History ComicStrip / BabyBlues

* {{Gasshole}}: Darryl, on some occasions. Hammie, who is mostly a belch variant. He still does belch jokes, but not a lot as he used to. He now does both burp jokes and fart jokes. Now, it's Wren (it's unknown if Hammie taught her or not), to the point where she belches like a truck driver to turn on her brother. The example can be seen [[https://www.gocomics.com/babyblues/2016/05/21 here.]]

** And there was a story (back when Zoe was a baby) with Darryl actually STUCK in BabyTalk.

* XRaySparks: In one strip, Hammie does it to his older sister.

* BurpingContest: [[https://www.gocomics.com/babyblues/2018/03/23 Wren and Hammie did this once.]] Wren rips a big one and wins.

* OverprotectiveDad: Darryl, especially toward Zoe. One set of strips had Darryl freaking out because Zoe had developed a crush on an "older man." Zoe was two at the time; the "older man" was a ''three-year-old''.

* AllGirlsLikePonies: [[http://babyblues.com/comics/July-1-2009/ Zoe]] [[http://babyblues.com/comics/January-5-2009/ is]] [[http://babyblues.com/comics/January-8-2008/ the]] [[http://babyblues.com/comics/January-7-2008/ big]] [[http://babyblues.com/comics/January-6-2004/ example]] [[http://babyblues.com/comics/August-2-2000/ of this.]] She likes [[http://babyblues.com/comics/October-27-2006/ unicorns]] too.

** [[http://babyblues.com/comics/november-30-2006/ Zig-zagged in one story arc.]] Zoe and Hammie both want extravagant amounts of gifts for Christmas. Darryl then tells them how, when he was a kid, he wanted so badly to have a toy airplane for Christmas but tired of it within a day. Zoe and Hammie then dream that they receive a ridiculous amount of Christmas gifts, and [[spoiler:upon finding themselves overwhelmed, try to get a letter to Santa (via toy airplane) asking for the excess gifts to be returned.]] Wanda compliments Darryl on the poignancy of his story on the airplane, which he admits he made up [[spoiler:— just as a toy airplane is visible on the roof behind him.]]

* AllWomenLoveShoes: A one-week storyline involved Zoe [[http://babyblues.com/comics/November-2-2009/ practically falling in love]] with a pair of pink cowgirl boots.

** Zoe with similar baby talk to Hammie, but she usually pronounced more words correctly. Although, when she did use it, she mispronounced a lot of words like [[http://babyblues.com/comics/August-6-1996/ this example.]]

* BadLiar: [[http://babyblues.com/comics/April-13-2007/ Zoe in this example.]] Funny thing is, there is a similar strip which used the same joke, but was an old one.

* BigEater: Darryl. One comic had Darryl [[http://babyblues.com/comics/march-21-2007/ eat two jelly donuts, a cruller, a big lunch and a slice of a friend's retirement cake... all in one day!]] In another comic, Darryl had eaten [[http://babyblues.com/comics/january-30-2009/ six creme-filled donuts.]] Wren has been known to be this, but this stopped in her modern years.
* BillBillJunkBill: [[http://babyblues.com/comics/January-22-2007/ The beginning of this strip.]]

* BurpingContest: [[http://babyblues.com/comics/march-23-2018 Wren and Hammie did this once.]] Wren rips a big one and wins.

* CainAndAbel: Zoe says [[http://babyblues.com/comics/June-19-2008 the Halverson boys']] Mom calls them Cain and Abel, due to their BigBallOfViolence.
* ChristmasSpecial: They always have a strip mentioning Christmas, but an actual story was made in 2006. The story's true start was actually in [[http://babyblues.com/comics/November-27-2006/ November,]] when Wanda mentions what Zoe and Hammie called "The Perfect Christmas," in which there would be no end to the presents Santa brings. Zoe and Hammie start to write their Christmas lists, when Zoe has a brilliant idea; Santa brings them every present in the world! When they do get all the presents in the world, [[spoiler:they realize they've been greedy and decide to write another letter asking to return all the presents to Santa.]]

-->Hammie: Can I watch TV while we eat?\\
Wanda: No. Let's just have a conversation.\\
Hammie: Okay. I'll have a conversation with Dad.\\
Wanda: Perfect.\\
Hammie: Hey Dad. Wouldn't it be great if we could watch TV while we ate dinner?

* CuriousAsAMonkey: Hammie on some occasions. [[http://babyblues.com/comics/January-30-1998/ And Zoe as a toddler.]]
* CurseCutShort: [[http://babyblues.com/comics/December-11-2009/ This one]]
* DeadGuyJunior: Hammie was named after his great-great-grandfather, [[http://babyblues.com/comics/July-9-2004/ Hamish.]]
* DeepFriedWhatever: More like fried in [[http://babyblues.com/comics/July-19-2003/ this example.]]

* FearOfThunder: All three kids are [[http://babyblues.com/comics/October-27-2003/ scared by lightning.]]

-->Zoe: (after Hammie cringes at the taste) "Nope, they only come in one flavor."

* {{Gasshole}}: Darryl, on some occasions. Hammie, who is mostly a belch variant. He still does belch jokes, but not a lot as he used to. He now does both burp jokes and fart jokes. Now, it's Wren (it's unknown if Hammie taught her or not), to the point where she belches like a truck driver to turn on her brother. The example can be seen [[http://babyblues.com/comics/may-21-2016/ here.]]

* GirlishPigtails: Zoe's hair in preschool. Wren from 2016 to present. [[http://babyblues.com/comics/May-11-2006/ And Wanda's hair as a kid.]]
* GirlsLoveStuffedAnimals: Present-day Zoe might not care for them anymore, but there was once a week-long story line where [[http://babyblues.com/comics/March-5-2001/ Zoe used her toys in an attempt to stall bedtime.]] And boy did she have a lot of them!

--> Zoe: Babies are SO gross.

** In the Easter 2012 Sunday Strip, Darryl is continuously asking Hammie, Zoe, and Wren if they are certain if they found all of the Easter eggs in the area while trying to heavily hint at the egg on the porch lamp. The kids continuously attempt to insist that they have found every single one, before Hammie points out just as Darryl is about to eat the egg that the one on the porch light didn't count, as that was there since last year. Cue Darryl rushing inside to the bathroom, presumably to vomit up the egg he just ate. It can be seen [[http://babyblues.com/comics/April-8-2012/ here.]]

* ImaginaryFriend: Zoe had Nadine ([[WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}} Not that Nadine]]), her "invisible friend," who wore polka-dots and pigtails and only ate cheese. Later, Nadine became Zoe's invisible sister. And TruthInTelevision, the idea for Zoe's imaginary friend was based on Rick Kirkman's daughter's imaginary friends, one of which was from Neptune.
* InelegantBlubbering: Of course happens with the kids (especially when Zoe and Hammie were infants) but the parents aren't immue to this either, one comic has Wanda blowing out a bunch of candles on a birthday cake of her's and right after she's done, she burst into a massive baby bawl (she doesn't like the thought of getting old) which leads Darryl to say "Maybe we should just have [[{{Main/Manchild}} one candle]] instead next year".
* InvisibleToAdults: Played backwards and forwards in this series. Instead of the kids, it's the [=MacPhersons=] that can see things that the other adults can't see, since it is told by the family's perspective. Since it's ONLY the [=MacPhersons=] who can see their children (except Wren) as animals or creatures, the adults (sometimes children) rarely see Zoe (mostly) or Hammie in unusual form. An example is [[http://babyblues.com/comics/june-29-1997/ this comic.]]

** This only happened once, since Darryl and Wanda have three children now, but in an early strip Darryl and Wanda invited both sets of their parents to spend Christmas with them. In the middle of the night, Mac, Hugh, and Maggie are in a line waiting for Pauline to be finished rocking and feeding baby Zoe, and Pauline says to Darryl "This wouldn't happen if you had another baby."

** [[http://babyblues.com/comics/January-6-2009/ This strip]] as well as [[http://babyblues.com/comics/May-28-2005/ this one]].
* LargeHamAnnouncer: Zoe, for a lot of examples. [[http://babyblues.com/comics/July-26-1999/ Here's an old one.]]

* MiddleChildSyndrome: This happened to Hammie a [[http://babyblues.com/comics/December-17-2006/ couple]] of [[http://babyblues.com/comics/June-10-2009/ times]]. He is the middle child, but it only happened in circumstances where he is jealous of baby Wren.

** Zoe goes missing in a department store when Wanda looks away for one second. Thankfully she's found but, Wanda (and later Darryl when he's told the story) are both in tears. To make matters worse on a meta level, the arc started on 9/11.

* [[NearlyNormalAnimal Nearly Normal Baby]]
* NightmareFuel: [[http://babyblues.com/comics/March-29-2011/ This strip]] is an in-universe example.

-->'''Zoe''': MOOOOOOOOOOOOM!\\
'''Hammie''': Don't you think it's cool when I can drive Zoe crazy by not doing anything at all?\\
'''Darryl''': ''(sigh)''

* PunnyName: Hammie's name is sometimes used as a pun for "ham," the food. [[http://babyblues.com/comics/October-29-2002/ Wren's name was based off of the bird of the same name, but Wanda's story is a different story.]]

--> '''Mother''': Does your little girl say much?.\\
'''Wanda''': A few words. But she still gets her point across.

* ReversePsychologyBackfire: [[http://www.babyblues.com/comics/January-12-2001 This strip.]]

* SecretKeeper: Zoe for Hammie's pacifier (see Security Blanket below) and [[http://babyblues.com/comics/December-4-2007/ when Hammie swore.]]

** Hammie slept with toy trucks, and then a pacifier. [[http://babyblues.com/comics/November-17-2008/ Which he still has.]]

--> Rick: Looks like I had a brain cramp spelling Keesha's name. Let's just say she (Zoe) decided on an "alternate spelling."

* TagalongKid: [[http://babyblues.com/comics/June-22-1999/ Hammie as Prince Bobo]]

--> Rick: We started with one rule: The baby will never have thoughts beyond her age. We broke it in the first strip.

* TooDumbToLive: Hammie. Ever since he turned about six, and [[ComicBookTime stayed that way for years,]] he's been performing dangerous stunts nearly every time he appears! [[http://babyblues.com/comics/March-25-2009/ Wanda even told him once the many things that could go wrong]] and he acted like they were reasons to go along with it!

* YouDidntAsk: This can happen sometimes. Here's [[http://babyblues.com/comics/August-25-2000/ one of them from when Hammie was being potty-trained as "Yew didn't ask."]] and a later one with [[http://babyblues.com/comics/January-18-2004/ Zoe and Hammie on a walk with Darryl and Wren.]]

-->'''Darryl and Wanda''': Why didn't you give us that many presents when we were little?\\
'''All grandparents''': We didn't want to spoil you.

* NamesTheSame:[[invoked]] Played for drama; when Zoe was in preschool, she was the target of a bully she knew only as "The Golden-Haired Girl." As it turns out, The Golden-Haired Girl's real name was also Zoe, to Wanda's horror.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* AdultFear:
** Zoe goes missing in a department store when Wanda looks away for one second. Thankfully she's found but, Wanda (and later Darryl when he's told the story) are both in tears. To make matters worse on a meta level, the arc started on 9/11.
** Lampshaded by Jerry Scott in the BBXX Baby Blues book:
--->'''Jerry Scott:''' I can't read this series without getting sweaty palms.

** In the last few appearances of Darryl and Wanda's friends Norm and Cindy, the latter's name was instead spelled "Cyndy."

* WildlifeCommentarySpoof: Averted. One arc had Wanda, Darryl, and Zoe watching a Wildlife Documentary about a family of meerkats, only to see the meerkats eaten one by one by [[HeinousHyena hyenas]], a snake, and even a hawk.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Some background characters have shiny, dark blue hair.

*** [[http://comicskingdom.com/shared_comics/7fca7a1e-e036-43eb-9673-24f18924bf6d/ Their strip for the March For Our Lives protests]] doesn’t verbalize it, but you see it in Wanda’s and Darryl’s eyes.

* BurpingContest: [[http://babyblues.com/comics/march-23-2018/ Wren and Hammie did this once]]. Wren rips a big one and wins.

* CainAndAbel: Zoe says [[http://babyblues.com/comics/June-19-2008/ the Halverson boys']] Mom calls them Cain and Abel, due to their BigBallOfViolence.

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: The kids watch a show starring "Whistling Monkey Cowboys." Hammie is even designed like a monkey.

** Zoe with similar baby talk to Hammie, but she usually pronounced more words correctly. Although, when she did use it, she mispronounced a lot of words like [[http://babyblues.com/comics/August-6-1996/ this example]]

** Zoe goes missing in a department store when Wanda looks away for one second. Thankfully she's found but Wanda (and later Darryl when he's told the story) are both in tears. To make matters worse on a meta level, the arc started on 9/11.

A mainstream comic about parenting, created by artist Rick Kirkman and writer Jerry Scott. Features the typical "nuclear family" set-up, but treats it with a much more realistic tone than most. Usually gag-a-day type four-panel strip with a few running jokes. Jerry Scott is also the co-creator of ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'' with artist Jim Borgman.

* CensorDecoy: Done unintentionally as described in GettingCrapPastTheRadar below.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** When Hammie is first shown, his penis is barely visible. The authors lampshaded this in an anthology book.
** One early gag involved Wanda squirting breast milk into Darryl's coffee from off-panel ("Bulls-eye!"). Jerry sketched out the strip as a joke on Rick, who got even by actually drawing and finishing it. They then decided to submit it as a joke on their editor, thinking that she'd laugh and ask them for a replacement — only to have it printed, as their regular editor was out that week. Predictably, it's one of the more popular strips.
** [[http://babyblues.com/comics/February-26-2004/ This strip.]] ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' did it first.
** [[http://babyblues.com/comics/october-20-2015/ This comic got away with it when Hammie said that he wanted his burger "hot and juicy" like his women.]]

* HypocriticalHumor: Back when Wanda was still nursing Hammie, two different strips had a similar punchline relating to this. In one instance, a male passenger sitting next to Wanda on an airplane protested to her feeding Hammie in public, calling it "disgusting"... while he's clearly looking at [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar a Playboy centerfold]]. In another series, a male lifeguard tried to kick Wanda out of a public pool, claiming her breastfeeding Hammie violated decency standards... only to stop ''mid-sentence'' in order to ogle at a nearby woman in a [[MsFanservice barely-there bikini]].

* [[BigBrotherBully Big Sister Bully]]: Zoe to Hammie sometimes. On more than one occasion, she's told Hammie stories mainly for the purpose of [[TheGadfly scaring him]].

-->'''Zoe''': MOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
-->'''Hammie''': Don't you think it's cool when I can drive Zoe crazy by not doing anything at all?
-->'''Darryl''': ''(sigh)''
** One of Zoe's more common {{Big Sister Bully}} traits is to tell Hammie stories specifically meant [[TheGadfly to mess with him]]. One Sunday strip has her successfully convince Hammie that something was put in his milk; when Darryl tries to tell Hammie to drink his milk afterwards, [[FreakOut well...]]

--> '''Mother''': Does your little girl say much?.
--> '''Wanda''': A few words. But she still gets her point across.