Megatokyo: Difference between revisions

{{quote|"''You see, nothing in the real world will ever live up to what I feel inside. I came to terms with that a long time ago... Maybe it's because the feelings I have work only in fantasies, not the real world. That's why I want to be an actress. It's a way to live what I feel, even if it is just part of a story.''"|'''Kimiko'''}}

 

 

Piro meets an aspiring voice actress called Kimiko and awkwardness ensues. Largo becomes steadily more demented and awkwardness ensues. Kimiko's flatmate [[Broken Bird|Erika]] has to deal with her past as a popular [[Idol Singer]] and awkwardness ensues. A schoolgirl called Yuki gets a crush on Piro and awkwardness ensues. Piro gets stuck with a [[Dating Sim]] [[Robot Girl]] called Ping and awkwardness ensues. And [[Dark Magical Girl]] Miho stirs things up [[For the Evulz|for her own amusement]], leading to [[Overly Long Gag|awkwardness for all concerned]].

 

 

 

Can be found [http://www.megatokyo.com through this link here]. In 12 different languages, although each language is at a different point in the story.

 

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* [[Abandoned Info Page]]: "I'll finish this section when I feel like it."

** The page was later updated to acknowledge this, and suggest that a new page was coming soon, but wasn't ready for the site redesign. ''This was in Fall of 2007.''

** Later on, Erika sports some [[Steampunk]] bunny ears.

* [[Animeland]]: One of the best examples is [http://megatokyo.com/strip/760 Page 760]. Just look at all the things Largo walks by!

** Largo's been [http://megatokyo.com/strip/354 busy:]

** The current page image for [[Nebulous Evil Organisation]], which ''literally'' [http://megatokyo.com/strip/33 starts off with arson and murder:]

* [[Art Evolution]]: Just compare the early strips to the current ones.

* [[Artifact Title]]: Rodney Caston originally bought the megatokyo.com domain and used Largo as his handle because he was a fan of ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]''. The comic is essentially named after its domain name rather than being a [[Shout-Out]].

* [[Ascended Fanboy]]: Piro, and everyone else to one degree or another. This is one of the main themes of the story.

* [[Ascended Meme]]: Largo recently [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1262 took out several blocks of the Tokyo power grid] with a '''weaponized [[Rickroll]]'''.

* [[Author Appeal]]: [[Moe]] and [http://megatokyo.com/strip/374 Sad Girls In Snow].

* [[Awesomeness Is Volatile]]: When Largo blew up something in the class he taught.

* [[Axe Crazy]]: Ed (and Dom to a lesser extent) definitely count, especially considering Ed's reaction to meeting Miho: "What is this...this is...ph34r! This is ph34r! I feel ph34r! [[Laughing Mad|HAHAHAHAHA]]!"

* [[Badass Adorable]]: Ping

* [[Badass Cape]]: Largo, [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1261 dressed to go clubbing].

* [[City of Weirdos]]: Invading hordes, [[Humongous Mecha]], and Rent-A-Zillas are so common that no one is surprised any more.

** It's worth noting that most people [[Invisible to Normals|don't notice these things]].

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Largo, especially now that he's in a relationship. Him and Erika are talking about clubbing -- she's talking about going to a nightclub, he's talking about beating people with blunt objects. (Oddly, their conversation is mostly coherent with either meaning.)

** '''Meimi'''. Full, freaking, stop. She's the most out-there conglomeration of magical girl [[Charm Point|Charm Points]] that exists. And her magical girl power? Magical theft. She takes magical girl tropes [[Serial Escalation]].

* [[Enjo Kosai]]: Junko is seen practicing this. She may actually be attracted to older men if her reaction to "Old Snake" from [[Metal Gear Solid|MGS4]] is any indication.

* [[Everyone Can See It]]: Yutaka Kobayashi is madly in love with Yuki, and ''everyone'' (except Yuki) knows it.

'''Yuki:''' OH, COME ON!! EVEN ''YOU'' KNEW?? }}

* [[Hair Decorations]]: [http://megatokyo.com/strip/970 Piroko], [http://megatokyo.com/strip/748 Yuki], [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1078 Miho]... well probably all of them, really.

* [[Eyes of Gold]]: in the rare color pictures, Kimiko and Miho have them. Kimiko doesn't really fit the usual golden-eyed archetype, [http://megatokyo.com/strip/391 but Miho does.]

** [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1304 See this last panel as well.] Effective use of color.

** [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1092 Ryoya] at Kimiko's PR disaster of a response to a question.

* [[Fan Service]]: When Kimiko and Erika strip down to [http://www.megatokyo.com/strip/913 their underwear].

* [[Filler Strip]]: Dead Piro Day. Also, there are short "omake" stories using Megatokyo characters in popular anime or original stories Fred wrote himself. The most recent one strongly insinuates that the "omakes" are [[Ridiculously Human Robot|Ping's dreams]].

* [[Fingore]]: [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1162 Given a nod and a wink].

* [[The First Cut Is the Deepest]]: Hitoshi to Erika, possibly Miho to Piro

* [[First Girl Wins]]: By way of a coffee pot to the head.

*** Depends on if you want to go by first appearance (Kimiko) or first meeting in-story (Miho).

*** Judging from recent parts of the story, Miss Dagger to the Throat might not be out of the running yet, either.

* [[Fluffy the Terrible]]: Zom-Zom, Yuki's [[Fun Size|Fun Sized]] pet [[Ninja Pirate Robot Zombie|zombie]] [[Kaiju|'zilla]].

* [[Foe Yay]]: Miho has a lot of this with Piro and Largo. Though she and Piro ''were'' a romantic couple of sorts prior to the start of the comic

'''Miho:''' That's not a very nice way to respond to that question. You could hurt a girl's feelings. In fact, I think I might start to cry. }}

* [[A Friend in Need]]

* [[Friendly Enemy]]: Perhaps only somewhat exemplary, but look at the last panel of [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1241 this strip] and try to say that the dialogue, at least, isn't the best example of this trope on the planet.

* [[Full-Frontal Assault]]: Seraphim uses it [http://megatokyo.com/strip/300 to defeat Asmodeus.]

* [[Funbag Airbag]]: Ping bumps her head into Erika's chest at the Cave of Evil.

* [[Funny Background Event]]: Fred loves to load up his backgrounds with these. This [http://megatokyo.com/strip/670 page] is an excellent example .

** As is [http://megatokyo.com/strip/952 this], albeit it's a dialog-only example.

* [[Genius Ditz]]: ''Largo''. He seems completely insane at first glance, seeing everything through the lens of various action games (primarily shooters), but in the few times we've directly seen his thought processes, he's figuring out some of the comic's [[Kudzu Plot|more complicated elements]]. Unfortunately, everyone else is a little bit to used to tuning him out when he talks.

* [[GIRL]]: used straight, inverted then inverted ''again''. Miho struck up a relationship with Piro's female alter ego online, using a male avatar. {{spoiler|She revealed her true identity, letting him see photos of her when she was ill, then broke up with Piro by claiming [[GIRL|she was a man]] after all and the photos were of someone else}}. Bad form, Miho, ''bad form''.

'''Miho:''' Phil's the janitor at the Cave. He's a sweet guy, don't be mean. }}

* [[Girlish Pigtails]]: Yuki previously. She's since traded up to a ponytail.

* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Kimiko when told she's been [http://megatokyo.com/strip/417 a busy girl].

** Not to mention Piro, when he finds out [http://megatokyo.com/strip/535 Erika is one of his favorite idols], or when he discovered Miho on his sofa.

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Piro and Largo; Kimiko and Erika.

* [[Hidden Eyes]]

* [[Improbable Hairstyle]]: The author once remarked about how people who tried to emulate Miho's hair style complained about how very hard it was to get the ribbons to stay like that. The comic itself has implied, the presence, absence or state of that ribbon is an indicator about how in-control Miho is. The fact that it stays in at all is a statement.

* [[Incendiary Exponent]]: Largo [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1054 lives] [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1197 for] this trope. [http://megatokyo.com/strip/505 Not everybody is impressed.]

* [[Instant Fanclub]]

* [[Invisible to Normals]]

* [[Japanese Honorifics]]: Obviously. There is an odd one though; Yuuki (and later Ping) will refer to people as both "mister" and "san" at the same time (ex: Mr. Piro-san). It's unclear if this is a little bit of [[Gratuitous English]] or some odd translation choice.

* [[Kuudere]]: Miho. Although she toys with it frequently, so it's hard to tell if she really is one. She currently seems to be in "tsun-vulnerable" mode. Possibly due to the fallout from Ping's 'uploads'.

* [[Little Miss Badass]]: Ping, Miho and Yuki.

* [[Logic Bomb]]: ''Averted'' in at least [http://megatokyo.com/strip/707 one instance]. Ping is momentarily frozen since two equally important people need her help, but she works through it logically and quickly reaches a conclusion. [[You Fail Logic Forever|It was the wrong conclusion]], [[Justified Trope|but that's because she started with a flawed basis]] (Piro didn't need help anywhere near [[Break the Cutie|as much as Miho did]]).

* [[Lost in Translation]]: Largo doesn't speak Japanese, so he has trouble communicating with a lot of the characters. Also, Leet Guy ''only'' speaks in leet...[http://megatokyo.com/strip/172 most of the time.]

** Which leads to a bit of [[Fridge Logic]], since in a [http://megatokyo.com/strip/9 very early strip] Leet Guy literally couldn't speak regular English to save his life. Of course, since spoken Leetspeak is no different from English, [[Rule of Funny|this probably isn't meant to be taken seriously]].

* [[Kudzu Plot]]

* [[Made of Iron]]: Ed gets smashed through a concrete pillar, then crashes into a natural gas plant, causing the whole thing to [http://megatokyo.com/strip/278 explode around him.] Not only is he not dead, he doesn't even bother seeing a doctor until after [http://megatokyo.com/strip/378 a house-sized turtle is hurled into him,] knocking him off the top of a skyscraper. Even being [http://megatokyo.com/strip/743 almost completely vaporized] only puts him out of commission for a day or so. He probably couldn't be [[Killed Off for Real|killed off]] even if he ''wanted'' to be.

* [[The Merch]]

* [[Mind Screw]]: The comic has been descending into this of late, particularly whenever Miho or the other Cave-Of-Evilers get involved.

*** Another way of thinking of it seems to be this: {{spoiler|You've heard of projecting the surface of a 3D object onto a 2D plane, like a world map? And you've heard of a 2D complex? ''She's what the 2D girls are projections of.'' But only those of a particular "[[Anime Character Types|type]]," meaning she's unlikely to be the only "analogue."}}

** Fred has suggested on the forums that the majority of the comic (including {{spoiler|Kimiko in her entirety}}) may be nothing more than {{spoiler|a fantasy of Piro's}}.

* [[Of Corsets Sexy]]: Erika's Cave Of Evil outfit.

* [[Offhand Backhand]]: Erika gives one to Ed with her elbow.

** Note [http://megatokyo.com/strip/698 here], where she describes an old and unopened bottle of alcohol as "almost older than I am." Depending on what type of alcohol it is, that could be very old indeed.

* [[Only Sane Man]]: At first, that role belonged to Piro. But as he's slowly been pulled into the web of general insanity that is the main plot, he's been replaced by Junko.

* [[Only Six Faces]]: An extreme example that only got worse over the years. For example, there is almost no way to recognize Miho with her new hairstyle compared to Yuki or her mother.

* [[Rapunzel Hair]]: Yuki, since turning into a [[Magical Girl]].

* [[Remix Comic]]: Fans from the forums write [http://forums.megatokyo.com/index.php?showforum=30 "rescripts."]

* [[Rent-A-Zilla]]: [[Trope Namer]], after the service.

** And the black sheep of the [[Gamera]] family.

* [[Running Gag]]: Largo loses his pants a ''lot''. Normally he takes them off for whatever reason, but if his [[Clothing Damage|clothing is getting damaged]], the pants are definitely getting hit.

** Piro's head is removed rather often in stick-figure comics. Apparently all you need is a bit of duct tape and he's as good as new.

** Most recently, this is due to the diagnosis of Sarah having a form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. You can read Gallagher's rant on it [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1290#rant1042 here] and Sarah's rant on it [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1292#rant1044 here]

*** This might come to an end, or so Piro (and his readers hope) according to [http://megatokyo.com/rant/1050 his rant] about a little discovery in his production process...

* [[Secret Test of Character]]: Once Yuki's dad finds out about her "boyfriend," he spends ten minutes ([[Webcomic Time|and three strips]]) yelling at him, threatening him with grievous legal and physical harm, and [[Noodle Implements|concrete]], as well as insulting the very fiber of his being...then hands the phone to his daughter.

* [[Serial Tweaker]]: Gallager seems to be an artistic version of this; next time you watch the live stream of him drawing the comic, try and count all of the time he goes back to redraw some minor detail that he's already drawn multiple times before.

* [[Sexy Coat Flashing]]

* [[Shirtless Scene]]: [http://megatokyo.com/strip/149 The debut of "Great Teacher Largo"].

* [[Snow Means Death]]: {{spoiler|Ironic, considering...}}

* [[Snow Means Love]]: "Piro, go to your happy place. Sad girls in snow."

** Notable since Gallagher isn't responsible for it; Ian McConville and Matt Boyd of [[Mac Hall]] and [[Three Panel Soul]] are.

* [[Somebody Else's Problem]]: At least one magical girl ({{spoiler|probably Miho, but she may have had help}}) can produce this effect, hiding a house and causing other people to just walk right by it. This isn't [[Invisible to Normals]], either; it worked fine on a [[Magical Girl]].

* [[Spit Take]]: Junko's father, when she spots him in the Cave of Evil.

* [[Still Got It]]: Erika [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1226 flaunting her celebrity creds].

* [[Stock Super Powers]]: The magical girls have super speed, super strength, as well as a few odder abilities--one seems to have ''teleported'', and another can apparently shrink things.

* [[Super-Powered Robot Meter Maids]]: Sony programmed the "tsundere" trait a bit too well. Junko has a moment of [[Fridge Brilliance]], when realizes why Ping never has to worry about her end users getting a little bit too hands-on, especially considering that she isn't programmed to give sex.

* [[Take a Level In Badass]]: Piro, if slowly. He shows unexpected [http://megatokyo.com/strip/841 agility] and [http://megatokyo.com/strip/867 strength] (not to mention [http://megatokyo.com/strip/886 backbone]) during his short stint as a busboy at Anna Miller's, and [http://megatokyo.com/strip/908 easily navigates Largo's PH34R game] in Mega Gamers the next day.

* [[Telephone Polearm]]: Ping, when she freaks out. Then she puts it back and thanks it.

* [[Tender Tears]]

** And again [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1127 here.] Despite saving her life with the accidental groping, he still gets [[Megaton Punch|pummeled]] for it.

* [[Those Two Bad Guys]]: Dom and Ed.

* [[Translation Convention]]: Most [[Bilingual Bonus|(but not all)]] spoken Japanese is portrayed as English in <angle brackets>, along with translations for the more hardcore [[Leet Speak|1337.]]

* [[Translation Train Wreck]]: Ping's English "transl33tor" approaches this after Largo tweaks it, causing it to translate everything into [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1148 nonsense blended with porn advertisements.] He tries to fix it, and temporarily causes her to achieve a flawless communications link with [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1166 Cuckooland.]

* [[Tsundere]]: Erika, using the original tsundere definition. Ping also enters a Tsundere mode that leads to unstoppable robot rampages.

** Even ''Piro'' exhibits typical tsundere characteristics whenever [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1272 Miho is involved].

* [[Virginity Makes You Stupid]]: Kimiko gives the impression of this at first glance. Turns out [http://megatokyo.com/strip/994 Erika could tell a few stories]...

* [[Webcomics Long Runners]]: In five of the twelve languages it can be read in.

** When you think about it though it makes some things awkward. Though time passes nowhere near as fast as us for them, the technology around them seems to advance at the same rate as reality. Its often very jarring.

** The same is true for anime references and products sold in the store where Piro works.

* [[Weirdness Censor]]: There are ''multiple forms of censorship running simultaneously'', explained [http://bridgebunnies.com/?p=619 here]. It'd be easier to say that there are multiple mutually exclusive [[Extra-Strength Masquerade|Extra Strength Masquerades]] in effect -- look in the right direction at the right time with the right eyes and you can see anything from [[Kaiju]] to entire [[Magical Land|Magical Lands]]. There's an [[Anime]] population, full of [[Magical Girl|Magical Girls]] and [[Sentai]] groups battling [[Monster of the Week|various threats]]. There's the [[Morality Tropes|Morality]] population, where [[Good Angel, Bad Angel|Shoulder Angels]] attempt to guide the human race to their own ends. On top of both is the [[Government Conspiracy]], which attempts to [[Hero Insurance|regulate the destruction created by the Anime heroes]] without [[Obstructive Bureaucrat|getting the world blown up in the process]] -- they drive [[Humongous Mecha]] [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight|on the street in broad daylight]]. And some censored populations are subject to censorship themselves! Heroes only see their own threats, and can get pushy when they are interfered with by [[Police Are Useless|cops]] or [[Let's You and Him Fight|other heroes]]. No one sees Shoulder Angels save their clients. The mecha-riding regulators tear their hair out on a regular basis trying to deal with the madness. '''''And the [[Muggles]] can't even agree on what to ignore.''''' While Yuki {{spoiler|is still coping with being a Magical Girl}}, she apparently finds [http://megatokyo.com/strip/803 being told to stay in the mech to be mundane enough to be infuriating.] And while Junko freaks out over Ping's light pole save, [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1169 the owner of the car that would have hit Junko freaks out not over it being crushed by said light pole], but for Junko's carelessness which brought it about.

* [[Wham! Episode]]: [http://megatokyo.com/strip/682 "If I sleep with you, will you go away?"] Undoubtedly a ''very'' dick move on Erika's part, and ''the'' reason Largo tries to [[Drowning My Sorrows|drown his sorrows]].

** [http://megatokyo.com/strip/870 You probably even thought it'd help you get laid tonight!] Pretty much the same circumstances and result as above.

* [[You Didn't Ask]]: Sonoda says this exact line when Largo demands to know why he wasn't told about the existence of a [[Kill Sat|high intensity satellite-based laser]].

* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair]]: One character has purple hair; another's changes from gray to pink to blue green. Though the latter is a sort of subversive joke, since the comic is mostly in black and white; hair color can only be determined from occasional colored strips or when a character points it out.

* [[Your Makeup Is Running]]

* [[Zettai Ryouiki]]: just about every female character has had an A-grade at one time or another. And if you've clicked all the links on this page thus far, you've probably seen it for about half of them already (heck, Kimiko's got it in the page image here). [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1103 Here's one more for you.]

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Webcomics Long Runners]]

[[Category:OEL Manga]]

[[Category:Embellished Webcomics]]