Empowered



""It is kinda skin-crawly to think that, right now, some guy with "specialized tastes" might be getting, um, turned on by images of me all bound 'n gagged 'n distressed... or even, ick, you-know-what-ing to those images...! Brr...! ! Y-You're not like that, right? R-RIGHT?! Tell me you're not... p-PLEASE! You seem r-REALLY NICE, okay?""

Empowered is a graphic novel series written and drawn by Adam Warren; its chief protagonist is the eponymous Empowered, a Damsel in Distress-prone heroine. Empowered contains numerous deconstructions of Superhero comics alongside healthy doses of bondage, Fan Service, and comedy.

Empowered is a plucky D-List Superheroine who means well, even though she's generally hopeless when facing down villains. No matter how much she prepares or trains, she's inevitably betrayed by the fragile source of her superpowers: her outrageously skin-tight super-costume (which Emp is less than happy about, as she has numerous body-image issues). Emp's suit gives her immense power only while it's fully intact -- and since it's made from a material that tears easily and can't be worn with anything over or under it, Emp is seldom in a position to benefit from it for long. She spends most of her time being tied up by supervillains -- a fact which has made her a laughing stock amongst her peers -- and either naked or near-naked. Emp's confidence gets shredded as frequently as her fragile super-suit -- and yet, she persists.

"Caged Demonwolf: Aye, tremble before the might of a 7-word chain of alliteration combo."
 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: Ninjette can cleave a mosquito in half with her sword!
 * Achilles' Heel: One of ThugBoy's former employers had a sheer impenetrable power armor, but still needed air vents in order not to suffocate in it. He was smart enough to hide them under his cape, but not smart enough to guard them better. Not to mention, impossible to remove by the wearer if the power was disabled.
 * Action Girl: Ninjette. Emp has her moments.
 * Alliteration: The Caged Demonwolf loves this.

"I'd be far more embarrassed to dress up like, say, an animal. Now that would be silly. Face it. The hundreds of would-be badass capes who practice species crossdressing as various theoretically intimidating animals? That's one step removed from being a furry. Talk about embarrassing."
 * Affably Evil: Manny wants to be a super-villain. But he's just so nice about it. He talks about like a kid would talk about being an astronaut.
 * Aliens in Cardiff: Ninjas in New Jersey. Even in this universe, the characters find it odd enough to comment on. Possibly because even though they're from NJ, the still do everything possible to act like stereotypical Japanese ninjas, including giving Japanese names and using honorifics even in English. In our world, that would mean they'd be over-obssessed Weeaboos, so maybe they're seen similarly there.
 * Aliens Made Them Do It: Parodied in a Show Within a Show Slash Fic Empowered reads about her teammates.
 * All of the Other Reindeer: Empowered
 * Alluring Anglerfish
 * A supervillain, who uses his lurelight to hypnotize people.
 * And his son, who uses it mostly to commit rape via mind-control.
 * Animal-Themed Superbeing: Discussed by Maidman.

""Ninjette": Cast not this helpless rabbit of a wench into the figurative briar patch of the fabled orgasms multiple!"
 * Animesque: Lampshaded by Emp in one meta-text panel.
 * Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: Empowered is menaced by a robotic "Pimpotron" who intends to deliver her to a galactic harem. When his sensors detect that her butt is too big for the Emperor's tastes, he apologetically leaves her behind. She's more upset about the insult than relieved at her good fortune.
 * Author Appeal: Bondage, ultra-technology, gratuitous labeling, Woobies, etc. And Metahumans with random objects (hand, gun, cinderblock, etc.) for a head.
 * Possibly subverted. Warren received several requests for superheroine bondage pieces, which became Emp. If this is to be believed, the kinkier aspects of the comic are from those initial fans, and the appeal for the author comes from trying to get away from the creepiness. Maybe.
 * Author Vocabulary Calendar: Despite his convoluted speech, the Caged Demonwolf has a noticeable fondness for saying "Jackanapes" and "much vaunted". "Brobdingnagian" shows up a couple of times as well.
 * Awesome McCoolname: Doctor Big McLarge Huge. (he is, too. Half again as tall as most of the normal characters, and three times as wide.) It also doubles as a bonus Mystery Science Theater 3000 reference.
 * Badass Beard
 * Willy Pete, due to his elemental nature, has a massive beard of fire. (In Volume Six, it is mentioned that he has "seized the #1 ranking for Suprahuman Facial Hair.)
 * Weirdbeard too (not of fire though, but prehensile).
 * Badass Normal: Ninjette; ThugBoy; Maidman
 * Bare Your Midriff: Sistah Spooky; Ninjette. True for Emp too as soon as her costume gets damaged.
 * Batman Gambit: Maidman uses it at least once. (It makes sense, as Maidman is a blatant Batman spoof: personality, public image, attitude towards crime, fighting style, weaponry, everything makes him a Drag Queen version of Batman wearing a frilly French Maid minidress instead of a bat costume.)
 * Berserk Button: King Tyrant Lizard's speech impediment and the little crown his mother gave him.
 * BFG: ThugBoy's 50-cal Sniper Rifle, although it gets destroyed during a fight.
 * The B.F.Gunnaz are named after this trope.
 * The hero Heavy Artillery, whose head and neck have been replaced by an artillery piece.
 * BFS: Phallic Spear
 * Bi the Way
 * Sistah Spooky has had relationships with both sexes.
 * So far, Ninjette's only known confirmed sexual encounter (which occurred prior to the start of the series) was with another woman, though she is obviously attracted to men as well.
 * Emp is said to be a "three-drink bisexual".
 * Big Bad Wannabe:
 * Manny is a LITERAL big bad wannabe. He's a kid who wants to be a super-villain. And he's ever so polite about it too.
 * Big Ol' Unibrow: There's a superhero who's even named Unibrow. Of course this trope applies to him.
 * Bilingual Bonus: Quite a few un-subtitled Japanese words and phrases.
 * Bizarre Alien Biology: Some aliens in Empowered's verse have two left kidneys. And one kind of alien (maybe the same one) has kidney equivalents that filter the bloodstream using coherent light -- essentially, Frickin' Laser Beams.
 * Bland-Name Product: Lots of this: "YouToob", "Grant-a-Wish Foundation", you get the idea.
 * Bleached Underpants: Maidman would have some criticism as to how well they've been bleached, but it's a respectable try, anyway.
 * Blessed with Suck: A form-fitting supersuit is anything but ideal for someone insecure about her body. The fact that it almost always fails when most needed is pretty sucky, too. Then note that the suit's effectiveness is based entirely on Empowered's self-esteem and factor in the above.
 * Bold Inflation: There are barely any speech bubbles in this comic that don't have a bolded word or two!!
 * Boldly Coming: Not one, not two, but three of the Superhomeys obtained their powers from sex with non-humans. In fact, they met in a support group for it. One of them (Protean) gained power from an alien STD, the second was turned into a mech by nanomachines contracted through sex with an advanced android, the third due to sex with an unknown superhuman whose dialogue suggested he was made by a certain Doctor.
 * Bound and Gagged: Empowered, all the freaking time. See also Author Appeal.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: Lampshaded in the collected volume, with Empowered talking about how annoying it can be.
 * Briar Patching: Used in an Imagine Spot by guess whom.

"Major Havoc: *koff* Bitch."
 * Bridal Carry
 * Emp with a traumatized Ninjette. ThugBoy thinks we shouldn't read too much into it. The Caged Demonwolf thinks differently.
 * Also, sometimes ThugBoy with Emp, and (in a dream / Imagine Spot) ThugBoy with Sistah Spooky.
 * Bring My Brown Pants
 * Syndablokk reveals that he would have wet himself if he could in his first big encounter, and a lot of supers wear low-profile incontinence products.
 * In #2, the Caged Demonwolf mentions that Major Havoc soiled himself when encountering him unbound.
 * Broken Bird: Empowered; Ninjette; and Sistah Spooky
 * Buffy-Speak: Mainly from Emp in the Meta breaks -- and occasionally in the main story as well.
 * Busman's Holiday: Kind of. In her spare time, Ninjette likes to play videogames, where the hero is... a ninja.
 * But Not Too Foreign: ThugBoy claimed German and Italian ancestry to "balance" his more obvious Japanese heritage. This fails to impress one Nazi employer. It is unknown if this was just him trying to fast-talk the villain.
 * Call Back: Quite a few.
 * For example, in volume 1, a guy knocks out Emp by smothering her with a rag drenched in halothane. In volume 3, while arguing about how many times she's been chloroformed, she mentions that she was halothaned too.
 * Emp can't wear panties under her suit because they're visible, but she didn't know this until Sistah Spooky mocked her for it in the first story. During a flashback where she first meets Sistah Spooky, Emp's panties are visible.
 * Captain Ersatz: A few of the characters appear to be based on mainstream comic book characters. Glue Gun Gil = Paste Pot Pete, etc.
 * Most notably, THE GODDAMN MAIDMAN!
 * Captain Obvious
 * Capulet Counterpart: ThugBoy, before his Heel Face Turn.
 * Car Fu: The superpowered version is deconstructed in Volume 1; the normal version proves [[media:empowered-carfu.jpg|more efficient in Volume 4]].
 * Cassandra Did It: In volume 5, the Superhomies (especially Major Havoc) blame Emp for the trouble  caused at the Capeys, since she "so obviously" could never win a fight against a supervillain on her own and must have planned it and may even be a closeted villain herself. Mindf██k pointed out that she had read Emp's mind and seen what had happened, but Havoc still thinks Emp had something to do with it and issued a gag order on all public discussions on the matter, leaving Emp unable to defend herself publicly against the already-started rumors.
 * Catgirl
 * In Volume Two, ThugBoy imagines Emp as one: "Schrodinger's Catgirl!"
 * And later, we get Ocelotina.
 * Catholic School Girls Rule: Subverted. They're indeed very hot, but also the biggest bitches you can think of. Poor . (They all -- yes, all -- got their beauty from a Deal with the Devil, what did you expect?)
 * Cat Smile: Ocelotina in #4 (see p. 155).
 * Censor Box: Mostly shows up on dialogue; also used to cover naughty bits a couple of times.
 * Cerebus Syndrome: The first three volumes are mostly comedy, with occasional hints at more dramatic plot developments and backstories. Volume four goes all out, opening with Ninjette apparently dealing with PTSD. Five sees Six takes the dark note at the end of five and runs with it, and is quite frankly highly disturbing. Also thoroughly lampshaded. The fifth volume ends on a Fourth Wall Mail Slot with the characters hoping the next book will be Lighter and Softer. The sixth volume ends with them complaining that it wasn't.
 * Character Development: Emp started the series as a neurotic mess. By Volume 5 she's a... well, still a neurotic mess, but less of one.
 * Charles Atlas Superpower: Ninjette & co. using Chi to alter their appearance.
 * Chekhov's Gun
 * The suit --
 * Volume 1 has the alien bondage gear later used on Caged Demonwolf.
 * Volume 4 has Chekhov's Alien Liver Infected with Alien Parasites.
 * Volume 5 has Chekhov's Duct Tape.
 * Chekhov's Gunman:
 * Chekhov's Skill: Emp's embarrassing and apparently useless parlor trick of turning her suit invisible is demonstrated in a one-off story from the first volume (she is not affected, cannot wear anything over or under it, and was trying to affect only her mask instead of everything but). Turns out it had a use after all, as mentioned below. Fridge Brilliance sets in, too, when you remember how the rest of the suit's powers are tied to Emp's self-esteem, uncharacteristically rock-solid in that moment....
 * Chilly Reception
 * Clothing Damage: Empowered -- see Weaksauce Weakness, below.
 * Cluster F-Bomb: Always bleeped out with Censor Boxes, which arguably makes it funnier.
 * Special note must be made of the kunoichi so foul-mouthed that she's referred to as "████ing Oyuki-chan", who seriously cannot go for a single ████ing line without swearing.
 * Combat Pragmatist: Empowered demonstrates this quality in the introductory chapter of Volume 4 by explaining that throwing a car at someone is not as effective as ramming someone with that car at seventy miles per hour, as she demonstrates the technique's effectiveness on a supervillain. And then, since this is Empowered, the resulting crash takes her out of the fight, encases her in seat belt bondage, AND gives her Jerkass teammates time to wake up and take all the credit. She had already tried the car-throwing trick in an earlier issue. She threw out her back with it, and felt guilty when the nice old couple who owned the car came to get it.
 * Contagious Powers: Literally; several superheroes got their powers from alien STDs.
 * Continuity Creep: It all started with a few "throwaway" comics which "grew".
 * Convection, Schmonvection: Makro in her TV show (volume #6). Maybe justified because she's, well, a superheroine.
 * Cool and Unusual Punishment: When the Caged Demonwolf mocks ThugBoy for being pussy-whipped, ThugBoy gets revenge by making the Demonwolf watch Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood all night long.
 * Corner of Woe: Ninja videogames -- Serious Business.
 * Cosplay: Empowered's latest-known day-job was cosplaying as... Empowered.
 * Costume Inertia: Emp's "sexy librarian" disguise; inverted with ThugBoy's "Spartan 3000" henchman's uniform.
 * Cough-Snark-Cough
 * Costume Inertia: Emp's "sexy librarian" disguise; inverted with ThugBoy's "Spartan 3000" henchman's uniform.
 * Cough-Snark-Cough

"spoiler:Empowered: I do this stupid job because I'm ████ing Driven to do it! Unlike You, ████, I do this stupid, Stupid job because-- Because... This... Is... What... I... AM!!!"
 * Crapsack World: The vast majority of superheroes are assholes, and while most villains abide by the 'unwritten rules' and are up to mostly Silver Age level antics, there are four confirmed Complete Monster villains (in only six volumes), each of whom has the powers to be a VERY real threat.
 * For reference, the 'kindest' of the Complete Monster villains 'only' rapes people to death. The rest are worse.
 * Crazy Prepared: Maidman. Planning ahead, and being ready for everything, are his main weapons (as he does state himself).
 * Cross Player: Of Phallik Spear, of all things.
 * Cross-Popping Veins: As part of the Animesque package.
 * Curb Stomp Battle
 * "... guess th' white capes might be underestimatin' ol' jus' a li'l bit less, next time around."
 * Applied literally with Syndablokk. Although he has super-strength and durability (and a cinderblock for a head), his real power is telekinetic control over concrete. Cue villain getting stomped by the curb, and the street, and the sidewalk, and the highway overpass. The reason he doesn't use it very often? MASSIVE property damage.
 * Cursed with Awesome
 * One of the suit's side effects that Emp "worries" about is... it supercharges her orgasms and libido. Gee, what a burden.
 * Turns out that there is actually a price for some power, though.
 * Cute Little Fangs: Whenever a character's feeling especially determined or cocky. Especially Ocelotina, of course.
 * Dating Catwoman: Empowered & ThugBoy
 * Deadly Disc: The Maidman throws deadly doilies.
 * Deal with the Devil: Sistah Spooky's origin: she made a deal for "supernatural hotness" and accidentally gained mystic powers out of the deal.
 * Death Is Cheap? Unclear. We'll see in vol. 6.
 * Deconstructive Parody
 * Delusions of Eloquence: Yes, Imperial Pimpotron Alpha could give Marcus a run for his money. (With plenty of Bold Inflation.)
 * Depraved Bisexual
 * What Willy Pete does to anyone he can get his hands on (although supers, being more durable, last longer) isn't pretty.
 * Inverted with Leads to a dark, dark Tear Jerker.
 * Depth Deception: Blunt Trauma is attacking Emp! No, it was just his action figure that Ninjette threw into the air to train Emp.
 * Determinator
 * Another case is where As of Volume 4: DAMN.
 * Another case is where As of Volume 4: DAMN.

"Empowered: You're not too hurt to do some caping are you, Mr. Maidman...? Maidman: Let me think... level-one concussion, couple broken ribs, burst eardrum, a few lacerations for a couple ounces of avulsed tissue... hmm. In other words, I'm good to go, Miss."
 * The goddamn Maidman definitely qualifies, especially considering he's a Badass Normal.

"Emp: THANKS FOR REINFORCING MY NEGATIVE PRECONCEPTIONS ABOUT SHARKS, JERKOFF!"
 * Disability Superpower:.
 * Damsel in Distress
 * Empowered, despite her best efforts.
 * Downer Ending: Volume 5. Mentioned in the meta-interlude summing things up.
 * Double Entendre: Any superhero name that isn't Totally Radical or Jive Turkey is likely to be this. Probably the best example is the female hero with the ability to grow to giant proportions: "Size Queen".
 * Draco in Leather Pants: Willy Pete receives this treatment in-universe after the events of Volume Five.
 * Drop-In Character: Sistah Spooky says that Mindf██k (a mighty telepath) acts just like this. "Like a wacky sitcom neighbor!"
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him: Subverted; Emp once tries to fool some thugs into believing that her suit "gynocamouflages" her (in other words: that she's really a guy) to buy some time.
 * Ecchi: It's manga-styled, starts out hugely suggestive, and goes from there. By now, the whole thing skirts the decency line as closely as it dares.
 * Eggshell Clothing: One-shot villain Baby Bird. See also the WMG.
 * Emp Can Breathe in Space
 * Empathic Weapon: The hypermembrane.
 * Epileptic Trees (In-Universe): So, a Ninja clan created all those Bishonen, Yaoi and Moe girls, to lower Japan's birthrate? Note that the person describing this doesn't believe a word of it.
 * Equal Opportunity Evil: The Ayakami ninjas also have (at least) one girl fighting in their rows. So do the Kaburagis.
 * Estrogen Brigade Bait: ThugBoy is a shining example, albeit possibly a spectacularly misplaced one.
 * Everything's Better with Princesses: So, so subverted with
 * Everything's Even Worse with Sharks: One of them bites Emp during one of her training sessions from hell. Since she's wearing her suit at the time, it affords her a chance to launch into a hilarious rant against the shark.
 * Everything's Even Worse with Sharks: One of them bites Emp during one of her training sessions from hell. Since she's wearing her suit at the time, it affords her a chance to launch into a hilarious rant against the shark.

"Sistah Spooky: Well, I'll be damned... though, in fact, I already am damned..."
 * Even Evil Has Standards
 * Played with. Despite Emp constantly being powerless, bound, gagged, and at the mercy of her enemies, no villain yet has, er, taken advantage of the situation. Notable in that the standards the villains are upholding are not their own, but a code of "unwritten rules" governing hero/villain conduct, among which include not killing or defiling the heroes. Any villain foolish enough to break these rules would have a huge mob of pissed-off superheroes out for his blood.
 * brutally killed a previous employer who was about to commit genocide with his superweapon (as opposed to using it for ransom purposes, which everyone else assumed).
 * Everybody Remembers the Stripper: Emp is usually known In-Universe for getting tied up... and not much else.
 * Evil Laugh: Emp's laugh, when she was hatching her plot to introduce the Superhomies to yaoi (see Springtime for Hitler example), chilled even the Caged Demonwolf.
 * Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Mindf██k's background and character arc.
 * Exact Time to Failure: Used to chilling effect in Volume 5.


 * Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: Emp told Thugboy how her suit works (NOT!).
 * Expy: Maidman is basically Batman as costumed by American Maid.
 * Extraordinarily Empowered Girl: The titular heroine.
 * Eyepatch of Power: Strapping Buck thinks about getting one at the end of #6.
 * Eye Scream
 * The rather squickish threats grotesque murders preferred by Willy Pete.
 * The Faceless: Emp's father. (In flashbacks only.)
 * Facial Dialogue: The "intra-couple communication stealth mode" (between Emp and ThugBoy).
 * Fail O'Suckyname: "Sodomy" was one part of a trio of Rum, Sodomy, and The Lash. He got sick of being Mistaken for Gay and quit.
 * Fake Boobs: How Ninjette impersonates Empowered.
 * Fake Brit: Supervillain "Rum, Sodomy and the Lash", formerly part of a "trio of underinformed anglophile doofuses" until Rum wound up in rehab and Sodomy got tired of explaining that he represented purely heterosexual sodomy.
 * "Falling in Love" Montage: For Mindf██k and Sistah Spooky. Followed shortly by
 * Famous Last Words:
 * Famous Last Words:

"Kid Emp: Why do I have such a big butt as a grownup...? How did I wind up so old and f-fat...? Current Emp: Thanks a lot, younger version of me."
 * Fang Thpeak: King Tyrant Lizard; Homunculoid
 * Fan Service: Just let it be known that, in a comic that is all about the Fanservice, "Schrödinger's Catgirl" still manages to stand out.
 * Faux Paw: Emp as Schrodinger's Catgirl
 * Fetish Retardant: An in-universe example: getting tied up in serious situations makes bondage a SERIOUS turn-off for Emp and ThugBoy.
 * Finagle's Law
 * Flowery Elizabethan English: the Caged Demonwolf combines this with Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness and Purple Prose (also, thesaurus abuse) for some truly remarkable dialogue.
 * Foot Focus: Almost all women either wear open-toed shoes (and usually either plateaus or heels), or go barefoot. Emp's suit fits so tight, her toes are fully visible. This is used to full effect whenever she gets hogtied; she'll usually be shown from multiple angles across several frames, with her feet featuring prominently. Definitely part of the Fetish Fuel.
 * Foreshadowing: In a dream sequence, ThugBoy . Though what was actually shown to the audience is and the rest is cut off. Also: Does he really remember, or is it just a nightmare after all?
 * Four Lines, All Waiting: The comic started with several more or less unrelated one-shots, but with time, some plots started to emerge: So far we have ThugBoy's plot (his past, and everything Willy Pete-related), Ninjette's plot (involving the other ninjas), the Fleshmaster/Capeys/Manny plot, and of course the romantical plot for our OTP/One True Threesome. And even now, there's time for some smaller stories.
 * Freeze Ray
 * Freudian Excuse
 * Sistah Spooky has serious issues with blonde girls like Emp.
 * Also inverted with
 * Fun with Acronyms: See below.
 * Funetik Aksent
 * Fur Bikini: Emp as Schrodinger's Catgirl. So good we mentioned it twice.
 * Future Loser: In a kind of Imagine Spot, where kid Emp meets her future superheroine self.


 * The Ghost: Emp's mother.
 * Gilligan Cut: Emp wants to see ThugBoy in his Spartan 3K costume. At first he resists, then this trope happens.
 * Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Emp and Mellow Mr. Monkey.
 * The Glomp: Even as a sound effect.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom: Sistah Spooky gets a pair when she is really angry.
 * Godiva Hair: Something has to cover the naughty bits when the suit gets wrecked....
 * Good People Have Good Sex: Emp and ThugBoy, a lot.
 * Gratuitous Japanese: Complete with Kanji. For that matter, Ninjette's very name counts; she was born and raised in New Jersey and is as white as the driven snow, but her parents named her "Kozue Kaburagi" to try and make up for three Americanized generations back in Japan.
 * Grave Marking Scene: Emp often visits the grave of her father.
 * Green-Skinned Space Babe: Princess Arkashia, with whom not-yet-Protean sleeps with, catches an alien STD and thus turns from a human into the Blob Monster we know him as.
 * The Grim Reaper: In a kind of Imagine Spot. He's watching Emp and Thugboy having sex.
 * Hand Blast: Emp can do this. If her suit works, which is optional.
 * Harsh Word Impact
 * Heads I Win, Tails You Lose
 * Heel Face Turn: ThugBoy; Ninjette
 * Heroes Gone Fishing: Or rather, watching Dancing with the Superheroes.
 * Heroic BSOD:
 * Hidden Depths: A few characters have them -- Emp herself is the most notable example, of course, but Sistah Spooky is probably the most suprising one.
 * Historical In-Joke: It is implied that Imperial Pimpotron Alpha abducted Amelia Earhart for a cosmic emperor's harem.
 * Hot Librarian: Emp wears said outfit (as bait), and wonders if anyone would be fooled by her "librarian-from-a-porn-movie" getup...
 * How Do I Shot Web?: Guess who.
 * Humiliation Conga: And the dance goes on, and on...
 * Husky Russkie: The guy tower head girl (you know whom I mean) got her superpowers from.
 * An Ice Person: Icy Mike, a one-shot supervillain who ThugBoy worked for
 * I Don't Know Mortal Kombat: Ninjette and videogames about ninjas.
 * I Have You Now, My Pretty: This happens to Emp all the time. Lampshaded with the "unwritten rules" that keep villains from going "too far".
 * Imagine Spot
 * ThugBoy imagining Emp as Catgirl.
 * The Caged Demonwolf imagining Emp, ThugBoy and Ninjette having hot sex together.
 * The Immodest Orgasm: Caused by her suit. ThugBoy calls it "her getting in sexual Super Saiyan mode".
 * Incredibly Lame Pun
 * Crowquet is a crow-themed supervillain who fights with a croquet stick.
 * Also, the Lotus Nodes network -- might be a pun on the widespread Lotus Notes software.
 * The TV programme Superdirty Jobs presented by -- wait for it --.
 * Instant Humiliation - Just Add YouTube
 * Instant Knots: Ninjette used a chain to catch Emp the first time they met.
 * Instant Sedation: Emp gets knocked out... a lot.
 * One notable example features the Chloroformaster soliloquizing while Emp "samples" his "wares".
 * Averted, though, when someone jabs a needle into her -- it takes roughly the time you'd expect to work.
 * Emp has had a lot of experience with chloroform-happy bad guys, so she purposely goes limp as soon as the rag is on "like you see in the movies or on TV" to stop it happening for real -- or worse, accidentally killing her. Which raises some questions about whether or not she was conscious when Chloro-boy was doing his business. Eurgh.
 * Ironic Echo: Spooky + Mindf██k. "I know how much you love blondes..."
 * It Got Worse: Not for Emp -- barring some tragedies, things have largely gotten better for her. The same can't be said for the Superhomeys. First, Then, . And THEN.
 * It's a Long Story: Why the lily-white Ninjette has a Japanese name.
 * Jerkass: Most of her team, and indeed, most superheroes. Maidman, Syndablokk, and Mindf██k are notable exceptions. Capitan Rivet is better than most as well, even though he cannot always resist laughing at Emp's predicaments. Really, most of everyone. The world of Empowered seems to be chock-full of heartless jerks.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 * Possibly Hardkore. tends to make one a bit testy and when Emp proves herself to not be the bitch he was expecting, he looks embarrassed and more or less backs off.
 * Also Ocelotina, who initially seems to be a nothing more than a money-grubbing fake superheroine cashing in on the way Emp popularized the "helpless bondage superchica" theme. Turns out that she really does respect and support Emp and is willing to speak out about one of her Crowning Moments even after a gag order was placed on the incident. Doesn't stop her exploiting Emp for profit at every opportunity of course, but at least she's happy to share it with her.
 * One interpretation of
 * Jive Turkey: Major Havoc, dawg. Occasionally, other superhomeys as well.
 * Jumped At the Call: Emp
 * Katanas Are Just Better: See Captain Katana, who has one stuck in his head... and had his arms and legs replaced with some... and carries one on his back.
 * Killed Mid-Sentence: In the most tragic way possible.

"Emp: Karma's a bitch, isn't it? Well, so am I!"
 * Knight of Cerebus: Willy Pete. See Moral Event Horizon, Complete Monster, etc...
 * Even Heroes Have Heroes: Emp, towards Capitan Rivet and other superhomeys. Seen when they meet for the first time.
 * Large Ham: The Caged Demonwolf, He of Many Nicknames and Thesauretorical Abusivetoriness.
 * Latex Space Suit: One of her hypermembrane's many abilities is providing life support in outer space. Including radiation protection, and even allowing Emp to speak.
 * Let's Get Dangerous: Once or twice a volume, Empowered will take down impressive threats single-handedly.
 * Line-of-Sight Name: The author got the name for a future villain from the front cover of an old magazine.
 * Look Behind You!: Emp uses this trope successfully against the B.F.Gunnaz.
 * Love Triangle: Starting to develop between the Power Trio. Specifically, a type 4, or a type 6 if you have your yuri goggles on.
 * Made of Plasticine: The super-suit is more like Made of Soap Bubbles and Spiderwebs.
 * Master of Disguise
 * All of the ninjas. One even disguises successfully as a dog.
 * And Ninjette disguises herself as the Groom well enough to trick the Bride during their honeymoon.... Words simply fail.
 * Even the ninjas considered that to be an impressive feat. They still mention it in training.
 * Make Sure He's Dead: Emp and ThugBoy rescue Ninjette from a gang of Ninjas with extremely potent stamina and pain-suppression abilities, allowing them to get up and keep fighting after receiving horrific injuries. In an utterly nonchalant fashion, ThugBoy empties two handgun rounds into the head of every downed Ninja to make sure they're dead.
 * McNinja: Ninjette and her clan of ninja from New Jersey.
 * Meganekko: Lampshaded in Emp's Sexy Librarian stakeout.
 * Meaningful Name
 * "King Tyrant Lizard" is the literal translation of "Tyrannosaurus rex".
 * "Willy Pete" is the (US)-military nickname for the extremely-hot-burning white phosphorus. "Willy Pete" is doubly meaningful in a really sick way.
 * Empowered's actual name?.
 * Mechanical Lifeforms: At least one of them exists. She has the shape of an attractive human woman and is anatomically correct. One of the Superhomeys sleeps with her, and her nanites turn him into a mecha.
 * Meet Cute: Empowered and ThugBoy. She was a captured superheroine, he was the minion tying her up. Sparks flew. They don't like to talk about how they met.
 * The Merch: In-story, there are official Superhomey ringtones and themed T-shirts, plus action figures of their Rogues' Gallery. Not to mention the Capitan Rivet panties Emp often wears when out of uniform.
 * Meta Guy
 * Empowered regularly breaks the fourth wall when she appears in the title pages of stories; Ninjette and ThugBoy Lampshade this when they appear and have no idea who she's talking to.
 * The Caged Demonwolf breaks the wall at the end of Volume 1, filling us in on the story's aftermath. Lampshaded in a later story,
 * ThugBoy gets in on the act later on when he gives us a "tour" of Empowered's sleeping habits. Lampshaded when we find out ThugBoy is talking to his average Mook friend.
 * A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Mindf██k admits being tired of reading the filthy minds of lunatics.
 * Mood Whiplash: Especially Volume 6, which inserts jokes in between dealing with some seriously dark material.
 * Mooks: ThugBoy's old gang, the "Witless Minions", who stole from the villains they worked for.
 * Most Common Superpower: Averted. Besides Ninjette's snark about her bust, none of the heroines sport anything bigger than a C-cup, except the superheroine Jugganaut (and this seems to be justified in her powers).
 * Ms. Fanservice: Emp is arguably a Deconstruction; Ocelotina is an in-universe example.
 * Multipurpose Tongue: Superheroine Mother Tongue has one.
 * Mundane Utility: Remember that Emp's suit turbocharges her orgasms? They once used a piece of it as a condom. But it worked too well -- ThugBoy could barely last ten seconds.
 * My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That: The Caged Demonwolf is very susceptible for things like this.
 * My Greatest Failure: Both Emp and Sistah Spooky over the death of Mindf██k.
 * Naked Apron: Is a sign things are going well for Emp and ThugBoy.
 * Neck Lift: One of ThugBoy's employers did this with one of the Witless Minions.
 * New Powers as the Plot Demands: Emp hasn't quite figured out how her suit works. Outright lampshaded towards the end of Vol. 4 -- Emp discovers her suit can let her and she's as shocked as the people watching.
 * Nightmare Face: The deep sea creatures they're chumming with anti-putti.
 * Ninja: Ninjette, obviously. And several clans of them.
 * Nipple-and-Dimed
 * No Dead Body Poops:
 * "No Respect" Guy: Empowered. Where to begin?
 * Noodle Incident: Several storylines were (presumably temporarily) cut from the books, moved between books, etc. These are brought up during the meta-pages, with the characters warning each other not to talk about that stuff yet cause it wasn't in this book.
 * Notable examples are ThugBoy cosplaying (particularly bad because the author didn't have time to remove reference to it from the back of one of the books), ThugBoy wearing Empowered's suit, etc., etc.
 * There's also the question as to why Emp's extremely skintight suit doesn't show any camel toe, this was lampshade-hung in Vol. 3 and by the end of Vol. Four 5 6 still hasn't been explained (and is lamented as possibly never will be).
 * And the biggest of them all: What happened in San Antonio? We know some vague facts that ThugBoy and his capekillers were somehow involved... but how did the city end up destroyed by a volcano?!
 * Not Right in the Bed: Since Emp started wearing her suit, she climaxes "at the drop of a hat". Not That There's Anything Wrong with That.
 * Not So Different: calls this between himself and Empowered,
 * Not So Harmless
 * Empowered. Beneath the low self-esteem and Weaksauce Weakness, Emp went to college and is frightfully intelligent (and almost Genre Savvy). For example, knowing that if you drive an armored car into a villain at 70 MPH instead of throwing it at him at around 5 MPH (at best), it does a LOT more damage. A more specific example occurs in book 4, where
 * An in-world example:.
 * Not the Fall That Kills You: Once, Ninjette fell from a high house, but used a chain to get hold of a street lantern.
 * Not Using the Z Word:
 * Oh Crap! There Are Yaoi Doujinshi of Us...: At one point, Emp even turns to them.
 * One-Liner: In #2, Emp discusses the Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner trope with ThugBoy and Ninjette. In #6, she tries one, but goofs up:
 * One-Liner: In #2, Emp discusses the Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner trope with ThugBoy and Ninjette. In #6, she tries one, but goofs up:

"Rum Sodomy and the Lash: HEY! You made me slip out of character. Enough of this shite!"
 * Only Known by Their Nickname: We still don't know ThugBoy's real name. Also, we learned Emp's and Ninjette's real names as late as #3. In fact, the only names of the superheroes we know are: Theresa (Sistah Spooky), Tommy ( Glorpp Protein Protean!), Bob, Julie (Plutonium Blonde) and Maria (not totally clear but probably Mother Tongue). Along with a couple of the supervillains, Aaron (Kid Anglerfish) and Jerome (King Tyrant Lizard). But all other real names of supers are unknown either.
 * Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping
 * In her civilian guise, Emp affects a patently false Southern drawl.
 * Also the villain Rum, Sodomy and the Lash (formerly a trio) who Emp describes as an "underinformed anglophile doofus":

"Protean: Call me "uncle", Doomsloth! Doomsloth: *cough* Uncle Doomsloth!"
 * Origins Issue: Averted until vol 6., where we learn how Emp got her suit.
 * Paper-Thin Disguise: Emp cosplaying as herself.
 * Bonus irony points for the PVC disguise being much thicker than the thinner-than-body-paint supersuit.
 * People Puppets: A standard psychic power in this 'verse.
 * Pig Latin: Once used by the very dorky supervillain in #1.
 * Pirate: Advanced Restraint Research.
 * Plot-Driven Breakdown: It is easier to list the times when Emp's Hypermembrane does work correctly.
 * Political Correctness Gone Mad: Wet Blanket personifies this trope. Strangely, working together with supervillains is no problem for him.
 * Power Incontinence: Poor Mindf██k can't speak outside of telepathy (which has the side effect of leaking brutal honesty with every sentence), and has to avoid crowds as all the excess thoughts cause headaches. (Note that Mindf██k's lack of vocal speech has nothing inherently to do with her power. See Nightmare Fuel in YMMV.)
 * Power Nullifier: Wet Blanket
 * Power Perversion Potential
 * Lampshaded when Emp even admits she uses her suit for this. Subverted when she gave ThugBoy a part of her costume to use it as a condom. The sensation was great, but he could last barely ten seconds.
 * Also used extensively by Mindf██k. In fact,
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: Emp and friends discuss the best way to do this, or whether you should use it at all.
 * Prehensile Hair: Weirdbeard
 * Pronoun Trouble:
 * Psycho Serum: A variant -- Mayfly gives you Mad-science level genius, at the cost of filling your brain with tumors that kill you within forty-eight hours. And that's only when it works -- which is point two percent of the time. Mostly it just kills you.
 * Punctuated Pounding
 * Punny Name: Many. Stigmata Hari, Gnümetal, Plutonium Blonde, Valkyrie Eleison, Eye Eye Sir, Gooey Samaritan, Ubiquitease, Blitzcraig...
 * Puppy Dog Eyes: Emp in a meta-panel begs the reader NOT to look at her bare butt in the next story.
 * Purple Prose: Lo, the Caged Demonwolf doth speak in a hue most violet! Adam Warren writes his dialogue with the aid of a thesaurus.
 * Qipao: Ninjette wears one at the Capeys Awards.
 * Double Standard Rape (Female on Female)
 * Real Men Wear Pink
 * He may wear a dress, high stiletto heels, and pretty, pretty white panties, but everyone's heard of the goddamn Maidman.
 * Also, Hardkore is a case of Real Men Are Pink.
 * Red Shirt: For one of their employers, the Witless Minions had to wear shirts with an emblem looking like a bullseye. Wow. Now that is...
 * Repeat After Me:

"Emp: What's... my... name? ThugBoy: Uhhh... which one, baby?"
 * Reverse Grip: Ninja like to hold their blades this way.
 * Required Secondary Powers : several examples.
 * Captain Katana, who has a magic katana stuck in the top of his head down his spine, as well as others replacing his limbs. At the Capeys when the Power Nullifier was taking effect, he was disabled by the pain.
 * Several that are implied if not outright stated; Heavy Artillery has a mounted cannon for a head. How does he breathe? And the tower head girl with a hat that seems to be taller than she is not breaking her neck.
 * And, of course, the fact that Emp's naughty bits never show through the costume despite it being described as more closely fitting than body paint.
 * Roof Hopping: Ninjette trains Emp in this.
 * Rule of Funny: The blocked-out swearwords? Edging closer to the line between titillation and pr0n than previously thought possible? All for giggles. Really.
 * Save the Villain: A couple times.
 * Say It with Hearts
 * Say My Name: Used by Emp during sex.

"Imperial Pimpotron Alpha: For I, Imperial Pimpotron Alpha am scouticruiting you for priviligious erotiservitude in the Cosmolactic Emperor's Harem!"
 * Scarpia Ultimatum:
 * Scenery Censor: Flat out abused.
 * Self-Made Man: A heroic variant:
 * Sensual Spandex: Empowered, for the short time it actually stays on her.
 * Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: With made-up and wiki words, no less, leading to Delusions of Eloquence.

""85." -hack- "86." -slice- "I'm telling you, Opera is the ideal choice for a ninja's web browser." "87." -schinck- "88." -gchonk-"
 * Sexy Santa Dress: Emp, in some bonus material.
 * Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Kind of, with Anglerfish.
 * Shout-Out: Plenty...
 * Dungeons & Dragons
 * 2nd Edition, with shirts sporting "INT. 19 (supra-genius)" or "STR. 18(00)".
 * The space station is even called "The d10" (the D&D method of describing a 10-sided die) and looks the part.
 * Maison Ikkoku: Emp's "Piyo Piyo" apron.
 * Dr. Big McLarge Huge
 * When Ninjette tells Emp how her suit sprouted wings (which Emp can't remember), Emp pictures herself as a devil. Her mental picture looks quite a bit like she's cosplaying as Etna.
 * ThugBoy wears a t-shirt with the King of All Cosmos on it at one point.
 * The Superhomeys' undisclosed meeting location is room 3B, a reference to the imaginary lecture hall where the wizards of Unseen University in Discworld pretend to have class.
 * It's the goddamn Maidman!
 * A shout-out to 4chan even made its way into one of the books.
 * In the early chapter "It's Like This" when Emp is explaining the weaknesses of her suit to a gang of thugs (which includes ThugBoy) there's a brief flashback of Sistah Spooky yelling for help while being held by what appears to be an Evangelion unit (judging from its silhouette).
 * Showing Off the New Body: Sistah Spooky did this after she received it.
 * Sickeningly Sweethearts: "No, you should wear that outfit (tee hee)!" -- "No, you should wear that outfit (tee hee)!" No wonder the Caged Demonwolf imagines a scene with better dialogue, in his usual flowery style.
 * Sissy Villain: The galactic emperor from the in-universe Fan Fiction who forces Major Havoc and Syndablokk to have sex together.
 * Slash Fic: In-universe, even. Emp reads slash about two of her male teammates.
 * Slouch of Villainy: See Sissy Villain.
 * Slow Clap: Emp gets it by her fellow superheroes at the Capeys. ThugBoy lampshades it.
 * Smoke Out: Used by Ninjette, naturally... in book 2, to avoid embarrassment before ThugBoy before fleeing through a window. (And note that logically, since she leaves the tattered remains of Emp's suit behind, she's buck naked.)
 * Smug Super: Most of the other superheroes we meet are little more than overpowered and overgrown high school bullies deeply in love with their own superpowers.
 * Soaperizing
 * Something Else Also Rises: Male and Female versions used at once: one chapter is called "Elephants, Cups and Canoes".
 * Spank the Cutie: Oh so very often. In bed, in daydreams, in fanfics; on one occasion on pay-per-view TV by Ocelotina over not respecting duct tape, of all things. You may guess which member of the main cast gets this treatment. Hint: it's not Caged Demonwolf.
 * Speech Bubble Censoring
 * Speech Bubbles: Syndablokk has cinderblock-formed ones, for one example. Also, Adam Warren often uses speech bubbles containing the heads of characters which are off-panel so you know who said what.
 * Speed Lines: Japanese-style, with the characters in focus.
 * Springtime for Hitler: Oh, and then
 * Starfish Aliens: We have seen only one of them. They're huge (their liver weighs 700 kilograms alone!), have three eyes, and their veins seem to be on the outside of their bodies.
 * Stepford Smiler
 * Depending on how you look at it, either subverted or taken Up to Eleven by
 * Stock Ninja Weaponry: The Ayakami ninja use shuriken, kunai, senbon, various swords and gama.
 * Stop Being Stereotypical: Sistah Spooky chews out Emp for crying, because she is "reinforcing stereotypes about female superheroes" or so.
 * Stripperiffic
 * Emp describes her own costume as "Painted-on Slutwear", and it was voted most "Sluttastic and Do-Me-Riffic". Consequently, she is not happy about it in the least.
 * Ninjette and Sistah Spooky aren't overdressed either.
 * Even the nurses in the Suprahuman Ward are stripperiffic -- female and male.
 * Stupid Statement Dance Mix
 * Stylistic Suck: The fanfiction in volume one is a pretty mild example, all considered.
 * Superheroes Wear Capes: By several; not by Emp however, to her chagrin.
 * Super Villain: A whole sub-culture of them, most of whom have captured and tied Emp at some time or another. And most of them treat her with more courtesy than her own teammates.
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: Was Emp ever spanked by Spookums? She doesn't want to comment.
 * Sweat Drop
 * Take a Bite Out of Crime: Emp does it when her suit doesn't work anymore. Well, at the beginning. Later she stopped it, because bitten mooks tend to have grudges.
 * Take That: Maidman may be a crossdresser, but at least he's not a furry. Because that would be embarassing.
 * Talking Your Way Out: Emp manages this on a few occasions.
 * Tampon Run: Thugboy has to do it.
 * The Tease: The author won't be showing any full nudity anytime soon.
 * Teeth Flying: Emp and Anglerfish. Compare how long his teeth were before and after Emp beat him up.
 * There Are No Therapists: Emp starts out a blatantly neurotic mess, and the more the supporting cast is developed the clearer it is that she is not alone.
 * Except Mindf██k, in a way. But she only therapizes herself.
 * This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: Used by many characters, including Emp.
 * This Is Gonna Suck
 * This Is Sparta: "Her. Boobs. Are. Faaake!"
 * Throw the Dog a Bone: There is one, just one panel in Volume 5 where Emp, after being kidnapped, actually smiles in anticipation, because the mooks have no idea what's coming.
 * Toplessness From the Back: Provided mostly by Emp herself with generous Ninjette assistance.
 * Training from Hell: Well, more of a Workout Session From Hell, but still...
 * Trrrilling Rrrs: Katastrophe. (It's not an accent, rather him purring to fit in with the sabertooth theme. Although sabertooth tigers probably are unlikely to purr.)
 * Tyrannosaurus Rex: King Tyrant Lizard (Invoked Trope -- see Meaningful Name -- but he isn't as tall as one, and also hasn't the short arms).
 * UST:
 * Vapor Wear
 * Nothing can be worn over or under the suit. Including pubic hair. The fact that it doesn't show off her nipples or "camel toe" is a Running Gag Noodle Incident in the series.
 * Ninjette doesn't wear underwear, either.
 * Villains Out Shopping: Subverted when we see a group of ninja hacking a body into 100 pieces (per the client's request) whilst one ninja is monitoring and idly browsing the web in the next room.
 * Villains Out Shopping: Subverted when we see a group of ninja hacking a body into 100 pieces (per the client's request) whilst one ninja is monitoring and idly browsing the web in the next room.


 * Virgin Power: Variant -- the "Seiseiryoku-henkan-sentou no jutsu" transforms sexual frustration into fighting power.
 * Visual Innuendo
 * More common for males, curiously enough, with ThugBoy as the primary target. Notice his gun on the cover of the first volume.
 * "Aieee! Me canoe be swampin'!"
 * Vomit Indiscretion Shot: For both Emp and ThugBoy.
 * Wall Crawling: Emp eventually discovers this as another of the suit's minor powers, much to Ninjette's chagrin.
 * Wall Jump
 * Ninjette -- 'cause, you know, Ninja.
 * Emp is even better when she discovers her suit can cling to surfaces.
 * Weaksauce Weakness
 * Empowered's supersuit gives her powers -- unless it's ripped or damaged. Which always happens. Good thing it can regenerate. This is very likely to be psychological rather than an actual weakness. After all, the suit was in tatters when she.
 * Also, Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash, too... A crippling phobia of fabric stores will suck the menace out of any villain.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?
 * ThugBoy and Emp suiting up in the manner of a Lock and Load Montage, complete with jump cuts and action lines...in fetish outfits.
 * Anything described by the Caged Demonwolf.
 * Whatevermancy: Ninjas in Empowered's world can learn all kinds of cool magic, like kyonyujutsu (fake boobery magic), sosuijutsu (fast/quick/early to be drunk magic), sekushi nyanko "Monroe walk" jutsu (sexy cat "Monroe walk" magic), and more.
 * What Measure Is a Mook?
 * Defied at the end of volume 2.
 * Played for laughs at the end of volume 3 however: "Okay, okay, a bunch of ninjas did wind up getting killed... But, pfft, WTFEVA. ████ 'em." These guys totally deserved it though.
 * What You Are in the Dark: With the exception of ThugBoy, Ninjette, The Caged Demonwolf, Ocelotina, Maidman, Sistah Spooky, Mindf██k, and Syndablokk, basically no-one believes Empowered is an effective superheroine -- in fact, thanks to Major Havoc, some people think she's a villain in disguise. And yet she still throws herself into being a superheroine unreservedly, because of this trope.
 * Whip It Good: Rum, Sodomy and the Lash.
 * Witch with a Capital B: Emp calls Spooky "a literal witch. Boo, hiss."
 * World of Cardboard Speech
 * During Emp's Crowning Moment of Awesome -- see "Crouching Moron Hidden Badass" above.
 * Earlier on, Syndablokk gets one when he explains that his power causes nothing but collateral damage (he has elemental command of masonry and stonework). Being one of the (very) few decent heroes, he's extremely reluctant to use his ability unless the villain's already wrecked everything around him.
 * Worst Whatever Ever: The Fanfic Major Havoc writes about himself is commented by the readers on the internet as this.
 * Writer Revolt: Empowered evolved from a series of bondage art commissions Warren was doing; he subverted the job by developing the characters he was using, and things snowballed.
 * X-Ray Vision: Another one of the suit's cool-but-useless-in-a-fight powers.
 * Xtreme Kool Letterz: dWARf! -- and yes, the exclamation point is part of his name.
 * Yaoi Fangirl
 * Empowered. Obviously.
 * A few of her female team-mates (Yummy Mummy and another one, unnamed as yet) have also gotten interested ... possibly even more than Emp herself.
 * You Bastard: About once a volume, Empowered will let the reader know how much she hates that someone is enjoying her bondage scenes. She also gets mad when she suspects a reader is staring at her butt.
 * You Need to Get Laid
 * You No Take Candle: See Husky Russkie. Also, Princess Arkashia from the same story.
 * Your Fanfic Needs Work: Major Havoc's fanfic about himself is derided by the internet folks as WORST. HAVOCFIC. EVER. And not just anyone: his fanfic, with its tragic lack of homoerotic undertones, is panned by one Elissa P.
 * Zerg Rush: The "Flood the Zone" tactic the Superhomeys attempt on Willy Pete. Now how did that work out again...?