Line #22 ComicStrip/SafeHavens


1	[[quoteright:216:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/safe_havens.jpg]]
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3	''Safe Havens'' is a fantasy comic strip by Bill Holbrook, launched on October 3, 1988, and initially set in a daycare center. In 1993 the preschool children began aging in real time, and the strip has followed them as they've moved through K-12, college and now young adulthood. The main character is Samantha Argus, a personable and enthusiastic young woman with the skills of a MadScientist who has unlocked the secrets of genetic manipulation.
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6	!!This comic contains examples of:
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8	* AbsentMindedProfessor: Rupert and Rosalind are great geneticists but keep making trouble for themselves. Even more so when separate.
9	* AcrophobicBird: An unusual variation. The dodos drink a potion to grow eagle wings for a distant travel, but to no avail.
10	* AliensStealCable: [[spoiler: Mars]] initially used canine language to communicate with Team Fastrack...which it picked up from old ''Series/{{Lassie}}'' broadcasts.
11	* ArtifactTitle: For a while, anyway. Originally focusing on Safe Havens Daycare, it moved on to other schools with "Havens" in their names, and the main characters even started a band called Safe Havens. The band wasn't very central, and the "Safe" part still looked somewhat out of place. Nowadays, Samantha teaches at Havens University, and some of her friends' kids have enrolled in the daycare center.
12	* BrainBleach: Desired by Pam after Samantha mentioned the possibility of a Halloween [[{{Squick}} "sexy Mitch [=McConnell=]"]] costume.
13	* BreakoutCharacter: Samantha used to be a supporting character, but she turned out more interesting than Matt.
14	* CatsAreSnarkers: Palmtop. Then again, snark is pretty well distributed in this comic.
15	* CharacterBlog: Roger has a weekly blog.
16	* ContrivedCoincidence: Plenty over the years. For instance, the dodos just happen to have a natural song -- with English lyrics -- that works perfectly with one of Bambi's hits....
17	* CripplingTheCompetition: During a basketball game, the opposing team's coach instructed one of his players to injure Dave on the knee that had already been injured to take him out. Unfortunately for them, Dave (who, for some context, wore a visor and headphones at this point of his life) had recorded the whole conversation. Once he and Samantha exposed it, both player and coach got kicked out of the sport, with the coach having to pay damages to Dave as well. The injury didn't keep Dave out too long, but it contributed to the weakening of his ligaments, leading to the end of his NBA dreams when they finally snapped (while he scored the NCAA championship winning point for Havens U, no less). He would eventually make a career in Europe.
18	* {{Crossover}}: Frequently with ''ComicStrip/OnTheFastrack'' (see SharedUniverse below). One noteworthy crossover in the early 2000s featured Rose Trellis of ''Fastrack'' and Samantha's mother both running for political office, with one sequence occurring simultaneously in both comics.
19	** Often caused continuity problems thanks to King Features' colorists, who did not remain consistent with crossover characters (e.g., Patina being a redhead in ''Fastrack'' but having brown hair in ''Havens'').
20	** As the more unusual elements of ''Fastrack'' have faded away (while going up to eleven in ''Havens''), the crossovers have dwindled. With the bulk of the ''Havens'' cast having spent three years in space, this trend seems set to continue. (Technically, the entire Mars mission is bankrolled by Fastrack, but in practice, this is represented by occasional appearances by Dethany on a monitor. It is never mentioned in ''Fastrack'' and may even be set in that strip's future, if a line Wendy says in ''Fastrack'' about how Rose really should tell Dethany about the Mars mission if she expects Dethany to lead it is any indication.)
21	* DaddyDNATest: Samantha knows her daughter is Dave's naturally, but she's still curious about Maria's genetic profile. [[spoiler: Finding out it matches Maria Novello's profile is how she finds out Maria Novello's her KidFromTheFuture.]]
22	* DreamCrushingHandicap: Played with. More than once, Dave got a knee injury that threatened his basketball career. In the end, it was too fragile for the NBA...but good enough for an Italian basketball team.
23	* DoofyDodo: Samantha successfully cloned two dodos, who turned out to be paragons of stupid, self-destructive behavior.
24	* EveryoneCanSeeIt: As much as Samantha and (to a lesser extent) Dave used to protest that they were JustFriends, '''nobody''' bought it.
25	** Palmtop/Pam would have you believe that she hates Vince, but...
26	* TheFaceless: The extremely tall Don and Marcie used to be portrayed as so tall that their heads were always off frame. Their faces have finally appeared -- Don's when his son was born and Marcie's when she met the now six-foot-three Rosalind.
27	* FreakLabAccident: Happens all the time, especially with Rosalind and Rupert.
28	* FreakyFridayFlip: Variant: Samantha and Dave, thanks to accidental lab potion ingestion, are turned into physical duplicates of each other. [[spoiler:On their wedding day, no less.]]
29	* GeniusDitz: The dodos may be sorely lacking in common sense, but they have a knack for getting around all sorts of obstacles designed to hold them back. They also made a fortune counting cards in casinos.
30	* GratuitousItalian: Mild examples thanks to Dave playing basketball in Italy.
31	* GretzkyHasTheBall: RuleOfFunny is the only consistently portrayed rule in any sports action.
32	* GrowingUpSucks: Children lose their ability to talk to animals when they start behaving like adults, along with all memory of ever being able to do in the first place. The (most common) exceptions are veterinarians, who all universally retain it, and [[ManChild professional athletes]].
33	* IgnoreTheDisability: A key demand from Luis, which is why he loves self-centered Jenny instead of the ever-helpful Samantha.
34	* InterspeciesRomance: Pretty common among the animals. Also Thomas and Remora, though Thomas sometimes becomes a merman.
35	* JerkAss: Jenny, though she sometimes borders on JerkWithAHeartOfGold.
36	* KidFromTheFuture: [[spoiler: Maria the time traveler. A twist eight years in the making. Incidentally, this makes Leonardo the Grandkid from the Future.]]
37	* LegoGenetics: Leads to both VoluntaryShapeshifting and InvoluntaryShapeshifting.
38	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Ming, though she's slowed down a bit after becoming a wife and mother.
39	* MayDecemberRomance: [[spoiler:Adult Maria has to be at least 40 years older than her wife, Bambi.]]
40	** Remora, being a natural-born mermaid, is about 400 years older than human-born Thomas.
41	* MeaningfulName: Everyone has at least one.
42	* MisterSeahorse: [[spoiler: Thomas, thanks to the nature of merfolk.]]
43	* MrFanservice: Before pairing with Jenny, Luis unintentionally won the hearts of two girls who already had boyfriends. When Dave asked Samantha why Jenny Egotistical of all people wanted Luis, all present females of every species shouted, "HE'S A TOTAL STUD!" May or may not be a case of InformedAttribute.
44	* MyNewGiftIsLame: Averted and then subverted. Despite the expectations of relatives, Samantha didn't mind inheriting only a ring from her grandma. Especially when she discovered that it acted as a sort of VideoPhone to her grandma in {{Heaven}}.
45	* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Happens sometimes with InvoluntaryShapeshifting.
46	* OmniDisciplinaryScientist: Samantha. She's practically rewritten the book on genetics and is such a pro at computer security that her dad's boss has a standing offer of employment for her.
47	* OneSteveLimit: Defied when Samantha names her baby after midwife Maria. [[spoiler: May still count as a straight example, though, because ''they're the same person''.]]
48	* OneWayVisor: Dave almost always wore one until college, when it was banned by the NCAA. He switched to SunglassesAtNight after that. Ming also wore such a visor initially, which is part of how she first made the acquaintance of him and his friends (including GreenEyedMonster Samantha).
49	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Jenny [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this after saying that Samantha will make a better space mission commander than Jenny would. "Yeah, it's out of character, but our lives depend on it."
50	* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: Remora reveals many qualities not found in most other works. For example, she can shapeshift into fully human or fully fish forms only up to 12 hours at a time, after which she transforms into the opposite form [[InvoluntaryShapeshifter whether she wants to or not]]. It is also said that if a human saves a mermaid's life three times, they become a mermaid themselves, although exactly what qualifies as saving their life is PlayedForLaughs: Samantha found herself turned into a mermaid after something as simple as giving Remora a flotation ring for swimming practice. Remora's also [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld more than 400 years old despite looking the same age as her (now former) classmates]].
51	* OutOfFocus: Former protagonist Matt Havens hasn't appeared in ages.
52	* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Palmtop eventually reveals that she outlived all her puppies except Deke, because they chose to stay dogs while she and Deke live as humans.
53	* PaperThinDisguise: A whale puts on Groucho glasses in the vain hope of being counted more than once in a census.
54	* PottyFailure: Back when the strip was set in a daycare, kids peeing their pants was a common gag.
55	* PubertySuperpower: Maria says she gained the power of TimeTravel only at puberty. This doesn't seem to be binding, as Leo develops his powers at a younger age, but then again, he ''is'' a prodigy.
56	* PuppyDogEyes: Laptop makes these work even in late-middle-aged human form.
57	* PutOnABus: More a case of Left Behind By The Bus; the dodos decided to stay behind and make Mars their home.
58	* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: See "Our Mermaids Are Different."
59	* {{Retcon}}: A 1989 strip featured Jenny talking about her brothers. Later strips, however, establish that she's an only child. The creator [[HandWave handwaved]] this by saying that her brothers were just her imagination.
60	* RewatchBonus: Anything involving Maria and Leo gets this once TheReveal about who they really are happens. Leo's first story line, which involved Samantha and Dave having to watch him? [[spoiler: Just a day with the grandparents.]]
61	* TheRival: Pretty much right from conception, Clay and Candide have always competed against each other in any way they can devise. That said, it's a friendly rivalry, and Clay has an apparent crush on Candide.
62	* SecretRelationship: [[spoiler: Jenny and Luis.]]
63	* SharedUniverse: With ''ComicStrip/OnTheFastrack''. Samantha's dad works for Fastrack, Samantha sometimes works there, she used to babysit Patina and Rusty, she's become Patina's RA, Samantha's mom once ran against Ms. Trellis for office, and Fastrack is funding the space mission that Samantha and friends will be on. Dethany sometimes appears in connection with the last factor.
64	* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: See EveryoneCanSeeIt.
65	* SleepingDummy: The Dodos were able to stow away into the rocket to Mars by leaving fake dummies of themselves for Feryl (who was supposed to keep an eye on them) to find.
66	* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Several characters can speak with animals, but only so long as they mentally retain some aspect of their childhood; those who "grow up" lose the ability and eventually forget they ever had it. Averted for veterinarians.
67	* StatusQuoIsGod: Averted. Characters keep aging, and situations keep changing.
68	* TheMole: Temporarily became a literal mole thanks to KarmicTransformation.
69	* ThisIsReality: "So... [[MagicAIsMagicA there are restrictions even on time travelers]]?" "[[GratuitousItalian Si]]. This isn't some {{fantasy}}, you know."
70	** Also, [[http://safehavenscomic.com/comics/december-4-2012/ "This isn't fiction, Rosalind. It's real life."]]
71	* TimeTravel: Has happened a few times of late. [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble In a manner of speaking.]]
72	** TimeyWimeyBall: [[spoiler:Maria, as a time-traveling midwife, delivers herself.]]
73	* TooDumbToLive: When Sam cloned a pair of dodos, she discovered why they went extinct: They're sapient but have the survival instinct of brain-damaged turkeys.
74	* TransformationComic: Between merfolk magic and lab projects, it's very common for characters to change species or at least shape, usually temporarily.
75	* {{Tsundere}}: Palmtop, being a cat much of the time, has a generally hostile tone toward former mouse Vince, but she has a pretty obvious reason for saving his life.
76	* TwoferTokenMinority: Luis is a Latino in a wheelchair.
77	* UnwantedAssistance: Luis hates to have anyone help him with his wheelchair. That appears to be his main reason for falling for Jenny Egotistical and not the compulsively helpful Samantha.
78	* WeirdnessMagnet: Compared to most of her friends, Samantha is downright normal. [[http://safehavenscomic.com/?p=1069 She even calls herself by this trope.]]
79	** The 'other' clique in middle and high school was specifically designed to be this.
80	* WhamLine:
81	-->'''Farnsworth:''' Feryl! You...you...[[spoiler:you changed back!]]
82	** Even more so when Maria says to Samantha, "[[spoiler:Hi, mom.]]"

Context ComicStrip / SafeHavens