Pokey the Penguin: Difference between revisions

Content added Content deleted

Inline

Latest revision as of 14:23, 18 April 2020

Pokey The Penguin is an absurdist Web Comic created by Steve Havelka (aka "The Authors"), crudely drawn using MS Paint (or something similar). Irregularly updated since 1998, it chronicles the (mis)adventures of a bunch of penguins living in the Arctic, along with other creatures that usually don't live there, either. Oh, and a very British snowman. Everybody speaks in ALL CAPS.

In the first strip, Pokey The Penguin is described as "AN EDUCATIONAL CHILDRENS CARTOON!" in which "POKEY AND HIS PALS HAVE FUN AND LEARNING ABOUT THE HAZARDS OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE!".

The main recurring characters are Pokey (the titular penguin), "little girl" (Pokey's little sister), Mr. Nutty (the ever scheming British snowman), Headcheese (a french-canadian female penguin, sometimes Pokey's "girlfriend", sometimes a victim of his random acts of violence), Skeptopotamus (a skeptical hippopotamus that denies being one), Gustavo (a mexican potato with long, prehensile moustaches named "Democracy" and "Stalin"), and the Italians, which often come to the Arctic in their ships to steal the penguins' "Arctic Circle-Candy". There's also a boxing glove (apparently posessed by the devil) appearing at random to deliver a flying punch to someone.

Most of the secondary characters are penguins identical to Pokey. A bear is depicted as a brown penguin, a dinosaur as a green one, and the devil as a red one with horns. Even "little girl" and Headcheese are just smaller Pokeys with ribbons. While, for example, Stephen Hawking is depicted as a penguin wearing a wizard's hat, and Superman is another penguin with a blue cape, others, like Batman and "Bobdole" are completely indistinguishable from Pokey. There are also variations of other characters, like Old Man Nutty (Mr. Nutty's grandfather, a smaller, gray-outlined snowman) and Nostrapotamus (a Skeptopotamus with a wizard's hat).

Pokey the Penguin also made appearances as an Easter Egg in Hitman: Contracts and Hitman: Blood Money.

Tropes used in Pokey the Penguin include:

Abandoned Warehouse: Pokey visits one in San Quentin Holds the Key.
All Just a Dream: Pokey and the Boxing Glove
Amplifier Artifact: Pokey Finds an Artifact
Are We There Yet?: Pokey in Ancient Scotland
Beat Panel: Rare, but not unheard of.
Bilingual Bonus: Pokey is Relaxing (Heirate Mich)
Blessed Are the Cheesemakers:

Pokey: "THIS MOON-CHEESE WILL MAKE ME VERY RICH! VERY RICH INDEED!"

Blunt Metaphors Trauma: Best Trip Ever

Little Girl: "POKEY I HAVE FIRED UP THE TIME CANOE!!"
Pokey: "^[1]"

WHO TOLD YOU TO STOP WRITING YOUR RESEARCH PAPER???

Brick Joke: Pokey and the Bricks OK, not really, but it involves a joke and bricks.
Bullet Time: A true deconstruction in Slow Motion.
Canada, Eh?: Headcheese
Cereal-Induced Superpowers: "Clot-Busting Megapower" Pokey and the Breakfast Cereal
Chained to a Railway: Pokey and the Train
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Little Girl in Pokey Is Camping
Cut and Paste Comic: Sometimes you can see the outlines around pasted characters.
Cyberspace: Pokey is "learning handshakes from around the world" through VR in Happy Birthday Pokey. Also, Pokey the Penguin in Cyberspace
Dada Comics
Deal with the Devil: The Devil
Deliberately Monochrome: Pokey in Monochrome obv
Dramatic Thunder The Big Storm
Drowning My Sorrows: A Drink to Solve Problems

Little Girl: "POKEY IF YOU ARE SAD THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE A DRINK!!!!"

Edutainment Show: Pokey the Penguin is an educational children's cartoon about the hazards of the Arctic Circle.
Everything's Even Worse with Sharks: Averted. They just fin the shark and eat the fin for "lunch" Pokey and the Shark
Filler Strips: The comic features guest artists such as William Gibson in Pokey the Penguin in Cyberspace, the ghost of Claude Monet in The Waterfront on a Summer Day Mary Lou Retton in an eponymous strip and a propaganda strip from Laos: Our Glorious Leader.
Gainax Ending: The last panel often has fuck all to do with the rest of the strip.
Genie in a Bottle: Averted in Pokey and the Magic Lamp
Hollywood Global Warming:

Pokey: "IT IS A GOOD THING WE ESCAPED FROM THE OZONE LAYER!!!!!!!"

Halfway Plot Switch: Often. You're lucky if there's just one.
Halloween Episode: Happy Halloween
Hat Shop: Pokey wears a mortarboard on his graduation in Pokey the Penguin and Harvard.
Honest John's Dealership: Mr Nutty in some of his incarnations. In others he is a criminal or a Mega Corp CEO.
Human Cannonball: Pokey and the Cannon
I Have Many Names: The Devil
I'm a Humanitarian: Chicken Delicious Is a Bad Influence
It's Probably Nothing: Pokey Is Camping Subverted in that there actually is no noise.
Jet Pack: Headcheese and the New Haircut
Long-Lost Relative: Pokey Has an Identical Twin! or Grampa Is Alive
Mega Corp: Nutty Industries
Mundane Afterlife: Subverted in Grampa Is Alive.
Negative Space Wedgie: Pokey and the Anomaly
No Celebrities Were Harmed: "Bobdole" in Pokey the Penguin Meets Bobdole and Pokey and Bobdole
No Smoking: Let Us Meet Chicken Delicious

Chicken Delicious: "POKEY LET'S RELAX ^[2]"

Omnicidal Maniac: Pokeyzilla
Or Was It a Dream?: Pokey and the Boxing Glove.
Palette Swap: Yekop and Yttun in Pokey and Yekop.
Pirate Booty: Pokey and the Buried Treasure
Polar Bears and Penguins: Pokey lives with his family in the Arctic Circle.
Prepare to Die: San Quentin Holds the Key
Red Boxing Gloves: Pokey and the Boxing Glove
Rip Van Winkle: Parodied in Rip Van Pokey
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Grampa Is Alive

Pokey: "^[3]"
Grampa: "LET'S ROCK AND ROLL!!!"

Snake Oil Salesman: Yttun, literally. Pokey and Yekop
Stock British Phrases: Mr Nutty
Stock Yuck: Pokey and the Broccoli
Talk Like a Pirate: Pokey and the Buried Treasure
Technicolor Science: Pokey's test-tubes in Pokey the Penguin and Harvard
The Big Board: Pokey and the Situation
Time Machine: The recurring "Time Canoe" that first appears in Pokey in Ancient Scotland.

Pokey: "WITH A FEW SMALL MODIFICATIONS, ANY CANOE CAN TRAVEL THROUGH TIME!!!"

The Face of the Sun: Lo, spake Pokey, and thusly did come the bus
The Great Flood: No ID Means No Whiskey
The Infiltration: Pokey and the Situation
The Talk: Averted in Pokey Has Unternet.
Wackyland: Pokey visits one in King of the Podium.
Wanted Poster: Mr Nutty and the New Money
Weaksauce Weakness: The rain melts the witch in Pokey Was Correct
What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?
What Have I Become?: Inversion in Someone Has Stolen My Face
What Measure Is a Non-Human?:

Little Girl: "DON'T WORRY POKEY!! SHE WAS JUST A ROBOT!"

Wretched Hive:

Batman: "THIS CITY IS NO PLACE FOR LITTLE GIRLS!!"

Wrongly Accused: Pokey in San Quentin Holds the Key.

↑ (struck out)
↑ (struck out)
↑ (struck out)

[1] (struck out)

[2] (struck out)

[3] (struck out)

[1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 [[File:bobdole.gif|frame]]
-''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/ Pokey The Penguin]'' is an [[Dada Comics|absurdist]] [[Web Comic]] created by Steve Havelka (aka "The Authors"), crudely drawn using MS Paint (or something similar). Irregularly updated [[Long Runner|since 1998]], it chronicles the (mis)adventures of [[Everything's Better With Penguins|a bunch of penguins]] [[Polar Bears and Penguins|living in the Arctic]], along with [[Misplaced Wildlife|other creatures that usually don't live there, either]]. Oh, and a [[Stock British Phrases|very British]] snowman. Everybody speaks in ''ALL CAPS''.
+''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/ Pokey The Penguin]'' is an [[Dada Comics|absurdist]] [[Web Comic]] created by Steve Havelka (aka "The Authors"), crudely drawn using MS Paint (or something similar). Irregularly updated [[Long Runner|since 1998]], it chronicles the (mis)adventures of [[Everything's Better with Penguins|a bunch of penguins]] [[Polar Bears and Penguins|living in the Arctic]], along with [[Misplaced Wildlife|other creatures that usually don't live there, either]]. Oh, and a [[Stock British Phrases|very British]] snowman. Everybody speaks in ''ALL CAPS''.
 In the [http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index1.html first strip], Pokey The Penguin is described as ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index38.html "AN EDUCATIONAL CHILDRENS CARTOON!"]'' in which ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index35.html "POKEY AND HIS PALS HAVE FUN AND LEARNING ABOUT THE HAZARDS OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE!"]''.
-The main recurring characters are Pokey (the titular penguin), [[No Name Given|"little girl"]] (Pokey's little sister), Mr. Nutty (the [[Schemer|ever scheming]] British snowman), Headcheese (a [[Canada, Eh?|french-canadian]] female penguin, sometimes Pokey's "girlfriend", sometimes a victim of his random acts of violence), Skeptopotamus ([[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|a skeptical hippopotamus]] that [[Implausible Deniability|denies being one]]), Gustavo (a [[South of the Border|mexican]] potato with [[Spider Limbs|long, prehensile]] [[Magnificent Moustaches of Mexico|moustaches]] named [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|"Democracy" and "Stalin"]]), and [[Bit Part Badguys|the Italians]], which often come to the Arctic in their ships to steal the penguins' "Arctic Circle-Candy". There's also a boxing glove (apparently posessed by the devil) [[Running Joke|appearing at random to deliver a flying punch to someone]].
+The main recurring characters are Pokey (the titular penguin), [[No Name Given|"little girl"]] (Pokey's little sister), Mr. Nutty (the [[Schemer|ever scheming]] British snowman), Headcheese (a [[Canada, Eh?|french-canadian]] female penguin, sometimes Pokey's "girlfriend", sometimes a victim of his random acts of violence), Skeptopotamus ([[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|a skeptical hippopotamus]] that [[Implausible Deniability|denies being one]]), Gustavo (a [[South of the Border|mexican]] potato with [[Spider Limbs|long, prehensile]] [[Magnificent Moustaches of Mexico|moustaches]] named [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|"Democracy" and "Stalin"]]), and [[Bit Part Badguys|the Italians]], which often come to the Arctic in their ships to steal the penguins' "Arctic Circle-Candy". There's also a boxing glove (apparently posessed by the devil) [[Running Joke|appearing at random to deliver a flying punch to someone]].
-Most of the secondary characters are penguins identical to Pokey. A bear is depicted as a brown penguin, a [[Everything's Better With Dinosaurs|dinosaur]] as a green one, and [[Deal With the Devil|the devil]] as a red one with horns. Even "little girl" and Headcheese are just smaller Pokeys [[Tertiary Sexual Characteristics|with ribbons]]. While, for example, Stephen Hawking is depicted as a penguin wearing a wizard's hat, and [[Superman]] is another penguin with a blue cape, others, like [[Batman]] and "Bobdole" are completely indistinguishable from Pokey. There are also variations of other characters, like Old Man Nutty (Mr. Nutty's grandfather, a [[Miniature Senior Citizens|smaller]], gray-outlined snowman) and Nostrapotamus (a Skeptopotamus with a [[Clothes Make the Superman|wizard's hat]]).
+Most of the secondary characters are penguins identical to Pokey. A bear is depicted as a brown penguin, a [[Everything's Better with Dinosaurs|dinosaur]] as a green one, and [[Deal with the Devil|the devil]] as a red one with horns. Even "little girl" and Headcheese are just smaller Pokeys [[Tertiary Sexual Characteristics|with ribbons]]. While, for example, Stephen Hawking is depicted as a penguin wearing a wizard's hat, and [[Superman]] is another penguin with a blue cape, others, like [[Batman]] and "Bobdole" are completely indistinguishable from Pokey. There are also variations of other characters, like Old Man Nutty (Mr. Nutty's grandfather, a [[Miniature Senior Citizens|smaller]], gray-outlined snowman) and Nostrapotamus (a Skeptopotamus with a [[Clothes Make the Superman|wizard's hat]]).
 ''Pokey the Penguin'' also made appearances as an [[Easter Egg]] in ''[[Hitman]]: Contracts'' and ''Hitman: Blood Money''.
 ----
+{{tropelist}}
-=== Pokey the Penguin contains examples of the following: ===
 * [[Abandoned Warehouse]]: Pokey visits one in ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index37.html San Quentin Holds the Key]''.
 * [[All Just a Dream]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index22.html Pokey and the Boxing Glove]''
@@ Line 22: / Line 21: @@
 * [[Beat Panel]]: Rare, but [http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index163.html not unheard of].
 * [[Bilingual Bonus]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index55.html Pokey is Relaxing (Heirate Mich)]''
 * [[Blessed Are the Cheesemakers]]:
-{{quote|  '''Pokey:''' "''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index15.html THIS MOON-CHEESE WILL MAKE ME VERY RICH! VERY RICH INDEED!]''"}}
+{{quote|'''Pokey:''' "''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index15.html THIS MOON-CHEESE WILL MAKE ME VERY RICH! VERY RICH INDEED!]''"}}
 * [[Blunt Metaphors Trauma]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index58.html Best Trip Ever]''
-{{quote| '''Little Girl:''' "''POKEY I HAVE FIRED UP THE TIME CANOE!!''" <br />
+{{quote|'''Little Girl:''' "''POKEY I HAVE FIRED UP THE TIME CANOE!!''"
 '''Pokey:''' "''<ref>(struck out)</ref>''" }}
 * [[Bonnie Scotland]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index18.html Pokey in Ancient Scotland]''
 * [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index44.html Pokey in Monochrome]''
-{{quote|  ''WHO TOLD YOU TO STOP WRITING YOUR RESEARCH PAPER???''}}
+{{quote|''WHO TOLD YOU TO STOP WRITING YOUR RESEARCH PAPER???''}}
 * [[Brick Joke]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index106.html Pokey and the Bricks]'' OK, not really, but it involves a joke and bricks.
 * [[Bullet Time]]: A true deconstruction in ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index51.html Slow Motion]''.
 * [[Canada, Eh?]]: Headcheese
 * [[Cereal-Induced Superpowers]]: "Clot-Busting Megapower" ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index76.html Pokey and the Breakfast Cereal]''
-* [[Chained to A Railway]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index6.html Pokey and the Train]''
+* [[Chained to a Railway]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index6.html Pokey and the Train]''
 * [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]: Little Girl in ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index118.html Pokey Is Camping]''
 * [[Cut and Paste Comic]]: Sometimes you can see the outlines around pasted characters.
 * [[Cyberspace]]: Pokey is "learning handshakes from around the world" through VR in ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index28.html Happy Birthday Pokey]''. Also, ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index23.html Pokey the Penguin in Cyberspace]''
 * [[Dada Comics]]
-* [[Deal With the Devil]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index100.html The Devil]''
+* [[Deal with the Devil]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index100.html The Devil]''
 * [[Deliberately Monochrome]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index44.html Pokey in Monochrome]'' obv
 * [[Dramatic Thunder]] ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index7.html The Big Storm]''
 * [[Drowning My Sorrows]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index119.html A Drink to Solve Problems]''
-{{quote|  '''Little Girl:''' "''POKEY IF YOU ARE SAD THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE A DRINK!!!!''"}}
+{{quote|'''Little Girl:''' "''POKEY IF YOU ARE SAD THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE A DRINK!!!!''"}}
 * [[Edutainment Show]]: ''Pokey the Penguin'' is an educational children's cartoon about the hazards of the Arctic Circle.
-* [[Everything Is Even Worse With Sharks]]: Averted. They just fin the shark and eat the fin for "lunch" ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index86.html Pokey and the Shark]''
+* [[Everything's Even Worse with Sharks]]: Averted. They just fin the shark and eat the fin for "lunch" ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index86.html Pokey and the Shark]''
 * [[Filler Strips]]: The comic features guest artists such as [[William Gibson]] in ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index23.html Pokey the Penguin in Cyberspace]'', the ghost of Claude Monet in ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index415.html The Waterfront on a Summer Day]'' Mary Lou Retton in an [http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index229.html eponymous strip] and a propaganda strip from Laos: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index92.html Our Glorious Leader]''.
 * [[Gainax Ending]]: The last panel often has fuck all to do with the rest of the strip.
-* [[Genie in A Bottle]]: Averted in ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index73.html Pokey and the Magic Lamp]''
+* [[Genie in a Bottle]]: Averted in ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index73.html Pokey and the Magic Lamp]''
-* [[Global Warming]]:
+* [[Hollywood Global Warming]]:
-{{quote|  '''Pokey:''' "''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index2.html IT IS A GOOD THING WE ESCAPED FROM THE OZONE LAYER!!!!!!!]''"}}
+{{quote|'''Pokey:''' "''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index2.html IT IS A GOOD THING WE ESCAPED FROM THE OZONE LAYER!!!!!!!]''"}}
 * [[Halfway Plot Switch]]: Often. You're lucky if there's just one.
 * [[Halloween Episode]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index9.html Happy Halloween]''
@@ Line 66: / Line 65: @@
 * [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: "Bobdole" in ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index48.html Pokey the Penguin Meets Bobdole]'' and ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index190.html Pokey and Bobdole]''
 * [[No Smoking]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index24.html Let Us Meet Chicken Delicious]''
-{{quote|  '''Chicken Delicious:''' "''POKEY LET'S RELAX <ref>(struck out)</ref>''"}}
+{{quote|'''Chicken Delicious:''' "''POKEY LET'S RELAX <ref>(struck out)</ref>''"}}
 * [[Omnicidal Maniac]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index42.html Pokeyzilla]''
 * [[Or Was It a Dream?]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index22.html Pokey and the Boxing Glove]''.
@@ Line 76: / Line 75: @@
 * [[Rip Van Winkle]]: Parodied in ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index87.html Rip Van Pokey]''
 * [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index30.html Grampa Is Alive]''
-{{quote| '''Pokey:''' "''<ref>(struck out)</ref>''" <br />
+{{quote|'''Pokey:''' "''<ref>(struck out)</ref>''"
 '''Grampa:''' "''LET'S ROCK AND ROLL!!!''" }}
 * [[Snake Oil Salesman]]: [[Sdrawkcab Name|Yttun]], literally. ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index80.html Pokey and Yekop]''
@@ Line 85: / Line 84: @@
 * [[The Big Board]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index116.html Pokey and the Situation]''
 * [[Time Machine]]: The recurring "Time Canoe" that first appears in ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index18.html Pokey in Ancient Scotland]''.
-{{quote|  '''Pokey:''' "''WITH A FEW SMALL MODIFICATIONS, ANY CANOE CAN TRAVEL THROUGH TIME!!!''"}}
+{{quote|'''Pokey:''' "''WITH A FEW SMALL MODIFICATIONS, ANY CANOE CAN TRAVEL THROUGH TIME!!!''"}}
 * [[The Face of the Sun]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index16.html Lo, spake Pokey, and thusly did come the bus]''
 * [[The Great Flood]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index115.html No ID Means No Whiskey]''
@@ Line 92: / Line 91: @@
 * [[Wackyland]]: Pokey visits one in ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index90.html King of the Podium]''.
 * [[Wanted Poster]]: ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index54.html Mr Nutty and the New Money]''
-* [[Weaksauce Weakness]]: The [[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Literature)|rain melts the witch]] in ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index31.html Pokey Was Correct]''
+* [[Weaksauce Weakness]]: The [[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz|rain melts the witch]] in ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index31.html Pokey Was Correct]''
-* [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made On Drugs?]]
+* [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?]]
 * [[What Have I Become?]]: Inversion in ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index88.html Someone Has Stolen My Face]''
 * [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]:
-{{quote|  '''Little Girl:''' "''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index21.html DON'T WORRY POKEY!! SHE WAS JUST A ROBOT!]''"}}
+{{quote|'''Little Girl:''' "''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index21.html DON'T WORRY POKEY!! SHE WAS JUST A ROBOT!]''"}}
 * [[Wretched Hive]]:
-{{quote|  '''Batman:''' "''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index11.html THIS CITY IS NO PLACE FOR LITTLE GIRLS!!]''"}}
+{{quote|'''Batman:''' "''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index11.html THIS CITY IS NO PLACE FOR LITTLE GIRLS!!]''"}}
 * [[Wrongly Accused]]: Pokey in ''[http://www.yellow5.com/pokey/archive/index37.html San Quentin Holds the Key]''.
@@ Line 104: / Line 103: @@
 [[Category:The Nineties]]
 [[Category:Unclassified Webcomics]]
-[[Category:Pokey the Penguin]]
+[[Category:Web Comics]]
-[[Category:Webcomic]]
+[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
+[[Category:Web Comics of the 1990s]]