The Order of the Stick/Tropes P-Z: Difference between revisions

[[The Order of the Stick/Tropes A-F|Tropes A-F]] | [[The Order of the Stick/Tropes G-O|Tropes G-O]] | '''Tropes P-Z'''

{{tropelist|page=The Order of the Stick}}

* [[Paint It Black]]: This happens at least three times in the comic. {{spoiler|Vaarsuvius and Miko}} each receive one of these, while [[Heroic Comedic Sociopath|Belkar]] gets an inversion when given a temporary Wisdom boost. The title of the strip which has {{spoiler|Vaarsuvius'}} transformation actually references the song/trope title as well, as {{spoiler|V's robe}} is, in fact, painted black.

* [[Parody Magic Spell]]: The [[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]] parody character uses "Stopus Badguyus!" when trying to repel Thog.

** [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0754.html Thor. Smiled. Upon. Ye.]

* [[Pyrrhic Victory]]: [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0802.html "Took a Level in Sauceror"] {{spoiler|"Plane Shift!"}}

* [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]: The Linear Guild, who are also [[Evil Counterpart]]s.

* [[Quit Your Whining]]: A rare [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0451.html villain to villain example], very much the heartless bastard kind.

* [[Ravens and Crows]]

* [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]: Roy to Miko, Vaarsuvius to both Miko and Belkar at the same time, Redcloak to Miko, and Hinjo to Miko (she really gets a lot of these, doesn't she?). Xykon delivered a particularly nasty one to Vaarsuvius on the nature of true power. In general, this is Xykon's specialty. And in #830, {{spoiler|Redcloak to Tsukiko}}.

** Haley and Roy making bets for 10 gold.

** The title of the strip is a definition of a word prominent in the punchline.

* [[Sand Worm]]: Complete with very blatant shout outs to ''[[Dune]]'', as well as more than a fair amount of [[Freud Was Right]].

* [[Save the Villain]]: Elan to Nale.

** The newly lichified Xykon from ''The Order of the Stick [[Prequel|-1: Start of Darkness]]'' delivers a most glorious one to the elven druid Lirian at the climax of their battle:

{{quote|'''Lirian:''' You may defeat me, you may even kill me, but you will never succeed in releasing the Snarl.

** And then there's [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0796.html Thog vs. Roy].

{{quote|'''Roy:''' I surrender...

* [[The Smurfette Principle]]

** The main group consists of four guys, one girl and [[Ambiguous Gender|Vaarsuvius]]. The ''supporting'' cast is somewhat more balanced.

* [[Snub By Omission]]: Durkon tells Hilgya that the rest of the Order are "a fine group, for humans. And an elf." Hilgya points out there's also a halfling, but Durkon left him out on purpose.

* [[Sole Survivor]]: As of strip #827, {{spoiler|Niu is the only surviving member of the Azure City Resistance}}.

** [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0750.html Malack spell-checking Durkon's scroll.] ''Spell''-checking. Got it?

** The three empires on the Western continent are never mentioned together in the same sentence. They're the Empires of ''Blood'', ''Sweat'', and ''Tears''.

* [[Stick Figure Comic]]: But don't let that fool you into thinking it's not a well-drawn comic. Despite the style, characters are complex enough to be easily recognized and backgrounds are lush and detailed.

* [[Sticks to the Back]]: Roy's greatsword; Haley's longbow; Thog's greataxe. Mostly the result of the simplified art style. (Other weapons tends to [[Hammerspace|simply disappear]] when not in use.) After the [[Art Evolution]], Roy has straps on the back of his armor to hold the sword, although they work better than they should. Hayley's bow still sticks, though.

* [[Stylistic Suck]]: The creator actually spends ''hours'' making the comics, and tries to find the perfect way to balance between narration and action and simplicity and stick figures. It only looks easy because he wants us to think it looks easy. There is also the time when he made a flashback sequence in the story where the art was drawn in crayon. It's still very well drawn, though.

* [[Suggestive Collision]]: Haley [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0109.html tackles Elan] from above to stop him from touching a magical gate—inadvertently putting the two of them in a suggestive position.

* [[Super Window Jump]]: An inherent ability of the Dashing Swordsman [[Prestige Class]].

* [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]

** When asked, Haley's blind [[NPC]] friend said, no, he hadn't ''seen'' her.

** The songs Elan uses to try to lead people out of the hotel to safety [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0238.html are full of this.]

* [[Taken for Granite]]

** In [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0053.html her first appearance], Celia is victim of a Flesh to Stone spell. She is [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0070.html later restored] by a scroll of Break Enchantment.

* [[True Companions]]: The Order, possibly. As the fourth book shows, they have their issues.

* [[Try to Fit That on A Business Card]]: Done by name in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0374.html the 374th strip.]

* [[Tyrannosaurus Rex]]: Well, ''[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0778.html Allosaurus]''. Tasked to entertain the arena crowd when the gladiators aren't enough.

* [[Umbrella Drink]]: Sabine enjoys one in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0252.html strip #252].

* [[Underground Monkey]]: Belkar mentions an instance in which he randomly encountered Dire Camels in a Swamp of all places.

'''Tarquin:''' Yes, you mentioned that. To a pikeman on the... south wall, was it? I assure you that your marital status is no longer an obstacle as of around midday today. }}

* [[Utopia Justifies the Means]]: When Elan calls Tarquin out for deceiving the people of the Western Continent, Tarquin reasons that his plan might someday bring an end to the wars that kill tens of thousands of people every year. Of course, it is likely that he is lying. And even if not, it's at best a side benefit to Tarquin's overall goal, obtaining power for its own sake.

* [[Vancian Magic]]: Magic in the world of ''OotS'', naturally, follows official ''D&D'' rules... though how consistent these are is a matter of opinion. Indeed, even this is lampshaded with occasional references to "third-party supplements" and "non-core spells".

{{quote|'''Leeky Windstaff:''' Truly, more wizards have been laid low by the writings of Jack Vance than by any single villain.}}

** Belkar gets a good few dozen of these after breaking the terms of his Mark of Justice.

* [[Vomiting Cop]]: The rookie cop in Cliffport.

* [[Wall of Text]]: Compare the [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0002.html first] comics to the [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0570.html later] ones. Also gets [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0558.html lampshaded] and [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0282.html driven to extremes].

* [[Wanted Poster]]

** [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0825.html #825]-[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0826.html #826]-[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0827.html #827]:{{spoiler|The fall of [[La Résistance]].}}

** [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0830.html "Tidying Up"]: {{spoiler|Team Evil gets a little smaller}}

* [[What Measure Is a Mook?]]: [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0784.html In this strip,] Elan celebrates when the Allosaurus eats the anonymous soldiers instead of two [[Jerkass]] bounty hunters. "Hooray! [[Nominal Importance|The people whose names I know are saved!"]]

* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]

* [[Wretched Hive]]: Greysky City

* [[Wutai]]: Azure City. Characters from the Southern Lands have Far-East Asian skin coloring and names from various Asian countries. "Lien" is a Chinese name. "Miko Miyazaki", "Shojo", and "Hinjo" are Japanese. "Soon Kim" is Korean, and "Thanh" is Vietnamese.

* [[Xanatos Gambit]]

** Nale pulled off one in Cliffport. If the Order tried to rescue Julia and failed, then he would be in a position to kill them all. If they did rescue Julia, then he still would have captured Elan and been able to take his revenge on him. But, because the Order managed to rescue Julia and also realized that Nale had been trying to kidnap Elan in the confusion, they run off to rescue their teammate and give Nale the chance to {{spoiler|switch places with Elan and attack the Order from the inside}}.

** Tarquin has {{spoiler|his adventuring buddies serve as advisors to rulers of three kingdoms. they stage invasions, revolutions, and liberations in order to unite the western continent under three super powers}}. And he knows that {{spoiler|eventually, Elan's going to fight him and he will be defeated, and as long as he can accept that, he wins ''and'' he'll be part of a great story and his name will be immortalized. "If I win, I get to be a king. If I lose, I get to be a '''legend'''."}}

* [[X-Ray Sparks]]: The Disintegrate spell.

* [[Xtreme Kool Letterz]]: There's a reason [[Big Bad]] Xykon is called, well, ''Xykon''. He even goes as far as to make sure people use the right spelling when they speak to him (though [[Leaning on the Fourth Wall|how he can tell]] [[Psmith Psyndrome|they're spelling it wrong]] is anyone's guess).

* [[Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning]]: In the comic, lightning is generally white or yellow—with the exception of Zz'dtri, who is throwing green bolts. Interesting in that ''every'' spell caster has their own unique color for spells (two colors for [[The Red Mage|Mystic Theurge]] Tsukiko), but only Zz'dtri has it affect lightning color.

* [[You Bastard]]: "It's weird, no matter how many people he kills, the audience still thinks he's lovable."

* [[You Called Me "X" - It Must Be Serious]]:

[...]

'''Belkar:''' [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0483.html ... Vaarsuvius?] }}

** Redcloak encounters this problem with the MitD in ''Start of Darkness''.

{{quote|'''Redcloak:''' Hey! You in the box! Lean all your weight to the left!

'''MitD:''' You got it! }}

** And again, [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0480.html with a demonic squid he'd conjured.]

{{quote|'''Redcloak:''' No, to the left! THE LEFT, you stupid invertebrate! Grapple her from the-- Goddamn it!}}

* [[You Shall Not Pass]]: [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0472.html Lampshaded] by Elan and subverted by Daigo and Kazumi.

* [[Zerg Rush]]: This is what happens to Azure City, utterly and totally [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0452.html Zerg Rushed] by Xykon and Redcloak's army of 30,000 hobgoblin Mooks, plus a number of other creatures including various undead, ''titanium'' and ''chlorine'' elementals (Redcloak's knowledge of chemistry is not to be underestimated), and three decoy Xykons (a Huecuva, a Death Knight, and an "Eye of Fear and Flame"). That particular Zerg Rush was made possible by two things: first, Redcloak's Titanium Elementals ripping a gigantic hole in Azure City's walls, and second, a Death Knight of a far higher CR than any of the soldiers at the breach—including Vaarsuvius—could realistically handle. When Redcloak makes decoys, he plays for keeps.

{{quote|'''Ghast:''' Sir, we finally have enough corpses to serve as a ramp for your horse.