Roommates (2007 webcomic)



"Somewhere, there is a place where all stories are real and all dreams are truth. This is not that place. This is not quite that place, but it's close."

- Narration form "Roommates 61 - Lundi"

Welcome to the Buildingverse! This article is about the Weekly Web Comic (normally updated on Mondays) that started all: Roommates by AsheRhyder and the fans on Deviant ART. It's mainly about Jareth, Erik, Commander James Norrington and Javert, who all live together in the same apartment building. Also along for the ride (occasionally) are Crowley, Aziraphale and Legolas and the romantic interests Christine and Sarah as they try to survive each other and life outside of their normal existence. This building, this town and possibly this whole world is a special place. Sure it looks quite normal on the surface (urban Present Day setting) but how sane can it be if Gandalf teaches science at the local university? All fiction exist as movies / books / etc. and as real past for the characters? And there isn't much of a fourth wall either...

Further expanded in the spinoffs Girls Next Door by Pika-la-Cynique and the Down the Street by Heroes-Daughter.

Someone does a(n admittedly less than perfect) Hungarian translation of it titled "Lakótársak" (Has a mirror here)

Not to be confused with the other Web Comic also called Roommates (Not Safe for Work).

Tropes - A-C
"Sarah: Right. Do you want to try explaining why they're all built like super-models, on top of being girls?..."
 * Actor Allusion: Lots and lots. The reason why Norrington can't stand Legolas and also why Erik gets younger and younger. The entire Copies miniarc.
 * Alliteration: Sweet sustained sonatas
 * Alliterative Title: More like Alliterative Subtitles actually. The pages of some (mini)arcs have these, like the Erlkönig Arc (pages 135-140) Loom, Lurk, Lee, Loss, Lethe, Legacy; or the Kid!Jareth Arc (pages 130-133) Falling, Flying, Faery Tale, Forsaken. See also: Pun-Based Title.
 * All Just a Dream:
 * All Love Is Unrequited : Averted marvelously... most of the time. Most characters, due to being villains or side characters, don't get the girl in their own canon. In the comic they are either given girlfriends, oneshot dates, or a chance with the canon love interest. But there's liberal doses of "He just never got over her..." for at least Erik.
 * Animesque
 * Anti-Heroic BSOD:
 * Art Evolution: Compare this to this and then this.
 * Art Shift: The more serious the mood the more realistic the art gets (but remains Animesque) just to become Super-Deformed when something silly happens.
 * Attractive Bent Gender: As Sarah called Jareth out about it:

"Erik: "...can't unsee..." *whimper*"
 * Also James in his own right.
 * Back to Back to Back Badasses: when.
 * Also, the imagery is invoked here, though Crowley and Az are dealing with a flood of information rather than physical opponents.
 * Zombies!
 * Beach Episode: The last third of the First Vacation Arc
 * Big Damn Heroes: Or Anti Heroes. The main cast here. Perfectly in line with Jareth's Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner.
 * Bittersweet Ending: Almost all the arcs with definite endings. The only thing the cast tends to win is the right to continue their life as it is now (with all its happiness, sadness, weirdness and relative freedom) and even that comes with a price.
 * Blood Magic:
 * Brain Bleach: Erik's reaction to seeing

"Mr. King: Fight for the ending you want. Somewhere someone will feel the same and believe. Then even if you lose, even if you die... you will live."
 * Break Them by Talking:
 * Brown Bag Mask: Javert here. Not only Jareth is guilty in the sin of vanity.
 * Call Back: Jareth to his own idealistic speech on page 100 here. Jadis to the Dark!Jareth arc here, Jareth to his father's advice about fighting for the ending he wants here.
 * Calling the Old Man Out: Jareth managed to do this to both of his parents at the end of Such Stuff as Dreams Are made On.
 * The Cameo: Lots.
 * Canonical Death Is Cheap: As a rule this is a comic where Nobody Can Die . But also characters can be dead in their own story and still be around and "alive" here so it's safe to say that nobody even stays dead (except some rare cases). This condition is called being "Canonically Dead" in the comic. Ashe playes with and lampshades it frequently ("Killed for canon" support group meetings; "Still Dead" checks; Confused undead etc.)
 * Casual Danger Dialog: James and House in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.
 * Censor Box: For swearing and threats, nudity, violence and occasionally not even for the readers!
 * Cerebus Rollercoaster: This is a highly Self-Aware, Comedy, Fan Service Web Comic with an overarching plot about the nature of stories and fictional characters (Can you fight your own story? Can you change what happened? etc.). Wait. WHAT?
 * Changeling Tale: The Erlkönig arc.
 * Character Rerailment: Invoked.
 * Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Probably not the characters but to quote:


 * Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: When you have a fight between Erik and Javert (French) and Commander Norrington and Jareth (British and... Um... "British"), this insult is obviously going to be used. Sometimes it's even used under the most ridiculous of circumstances- like in this mini arc.
 * Chekhov's Skill: The dramatic entrance techniques that James learned from Erik in Episode 68, posted in November 2008, show up again  over 32 months later
 * Cold Iron: Referenced by Sarah as one of the reasons why she doesn't believe that they managed to seriously injure Jareth with a steel sword... it's not Iron and even less Cold Iron. Her other reason was basically Media Classifications: "Nobody Can Die in our movie."
 * Continuity Creep: This series began basically as one of the Gag Per Day Webcomics before it got arc based (with longer and longer arcs) and got on with the Cerebus Rollercoaster (and exploring the consequences of it's own premise)... it didn't reached the level of an ongoing plot yet (or did it?) and sometimes still switches back to the original format.
 * Conversational Troping: Happens sometimes. Like this conversation about how Redemption Equals Death.
 * Cooldown Hug: James attempts to use this on  in Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On (See also: Heroic Sacrifice).
 * Crossover Ship: In-universe, there's  and.
 * Curb Stomp Battle:
 * Jareth vs. Erlkönig
 * Cast vs. Zombies
 * Sarah vs. "Odile"
 * Cuteness Overload: Every male character got KO-d by Frodo's illegal amount of cute... the girls seemed immune, though. On the other hand, nobody (except Javert and Jareth) can resist Misto.
 * Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: According to her son Jadis threatens him with "I'll bury you in snow until May" if he doesn't visit her for Christmas, being An Ice Person she is probably literal.

Tropes - D-H

 * Deal with the Devil: Mr. King offers one to his son, just to find that the kid isn't in the mood for games. Also a bit of an inversion as he offered a soul he already claimed for favors. Here.
 * Death by Origin Story: One of the two known ways to be Deader Than Dead in this world. As poor Tallahassee can attest. (See: the Tear Jerker page)
 * Did Mom Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: James's initial reaction to his mother seeing . Later subverted because the Cool Old Lady is hard to fool... she willingly romances (and trolls) "Cthulhu".
 * Discriminate and Switch: After she and Sarah find Valjean resting an unconscious Javert's head in his lap, Norrington's mother comments that the two of them seemed "so... you know... the f-word..." She means "French," of course.
 * Dream Within a Dream: Jareth's (mostly) Bad Dreams in Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On are all these.
 * Drowning My Sorrows: Valentine's Day is hard on a pair of romantic villains...
 * Norrington gets Off the Wagon this way once or twice.
 * Duet Bonding: Erik and Mag through singing here.
 * Dysfunction Junction: This comic has an entire cast from the more interesting fictional characters so this was inevitable.
 * Embarrassing Old Photo: Todd and Nathan have baby pictures of their daughters. Jareth has embarrassing photos of everybody (and even of events that never(?) happened).
 * Even the Girls Want Her:
 * Extranormal Institute: The St. Jude University where 3/4 of the main cast works. Plus others like Gandalf, Dr. Jones, Dr. House, and the tenth Doctor.
 * Face Palm: Let's just say that it happens a lot... Even a triple one isn't an imposibility.
 * The Fair Folk: Are ALL related to Jareth, apparently and they seem to be the magical third option between Heaven and Hell. Physically the pure-blooded ones tend to have Pointy Ears and Monochromatic Eyes. They also tend to possess Master of Illusion powers for varying levels. See also: Tangled Family Tree, Witch Species and Interspecies Romance
 * Failure Is the Only Option: The series runs on this and the characters don't mind it particularly. Every world shattering event that reached them yet would have made their life worse anyway.
 * Fairy Tale Motifs: Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On is full of them. As general classical archetypes  and specifically Swan Lake allusions.
 * Faking Amnesia: Averted but referenced here.
 * Faking the Dead: Jareth tries to do this dramatically
 * Fan Service: shirtless scenes, shower scenes, PrettyBoys, Ho Yay, beach episodes, the list goes on and on. And the cast knows this from the very beginning.
 * Feminine Women Can Cook: Averted. At least three female (and all quite old school so feminine) characters can be considered to be Lethal Chefs on some level.
 * Force Feeding:
 * Foreshadowing: Lots and lots. Sometimes even literally.
 * Fountain of Youth: Crystal Ball of youth. And the magic only lasts for thirteen hours (the Kids arc)
 * Friends with Benefits:
 * Glamour: Jareth casts one on  in the   arc, so that he could   Awww.
 * Der Erlkönig uses it too
 * Gratuitous Foreign Language: This has the local equivalent of Once upon a time... in several languages.
 * Gratuitous French: Sometimes. Ashe tried to leave other languages alone several times, as to date (s)he failed every time.
 * Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Sarah smacks  here. Also used by Javert on Heroic BSOD James here.
 * Halloween Cosplay: The other type of Halloween special around here. 2007 - Jareth&Erik as James&Javert. 2009 - the main cast as classic monsters.
 * Halloween Episode: Usually the highlight story arc of the year.
 * Hammerspace: Every character can produce his signature weapon out of nowhere (except maybe if someone explicitly takes it away but that's not tested), Jareth, being the Space Master, also anything else.
 * Happy Fun Ball: Each and every item by The Fair Folk ever no matter how innocent it looks. Be it a crystal or a slice of peach. (This is probably the only place in the multiverse where you can smell peaches when something metaphorically stinks.)
 * Heart Symbol: Every so often, like hearts used to dot exclamation points and a heart-shaped speech bubble with another little heart off to the side.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: James in the zombie arc.  And again in Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made On.
 * Hidden in Plain Sight: During the Mystery arc,

Tropes - I-M
"Jareth: How I've longed to say this..."
 * I Always Wanted to Say That: Here.

"Jareth: You would prefer to let him have nightmares and jump at shadows for the rest of his life?"
 * If I Do Not Return: Jareth here he goes to visit his mother.
 * If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Female-to-female example, delivered by Mrs. Norrington to  here.
 * Ignored Enemy:
 * "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Used (and referenced!) in this strip, while tries to reason with . Also used by Shadow!Erik on Mortal!Jareth with some mixed results.
 * Impossible Hourglass Figure: Ashe's way to draw women tends to look like this a lot.
 * I'm Standing Right Here: Well sitting, but you get the idea. James here.
 * I'm Taking Her Home with Me: Played with, as this isn't because of Cuteness Overload more like The Woobie effect (except if Jareth has some screwed up sense of cute... which is an option). For those who don't want to check out the page:
 * And a perfectly straight example happened when Sarah found Misto
 * Instant Cosplay Surprise: Almost always happens when Jareth uses his instant clothes ability on the others.
 * Instant Runes: Jareth's time magic has them.
 * Interspecies Romance: Invoked
 * In Which a Trope Is Described: Each page is given two different summaries in this format in the author's notes.
 * Kudzu Plot: Happens sometimes. The most glaring were the Second Vacation Arc and the Erlkönig arc . Also the Zombie arc, the invasion was stopped but nothing else was resolved.
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia:  Fails on , but at least manages to spare the kid some Bad Dreams. With this act he effectively declared   in-universe Nightmare Fuel:


 * Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Word of Ashe that this is the karaoke night for the main cast and nobody brought it up yet (but Jareth was shown to have pictures of it). Also the Amalthea incident for Lír.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: Even if only Jareth, Erik, James and Javert are counted as main cast but with the regulars the number of characters inflates to over 15 people. (With everybody ... just look at the characters page.)
 * Looming Silhouette of Rage: A textbook example.
 * Lotus Eater Machine:
 * Magic A Is Magic A: Played with.
 * Magical Land: The Underground, Oz, Narnia etc.. At the end of the Oz arc Jareth gives a bit of exposition about the rules of his magic effectively lampshading that Magical Lands are well... magic.
 * Magic Mirror: Jareth had one.
 * Manga Effects: Being Animesque, this is pretty much a given, but for example:
 * Blue with Shock: As close as we can get.
 * Cat Smile: The Doctor
 * Cross-Popping Veins: Many people but mostly Erik... he has a whole box full.
 * Giving Up the Ghost: Here goes James' self esteem.
 * Harsh Word Impact: Not so harsh word impact. Even absolute trust and good faith can hit you hard.
 * Hidden Eyes: Jareth here.
 * Shy Finger-Twiddling Erik here.
 * Visible Sigh: Like this.
 * Media Classifications: Made fun of a lot. Things like: Jareth (mostly) can't be harmed on screen and doesn't sustain injuries for long because of "PG" or any poor character's (but mostly Erik's) reaction to "R".
 * Medium Awareness: Most, if not all of the characters are aware that they are fictional characters. This is lampshaded frequently. Word of Ashe that the series has a fourth wall made of sugar-glass so it's less dangerous to break it... so almost No Fourth Wall at all.
 * Mega Crossover: All fiction seem to have a back door leading to the Building-verse (and back). This thought borders on The World as Myth.
 * Metafictional Device: The vine border in Such Stuff Dreams are Made On is a lot more than just a flourish indicating "dreams". (Check the Nightmare Fuel page)
 * Mexican Standoff: "So, why are we all lined up?"
 * The Missus and the Ex: Erik's here here. Went slightly melancholic.
 * My New Gift Is Lame: Unfortunately, all of them got the very same lame thing. Santa Claus must have something against them. Subverted with Javert, who is quite happy to receive a hefty lump of coal in the middle of winter, considering today's rising energy costs.

Tropes - N-R
"Jareth: Well, come along, Dorothy. We're Off to See the Wizard and all that jazz."
 * National Stereotypes: Animosities played straight: The French hate the "British", Europeans the Americans, and vice versa. Others mostly subverted (Like: the sillier characters tend to be the "British" ones).
 * Necktie Leash: Scarf leash but it fits.
 * Nobody Can Die: At least nobody who isn't verse-native (not tested) or Deader Than Dead. And here Deader Than Dead means (as far as we can see it yet): a) Your death is required for someone else's backstory characterization.  b) The fandom hates YOU..
 * Nonchalant Dodge:
 * Not Proven: Jareth's (and by extension his family's) involvement in any shenanigans and pranks ever can be summed up with this (except if he admits it). He even lampshades this in the second karaoke page.
 * Not What It Looks Like: Happened twice between
 * Odd Couple: Erik and Jareth. Legolas and Sweeney, but sadly, we don't see them so much. Dr. House and tenth Doctor.
 * Odd Name Out: The main cast. Javert, James, Jareth and Erik.
 * Offscreen Moment of Awesome: "The Doctors' (and Norrington's) Wacky Adventures through BBC" (Seems like the TARDIS for some reason brought them to all the shows Hugh Laurie was in.)
 * Also the cast's big fight with the zombies.
 * Off to See the Wizard: The Oz arc (The second part of The First Vacation arc).


 * Opposed Mentors: Jareth's parents  and they still fight (one is Old Fashioned Evil and the other a Magnificent Bastard Trickster). This seems to be one of the reasons they divorced.
 * Our Angels Are Different: As seen here this verse has some pretty old-school angels (and ex-angels).
 * Painting the Medium: Different characters' speech is written in different fonts, and various kinds of speech bubbles are used depending on the character's mood.
 * Pair the Spares:
 * Parent Trap Plot: Averted. You would think that a page with the subtitle "Parent Trap" would be this... no it's not, it's the Parent with New Paramour example later.
 * Parent with New Paramour: What can be more awkward than seeing your parent flirt/go out? If (s)he flirts/goes out with your friends parent!
 * Personal Raincloud: James here.
 * Pet the Dog / Even Evil Has Standards : Jareth in this comic.
 * Plot Armor: James has it!
 * Post-Modern Magik: In the days of old you communicated with powerful entities through elaborate rituals, nowadays you can have their phone number.
 * Power Incontinence: When Jareth has a cold interesting things can happen. Like:
 * - Because the readers demanded it and with this the last bricks of the Fourth Wall are also gone. Here.
 * - Not a direct result of all the magic running wild but
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner:  to  : "Hi. I'm here to tell you about the dangers of identity theft." *CLANG*
 * Pretty Boy: A VERY large portion of the cast, but not enough to qualify as a Cast Full of Pretty Boys mostly because there are enough strong women in the series who get panel time.
 * Pun-Based Title: Again, with subtitles, actually... Ashe gave us: (pages 184-185) Challenge-Accepted and (pages 187-188) Reflexes-Checked.
 * Reality Warping Is Not a Toy: A highly meta example. The cast members are fictional characters; their reality is their (canon and fanon) story. If writers, authors and other assorted storytellers mess with it, the result won't be pretty. Poor Morgan.
 * Rebus Bubble: 1+1 = ><> ; Legolas = Will Turner (Here.)
 * Redemption Equals Death: James, in a lampshade-tastic conversation about the trope itself.
 * Revised Ending: Discussed.
 * Road Movie: The First Vacation arc seems to be this initially . The Second Vacation arc plays this trope pretty straight it's a tubing trip down the river.
 * Rooftop Confrontation: Planned by Dark!Jareth... it didn't go too well.
 * Rules of the Internet: Jareth misuses Rule 34 here. It's clearly Rule 63! Or is it? Oh! And he has pics!
 * Running Gag: The dreaded fruit basket. Jareth's inability to do good. Jareth's friends and family. . The English-French hostility. Erik's aversion to glitter. etc. And then there is the fainting and carrying stuff that Javert so doesn't want to turn into a running gag (which pops up again later on).
 * Redemption Equals Death: James, in a lampshade-tastic conversation about the trope itself.
 * Revised Ending: Discussed.
 * Road Movie: The First Vacation arc seems to be this initially . The Second Vacation arc plays this trope pretty straight it's a tubing trip down the river.
 * Rooftop Confrontation: Planned by Dark!Jareth... it didn't go too well.
 * Rules of the Internet: Jareth misuses Rule 34 here. It's clearly Rule 63! Or is it? Oh! And he has pics!
 * Running Gag: The dreaded fruit basket. Jareth's inability to do good. Jareth's friends and family. . The English-French hostility. Erik's aversion to glitter. etc. And then there is the fainting and carrying stuff that Javert so doesn't want to turn into a running gag (which pops up again later on).

Tropes - S-Z
"Javert: You were monologued to death?"
 * Schmuck Bait: It kicks off the Kids arc. "What does this glowing orb do?"
 * Security Cling: Legolas did the leaping into another person's arms variety.  Erik after he got out of his Heroic BSOD.
 * "Shut Up" Kiss: Sarah to Jareth here.
 * Single Palette Town: The Emerald City as observed by James.
 * Slow No: Invoked and Parodied here.
 * Snicket Warning Label: The penultimate strip of the Zombie Halloween arc notes that those who want it to have an unequivocally happy ending should "cue credits here." The ending is a rapid switch from humorous to heartbreaking. (Warning for Zombieland spoilers!)
 * Speed Echoes: Legolas can climb trees FAST!
 * Spin-Off: Has many. Just check out the fan group. But the main ones that have trope pages are:
 * Pika-la-Cynique's Girls Next Door. It started as just an alternate twist on events from the girls' point of view, but has since developed its own storyline and character development.
 * Heroesdaughter's Down the Street. It focuses on a nearby building where Frankenstein and Dracula are sharing an apartment.
 * Splash of Color: Not counting covers and specials: Cristine's garment piece in the washing machine and its effect. The splatter in Mystery. When Javert met Valjean again. The green fairy. The full color page for Jareth's confession. The colored panel for James' speech.
 * Talking the Monster to Death: Mentioned as Jareth's cause of defeat when the boys watch Labyrinth together.

"1) Shilo: "Still, it's not like we're going to find any psycho killers or wicked manipulators in this place..." Next panel Erik and Jareth
 * Later it's revealed in a heartbreaking (mini)arc that  with the very SAME monologue and appearently also works on Ringwraiths.
 * Tangled Family Tree: It has been established that in the continuity of the comic, pretty much the entire magical community of every fandom ever is related in one way or another.
 * Even a few non-majic characters are somehow connected through the magic family tree. Case in point, Morgan is Jareth's Aunt and mother, which makes the two of them cousins. Jareth's father   currently dates   if this lasts the two will become stepbrothers.
 * Tempting Fate: Most of the time the characters are too Genre Savvy for this, but still happens sometimes:

2) Erik: (Talking about )"I doubt Christine will even notice."

3) James: "I'll be right back.""

"Javert:"
 * Theory of Narrative Causality: Played with, discussed, lampshaded, etc. for comedy and tragedy.
 * This Means War: Several times in a not too serious manner: Jareth to Erik and Jareth to Misto. And as a warning but perfectly straight: Jareth to his mother. Yeah. Jareth seems to be fond of this trope.
 * Timey-Wimey Ball: Lampshaded. Jareth has Time Magic trust him you don't want to risk this.
 * The Trickster: The resident one is Jareth but his whole family has shades of this.
 * Tropaholics Anonymous: The "Killed for Canon" meeting.
 * True Companions: Mr. King acknowledges that the main cast and Sarah are this for his son in Such Stuff.
 * Underestimating Badassery: Happens quite often (World of Badass masquerading as Slice of Life Fantastic Comedy and all) even if it rarely escalates into physical violence. Like to James in their movie night (See the Funny moments subpage), or to Jareth a lot of times (as he is also a well Hidden Badass), or to Legolas (so his performance in the Zombie arc was quite the shock for many).
 * Unholy Matrimony: In the comic's Backstory.  were married once. How loving this relationship was is debatable because both are kinda clueless about the concept for some degree or another and   sounds a lot like she was aiming for Evil Overlord Breeding Act.
 * Unsound Effect: Dropping! Yeah. This is the very first page. It still happens.
 * Vanity Is Feminine: Averted hard. Jareth is the poster boy but all four main cast members are guilty.
 * The Verse: Roommates and its Spin Offs are the Buildingverse.
 * Villainous Breakdown:
 * Villainous Fashion Sense: The Fair Folk take the cake but Erik and to a lesser extent, Javert, are also guilty of this... or let's be fair, it's harder to find someone who isn't!
 * Villainous Rescue: Jareth tries  this when.
 * Villains Out Shopping: Shopping, at work, doing laundry, having movie night... The series kind of runs off of Villains Out Shopping, if for no other reason than most of the characters are villains.
 * Visible Silence: ...
 * Wham! Episode: The Dark!Jareth arc.
 * Wingding Eyes: "Circles around pupils and nothing else" a lot. "Spirals" sometimes.
 * Witch Species:
 * A Wizard Did It: By the fans of this comic this is called A Fae Did It! ... they are right most of the time...
 * World of Badass: Don't let the Slice of Life exterior fool you almost all characters are Badass in some way... for their misfortune this isn't the place to show it.
 * World of Snark: Yeah. Also. Go to the character sheets and count the Deadpan Snarker related tropes.
 * Xanatos Speed Chess:  in Such Stuff as Dreams are Made On. He won. Sort of.
 * You Can't Fight Your Story: Recurring theme of the darker stories for some years.
 * You're Insane!: Used by Javert against :


 * Your Soul Is Mine: Seems like Mr. King took  here and put it into a crystal while his body is in coma or dying.