Atop the Fourth Wall/Tropes A To D

"You can view the main page HERE!

Tropes E-P HERE!

Tropes Q-Z HERE!

Storyline Tropes HERE!"

""Circe the sorceress sells circular seashells by the seashore for sixty cents.""
 * Acceptable Targets: in-universe: Gary Brodsky, Rob Liefeld, and anyone responsible for a horrible comic.
 * The Irate Gamer, whom he seems to think is a moron.
 * One More Day, to the point where he had the Continuity Alarm on standpoint to attack him when it was brought up.
 * Frank Miller, whose fall from comic fans' grace has been the subject of his recurring AT4W sub-segment Miller Time.
 * Accentuate the Negative: Averted, surprisingly. While he makes it plain that he's only interested in reviewing bad comics on At4W, he's very evenhanded in his handling with them, making a point to note when comics do things right and well.
 * For example, a scene in Ultimatum involving Thor and a deceased Captain America fighting the Legions of Hel (No, This One) for Valkyrie's soul impressed Linkara enough to almost declare that Ultimatum wasn't really all that bad... only to be completely disgusted by how The Blob is found by Hank Pym in the next scene.
 * Played straight in Pokémon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu, where he opens the review saying the games are fun, then makes sure to ask about everything that's absurd on the franchise (10 year-olds being warranted the license to train monsters which can level towns; weird monsters which include rocks, ghosts, and plants being somehow genetically related; and how Pokémon evolution is more growing up than evolving). He then proceeds to pick apart the entire comic like one of his regular reviews... only to end the review proclaiming it doesn't suck at all and was a rather enjoyable read.
 * Acting For Several:
 * Linkara also plays a number of Drop In Characters, including obnoxious X-TREEM teenager '90s Kid (and counterparts '60s Kid and '80s Chick), lounge singer Harvey Finevoice, evil robot doppelganger Mechakara, the mysterious Phantasm, the unfraggable Ensign Munro, Anti-Hero Cable, Ninja-Style Dancer, and Dr. Linksano.
 * Iron Liz has also played herself, and two alt. versions of herself.
 * Will Wolfgram has played Vyce, SNOWFLAME!, and now.
 * Action Girl: Iron Liz would like to introduce you to her two friends. -ahem-
 * Actually Pretty Funny: His reaction to Nightcat's car being called the Cat-Illac
 * Heck, he liked her ninja-style-dancer idea enough to bring in one as a recurring character!
 * He laughs his head off at a middle-aged librarian-ish teacher telling Dr. Doom to "gaze upon my radiant beauty and despair," saying the whole comic was worth it for that (it was probably an intentional joke).
 * More a case of "Actually Pretty Good", he admits Spawn #1 is probably one of the better things to come out of early Image Comics. (And unlike most comics he reviews, he sets it down gently instead of throwing it onto the couch.)
 * A couple of moments in Ultimatum #1 & #2 were actually pretty funny, but were not enough to save the comic.
 * He also points out that while the jokes themselves are funny, they happen during pretty dark moments, making them inappropriate.
 * In the Mightily Murdered Power Ringers review, he praises a couple of the jokes (like the Muggles discussing Hero Insurance) despite the fact that he really doesn't like the rest of the comic.
 * Added Alliterative Appeal:
 * From Amazons Attack:

""So, where were we? Ah, yes the chimera of crappy comics that is Countdown to Final Crisis... I love alliteration.""
 * In the Countdown review.

""Over to the cluster-crap of clone combat... I love alliteration.""
 * In his Maximum Clonage review:

""Why is Child Endangerment your first plan. Or maybe it's because he's evil. Seriously, look at that expression, he's probably going to go outside and laugh his rabbit ass off about this"
 * His real name even does this, perhaps the reason he loves alliteration.
 * The Alcoholic: Linkara's impression of Ultimate Tony Stark/Iron Man. He is *ALWAYS* drunk.
 * All Just a Dream: The beginning of the Sultry Teenage Super-Foxes #2 review. Linkara happily assumes that the existence of the comic in question was also just a dream...until he notices the copy in his hand.
 * All There in the Manual: Linkara complains about this tendency in big crossover events and non-crossover events. He feels that, though there is nothing wrong with a big event having extra features in other comics, if they are a requirement for a full understanding of the event then they are not "extra" at all and, as such, should be included in the main title. It reaches its nadir in Silent Hill Dead/Alive, where the author neglected to put several important plot points and character motivations into the story itself, forcing readers to comb through the opening descriptions of what happened in each previous issue to have any hope of following the story...and then these sections were removed from the trade edition.
 * Alternative Character Interpretation: Because many of the comics he reviews are adaptations or reinterpretations of already-established characters, Linkara often does his best to reconcile their poor actions in the current story with their predominant characterization:
 * According to Linkara, the Goddamn Batman from All Star Batman & Robin is not actually Batman, but a hobo named Crazy Steve who somehow got his hands on Batman's costume.
 * He also thinks the Superman in Superman At Earths End is some random hobo who found Superman's outfit and names him Bearded Idiot.
 * He interpreted the Kool-Aid Man as a homicidal maniac who has cameras watching people over the entire world.
 * He decided that the "Tandy Computer Whiz Kids" were police plants, and supports this in that the police actually listen to them when they kids call them about their being criminals, which any real world cops would dismiss as prank call.
 * A broader version occurs in the 22 Brides review he regards One More Day as Joe Quesada's attempt to undo 22 Brides.
 * Linkara assumes that not only did the Olympian gods show up on the wrong day, but the character who rips himself free of his crucifixion in The Godyssey is not Jesus, but rather Jesús, the Christian Martial Artist.
 * In the Nestle/Superman crossover he suggests that the Quik Bunny might actually be a villain from the number of suggestions he makes that send the children into dangerous situations.

"Lindsay: That's right...I'm The Nostalgia Chick!
 * He also believes that Mr. T. Comics, are a response to "Rise of Arsenal."
 * Aluminum Christmas Trees: Some people actually think Linkara made up that "It's magic. I don't have to explain it" phrase and meant it in all seriousness, not realizing that this is actually a shot at Joe Quesada's justification for One More Day.
 * American Accents: At times, his Minnesota accent can be particularly notable, especially in the way he pronounces "room" as "rum". He even comments that he's found himself pronouncing it "room" more often, especially after the Top 15 Screw-ups video.
 * Anachronism Stew: While he points out that the Game Boy comics were made before Mario was given an official voice, he reads Mario's lines in an impression of Charles Martinet's portrayal, "for simplicity's sake".
 * Ancient Egypt: A freakin' Death Trap, according to him.
 * Angrish: Linkara's reaction to Silent Hill Dead/Alive #2 using Evil Dead's "Groovy" line.
 * Also in the ""Previously On..."" intro for the Daredevil #306 review:

Linkara: Huh? Buh? Whu-with the bowtie-and-buh...What?"

""I remind you all that this is taking place on Phobos, a moon of Mars -- you know, in the Solar system! That whole nine planets thing, bunch of malarkey. We have at least twenty planets, and some of them are pink, purple, green and magenta. Astronomy is a lie."
 * Anything But That: Read Warrior #2 and #3 or watch TNA Impact. Take the former.
 * April Fools' Day: Linkara became "Lester B. Bum" and reviewed Watchmen in an imitation of the "Bum Reviews" style.
 * And for 2011, he did a Triple Feature; Bear "reviewed" One More Day, he gave a 'very' brief review of Titans #23, and introduced a radical new direction in Mighty and Morphing Power Rangers.
 * Arc Fatigue: His in-universe words (not ours) on the Clone Saga
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Among the criminals Linkara suggests Athena could be attempting to bust (which the comic never says), he includes drug dealers, gun smugglers and Arby's Sauce bootleggers.
 * During Electric Tale of Pikachu #1, Linkara exclaims that ghosts exist, have special attacks, and smile.
 * Artifact Catchphrase: Linkara mentions in the Mightily Murdered Power Ringers review that some viewers have complained about the lack of comic-burning in later reviews.
 * Artistic License Astronomy: In his Secret Defenders review, talking about the backgrounds filled with alien planets and moons --

"Linkara: Not only does cocaine not work that way, plants don't work that way, and PHOTOSYNTHESIS SURE AS HELL DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!"
 * Artistic License Biology: Linkara points out several in the New Guardians review:
 * You cannot spread AIDS simply from biting someone else unless the biter was bleeding from the mouth at the time and that blood made contact with the blood exposed from the bite wound. Saliva itself cannot transmit HIV.
 * Apparently, Photosynthesis works by absorbing elements around it, which resulted in Floronic Man to get a contact high by absorbing cocaine from the bodies of the druggies they were trying to fend off...

""...They could rock a gun like NO OTHEEER!!!""
 * Brute Force #1 has the implication that animals could talk if they were just more intelligent despite inherently lacking the physical capability to talk.
 * When reviewing Amazing Fantasy #15 he interjected with "spiders aren't insects" when reading one of the captions that described the radioactive spider.
 * Artistic License Chemistry: Isodesium. Former trope name (Elements Don't Work That Way) almost stated word-for-word.
 * In Cry for Justice, when Clayface's bomb was designed to change its composition every few fractions of a millisecond during the blast. "Nope. Uh-uh. I don't buy it for one minute. Explosions do not work that way."
 * Artistic License Economics:
 * Linkara points out that Argos Bleak is low-balling himself when he asks for only one million dollars as a ransom upon stealing a nuke and how two of the antagonists in Neutro would devalue the world's currencies by "stealing all the world's wealth in a day."
 * In Batman: Fortunate Son, he points out that Izaak's "Selling Out" goes against basic capitalism. He also suggested that he just donate the money to charity if he felt so bad about being paid for his work.
 * In Air Raiders, he points out that Aerozar picked the worst resource to control the population with. While he could have cut off their food or water supply, he picks air. Note that everybody in the comic can still breathe unless the plot requires them not to.
 * In Sultry Teenage Super Foxes #1 Linkara points out a machine that turns things to gold (and teenage idiots into super"heroes") would easily pay for itself given enough time. While noting that making gold would be an example of this trope, he points out that any other number of uses for the machine (such as making nuclear waste into something useful, or at least something less deadly) would work.
 * In James Bond Jr. #3, he states that Goldfinger's plan to melt Eldorado would simply devalue the gold market. Ironically, that was a huge chunk of the point in the film Goldfinger: Goldfinger planned to irradiate Fort Knox rather than rob it, so that the gold he already had would become more valuable. However, in the comic, Goldfinger merely wanted to steal the gold, not destroy it; as such, with as much gold as El Dorado has, stealing it would devalue gold all over, including what Goldfinger had, already.
 * He also likes to make fun of so-called "collector's edition" issues of comic books, pointing out the most popular fallacy about comic books being more valuable in the future if it is a "collector's edition". And in his "Top 15 Missed Moments" video, he has Lee from Still Gaming cameo for a joke about a similar fallacy regarding collectible cards (which Lee himself did a video about).
 * Artistic License Geography: That non-existent little Peruvian village in James Bond Jr. #3 is named Puerto, which means "Port", but is not near any sufficiently large body of water to warrant the name.
 * This is not entirely true, however, as the word can also mean a mountain pass, which could apply to the geographic location of the village.
 * Artistic License History: Nineties Kid thinks that Doom was an accurate account of WWII.

"Linkara: "Dammit Fabian Nicieza, stop showing up in my reviews, you're not a bad writer.""
 * According to the "Tandy Computer Whiz Kids: Fit to Win" comic, the first all-electronic computers were made in America, not England as Linkara pointed out in his "Top 15 Screw-Ups". When the piece of trivia pops up again in the crossover with Superman and Wonder Woman, Linkara deduces that the statement was a bold-faced lie.
 * Artistic License Law: In Batman Fortunate Son, Robin -- a fan of the musician he and Batman are pursuing -- at one particular moment of tension questions whether the musician has actually done anything wrong or illegal. Linkara points out that yes, there actually are quite a few things wrong and illegal about blowing up a music studio.
 * Artistic License Physics: Lampshaded with the running gag of "Of course! Don't you know anything about science?"
 * A particularly egregious example is in Superman: Distant Fires, where nuclear war somehow causes the planet to rip itself apart. Just to illustrate how dumb the science is, he apparently asks members of Twitter approximately how many nuclear bombs are required to destroy the Earth. Their answer can be summed up as "A Lot", or to be it in broader terms, more than currently exist. Or can realistically be made given the current state of Earth's resources.
 * Linkara goes on at considerable length during the Ultimatum reviews about the series confusing the Earth's magnetic poles and its rotational axis.
 * Artistic License Religion:
 * Linkara points out that despite what Chuck Austen says in Uncanny X-Men #424, Catholics do NOT believe in the pre-tribulation Rapture. Also, it is highly unlikely, if not impossible, for the Church of Humanity to have any influence in the papal elections.
 * The tribulation itself is said to be a time of sheer terror, the length varies depending on where you look, before Christ returns. Unless the Church of Humanity has the resources to cause this, which involves war famine, plagues, etc., people would eventually figure something was wrong.
 * Linkara points out Brazil's dominant religion is Christianity, as opposed to what was seen in Zero Patrol #1.
 * Ascended Extra: Pollo the Robot started out as a Brick Joke in his Amazons Attack review to illustrate that "not even robots can handle" the bad comic. However, since then Pollo has become a very important character on Atop the Fourth Wall, more so even than Burton himself on the Experiment. He appears to have taken on the on-screen role of Linkara's producer. The prop itself was a puppet made for the Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan-vid he made in high school and was used as Lewis even said in his "Origins" VLOG that he was concerned that people would see it as derivative of Spoony's Burton (indeed, many assume Pollo was created to be an Expy of Burton).
 * Atomic F-Bomb: Despite the fact that Linkara does not say the major swear words, this trope applies to JLA: Act of God part 2, when Linkara gets permission from the Continuity Alarm to go on a rant about the idea of Lois Lane dumping Clark Kent after the latter loses his powers:
 *  BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULLL! CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP! 
 * When summing up the unaired Wonder Woman pilot, even Linkara joins Film Brain in a heartfelt FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU-
 * Author Appeal:
 * Linkara loves the Titans, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold and taking pot shots at One More Day. He also likes Harley Quinn, but who doesn't? He also likes dramatic, arc-based plots, so he is doing his damnedest to give his show one.
 * Fabian Nicieza seems to get an exemption from being labeled as a bad author despite his frequent appearances on the show. According to Linkara, his overall quality as writer is quite good and the comics which are featured are the lower end of his portfolio and not an accurate overall representation.

""You can summon krakens and all manner of deadly sea creatures and now you're "The Hand"!?!""
 * Given his utter joy whenever he's reviewed a comic featuring Captain America in it, it's quite clear that Linkara's a fan of the Captain. Look no further than his Secret Origins Month review of Captain America Comics #1 for proof.
 * Author Filibuster:
 * He likes to complain about One More Day. A lot.
 * At one point he goes off topic to rant about nuclear power and Jimmy Carter. Lampshaded with an "OMG!!! POLITICS!!!" tag.
 * His review of "Athena #1" is strictly in response to people questioning his views on women, sexuality, revealing clothing and anatomy. He starts off the review itself with a rant properly explaining all of that, and goes from there.
 * Explicitly avoided in Action Comics #593, where he notes that this is not the time for a long rant on the use of rape as a plot device, so he instead directs us to someone else's website (the source of the page quote on Gratuitous Rape) who he thinks details the problem much better than he could.
 * Autobots Rock Out: Uses "The Touch" for a particularly badass Optimus moment in his review of Transformers #4-5.
 * Awesome McCoolname: During the review of World Of Warcraft 2-3 he lampshades how ridiculous the names sound and then jokingly states he is going to change his name to "Awesome McBadass Powerfist".
 * Awesome but Impractical :
 * Linkara's description of the lock to Mr. Miracle and Big Barda's house in Action Comics #593
 * Linkara's Zeonizers. A whole lot stronger than his usual Power Morpher... but while that works whenever it's needed, the Zeonizers require incredibly long charging time after each use before they can be used again.
 * Badass: Ensign Munroooo, baby!
 * Badass Boast: "I am a MAN!!"
 * Linkara gives rather a lengthy and awesome one at the end of his Silent Hill: Dead/Alive review (full version in the quotes page), in which he lists all the awesome things he has done, the enemies he has faced, and how he's much more stable than any Silent Hill protagonist, so attempting to drive him to suicide with trickery is futile.
 * Badass Bookworm
 * Badass Decay: Linkara dislikes in-universe how the trope was handled in JLA: Act of God, which revolved around all the heroes being Brought Down to Normal. He particularly disliked what they did with Aquaman.

"Linkara: Sweet! New gun!"
 * Batman Can Breathe in Space: And so can the Kool-Aid Man (But we get it, he will not freeze, we are all aware that liquids evaporate first in a vacuum)
 * Battle Couple: Linkara and Iron Liz, as proven in the Ewoks #9 review
 * The Bechdel Test: Applied to Sultry Teenage Super Foxes, an example of how an Improbably-Female Cast can still fail this. The main characters are all indeed women and they do talk to each other, but pretty much every single line they speak has to do with men and their ability to attract men. Even obtaining superpowers was nothing more than a means to the end of them attracting guys.
 * Also in the US-1 #2 review, where the two newly-introduced named female characters, Mary McGrill and Taryn O'Connell, talk to each other, but they only talk about a man.
 * Beeping Computers: In his Let's Play of Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force Linkara points out the ridiculous extent the computers Chell and Biessman are working on are beeping while trying to eavesdrop in a conversation.
 * Berserk Button: He especially hates it when iconic, established characters get changed. Bearded Idiot: At Earth's End was the first comic to ever actually be burnt on AT4W, followed by The Dark Knight Strikes Again. JLA: Act of God would have been burned had it not been for Linksano's interference. He also despises straw feminist because it does more to damage to feminism than the avowed chauvinists ever could. However, above it all is One More Day. In his "Top 15 Comics I'll Never Review" video he explained that he would not review that comic because he hated it so much that he wants to forget it ever existed. He concluded his summary with "Joe Quesada... YOU! ARE! A! HACK!"
 * He loses it VERY badly in his review of Cry for Justice, with
 * Comics that feature two page spreads that require the book to be rotated ninety degrees.
 * "Laser Bat" from NBComics #1.
 * His Let's Play of Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force reveals that he really, really hates small, fast-moving crawling enemies in first-person shooters, to the point that he decides to not use his much weaker weapons (capable of killing the worms in one hit) in favor of using a Grenade Launcher.
 * He hilariously snaps in the review of Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan #2,
 * Any time a comic shows misogyny, homophobia, racism, or ableism.
 * The propaganda comic Future Five, which implies that people who don't go to college and people who work in fast food or other such jobs are beneath college grads and that those who aren't college grads are idiots.
 * He also despises pompous Luddites that reject technology on the basis that Science Is Bad, as seen in his joint review of Star Trek: Insurrection with The Nostalgia Critic.
 * Most of that particular rant was because A) the anti-tech message completely went in the face of the message of Star Trek, and B) because of the blatant hypocrisy of the anti-tech statements.
 * Better as Friends: Him and Iron Liz.
 * Better Than It Sounds: For Linkara, Several of the comics on his list of 15 Comics I'll Never Review, because he feels they're actually good.
 * Beyond the Impossible: The Ultimate Warrior 's comic is so bad that trying to review it breaks the space-time continuum.
 * BFG: He gets one at the end of Cable #1

"Pharaoh: Why is everyone in this comic a *bleep*ing bimbo!?"
 * Bifauxnen: Iron Liz passes off as rather androgynous at first glance, and her voice does not help matters much, but upon closer examination her gender makes itself known.
 * Big No:
 * In his New Guardians #2 review, when Snowflame dies.
 * And in his crossover with Film Brain, when he realizes it's Miller Time.
 * In the Mr. T #2 review, he reacts to Mr. T being defeated by a villain by the name of Stare Roy by saying "no" repeatedly twice during the course of the review. (once when seeing the cover of Roy punching out Mr. T, and then again upon reaching the comic's cliffhanger ending.)
 * Bold Inflation: "You know, Frankie, emphasizing random words does not a talented writer make!"
 * Bragging Theme Tune: LINKARA! He is a man, *PUNCH*, wears a purdy hat...
 * Brain Bleach: Pointed out in-universe.
 * Necessary after Linkara's "Batman: Agent of NAMBLA" joke takes a whole new meaning.
 * "When I do drugs, I see Bea Arthur! You should probably forget I said that." (Which is obviously a Deadpool reference. ...We hope...)
 * The Lady Gaga comic Fame. When we get a look into the man's dreams, it results in Linkara screaming for 10 seconds, a 'Technical difficulties' screen, a shaking, shivering Linkara, 5 more seconds of screaming, another 'Technical difficulties' screen and an angry rant. Oh, it's so justified.
 * Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: He calls Nightcat "an embarrassment to singers, superheoes and singing superheroes."
 * Breakout Character: Snowflame, as performed by Lewis' real-life friend Will Wolfram.
 * Brick Joke:
 * Linkara mispronouncing Film Brain's name.
 * Linkara's bear.
 * "Show of hands, who wants Silent Hill vs. Army of Darkness?"
 * In Freak Force #1, the review ended with 90s Kid playing Justice League Task Force. One month later, in Hardcore Station #1, he finally finished it, just in time for his segment to end.
 * Brief Accent Imitation:
 * At one point in the Doom comic's review, Linkara puts on a monocle and fakes a British accent in response to the protagonist's overly formal line about how he would behead a group of zombies with a chainsaw and steal their guns.
 * He also greeted Mechakara in an imitation of Tommy Wiseau. Spoony himself later did the exact same thing when he met his Black Lantern self.
 * Broken Aesop: Linkara provides the page quote, which originated in his Bearded Idiot: At Earth's End review.
 * Brought Down to Normal: Linkara was very critical of JLA: Act of God, which revolved around all of Earth's superheroes losing their powers. He explained that the lack of a common origin for any of the heroes made any kind of mass de-powering hard to swallow and also ridiculed the hit-and-miss nature of the event, which was stated to have left advanced technology alone, but still disabled the Green Lantern rings, and was also said to have removed all magical beings from the world, but somehow left Wonder Woman around. He recommended instead Fifty Two, a series he has previously advanced as a very good comic, as an example of how to properly deal with a character that has lost his or her powers. A secondary storyline in Fifty Two revolves around Superman coping with the loss of his powers during the Infinite Crisis and Linkara points out that this portrayal is consistent with previous Superman characterization that intelligently deals with the implications for his life and personality.
 * But Now I Must Go: A perfunctory variation. Most episodes end with Linkara simply rising from the couch and walking away, without anything resembling a sign-off line.
 * C-List Fodder: He notes this happens to Congorilla's tribe, as well as the obscure minor characters The Three Dimwits from the DCU in Cry for Justice. Offscreen, no less. He's not a fan of this trope and feels characters provide more potential to stories when alive.
 * Call Back:
 * In the Warrior #2 and #3 co-review with Spoony we have a bunch of call-backs to the original Warrior review--including Bennett yelling about what happened in the Warrior Christmas special not happening on their watch. Marzgurl's response? "Wrong year!" The review also hearkens back to Spoony's Party Mania review. The reason?
 * Linkara's first appearance on TGWTG was after he won a fan contest and got to fill in for Ask that Guy for an episode. He adopted the name "That Guy with the Hat" for the occasion. Now, go read the entry under "Badass Boast" again...
 * In the Pokémon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu review, he searches for a comic to read and, upon finding it, goes "Aha! Now we've got it!"
 * The Cameo: Little Kuriboh in the Bimbos in Time review:

"Linkara: I should have known, it was you who was the secret manipulator behind it all"
 * And again as Dan Green in Cable #2, as a Dan Green apparently worked as an inker for Marvel Comics.
 * Little Kuriboh also had an earlier cameo as an off-screen voice, this time is natural voice, that Linkara shot with his magic gun as part of a bizarre greeting he was parodying.
 * Mystery Science Theater 3000's Tom Servo! made an appearance during the Action Comics #593 video.
 * Tom Servo appears--in a case--at the start of the Transformers #4-5 review.
 * Linkara has a brief run-in with The Angry Video Game Nerd in his review of Wolverine: Adamantium Rage.
 * Canada, Eh?: Spider-Man: On Thin Ice
 * Can-Crushing Cranium: Tried and failed.
 * Canon Dis Continuity: The joke in Superman/Terminator about his future self still living with his parents has now become this with his moving in with Iron Liz.
 * Canon Immigrant: Ensign Munroe, from the game Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, has shown up several times (played by Linkara).
 * Caramelldansen Vid: During his review of The Dark Knight Strikes Again he says "Instead of the fail comic, enjoy some ninja-style dancing." Cue Ninja-Style Dancer doing a Caramelldansen Vid!
 * The Cast Showoff: The character of Harvey Finevoice is a lounge singer, which allows Lovhaug to show off his pretty good singing voice.
 * Catch Phrase:
 * "Hello, and welcome to Atop the Fourth Wall, where bad comics burn."
 * "...so let's dig into *comic name*."
 * "This comic sucks!"
 * Our hero, ladies and gentlemen.
 * "I'm 90s Kid, and what you see (opens flannel shirt) is what you get."
 * DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDDDE!!
 * Whenever he reviews a comic by Frank Miller: "Say! (takes out pocket watch) It's Miller Time!"
 * EXTREME!!
 * "Because poor literacy is kewl!"
 * POWERHOUSE EXCITEMENT
 * I AM A MAN! *punch*
 * Catchphrase Interruptus: In the Silent Hill Dead/Alive #5 review, he gets through "Hello and welcome to Atop the Fourth Wall, where..." before being interrupted by the fog and sirens.
 * Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: Says it is time to stop making fun of the French for this, when the villains in the Kool-Aid Man comic showed even less backbone than the worst caricatures of the French.
 * Cheshire Cat Grin: In his review of the '90s Justice League movie with Nash, he stares at Nash with one of these until Nash breaks down and agrees to watch the movie.
 * The Chessmaster:
 * One of the alternative endings to the Silent Hill review reveals to be one in style of the dog from Silent Hill 2.
 * In the recap at the start of the Daredevil #306 review (The recap, as usual, bears no connection to the review itself):

"Linkara: An intelligent, talking ape and an alien are about to fight robots on jetpacks! Why is this comic not about them?
 * Chewbacca Defense: (To justify bad storytelling) "Why? Because the Kool-Aid Man is red!"
 * Chewing the Scenery: In his Crossover review of The Fantastic Four movie (which was so bad Marvel would not let it be released) with Bennett the Sage, Linkara tells one of the actors that he still has some of the scenery between his teeth.
 * Christmas Episode: In 2009, he did one on the Youngblood Extreme Super Christmas Special, complete with the ghosts from A Christmas Carol showing up and trying to teach him the meaning of Christmas, only to be thrown out because he already loves Christmas. In 2010, there have been three Christmas episodes--the New Kids on the Block Christmas Special review, the Marvel Team-up Christmas issue review, and the Santa Claus Conquers the Martians review.
 * Chuck Norris Facts: Defied Trope in his review of Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos. "Because I like screwing with expectations."
 * Cleavage Window: Or, as he calls it, "Boob window".
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Snowflame, a Iron Age Supervillain fueled by cocaine, who somehow managed to find his way into our universe... And Linkara's Living Room.
 * Clueless Mystery: Identity Crisis. And it enragens him.
 * Collateral Angst. Identity Crisis again - specifically, how the rape of Sue Dibney seems to affect everyone but Sue Dibney.
 * Collectible Card Game: Linkara has appeared in the MSF High Collectible Card game, available here:
 * http://akuoreo.deviantart.com/gallery/?q=Linkara
 * A deck made to honor him, available here: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/msf-high-card-game:-omeganek
 * Compensating for Something: Iron Liz notes the extremely long silencer in Chain Gang War #1.
 * Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch: In-universe, TNA Impact when he's doing a Professional Wrestling comic book review or a Crossover review with Spoony.
 * Complaining About Things You Haven't Paid For: The stated reason why Linkara refuses to review Web Comics, since most of them are just things people do in their spare time. Sonichu is in the exception, which he says is every bit as bad what everyone it is and won't review because he doesn't want to draw attention to it.
 * Conspicuous CGI: Once Linkara and Co. teleport on board Comicron One, Pollo, Linksano's cyber mat and   are all portrayed as obvious 3D models until the arc is finished. Word of God says that it was because the physical props looked bad against the green screen.
 * Contemplate Our Navels: In-universe, he calls Cry for Justice out on a phenomenally stupid and incoherent one. There are even times when Linkara can't find anything snarky to say.
 * Act of God was absolutely rife with this, and Linkara continually calls out the writers on the hamfisted monologuing during his review.
 * Continuity Nod: A previous Bennett the Sage episode has Sage tying up Linkara after discovering old fanfiction he wrote as a teenager and made him listen as it was reread. Later, when Linkara wakes up bound to a chair because of Mechakara, he wonders what Bennett found this time.
 * During his review of NBComics #1 Linkara remarks that the Wish Kid shouldn't bother with magic gloves because you'll only end up with a
 * Cool but Stupid: Linkara expresses this about Brute Force.
 * Cool Versus Awesome: An unexpected highlight in Cry for Justice:

Congorilla: TALLY-HO! ["Music/RideOfTheValkyries" plays over the pages of the fight.]"

"Linkara: Wait a second. It's Superman... fighting twin clones of Hitler... in the future... This comic is starting to get awesome! (seconds later, after Bearded Idiot runs away) SCREW YOU, SUPER-SANTA!"
 * One of his biggest complaints about some of the comics he reviews (including Bearded Idiot: At Earths End, ) authors fail to take advantage of this. In the aforementioned Bearded Idiot comic, he replies:

"Also, that outfit he's sporting on the cover? He never wears it, nor does he jump off of a flaming cliff on catback. I call false advertising."
 * Costume Copycat:
 * Linkara impersonates the Critic to review Superman IV. The Critic is not impressed.
 * Doug has occasionally gone to events dressed as Linkara, who will shortly after appear as the Green Ranger and confront him on this.
 * Covers Always Lie: At the end of his Superman: Distant Fires review.

"NEXT WEEK: CROSSOVER WITH LINKARA"
 * Crazy Awesome: An in-universe example, in which Linkara describes the image of Neutro riding a whale as being quite possibly the most awesome thing he or anyone else will ever see in their lives, possibly surpassed only by Robo-bear versus Cyber-gorilla!
 * He also (essentially) said that there is nothing more awesome than Bruce Campbell (Ash from The Evil Dead movies) laying the Smack Down on the Marvel Zombies, except for Robo-bear vs. Cyber-gorilla! Where Neutro stacks up is anyone's guess.
 * Creator's Pet: Linkara clearly perceives Christabella from the Silent Hill comics as this in-universe.
 * Critical Backlash: Linkara experienced this with the Spiderman comic Maximum Carnage.
 * Critical Research Failure: During a video of missed jokes, he notes how he has no idea how he missed making a joke at a comment giving the length of Wolverine's claws as longer than he was tall, noting just how blatantly obvious it was that the line fell under this.
 * In the Daredevil vs. Vapora review, Linkara mocks many of Daredevil's powers as the writer coming under this trope, despite the fact that being a human lie detector and surviving long falls have always been a part of the mythos.
 * Crossover: Linkara is notorious at That Guy With The Glasses for showing up in everyone else's videos.
 * His most frequent and fruitful collaborations are with Spoony: They have made four (five if you count their review with The Nostalgia Critic) full appearances together, physically in the same room and everything, and have even advanced storylines in each other's videos. Dr. Insano was introduced in an Atop the Fourth Wall video as part of a parody sequence, and the whole Mechakara saga began as the result of their first crossover, largely written by Spoony. Fandom tends to depict the two creators as Heterosexual Life Partners.
 * Linkara also appeared in a joint review with Marz Gurl, and was the subject of an episode of Masterpiece Fanfic Theatre, where he was tied up and forced to listen to Bennett read some of his juvenilia. Later, he and Bennett did a proper review of Roger Corman's The Fantastic Four. He has also reviewed two movies with The Nostalgia Critic, once with Spoony and once without.
 * Throughout "Star Trek Month" The Nostalgia Critic kept being terrified that Fan Boy Linkara would force a cross-over, only to be presently surprised when he didn't. Finally, he announces his thanks that with only one movie left to review, Linkara definitely won't show up to overanalyse things and be annoying, no way, no how- only for the video to end with;

"Linkara: Let's sing along, people!"
 * Crowd Song: During the live show at MAGfest, Linkara openly encourages the audience to sing along with the opening theme. Which, of course, they do.

""Oh, it's my student loan bill! Wait...my STUDENT LOAN BILL!? Ah, fu -" * end credits* "
 * Curse Cut Short: At the end of his Future 5 review:

"--and roll over their fetid carcasses for that idiotic idea! [beat]'' So, back to our story."
 * Also cut short during his review of Countdown to Final Crisis when he goes off on a cursing rant about the editor wanting to make a love triangle between Donna Troy, Kyle Rayner, and Jason Todd, cut off by a "Inaudible Profanity, please stand by" screen set to the Route 1 BGM from Pokémon.

"Linkara: NO! THAT WAS NOT REMOTELY SCIENTIFIC!"
 * Cursed with Awesome: Linkara impersonating Izaak Crowe in Batman: Fortunate Son: "Oh no, it's so terrible that I grew up in an economically stable environment instead of impoverished or hungry and on drugs!" Complete with his Superboy Prime voice.
 * Cute Kitten: He plays a clip of a really adorable kitten as a way of making up for the sheer badness of The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Part 3.
 * Cutting the Knot:
 * Just pulling the chains out of the wall is how he would have gotten out of the room in Silent Hill 4.
 * In his second Silent Hill review series, rather than look for devices that could be assembled to move an obstacle, he just shoots it.
 * He doesn't even do that to a stack of boxes. He merely threatens them with the idea that he will simply burn them to the ground and tread over their ashes. The boxes politely collapse out of his way.
 * Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Linkara points out the Surgeon General could have made far more money working legitimately and that Amanda Gideon in Nightcat is so rich she does not have any reason to sell drugs.
 * In his Care Bears review, he points out the clown is really wasting a gravity manipulation device on shaking kids.
 * Linkara points this out in Superman and Wonder Woman: Tandy Whiz Kids when a World's Fair refuses to give Lex Luthor any place to show off his scientific inventions just because he's a mad scientist. This prompts Linkara to act out that Luthor will now have to hold the World's Fair for ransom and kill off everyone inside it instead of merely patenting his inventions and making billions. Afterward, he explains that he thinks this might be the reason why the writers decided to turn Luthor into a businessman instead of keeping him as a mad scientist, because having a supervillain with that much intelligence was just dumb.
 * The Dark Age of Comic Books: Linkara is avowedly not a fan of the Dark Age of Comics, disliking the exaggerated proportions, lackluster or confusing dialogue, and excessive violence that permeated the medium during the 1990's. The predominant artistic style of the time is marred by what he terms "Youngblood's disease" and "Liefeld's syndrome," and he finds the overall morality of era depressing. The comics, by claiming that their characters are "relatable," "modern" and "real," seem to imply that humanity can only be violent to be true to itself and that such violence is the only way to accomplish anything in the world.
 * Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy: Has with the Silent Hill comics in spades, whose unlikable characters to Linkara flat-out not giving a shit as to what happens in the story. To a lesser extent, he seems to have this somewhat with the Ultimate Marvel universe with its superhero characters generally not being very likable, though in that case he says he simply doesn't like the Ultimate Marvel universe but doesn't say it's bad.
 * A Day in the Limelight: Harvey Finevoice, 90s Kid, and Iron Liz have each given an entire review themselves.
 * Deader Than Dead: Lewis's comments for the Cry for Justice #5-7 episode . Also confirmed via Twitter.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Death Is Cheap: Despite not liking characters getting killed in stories, he admits that for main stream heroes death is no big deal when he brings up the death of the Human Torch in his Brain Drain review, and comments that he'll be dead for a year at most before coming back, and each member of the Fantastic Four has died at least once.
 * Death Is Dramatic: One of Linkara's less universally accepted Berserk Buttons is his hatred for any hero (or named character) dying without it being a Heroic Sacrifice of some kind.
 * Defied Trope: When one of the Bimbos in Time explains the "time door" as "an implosion in matter-antimatter existence", Linkara interrupts the "Of course! Don't you know anything about SCIENCE?" gag.

"Villain dialogue from comic: With Neutro on our side, we can capture all the world's wealth in a day...
 * Delayed Reaction: A running gag. Linkara will say something stupid (either as a character or in support of a character's plan) with great enthusiasm, then realize it's stupid.

Linkara as said villain: ...thus making all the money worthless because of simple economics. (Beat) Wait..."

"Narrator: When the alien commander from another world...
 * Department of Redundancy Department:
 * "Let's dig into Batman: Act of God #3 Starring Batman." This was done intentionally to deliver his point that JLA: Act of God was "one big love letter to Batman" by the writer.
 * The review of All-Star Batman & Robin #1 and #2 revealed that, among its other flaws, characters tended to repeat themselves. A lot. A lot a lot.
 * In Strange Adventures #136, there are two blatant examples pointed out in its goofy Silver Age writing style.

Linkara: "Thanks for the clarification, or I might've thought it was the alien commander from Circle Pines."

Alien: "We come from a planet of the star-sun Altair."

Linkara: "Thanks for the redundancy, there. Otherwise I may have thought you'd come from the planet-sun Altair!""

"Caption: "Obediently, Torg obeys."
 * In the comic adaptation of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians:

Linkara: "Redundantly, the caption is redundant.""

"Quik Bunny: "Worrying won't help Superman! Helping him will help Superman!"
 * Cry For Justice gives us the "Justice League of Justice".
 * Addressed in the Superman Meets the Quik Bunny review.

Linkara: "Redundant statements won't be redundant! They'll be repetitive! ...wait.""

"Comic Description: Neutro does not know the difference between right and wrong!
 * Linkara himself has a tendency to say "and et cetera", even though the "et" means "and".
 * Designated Hero: The phrase "Our hero(es), ladies and gentlemen!" means he is pointing out instances of this and/or Hero Ball. Linkara points out that Rob Liefeld's characters in general have almost nothing heroic about them, which he finds particularly frustrating, since Liefeld specifically described Youngblood as heroic characters that can be related to and believed in as heroes.
 * His review of Neutro constantly references this trope.

Linkara: "...Oooookay, that's not very good if he's a superhero.""

"It's become something of a problem at my old place, kinda like if I had roaches, except if the roaches wanted to take over the universe, or were attached to strings."
 * He also brings this up with his reviews in his Secret Origins month, where in Golden and Silver Age comics, superheroes didn't always seem very heroic.
 * A major complaint that he, Nash and Film Brain have of the Wonder Woman 2011 pilot.
 * Dissimile:

"90s Kid: DUUUDE, I...wait, did...did you just vaporize a pregnant chick? Dude, that's not cool man."
 * Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune: At the end of the 100th episode, Linkara and most of his recurring characters (as well as a bunch of other TGWTG contributors) sing his entire theme song.
 * Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: From Silent Hill: Dying Inside #5 "Important safety tip: do not mock Pyramid Head!"
 * Don't Try This At Home: He sees an improbable backwards kick and tries it himself. He just hurts his spine.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: Mary Marvel's Orgasmo Pole.
 * Doing It for the Art: Linkara points out Izaak's desire to do this does not work realistically. Musicians still need to eat, and they also need money for guitar strings and keeping their musical instruments in good shape, among other things.
 * He says more like, Doing It for the Art isn't exactly what they are doing, writing music for the art isn't the same as writing it for free. Just because you're being paid for it doesn't mean you aren't doing it for the art. He even said that Da Vinci demanded to be paid every time someone wanted him to paint something, and he was Doing It for the Art.
 * Dramatic Ellipsis: After a number of comics abusing the use of this particular punctuation mark, he has finally diagnosed their overuse as a disease seen in comics similar to Youngblood's Disease. He dubbed it "Ultimate Warrior's Ailment" in his review of Zero Patrol.
 * Dropped a Bridge on Him: Frequently calls out Countdown to Final Crisis, Cry for Justice, and Ultimatum for this. Accuses the first of representing an attitude that killing characters is the best form of plot point.
 * Dual-Wielding:
 * Iron Liz dual-wields scimitars.
 * Enforced aversion. It is revealed in a podcast Linkara could not find another fake flintlock pistol at a reasonable price, thus he cannot dual wield magic guns.
 * Dude, Not Funny: Several in-universe examples.
 * He points out that, in Action Comics #593, Superman and Big Barda are essentially raping each other, which is a terrible plot point.
 * In the Countdown Part 2 review, from 90s kid, who can usually be counted on to defend the decade's excesses.


 * Dull Surprise: Pointed out and referenced by name several times (via the Trope Namer) throughout the Transformers #4 and #5 review re: Pat Lee's artwork.
 * Linkara notes that Green Lantern doesn't look that angry at the start of Cry for Justice #1.