History YMMV / Asterix

* CompleteMonster: ''Asterix in Switzerland'' gives us Varius Flavus, Governor of Condatum. An obese, hedonistic and corrupt man, Flavus embezzles the vast majority of Condatum's tax money for himself, sending a pittance back to Rome while hoarding the rest for himself to spend on lavish, decadent parties. When the Senate sends Quaestor Vexatius Sinusitus to investigate him, Flavus [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink poisons Sinusitus]] and sic's the palace's incompetent doctors on him to assure his death. And when the Gauls get involved, Flavus quickly pulls strings with an old friend in Helvetica to ensure Asterix and Obelix fail in their mission to retrieve the silver star and that Sinusitus dies a painful, agonized death - all to keep his corruption a secret. It's hard to feel any sympathy for him when Sinusitus recovers, gives him a well-deserved (and magic potion-enhanced) [[MegatonPunch punch to the face]] and declares that, once the audit is done, Flavus will almost certainly be going to the lions in the circus.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: It is a gigantic bestseller across Europe, not just in France that its the bestselling comic of all time in the continent. Beyond just France and Europe, its sold well enough to not only be translated in every major language across the world, but in total raw volumes sold its just behind One Piece as the comic book series with the most copies sold.

* AccidentalAesop: The narrative generally lionizes the simple country life lived by the Gauls as honest and fulfilling while denouncing the metropole-dwelling Romans as greedy, ambitious and decadent and depicting their striving for power, wealth or glory as nerve-wrecking, superficial and in the end meaningless. However, in ''Asterix and the Cauldron'', Asterix's and Obelix's ignorance about monetary and economic matters proves almost fatal when they, in spite of their supernatural abilities, continuously fail to earn money when they suddenly have to. While it could be argued that they never would have slipped into that situation to begin with if not for [[spoiler:the deceit of a greedy rival chieftain]], the message the average reader most likely takes from the story is, especially on rereads, that at least ''some'' skill with money and trade is indeed useful, even if you live outside the economic hotspots.
** Note, though, that while the Gauls do engage in bartering (preferably with menhirs), they do use sesterces in the village. It's just that Asterix the warrior/hunter/adventurer does not need economic skills and Obelix isn't bright enough.

** Is it possible that Obelix is aware that he's fat, but hides it for unknown reasons or use it as an excuse to punch Romans? Keep in mind that whenever a Gaul or a neutral character called him "fat", he acted as there was no fat person around, whereas when a Roman or an untrustworthy person called him that, he reacted by beating the crap out of them.

** In ''Recap/AsterixAtTheOlympicGames'', the Romans simply want to send a champion to the games and get the glory. When the Gauls find out about the games, they send their own champion, under the pretense that they are allowed to go as Romans because Gaul is part of the Roman World (despite the village obviously resisting the occupation). Asterix even give his reward to the Roman champion of a nearby camp as a PetTheDog moment

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Uderzo's run as writer of the comics started out very similarly to Goscinny's run, but with a few immediate shifts in character -- first, that Uderzo had a more satirical and parodic sense of humour than Goscinny, who was more into absurdity and anarchy; second, that Uderzo liked writing more complicated, cinematic adventure plot-lines, where Goscinny tended to prefer plots that were in the background to the character's antics; and third, that he pushed fantasy elements further into the foreground, where the setting up until that point had been a PurelyAestheticEra version of AncientRome with one really important fantasy element. This is not considered to detract from the quality of most of the early Uderzo-only books, like ''The Great Divide'', ''Asterix and Son'', and ''The Black Gold'' (with a very un-Goscinny ''Film/JamesBond'' parody subplot), although they are definitely different in tone, but books like ''The Magic Carpet'' (where the DreadfulMusician suddenly develops [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands a magic power necessary for the plot to work]]) and ''Obelix All At Sea'' (Obelix gets [[ShooOutTheClowns turned to stone]], reverts to childhood, and they all go to {{Atlantis}}) are often criticised for being straight fantasy adventures with not much in the way of humour. Then there was ''Asterix and the Secret Weapon'', a book about a StrawFeminist taking over the village and defeating a Roman legion of female soldiers by distracting them with clothes and shoes. This would culminate in ''Asterix and The Falling Sky'', a weird, puerile, xenophobic, and poorly-drawn science fiction story involving the village being invaded by aliens representing the Americans and the Japanese, which was intended as an AuthorTract about the influence of manga and American comics on FrancoBelgianComics but too poorly-written to even work on that level (mainly because Uderzo briefly skimmed through ''one manga'' before writing it). Fans widely derided it as the [[DarthWiki/RuinedFOREVER worst thing in the world]], and Uderzo retired before writing another book [[MilestoneCelebration celebrating Asterix's 50th anniversary]]. Both this book and the one made by [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute another duo Uderzo allowed to take over the series]] found a better reception.

** In the Spanish versions of the stories, not only are the names mostly unchanged (since Spanish is a Romance language just like French), but the translation is absolutely hilarious and does use many Spanish expressions in place of the French ones. It says something that there are quite a lot of quotes from the books that reached full MemeticMutation in Spain.

** Note, though, that while the Gauls do engage in

** ''Asterix and the Secret Weapon'', which was originally released in 1991, was a parody of the feminist movement. The handling of this may seem incredibly inappropriate and sexist To some modern readers. However, it's worth noting that the majority of the book actually portrays the Gaulish women advocating for their rights in a fairly positive light. What might be more problematic is the appearance of the female Roman legion, and the fact that the Gauls defeat this legion by [[spoiler: opening an ersatz shopping mall]], which instantly makes the Roman women forget all about their militaristic duties. Many still find it ActuallyPrettyFunny.

** While all nations and ethnicities are portrayed as caricatures, the portrayal of black people with oversized lips would NOT be allowed in a new work today, but in the 1960s this was, sadly, not treated as an issue.

** ''Asterix and the Secret Weapon'', which was originally released in 1991, was a parody of the feminist movement. The handling of this seems incredibly inappropriate and sexist to most modern readers. However, it's worth noting that the majority of the book actually portrays the Gaulish women advocating for their rights in a fairly positive light. What's more problematic is the appearance of the female Roman legion, and the fact that the Gauls defeat this legion by [[spoiler: opening an ersatz shopping mall]], which instantly makes the Roman women forget all about their militaristic duties.

** Some fans have theorized that Cacofonix's singing is actually good, but the reason why the Gauls can't stand it has to do with the fact that Cacofonix adopts a more "modern approach" to his skills, often citing that he sounded bearable in the ''WesternAnimation/AsterixAndTheBigFight'' movie and that Justforkix (who ahead of his times in tastes) liked Cacofonix's singing.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Uderzo's run as writer of the comics started out very similarly to Goscinny's run, but with a few immediate shifts in character -- first, that Uderzo had a more satirical and parodic sense of humour than Goscinny, who was more into absurdity and anarchy; second, that Uderzo liked writing more complicated, cinematic adventure plot-lines, where Goscinny tended to prefer plots that were in the background to the character's antics; and third, that he pushed fantasy elements further into the foreground, where the setting up until that point had been a PurelyAestheticEra version of AncientRome with one really important fantasy element. This is not considered to detract from the quality of most of the early Uderzo-only books, like ''The Great Divide'', ''Asterix and Son'', and ''The Black Gold'' (with a very un-Goscinny ''Film/JamesBond'' parody subplot), although they are definitely different in tone, but books like ''The Magic Carpet'' (where the DreadfulMusician suddenly develops [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands a magic power necessary for the plot to work]]) and ''Obelix All At Sea'' (Obelix gets [[ShooOutTheClowns turned to stone]], reverts to childhood, and they all go to {{Atlantis}}) are often criticised for being straight fantasy adventures with not much in the way of humour. Then there was ''Asterix and the Secret Weapon'', a book about a StrawFeminist taking over the village and defeating a Roman legion of female soldiers by distracting them with clothes and shoes. ''Asterix and The Falling Sky'', a weird, puerile, xenophobic, and poorly-drawn science fiction story involving the village being invaded by aliens representing the Americans and the Japanese, which was intended as an AuthorTract about the influence of manga and American comics on FrancoBelgianComics but too poorly-written to even work on that level (mainly because Uderzo briefly skimmed through ''one manga'' before writing it). Fans widely derided it as the [[DarthWiki/RuinedFOREVER worst thing in the world]], and Uderzo retired before writing another book [[MilestoneCelebration celebrating Asterix's 50th anniversary]]. Both this book and the one made by [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute another duo Uderzo allowed to take over the series]] found a better reception.
* GrowingTheBeard: The first three books are decent enough, but Goscinny and Uderzo [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness were still clearly trying to find their feet]]. The fourth, ''Recap/AsterixTheGladiator'' saw a major improvement in both artwork and writing, along with Julius Caesar becoming a much more fleshed-out and interesting villain. A slight slip-back then happened with ''Asterix and the Banquet'', a solid enough story but one that ultimately didn't do much to advance the story or characters, and had little appeal to non-French readers due to it being a cross-country tour of France with the heroes collecting local delicacies. And then came ''Asterix and Cleopatra'', which saw the artwork and writing both taken to the next level (along with properly introducing Dogmatix), and is still widely considered the best book in the whole series.

** ''Recap/AsterixAndTheBlackGold'' has the Romans burning all the petroleum in Palestine so the Gauls can't bring it back home. The book was written in 1981, ten years before an actual military-induced oil fire in the Middle East (the Iraqi troops setting fire on Kuwait's reserves as they left following UsefulNotes/TheGulfWar). There's also a scene where oil is thrown off a boat and hits a bird. While it's a reference to a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoco_Cadiz_oil_spill spill on the French coast]] in 1978, the seagull covered in oil ends up evoking the ''Exxon Valdez'' in 1989 (and the ''Deepwater Horizon'' 19 years later).
** ''Recap/AsterixAndTheChariotRace'' features a masked chariot racer named "Coronavirus", who competes in a race across Italy. Roughly three years after its publication, the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic occured, with Italy being one of the first countries outside Asia to be affected (and one of the hardest hit by it), ''and'' Uderzo himself died during the pandemic (albeit from unrelated cause).

** ''[[VideoGame/AsterixAndTheGreatRescue Asterix and the Great Rescue]]'', as demonstrated by the WebVideo/JoueurDuGrenier and WebVideo/WhoIsThisGit. Not only are the levels filled with [[FakeDifficulty fake]] and [[SchizophrenicDifficulty schizophrenic]] difficulty, but the time limits are exceptionally strict, leaving almost no room for error. On Hard, it becomes borderline PlatformHell.

* {{Sequelitis}}:

** Flaturtha from ''Recap/TheMansionsOfTheGods'' shows the FairForItsDay aspect. Appart from the big lips, his leopard loincloth has a tail, which would be unacceptable today. On the other hand, he is the leader of a multinational group of slaves, he is smart enough to bargain with the Romans instead of trying to escape, and he talks the Gauls into letting the Romans finish one building so the slaves will be free.

* QuirkyWork: The series sometimes gives off this impression to people unfamiliar with French culture and Roman history. In particular, ''Recap/AsterixInCorsica'' and ''Recap/AsterixAndTheBanquet'' have a lot of jokes about French regional stereotypes, which people outside of France tend to find bizarre.

** ''[[VideoGame/AsterixAndTheGreatRescue Asterix and the Great Rescue]]'', as demonstrated by the WebVideo/JoueurDuGrenier and LetsPlay/WhoIsThisGit. Not only are the levels filled with [[FakeDifficulty fake]] and [[SchizophrenicDifficulty schizophrenic]] difficulty, but the time limits are exceptionally strict, leaving almost no room for error. On Hard, it becomes borderline PlatformHell.

* WidgetSeries: While the series is popular worldwide, some aspects are still too definitively French in culture to make sense outside of the country.
** French audiences would have immediately recognized the parade of Corsican stereotypes on display in ''Recap/AsterixInCorsica'', in which most Corsicans are lazy, work-shy, quick to anger over generations-old vendettas the cause of which they can't actually remember (and always with a vendetta knife at the ready to defend their honour), and fond of cheese the smell of which is enough to knock out an elephant. To readers outside France, however, these stereotypes are just weird. The plethora of references to Corsican native UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte would also have gone over the heads of most readers outside France.[[note]] For this reason, although this is the best-selling ''Asterix'' volume in France, it has never reached similar levels of popularity elsewhere.[[/note]]
** ''Recap/AsterixAndTheBanquet'' is full of jokes based on French regional stereotypes (such as the inability of Normans to give a straight answer, the absurdly labyrinthine nature of Lyon's streets, the impossibly long traffic jams which stretch back from the Côte d'Azur at the beginning of every summer, the hot-blooded nature and penchant for exaggeration of the locals in Marseille, etc.) which make little sense to audiences outside France. This was one of the reasons ''Asterix and the Banquet'' was the fifth ''Asterix'' book to appear in French but the twenty-third to appear in English.
** ''Asterix in Belgium'' makes constant references to Belgian culture, which doesn't translate well to people outside of western Europe (aside from those to ''Tintin'' and Brussels sprouts).
** In Japan, the only things translated to Japanese are the first three books and the live-action films, partly due to how difficult is to translate its trademark's humor to Japanese. Much of the history from the European ancient era pre-Medieval times, like the one from the Roman Empire, is quite alien for the Japanese to follow, in the same way classical Asian history could be considered exotic for western eyes. Coupled with the fact the protagonist are Gauls, whose historical deeds aren't very-well known outside western Europe, much less outside western countries, and the fact one of the authors, Albert Uderzo, wasn't very fond of Japanese media, this probably caused to prevent further translations to that country.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Uderzo's run as writer of the comics started out very similarly to Goscinny's run, but with a few immediate shifts in character -- first, that Uderzo had a more satirical and parodic sense of humour than Goscinny, who was more into absurdity and anarchy; second, that Uderzo liked writing more complicated, cinematic adventure plot-lines, where Goscinny tended to prefer plots that were in the background to the character's antics; and third, that he pushed fantasy elements further into the foreground, where the setting up until that point had been a PurelyAestheticEra version of AncientRome with one really important fantasy element. This is not considered to detract from the quality of most of the early Uderzo-only books, like ''The Great Divide'', ''Asterix and Son'', and ''The Black Gold'' (with a very un-Goscinny ''Film/JamesBond'' parody subplot), although they are definitely different in tone, but books like ''The Magic Carpet'' (where the DreadfulMusician suddenly develops [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands a magic power necessary for the plot to work]]) and ''Obelix All At Sea'' (Obelix gets [[ShooOutTheClowns turned to stone]], reverts to childhood, and they all go to {{Atlantis}}) are often criticised for being straight fantasy adventures with not much in the way of humour. Then there was ''Asterix and the Secret Weapon'', a book about a StrawFeminist taking over the village and defeating a Roman legion of female soldiers by distracting them with clothes and shoes. Put GenreShift, StrawmanPolitical, and CerebusSyndrome all together and you get the series' [[JumpingTheShark shark-jumping]] moment, ''Asterix and The Falling Sky'', a weird, puerile, xenophobic, and poorly-drawn science fiction story involving the village being invaded by aliens representing the Americans and the Japanese, which was intended as an AuthorTract about the influence of manga and American comics on FrancoBelgianComics but too poorly-written to even work on that level (mainly because Uderzo briefly skimmed through ''one manga'' before writing it). Fans widely derided it as the [[DarthWiki/RuinedFOREVER worst thing in the world]], and Uderzo retired before writing another book [[MilestoneCelebration celebrating Asterix's 50th anniversary]]. Both this book and the one made by [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute another duo Uderzo allowed to take over the series]] found a better reception.

** ''Asterix'', an Atari game released in 1983, wich was actually nothing more than just a slightly modified version of the game ''Taz'' (featuring the Looney Tunes character Tazmanian Devil). As such, it has practically nothing to do with the actual comics.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Erix, the pirate captain's son, could be an interesting character, but he never appeared after ''Asterix and the Banquet'' (and had no characterization there either). He only appears as a counterpart to Eric, the son of ComicBook/BarbeRouge.

** The black pirate is a ButtMonkey even for the other pirates, while the orginal Baba of the ''ComicBook/BarbeRouge'' comics (which the Asterix pirates are based on) was a BookDumb ex-slave, but nevertheless a brave, ressourceful and respected man.

** ''Film/AsterixAtTheOlympicGames'' is considered the worst of the live-action films.