History Webcomic / ProblemSleuth

** [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001514 You got the CHRONOSCOPE!!]] '''[[LegendOfZelda NYARGH PARODY DUMB]]'''

''[[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4 Problem Sleuth]]'' is the third webcomic under the ''MSPaintAdventures'' banner, written by AndrewHussie, and was arguably the one which first brought Hussie and his work into the limelight. Written and presented [[InteractiveComic in the style of]] an ersatz text/point-and-click adventure game, it details the antics of three especially {{hardboiled detective}}s - [[TheHero Problem Sleuth]], [[TheLancer Ace Dick]], and [[TheSmartGuy Pickle Inspector]] - in their attempts to [[LockedInARoom get out of their offices]], all the while working to aid the turmoil-stricken Kingdoms of the Weasels, Clowns, Hogs and Elves, and to foil the dastardly plots of Mobster Kingpin.

* BornLucky: Mobster Kingpin. "[[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000864 As luck would have it, your VIM gauge maxes out.]]" [[spoiler: Later, it's revealed that [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001294 he was cheating]].]]
* BottomlessBladder: Lampshaded/subverted: [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000299 "You remember you're pissed off at Ace Dick, and in addition to which, you haven't been able to pee once in the 13 and a half hours you've been locked in your office."]]

* BulletDodging: Each hero's "Auto-Parry" does it differently: Problem Sleuth on purpose via UnnecessaryCombatRoll, Pickle Inspector [[AttentionDeficitOohShiny accidentally via distraction]], & Ace Dick auto-parries by... [[{{Kevlard}} taking the shot directly in his gut]].

* CallingYourAttacks: SEPULCHRITUUUUUUUUUUDE!

* CanonImmigrant: [[spoiler:Ace Dick ends up falling ''backwards'' in canon [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001555 into]] ''JailBreak'', revealing answers brought up to questions ''in a different game''.]]

* TheCassandra: [[ExpositionFairy The Infinite Summation Honeybee Professor]] might be [[StopHelpingMe annoying]], but it turns out his advice would've actually been pretty useful.
* CharacterAlignment: [[invoked]] Using the [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000617 ALLEGIANCE MENU]].
** And later the [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000787 ALLEGIANCE MESH]].

* ChekhovsSkill: PI and the [[SolveTheSoupCans Labyrinthine Sudocube Comprehsensile]].
* ChessWithDeath: Happens quite a few times, even without anything at stake, and never once with chess.

* ChewBubblegum

* ClosedCircle: The entirety of ''Problem Sleuth''. It gets to be a BIG [[spoiler:(imaginary)]] circle.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: "[[spoiler:Sensing his impending demise, DMK [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001742 grows a few extra health meters]]]]."
* ComicBookAdaptation: There is now a book of the first five chapters at ''[[http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=MSPA-PS-BOOK01&Category_Code=MSPA/ Topatoco.com]]'', with commentary and a foreword by [[DinosaurComics Ryan North]].

* ConcealingCanvas: Frequently subverted and otherwise played with.
* ContinuityNod: [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001506 Over 1000 strips later]] and we rejoin the sunglasses that were stolen from the Starsky bust.

* CriticalHit: by many names: BRUTAL AFFRONT, SAVAGE UPBRAID
* CutAndPasteComic: Lampshaded in some of the "Pose as a team" commands; [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000509 "You copy and paste your previous poses into a new file and animate the background rapidly."]]
* CuttingTheKnot: [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001377 After having a solved puzzle reset, Fiesta Ace Dick uses this to solve it a second time.]]

* FinalBoss [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001069 Battle]]: Parodying several tropes:
** HighAltitudeBattle
** OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:It's MK's hideous ultimate form, DEMONHEAD MOBSTER KINGPIN.]]
** TurnsRed
** WeakSpot: [[spoiler:DMK's [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001281 NETHER-REGIONAL VULNERABULB]] blooms]], briefly exposing his WEAK SPOT.

* TheGodsMustBeLazy: [[spoiler: GPI]] will only respond to the command [[spoiler: "Fondly regard creation."]] He actually does do two things, but those things are [[spoiler: create the universe via StableTimeLoop with the help of the temporally replicating Pickle Inspectors and sewing the universe back together when it is torn apart.]] Never once does he directly help the protagonists.

* GoodOldFisticuffs: [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000996 You call for a diplomatic laying down of arms.]]
* GravityIsAHarshMistress: [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001058 You suddenly remember the universe is upside-down!]]
* GrievousHarmWithABody: AD attempts this with [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000978 BATTLE TECHNIQUE -> LV. 2 TORSO FLAIL]], but fails at even providing a DeliciousDistraction like with the original [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000436 Torso Flail]].
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: "[[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000374 The window loses it's extra-dimensional portal properties, and severs you mid-way through. You are dead.]]"
* HandCannon: The [[spoiler:Sniper's Sextant]] controls a giant cannon. Not a strict example, but a roundabout literal one.
* HappyDance: Frequently. [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?game=save&s=4&p=001030 THIS one is REALLY impressive.]]
* HardboiledDetective: The titular hero and his friends.
* HardGay: ''Hunk Rump'', and by extension most of the gay porn magazines featured.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:the candy corn.]]

* HumongousMecha: Made out of candy.
* IFellForHours: When characters fall, they sometimes have enough time to decide to [[RunningGag "fall in more [adjective] manner"]].

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler: Mobster Kingpin]] ends up falling onto the Ham Needle from an really large distance.
* IncrediblyLamePun: [[spoiler:Fondly regard creation/crustacean/crenellation/donation.]]
** [[spoiler:Succumb to unfathomable bloodlust/bratwurst.]]
** [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000477 It has a HAIRPIN trigger.]]
** [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001688 It could be that these are the one thousand angels which are said to dance on the head of a pin...]] [[spoiler:[[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001689 Or the head of a KINGPIN.]]]]
** You attempt to woo your fan by [[DoubleEntendre turning it on.]]
** The [[ExpositionFairy Infinite Summation Honeybee Professor]] peppers his speech with bee-related puns ("Avoid 1:1 duplications which will lead to unwelcome 100% matter accretions, and you'll keep ''hiving'' a ''honey'' of a time!") until he gets [[StopHelpingMe muted]].

*** And then he gets right back at it once he gets unmuted.

** And then there's [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001598 this.]]

* LimitBreak: Charm Break, Comb Rave, Schema Form, Ostentation Drive, Murder Flux, Parliament Uproar
** Also, some characters share a common limit break bar.
* LockedDoor: Almost all of them, except, ironically, [[spoiler:Death's door]].
* LockedInARoom: Problem Sleuth and Ace Dick start out bitterly hating each other and both locked in their respective offices [[spoiler:and the game ends when they finally escape.]]
* MarathonBoss: The battle with DMK lasts for about half the duration of ''Problem Sleuth.''
* TheMerch: For a $20 donation, AndrewHussie would draw a short comic of any command the donator wished (until increasing demand forced him to stop.) Past ones can be seen [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/unlock.html here]]. Also, there are several prints and shirts, and a Sepulchritude hoodie, still available at Topatoco.
* MightyGlacier: Pickle Inspector's "Tootsie Roll Frankenstein" transformation. Twice as strong as an actual glacier, but twice as slow, too!
* MindScrew: It can become increasingly difficult to tell where (and when) everybody is. Summed up in this line: "You're not totally sure, but you think this means there are now three Ace Dicks running around."

** And then Death [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001330 provides a recap]] later.
** And later there's one by [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001696 The Devil.]]
* MythologyGag: Running gags from other games, such as:
** Trusty knives
** Hunk Rump magazine
** [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000605 The pumpkin]] doesn't count, because clearly there [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001295 is not]] and [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001256 has never been]] a pumpkin [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001298 there]].

* {{Nice Hat}}: If Problem Sleuth's regular hat doesn't qualify, the Admiral's Hat certainly does.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: DMK and BHMK never would have formed as they did if not for Fiesta Ace Dick's actions.
* NoFourthWall: On a couple of occasions the characters look up an FAQ for the game on [=GameFAQs=] and input cheat codes to bypass certain parts of the 'game'.
** Also, at one point in the game, Ace Dick beats someone to death [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000721 with a stat meter.]]
*** Also also, when DMK's final form starts generating additional life bars, Problem Sleuth starts physically attacking the life bars.
* NonStandardGameOver:

* OminousLatinChanting: "Fast-paced organ music and a haunting vocal chorus accompanies your epic struggle."
* OntologicalMystery: When you boil down the plot, the characters are trapped in their office building[[hottip:*: and the imaginary world, which together form a very large Closed Circle]] and need to learn how to use their environment[[hottip:*:Despite being trapped in his own office, Problem Sleuth knows remarkably little about it.]] in order to escape.
* OppositeSexClone: Ace Dick had too little imagination for a DistaffCounterpart, and instead just became a clone of himself with a blonde wig/[[NiceHat Prussian Picklehaube]].
* PaperThinDisguise: [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001398 A quick change in headgear makes all the difference.]]
* ThePenIsMightier - The Tectrix of the Arbitor has item confusion with the legendary [[CoolSword TECTRIXCALIBUR]].
* PhysicalGod: [[spoiler:Pickle Inspector]] ascends to godhood at one point. [[spoiler:One of many Pickle Inspectors.]]
* PlayableEpilogue
* PlotCoupon: Anything can be a PlotCoupon... even your own ''skull''.
* PortalCut: What happens if a window loses power while something is in it.
* PortalNetwork: What would at first appear to be what is outside Problem Sleuth's window.
* {{Porn Stash}}: ''Gay'' porn stash, no less! Problem Sleuth seems to have a tendency to be keeping ''[[{{Exactly What It Says On The Tin}} Hunk Rump]]'' magazine somewhere nearby.
* PotHole: "[[spoiler: [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001649 Death throws down his hat in disappointment.]]]] He really must remember to invest in stronger [[http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=woodwind%20instruments security measures]] for [[spoiler:the afterlife]]."
* PowerGivesYouWings: [[spoiler:Problem Sleuth]] gains a pair of wings upon using [[spoiler:Sepulchritude]]
* PowerLevels: Understandable in the sense that this IS an RPG.
* PowerTrio: Early on, before the cast expands:
** Ego: Problem Sleuth
** Id: Ace Dick
** Superego: Pickle Inspector
* PrettyLittleHeadshots: [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000997 Dramatic variant.]]
* PrivateEyeMonologue: Parodied, in several [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000263 places.]]

* PungeonMaster: Honeybee Professor
* PuppetGun: Pickle Inspector aims the CLOCK TOWER SNIPER CANNON via the SNIPER RIFLE.
* RealityWarper: Pickle Inspector, in the Imagination realm
* RecapEpisode: Two of them (the first one by Death, [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001696 The second one]] by the Devil), and a third one on the wiki.

* RolePlayingGameVerse: All of the detectives and the Mobster Kingpin have (weirdly named) stats and hitpoints - towards the end more and more bizarre bonus powers also appear.

* RubeGoldbergDevice: A puzzle so particularly difficult that it's solved by loading a save state from a point after the puzzle is solved. [[spoiler:It is later revealed that a time traveling Pickle Inspector did it.)]]
* RunningGag: Items switching back and forth between weapons and completely unrelated objects (e.g. a revolver becoming keys or a chainsaw becoming lipstick), responding to characters attempting to ride something like a mechanical bull (at times something about to explode) with "Wow, what a fucking waste of time!" and weasels "flipping the fuck out".

* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: "Complain that the MASS of the OBSERVABLE UNIVERSE is only thought to be 3x10^52kg.\\

** [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001747 The universe is becoming a rather crowded place.]]

* SeriousBusiness: Any and all forms of [[ChessWithDeath anything but chess with Death]]. Such as [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001078 Sudoku]].
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Newly-introduced names take on more and more of this further as the game gets along.
* ShoutOut: [[HomestarRunner Get ye flask.]]
** PS: CtrlAltDel. [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000788 GAME FUCKING OVER]] May also qualify as a TakeThat.
** And let's not forget our history! It comes, of course, in the form of a delightfully charming [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000975 KATE BEATON-style comic.]]
** [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001327 Summon Moe.]]
** [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001383 One of the scythe's forms]] is ''DinosaurComics''' T-Rex, after Ryan North's praise of ''MSPA''.
** [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001403 Another form the scythe takes]] is the head of Manny Calavera from GrimFandango.
** The Space Whale and "This all seems highly, highly improbable." [[HitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy Guess.]]
** [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001629 LV. 4 HOOPTECH]] - [[KatamariDamacy DMMK KATAMARI BALL]]
** [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001514 You got the CHRONOSCOPE!!]] '''[[LegendOfZelda NYARGH PARODY DUMB]]'''
** Ace Dick and Bathearst head out West in the board game ''Life'', shifting an unnamed parody of ''OregonTrail''.

* SilentProtagonist: There's not a lot of dialogue in this game.
* SinisterScythe: [[TheGrimReaper Death's scythe]], which Problem Sleuth borrows for a while. It [[MorphWeapon transforms]] too, into (among others) a rocket launcher, a F-16 fighter jet, a [[DinosaurComics T-Rex]], and an [[NuclearOption atomic bomb]].
* SniperRifle: The '''[[spoiler:SNIPER'S SEXTANT]]'''
* SolveTheSoupCans: More and [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000604 more weird puzzle shit]] as the story progresses. The Moonlight Sonata piano from ResidentEvil makes a cameo.
* SpaceWhale: [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001551 Harpooned.]]
* StatMeters: Not merely an abstraction.
* StronglyWordedLetter: Provides the page image.
* SuperMovePortraitAttack:
** Sleuth Diplomacy is structured like one of these, with a quick-moving background and a zoomed-in pose.
** The introductions of the Gambit Schema make them sort of like Epic Move Portrait Attacks.

* StairwayToHeaven: [[spoiler:DMK: [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001744 LADDER TO HELL]]]]
* StoutStrength: Ace Dick and his various forms, as well as Mobster Kingpin.
* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: A command suggested switching hats with an enemy to disguise Problem Sleuth, but to no avail. [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001398 Later]], Mobster Kingpin does this successfully.
* SummonMagic: You do not have enough [[PlotCoupon ELF TEARS]] to summon the [[FisherKing WEASEL KING]]!
** SUMMON HENRY CLAY

* SwissArmyTears: Elf tears.

* ThemeTable: Each detective has a certain body type (which in turn are each associated with a type of food, a truck carrying that food, and a district of the city that is named after the makers of that food, a gentleman with some sort of optical accessory, and a room in the Sleazy Brothel in the sky), an office, something keeping them from escaping their office, a different kind of window/portal to the World of Imagination, a stat in which they excel, a standard weapon/key, a candy weapon, a type of candy armor, a SuperMode based on both a classic movie monster and type of candy, a DistaffCounterpart (each of which have their own weapon/other object, two of which get a weapon/object used in painting and a undergarment that warps their physical properties, and one of which is just a clone of one of the detectives wearing a wig), an ultimate move, and a non-human race they go on a quest for (each of which terrorizes another of the races somehow, and each of which has some kind of emissary and a champion that represents a [[FantasyCharacterClasses Fantasy Character Class]]). Mobster Kingpin gets in on most of this as well.
* TimeTravel: [[spoiler:Pickle Inspector, [[SerialEscalation to downright incredible levels]].]]
* TransformationSequence: [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001043 An incredible transmutation takes place.]]
** And then subverted, when [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001717 a phenomenal transmutation takes place.]]

** Except when the game refuses to acknowledge the existence of the [[spoiler:pumpkin]] you're trying to get.

*** [[spoiler:''[[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001298 THIS FUCKING PUMPKIN]]'']]

* BeyondTheImpossible: How utterly ridiculous can the game mechanics get? How ridiculously powerful can the cast's attacks get? Answer: Very.

* TimeTravel: [[spoiler:Pickle Inspector, [[BeyondTheImpossible to downright incredible levels]].]]

* WorldsStrongestMan: Ace Dick. Fiesta Ace Dick is [[BeyondTheImpossible stronger than that]].

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs

* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: Five separate times Problem Sleuth tried to call forth the "righteous fires of charisma" of [[spoiler:Sepulchritude]], and [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000876 every]] [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000930 time]] [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000970 he]] [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001106 was]] [[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001282 stopped.]] After it is finally used, he [[spoiler: turns grey and beaten and, greatly weakened, falls into BHMK's Event Horizon]]. [[IGotBetter He gets better.]]

* [=~You Can't Get Ye Flask~=]: Averted, since the command parser is a person. You DO get ye flask!

* ShoutOut:

-->"''You answer the phone in a hard boiled manner. You explain to the woman gruffly that you'd love to help her out, sweetheart, but you're up to your neck in all this weird puzzle shit. You hang up.''"

* CrossingTheStreams: [[spoiler:SEPULCHRITUDE]]

* UnstoppableRage: "The [Weasel] Emissary flips the fuck out!"

** Thank goodness Godhead Pickle Inspector [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=000843 explains it all]] at one point. He also thinks [[MST3KMantra you should just relax and have fun, and not worry too much about it.]]

** And of course: "Quickly retrieve arms from [X]." "You've already got arms, [another word for idiot]!"

** Ace Dick punches X in the snout to establish superiority. Xhearst is particularly enamored by your rowdy, no-nonsense brand of ruffianism.

* EverythingsWickedWithWeasels

--> -AndrewHussie

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs

--> -AndrewHussie

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: "[[spoiler: Sensing his impending demise, DMK [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4&p=001742 grows a few extra health meters]]]]."

* TropeMobile: The whore-mobile.

* AGodAmI: [[spoiler:Godhead Pickle Inspector.]]
** [[spoiler:Except not really, as all he ever does is contemplate his own creation. Except that one time when DMK breaks it...]]

* AWinnerIsYou