Something*Positive: Difference between revisions

[[File:sp01222009-doorknob_2427.gif|frame|[[The Rant]]: [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp01222009.shtml ...now I want pie. Damn it.] ]]

'''Davan''': '' I look at it like this: the holiday season may have a phenomenally high suicide rate, but we can't hope to maintain that level of excellence if everyone doesn't do their part.'' }}

''[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 [[Straight Gay|Jhim Midgett]], "pint-sized bisexual" [[Keet|T-Bob]], reformed [[Fan Dumb|obsessive geek]] Mike Dowden, vain waste-of-space Kharisma Valetti, and Davan's hairless, amorphous cat Choo-Choo Bear. The cast is [[Loads and Loads of Characters|enormous]], and various members [[Out of Focus|pop in and out]] over the years.

* [[Berserk Button]]: [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05052005.shtml Never sass Mister Peppermint around Davan]. Makes one think of a [[Mister Rogers' Neighborhood|certain other child entertainer]]...

* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: Even if he is probably just a hallucination, and a fairly benevolent one at that, Fluffmodeus can be pretty scary.

** The "benevolent" facade has been pretty much dropped as of [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp06082010.shtml this strip]

* [[Black Comedy]]

* [[B Side Comics]]: ''S* P 1937'', ''Life with Rippy'' and to a lesser extent, ''[[Super Stupor]]''.

* [[But You Screw One Goat!]]: Monette's koala incident.

* [[Butch Lesbian]]: Lisa developed into one after moving away with Monette.

* [[Call Back]]: [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp08292004.shtml This strip] featuring the Easter Bunny... who is the same as the one [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp01122004.shtml from a conversation on] "cuddling yourself".

* [[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 [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp03112010.shtml this 2010 strip]:

'''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.

* [[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.

* [[Dirty Old Man|Dirty Old Woman]]: "[http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp04292005.shtml Y'know Davan, some of us Grandmas are good at more than baking cookies]."

* [[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.}}

** PeeJee and Aubrey visit a shop named ''What's New'', with [[Phil Foglio]] visible behind the desk, [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp06012003.shtml here].

** 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 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)."

* [[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]]: [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp05312009.shtml This Q&A strip], which firmly answers the question of Davan and PeeJee as a couple, and says the only reason for [[Ship Tease|ship-teasing]] with them is to mess with people who keep asking.

* [[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.

* [[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:

'''PeeJee''': Even so, there's a point where reality dictates--<br />

'''Davan''': How'd that woman in your job die again?<br />

* [[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]]:

* [[Life Embellished]]

* [[Like Brother and Sister]]: Davan and Aubrey.

* [[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 [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp08032009.shtml here].

'''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.

* [[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.

** [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp11252008.shtml In this strip], fearing he's about to [[It Makes Sense in Context|killed by rampaging]] [[Catgirl|catgirls]], Davan phones one of his friends and admits he loves them, but will deny saying it if he lives, while in the foreground:

'''Jason''': [[Lampshade Hanging|Like when a webcomic intentionally dangles a plot but refuses to ever resolve it]]?<br />

'''Davan''' [on phone]: You mean the world to me--<br />

* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: Both in the humor and in the characters' actions.

* [[Relationship Reboot]]: Halloween 2004.

"That's fine by me. The interesting people always are." }}

* [[Relationship Upgrade]]: Aubrey and Jason.

* [[Take That Me]]: [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp02112004.shtml Here.]

* [[The Talk]]: Sanderson gives it to Rory while staying over as a guest. [[Hilarity Ensues]] [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp08052011.shtml when Rory realizes] why his mom thought at one point that Davan might be his dad. And it only gets better from there.

'''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]]

* [[The Un-Smile]]: [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp10312006.shtml Dude...]

* [[The Something 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 [http://somethingpositive.net/sp05182012.shtml terrible places].

'''Vanessa:''' '''I DON'T KNOW HOW.''' }}

* [[Transparent Closet]]: Lisa was never fooling her family for a second, though she thought she was and was deathly embarassed of her orientation.

* [[True Companions]]: Davan, PeeJee, Aubrey and Jason compose the core of the circle, with something like a dozen other characters forming the periphery. Lots and lots of snarking and bitching, but they've demonstrated a willingness -- nay, an eagerness -- to commit felonies on behalf of one another.

* [[Unfortunate Names]]: Mike's kid {{spoiler|Shazam Wil-Wheaton Dowden}} and the Santa actor {{spoiler|Shirley Koklik}}. To some extent, Davan himself, as nobody knows how to pronounce it (it's Dah-van, not Dave-N).

* [[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]]. [http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp07232004.shtml Like this word-wall.]