Girl Genius/Tropes K-O: Difference between revisions

[[Girl Genius/Tropes A-E|Tropes A-E]] | [[Girl Genius/Tropes F-J|Tropes F-J]] | '''Tropes K-O''' | [[Girl Genius/Tropes P-T|Tropes P-T]] | [[Girl Genius/Tropes U-Z|Tropes U-Z]]

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* [[Kill It with Fire]]

** Sleipnir's pipes... guess [[Incredibly Lame Pun|you can't start a fire without a Spark]].

* [[Kneecapping]]: Higgs uses this move against Zola. Unfortunately for him, she is too high on combat drugs to fall down.

* [[Knight Templar]]: Othar. He wants to kill all sparks, because he thinks they are [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040922 "the cause of everything wrong in the world today].

* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: Many.

** Using a book titled ''Using Found Objects as Weapons'' as a bludgeon is probably the best example.

* [[Large Ham]]

** ''All'' sparks [[Chewing the Scenery|chew scenery]] when in [[The Madness Place]]. ''Othar Tryggvassen, [[Gentleman Adventurer]]'' is like that ''all the time''.

* [[Laser-Guided Karma]]: An officer in one of the many armies that invade Mechanicsburg tells his soldiers not to keep their eyes of the captured civilians, to treat them with respect, and to execute them all. Right before the [[Brown Note|Doom bell]] knocks all the soldiers out.

'''Civilian woman:''' ''(holding a rolling pin)'' Oh, ''him'' we treat with respect. }}

* [[Leave Behind a Pistol]]: Gil gives Moloch von Zinzer a [[Cyanide Pill|poison pill]] upon his departure to Castle Heterodyne, underestimating the degree of von Zinzer's [[Action Survivor]] skills and [[Genre Savvy]].

* [[Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone]]: With a somewhat unexpected pair of lovebirds in [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100906 this strip].

* [[Leitmotif]] / [[Theme Music Power-Up]]: Agatha discovers that if she hums a certain series of notes, she can improve her focus while working on various projects. This tune pops up throughout the series, in various forms. Unknown if anyone has actually tabulated and played her song in real life, though.

* [[Let Them Die Happy]]: These [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100929 plants] are trying to do this.

* [[Let Us Never Speak of This Again]]: Gilgamesh orders that his [[Nice Hat]] should be hidden in a safe place -- [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120116 and never spoken about again.]

'''Gil:''' You're ''delusional''. }}

* [[Lingerie Scene]]: The creators admit the work contains "lots of running around in Victorian underwear". Most of the time, Agatha is the offender.

* [[Literary Agent Hypothesis]]: The entire comic is postulated as a course on the life of Agatha Heterodyne, as taught by the Professors Foglio at Transylvania Polygnostic University ("Know enough to be afraid.") They stick mostly to the truth -- though this very admittance means that it's possible that, in the "real" universe where this story takes place, not every woman has large breasts.<br />That is, the first print collection, "Agatha Heterodyne & The Beetleburg Clank", and the original printed comics, are presented as an unauthorized but accurate record published by TPU, Phil Foglio having witnessed Agatha's "Battle Circus" himself; later, he is indeed in town when the Battle Circus episode occurs. However, Phil Foglio is also shown telling the tale as fiction in the street right on page one. (An alternative tryout sketch released online seems to have Agatha herself telling the story to her grandchildren.) Maybe that's after he was accidentally sent back in time or something. But also, in the "radio play" episodes of the webcomic, Studio Foglio are repeatedly shown escaping as they perform the last seconds of the episode just as the real and angry Agatha Heterodyne and her friends are about to catch them and stop the show.

* [[Little No]]

** Type 1 from [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070101 Wooster to Bangladesh].

** A mix of type 1 and 3 from {{spoiler|1=[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20101020 Higgs to Zola]}}.

** [[Little No]] meets [[This Is Gonna Suck]] meets [[Oh Crap]] when [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110218 Castle Heterodyne decides to put out a fire.]

* [[Living Crashpad]]: Jägers are ''[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060512 polite]'' about this.

* [[Living Labyrinth]]: Castle Heterodyne

* [[Living Legend]]: Quite a few.

** Othar Trygvassen, ''[[Gentleman Adventurer]]'', very well known and generally viewed as a hero. Except by the main protagonists.

** Klaus Wulfenbach is fine with having a reputation as a terribly villainous evil emperor if it keeps the peace.

** The Heterodyne Boys had a wonderfully heroic reputation, beloved in no small degree because their family very much did ''not''.

** Agatha, Gil, and Tarvek are all rapidly building themselves reputation, what with being stuck in the middle of the most epic story since the Heterodyne Boys defeated the Other.

* [[Living Motion Detector]]: The clank in [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080908 this] comic.

* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]: There really are a lot of regular characters in this comic, to the point where it can get difficult to keep track of everyone.

* [[Long-Haired Pretty Boy]]: Maxim, the beautiful male ''Jägermonster.'' See the [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20081121 Cinderella] breather episode, where Maxim is supposed to be one of the "ugly" stepsisters, but it doesn't quite turn out as planned. Also counts as a [[Badass Long Hair]].

* [[Loophole Abuse]]: Not a weapon. That's a ''[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080606 chair]''!

* [[Losing Your Head]]: {{spoiler|Tinka}} Also [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100818 here], with {{spoiler|Castle Heterodyne}} in the body of a mechanical Muse. Also an example of [[Arc Words]].

* [[Love Bubbles]]: [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110817 Bubbles ''and'' roses.]

* [[Loyal Phlebotinum]]: Practically everything that the Heterodynes made.

* [[Mad Artist]]: The tailor clank in the "Revenge of the Weasel Queen" fillers.

* [[Made of Iron]]

* [[Mad Scientist]]: "Sparks", whose erratic genius has literally reshaped the world. Practically half the cast are mad scientists of one sort or another, though the ones that come closest to the classic villain type are probably Prince Wilhelm Aaronev and the late Lucrezia Mongfish.

** There's even a mad ''social'' scientist, who complains that the mad "hard" scientists [[Hard on Soft Science|get all of the funding and attention]].

** Agatha awakening to her mad science is what starts and drives the entire story forward, and raises the question [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EomvxZF6Tto ...or will her newfound mad science DESTROY THEM ALL!]

* [[Mad Scientist Laboratory]]: Several, most notably those belonging to Baron Wulfenbach and Prince Aaronev. And all of the ones in Castle Heterodyne.

* [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter]]

** Dr. Mongfish had at least two other daughters besides Lucrezia; Serpentina (Theo's mother), and Demonica ( {{spoiler|Zola's mom}}).

** And most offspring of mad scientists are mad scientists themselves.

* [[Magitek]]: "Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!"

* [[Make My Index Live]]: This mythos is a major part of the premise.

* [[Malevolent Architecture]]: Castle Heterodyne. It was designed by an [[Ax Crazy]] [[Mad Scientist|Spark]], and it shows.

* [[Malicious Slander]]

* [[The Man They Couldn't Hang]]: Well, The Jägers They Couldn't Hang, but otherwise Da Boyz. [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050513 Definitely Da Boyz.]

* [[Marriage to a God]]: The original Heterodyne was supposedly married to a local battle goddess.

* [[Master Apprentice Chain]]: Gilgamesh is taught by Klaus himself (among the others), and we know some of people who taught the baron himself.

* [[Maximum Fun Chamber]]: Castle Heterodyne contains several; in fact, most of the castle counts.

* [[Meaningful Name]]

** [[Word of God]] has it that Theopholous DuMedd was originally "doomed" to be [[Anyone Can Die|killed off]] in volume 3, but the Foglios so enjoyed him that he stuck around.

** Heterodyne: The principle of periodic functions upon which theremins and radio modulation rely. Possibly related to the [[Theme Music Power-Up]].

** Portentius Reichenbach's [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Portentous]] Operatic Masterpiece: [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080204 The Storm King].

* [[Mechanical Evolution]]: Inverted; Agatha tends to compulsively construct little Clanks termed "dingbots". These dingbots can then go on to construct more dingbots, but dingbots are only so bright, so each successive generation gets less and less advanced, and less bright, and by the third or fourth generation the dingbots produced are nonfunctional.

* [[The Medic]]

** Mamma Gkika

** Although we haven't seen this happen yet, the Heterodynes to the Jägers.

** We also have [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110124 this] exchange:

'''Tarvek:''' '''pft'''. And '''who isn't'''? }}

* [[Melee a Trois]]: [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100716 Tarvek vs. Zola vs. Lucrezia!Agatha.]

* [[Midair Repair]]

** Gilgamesh and Agatha while testing Gil's flying, or rather ''falling'', machine. Of course because they're sparks, it starts to become midair redesigning the device before Zoing points out to Agatha that they are still falling.

* [[Milky White Eyes]]: Geisterdamen and possibly other geistercreatures.

* [[Mini-Mecha]]: Agatha's Dingbots, particularly Dingbot Prime.

* [[Mook Horror Show]]: [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20041103 The flashback of Zeetha wiping out a whole pirate ship] sure looks like this in a couple panels.

* [[Moral Myopia]]: A lot of people other than Klaus and the heroes fall into this. Such as Merlot, who blames Agatha for the fact that he killed a few dozen people and got punished for it.

* [[More Than Meets the Eye]]: A few different characters.

** Agatha kicks the story off with this.

* [[Mugging the Monster]]: In Mechanisburg, [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120413 one surviving hostile Spark] [[Too Dumb to Live|seems to think that]] [[Badass Bystander|Axel Higgs]] and [[Action Girl|Zeetha, daughter of Chump]] will make good ''innocent hostages.'' Keep in mind that this is the guy who absolutely ''destroyed'' a [[Psycho Serum|Moveit #11]]-enhanced Zola earlier, while Zeetha wiped out a pirate fleet and fortress by herself.

* [[Mummies At the Dinner Table]]: Anevka, to a degree.

* [[Must Have Caffeine]]: Vanamonde von Mekkhan spends all his time in a coffee shop in Mechanicsburg, and certainly does enjoy his coffee. He has even written a textbook on coffee preparation (under a pseudonym): ''[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070528 Bean There, Done That]''.

* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: Basically the [[Fatal Flaw]] of every Spark in the world. Entering "[[The Madness Place]]" grants them incredibly powerful focus, but it makes them entirely oblivious to the potentially disastrous results of their creations.

** Specifically, Aaronev Sturmvoraus and his dying daughter, though certainly said by others in this world.

* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: Practically half the cast.

** Master Payne;

** Von Pinn;

** Also basically ''all'' of the Heterodynes (prior to Bill and Barry) have these.

** If these things are any indication, ''all'' strong Spark families tend to be this way.

* [[Naughty Tentacles]]

** "Impertinent mechanical squid!"

* [[Necessarily Evil]]: Any Spark who wants to be a good guy sometimes has to turn into a raging madboy just to keep the million separate interests from coming apart. Klaus, Gilgamesh, and Agatha have all found this out.

* [[Neck Lift]]

** Not to mention Othar Trygvassen, Gentleman Adventurer; he's been tossed out of two airships on-screen, within the same chapter. Gil doesn't even consider the possibility that he died, having seen him come back from the same or worse so many times.

** Gil is also [[Genre Savvy]] enough to find it suspicious {{spoiler|his father's}} body [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120120 is never found.] {{spoiler|Between what the readers were told before and Boris's comments that the Baron ordered his son to be immediately named head of the empire should he be suspected dead, it's indeed almost certain his death is a ruse.}}

'''Agatha:''' Well, I suppose it isn't that much worse than bringing a gun to a clank fight. }}

** And [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110713 later], "It's harder to break things with a knife."

* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]

** Agatha activates her own "Lion" device to prevent the Castle A.I. from stopping her from intentionally dying. This permanently destroys the A.I. and lots of other systems. All over the city. Subverted because she found a part of the Castle A.I.. After hooking the A.I. back into the castle, it thanks her for the EMP blast since it destroyed the rogue programs, making it easier to control those parts of the castle. She still has to fix everything, though.

** Dr Sun takes down the Baron's escape klank -- ''by himself'' -- and enforces Klaus's bed rest in order to stop him killing himself from the strain. Awesome -- {{spoiler|''until'' we learn that, in keeping Klaus in the hospital, Sun's unwittingly exposed him to Anevka!Lucrezia, which is more or less what Klaus feared. Oops.}}

* [[Noblewoman's Laugh]]

** The novelizations have a lot of these, usually referring to some strange thing that some Spark had built or what said Spark attempted to do with said strange invention.

* [[No One Could Survive That]]: Othar. Being thrown out of an airship and surviving is among the ''least'' of his feats. From the radio play:

'''[[Jerkass Woobie|Fer]][[Ms. Fanservice|reti]][[Half-Human Hybrid|na]]:''' Whoops! Silly me, I forgot to turn the [[Shock and Awe|lightning generators]] on!<br />

'''Othar:''' [[This Is Gonna Suck|Er... not a whole lot more, I'll admit.]] }}

* [[Not Helping Your Case]]: Tarvek denies having any part in the plan to usurp the Wulfenbachs by installing a fake Heterodyne -- ''his'' plan was orders of magnitude better!

* [[Nothing Is Scarier]]: "But I see nothing!" [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050706 "Don't say that like it's a good thing!"]

* [[Not So Different]]

** Jägermonsters and Lackya don't get along well. They're both bruisers who don't function well without a person to follow.

** [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110422 Tarvek and Gil], just like Agatha [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080929 told] [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090724 them].

* [[Not So Harmless]]: {{spoiler|1=[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100623 Zola]}}

* [[The Nudifier]]: The Wacky Weave Destabiliser. (Un)Fortunately Zeetha wears special underwear.

* [[Number One Dime]]: Hats, to the Jägers.

* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: A ''lot'' of people.

** Most especially Zola.

** Some of the Jägerkin are considerably smarter than they appear.

** The circus pretends to be simple performers when in truth they're {{spoiler|mostly Sparks}}.

** Klaus, {{spoiler|1=[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061206 realizing Lucrezia has enslaved him]}} and {{spoiler|1=[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061225 when Agatha activates the Battle Circus].}}

** In a subverted [[Big Damn Heroes]] [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100315 moment]:

"Uh oh." }}

** Amusingly invoked [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100602 here.]

* [[Oh My Gods]]: [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090520 Here], in the second panel.

* [[Oh, No, Not Again]]: When Agatha's trying to snap Gil out of a stupor:

'''Agatha:''' ''(shooting a sideways glance at Zola)'' Yeeeess. I ''suspected'' as much. }}

* [[Old Master]]: Dr. Sun, quite capable of singlehandedly disassembling any number of clanks -- and who ''taught'' Klaus and Gil quite a lot about martial arts.

* [[Ominous Floating Castle]] (Type 3): ''Castle Wulfenbach'' certainly qualifies.

* [[Omnicidal Maniac]]: While all Heterodynes were maniacs, some weren't picky about who to kill, as evidenced by [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20111130 this exchange]:

"A''''' new record'''''!" }}

* [[Omnidisciplinary Scientist]]: Though Sparks do specialize, it appears that most of the really strong ones can stitch a living being out of spare body parts as easily as they can build a mechanical AI... or design an electric death ray or a giant airship. Only minor Sparks appear to be ''restricted'' to a discipline, as opposed to simply being ''best'' at one

* [[One True Threesome]]: Phil and Kaja Foglio, thanks to their unabashed [[Bleached Underpants]] history, may be deliberately dangling this in front of the audience. Lampshaded and teased [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090311 in the strip itself].

* [[Only a Flesh Wound]]:

'''Klaus:''' I've had worse. }}

* [[Only Sane Man]]

** Krosp has also been this at times. Just not when the [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070917 string is going to escape].

* [[OOC Is Serious Business]]: Bangladesh DuPree not choosing at once the "let's blow everything up" option gets her second-in-command worried. [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061108 She was just fooling around, however.]

* [[Orphan's Plot Trinket]]: Agatha's locket.

* [[Our Hero Is Dead]]: And buried, complete with digging up the body and ''cloning a replica'' to make sure it's really her. {{spoiler|The corpse was doctored to make it look like Agatha, but the cloning gave the deception away, as the cloned body was not hers.}}

* [[Our Vampires Are Different]]: Dame Aedith is a vampire hunter, despite the fact that no vampires have been seen. Although there was this little gem...

'''Carson:''' I ain't being paid to ''lie'' to you, brit. }}

* [[Out of Focus]]: Lots of characters have done this.

** Lots of other characters from the first arc disappeared after it was over and have either not returned or only showed up again in the third arc. The end of the second arc also sent a large number of supporting characters offstage. It also happens within arcs: Klaus has done this more than once. Given the webcomic format, the size of the cast, and the demands of the story, it's inevitable that it will keep happening.

** This gets a non-canon lampshade [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050912 in this picture].

* [[Outscare the Enemy]]: Veilchen [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060505 does something like this].

* [[Overly Long Name]]

** In the "Cinderella" omake, Cinderella's full name is really [[Sleeping Beauty]] [[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (novel)|Snow White]] [[Rapunzel]] [[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz|Ozma]] Rose [[Little Red Riding Hood|Red Riding Hood]] [[Rumpelstiltskin]]. (No, [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20081124 really]. [[Lampshade Hanging|Just don't ask]].)