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{{work}}
[[File:sp01222009-doorknob_2427.gif|frame|[[The Rant]]: [
{{quote|'''Jason''': ''Do you wake up every morning and say, "Today, I'm going to find someone's dream that's come true and put an end to it"?''
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{{quote|'''Aubrey''': ''Davan, this has to stop, okay? You're always so negative and angry, and it worries me. You're not nearly the bad person you think you are, and things will get better. You've got to do [[Title Drop|something positive]] with your life.''}}
'''''[http://www.somethingpositive.net/ Something*Positive]''''' is a [[Slice of Life]] webcomic by R.K. Milholland based on the life and trials of Davan MacIntire, a put-upon, misanthropic author stand-in, and his best friends Aubrey Chorde, Pee-Jee Shou, and Jason Pratchett, who originated as caricatures of [[Life Embellished|Milholland's real-life friends]]. The supporting cast includes Davan's acerbic but loving family, African-American Wiccan Kim Anansie, Pee-Jee's long-time gay man-crush [[
Most of the comic's humor is incredibly dark and cynical, with glee for [[Dude, Not Funny|potential offense]]; few demographics have avoided skewering by the author's [[Strawman Political|strawman constructs]] -- it is remarkably fair and balanced in that approach. However, moments of sympathy sometimes rise to the surface, as the characters may be jerks (an admitted fact by Milholland himself), but they ''do'' love each other deeply, and go out of their way to help one another. Common elements include the stupidity of the common man, geek culture, tabletop gaming, and Davan's seemingly endless parade of psychotic girlfriends.
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Expect a lot of [[Take That]]. To fans of the comic (particularly stupid e-mails are almost ''always'' revealed to the fans on the comic's web page, or even in actual comics), to fans of certain shows or genres, and ''especially'' to Milholland himself, as well as his comic. It's equal-opportunity cruelty at its finest and most vulgar.
The title was created when the real Aubrey told Milholland to do "something positive."
{{tropelist}}
* [[Absolute Cleavage]]: [
* [[Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male]]: Although most of the cast engages in [[Slapstick]] violence regardless of sex, the strip makes a [[Running Gag]] of PeeJee, Aubrey, and Kim doing much more serious harm to their various boyfriends (and Davan). When Eva goes to jail for beating up her husband, on the other hand, [[Protagonist-Centered Morality|everyone seems to agree she's getting what she deserves]], although maybe more for being a [[Manipulative Bastard]].
** [
* [[Abusive Parents]]: {{spoiler|Ollie's}} father apparently beat him when he was a boy. This is probably why {{spoiler|Ollie does everything in his power to honor and protect the reputation of his otherwise [[Evil Uncle]] Avogadro, who put a stop to the abuse by raising Ollie himself}}.
** {{spoiler|Avogadro is just as abusive, just in a different way. Avogadro never beat Ollie physically and mentally AND emotionally, but he abused the boy sexually. At least in Ollie's adult years and Avogadro's final years of life after Pepito left.}}
** On the emotionally abusive side is Jason's father. The man is described as using his psychology skills to get under his family's skin, and Jason's anecdotes about him are [https://web.archive.org/web/20140317082128/http://somethingpositive.net/sp03022007.shtml pretty disturbing.]
** Monette's natural father. Even when trying to be nice, the best he manages to achieve is trying to send her a "I never thought you would achieve anything" card.
* [[Action Survivor]]: Kharisma, of all people, is becoming one.
* [[Actually Pretty Funny]]: Davan tells a whiny little girl that he's going to buy the cake she wants her mother to buy, just to spite her. This earned him a glare from his dad... [https://web.archive.org/web/20130927165428/http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp03012006.shtml then the girl ran and told her mother about it].
* [[Aerosol Flamethrower]]: [[Too Dumb to Live|"OH GOD! MY BEAUTY! MY HORRIBLY FLAMMABLE BEAUTY!"]]
* [[A Hell of a Time]]: two words: "ferret rave"
* [[All Girls Like Ponies]]: "Customers being stupid?" "That's like asking me if ponies are still being awesome. Duh!"
* [[Anvilicious]]: Pushes this from time to time, as a number of arcs tend to end in a character getting a lecture about how stupid they are (or how wrong they are for their views or stance on the issue at hand).
* [[Arbitrary Skepticism]]: [
* [[Art Evolution]]: After ''nine years'', Randy's started... shading.
* [[Ascended Extra]]: [
** Ransom demands were not met? He warned.
** Also, Branwen was supposed to be a one-off character, rather than a significant part of the plot
* [[Ashes to Crashes]]: Peejee accidentally spills {{spoiler|Faye}}'s ashes [https://web.archive.org/web/20140317075149/http://somethingpositive.net/sp03142007.shtml down her panties].
* [[Asshole Victim]] - Let us do a count off, starting with Kharisma who prior to character development 'really' pushed this with her treatment of others, Kyle who cheated and lied to one of our main cast and was caught in this, Pepito who spent 90% of his most recent screen time being a [[Jerkass]] to everyone, the con attendant who preceeded pepitos exit stage left with an exploding head and finally Peejee's coworker who threatened to charge her with sexual harassment when Peejee rebuffed her advances.
* [[Attention Deficit Creator Disorder]]: The front page bears five differently-named comics, not counting other comic projects that have fallen by the wayside.
** Not necessarily fallen by the wayside: "No one seemed to like it until YEARS after I gave up on it. I'll play with it again one day." -- RKM, Formspring
*** Pretty damn fallen by the wayside, considering that it's been YEARS since he said tht.
* [[Author Avatar]]: Two, Davan is an avatar for Randy as an adult, and, more recently, Rory for Randy's childhood.
* [[Author Guest Spot]]
* [[A World Half Full]]
* [[Badass Boast]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20131106042521/http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp04072006.shtml Jason makes a henchmen beg] in a tabletop RPG.
* [[Beard of Sorrow]]: Davan, after {{spoiler|Faye dies.}}
* [[Benevolent Boss]]: Sanderson, mostly. He's a bit selfish and stubborn about his whims, but he genuinely likes Davan.
* [[Berserk Button]]: [
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Even if he is probably just a hallucination, and a fairly benevolent one at that, Fluffmodeus can be pretty scary.
{{quote|'''Fluffmodeus''': [[Nightmare Fuel|YOU'RE GONNA DIE!]]}}
** The "benevolent" facade has been pretty much dropped as of [
* [[Black Comedy]]
* [[Black Comedy Rape]]:
** Kim and Davan.
** Mike and the Redneck Trees [also portrayed as teaching him a lesson]. Initially, nothing actually happens to Mike. [[Deep-Immersion Gaming]] is a visual device, not something that actually affects the characters. It's not shown how graphically it was described to him, although based on his reaction, probably "very"
:Then, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130509212816/http://somethingpositive.net/sp01162003.shtml thanks to Davan's good memory], it was reenacted. And he was actually almost publicly sodomized by a man in a tree costume. But since he was an unsympathetic [[Jerkass]], it was played for laughs... and then it happened ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130509204344/http://somethingpositive.net/sp02282003.shtml again]''.
** The rejection letter Davan sends to the writer of a bad play claims that "A better title for your play would be 'Rape-Rape: A Tale of Rapening'. Also, your next play should have a little less rape in it."
* [[Biggus Dickus]]: [
** [
* [[Bi the Way]]: Kim, Nancy, Vanessa, T-Bob.
* [[Body Horror]]: Odds are that any scene that includes Choo-Choo Bear will also include some horrible, horrible cat-related [[Body Horror]].
* [[Brain Bleach]]: on [
** There is a new contender with [
** And in turn, congratulations to the latest member of the Something Positive Brain Bleach All-Star Team. [
** [[Pokémon]] [[Ruined FOREVER]] [
** Lipstick, nipple rings and {{spoiler|[[Popeye]]}}. {{spoiler|And [[Everyone Has Standards|squicked Vanessa]]}}. [
* [[Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130930065555/http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05152012.shtml "What should we do first?] Strip club? M.M.A.? The zoo? Stripper M.M.A. cage matches at the zoo?"
* [[B
* [[But You Screw One Goat!]]: Monette's koala incident.
{{quote|'''Davan''': Before I post your bail, tell me: Was it a ''female'' koala you had sex with?}}
* [[Butch Lesbian]]: Lisa developed into one after moving away with Monette.
* [[Call Back]]: [
** Not to mention a [[Call Back]] to Monette's "Koala incident". [[Blatant Lies|It never happened]] - [
* [[Canon Immigrant]]: Kestrel came from ''[[Queen of Wands]]'', and Helen from ''[[Penny and Aggie]]''. Candy from [[Girls with Slingshots]] has been hinted at joining as well.
* [[Cash Cow Franchise]]: Action figures? Pedestrian. Try ''[[GURPS]]'' [
* [[Catapult Nightmare]]: [
* [[Catgirl]]: [[Cosplay|Cosplayers]] are frequently satirized.
* [[Cerebus Syndrome]]: Davan's best friend Scotty kills himself at the tail end of the first year of the strip, setting off sadness, depression and nostalgic looks to the past being a major point of the comic thereafter.
** Which makes this a rare case of Cerebus Syndrome in which the work ... doesn't actually become any [[Darker and Edgier|darker]].
* [[Cigarette of Anxiety]]: [
* [[Character Development]]: Mike's growth really stands out. Introduced as a misogynistic whiny [[Jerkass]], he later acknowledges most of his flaws and works to become a better person, and goes on to be the first member of the cast to get into a committed relationship and become a father. When things got rough, his worst traits re-emerged, and he and Tamara even broke up for a while. However, he did manage to get his act together, and even decided to become a "real-life superhero" as the Pythagorean. No one expected much to come of it, but apparently he's become quite popular with the local community, and even got a [[Moment of Awesome]] out of it.
** Kharisma. She shredded most of her [[Rich Bitch]]/[[Alpha Bitch]] attitude while in jail, and got one of the most exciting subplots in the comic.
* [[Chew Toy]]: Mike and Kharisma.
* [[Chewbacca Defense]]: Aubrey reveals her philosophy of life at the end of [https://web.archive.org/web/20140109055022/http://somethingpositive.net/sp10302003.shtml this crossover strip].
* [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]]: Happens to a fair amount of supporting characters, what with the huge cast. Some were dropped deliberately by the writer (Jennifer and Darrick, from early in the strip, when neither character panned out), while others just kind of faded away. This is dealt with fairly realistically, as people tend to just fall out of the others' lives.
** Milholland has written that the character of Jennifer is based on a real life person he knew. She agreed to appear as a character but she was unhappy with the way she was depicted and argued with Milholland over it. Milholland dropped Jennifer from the strip and also ended up losing contact with "Jennifer" in real life.
* [[Clingy Jealous Girl]]: Eva.
* [[Comedic Sociopathy]]: Mostly ''[[Sadist Show|made of it]]'' -- try to find one recurring character ''without'' a [[Jerkass]] streak or something.
* [[Comically Missing the Point]]: "Do you even know what gay bashing is?" "[
* [[Composite Character]]: A few members of the cast are based off of more than one person Milholland has met, merged into one being. Lisa and Monette in particular, as well as Mike and Eva (both of whom were based off of one good person, and one bad one -- with the characters branching into one or the other).
* [[Continuity Nod]]: "I lava you".
** And "[
* [[Country Matters]]: Despite the [[Cluster F-Bomb]] he's rather notorious for, Randy is ''very'' antsy about this word, so far only using it twice, once when Mike (an utter [[Jerkass]]) is very annoyed with PeeJee, and even he stammers a bit, and once indirectly when Davan's [[Girl of the Week]], trying to justify her cheating, asks if she's "being too blunt," and Davan replies she's "in the rhyming neighborhood." Apparently, a woman walked out of a panel discussion when he said it in [[Real Life]].
* [[Covert Pervert]]: ''[[The Cutie|Vanessa]]''. "I wanna see tiiiitties!"
* [[Crapsack World]]
* [[Curse Cut Short]]: Given the [[Groin Attack]] he'd just suffered, [
* [[The Cutie]]: Vanessa and Kestrel.
* [[Cute Kitten]]: Choo-Choo-Bear and friends. Sometimes bluntly deconstructed, which on one occasion has resulted in death threats against the author (see [[GIFT]] entry below).
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* [[Daddy DNA Test]]: The introduction of Donna and Rory. In a subversion, Rory's not Davan's son, but Davan bonds with him anyway.
** And when asked if he could go back in time and be Rory's actual father, he says yes.
* [[Darker and Edgier]]: ''[[My Little Pony]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20130703110849/http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05282008.shtml made awesome].
* [[Dead Baby Comedy]]: Especially in its early years (and almost literally in the first strip).
** Especially, perhaps, but certainly not ''exclusively'', as can be seen in [
{{quote|'''Nancy''': Davan, wake up. I have a problem.
'''Davan''': You live on the fifth floor; you've got a long stairwell that'll fix it for you. }}
* [[Deconstruction]]: A notable example is Gregory's teddy bear liberation army, which appeared in a throwaway gag years ago, and has subsequently been deconstructed into something truly disturbing.
* [[Dead Fic]]: Yes, Randy, of ''course'' you're going to finish ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20111030103851/http://www.midnightmacabre.com/index.html Midnight Macabre]''. We believe you. Honest.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Most of the main cast.
* [[Death of the Author]]: Referenced in the catgirls arc. This trope appears to be something of a sore spot with the author.
* [[Deliberately Monochrome]]: ''S* P 1937'' and some [[Flash Back|flashbacks.]]
* [[Designated Monkey]]: Possibly related to the [[Double Standard]] below. Mike was treated like crap by the main cast for the longest time, but he never engaged in their [[Comedic Sociopathy]].
* [[The Ditz]]: Monette, especially at first.
{{quote|'''[http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp06052010.shtml Kharisma]:''' I don't know! I don't know anything! I swear! It's a life choice!}}
* [[Dirty Old Man|Dirty Old Woman]]: "[
* [[Disability as an Excuse For Jerkassery]]: As a young boy, Fred was admitted to a hospital for an ear infection, where he was antagonized at every turn by a boy in a wheel-chair, who used his disability as an excuse to rage at the world, and every other child at the hospital hates him. Eventually, Fred and his friends team up to scare him and teach him a lesson... {{spoiler|whereupon it is revealed that the boy is in the hospital for a heart condition, and the shock of the scare ends up killing him.}}
* [[Don't Sneak Up On Me Like That]]: Peejee has a fear of puppets, and breaks Aubrey's hand with a hammer when Aubrey sneaks up behind her with a handpuppet.
* [[Dude, She's Like, in a Coma]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20140117230626/http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp01282003.shtml Gal, He's Like Drugged Unconscious]
* [[Dynamic Entry]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20140109071013/http://somethingpositive.net/sp09052010.shtml Aubrey demonstrates the technique.]
* [[Dysfunction Junction]]: And ''[
* [[The Eeyore]]: Davan
* [[Enfant Terrible]]: The [[Catgirl|catgirls]].
* [[Everyone Has Standards]]: After the infamous [https://web.archive.org/web/20130808130415/http://somethingpositive.net/sp10192006.shtml Hell House Arch], Randy points out he actually had to 'censor' most of what he researched about actual Hell Houses because they were too disgustingly horrible even for him.
* [[Exact Words]]: When [
* [[Fag Hag]]: Pee-Jee.
* [[Fan Art]]: There is a ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20101113120245/http://somethingpositivemovie.geekinthebox.org/ fan movie]'' encompassing some of the earlier strips.
* [[Fan Disservice]]: If you're a ''[[Superman]]'' fan, [[Erection Rejection|don't read]] [
** [
* [[Fan Dumb]]: In-universe examples. Mike acts like this on a regular basis. There are also the [[Catgirl]] [[Cosplay|cosplayers]], who embody the worst aspects of annoying pre-teen [[Otaku]].
* [[Fan Service]]: What else can you call [
* [[Foreshadowing]]: Jason and Davan's webcomic ''Neko-Neko Holy-Chan'' was teased for ''years'', with Jason frequently begging Davan to start up a webcomic with him. Monette also teased cast members about her "Big Secret" for months before revealing she was starring in a TV Show.
* [[Fourth Wall Mail Slot]]
* [[Framing the Guilty Party]]
* [[Freudian Slippery Slope]]: [
* [[Fridge Brilliance]]: An in-universe example, when [
* [[From the Mouths of Babes]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20140109075322/http://somethingpositive.net/sp12052002.shtml When Jason plays Santa.]
** And again, after Davan receives "The Talk"... [
* [[Gargle Blaster]]: A whiskey flask that Davan doesn't realize has been mixed with [
* [[Genre Savvy]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130926014045/http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp03022006.shtml Pee-Jee is.] She knows that happy people proclaiming their joy [[Smite Me,
* [[GIFT]]: A [https://web.archive.org/web/20130511033418/http://somethingpositive.net/sp09022011.shtml set of] [https://web.archive.org/web/20130726092702/http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp09052011.shtml Kitty Kwizzes], comics which humourously explained how cats control their human puppets...er...masters, [https://web.archive.org/web/20140314183339/http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp09062011.shtml apparently] made some readers so angry that Randy received ''death threats'' over them.
* [[Girl-On-Girl Is Hot]]: Jason has drawn Aubrey/PeeJee yuri.
** And just when you think [
** Also mentioned [
** God Himself apparently thinks so, too, as seen in "Boobquake."
* [[Heroes Want Redheads|God Wants Redheads]]: Apparently, [https://web.archive.org/web/20131014072628/http://somethingpositive.net/sp04262010.shtml Jehovah likes] when lesbian redheads have sex. Also relates to the above.
* [[Good Angel, Bad Angel]]: [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] [
* [[Green Eyes]]: Kestrel. Notably, she's the ''only'' character in the comic to have colored eyes, owing to her original source material in ''[[Queen of Wands]]''.
* [[Grievous Bottley Harm]]: [
* [[Grievous Harm with a Body]]: [
* [[Grotesque Cute]]: Fluffmodeus, a.k.a. Little Blue Thing. Choo-Choo Bear as well, to some extent.
** No mention of the [[Catgirl|catgirls]]?
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** {{spoiler|Aubrey and Jason, as well.}}
* [[Heel Face Turn]]: A number of characters have gone up (and down) the scale from annoying to sympathetic.
* [[Hilariously Abusive Childhood]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20140109021823/http://somethingpositive.net/sp11302004.shtml Monette] in particular.
* [[Hollywood New England]]: Set in Boston with frequent sidetrips to Texas since two of the three main protagonists hail from there.
* [[Hollywood Sex]]: Davan's life involves plenty of nasty aversion to cement the [[Chew Toy]] / [[Butt Monkey]] aspect of his character. Most frequently mentioned is a girl biting down the first time he received oral sex.
* [[Incompatible Orientation]]: Peejee to Jhim.
* [[Informed Deformity]]: Shazam Wil-Wheaton Dowden. [[Take Our Word for It|Not yet seen 'on camera,']] but judging by Dad's nose...
** Also Davan, a fairly ordinary-looking guy who is considered unutterably hideous by a remarkable number of people. [[Sadist Show|Probably intentional.]]
*** [[Epileptic Trees|Maybe his personality projects itself as an aura some people can sense]].
* [[Ink Suit Actor]]: Whenever the comic depicts a gaming campaign in its imaginary setting, the Player Characters typically bear some resemblance to their players.
* [[Insult Backfire]]: For example, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130514060546/http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp12172002.shtml this one].
* [[Intelligible Unintelligible]]: Both Davan and Peejee talk to Choo-Choo Bear as if they know what he's saying. Of course, all cat owners do this, but recently it's included stuff about the kitten situation that they've no other way of knowing...
* [[Intercontinuity Crossover]]: Many. ''Something Positive'' seems to be a sort of hub-world for webcomics.
** The first was with ''[[Queen of Wands]]'', to the point where Kestrel entered S* P after ''[[Queen of Wands]]'' ended. (More info on the incident:
** There was also a crossover with ''[[Scandal Sheet]]''. And cameo appearances by Jay from ''[[FLEM Comics]]'', Jennie from ''[[The Devil's Panties]]'' and ''[[The Pet Professional]]''. One comic also mentioned that Aubrey used to own [[Sluggy Freelance|a mini-lop with a fondness for sharp objects]], but her mother gave it to a pet shop.
** Davan and Nancy also [http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=511 had a cameo] in ''[[Questionable Content]]''.
** The Teddy Bear Liberation Front also showed up in some Milholland-written ''[[Punch an Pie]]'' guest strips.
** There was a crossover with ''[[Girls with Slingshots]]'', as Davan attends the wedding of two minor characters from that strip.
*** ...And now Choo-Choo Bear is the father of Sprinkles' kittens.
*** ...One of whom has been adopted by Leslie from ''[[Shortpacked]]''.
** Don, the protagonist of ''[
** Helen, a supporting character from ''[[Penny and Aggie]]'', has appeared for a storyline in which she's interviewing for a job (meaning she might stay).
** PeeJee and Aubrey visit a shop named ''What's New'', with [[Phil Foglio]] visible behind the desk, [
** Choo-Choo Bear also [http://www.twolumps.net/d/20040726.html met up with Eben and Snooch] from ''[[Two Lumps]]'' back in the day.
* [[I Promised Myself I Wouldn't Cry]]: But it's had not to cry "[
* [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy]]: Davan, with Branwen.
* [[Jerkass]]: The entire cast, in one form or another. In fact, you can usually tell when someone's supposed to be considered a positively-viewed member of the cast when they change from [[Straw Loser]] [[Jerkass]] to [[Deadpan Snarker]] [[Jerkass]]. [[Word of God]] confirms that most characters are deliberately jerks, and that Davan is "an asshole, and a lot of the misery he's gone through, he brought on himself)."
** Kestrel is one who mostly stays out of [[Jerkass]] territory, mostly because she was "adopted into" the comic.
* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: Many cast members, but particularly Davan. He might be a [[Jerkass]], but he is ''always'' there for his friends and family, even when it's hard.
* [[Jossed]]: [
{{quote|"Seriously? Davan and PeeJee? That wouldn't last five minutes."}}
* [[Jumping the Shark]]: An in-universe example. When Davan loses interest in [[Show Within a Show|his online comic]], instead of just ending it he deliberately shark-jumps it to try and make everyone hate it. Considering that Davan is an [[Author Avatar]] for Randy Milholland, one has to wonder...
* [[Kaleidoscope Hair]]: For a long time, Peejee would have constantly changing hair, until Randy got tired of changing it.
* [[Kavorka Man]]: Jason. Davan also has aspects of this, on the occasions that he actually cares enough to try. For example, the first words he spoke to Branwen (whom he would later go on to date for over a year) were something along the lines of "Hey, want to go have sex?" to which she answered in the affirmative. Despite supposedly being hideous, Davan has slept with about five or six attractive women in nine years, two of them very regularly -- not a bad run.
* [[Karma Houdini]]: Pretty much every major, and some of the minor, characters in the strip. They have all done and said some really nasty things and suffered few consequences for them. About the only one really suffering for her actions is Kharisma, except {{spoiler|she's in jail for a murder she ''didn't'' commit, but was trying to commit... and with the intended victim's blessing, at that}}.
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* [[Lamarck Was Right]]: Half of Choo-Choo's kitties are gooey and boneless like him, despite his condition being a result of chemotherapy.
* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: Davan's [[Speech Bubble]] is [[The Un-Reveal|covered up]] for a second time when he tells PeeJee who he called at the con (see [[Painting the Fourth Wall]] below), this time by Choo-Choo Bear bursting out of his ice cream. PeeJee reasonably says that this makes no sense:
{{quote|'''Davan''': [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp03112009.shtml He's a 30+ year old pudding cat who can travel through drains] but '''this''' is where [[Arbitrary Skepticism|your ability to believe]] is gonna be taxed?
'''PeeJee''': Even so, there's a point where reality dictates--
'''Davan''': How'd that woman in your job die again?
'''PeeJee''': This ice cream could use sprinkles. }}
** "That woman" died when {{spoiler|an alligator - specifically a [[Running Gag|Canadian Trapdoor Alligator]] - burst out of the air-conditioning vent and ate her}}, for the record.
* [[Laser-Guided Cat]]girl: [https://web.archive.org/web/20161107040412/http://somethingpositive.net/sp11222008.shtml Here you go].
* [[Laser-Guided Karma]]: Kharisma.
* [[Last Het Romance]]: Davan to one of his exes, who became a lesbian.
* [[Law of Inverse Paternity]]: Played with; Davan didn't ''want'' to be Rory's father, but was at least willing to step up if he was, unlike the other candidate. Davan wound up becoming his [[Parental Substitute]] even after finding out he wasn't the dad, and admits that in retrospect he wishes he had been the father after all.
* [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall]]:
{{quote|'''Aubrey:''' "Woogie, where's all your stuff? It's like we're in a comic strip but the cartoonist is too goddamn lazy to draw our background like he normally does."}}
* [[Life Embellished]]
Line 205 ⟶ 210:
* [[Looking for Love In All the Wrong Places]]: Davan.
* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]: The main cast isn't overly large for a webcomic, but once you get to the former main supporting cast [Jhim, Kim, Monette] and the old familiar faces [Cab, Berenger, Claire, Anna, Lisa, Celie, the Teddy-Bear Liberation Front, etc.], things get a little crazy. Jesus-Mickey and Twitchy-Hug were killed, but we still frequently see characters show up with gaps of years between appearances.
* [[Lucky Charms Title]]: What with the asterisk in the middle and all.
* [[The Maiden Name Debate]]: Gender inversion; Jason takes Aubrey's last name, Chorde, when they marry, at least in part as a slight against his father.
* [[
**
** And in [https://web.archive.org/web/20130510202139/http://somethingpositive.net/sp03032009.shtml this] strip's comment: "If you're wondering whether the argument or the lolcat was stupid, the answer is: yes."
* [[Mattress Tag Gag]]: Slipleg the Pirate (aka Choo-Choo Bear) gets an evil witch's attention by breaking into her house, smashing her things, setting her furnishings on fire... [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|and tearing the tag off a mattress]].
* [[Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane]]: Even Randy is unsure of whether or not the floating blue apparition Kharisma sees is real or a hallucination.
* [[Meta Guy]]: Silas, acting as an unwanted narrator to the gang's antics.
* [[Mercy Kill]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20140109021514/http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05312003.shtml Here].
* [[Milholland Relationship Moment]]: The partial [[Trope Namer]] - see [[Questionable Content]], [[Websnark]].
* [[Misery Poker]]: Against Kestrel from ''[[Queen of Wands]]'', during [http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20040510.html a crossover].
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* [[Mood Whiplash]]: The funny antics that lead to a awful consequence, terrible misfortune capped with a punchline and the odd [[Milholland Relationship Moment]]. It happens fairly often.
* [[Morality Pet]]: Rory for Davan.
* [[Most Common Superpower]]: [[Discussed Trope|Discussed]] in [
* [[Murder the Hypotenuse]]: When the [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Teddy Bear Liberation Front]] returns, Meggie shows unrequited love for her partner in crime, Gregory. He seems oblivious and falls for {{spoiler|Kharisma through writing to her and visiting her in jail. When they break her out while being transported, Gregory nurses her back to health. Then Meggie tries to remove her.}}
* [[Murderous Thighs]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20170218121050/http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp11162008.shtml Sort of].
* [[Naughty Tentacles]]: Well, naughty tree branches, at any rate. Poor Mike.
** And Aubrey's atttempt at making a chef/tentacle monster gay porn film.
* [[New First Comics]]: Averted. If you think the first strip is funny, nothing in the rest of the comic will throw you.
* [[Nice Guy]] and [[Nice Guys Finish Last]]: Subverted heavily -- a major point of Milholland's (and [[Author Avatar|Davan's]]) is that a lot of supposed "Nice Guys" are actually self-involved, self-pitying jerks like Mike, who are actually quite selfish, and only after most girls because of their looks (something they hypocritically accuse the girls of doing with the "jerks" they go out with). And that said "Nice Guys" often pretend to be girls' friends just to potentially seduce them later, while pining over them like stalkers, none of which is "nice" behavior at all.
* [[Nightmare Fetishist]]: Aubrey, as seen [
{{quote|'''Jason''':''Lemme back track to where you were s'posed to be freaked out.''
'''Aubrey''':''We'll need a big pot, but I'm sure we can get one on the way to the animal shelter.'' }}
* [[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished]]: Davan, so very much. Nearly every instance of him trying to behave altruistically comes back to bite him in the worst possible way.
* [[Noodle Incident]]: Whatever Mike did to get Tamara to leave him at that Nerdrotica Christmas Party.
** And whatever happened to Davan's namesake [
* [[Noodle Implements]]: Averted most times, as we get to see the resulting carnage from the characters' schemes. Played straight with the above [[Noodle Incident]].
* [[The Not Love Interest]]: Davan and Peejee.
* [[Not Quite Dead]]: Kestrel.
* [[Not So Stoic]]: [
* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: {{spoiler|''Ollie''.}} Spoilered because it came out of nowhere. Monette -- of all people -- even [
* [[Oblivious to His Own Description]]: Davan tells Peejee he used to have a crush on a girl, but she didn't return the sentiment. They became really good friends and it ended up being for the best. Peejee insults the girl for not realizing Davan's great, he replies that, no, she's one of his favorite people. He walks away. Peejee catches on and blushes.
* [[Official Couple]]: Jason/Aubrey.
* [[One of the Boys]]: Monette's girlfriend Lisa attended Jason's bachelor party at a strip club
* [[Out of Focus]]: With the aforementioned [[Loads and Loads of Characters]], this happens ''a lot''. The occasional minor character will only appear a total of five times in six years [Davan's Furry friend Andy], and often a year goes by between Jhim or Anna's appearances, and both were once ''major'' characters (Jhim especially, once a part of the core cast). Clair, a previously major cast member, disappeared for years, and then showed up ''engaged'' and about to move away. Kim and Kestrel, major co-workers of Aubrey's and former major cast-members, also fall out of focus for six months at a time.
** Most of this is done to reflect on [[Real Life]]: It's (sort of) based on Milholland's experiences. People ''do'' vanish from your life only to reappear out of nowhere.
* [[Paedo Hunt]]: Mike triggered this by putting video of a play Aubrey was in on the internet. The play was ''[[The Hobbit]]'', and Aubrey wore a nude, glittering bodystocking. Oh, and she was 15 at the time.
* [[Painting the Fourth Wall]]: Aubrey enters Davan's apartment and asks "Where's your furniture? It's like we're in a comic strip, but the artist is too goddamn lazy to draw in the background like he usually does." Of course, there's a perfectly good explanation: it's in storage.
** [
{{quote|'''[[Wil Wheaton]]''': I was on ''[[Star Trek]]''. I'm familiar with crazy fans. This is a fan revolt. The result of years of being jacked about by those they adored.
'''Jason''': [[Lampshade Hanging|Like when a webcomic intentionally dangles a plot but refuses to ever resolve it]]?
'''Davan''' [on phone]: You mean the world to me--
Wil {{[[[The Un-Reveal]] covering Davan's}} [[Speech Bubbles|Speech Bubble]]]: YES! Seriously, it doesn't get dickier than that shit! }}
** Pee-Jee once asked the question, "Why does everything that happens around here revolve around sex?" Daven mumbles, "Bad writing." But, like the first example, he was reading a book and muttering to himself to justify the fourth wall breakage.
** Multiple examples in [https://web.archive.org/web/20140317082239/http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp09282011.shtml this strip], with regard to Helen of the then just-concluded webcomic ''[[Penny and Aggie]]''. Jason wonders where comic characters go after their strip ends. One of Aubrey's suggestions is "the background of another [[Take That Us|crappier comic]]," a reference to Helen having already long since left her original comic for ''<nowiki>S*P</nowiki>'', but mostly remaining in the background since then. Kim mentions that she'll be interviewing Helen for a Nerdrotica position. Having met her already, she tells Aubrey that Helen's "okay, but whenever she's around, people get really pissed for some reason," an allusion to Milholland's ongoing problem with ''P&A'' fans who complain to him about how he writes her. Aubrey says she doesn't want her business to be a "dumping ground for other people's damaged goods." This refers to the reason ''P&A'' writer T Campbell gave Helen's character to Milholland: he felt her problems now ran too deep for his own comic's setting and characters to help her out of them. Kim tells her she sounds like Kestrel; this alludes to the ''[[Queen of Wands]]'' protagonist who ended up herself working at Nerdrotica.
* [[Paste Eater]]: Monette ate crayons until she was in her early twenties, and Davan made reference to turning the habit into a fetish by finding a girl willing to "make herself an off shade of green and tattoo 'Crayola' on her ass."
** Rory, according to [https://web.archive.org/web/20140109075006/http://somethingpositive.net/sp02062011.shtml this comic].
* [[Pet the Dog]] - Kharisma for one, prior to character development when she was a minor or supporting role. Most of the time on screen she spent as either making conversation or being the [[Alpha Bitch]], but when she left the Medicade company that she and Davan worked at she got a moment where she was actually, intentionally, nice to Davan telling him to quit the job for his own good as she wouldn't wish it on the worst person in the world let alone him.
* [[The Pig Pen]]: Jeremiah Kinsley, [https://web.archive.org/web/20140109075006/http://somethingpositive.net/sp02062011.shtml apparently].
* [[Platonic Life Partners]]: Davan and Pee-Jee. Pee-Jee even refers to herself as Davan's "Platonic Life Mate."
* [[Prima Donna Director]]: Avogadro. Such is his flamboyance that [
* [[Protagonist-Centered Morality]]: From an objective point of view, the protagonists are not just as bad as many of the people the comic considers antagonists... they're worse. The majority of behaviors that are often decried in the more serious moments... emotional abuse, dishonesty, disrespect, hurling insults, assault... are things that the main characters do for ''fun'' the rest of the time. Because being rude to people in your gaming group is terrible, but convincing random children that their parents don't love them is ''hilarious''.
** This is part of what invokes [[Fridge Logic]] on all the [[Wangst]]ing Davan does about his job in the early years of the strip, and portraying his bosses as literally in the service of Satan. Yes, it's painful to have to call up dead peoples' loved ones and charge them for ambulance rides... but it's not as if it's personal, the emotional pain the company inflicts is just an unfortunate side effect of doing business. Meanwhile, Davan likes to go out and deliberately inflict emotional pain on anyone that crosses his path purely for his own amusement.
* [[Psycho Lesbian]]: [http://somethingpositive.net/sp01262011.shtml One of Vanessa's exes shows shades.]▼
** Another example: Davan and Aubrey visit HP Lovecraft's grave, and Aubrey becomes incensed to find that someone has been doing "gothic" rituals over it. She rages that Lovecraft had a hard enough life without his grave being defiled as she cleans it off. Lovecraft is thusly turned into [[The Woobie]] because Davan and Aubrey like his writing... nevermind that he would likely have been ''far'' more disgusted and offended to have an Asian woman touch his headstone than he would have been at the ritual.
* [[Puppy Dog Eyes]]: "[http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp11162009.shtml So, what's the going rate on buying back promises from Kindergartners these days?]"▼
▲* [[Psycho Lesbian]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20140109021337/http://somethingpositive.net/sp01262011.shtml One of Vanessa's exes shows shades.]
▲* [[Puppy Dog Eyes]]: "[
* [[Real Life Writes the Plot]]: Milholland has confirmed that at least one character has left the strip for a while for 're-tooling', as the real-life friend the character was based off of had 'betrayed' him, and he felt he couldn't write the character the same way. Spin-off strip "Midnight Macabre" was put on hold for the same reason - implying that Lisa was the character in question.
* [[Really Seventeen Years Old]]: Helen tries to get a job at Nerdrotica despite being underage. Nancy catches her out because of her crappy fake ID.
* [[Red Shirt]]: Referenced [
* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: Both in the humor and in the characters' actions.
* [[Relationship Reboot]]: Halloween 2004.
{{quote|"Hello, I'm Pee-Jee."
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* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: The catgirls.
* [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies]]: [[Trope Namer]]
* [[Sadist Show]]: Virtually every single recurring character enjoys causing duress or pain to others- often physical. A few settle for mere humiliation.
* [[Sand in My Eyes]]: Choo-Choo Bear [
* [[Scenery Censor]]: Kharisma, in [https://web.archive.org/web/20140109055815/http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp04272011.shtml this strip].
* [[Schedule Slip]]: Although the author tries to make up for it. Strips tend to get updated in mass surges rather than and kind of regular schedule.
* [[Self-Deprecation]]: A major source of humour, and something that keeps Davan from being a [[Canon Sue]] at times. He's as critical of himself as anybody - Milholland attributes this to himself, frequently remarking upon his appearance.
** Occasional [[Fourth Wall Mail Slot]] strips never miss an opportunity to have Choo-Choo Bear describe his creator as a lazy hack.
* [[Settled for Gay]]: Branwen's parents. Her father was gay and needed a wife and family to "keep up appearances" in his professional life. Her mom just didn't like sex, but wanted a family. This had some ramifications for Bran.
* [[Shipper on Deck]]: Peejee ships Davan/Vanessa.
** Helen ships Davan/Nancy. Vanessa was not amused.
** Jhim ships Davan/PeeJee. ''Davan'' was not amused.
* [[Ship Tease]]: [[Word of God]] is that the sweet moments between Davan and PeeJee are just the author deciding to taunt fans who were hoping for a relationship between them. Lampshaded splendidly [
* [[Shoo Out the New Guy]]: A mild example. Linzie, a tattooed goth-girl character, shows up as a female partner for Davan (they have sex periodically), and appears to be added to the cast in a semi-major manner. But then she suddenly gets an actual boyfriend and vanishes completely from the strip. Very rare, in that almost all the other characters at least have "Old Familiar Faces" comics about where they've been.
* [[Shout-Out]]: [
** In one strip, Davan and his father wear some possibly familiar-looking shirts. The tagline on the comic reads: "This couldn't be a more lame ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' rip-off if you dressed them in the same clothes!" "Oh, a challenge!"
** There's also [
* [[Squick]]: [[Invoked Trope|Invoked because it is not the characters themselves, but their reaction to a number of sex-tinged fandoms]] -- plushies, [[Furry Fandom|furries]], etc. Or roleplayers. Or [
** [
* [[
* [[Straw Fan]]: The [[Catgirl|catgirls]].
* [[Strawman Political]]: Arguably the most frequent criticism of the strip. Many a random passerby or lesser castmember has touted some weakly-held opinion that Milholland or the cast views as idiotic, and is then berated for it.
* [[Stealth Pun]]: [
** More than that - she'd also be {{spoiler|[[Incredibly Lame Pun|plundering his booty]]}}.
* [[Take Our Word for It]]: Mike's kid's appearance and the terrible shows the cast get involved in, especially the one Aubrey made that was so bad that the State of Massachusetts gave her a restraining order to keep her away from TV and film production gear.
* [[Take That]]: Used ''a lot'', for very many groups and fandoms -- Catholics, ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'', old-school ''D&D'' dorks -- after all, it's [
** Not to mention TV Tropes itself at least once (on ''[[Super Stupor]]'', rather than ''S* P''). "I was busy [[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|quoting from TV Tropes instead of forming my own opinions]]", in response to being accused of [[Black Comedy Rape]] by a Livejournal responder)
** And a rather [
* [[Take That, Audience!]]: The mailbag spots and occasional author appearances are usually to say how stupid some of the comic's fans are, amid comments about the author being [[Self-Deprecation|a talentless hack]].
** Assorted logic failures and other dumbness [https://web.archive.org/web/20130510032648/http://somethingpositive.net/sp04142007.shtml said to Randy at conventions].
* [[Take That Me]]: [
* [[The Talk]]: Sanderson gives it to Rory while staying over as a guest. [[Hilarity Ensues]] [
{{quote|'''Rory''': Mr. Sanderson explained it all to me! You put your penis in her vulva and then she... ejaculated uterine linin' after you... you shed your X chromosomes. Then her placenta was born and you both thought it was a baby and you both thought that baby was me but it wasn't! Didn't you?!
'''Davan''': I don't know if I should punch you for telling him I had sex with his mom or for how bad a job you did explaining what that means. }}
* [[Talking to the Dead]]
* [[Tear Jerker]]: In-universe example. Davan pulled out [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na-xvlYMGck this video] to make Jason cry when he said he didn't cry over songs, because that was stupid and over-emotional. [
* [[Tempting Fate]]: Kharisma... [https://web.archive.org/web/20140314185825/http://somethingpositive.net/sp11172006.shtml Right here.] And it ties in with a [[Genre Savvy]] moment, to boot.
* [[The Un-Smile]]: [
* [[The Something Song]]:
{{quote|"Meth Song, Meth Song,
This is the song I sing when I'm about to get meth." }}
* [[Thermometer Gag]]: Davan demands his doctor take his temperature orally during a checkup, to which the doctor responds "Fine, but you're the first person to ask me to stick a rectal thermometer in his mouth."
* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: Several, but special mention to Kharisma, who openly bragged about a murder bet she made with Avagadro...which bites her right square in the ass when she's convicted of his murder, even though he died of natural causes.
* [[Too Much Information]] (Also a kind of [[Shutting Up Now]]): Vanessa's mouth sometimes runs away with her, and ends up in [https://web.archive.org/web/20130827124649/http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05182012.shtml terrible places].
{{quote|'''PeeJee:''' Stop...talking.
'''Vanessa:''' '''I DON'T KNOW HOW.''' }}
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{{quote|'''[http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp02082003.shtml PeeJee]:''' Why would you call me "{{spoiler|Penny-Jenny}}" and then act shocked that I'm prone to violent outbursts?}}
* [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]: The whole cast.
* [[Wall of Text]]: One of the worst offenders, though it's part of the comic's charm, and the producer of some of the better strips. Let's just say that Milholland ''REALLY'' likes his characters with [[Backstory]]. [
* [[Webcomic Time]]: Which bounces back and forth: events generally keep up with the dates on which they take place, albeit a few days before and after.
* [[Webcomics Long Runners]]: Coming up on nine years, as of Dec. 17, 2009.
* [[Welcome to the Big City]]: A character moves to the city and is helped by a kindly old lady, only to later discover said sweet old lady had relieved her of her wallet.
* [[Wham! Episode]]: "Just Today."
* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?]]: Apparently, [
* [[Whatevermancy]]: Aubrey, in [
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: A few subplots have been dropped over the years, as different parts of character's lives get ignored (or just not focused on). Davan and Jason were initially supposed to be producing ''Titus Andronicus'' (even auditioning for it), but it got dropped when he moved to Texas. Later strips involve a play Davan re-wrote instead. Certain subplots ''seem'' to have been dropped, only to reappear later on (such as Monette's "Big Secret" -- which turned out to be her TV show, and Davan and Jason's work on Neko-Neko Holy-Chan). New character Bian was introduced, but then went several months before actually ''meeting'' any of the recurring cast.
** The most epic (and possibly deliberate) use was Monette's baby -- she had a big pregnancy storyline, and then one strip showed her sad while somebody mentioned that she "lost her baby". It was done either really clumsily, or very [[Magnificent Bastard|Magnificent Bastardly]] by Randy, to the point where fans re-scoured recent Archival updates to find out when the baby ''really'' died. Turns out, that was the first time it was mentioned.
* [[Word of God]]: A veritable ''ton'' of information is available about the strip and the backstory behind it by Milholland's interviews and commentaries. Just which situations are based off of real events, and which characters are based off of specific people, is often answered.
* [[World of Snark]]: Virtually everyone has some sort of sarcastic jab they can pull at someone else.
* [[Write What You Know]]: Among other details, Davan's awful job in Medicaid billing ("I phone people and tell them that while we're sorry their son died in a drive-by shooting, here's an $800 bill for the ambulance") was what Milholland did for a living before ''S*P'' became profitable enough to support him.
* [[Write Who You Know]]: Most of the main characters, and some of the secondary cast, are based on Milholland's friends and family. Davan is based on [[Author Avatar|Milholland himself]] as he was several years earlier, and Aubrey is based on Clarine Harp, now a fairly well-known [[Voice Actors|anime voice actress]]. Milholland has [[Word of God|explained]] that various other characters are based off of "[[Composite Character|combinations]]" of people he knew. Specifically, Eva was based off of two separate people (one nice girl, one a basket case), as was Mike (one got better from his misogynistic whiny geek phase, the other got worse).
** In-universe, Davan based the villain of a play he re-wrote off of his dad, justifying it as [[Evil Is Cool|needing the villain to be the most interesting person in the play]].
* [[Yandere]]: The catgirls.
* [[Yaoi Fangirl]]: Aubrey encourages PeeJee to become one to get over her crush on Jhim. Also, [
** Tamara, her fingers, and two [[Batman|well-known comic characters]]. [
* [[Zany Scheme]]: Aubrey. Her friends realise they can only ride the wave until she loses interest or it all falls apart - until one of them works.
** Later on, when said zany scheme is self-sustaining enough, she gets tired of it and goes back to her old notebooks to see if she can try again on some of her old ideas...only to discover that they all suck.
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[[Category:Web Comics]]
[[Category:Webcomics Multiverses]]
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[[Category:Slice of Life Webcomics]]
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[[Category:Web Comics of the 2020s]]
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