Princess Ugly called the Book of the Gorkels Too Close (Enough) for Comfort which predicted that alien creatures would arrive on Gorkel and break the spell. When Planet Terry, Robota, and Omnus crash landed on Gorkel, they were soon encouraged to fulfil the prophecy. The Saga of Princess Ugly

As Terry and friends passed through Gorkel's impenetrable forest, they were observed by Scavage, who reported back to Vermin the Vile that they threatened to fulfil the book's prophecy. Vermin checked in with his dungeon guard to ensure that she was still sleeping and that his rule absolute. The guard was unable to answer any of his questions, as Princess Ugly was snoring too monstrously for him to hear Vermin over the intercom. Despite Vermin's interference, Terry and friends made it to the Domed City. When Terry refused to recognise Vermin's authority over Princess Ugly, Vermin placed them under arrest. Too Close (Enough) for Comfort

Terry and friends escaped when Vermin left them unattended, and they resumed their quest. Locating the dungeon, Terry ordered the guard to open Princess Ugly's cell, so that he could restore her to the throne on behalf of her loyal people. The guard didn't consider this a good reason, so Omnus made a more compelling argument via the medium of violence. Inside the cell, Terry was flabbergasted to find that Princess Ugly was, in fact, beautiful, though Robota responded "Only if you think beauty is beautiful!" with a scowl.

Omnus covered his ears and hoped for a stop to the snoring. Calling upon his knowledge of sleeping princesses, Terry gave Princess Ugly a kiss on the cheek, which did awaken her – only for her to slap him around the face and chew him out for kissing a girl he didn't even know. The dungeon guard led the celebrations now that the princess was awakened and Vermin deposed. While the crowd cheered, Terry asked a passer-by why the Domed City was so named if it had no dome. Correcting the man's suggestion that it was written in the book, Princess Ugly explained that it was due to the prophecy that once the evil spell was broken, the Mayhem Maker would go haywire and destroy the citadel – rather than the Domed City, it was the Doomed City. This was "close enough!" for its citizens, who scattered to escape.

Terry led his comrades to a skimmer craft that was parked nearby, and they escaped the city just in time for the Mayhem maker to explode, levelling the structure. The group returned to the Gorkels, who were overjoyed to be reunited with their precious princess – though the Wise One had been assured of their success thanks to the book. Princess Ugly shyly asked Terry to stay with her... er, them, but Robota dragged him away, reminding him of their mission. Terry told her that he had to resume the search for his parents and their ship, the Space Warp. Princess Ugly and the other Gorkels were shocked to hear the name of the vast spacecraft that lay derelict at the foot of a nearby mountain! The Doom of the Domed City

Notes

• Since royals are typically born into monarchy (on Earth at least) and Uncle Vermin isn't a Gorkel, we can only assume that Princess Ugly is half Gorkel, half whatever Vermin is. Vermin's species is differentiated from humans by their pointy Spock ears, and we never actually see the tips of the princess's ears under her hair.
• If you thought this fully grown woman macking on the universe's most buff ten-year-old weren't awkward enough, Planet Terry issue 11  gives us the lovely line "Don't worry, Terry... we can still be friends... even though we are first cousins!" (It was all part of a paternity scare plot by Vermin so they weren't really related, but her advances ceased around that time anyway.)