Sailor Sun

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Sailorsun.org - See the Backstage of the Webcomic World!

Sailor Sun is a web comic about the misadventures of two former "Fan Fiction Actresses" written and drawn by CD Rudd and loosely based on Rudd's own Sailor Moon fan fiction series of the same name. As the tagline implies, Sailor Sun applies the Literary Agent Hypothesis to internet fiction, depicting the "real lives" of actors and actresses who portray Fan Fiction and Web Comic characters. In keeping with the backstage theme the comic frequently features cameos by "actors" from other web comics such as Cheer and The Wotch, mostly from within the 910 Webcomics community (which also includes his other comic, I Dream of a Jeanie Bottle).

It can be read at its own website, SailorSun.org.

The Sailor Sun fanfiction series that inspired the comic can be found at SailorSun.com.

A (as of yet, very incomplete) wiki with more information about the comic can be found here.

Although as of 2010 the comic was scheduled to end at Chapter 10 due to real life and possibly due to reader decline, Rudd in fact kept going for nearly another decade, and completed the storyline in 2019.

Not to be confused with the fanfic trope Sailor Earth (though it is based on an example) and not at all likely to be confused with the much Darker and Edgier Web Original novel Sailor Nothing.

Tropes used in Sailor Sun include:
  • Absurdly Youthful Mother - Bay is only two years older than Honey.
    • Later revealed to be the case because Honey was kidnapped from an alternate future by the producers of the fanfiction Bay worked in.
  • All There in the Manual - Some aspects of the comic reference obscure bits of the predecessor fanfiction. Like Honey's origin and Bay's long-lost twin sister.
  • Animated Actors - Fanfiction Actors, actually.
  • Applied Phlebotinum - Too many examples to list, but the whole "Helices" thing takes the cake.
  • Art Evolution
  • Attractive Bent Gender - Bay.
  • Author Appeal
  • Black Bra and Panties - Bay's color of choice, as seen here.
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead - Honey, Bay and Crystal respectively (though Crystal's hair is more pink than red). While all three are very buxom and beautiful, Honey doesn't seem to think she is.
  • But Liquor Is Quicker - Honey's origin, when finally revealed, turned out to be: Bay got drunk and woke up pregnant.
  • Can't Hold Her Liquor - Bay. Poor Bay.
    • Although it was implied that the drink was spiked with something.
  • Catgirl - Neko and Kinko. Also Bay, temporarily.
  • Continuity Lock Out - Most elements of the Fanfic are clearly fictional in the webcomic but others just as clearly are not. Figuring out what's what can lead to some head-scratching.
  • Dumb Blonde - While Honey is normally a subversion, she sometimes stumbles nonetheless, most notably when trying to get a job.
  • Enforced Method Acting - The studio, using TG guns and time portals.
  • Failure Is the Only Option - No matter what happens, Bay will never be turned back into Brad. Given the nature of the comic, it shouldn't come as a surprise. Also see Status Quo Is God below.
  • Filler Strips
  • First Law of Gender Bending - the existence of not one, but two versions of Bay's Kid From the Future implies that Bay will never go back to being Brad.
    • Chapter 8, with Honey automatically assuming that a boy has possessed her mom's body (instead of, after seeing years worth of odd behavior and other hints, thinking that there could be another reason), paints a pretty clear picture that Honey has never suspected anything at all about her mother's identity.
  • Flash Back - Teri and Brady in the Cat & Butterfly arc. Recently, Bay's early days at the SailorSun.com studio.
  • Freaky Friday Flip
  • Gender Bender - Bay, who was once a man and is now stuck as a woman after a "TG Gun accident" allegedly due to Enforced Method Acting on the part of the studio. Some other examples, notably the Butt Monkey Tom.
    • However, a few comics and her feelings in general hint that she really is a girl inside (or became one over time) and is very comfortable in being so. Is this a case of The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body, or something much more than that? Bay also shows a strong maternal instinct towards Honey.
  • Going Native - It's becoming increasingly more obvious as the comic progresses that this is happening to Bay, to the point where she's starting to not mind and is accepting it. Also see Love Epiphany below.
  • Good Angel, Bad Angel - Seen here.
  • Guest Strip
  • Heroes Want Redheads - Inverted example, in that the hero (Bay) is female and the redhead is male (the "Auction Guy").
  • He Who Must Not Be Seen - Steve the narrator, who hangs out above the comic panels.
  • Hot Librarian: Research assistant Honey. Who will probably get another Unnecessary Makeover.
  • Informed Ability - Honey is supposed to be a genius, but she doesn't even pick up on Ams speaking Pig Latin (though she was waking up after undergoing what was essentially massive genetic manipulation at the time). Essentially, other than really barely-above-average booksmarts, she never shows the kind of quick or deep thinking her given IQ should entail.
  • Kid From the Future - Honey. Recent events have revealed that Brady, who looks like a younger version of Honey and also calls Bay "Mom" was snatched from an alternate future as well.
  • Love Bubbles - Bay's daydream, in this comic.
  • Love Epiphany - By the looks of it, Bay has finally admitted it to herself, going as far to kiss him later on. She also admits to Shaura that she liked it and that it is 'like a crush that won't go away'.
    • The Auction Guy seems to also love Bay back, but Bay is torn over who she was, is, and will be and doesn't know what to do.
  • Love Makes You Crazy - Bay, whenever she's so much as near the (as of now, still unnamed) guy she was sold to at a Bachelorette Auction. Even more so when she's drunk.
    • For a brief time she did not, as Bay thought that he took advantage of her after she had too much to drink. He didn't, of course.
    • Bay has fallen hard, after she decided to go see him again to turn him down. Love Makes Bay Crazy, indeed.
  • Man, I Feel Like a Woman: After Bay's amnesia-inducing head injury, much to Honey's distress

Honey: "Stop groping Mom's body!"

  • Massive Multiplayer Crossover - Not exactly. While characters from several other series do appear at times, in this reality they are all actors from the comics they represent. The Fanfic included crossovers with Ranma ½ (Of course) and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
    • One comic crosses over with Doctor Who of all things. However, since it's clearly marked as a filler it's most likely meant to be regarded as non-canon.
  • Ms. Fanservice - Bay (and anyone disguised as her). Also Crystal.
  • Mundane Fantastic - Among other things, switching genders and Time Travel don't seem to be rare occurrences and are quite easily accomplished (making Honey's obliviousness about her mother even more counterlogical). There's also the HRC, which is in effect a computer system that can edit anyone in the world, also with little effort. Our Earth this definitely ain't.
  • No Name Given - Auction Guy. Even on the cast page he's just "Auction Guy".
  • Omniscient Morality License - While nowhere near omniscient, the producers seem to have this act down pat: Need an actress? Turn your actor into one using illegal future-tech that may or may not be a felony! Need action? Grab some green slime that is used in more 'illicit' films with various undefined properties and some-such. Need a sidekick for your TG'd main? Just steal her unborn daughter from the future, not like they'll care. More amazing is that before they randomly decided to go bankrupt, no one questioned this ever: at the very least their accountant should have taken notice. Why? So we can produce a televised adaptation of a Sailor Moon fanfic. Internet IS serious business.
  • Off-Model - Some comics clearly have much more work put into them than the rest, while others seem to be obviously rushed.
  • Peek-a-Bangs - Bay, very often.
  • Pet the Dog - Despite being The Rival to Bay who's not above cheating to win at stuff, Morgan still is quite kind to Teri when she finds him lost and scared in the streets. She brings him home, cleans him up, and feeds him caviar, as well as planning to get him pancakes if he behaves while she goes out.
  • Plot Induced Stupidity - Honey, despite supposedly having an IQ of 352, rarely shows it and often has to be bailed out and/or scolded by her mother for the trouble she gets into. She also never seems to notice or get any of the hints about Bay's former identity, to the point where it's more of an example of Status Quo Is God (see below).
  • Rouge Angles of Satin / Wanton Cruelty to the Common Comma - To the point where the comic absolutely needs a beta reader and / or Grammar Nazi. Believe it or not the fanfics are even worse.
  • Sailor Earth: Ok, so Rudd used a star instead of a planet - the trope still fits.
  • Schedule Slip: for all of the usual reasons (real life,writer's block} plus at least one unusual one (deployment to Afganistan.) The schedule picked back up after the author announced that the comic was ending with Chapter Ten, perhaps because he now has a definite ending he's writing towards.
  • Second Law of Gender Bending: Immediately followed by an amnesia-induced Snap Back.
  • Shipper on Deck - Honey, pretending to be Bay, set the Auction Guy up on a date with her mother because she wants "a real daddy".
  • Ship Tease - Bay and the Auction Guy, as mentioned several times above. Also Honey and David to some extent.
  • Shirtless Scene - This.
  • Shout-Out - The TG gun appears to be a reference to El Goonish Shive.

"There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another which states this has already happened."