Girl Genius/Tropes F-J

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Tropes A-E | Tropes F-J | Tropes K-O | Tropes P-T | Tropes U-Z


Girl Genius provides examples of the following tropes:

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). But not in Mechanicsburg. There it's "by monsters, for monsters".
  • Fascinating Eyebrow: Baron Oublenmach should be afraid now... very afraid.
  • Fashionable Asymmetry: Maxim, with a glove and a spiked shoulderpad on one side.
  • Fighter, Mage, Thief: Explicitly called out by Zeetha regarding her, Agatha, and Violetta during the Corbetite train ride.

Zeetha: What kind of attitude is that?!? You've got the brains. I've got the muscle. Violetta's got the sneaky! We can do anything!.

  • Fighting From the Inside: Klaus Wulfenbach, epically. Most Slaver Wasp victims can't even think about struggling against the control. Klaus indulges in Loophole Abuse of every order he's given, deliberately stalls the Siege of Mechanicsburg, conducts the battle as ineptly as possible, uses a storyteller and a metaphorical fable to warn Gil that he's under enemy mind control despite having been expressly forbidden to do anything of the kind, and finally manages to trap himself in time-stasis after having first brainlocked Gil so that the Other can't mind-control the new ruler of his Empire.
    • Agatha pulls off a classic example when she regains control from Lucrezia simply because Gil is dying, and Agatha needs her body back right now if she's going to save him.
  • 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.
    • Klaus' characterizations in many Heterodyne Boy stories has undergone similar treatment, being rewritten as an excitable cowardly braggart. Klaus allowed this for one reason: He thought it was hilarious.
  • Flashback Effects / Monochrome Past: 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"[1]
  • Follow the Chaos: How Adam and Lilith locate Agatha aboard Castle Wulfenbach.
  • For Doom the Bell Tolls: The aptly-named Doombell.
  • 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:

G

  • Gadgeteer Genius: Pretty much all Sparks, but the Heterodynes were notable even among Sparks.

Von Mekkan: In my experience, a strong Heterodyne will take about two hours to truly warp the laws of nature.

Klaus: Ah, I see history repeats itself.

Oggie: Who vants to be my friend?!
(Beat Panel)
Geisterdamen: (draw swords)
Henchmen: (immediately raise their hands)

    • Also Othar, especially in his Twitter updates, and Moloch.
    • Also The Other.

Tarvek: What! That's impossible! Isn't it?
The Other: Oh dear, I do so mistrust it when "impossible" is one's initial reaction to an idea.

Selnikov: Son of-- SHOOT HIM! QUICKLY!

Selnikov: As if I'd trust anyone I know to hold a razor to my throat!

Tarvek: So, Wulfenbach -- just checking -- is this going to be some kind of macho exercise where you insist on battling a potentially superior opponent alone in some kind of misguided attempt to "prove" your intrinsic worth?
Gil: No, no! I'm only that stupid in front of Agatha!
Tarvek: Drat.

H

Von Pinn: I teach restraint.
DuPree: Oh, so your dressmaker's an A+ student then.

Gil: What about this one? It looks like a toaster.
Agatha: Well, it is a toaster. Sort of.
Gil: Sort of?
Agatha: Oh, yes. It could toast the whole town.

  • Honest Advisor
    • Baron Wulfenbach says early on that he would rather his men criticize him rather than fear him too much to tell him important information -- in fact, the first time we see him, he's testing Gil to see if he'll tell him he's wrong. It's one of the many signs that he's not your average Evil Overlord.
    • Gil and Agatha seem to prefer advisors like this as well.
  • Horrifying the Horror: The mere mention of Barry Heterodyne's name is enough to make two separate incarnations of the Other shit a brick.
  • Hostage Situation: Gil volunteers for one. Agatha doesn't want it.
  • Hot Scientist: Hot Mad Scientists. Many of them. And apparently the better they are, the hotter they get.
  • How Dare You Die on Me!: Agatha's reaction when it looks like Gilgamesh is dying. It helps.
  • Hulk Speak: Snoz, quite appropriately, has a mild case of this.
  • Humongous Mecha: Walking Battleships.
  • Hyde Plays Jekyll
  • Hyperspace Mallet: Not actually a mallet, but just about every other gadget that a well-equipped Mad Scientist might require.
  • Hypocritical Humor

I

Othar: You ran straight at the danger without even thinking. This is who and what you are. You say you want a normal life. *sighs* We all say that at one time or another. You certainly deserve your chance at it. I'll find you in about three months, and then we'll see how 'normal' your life is. But sincerely- good luck.

Lucrezia: Stop! Stop! It's me, Agatha!
Violetta: (knocks her flat) Quiet, or I'll hit you again!

    • Later on in the same page:

Lucrezia: Aieee! You are her friends! Why do you keep hitting her?!?
Zeetha: (literally pounding her into the floor) IT'S FOR HER OWN GOOD!

Carson von Mekhan: Sure, the Heterodynes were dangerous lunatics-- but they became our dangerous lunatics!

    • Moloch von Zinzer stands out because, like the natives of Mechanicsburg, he's a natural minion, but unlike the Mechanicsburgers, he has a certain amount of insight into Spark psychology, and can use this to get them back on target when they inevitably get sidetracked.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: "Snapper" Boikov and "Jack A'Horned" -- prisoners in the Castle Heterodyne.
  • Implacable People
    • Higgs and Zola post-Movit #11.
    • The Jägermonsters. The only Jagermonster to die on-screen had to be literally torn open from stem to stern by over half a dozen Sparkhounds (think werewolves) and then be double-tapped in the head with a death ray. They are considered equal to most clanks as shock troops -- Baron Klaus shows particular respect toward them. When Maxim, Dimo and Oggie are introduced they'd been hanging in nooses for days without much effect, casually observing and commenting on the town. The novelisation clarifies that Othar conned them into getting into the nooses voluntarily.
  • Impossible Thief: A Smoke Knight specialty. Tarvek's taken someone's knife and sidearm off of them during an active combat situation without them even noticing they were gone. "Grandmother" once pickpocketed Zola's gun out of her hand in-between eyeblinks. Violetta in particular makes a specialty of it, having done things like swap Lucrezia's hostage out for a man-sized straw dummy in-between panels while standing ten feet in front of her.
  • Improvised Weapon
  • Incessant Music Madness: In the (psychological) torture chamber.

Othar: ...and that MUSIC! WHAT is that MUSIC?!

Professor Tiktoffen: Huh. I wondered where that went on Tuesdays.

"Great. Now the crowd is trapped by the stalagmites while the flaming monster advances."

General Zog: Sir -- dere iz a time to twit nancy-boy feetsmen und a time to crush bogs.

  • In the Blood: Sparkiness is usually hereditary. Spark styles of invention too.

Agatha: I believe another forty-five point three seconds, and I would have exploded or something.

Castle Heterodyne: ... or something. Under the circir/circumstances I/I am forced to admit that yo/you are most most likely oneoneone of the family...

Agatha: Oh, yeah... I have got to try that again!

Castle Heterodyne: yesss... most likely, in/in/indeed.

"SCHTOP! Hyu horr'ble monster-y ting of Evil!"

"... Ve iz Jägerkin charged by the ancient contract--"

Agatha: We're just going to kill you, and then you'll be fine!
(later...)
Gil: I've changed my mind! Let's just kill him!
Agatha: Stop it. We're going to kill him properly.

J


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  1. They seem an awful lot like cats, though. They even fall for laser pointers.