Warrior U



Warrior U is a defunct humour/fantasy web comic set in medieval times by deviantart's hot-choc chronicling the adventures of its effeminate main character Finn; an author described "spoiled brat" who dreams of one day becoming a bard. Problem is, to qualify for this he must survive a semester of warrior classes at his local university: "Warrior U". Luckily for him, Finn is joined by his "best friend" Harv, the most promising student in the class, who he relies on for protection as well as company.

The series revolves around these two, as well as many other likable/terrifying characters, including Finn's glamorous evil sorceress mother Leenan, Harv's bratty and drooling little brothers, the teaching staff and other students at Warrior U, and a psychopathic Unicorn with a taste for homicide and a liking for Finn...

While the original website hosting the comic is long gon, it can be found on the Wayback Machine here.

"Harv: You've been in this class for months! How can you not know anyone's names?! Finn: I CAN'T EVEN SEE THEIR FACES!!"
 * Ambiguously Brown: Harv is tan-ish, and has dreadlocks. Though it might just be because he lives on a farm.
 * Art Evolution: It's subtle, but over the course of the series a few things change, namely:
 * Harv grows stouter and his hair becomes more bushy,
 * Finn's hair becomes less curly and more feathered, and he adopts a more slouched, cat-like stance.
 * Bamboo Technology: The cup phones.
 * Beach Episode: A six-part 'arc' where Finn takes over the class and takes everyone to the beach. Everyone gets detention.
 * Beauty Equals Goodness: Subverted. Leenan is not nice or liked, and everyone knows it.
 * Berserk Button: Finn and Harv's teacher when logic is used on him
 * Bratty Half-Pint: Harv's brother Rhodri
 * Burn the Witch: Played straight with Finn's Mom in author art and used for another reason with Finn and Harv in another one.
 * One arc features Hevvin framing Finn for murder and convincing the villagers to burn him at the stake.
 * Camp Straight: Finn, according to Word of God.
 * Cast of Snowflakes
 * Chronic Hero Syndrome: Harv. He tries to fight it, but tends to give in in the end.
 * Cliff Hanger: Finn and Harv's duel with their teacher
 * Clothing Damage: There was an entire story line where Harv's clothes would for various reasons end up falling off piece by piece.
 * Continuity Nod: The hole in Finn's stomach caused by Hevvin. Originally, hot-choc intended it to be a throw-away joke, but she then admitted that she couldn't draw him without it.
 * The Dandy: Finn.
 * Disappeared Dad: In a Question and Answer segment hot-choc did on deviantART it's implied that Leenan has no idea who Finn's father is.
 * Disguised in Drag: Rhodri dresses and works as Emet for a day, which goes fairly smoothly until until someone tries to propose to 'Emet'... and gets Rhodri instead.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Harv and Finn are late to class, so the teacher decides they should be put to death.
 * The Ditz: Everybody has their moments, although Finn is the most prominent example.
 * The Faceless: Finn and Harv's classmates in all but the first issue.
 * Trevor and Cliff will never have their full bodies in a panel at any time, and their faces are never shown (the exception being during the tournament, though their faces are still not seen). Lampshaded in one strip where Finn is unable to remember their names:

"Finn: I was once a cute child with a sparkle in my eye, look at me! I'm adorable!"
 * Fan Art: By the fans, and hot-choc herself.
 * Fan Service: Most of hot-choc's watchers are Yaoi Fan Girls so the Ambiguously Gay relationship between Finn and Harv play up to this.
 * Fantastic Comedy
 * Fetish: Hevvin has one for death in general.
 * Four-Fingered Hands
 * Hair Flip: Finn tries to copy Darren's hair flip... with poor results.
 * Hide Your Lesbians: Harv/Finn and Hevvin/Finn. The artist supports both pairings, but will continue to hint at them rather than make them canon. The author said before she's actually a bit scared to make it canon, since she is afraid it will deter readers from her comic, but in all honesty would love to make it part of the comic.
 * Idiot Hero: Both Finn and Harv sometimes qualify.
 * Imagine Spotting: When Finn recalls the day he 'met' Hevvin, he apparently assumes Harv can see his memories.

"Headmaster: What do you think? Too candy factory?"
 * Jerkass: Finn, sometimes. Though he probably does it unintentionally
 * Last of His Kind: Hevvin is the last unicorn (in England anyway). It's worth mentioning this is because he killed all the others...
 * Late for School: Emet makes it a point to never be on time for class.
 * Light Is Not Good: Unicorns are traditionally seen as sweet, gentle and noble... This one, however, is clearly not.
 * Limited Wardrobe: Makes sense for Harv, who's a poor peasant. Subverted in some side-art.
 * Literal-Minded: Hevvin.
 * The Load: Played straight and subverted with Finn during his and Harv's duel with their teacher: though Finn spends most of the duel screaming in terror behind Harv's back, he's the reason they win in the end.
 * No Indoor Voice: Rhodri.
 * Off-Model: hot-choc has admitted that when she has a bad day her character models suffer.
 * Older Than They Look: Harv and Finn look slightly younger than 14, but not too much.
 * Paper-Thin Disguise: Hevvin's human form, considering his skin is white and his horn is still there. In one strip had a note on his horn which read "not a horn"
 * The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Despite it being his dream, Finn is rarely seen doing anything to do with becoming a bard.
 * Power Perversion Potential: Hevvin's ability to transform into a human.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Hevvin is 170, which translates as 17 in his human form.
 * Sadist Teacher
 * Screwed by the Network: The college rag Warrior U ran in originally often screwed up the order of the strips.
 * Ship Sinking: Sort of; the author has revealed there will never be official Finn/Harv published in the comic, but she still ships them, so her side artworks makes up for it.
 * Ship Tease: Despite her officially stating within the comic they're only friends at this point, she really likes throwing her fans a bone now and then, since she herself is a fan of the pairing.
 * Shout-Out: Hevvin is The Last Unicorn
 * Leenan is seen flipping 'channels' on her Crystal Ball, the shows she flips past are Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy, The Fairly OddParents, and Camp Lazlo, all of which are some of hot-choc's favorite shows.
 * Leenan also makes a few poisoned apples to get rid of the neighbors. The neighbors happen to be Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs.
 * The Headmaster tries to dress up to address his students. One of the options is Willy Wonka's purple suit.


 * Slasher Smile: Hevvin in more ways than one!
 * Sweet Polly Oliver: Emet goes to Warrior class disguised as a boy so she can actually get an education.
 * Sweet on Polly Oliver: While Rhodri pretends to be Emet while she's out Emit's admirer Sheil tries to court him.
 * Sword Fight
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension: Finn's effeminate ways make Harv feel...odd.
 * Teens Are Monsters: Word of God says that Hevvin is seventeen (in unicorn years), which is why his human disguise is a teenager.
 * Villain with Good Publicity: Hevvin - Not because of anything he's done, but because of his species' reputation.
 * The Voiceless: The King and Princess speak such thick royalese that no one understands a word they say. Most people just play along and roll with it. The Princess is very profound in her gestures, and pictures in speech bubbles are used to represent what she might be feeling or thinking at the time while the King only says the word 'Bu'.
 * When I Was Your Age: The Old Witches spout off lots of these to Leenan.
 * Word of Gay: According to hot-choc, Finn is actually straight while Harv is gay but in denial about it.
 * Yes-Man: Finn and Harv's teacher to the Headmaster.