The Class Menagerie
The Class Menagerie is a now-ended Furry Comic by Vince Suzukawa taking place in a Wacky College. The cast ranges from the relatively normal Jerk Jock lion to the Ambiguously Gay Schedule Fanatic kangaroo. Much of the humor and appeal comes from the various characters' personalities interacting, whether it's them (reluctantly) working together or just rubbing the wrong way.
The comic can be found here, though the archives are a bit... scrambled. Luckily, most of the plotting doesn't require certain arcs to be read in order, just that they be read.
Tropes used in The Class Menagerie include:
- Ambiguously Gay: Mikey.
- One might also argue Brad, who is one of the few characters in the series to never show romantic interest in anyone.
- Author Appeal.
- Backstory: A few characters, such as Biff and Brad.
- Badass Bookworm: In Duet To Me, Mikey lays the smackdown on two guys that are twice his size. Evidently, all that exercise isn't just for show.
- To be fair, it HAS been mentioned several times that Mikey's exercise regimen includes martial arts.
- Bare Your Midriff: Lisa.
- California University: Fictional DeMontfort University.
- Canon Welding: Quite literally, with i.s.o. and its Cast Full of Gay, taking place not only at the same time and at the same university, but in the same dormitory building (albeit on a different floor).
- Coming Out Story: Mikey in "Duet to Me".
- Dramedy.
- English Rose: Cindy.
- Expy: Brad looks like Falco Lombardi with the blue and red skin colors swapped.
- DeMontfort University is based on UC Berkeley, Suzukawa's alma mater.
- Farce: "My Funny Valentine." Otherwise avoided.
- Fan Service: Mostly involving the male cast, though "Beach Blanket Bungle" and "Poker Strips" have something for everybody.
- Furry Comic.
- Gender Equals Breed.
- Genius Bruiser: Scott, who is actually a Math Major and pretty much pulls out a square root of a large number on the spot. He's just not very open about it because, after all, he is a playboy.
- Brad is also this--he's a law major.
- Genki Girl: Lisa.
- Gentle Giant: Tony.
- The Glomp: How Lisa likes to greet Mikey. And any other male she finds cute. Some appreciate it more than others.
- Jerkass: Brad, Kevin, Biff and Dani all get portrayed as this, though Brad and Kevin had their nice moments, but Biff's father is arguably the biggest jerkass of the entire cast.
- Jerk Jock: Biff.
- Interspecies Romance: Cindy (horse) and Tony (bull), Lisa is a Fox/Dachshund hybrid who had a crush on a kangaroo (until he came out) and is dating a Bulldog by the end of the strip.
- If you count guest appearances in other comics the closest Mikey has had to a relationship was with a member of his own species (for once).
- On the other side, one piece of Fanfic (SFW) that Word of God has described as definitely non-canon (but still liked enough to actually illustrate it) has Mikey hook up with an otter.
- If you count guest appearances in other comics the closest Mikey has had to a relationship was with a member of his own species (for once).
- Mad Scientist: Algernon.
- Mistaken for Gay: Brad and Scott are mistaken for gay by Scott's parents.
- MST: Done in-universe by Kevin to Mikey's puppet show. He even replaces one of the puppets with Tom Servo.
- Must Have Caffeine: Brad won't stay awake for long without a large dose of coffee or cola. He will literally fall asleep on the spot once the clock reaches zero.
- Nice Guy: Tony.
- Punny Name: Nearly every major character's last name was a reference to their species. Some were more obvious than others.
- Romance Arc: Tony and Cindy were paired as romantic interests, but their story wasn't told very far. Word of God confirms them as an official couple though. Also, Lisa and Damon, once it became clear to Lisa that Mikey wasn't the one. Finally, Kevin and Denise by the time the strip wraps up.
- Schedule Fanatic: Mikey.
- Ship Tease: Brad and Scott Mistaken for Gay with much hilarity. Also, Dani and Kevin in one VERY early strip, though this didn't lead anywhere.
- Sorry, I'm Gay: Mikey.
- Spicy Latina: Danielle Rosalina "Dani" Murrieta is an example of the confrontational, tomboyish type.
- Invisible to Gaydar: Mikey.
- Stripperiffic: Earlier public drafts of TCM had some of the male characters regularly wearing considerably less, especially Brad in his shorts and tank top that left little to the imagination. But the final version of TCM has him wearing a full flannel shirt. This probably actually adds to his Fetish Fuel effect as the shirt leaves much more to the big tough guy image.
- Hilariously subverted, and pointed out by the creator of Funny Farm in a guest strip, some characters actually worked in the reverse, with Scott's everyday clothing going from a button up shirt, to a black t shirt, to a tank top, as well as Biff seizing to wear any shirts at all.
- "Stop Having Fun!" Guys--In-Universe: Mikey writes a puppet show titled, "Fun Is A Waste Of Time" and pretty much devotes his entire life to either exercising or studying.
- Team Mom: As the dorm's RA, Dani sees herself as this.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Lisa for Mikey. But it's not mutual.
- Walking Techbane: Brad. Every machine he touches that isn't related to making coffee will die in a spectacular manner. He doesn't even have to touch them. On one memorable occasion a microwave spontaneously exploded when he just mentioned it.
- The microwave was trying to protect itself.
- Worthy Opponent: Kevin sees Brad as this. When he explains this to Brad, their relationship noticeably improves.
- Your Mom: Tony tells Brad and Kevin to stop using "your mom" insults against each other because "neither of you like your mothers".