History Webcomic / MonsterPulse

''[[http://www.monster-pulse.com Monster Pulse]]'' is a {{webcomic}} by Magnolia Porter of ''Webcomic/{{Bobwhite}}'' fame. It is now complete. A mirror can be found [[https://archive.org/details/monster-pulse here]].

* ShipTease: Bina and Abel. It's made clear from very early on that Bina has a crush on Abel, but it's kept ambiguous as to whether or not Abel likes her back. [[spoiler:The ship is temporarily sunken when Able hooks up with Violet, but after their breakup, Bina and Abel get a RelationshipUpgrade in Chapter 29.]]

* AdultFear:
** When they find the voice monster, the kids quickly realize that somewhere, there's a baby crying, and no one can hear it.
** Lulenski tells her Arma team not to contact their parents because of their monsters--leaving them bereft of their children for weeks. Enid's mother eventually shows up on the group's doorstep in the hopes that they might know where her missing daughter is.

* RealityEnsues: Lulenski's plan to [[spoiler:create a SHELL counterpart to the main crew doesn't go well because Ned grabs four random, unconnected kids--one of whom is a kindergartner and another who seems to have an anxiety disorder. The only reason it kind of works is because their monsters are strong]].

* NotSoDifferent: Unstated, but there are huge parallels between Roger's treatment of an Arma ghost regarding Lulenski and [[spoiler: Abel's sister and Abel]]. It also serves as {{Foreshadowing}} that [[spoiler: just as Abel later received another Arma ghost, Lulenski may yet receive one, too.]]

* ActionSurvivor: Bina, although as the story goes on she is developing a less passive role.

* AesopAmnesia: Violet realizes this herself after she poses as Edward in Julie's mind in a misguided effort to get to the root of Julie's behavior. Julie points out that it's pretty common to make the same mistakes even after learning from them.

* AwesomeButImpractical:
** Bina's monster is her heart. While it is extremely powerful, there's the teeny tiny problem that whenever it fights, she is putting her life on the line.
** In general, this applies to almost all monsters - if the monster is destroyed, the original person permanently loses said body part. For someone like Julie (hair monster), it'd be inconvenient at most. For someone like Abel (left eye monster), it would create a noticeable disability. For West and Bina (stomach and heart monster, respectively), it would be fatal.
* BaldWomen: Julie, due to her hair turning into a monster.

* BlessedWithSuck:
** Guuzy has elements of this for West - he can't even attempt to eat food without getting ill anymore, so he can't eat. Nor can he really go into social situations where food is involved, because his reaction to food is conspicuous.
** Monsters in general are these, according to the [[spoiler: former]] director of SHELL. He theorizes that the ARMA monsters draw life force from their original source, and that anyone with a monster, even one derived from a non-vital organ, would die at most after 10-15 years. [[spoiler: Based on what happened with Rjinder, the second person to get an ARMA monster and the first to keep it, he might be right.]]

* ChekhovsGunman: Chapter 1 shows a stomach as one of the organs manifested by the initial six ARMA escapees. Chapter 2 shows Lulenski and Roger reminiscing of a kid with curly hair with a monster erupting from his midsection. Chapter 3 finally introduces West and Guuzy, his stomach monster.

* {{Determinator}}: While Bina is frightened for the first couple chapters, she quickly becomes the [[TheHeart one thing that holds the group together]]. [[spoiler:Her will is so strong that it can interfere with Anima's mindscape.]] Violet sums it up in [[http://www.monster-pulse.com/comic/page-21-chapter-14/ chapter 14]]:
-->''"There is a strength in you. A will. That strength makes it difficult to be near you. You are a kind person, but it is easy to feel that strength and become wary of you. It is, at times, blinding. It makes it more difficult to know the right things to say. Many sense that strength, without understanding what it is."''

* EmergencyTransformation: [[spoiler: Ayo and Bina get critically injured trying to stop an ARMA ghost. Bina technically dies before she can get treatment, and Ayo is caught in a coma. To save Bina, she's put in the Chakra Device that Lulenski created to reverse the ARMA transformations. Due to it being imperfect after being broken, however, while it does technically save Bina, she and Ayo undergo a FusionDance.]]
* EmotionlessGirl: Violet[[spoiler:, thanks to her monster, Anima.]] However, this is a subversion: [[spoiler:Anima has increased ''every'' function of her brain, ''including her emotions.'' Violet deliberately suppresses her emotions because they are now amplified to unhealthy levels]].

* FriendlessBackground: West. He was found by an ARMA ghost when he was trying to make a friend in Julie (another found her at the same time), and she later spurs him into action by pointing out that [[IJustWantToHaveFriends he really wants to have friends]].

* HeroicSafeMode: Bina seems to enter a dissociative and/or depressive state after [[spoiler:she is merged with Ayo in Chapter 35]].

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Abel, who admits under emotional duress that [[spoiler:he once killed someone by killing their monster]]. He's not proud of having done so, although Bina points out the rationalization: [[spoiler: he was striking back against SHELL, so the monster likely belonged to someone out to capture and experiment on him]]. Later revealed to be this trope, but played out differently, in Chapter 17: [[spoiler:Abel's sister pushed him out of the way of an Arma ghost, which manifested a monster out of her lungs. Abel only saw a monster advancing on his sister, so he attacked and killed it to save her. That's when he learned it was a part of her, and that losing a monster is like losing that body part, permanently.]]

* IWorkAlone: Abel, at first. He grows out of it after spending more time with the group [[spoiler: and dating Violet]].

* NervousWreck: Claire. She's initially petrified of her monster (formed of her spinal cord) and convinced it wants to murder her, and later says that Violet sending her to sleep is the ''only'' time she's ever felt calm.

* StepfordSmiler: The other kids frequently accuse West of not understanding how serious the situation is and even occasionally say that he doesn't have ''real'' problems, unlike them. Usually they do this on a day where his very-much-extant problems have flared up hard, but because he tries to make the best of a situation and is fairly diffident about expressing his negative feelings, he stews in silence.

* EmotionlessGirl: Violet[[spoiler:, thanks to her monster, Anima.]] However, this is a subversion: [[spoiler:Anima has increased ''every'' function of her brain, ''including her emotions.'' She actually forces herself to suppress her emotions because they are now amplified to unhealthy levels]].

''[[http://www.monster-pulse.com Monster Pulse]]'' is a {{webcomic}} by Magnolia Porter of ''Webcomic/{{Bobwhite}}'' fame.

* ParrotPetPosition: West tries to do this with Guuzy. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments With interesting results.]]

* FunnyAfro: West, though he's more straight-laced than the trope might imply. [[spoiler:He loses the afro in chapter 31, and currently has not regained it.]]

* EmotionlessGirl: Violet[[spoiler:, thanks to her monster, Anima.]] However, this is a subversion: [[spoiler:Anima has increased ''every'' part of her brain, ''including her emotions.'' She actually forces herself to suppress her emotions because they are now amplified to unhealthy levels]].

* EmotionlessGirl: Violet[[spoiler:, thanks to her monster, Anima.]] She's actually [[spoiler:forced to suppress her emotions because they are now amplified to unhealthy levels]].

** Nate, whose monster transforms him after he tries running from responsibility, names his pituitary gland monster [[Disney/{{Pinocchio}} Lampwick]].

* AdultFear: When they find the voice monster, the kids quickly realize that somewhere, there's a baby crying, and no one can hear it.

* KidsAreCruel: The most vicious of Shell's counter-team is Enid. She's all too happy to throw people bodily and even sets fire to Kera. Given that she appears to be kindergarten age and her monster is her own head, she may not understand how much pain she's actually inflicting on people.

* ChildrenAreMonsters: The most vicious of Shell's counter-team is Enid. She's all too happy to throw people bodily and even sets fire to Kera. Given that she appears to be kindergarten age and her monster is her own head, she may not understand how much pain she's actually inflicting on people.

* ParentsAsPeople: Most of the parents in this comic try their best to be supportive when they have to come to terms with the fact that their children have body part monsters.

** SecretSecretKeeper: One of the kids has one of these, too. [[spoiler: Julie's mom knows about Kera and sometimes talks to her when Julie sleeps.]]

* StepfordSmiler: The other kids frequently accuse West of not understanding how serious the situation is and even occasionally accuse him of not having real problems like they do. Usually they do this on a day where his very-much-extant problems have flared up hard, but because he tries to make the best of a situation and is fairly diffident about expressing his negative feelings, he stews in silence.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: The author has admitted that before designing Rixis she had believed the pupil to literally be a black spot on the eye. If she had known it beforehand he might have turned out different.

* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: Bina gets progressively colder as the series goes along, as her resentment over her circumstances grows.

** Chapter 35, Page 13-14. [[spoiler:Bina, on the previous pave, came up with a plan to use Ayo to give Luna a power boost to deal with a stronger-than-usual ghost. On this page, it backfires horribly; the ghost sends Luna flying right into Ayo... and we cut to black with only a "SLICE." The worst has happened: Luna has punctured Ayo and put Bina's life in ''serious'' jeopardy.]]

* TenMinuteRetirement: Julie withdraws entirely from both her duties and her friends [[spoiler:because she was terrified of seeing Kera almost burned to death as well as a teenage identity crisis. She comes back just in time to save West and Rafi from Rafi's new liver monster]].

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: See What The Hell, Hero.

* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Bina, the first character we are introduced to, dies in chapter 35 after the WhamShot below.]]

* UnusualEars: Well, more like ear as Osborne's partner is his left ear.

* BlessedWithSuck: Guuzy has elements of this for West - he can't even attempt to eat food without getting ill anymore, so he can't eat. Nor can he really go into social situations where food is involved, because his reaction to food is conspicuous.

* HearingVoices: Rjinder reacts as though his skin speaks to him at certain points - it's certainly making ''some'' sound, though it's never been intelligible to the reader. Around others, he generally passes if off as it merely requesting food or the like. [[spoiler: In private, however, he reacts as though it's giving him suggestions to kill Lulenski - it's still not clear if it actually is or Rjinder's going mad.]]