Dork Tower: Difference between revisions

* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]

* [[Calvin Ball]]: Igor's "house rules" for baseball, ''Candyland'', license plate bingo...

* [[Catch Phrase]]:

* [[Celeb Crush]]: Several over the years, most notably Matt with Sarah Michelle Geller and Carson with Megan Morrone.

** Megan's response was that she's flattered by the crush, notes that she's already married, and refuses to comment whether [[Interspecies Romance|the baby she's carrying is actually Carson's...]]

* [[Clingy Jealous Girl]]: Kayleigh, to the point where she becomes enraged simply by thinking that Matt might prefer Gilly over her.

* [[Compassionate Critic]]: Kayleigh is often this to Matt; she harshly insults his hobbies and interests (except for ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Buffy]]'') out of an ongoing effort to "improve" him.

'''Sujata:''' "Sitting at a bar with a six-pack of Bud waiting for 'America's Wackiest High-Speed Chases' to come on?" }}

* [[Crossover]]: One story arc featured a crossover with ''[[PvP]]'', where the two casts attended a convention and entered a gaming competition. Matt ran a game with the PvP players, while Cole ran a game with the ''Dork Tower'' group. {{spoiler|The winning team was an all-girl squad with Gilly, Jade, and Marcy}}.

** Subverted with ''Dork Tower vs. Lethargic Lad'':

'''Igor:''' "Oh. Yeah. Right. Of course." }}

* [[Cut and Paste Comic]]: Done occasionally, almost always with a [[Self-Deprecation|self-deprecating joke]] about how Kovalic is being lazy.

* [[Discriminate and Switch]]: Happens to Gilly when she visits London, [http://www.dorktower.com/2006/10/06/comics-archive-841/ here].

* [[Don't You Like It]]: To show how much he likes her, Ken gives Sujata a 1,000-point Korn Demon of Kaos High Priest of Pain Blood Champion miniature figure. Needless to say, [[Screaming Woman|she didn't take it well]].

** Then there was the time Igor gave Carson a muskrat pie for Christmas...

* [[Dungeonmaster's Girlfriend]]: Subverted with Kayleigh, who joined a session run by Igor to try to understand Matt's hobby. After some initial confusion, she became a rule-mastering [[The Strategist|power gamer]], stomped all over the game's enemies, and reduced Igor to curling in wimpered submission.

* [[Even Nerds Have Standards]]: After complaining to a girl that gamers are perceived as weirdos, [http://www.dorktower.com/2010/05/26/dork-tower-wednesday-may-26/ Matt backs away in disgust when she admits she's a furry.]

* [[Explaining the Soap]]: Played with when Carson asks Igor about ''[[Babylon 5]]'' and gets an eight-panel wall of text about the conspiracies, universal issues, and civil wars and ancient chessmasters. When Carson comments that it's a lot for a single season, Igor corrects him -- it all happened in the previous ''episode.''

* [[Fake High]]: Matt's stoner brother thinks he is high after mistaking Matt's basing floc for pot and smoking it.

* [[Fan Service]]: Not in the strip itself (thank goodness!), but a regular subject of [[Take That|Take Thats]].

'''Carson:''' "Incredibly badly-drawn women in gratuitous cheesecake chainmail bikini shots?" }}

** Well, there ''was'' the ''Dork Tower Swimsuit Special'', with a Gilly pinup by [[Phil Foglio]]...

* [[I Just Want to Be Loved]]: Despite Keyleigh's often abusive behavior, this is the main reason why Matt continues to date her.

* [[I'll Take Two Beers, Too!]]: Happens several times, usually after Matt has suffered yet another indignity with his gaming group or his personal life. One trip to a Ren Fair had him depressing a nearby bard into the same funk.

* [[I Need a Freaking Drink]]: Ken...didn't take the warped retelling of ''Gifts of the Magi'' at all well.

* [[Intoxication Ensues]]: Happens to Ken after he tries one of Igor's sugar-overloaded "[http://www.dorkstock.com/IgorBars.html Igor bars]". He passes out four seconds later...

* [[Ironic Echo Cut]]: Used far, ''far'' too often to list here.

* [[I Want My Jetpack]]: Referenced in [http://www.dorktower.com/2001/01/01/comics-archive-2/ this strip].

* [[I Was Beaten by a Girl]]: Ken's girlfriend Sujata regularly trounces him in whatever games they play.

* [[Leeroy Jenkins]]: Igor.

* [[Lethal Chef]]: [http://www.dorktower.com/2006/11/06/comics-archive-854/ One story] featured an "[[Iron Chef]] Ramen Noodle" cook-off between Igor and Carson. Igor carefully crafts a concoction with tom-yum paste, rice wine, and fish sauce, while Carson's entry consisted of generic turkey dogs. Igor's dish is unbelievably aromatic, while Carson's prompted the question "This used to be organic?" from the judges. {{spoiler|Carson wins anyway, despite Igor's entry being "like tasting clouds", because his entry reminds the judges of college dorm food -- "The best years of our lives!"}}

* [[Off the Rails]]: Happens '''far''' too many times to count, usually due to the gang's overzealous gaming strategies.

** They once had a game based on ''[[Lord of the Rings]]''. The campaign opened with Merry killing and gutting Gandalf, Pippin beating Frodo to death... they were planning to institute a military draft in the Shire when Matt went catatonic.

*** In the second attempt, Carson is assigned to play Gandalf... but with his abilities [[Nerf|limited to talking to birds and casting fireworks]]. Igor and Ken ended up using him as a [[Bulletproof Human Shield]] and battering ram.

** Another session ended with the players having taken over the kingdom, forged an empire, and conquered all of the known lands... when their goal was to just [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle|rescue the princess.]]

* [[Perpetual Poverty]]: Matt and his friends are always short on funds for their hobbies and toys (not to mention the rent), yet they somehow manage to stay in the same apartment and drive a car for years.

* [[Persona Non Grata]]: Happens too often for Walden and his LARP goths; ''[[Noodle Incident|something]]'' inevitably gets them banned from their latest gathering spot.

'''Walden:''' "APART FROM THAT!" }}

* [[Perverse Sexual Lust]]: Igor's in love with three women -- [[Anime|Apollo Smile]], [[Tomb Raider|Lara Croft]], and Daphne from ''[[Scooby Doo]]''.

* [[Print Long Runners]]: First appeared in January 1997, and still going.

* [[Self-Deprecation]]: Kovalic sometimes couples this with [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]] to poke fun at himself.

* [[Serious Business]]: Going to a movie with Bill and Ken can be very difficult, as they take historical accuracy ''very'' seriously.

** One strip had Ken freaking out whenever his character acquired or lost any gear, as he ''insisted'' on having his miniatures figure match it exactly.

'''Ken:''' "AIEEEEEEEEE! ...shut up and pass me some superglue, an X-Acto knife, and a 25mm marmot..." }}

* [[Slap Slap Kiss]]: Happens periodically between Matt and Kayleigh.

'''Matt:''' "THAT was a LOW blow! ... I '''love''' 'Buffy'."|''(beat) **KISS**''}}

* [[Social Semi-Circle]]: Sometimes occurs, typically with games involving miniatures. Intentionally invoked in issue #17 of the comic as a parody/ShoutOut to ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]''; the odd arrangement is justified because the table on the reader's side is unpleasantly sticky from a spilled soda.

* [[Spot of Tea]] /[[Stiff Upper Lip]]: Lampshaded in [http://www.dorktower.com/2005/07/12/comics-archive-697/ this] comic.

* [[Stop Being Stereotypical]]: Several strips call on gamers to improve their public behavior, especially regarding personal hygiene.

* [[Straight Gay]]: Walden.

* [[Strawman Political]]: Occasionally used as a [[Take That]] against self-proclaimed [[Moral Guardians]] and other bureaucrats, as demonstrated [http://www.dorktower.com/2001/03/13/comics-archive-119/ here].

** A related gag is for Bill to deal with clueless [[Moral Guardians]] protesting role-playing games... while Matt's mad because they're protesting Pokemon, not RPGs.

* [[Suck Out the Poison]]: Nobody volunteers to do this for Igor.

* [[Super Stoic Shopkeeper]]: Bill tries to be like this,with varying degrees of success.

* [[Take That, Critics!]]: Invoked for a gag when [[George Lucas]] pummels Ken for criticizing the changes to the original ''[[Star Wars]]'' trilogy.

* [[Ted Baxter]]: Igor, whenever he boasts of using his gaming skills to overcome a problem or obstacle.

* [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill]]: Igor's in-game solution to every problem.

* [[Token Non-Human]]: Carson the muskrat, naturally.

* [[Tomb of Horrors]]: One strip concerns an offscreen run through this "classic" at Pegasaurus Games.

* [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]]

* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: Many of Matt's gaming sessions end with all the (game) characters dying due to this trope.

* [[Unicorn]]: One appears in [http://www.dorktower.com/2006/04/21/comics-archive-775/ this comic] teamed up with [[It Makes Sense in Context|a penumbral hulk, a kobold, a paladin, and a kuo-toa...]]

* [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]]: No-one seems in the least bothered that Carson is an intelligent bipedal muskrat. This was played with in a strip (later adapted as an animated short)-

'''Carson:''' "Father was a muskrat...mother was a muskrat." ''(shrugs)'' }}

** Given how most people react to Carson (see [[Your Costume Needs Work]], below), they probably just figure [http://www.dorktower.com/2006/07/26/comics-archive-813/ he's a guy in a (horribly bad) costume.]

* [[Wrong Genre Savvy]]: After playing a ''[[Call of Cthulhu]]'' campaign, Matt's players were unable to adjust to the setting of ''Pendragon'' and their characters kept behaving as though they were about to face Lovecraftian horrors.

* [[Your Costume Needs Work]]: Carson gets this from a bunch of costumed furries at a convention.

"HEY!" }}