Oh, thank you! I'm very excited to hear that you liked it. I love the Grunts - each and every one of them. If they came to life, it's probably because I have been all but living in that house myself for the last little while.

Buck's feminine ways are definitely drawn from his Maxis character bio:

"More than anything, Buck wants to be a pet stylist to the stars. He spends a lot of time wondering why his father never seems to notice him."

Not exactly explicit, but it does the job. I've seen plenty of people go in that direction with him, with varying results. Don't worry, I have no intention of treating poor Buck like a stereotype. He's a fully formed and very interesting character in my mind, and I really hope to do him justice.

Ripp really is awesome. It's hard not to love him, for me at least. He's a bit of a mess too, which only adds to his appeal for me. That group of three friends is very interesting to me. They're all very different, but it makes senses that they relate to each other, and between them they have every skin tone in the rainbow! :)

That last house is, indeed, the Beaker Mansion, implying that the most unhappy person lives in there, so you're right on track...