History VideoGame / MonkeyIsland

** In the 3rd game, Guybrush reveals he has a fear of porcelain (which is something of a running gag throughout the rest of the game) and never explains why other than that it's "a long story".

* CompressedVice: Guybrush's fear of porcelain doesn't appear until the third game. In ''Revenge'', he has no issues interacting with the porcelain in Elaine's room.

** In the original two games, Guybrush is a [[http://static2.videogamer.com/videogamer/images/pub/large/monkey_island.jpg dirty blonde shaggy-haired pubescent boy]]. His "cartoon" incarnation is a [[http://www.filez.st/screenshots/01/46981962401The_Secret_of_Monkey_Island_Special_Edition_RELOADED.jpg clean-cut older teen]].

Originally conceived as a SeriousBusiness pirate adventure by Creator/RonGilbert, but TimSchafer and [[TelltaleGames Dave Grossman]] began using their own CrazyAwesome jokes as dialogue placeholders. As LucasArts was actually somewhat clever and somewhat funny in those days, they had him and his gang write the rest of the dialogue. Presto changeo...

* BreakingTheFourthWall: Guybrush talks directly to the player and refers to himself as "a lovingly inept cartoon character" in ''Curse''.
** He also talks to the player in each game, and [=LeChuck=] also does this.

* CardboardPrison: Guybrush often gets imprisoned and escapes in a comic fashion.
** Typically because of MyopicArchitecture or TheGuardsMustBeCrazy.

* MyNameIsNotDurwood

* StoppedNumberingSequels: Only the second one is numbered, the ones without original creator Ron Gilbert at the helm -who had planned a trilogy- aren't.

* OncePerEpisode: In addition to the many running gags, the usual TheThreeTrials or pirate tropes and with occasional aversions; the Voodoo Lady tells Guybrush about some MacGuffin or MagneticPlotDevice needed against [=LeChuck=], Stan has some item needed in a puzzle, several puzzles gravitate around a bar and its beverages, Guybrush will need to FightLikeACow somehow and commandeer or hire a ship. The quest eventually leads to Monkey Island and a confrontation against [=LeChuck=] is the climax of the game. The adventure is divided in about four/five named parts.

* PirateGirl: All the girls in the series are pirates.

Originally conceived as a SeriousBusiness pirate adventure by Ron Gilbert, but TimSchafer and [[TelltaleGames Dave Grossman]] began using their own CrazyAwesome jokes as dialogue placeholders. As LucasArts was actually somewhat clever and somewhat funny in those days, they had him and his gang write the rest of the dialogue. Presto changeo...

* MyNaymeIs: Guybrush Threepwood, but every character turns it into a memetic mutation.

* OncePerEpisode: In addition to the many running gags, the usual TheThreeTrials or pirate tropes and with occasional aversions; the Voodoo Lady tells Guybrush about some MacGuffin or MagneticPlotDevice needed against [=LeChuck=], Stan has some item needed in a puzzle, several puzzles gravitate around a bar and its beverages, Guybrush will need to commandeer or hire a ship, the quest eventually leads to Monkey Island and a confrontation against [=LeChuck=] is the climax of the game. The adventure is divided in four named parts.

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Pretty much ''everyone'' except the villains. And one crew of deranged monkeys that enjoys making people {{walk the plank}}.

Series creator Ron Gilbert left after the second game. After the long hiatus following ''Escape'', TelltaleGames took up the mantle with their episodic ''Tales of Monkey Island'' release - with Gilbert's blessing and also the involvement of many key staff members from the original two games. [=LucasArts=] has also gotten back in the game of late, [[SugarWiki/AndTheFandomRejoiced finally redeeming themselves in the eyes of adventure fans]] by remaking both the original ''Secret of Monkey Island'' and the first sequel ''[=LeChuck's=] Revenge'', complete with voice acting by the cast of ''Curse''.

** "I'm selling these fine leather jackets," a ShoutOut to ''Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure'', also pops up from time to to time.

* OncePerEpisode: In addition to the many running gags, the usual pirate tropes and with occasional aversions; the Voodoo Lady tells Guybrush about some MacGuffin or MagneticPlotDevice needed against [=LeChuck=], Stan has some item needed in a puzzle, several puzzles gravitate around a bar and its beverages, Guybrush will need to commandeer or hire a ship, the quest eventually leads to Monkey Island and a confrontation against [=LeChuck=] is the climax of the game. The adventure is divided in four named parts.

* {{ShoutOut}} : Tons of them, specially to other ''LucasFilm/Arts'' games and works. As mentioned below, exhausting every possible line of dialogue to trigger one becomes an implicit part of the gameplay. Expect many references and wordplays if there is a library or a bookshelf around.

* AerithAndBob: Plain common names are mixed with punny or obnoxious ones. Take the main duo; Elaine Marley and Guybrush Threepwood.

* LookBehindYou: The "Look behind you! A three-headed monkey!" running gag. Mostly used as a distraction, sometimes it actually shows up and becomes a CryingWolf trope.

* MeanwhileBackAtThe: ... Lechuck's headquarters.

* OncePerEpisode: In addition to the many running gags, the Voodoo Lady tells Guybrush about some McGuffin needed against [=LeChuck=] and Stan has some item needed in a puzzle. The quest eventually leads to Monkey Island. Some elements are occasionally averted.

* AerithandBob: Plain common names are mixed with punny or obnoxious ones. Take the main duo; Elaine Marley and Guybrush Threepwood.

* CardboardPrison: Guybrush often gets imprisoned and escapes in a comical fashion.

* GhostPirate: [=LeChuck=] at first, then NinjaPirateZombieRobot.

* LookBehindYou: The "Look behind you! A three-headed monkey!" running gag. Mostly used as a distraction, sometimes it actually shows up.

* WhyDoYouKeepChangingJobs: Stan, the HonestJohnsDealership, runs a different business in each game. In order, they are: used ship salesman, used coffin salesman, life insurance salesman, time-share representative and attorney-at-law-who-makes-a-side-income-by-selling-souvenirs-based-on-his-cases. His job changes are often explained as a result of something that Guybrush did in the previous game

* WhyDoYouKeepChangingJovs: Stan, the HonestJohnsDealership, runs a different business in each game. In order, they are: used ship salesman, used coffin salesman, life insurance salesman, time-share representative and attorney-at-law-who-makes-a-side-income-by-selling-souvenirs-based-on-his-cases. His job changes are often explained as a result of something that Guybrush did in the previous game

* YouFightLikeACow: The {{Trope Namer|s}}.

** There's actually a way to die in each of the five games, but only the first and fourth ones count: In ''Secret'' Guybrush drowns if he stays underwater for too long after ten minutes (the rest of the games, excepting ''Escape'', perhaps, he automatically surfaces after the ten minutes are up). ''Revenge'' [[HowWeGotHere is being told after the fact]], so if Guybrush dies, Elaine tells him to stop screwing around and tell the real story, and in ''Curse'', you need to fake your death to progress. The ''Curse'' example actually comes with not one, but two [[BreakTheFourthWall fourth-wall breaking]] {{lampshade|Hanging}}s; one from Guybrush, telling the kids not to try this at home, and one from the barkeep and the gravedigger, wondering how Guybrush managed to die in a LucasArts game. ''Escape'' sums up two ways to die: 1. by drowning in the second dive underwater after surfacing upon Guybrush's running out of breath in the first dive; and 2. having him kill his future self in the Mysts of Tyme and then going around and having himself get killed by his past self. ''Tales'' sums up one way to die, [[spoiler:and surprisingly, it's not an Easter egg, but rather a part of a story to progress on from Chapter 4 to Chapter 5.]]

** And "That's the second biggest ______ I've ever seen," a ShoutOut to ''GetSmart''.

** Guybrush himself is an Easter egg in [[TheForceUnleashed The Force Unleashed 2]], appearing as a hidden costume. Before that, he was an alternative skin in ''IndianaJonesAndTheInfernalMachine''.

** Guybrush himself is an Easter egg in [[TheForceUnleashed The Force Unleashed 2]], appearing as a hidden costume. Before that, he was an alternative skin in ''IndianaJones and the Infernal Machine''.

* ItBelongsInAMuseum: You can use this line a few different times as random dialogue, parodying its usage in IndianaJones.

*** Although he's less important to the story in later installments, exploiting him is still necessary; the fact that you tend to get the better of him in return for getting ripped off in ''Secret'' becomes a running gag all it's own. Insurance fraud has never been so satisfying.
** Guybrush asking people what the Secret of Monkey Island? is, since it's not revealed in the first game. No one has given a straight answer yet. (''Flight of the Amazon Queen'', a [=LucasArts=] adventure pastiche, gave a humorous joke answer to this: ''"Elaine is really a guy."'')
*** The gag continues still, only flipped. Twenty years after Secret's release, series creator Ron Gilbert released a game called DeathSpank, containing an old adventurer named Eubrick who claims to know the Secret of Monkey Island. Unfortunately, the game's titular hero isn't at all interested in what it might be.

Series creator Ron Gilbert left after the second game. After the long hiatus following ''Escape'', TelltaleGames took up the mantle with their episodic ''Tales of Monkey Island'' release - with Gilbert's blessing and also the involvement of many key staff members from the original two games. [=LucasArts=] has also gotten back in the game of late, [[AndTheFandomRejoiced finally redeeming themselves in the eyes of adventure fans]] by remaking both the original ''Secret of Monkey Island'' and the first sequel ''[=LeChuck's=] Revenge'', complete with voice acting by the cast of ''Curse''.

* HeroicSociopath: Surprisingly, quite a few of the dialogue options allow you to make Guybrush one of these. They're generally the least useful ones, though, since you'll usually antagonize the characters, although thanks to the fact the games are impossible to lose or make {{Unwinnable}} you can still use them for a laugh with no permanent harm done.

* UnInstallment: ''Tales of Monkey Island'' is refereed to as the sixth ''Monkey Island'' installment, and starts off at the climax of a unseen epic adventure which presumably was the events of the non-existent fifth game. Exactly what happened on this adventure is unknown, but Guybrush keeps making vague references to it throughout ''Tales''.

Interestingly, the name 'Guybrush' was largely an ''{{a|rtifactTitle}}ccident'' -- Steve Purcell saved his design of the unnamed main character as 'guy' in D-Paint. D-Paint itself added the suffix 'brush.bbm' as part of its file system. They started referring to the main character as "Guybrush", and [[ThrowItIn it snowballed from there.]]