History Webcomic / SluggyFreelance

** [[spoiler: The [[ArtifactOfDoom Squid-spear made by the [=Nofun=] corporation]]. Not only was it revealed to be sentient after its destruction, it was also [[PoweredByAForsakenChild innocent enough to empower Torg's sword]].]]

* BigRedButton: [=Nofun=] Enterprises has an app designer chained up in their basement. They force her to design single-purpose smartphone apps for evil purposes (kill the prisoner with acid, blow up my enemy's base, etc).

* SeriousBusiness: Riff and Torg's opinion of steak. When they find Aylee has ordered steaks that have decayed past the point of edibility, [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20001119 they bury them with full funeral honours.]] Then when the Nofun Corporation creates stem cell-grown runny vat meat and plan to replace all real steaks with it, [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20100719 Torg interrupts their mission to destroy that project immediately.]]

** A reference to [[WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}} Wakko]]'s "Potty Emergency!" was made by a Nofun executive.

** [[spoiler: The [[ArtifactOfDoom Squid-spear made by the Nofun corporation]]. Not only was it revealed to be sentient after its destruction, it was also [[PoweredByAForsakenChild innocent enough to empower Torg's sword]].]]

* AnimeEyes: Parodied a few times, with [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/19980118 Gwynn's contact lenses]] and, when Torg [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20081015 makes an anime]], he paints them on to Aylee and has a set that goes over his own eyes, ''despite his own eyes already being big enough''.

* BigRedButton: NoFun Enterprises has an app designer chained up in their basement. They force her to design single-purpose smartphone apps for evil purposes (kill the prisoner with acid, blow up my enemy's base, etc).

** Riff: MadScientist version, complete with CoolShades/SunglassesAtNight. TrenchCoatWarfare dialled UpToEleven.

* {{Thoughtcrime}}: 4U City enforced mandatory happiness with involuntary drugging. And mandatory efficiency with mandatory drugging. And so on. The alternative was to be thrown down a judgement chute.
* [[SpaceIsAnOcean Timeless Space Is An Ocean]]: Which is, of course, [[SpaceSailing traversed in pirate ships]] [[AppliedPhlebotinum with time bubbles]].

* TheScottishTrope: [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20080121 Saying Clutter Monster's name]] causes him to yell "[[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk CLUTTER MONSTER SMASH!]]" and slam Riff and Torg (who he's holding) together.
* TheTokyoFireball: {{Lampshaded}} by Santa in the Mecha-Easter Bunny arc.

* TheScottishTrope: [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20080121 Saying Clutter Monster's name]] causes him to yell "[[TheIncredibleHulk CLUTTER MONSTER SMASH!]]" and slam Riff and Torg (who he's holding) together.

* ThereAreNoCoincidences: [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/141113 Stated outright.]] The Fate Web manipulates probability to nudge the world along a path and keep the world safe. As a result, many coincidences occur, especially in the vicinity of [[TheChosenOne potentials]].

* MagicVersusScience: It has been stated that Magic is ''not'' just misunderstood Science. The Web of Fate is a mystical construct created by Khronos, Father Time, in order to protect the world from the God of Destruction, K'Z'K. It defines a set of rules for the world to follow and guides its path to keep it safe. Science is the art of manipulating the world within the rules the Web defines. Magic is an incredibly dangerous, destructive force, that can bypass the web's restraints. Without magic, K'Z'K would remain SealedEvilInACan forever. But with it, he can eventually break free.

** Riff is an unusual type in that it's manifested in him being able to acquire a new girlfriend immediately after breaking up with the last. He also [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/020412 invented a literal Chick Magnet]] that [[IThoughtItMeant didn't quite go according to plan]].

** Hereti Corps's occult division discovered that most forms of magic start weakening as you get further and further from Earth's atmosphere.

** Hereti Corps's occult division discovered that most forms of magic start weakening as you get further and further from Earth's atmosphere. Chaz seems to be a notable exception.

* AntiMagic: A plant-based demon Torg calls Captain Botanical had a magic flower that negated all magic that came too close to it. Gwynn chooses to weaponize it herself as insurance against King Farahn and K'Z'K, due to the fact that her BlackMagic [[spoiler:is based on a doubly indirect case of PowersViaPossession]].

** [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness The early years of the strip]], by contrast, usually mentioned real games like ''TotalAnnihilation'' and ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}''.

--> '''Torg:''' Alright, we'll need some of the townsfolk to [[VideoGame/WarcraftII chop down trees, mine for gold]], and [[TotalAnnihilation set up solar collectors]] in case we need to build more troops. Do we have any dragons yet?

** Even the Research & Development Wars were foreshadowed all the way back at the Clonegressie arc, during 28 Geeks Later. Although the boss's speech implies they are going on at the time, they don't become central until years later.

** During the second K'Z'K plot, Gwyn's visions are packed ''full'' of foreshadowing. [[spoiler:Oasis is the puppet. The four fiery pillars are her hair, which foreshadows her pyrokinesis. This immediately precedes Vision!Zoe burning alive, which Oasis later does to her. Riff as a juggler being juggled by (not juggling) three numbered pins, followed by Sasha wearing a three shirt: the pins are his girlfriends, who are playing him for outside groups (Monica for the Cult of K'Z'K, Sasha for Hereti-Corp, the missing pin is either Gwyn or unknown).]] And her visions give her the clues she needs to defeat K'Z'K.

* BodyCountCompetition: Between Torg, Gwynn, and Riff while killing zombies. There is also an unofficial one by fans who keep kill counts for the characters.

* BreakingTheFellowship: Riff's friendship with Torg and Zoe is utterly destroyed when Riff [[spoiler:hurts Sam due to Sam being a vampire]]. Torg initially decides to banish him, but then decides that Riff's tech expertise is too important in the fight against Hereti Corp. So instead, he gives Riff a death threat, puts him in charge, and leaves the group with Zoe. Bunbun then references the trope, saying that without the combination of Riff's tech ''and'' Torg's leadership, they are all doomed. Riff ultimately proves Bunbun right by becoming CommanderContrarian, and drives everyone else away with his callous and impulsive leadership.

** "Nosce te ipsum." "Know yourself," advice given to Oasis that she's completely unable to follow up on because of some programmed mental blocks.
** Multiple unrelated characters have uttered the words "What...''is''...that blade?" upon seeing the effects Chaz has.

* {{Spoonerism}}: The source of many a PunnyName. For example, in the Punyverse where everyone has a food pun based named, the leader of the Zorgon race is Zorgon Gola (Gorgonzola) and [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20120301 Riff, Torg and Zoe play]] a game called [[SettlersofCatan Kettlers of Satan]].

* UnreliableNarrator: Compare [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/090805 this strip]] to Torg remembering [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/090819 what actually]] [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/090820 happened.]]
** Played for comedy later on, [[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20100225 after Torg's story seemingly causes a bunch of increasingly violent reactions from Sasha.]]
** Also played for laughs earlier on, when [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/19990704 Torg recounts the early part of the Storm Breaker Saga to a bard,]] but decides to spice it up by adding some material from ''Film/ArmyOfDarkness''.

** There was at one point, a meme on the forum where certain characters were called [[ContractualImmortality Not Allowed to Die]]; when one of these characters was KilledOffForReal during a parody arc, the list was narrowed down to TheMagnificentSevenSamurai. [[spoiler: Then even some of them... Dead? Alive? OnlyMostlyDead? FateWorseThanDeath? It got almost to the point of ZigZaggedTrope.]]