Girl Genius/Tropes D-F

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Tropes for Girl Genius, D to F

D-E

  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: Castle Heterodyne. To the point where once it finds out that Othar Tryggvassen is a hero, it immediately dumps him down a bottomless pit. Of course, the castle knows all about heroes...

Castle Heterodyne: Oh tosh, if we was a real hero--
Othar Tryggvassen: (comes through the door dusting himself off) This is an annoying place, isn't it?

  • Dark Action Girl
  • Dartboard of Hate: Violetta had one after she was Reassigned to Antarctica.
  • Deadly Upgrade: Moveit #11 makes the user a LOT stronger and faster. It is also fatal or nearly fatal to the user.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Krosp and Moloch. Sometimes Dr. Sun has such moments. And Zeetha.
  • Death Glare
  • Death Is Cheap: The horrifying tendency towards murder that Sparks possess is made slightly less horrifying when you find out they can (under some circumstances) bring the dead back to life. Examples:
  • Death of the Hypotenuse
    • Lars, anyone?
    • The current arc is an inversion of this, since a new hypotenuse came into play and the majority of the current arc has been spent preventing his death.
    • And one of the "what if" stories even lampshaded this topic in amusing fashion. Why two love interests? (Giant grins from two female cast members and female co-author.) "Deal with it."
  • Death Ray: Just about every Spark has made one or something like one -- though no-one but Agatha redesigns the landscape with them during sleep. Agatha considers Gil's NOT having built a death ray gross negligence of the highest order, going so far as to say "what's wrong with him?" He takes this criticism to heart, and comes back with his toy improved to One-Hit Kill large armored vehicles.
  • Defeating the Undefeatable: Old Man Death puts it best: "I'm just a human. Rode with the Jägers. Never. Lost. A. Fight." No wonder they covet his Nice Hat.
  • Defictionalization: Some of the better in-comic T-shirt designs find their way into the Foglios' store. ("Fools! I will destroy you all! (ask me how)")
  • Deliberately Monochrome: Volume 1, "The Beetleburg Clank", makes wonderful use of this. Before Agatha's locket is removed, the comic is almost entirely in grayscale; the only color is some blue around the sound effects of Sparks' machines (and Agatha's Green Eyes). Right after the locket is removed, the colors are present but dim, as her Spark starts to assert itself although she still gets headaches -- but in her most Spark-ish moments, the colors are bright and clear. By Volume 2, when the headaches have stopped, the entire comic is in full color. One flashback in Volume 2 shows the color fading the moment Agatha puts her locket back on. Originally, the first volume was black and white (it was a print comic) and that was the end of it. The retconned color is just full of symbolism.
  • Detached Sleeves: Sleipnir; Zola
  • Determinator
    • "Let me tell you about Airman Higgs." Airman Higgs got Baron Wulfenbach out of a burning airship and to safety. During which, he had to deal with a bunch of monsters, an irate Captain DuPree, and a goose, breaking three out of four limbs in the process and getting an infected bite. He managed to get to a town despite his injuries, where he got shot in his last undamaged limb. He informed the local garrison of Wulfenbach's predicament, then passed out.
      And for his next act, he attacks Zola while she's juiced up on a full vial of Movit #11, moving faster than she can even though she has drug-enhanced speed. He gets run through and still hits her two more times before he even notices the pain. And it looks like he isn't done fighting yet...
    • Gil has his Determinator moments as well, especially when Agatha is in danger:

Gil: I am Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, little man -- and there is nothing I couldn't do, had I cause! And now... now I have one!

Violetta: Jeez, you Sparks get all into your freakish, twisted courtship rituals--

Castle Heterodyne: And you cannot deny that [Gilgamesh] has a magnificent death ray.
Agatha: (red and looking aside) That's... That's hardly a basis for stable relationship.

Agatha: I'm sure that next time you'll build a much bigger one, but trust me, right now any Death Ray, will do, no matter how--
Gil: I. DO. NOT. HAVE. A. DEATH. RAY!

Otilia: Yesss--but let's ju/ust add the next step, sha/all we?

Selnikov: Ah, yes. That "Sun-ny bedside manner" everybody talks about.

Professor Mezzasalma: And who the devil is this?!

  • Dysfunction Junction
    • The Sturmvoraus family. Dear God, the Sturmvoraus family. Their name, when translated out of German, means "Storm ahead" (in the sense of a weather forecast) so that's no surprise.

Tarvek: You don't last very long in our family unless you've got a good nose for intrigue.
Tarvek: The only way to keep my family in line would be to bury them in a row.

F

Zeetha: What are you thinking, using Bunbury's trash? He's why every smart actress from here to Paris wears special underwear! Why do you even have one of those?

      • Speaking of which, Zeetha spent a lot of time running around in that leather underwear...
    • And now, we have "Revenge of the Weasel Queen", in which Agatha and Zeetha end up wearing BUNNY outfits. Although these "bunny outfits" are not quite what one might assume.
    • To summarize, though, the reason for such high-quality versions of this trope, all you need do is look at the Bleached Underpants section, above.
  • Fanservice Extra: Ferretina. She drips with fanservice. Quoting a bit from the wiki: "...her outfit isn't chosen for modesty." You can say that again.
  • Fan Service with a Smile: Zeetha noted that they got their crowd after Gilgamesh accidently stripped her of her clothes.
  • Fantastic Racism: There is much prejudice against Constructs of all 11 varieties, and also against the Jägers. In the case of the Jägers, the prejudice is understandable (they're elite troops of the most dangerous conquerors around, and enjoy this).
  • Fascinating Eyebrow: Baron Oublenmach should be afraid now... very afraid.
  • Fashionable Asymmetry: Maxim, with a glove and a spiked shoulderpad on one side.
  • Filler Strip: Radio Theatre Breaks, Short Stories, Fairy Tale Theatre: Cinderella, and to a lesser extent, Heterodyne Boys Stories and "The Storm King Opera" synopsis, as the latter two contribute to the overall mythology.
  • Five-Man Band
  • Flanderization: In-universe example; the character of Big Guy Punch in stories and stage-shows is reduced to comic buffoon and Butt Monkey. Among the secrets kept from Agatha her whole life was that the quiet, competent blacksmith she knew as her father was Punch. The Jägermonsters who knew Punch tries to give an actor advice on how to play him authentically, but all of it requires casting out what makes his act so successful.
  • Flashback Effects: Sepia tones.
  • Flip Personality: Lucrezia and Agatha. No outward signs of transition, but obviously different personalities.
  • Fluffy the Terrible: The Fun-sized Mobile Agony and Death Dispensers, a.k.a. the Devil dogs.
  • Follow the Chaos: How Adam and Lilith locate Agatha aboard Castle Wulfenbach.
  • For Doom the Bell Tolls: The aptly-named Doombell.
  • For the Lulz: Apparently, this is why Castle Heterodyne kills people. Because it "will be fun".
  • For Science!: Girl Genius would not exist without this trope. Lampshaded.
  • Foreign Cuss Word
  • Foreshadowing: Several.
    • Agatha does a nice job of intimidating one of Klaus' scientists who turns out to be a revenant into calling her "mistress" here. Jump ahead several years...
    • A more minor example: