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1%% Remember, to get mixes of upper and lower case to show up correctly, just surround them with one bracket and one equals sign, e. g. "[=FV5=]"
2ElGoonishShive/TropesAToE | '''Tropes F to L''' | ElGoonishShive/TropesMToR | ElGoonishShive/TropesSToZ
3----
4!!!''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' provides examples of the following tropes:
5
6* FacePalm:
7** Sarah does a face palm in the face of [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-05-06 Tedd's and Grace's antics.]]
8** Elliot and Sarah do [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-05-05 synchronized]] facepalms when they realise Tedd is going to do another rant about why he has long hair. Susan does a facepalm after hearing the whole thing.
9** Susan's fairy summon does [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-10-12 the tiniest facepalm]] when Susan hears Zelda gets kidnapped ''right after'' shapeshifting back into a girl.
10** Edward does a facepalm when Wolf completely misses his sarcasm when he says [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=823 he forgot about the dimension-hopping walrus.]]
11* FanService:
12** ''Usually'' kept to a minimum in-story, but anything outside of canon is fair game. The [[http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/?date=2005-11-05 Sketchbook]] [[https://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/2023-024 section]] [[https://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/2022-006 of the comic]] [[https://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/2023-004 in particular]] [[https://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/2022-016 tends to be rife]] with fanservicey pinups (that's only a small selection).
13** In just about every one of her appearances, Amanda ends up transforming, usually shrinking or turning into a HalfHumanHybrid. This appears to be Fanservice for a particular segment of EGS's fanbase and [[AuthorAppeal Dan himself.]]
14** Sometimes averted: "Believe me, if this was simply fan service, Elliot would have wound up in something ''much'' more revealing than ''[[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-02-21 that]]''.
15* FantasticRacism: The gryphon world distrusts Uryuoms, supposedly due to a war (centuries ago) in which they tried to TakeOverTheWorld, but really just because they're ''different''. It's also the case that the specific magical aura that makes someone "royalty" in TheMagocracy ''just happens'' to only be posessed by humans, despite the fact other races (such as the gryphons) are ''inherently magical''.
16* FantasticSlurs: Unicorns do ''not'' appreciate being referred to as horses.
17* FashionBasedRelationshipCue: Early on, Justin wore an earring in an attempt to advertise he was gay. He stopped wearing it after a while but wore it again to gain the attention of one guy whom he's sure is gay.
18* FauxPaw: Ellen playfully swipes Nanase's ponytail several times, [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-06-18 starting here.]]
19* FauxYay:
20** [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2011-07-22 Lisa]] theorizes that Elliot's Party Girl form isn't a lesbian, but acts like one to "put on a show for the men". This is currently the trope's page image.
21** [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2013-06-10 These two girls]] start out kissing to draw attention, but it turns out [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2013-06-19 they liked it more than they thought they would.]]
22* FemaleGaze: Guineas' transformation provokes some... [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2004-06-21 reaction]] from both Ellen and a female trooper. [[FunnyBackgroundEvent The next page]] has the latter blushing and demonstratively looking away while the Uryuom trooper, obviously, comments on this.
23* FigureItOutYourself: Ellen's approach to help Elliot [[spoiler:[[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2013-03-13 realize what kind of relationship he truly wants is to tell him he needs to figure it out himself as she knows he would likely reject the conclusion if she just tells him.]]]]
24* FightsLikeANormal: Scarf may or may not have special powers or strength due to being an aberration, but prefers [[BoringButPractical man-made firearms]] over exotic measures his state might allow him.
25* FinishingStomp:
26** Ellen crushes Goo Cell #0012 beneath her feet to permanently defeat it. Squishtality!
27** [[spoiler:Magus]] gives [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2018-05-14 the Urteronc golem]] a double-tap kick to finish it off.
28* FireAlarmDistraction: During the "Sister" arc, Susan pulls the fire alarm to evacuate the school when a giant goo creature attacks. Discussed by Ellen, who assumes someone pulled it to get out of a test.
29* FireballEyeballs: When characters are mad or focused, fire appears in their eyes, such as with Ellen [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-11-11 here]] and [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-01-08 here,]] or Susan [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2007-08-14 here.]]
30* FireForgedFriends: Susan and Nanase, of all people, are Fire Forged VitriolicBestBuds, having been buddied while on a joint school trip to France and having to face an aberration together. Now that Susan's secret is out, she's even opening up to her.
31* FirstContact: Elliot first meets the Uryuoms in [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-09-02 Tam Eh Tedd.]]
32* FirstGirlWins: Grace is the first girl to show any romantic interest in Tedd, and they are the longest lasting relationship in the comic.
33* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Abraham defies this by having spells that give him modern knowledge and clothes; given how [[MagicAIsMagicA magic works]] in this series, it makes sense that he would have them in conjunction with his statue spell.
34* FiveFiveFive: Sarah's number is [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-09-20 555-7272]].
35* FlatJoy: When Elliot discovered that his "girly powers" could include [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-10-01 becoming a superheroine who can ''fly'']]. Of course, he's in the middle of a fight scene, but still, he ''did'' just discover he can fly!
36* FlatWhat: There are many instances of characters reacting to something with a flat "what". There is the reason why the FlatWhat page image is from EGS.
37** Susan reacts with a flat what upon encountering [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-06-23 the Santa Claus Immortal]] in the cave with the hammer artifact.
38** Justin [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-09-22 here]] reacts with a low key "what" upon suddenly seeing a fire monster thing.
39* {{Flight}}: Many characters are capable of this. Nanase, in three different ways: wings in her fairy form, magical levitation in normal form, and [[spoiler:wings in her "angel" form]]. Grace -- levitation, though only in Omega form. Nioi -- magic. Vlad -- wings plus levitation. Immortals (so far, all) -- either magic or it's an inherent quality. Elliot -- while in his superhero form.
40* FollowTheChaos: Need to know if Tedd is upstairs or downstairs in his lab? Listen for an explosion.
41* FoodComa: Grace went into a "pancake coma" for a few hours shortly after eating a huge meal (shown [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2010-05-12 here]]) at a pancake house.
42* TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne:
43** Adrian Raven [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-12-12 has the ability]] to measure magical power without devices, which all but confirms a common [[WMG/ElGoonishShive wild guess]] on who his "random favourites" are. Later, it is elaborated that he can sense magic from people...through his ears. Taste, precisely. [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Don't ask.]]
44** All humans can naturally sense magic power, but it's a subtle thing that's contextual and easily confused with something else. A powerful magic user who gets angry can be sensed by the person they're angry at for example as demonstrated [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/balance-055 here.]] It has [[https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/wao1-015 also been implied]] that powerful magic users are ''slightly'' more attractive due to people subconciously sensing their power.
45* ForcedMeme: Shive attempted to turn "sexy awesome" into a {{catchphrase}}, but never caught on outside the fan base, and even the characters have all but stopped using it.
46* ForcedTransformation: Occurred on-screen and in backstory, though more discussed.
47** In the comic's prehistory Sarah was once accidentally turned into a CatGirl, due to Tedd's [[JugglingLoadedGuns unsafe handling]] of a TransformationRay gun. Cue an E grudge. See also [[http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/?date=2011-08-04 the commentary of a filler image.]]
48** Elliot was turned into a girl just before the TransformationRay broke. He would've automatically turned back after a month, and Tedd probably could've rebuilt the device sooner, but Elliot was so desperate to return to normal (it is hinted that his emotions were being manipulated by Magus even back then) that he resorted to using a magical artifact, which had unexpected side effects.
49* {{Foreshadowing}}: Tends to get {{lampshaded}} a lot. What is left is usually cryptic or already blatantly obvious.
50** What's seen [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2004-08-26 here]] translated with [[http://www.ookii.org/egs/uryuom this.]] [[spoiler:"Death. It Is Time For The End Of Man. This Master of Fire Shall Inherit The Earth. My Very Presence Eats Away At Your Flesh" Other than the two bizarre words in the end, it's pretty creepy.]]
51** Susan's sword ([[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-12-05 5th December, 2002]]) and Venus "tattoo" ([[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-10-05 5th October, 2005]]) were good hints that she isn't as simple as she looks, but were proven to be plot points and not throwaway gags only in much later flashback ([[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-05-26 26th May, 2010]]).
52** Two the cryptic (and hard-to-spot) ones for Ellen's creation and initial despair are explained [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2006-10-27 here.]]
53** [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2006-10-30 This page]] shows a French-dressed Nanase being empowered by one of the Immortals following Elliot around. This foreshadows that both the Immortals appeared towards Nanase when she and Susan were in France and that's how she awakened.
54** Adrian Raven is ''really'' fond of [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-07-02 this one boy with long, blond hair.]] Long foreshadowing a connection with Noah before it is confirmed in ''New and Old Flames''.
55** Carol's boss tells her that they "[[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-01-20 can only report on ''confirmed'' monsters]], like ''mega hogs'', or ''bigfoot.'' A mega hog will appear as the centrepiece of the ''Death Sentence'' storyline.
56** The photographs on the cabinet in the comic from [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?date=2011-12-13 2011-12-13]] show, from right to left, Max (Raven's spikey cat who may be related to Jeremy, first revealed on [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?date=2011-12-22 2011-12-22]]), Noah with a basketball, and [[spoiler:Raven standing behind '''both''' Tedd's parents... [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2012-01-20 whose breakup he feels personally responsible for.]]]]
57** Way back in 2004, a [[http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook.php?id=198 non-canon sketchbook]] had some female characters as kittens, with Ellen explaining "Dan has wanted to do a story with me as a cat since 2002, but he backed away from it to keep the transformation gun from becoming 'overpowered'". [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1065 Six years later...]]
58** By the author's own words, it was unintentional, but Adrian Raven casting an illusion on Grace to make her look like a theoretical niece made her look like a dead ringer for Susan. It was dismissed at the time since Adrian said half-breeds like him can't have kids. [[spoiler:Years later, it's revealed half-breeds ''can'' have kids, and not only is Susan a distant descendent, but her IdenticalStranger Diane is his ''daughter'']].
59** Back in 2013, when Diane first [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2013-03-01 set her sights]] on Elliot, one of the selling points was that he was "unlikely to pressure anyone for physical romance". In "The Legend of Diane", five years later, she's shocked to realise she has a reputation, thinking [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/tlod-005 "But I'm a virgin!"]] with later strips in the sequence establishing that, while she had dated a lot of boys, [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/tlod-016 sex simply hadn't been a factor for her.]] While it's not stated, the specificity of that thought makes it entirely likely that she dumped at least some of them because they ''had'' pressured her (and subsequently lied about it, but she didn't know that).
60** On the [[https://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1475 rare]] [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/party-160 occasions]] Noriko Verres appeared on-screen, her face was never shown. Turns out, [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/party-244 there was a reason for that...]]
61** Regarding Noriko, when Not-Tengu talks about her, he mentions Tedd as her "first-born" son [[https://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1664 (here)]] and talks about her children, plural [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2013-08-02 (here)]]. This pays off six years later, when we finally get to meet [[spoiler:[[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2018-02-28 Noriko's other son]].]]
62** In [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2017-11-22 this strip]] when Magus is admitting his involvement in Ellen's creation, [[spoiler: Sirleck, posessing Ellen]] wonders why his pulse is elevated. It's later [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2018-03-21 revealed]] that [[spoiler: Ellen is more present than Sirleck thinks]].
63* FourthWallMailSlot: The Q&A strips are all outside of continuity and meant for reader to send questions where certain things can be clarified.
64* FourthWallPsych: In [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2051 one strip,]] Tedd appears to be commenting on a stupid mistake that Elliot made despite not being around to witness it. However, he is quickly revealed to instead be commenting on a similar situation in the sitcom that he was watching, meaning that he was merely LeaningOnTheFourthWall rather than breaking it.
65* FreakinessShame: Grace worried about her "monstrousness," until she discovered that the only reaction Sarah and Elliot ever show is blaming Tedd (due to [[ForcedTransformation specific experience]]), while Tedd ogles her in hybrid form even more eagerly than in human form. Even after the remark about [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-05-09 "furry fetish and a half-cat girlfriend"]] she [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2007-02-12 had a fit of concern]] about her three-tailed omega form. As if there ''could'' be any problem.
66--> '''Grace:''' I didn't scare you, did I?\
67'''Tedd:''' ''[visibly spaced out]'' ''so''... hot...
68* FreakLabAccident: The Goo was originally written as a random accident before a CerebusRetcon turned it into an attempt by Lord Tedd to kill this universe's Tedd.
69* FreakOut: Susan ''wasn't'' amused to discover what the hammers were made for -- and what they in fact do. Of course, that being in the presence of an Immortal, she just caught an InstantSedation spell in the face and got spaced out for her efforts.
70* FreudianCouch: Elliot [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FreudianCouch dreams of himself on a therapist couch]] when he decides to become introspective.
71* FreudianExcuse: Most of the cast have really screwy home lives. Specifically, Susan's hatred of men is very nearly outright said to be her making an excuse for her father cheating. Her mother's hate-filled "because he's a ''man''" when lil' Susan asked her why probably helped this along a little.
72* FriendOfMaskedSelf: Susan tells Mr. Tensaided that Elliot knows [[SuperGenderBender Cheerleadra]], describing him as "the Lois Lane to her Superman." It would be more accurate to say that he's the Clark Kent to her Superman.
73* FrustratedOverheadScribble: When Sarah is pissed about being asked to strip she's got an angry scribble above her head as she marches off.
74%%* FunctionalMagic: Nioi is a powerful sorceress, as is Nanase. Nanase in particular uses it very often and quite openly at times.
75* FunnyBackgroundEvent:
76** [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2004-06-23 Panel #3 here]] shows an Uryuom soldier teasing the human women soldier over her having the hots for Guinneas.
77** [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2004-01-20 Panel #3 here]] shows Justin stress-braiding Susan's hair.
78** [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-05-03 Panel #1 here]] shows one of the fire monsters holding Grace's jacket in confusion in the background.
79** During the Card Game Tournament arc, [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1973 while Sarah and her opponent are stuck in a stalemate,]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1981 Sarah's summoned monsters keep themselves occupied.]]
80* FunWithSubtitles: "[See? I can speak the alien language of the Uryuoms.]" (subtitles: Translated from TAKE A WILD GUESS.)
81* FusionDance: Lespuko-chimera can acquire and combine forms.
82* GagCensor: During the [=MV5=] [=EGS:NP=] arc, rather than use weird camera angles, Dan just had the Angelic Tweeting Bird hover in front of Grace whenever she was topless.
83* GamingWebcomics: Not primarily but a lot of EGS:NP's are about Grace playing video games especially recently with her [[TechnicalPacifist attempts at pacifism.]]
84* GasLeakCoverup:
85** [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-12-01 And a mysterious stalker from the mysterious girl's past.]] [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial But not a crazy wizard attack.]] Not at all.
86** And Mr. Verres already [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-10-02 contemplated]] using swamp gas as a random coverup.
87* GayRomanticPhase: Nanase's mother thinks her relationship with Ellen is something she'll grow out of, an opinion Nanase is not happy with.
88* {{Geas}}: Immortals are able to inflict this on themselves by making a vow. Even so much as ''considering'' breaking a vow results in [[http://egscomics.com/index.php?id=1699 intrusive thoughts telling them to keep it.]] If they irreparably break a vow, for example: vowing not to kill someone, and then killing them, the resulting cacophony of thoughts about breaking their vow would be debilitating. And given that they're immortal, [[FateWorseThanDeath they may be stuck with this for a]] ''[[FateWorseThanDeath very]]'' [[FateWorseThanDeath long time.]] The vow is also capable of carrying on to their later incarnations should they so choose, much to Zeus' chagrin.
89* GenderBender: The entire main cast, at least once, were turned into the opposite biological gender. They even did this as a theme for a ''birthday party''. Ellen is a special case, since she's an OppositeSexClone of another main character with all the memories of the original, ''and'' she has the innate ability to turn men into women. Pretty much anything in the EGS universe will get your gender bent, including [[http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/?date=2010-09-28 fixing a toaster.]]
90** AttractiveBentGender
91*** Pretty much whenever anyone is transformed, goes in both directions. It helps that the person behind the gender-bending technology is an unrepentant pervert who custom-designed transformation variants to appeal to certain fetishes.
92*** This issue was [[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/?date=2009-12-15 explored]] in rather disturbing ways in one of the Q&A sessions.
93*** Tedd as a female deserves special mention, as "she" is [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-05-30 just about the hottest character in the comic.]] Conversely, Tess in Newspaper [[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/?date=2008-10-02 complained]] she became "so androgynous she wasn't even sure it worked."
94** FirstLawOfGenderBending
95*** EGS, while not as casual or frequent about it as ''Webcomic/TheWotch'', certainly pays the Law its dues. According to the rules governing the comic's main sex-changing [[AppliedPhlebotinum phlebotinum]], only male-to-female sex changes can be made permanent (pregnancy); female-to-male sex changes, even of someone trapped by pregnancy (for whom it's only even possible afterwards), cannot exceed a 30 day time limit. The second time a boy - the main character - is turned into a girl the device breaks, leaving "her" stuck for the full thirty days; the attempt to circumvent this creates an OppositeSexClone and the permanent ability to change sex at will, something the rules of magic eventually ''force'' him to do on a regular basis.
96*** Also, much later, a "seyunolu" ([[HalfHumanHybrid chimera]]) member of the QuirkyMinibossSquad, Vlad, is hit with a TransformationRay and is turned female, but more importantly to him/her, ''human''. "She" has no desire to change back, and since BizarreAlienBiology overrides the time limit (and, implicitly, gender identity), Vladia, as she is now called, is treated as a woman from then on.
97*** Moving on from Elliot being a ''double'' victim of this, we get to Tedd. Who probably wouldn't know this was a law: the "circumstances" usually equate to "Dad's out of town" and "As a girl, ''I'm hot''."
98** SecondLawOfGenderBending
99*** It's touching in Vlad/Vladia's case. There's nothing kinky about her accepting the change -- for the first time in her whole life normal people aren't terrified by the sight of her, so she's willing to accept ''any'' form provided it's human, which her old, male form decidedly was not. And given that her one attempt to use her supposed shapeshifting powers was a painful, near-death experience she's not about to experiment even given the chance.
100*** The current theory is that Elliot will acquire new female forms again and again until he really likes one of them -- then again, it was [[ChivalrousPervert Tedd]]'s idea. Between [[spoiler:flying around as a [[ChronicHeroSyndrome superhero]]''ine'']], [[spoiler:ogling PerkyGoth form in a mirror]], and more recently [[spoiler:dating Ashley, a girl who discovered her own bisexuality by way of Anime/RanmaOneHalf at a young age]], he may have found this already.
101*** Tedd is the only straight example. He likes this form of shapeshifting because his androgynous face becomes an advantage while close enough to Tedd's own form and he likes to feel attractive. Once this problem became moot [[FirstLawOfGenderBending it was revealed]] that BodySwap is [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2006-08-07 #37 on his fetish list]]. Later on justified when Tedd realizes he's gender-fluid, but was uneducated on non-cisgender identities. He just has access to technology that allows him to shape-shift when he feels more like a woman than a man.
102*** And when Pandora does ... something that causes him to transform? The response is a BIG smile. And a gripe that her opponent in the card game, who keeps hitting on her, is 'totally ruining the fun of being inexplicably turned into a girl by some terrifying unknown power'.
103** ThirdLawOfGenderBending
104*** Grace's Birthday Party arc, part-masquerade where the various characters deliberately chose stereotypical outfits for each other in keeping with the 'walk a mile in my shoes' theme of the occasion.
105*** Susan starts acting macho and aggressive to Nanase very soon after becoming male. [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-10-17 Sarah points out]] that Susan is simply a highly competitive person; now that she's male, and feeling stronger, [[spoiler:it takes the form of an arm wrestling match]].
106*** Tedd does note that the first few times anyone is gender bent, their thoughts will be exaggerated, which played a part in everyone's storyline during the event, but the only one whose gender bending mental state was a major plot point was Susan, as it helped her recognize her hangups with men.
107*** Later, when Elliot develops the power to morph his clothes and appearance along with his gender his female forms tend to end up wearing girly outfits because he apparently just can't help visualizing them that way.
108*** A better example is Tedd; in fact, Grace has less dresses and skirts in her wardrobe than he does despite most of her first clothes being selected by OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Sarah. He even [[TheTease prides himself on how sexy he looks]] transformed. And [[FeminineWomenCanCook cooks better while female]], just out of habit.
109*** Magus Ellen offers an interesting twist on this trope. As a result of permanent gender-bending spells being readily available in his home universe, people who wish to pursue a career stereotypically associated with the opposite gender will often switch genders. Ellen himself was born female, but wished to become a [[MagicKnight battle mage]] and decided to shift to male for the enhanced physical power.
110** OppositeSexClone: Ellen.
111* GenkiGirl:
112** Grace is usually defined as "bubbly." Although, Jerry the Immortal implies that she lost her innocence a long time ago, and she's simply overcompensating.
113** A more literal example is Susan's [[GoodAngelBadAngel curiosity,]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-01-14 seen]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-01-17 here.]]
114** Elliot's superhero spell comes with a "party girl" form whose default state is hyper and apparently slightly drunk.
115* GenreBusting: It crosses a few. It starts out like a comedic slice-of-life comic, quickly adds sci-fi and drama, then fantasy. [[spoiler:Later explaining the sci-fi as magic, except it's not the same magic]]. Currently it's kind of a mix of the lot. And weird.
116* GentleGiant:
117** Justin, from Rhoda's point of view. She's normally scared of people bigger than her (and his 6' to her 5' is quite a difference), but also knows that he's friends with Nanase, and that Nanase wouldn't be friends with anyone bad.
118** Sensei Greg is an imposing 6'10'' (208 cm) but is a perfectly decent guy. So decent, that he is bothered by not being a "traditional" perverted anime sensei.
119* GilliganCut: [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-01-15 "Please don't be on World War II...Dammit!"]]
120* GirlfriendInCanada: Grace brings up the fact that some people thought she made her significant other Tedd up to turn down people asking her out in ''Hope Part 4''. Jay think many of Grace's "friends" will abandon her as soon as they learn Tedd is in fact real.
121* GirlOfMyDreams: A realistic twist on this. Elliot dreams of Tedd turning into a girl and then the two kiss. However, he doesn't remember the full dream, in particular who he had kissed. [[spoiler:So when he first encounters Ashley he mentally fills in the blank and thinks that she was the one he kissed in his dream.]]
122* GirlOnGirlIsHot:
123** Tedd the self-confessed pervert loves seeing girl on girl action. He often mixes gender-bending antics with that.
124** A group of kids dreamed of dating Nanase someday, but they weren't too upset to learn she's a lesbian because they like seeing girl on girl action.
125-->'''Kid 1:''' You know how we all dreamt of dating Nanase someday?\
126'''Kid 2:''' Yeah?\
127'''Kid 1:''' That dream is dead, but something ''magical'' has taken its place.
128** Subverted during "Family Tree"'s third part: at the start of Part 3, [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2013-06-10 a pair of girls try to get attention by fake-kissing]] (though one comments that [[INeedAFreakingDrink she might need a few more drinks first]]). Fast-forward a few pages, and apparently they enjoyed it more than they expected, because now [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2013-06-19 they're making out in a stairwell]]. Apparently, [[WordOfGod Dan]] had a whole story comic planned to showcase the two realizing their feelings for each other, but scrapped it as he believed that the single panel conveyed the twist just fine.
129* GirlPosse: AlphaBitch Diane and her hangers-on Lucy and Rhoda are a trio of gold diggers. Well, Diane and Lucy are. Rhoda is actually quite nice. The trope is later subverted when Diane and Lucy reveal HiddenDepths and receive character development.
130* GirlsWithMoustaches: Several non-canon examples.
131** An ImagineSpot showed Nanase [[GenderBender as a man]], [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-11-04 looking exactly like her normal self only sporting a moustache.]]
132** Grace had a [[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/?date=2009-12-03 Jamie Hyneman 'stache]] as a part of a ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}''-themed filler arc.
133** The gypsy woman who sells Tedd dangerous magical objects in the non-canon NP arcs [[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/?date=2008-09-08 has a moustache]] at one point.
134** Sarah is [[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/?date=2009-11-12 shown with one]] when playing as [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]].
135* TheGlomp: In the earliest days of their relationship, Grace constantly tackled Tedd in a show of physical affection. [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-03-29 Frequently.]] Tedd calls it the [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-01-28 "Tackle Cuddle"]].
136* GodwinsLawOfFacialHair: Principal Verrückt [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2002-06-02 used to have]] both a toothbrush moustache and a [[DodgyToupee dark black toupee with a dramatic side parting]] that made him look even more like Hilter. When Ellen pointed [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2002-09-27 the toupee part out]] he was horrified and realized that's why children would cry at the sight of him. [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2009-01-13 He later]] embraces his baldness and grows out his mustache into a large bushy one to avert this.
137* GogglesDoSomethingUnusual: Tedd's glasses, which can do just about everything except correct vision. Its features include ''enhancing'' vision, video recording, and a (removed) X-ray vision mode.
138* GoodAngelBadAngel:
139** Susan's [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-01-17 Curiosity and Logic]] (Curiosity is a {{Catgirl}} and Logic is a [[Franchise/StarTrek Vulcan.]]) [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-01-19 They end up agreeing,]] to her chagrin. Later, Susan's [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-06-16 Nature and Nurture]] do not agree, and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic Nurture ends up gagging Nature.]]
140** [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2145 Later]] played straight with Diane having an actual shoulder angel and devil after insulting a friend.
141* GoodIsNotNice: Raven is a strict disciplinarian, quite caustic and doesn't suffer fools gladly. He's also a ruthless fighter, and won't hesitate to risk his life to protect his students.
142* GotVolunteered: Susan and Nanase (especially Susan) were manipulated by two Immortals into helping slay an Abberation during their trip to Paris. Susan is later driven to tears when she realizes they were deceitful in their recruiting methods.
143* GracefulLoser: Principal Verrückt pushes in all the wrong directions, but doesn't mind when he's repelled. At least if it's not about murals.
144* GrandTheftMe: Sirleck is a serial body-snatching [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]] who can seize control of a person and did so to many people in order to maintain his own parasitic existence, up to and including [[spoiler::[[OppositeSexClone Ellen]].]]
145* GRatedDrug:
146** Involves a CatGirl with catnip.
147** [[http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/?date=2003-07-20 Random magic potion party.]] Because drugs're bad, m'kay?
148* GrammarNazi: Mr. Raven is [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-04-18 presented]] as one in the cover for the ''Sister II'' arc, declaring there is nothing cool about improper grammar.
149* GrandfatherClause: Several of the boys originally had very '90s/early '00s hairstyles; while Elliot's mullet and Justin's bowl cut have been toned down to generic medium-guy-length hairstyles. Tedd's curtains lasted longer, but as of Squirrel Prophet, he's got, to quote George, "cute girly fairy hair."
150* GroinAttack: Sarah delivers a [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-10-27 very impressive]] kick to the balls to Hedge.
151* GuiltyUntilSomeoneElseIsGuilty: In a non-canon NP storyline, the Writer's Block is suspected to be the killer until the real killer is arrested.
152* HairAntennae: Grace's default form's antennaes are covered in hair. She is part Uryuom though, and they have antennae, so... [[JustifiedTrope it makes a kind of sense]]. Also, Grace in squirrel form and [[AlternateUniverse General Shade Tail]].
153* HairWings: The Mysterious Cloaked Figure, [[spoiler:Noah]] [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-05-13 makes hair wings]] (called by name in the commentary) that are actually hair.
154* HalfHumanHybrid:
155** Grace's brother Guinneas is created using precisely 50% human DNA and 50% guinea pig DNA.
156** Nioi is half-human, half-skunk.
157** Adrian Raven is half-human, half-Immortal. They are common enough to have the term Elf to formally refer to them.
158* HalfIdenticalTwins: Invoked as a cover story. Biologically and genetically, the only difference between Elliot and Ellen is that the former is a boy and the latter is a girl, and for everyone not in the know, they are claimed to be twins. However, this is all to hide that Ellen is in fact a magically-created female duplicate of Elliot.
159* HandBehindHead:
160** Lavender has her hand behind her head in embarrassment when a tongue-slip [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-01-12 reveals]] [[SubordinateExcuse how she feels about her boss]].
161** Tedd in CatGirl form sheepishly has her hand behind her head, when [[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp.php?id=188 its revealed he stored a form backup on Grace, without the form owner's permission.]]
162* HandsOffParenting:
163** Mr. and Mrs. Dunkel are capable of taking the most [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-06-18 bizarre]] things in stride, to the point where it becomes a RunningGag.
164--->'''Mrs. Dunkel:''' Why are there two Brownies?\
165'''Ellen:''' I'm Ellen, Mom. I turned into a cat.\
166'''Mrs. Dunkel:''' Oh dear. Can you change back?\
167'''Ellen:''' Sure, anytime I want.\
168'''Mrs. Dunkel:''' That's good.
169** It's [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-11-24 implied]] that Tedd has been doing some WEIRD stuff to and involving Elliot for years, meaning they might just be used to beloved family members becoming small furry animals (or something equally bizarre) on a regular basis. Perhaps they had a bigger reaction the first time something happened, but since there was no permanent harm from it, or any of the subsequent incidents, they've learned to roll with it, even as it eventually escalated into Ellen's birth and Elliot becoming a costumed superhero.
170* HardHead: Lampshaded [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-08-14 here.]] Upon learning that he was knocked out by a [[TapOnTheHead blow to the head]], Elliot starts worrying about brain damage, but Tedd tells him he's overreacting.
171* HardTruthAesop: "Death Sentence" has one. [[spoiler:Blind idealism and hope is ''not'' an option, because of reality. That doesn't mean trying is futile, but it can be misguided, even harmful]].
172* HarsherInHindsight: An in-universe example: On hearing that Susan fought a vampire in France, Grace immediately dubs her Susan the Vampire Slayer. Given that she [[TheseHandsHaveKilled still has lingering trauma from the evebt]], it was exactly the wrong thing to say.
173* HealingMagicIsTheHardest: Despite the magic of the main world practically specializing in transformation magic, healing magic is close to non-existent. If anything, enchantments tend to ''hinder'' the healing process. In the gryphon world, healing magic exists, but anything beyond superficial wounds isn't automated and requires extensive training to use.
174* HeelFaceTurn:
175** Ellen suffers a breakdown following her creation due to her thinking she was going to disappear in a month, and decides to do the whole EvilTwin thing. She quickly gives up on that. [[PokeThePoodle She was never]] [[CantGetInTroubleForNuthin very good at it]], anyhow.
176** Once Damien was no longer around to control them, Grace's brothers surrendered peacefully and now live comfortably in a new government facility.
177* HeroicBSOD: Elliot is stunned into paralyzation after he realizes [[spoiler:he loves Sarah like a sister, not a girlfriend]].
178* HeroWithAnFInGood: Abraham, despite his good intentions, mostly caused problems. He wanted to cure his friend of his curse and created an artifact for it. [[IneptMage Said artifact "cured" his friend by separating the curse into its own being]], making the issue worse. He also committed himself to murdering Ellen in spite of knowing she's guiltless due to being bounded to his oath.
179* HerrDoktor: Doctor Germahn is a stereotypical German scientist, down to his very name being a blatant parody of the trope.
180* HeterosexualLifePartners: Elliot and Tedd are and ''will always be'' best friends in any AlternateUniverse where their genders and sexual orientations are incompatible with each other, and when they ''are'' compatible, [[JumpingTheGenderBarrier they'll almost always be dating.]]
181* HiddenDepths: A major theme of the comic to an almost absolute degree. As a general rule, any named character who is introduced as a one note asshole will probably get the camera pulled back to reveal that they have friends and their own, possibly misguided, motivations. The one aversion to this is Aberrations--humans who have made the premeditated decision to become an immortal being who subsists on the life energy of other humans.
182* HideYourOtherness: Naturally occurs in a setting where knowledge of magicians and aliens is [[{{Masquerade}} kept hidden from the public]]. [[HalfHumanHybrid Grace]], in particular, [[http://egscomics.com/comic/tsos-49 does not take it well]].
183* HighOnCatnip: The mini-arc [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2002-05-05 "Catnip"]] mentions, but doesn't show, Tedd and Grace playing around with catnip; also, the plant itself reappeared later.
184* HighSchool: Two of them of the cross-town variety, complete with uniforms, bizarre teachers, odd mascots, and most of the other associated tropes; notably absent is any mention of sports rivalry, or indeed the existence of sports. Half the cast attends Moperville North and the other half goes to Moperville South.
185* HiredOnTheSpot: More or less the plot of the [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2012-05-21 Nepotism arc]] is Grace being hired by Justin's uncle after a single quick interview due to being vouched by Justin. Uncle Jim outright admits some nepotism is involved, but Justin's word is good and it saves him the trouble of going through the ''whole'' process of what it usually takes for a new employee to be hired.
186* HiroshimaAsAUnitOfMeasure: Grace uses [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Seymours]] as a unit of measure for [[http://www.elgoonishshive.com/?date=2011-02-11 sadness.]]
187* HisNameReallyIsBarkeep: Sort of. The stereotypical German scientist's real name is quickly revealed as Dr. Germahn.
188* HoldYourHippogriffs: On [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2017-11-20 this page]], Magus compares the first few Immortals he encountered in the spirit plane to "[[OurMermaidsAreDifferent mermaids in chummed water]]".
189* HollywoodBoardGames: Unwittingly, Elliot always ends up spelling swear words when playing ''TabletopGame/{{Scrabble}}''. This funnily highlights how he's SirSwearsALot. Also, Tedd mentioning that he could've been playing Strip ''Scrabble'' goes to tell how much of a {{cloudcuckoolander}} he can be at times.
190* {{Homage}}: The demonic duck looks very similar to a major character in Goats, the comic strip by Jonathan Rosenberg.
191* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Tara believed everything Voltaire told her, because Immortals in her world cannot lie, and she assumed the same thing was true on Earth. It's not. Bonus points for actually having been informed of this difference beforehand, only to get DistractedByTheSexy.
192* HotInHumanForm: At the end of the Painted Black arc, one of Grace's "brothers", who was otherwise only seen in his were-guinea-pig form, switches back to human, and is revealed to be surprisingly handsome. Ellen and an agent [[https://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=557 don't even pretend]] they're not EatingTheEyeCandy.
193* HugAndComment: Nanase hugs Ellen and says [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-10-03 "You're better than a Neanderthal."]] Ellen for her part has no context for the comment and is confused.
194* HybridMonster: Uryuoms' eggs have the unique properties of accepting DNA from multiple species, resulting in hybrids called Seyunolus, which can be used to create monsters by unscrupulous organizations like the one that created Grace and her siblings.
195* HybridPower: The Uryuom breeding method pretty much inevitably results in this. Uryuoms frequently have several parents adding their genes to an egg, as they don't have typical genders. This ultimately results in a character being a hybrid of four different creatures, conserving many of their powers.
196* HyperAwareness:
197** Information gathering is Hedge's strong side. Maybe he's no Sherlock Holmes, but he grasps any clue present, like occasional slips of Elliot knowing Grace or Grace being in a relationship.
198** Diane also displayed this ability when determining that Ellen and Grace were new to Moperville South. She was even wearing a Sherlock Holmes outfit for one panel.
199* HyperCompetentSidekick: In the BSideComics, [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep Minion]] is this to Shive himself, being the one to keep Shive on task.
200* HyperspaceMallet: In the earlier storylines, anytime someone said or did something sexist against women, a mallet would appear to be used against the offender. As with everything else in the series, [[MagicAIsMagicA rules for when, where, and why it can and can't appear]] eventually were provided. Dan {{lampshaded}} his reasoning behind changing the hammer origin in the [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-07-02 later story arc.]] The old guy who looks vaguely like Santa explains his initial reasoning for using the hammer gag to humorous effect... that is, the same as out of the 'verse.
201* HypnoPendulum: In the Pokemon parody arc, the Hypno anologue uses a pendulum just like the Pokemon she's based on. We see her use it to hypnotize [[http://egscomics.com/egsnp/gam-18 Justin,]] as well as [[http://egscomics.com/egsnp/gam-17 herself.]]
202* HypocriticalHumor:
203** A meta-example. [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-04-26 The story derides George Lucas for giving the Force an explanation no one asked for]], only for the story to provide an explanation for where the anti-misogynist hammers came from that no reader asked for. The story arc being called ''Hammerchlorians'' cements it, the name alluding to the midichlorians that was the explanation for the Force.
204** Jerry derided immortals who use fancy names, such as Zeus. One re-incarnation later, and guess what he's calling himself.
205* IdenticalStranger: Susan seems to be some sort of fundamental archetype within the EGS universe. [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2007-10-10 Diane]] at MSHS is a [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1687 very close match]], barring dress sense (note: Susan is naturally blonde). Even stranger, she is also a dead ringer for ''[[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2012-01-17 a hypothetical niece of an elf (i.e. half-immortal)]]''. As it turns out, [[spoiler:Diane is Raven's daughter and Susan is a more distant descendant. Which makes Diane some form of extended great-aunt to Susan.]]
206* IfItsYouItsOkay: Said in reverse by Susan [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2013-02-05 when talking about Elliot teasing her over a sexy outfit.]]
207* IGaveMyWord:
208** Abraham really ''[[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-03-10 does not]]'' want to kill Ellen, but his oath to kill the duplicates created by his diamond was too inclusive. [[spoiler:He's quite happy to be pushed into what sounds like a legitimate loophole.]]
209** Immortals in general turn out to have this magically enforced. If an immortal vows, any attempt to break the vow will result in "a deafening bombardment of intrusive thoughts", and if they manage to actually break it the thoughts persist ''forever''. This was [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1699 displayed]] by [[spoiler:Jerry, post-reincarnation]] and much later [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2255 spelled out by Edward.]]
210* IgnoredEnemy: Downplayed. [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-05-06 Grace and Greg briefly ignore the fire summons]] when discussing how to safely defeat Dex. They quickly remember about them, and proceed to use them as training dummies.
211* IHaveNothingToSayToThat:
212** When Grace tells Tedd why she lied, he does the 'mouth open and finger-in-air' version after he hears her compelling reasons.
213--> '''Tedd:''' You should have told me where you were going.\
214'''Grace:''' I didn't want you to worry.\
215'''Tedd:''' But you ''lied'' to me.\
216'''Grace:''' It's okay to lie to people if you think it's for their own good!\
217'''Tedd:''' Who gave you ''that'' idea?\
218'''Grace:''' Everyone I have ever known ever.\
219'''Tedd:''' [[VisibleSilence ...]]\
220'''Tedd:''' Fair enough.
221** When discussing asking Edward if he knows whether or not Susan is adopted, Nanase says her uncle doesn't know everything. Elliot agrees, but counters that the guy who works as a government spook would have done a background check on every friend his son has, [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2179 which causes Nanase]], to do a [[QuizzicalTilt head tilt]], with [[WideEyesAndShrunkenIrises tiny pupils]] to boot.
222* IJustWantToBeNormal:
223** Grace had shades of this at first but quickly let go of this, and once she did start a normal school life with Ellen, Nanase, and Justin, she actually found it a little restrictive.
224** Vlad is abnormal even among shapeshifting chimera in that he was made using the DNA from so many different animals that he can't transform without risking death. This leads him to be jealous of his "brothers" ability to transform into human forms and blend in with society. [[spoiler:He gets his desire partially fulfilled when he is [[GenderBender transformed into a human woman]] by [[TransformationRay Ellen's beam]] becoming Vladia.]]
225* IJustWantToBeSpecial: Sarah has a bit of this, mostly because she couldn't spend so much time surrounded by shapeshifters, magical martial artists, and mad scientists without getting jealous or at least curious.
226* IJustWriteTheThing: Dan occasionally mentions disagreements that he had with his characters over a particular strip in the [[TheRant commentary]]. This is usually simply complaining about [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2008-04-21 his characters ruining a perfectly good dramatic moment,]] but sometimes it is as extreme as him actually [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2010-07-23 losing an argument with one of his characters.]]
227* TheILoveYouStigma: [[spoiler:When Sarah confessed her love to Elliot, he began dating her, but he didn't really examine what he actually felt for her. When he [[HeroicBSOD realized]] he loved her [[LikeBrotherAndSister like a sister]], it finally became clear why he hadn't been a very active participant in the relationship.]]
228* ImagineSpot: Quite a few.
229** [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-12-12 Parodied]] at one point by showing how ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''' {{Imagine Spot}}s would look to anyone not involved in them.
230** Sarah imagines seeing a MV-5ed Grace naked [[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp.php?id=427 here.]]
231* {{Immortality}}:
232** The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Immortals]] are basically spiritual beings who never die, but the way they go about it is almost a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of the concept. They continue to get older, smarter, stronger, [[WhoWantsToLiveForever more bored]] and [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity less sane]] until the point comes where they basically become [[PersonOfMassDestruction Persons Of Mass Destruction]]. To prevent this, they voluntarily undergo a kind of ritualistic death/rebirth cycle every couple centuries to lose most of their power and memories so they can start over and keep things interesting. Which is a good thing, as Pandora Chaos Raven is a case study in why the Immortals shouldn't go far past the recommended two-hundred year mark. When she's young, she's a playful prankster and the worst her victims will ever suffer is mild embarrassment. After living for ''at least'' five-hundred years, she becomes highly unstable, more prone to indulging in whims that can be very harmful to the affected people, and is ''extremely'' powerful.
233** Ironically, half-immortals ([[OurElvesAreDifferent elves]]) largely have the advantage over true immortals. Since their power is not constantly increasing like their parents', they don't have to worry about resetting, but get ageless immortality and powerful magic. The downsides are that they are bound by similar rules as the immortals, meaning that they can only interfere directly when a situation involves magic, or to defend themselves and others.
234--->'''[[spoiler:Raven]]:''' You are a homicidal wizard attacking a school. ''No one will care if I kill you''.
235** There are also various "aberrations" that immortals ruthlessly destroy, who obtain a pseudo-immortality through either [[BodySurf body stealing]] or [[LifeDrinker parasitism]].
236* ImmortalityHurts: In [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?arcid=68 Wrath Of God,]] [[spoiler:Nanase must keep Abraham from killing Ellen using only her Fairy Doll and Fey Punch spells. Because she feels everything that happens to the dolls as if it had happened to her own body, she is essentially hacked to pieces over, and over, and over...]] The page is titled [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-09-27 To Die a Dozen Deaths.]]
237* ImpactSilhouette: [[spoiler:Damien and Adrian Raven]] both made big holes part in the window and part in the wall by being blasted through. Both survived this and flying one story down to the ground after, both being tougher than normal humans.
238* ImplausibleDeniability: Susan definitely didn't [[http://www.egscomics.com/?id=2278 summon a magic sword.]] Just ignore the glowing sword.
239* ImportedAlienPhlebotinum: The TFG is Uryuom technology.
240* ImpossibleInsurance: George has car insurance that covers monster-related damage (obviously just to advertise "completeness"). The result: surprise, they have to pay for repairs of a car damaged in a fire monster's attack (and on camera at that).
241* ImprobableTaxonomySkills: The principal of Moperville South High School apparently knows the taxonomic family of squirrels. Despite the fact that that is easily recognized by biologists, the fact that he and several others recognize the word "Sciuridae" with presumably little biology experience is notable.
242* IncompatibleOrientation:
243** A whole ''chain'' of them: Catalina ->Susan ->Justin ->Elliot ->Nanase (not all at the same time, mind). Allows [[http://www.egscomics.com/sketchbook/?date=2010-11-30 rather funny Sketchbook entries,]] though.
244** The gender-bending complicates this, with bisexual male Susan and straight female Justin making out at Grace's birthday party. Also, at least one of Elliot's female forms has a crush on Justin.
245* INeedAFreakingDrink: [[AlphaBitch Diane]] decides to get some drinks in [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2013-06-05 this comic from "Family Tree"]] after [[spoiler:realizing she wants a real relationship with Elliot]].
246* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Technically, Magus apparently was behind the[=FV5=] Elliot incident and tries to manipulate Ellen within some plot that sounds [[{{squick}} quite dubious]]. And is not very good at this. But he's in desperate straits, which isn't even his own fault (unlike Abe's case). And he's still reluctant to kill a guy who stands in his way even when pushed hard to do this. [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-04-14 He knows it, too.]]
247* INeverSaidItWasPoison: Susan was already starting to grow suspicious of Tom's behavior, but it comes to a head when she realized he apologized for missing her online the night before. She hadn't said for certain that she would even be on, concluding that he ''had'' been online, but in invisible mode.
248* INeverToldYouMyName: ''Painted Black'' arc. After Elliot is captured [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-12-08 he refers to Guineas by name]]. Guineas then [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-12-17 tells Hedge that Elliot knew his name]] even though he hadn't been told it. This causes Hedge to realize that Elliot must know Grace, who's the only one who could have told him. Hedge then turns this around on Elliot by only referring to Grace as "my sister", so when Elliot refers to her by name, it proves Elliot's spoken with Grace since Elliot and Hedge first met.
249* InfoDrop: Sarah's last name of Brown was revealed in this manner; the principal used it to refer to her while rebuking her for breaking the dress code.
250* {{Infodump}}:
251** Shive is ''really'' thorough when it comes to describing the capabilities of Tedd's technology, the mechanics of alien and hybrid genetics, and more recently, magic. Anything left for the readers to guess about is practically guaranteed to be a ChekhovsGun.
252** The so called "Trapped in the Basement" portion of New and Old Flames (so-called due to the just under two months real time spent infodumping in the Verres' basement) and the entire Hammerchlorians arc (essentially an entire arc devoted to nothing but infodumps and backstory exposition for Susan and her summoning abilities) are probably the most notorious example of Dan's tendency to slip into infodump territory.
253* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Grace initially didn't understand that nudity embarrasses people, or that shapeshifting can be weird to those unaccustomed to it. She figured out why nudity bothers people [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2005-10-12 with a bit of help from Susan]], and now likes to use her NoNudityTaboo [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-05-19 to tease Tedd.]] Although [[https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/2015-12-07 that's not to say she's grown out of it entirely, either.]]
254%% Before adding InnocentInnuendo, read the associated trope page and check that it isn't actually ThatCameOutWrong or AccidentalInnuendo.
255* InsaneTrollLogic
256** Tedd [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-05-05 justifies]] him having longer, stereotypically feminine hair as a way to make the rest of him look manlier by comparison. His own friends thinks that logic doesn't work.
257** 95% of what comes out of the Principal Verrückt's mouth is nonsensical. Most of it is his genuine belief that murals are necessary to keeping his students on the straight and narrow, to the point of prioritizing murals over making sure the emergency systems like the sprinklers and the fire alarms work properly.
258* InstantEmergencyResponse: Elliot expects this trope to happen even though it doesn't. After a [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2016-02-10 battle between a spider vampire and a griffin]] [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2016-02-15 ends in an explosion,]] Elliot assumes that the explosion must have attracted attention, and [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2016-02-22 "The police will be here at any second."]] It turns out that no one even called the police, as we're treated to a montage of different people dismissing the explosion as fireworks.
259* InstantSedation: Abraham got a useful spell that allows him to put all living mortal beings in an area to sleep. However, the drawback there is that it affects him too if he isn't careful and can be resisted by powerful enough magic users.
260* InstantTurnOff: Elliot trying to find a sexy form that he enjoys being, but [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-12-13 feels guilty about all of them.]]
261* InsultedAwake: Ellen once gave a misogynistic rant to snap Susan out of her trance at her own beauty [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-07-03 here]].
262* InsufficientlyAdvancedAlien: [[TheGreys The Uryuom]] made a lot of cool stuff, but… Three words: "[[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-09-16 Sanctioned Programming Languages]]." After [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-09-17 banning]] ''OOP'' wholesale out of certain areas, it's no wonder even a little kid on Earth can help them with their technical problems.
263* InternetStalking: Tom tries to do this during his ultra-manipulative attempts at wooing Susan. A slip of the tongue lets Susan know that he was quietly stalking her whilst his messenger was set to Invisible, and his whole attempt falls apart quickly.
264* InterspeciesRomance:
265** For Uryuom it's quite normal to create chimerae, fertile ones at that. It isn't done obliviously, as at least psychophysiology matters even with shapeshifting seyunolu.
266** Downplayed between humans and seyunolus that have human DNA like Tedd and Grace and Second Life Ellen and Archie.
267** The demonic duck admits to preferring human women.
268* InterruptedIntimacy: [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=791 Susan and Justin]] are interrupted by [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=793 The Demonic Duck.]]
269* InvoluntaryShapeshifting: Multiple examples. Elliot, for example, has shapeshifting GenderBender powers, but he's at a stage where his body doesn't know its limits, so basically, he needs to transform every day to burn off excess magic, or else it'll overload at some inopportune moment, causing him to involuntarily transform with barely any warning.
270* IReadItForTheArticles: Helena the Immortal tells a stream of BlatantLies to prove that Immortals are capable of lying. The last one is [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2106 "Men buy adult magazines for the articles."]]
271* IronicName: Tiffany "Susan" Pompoms always goes by her middle name, because she considers her actual first- and last-name to be too "perky and upbeat" for her cynical, sardonic personality. (Ironically, it's been made quite clear that if it wasn't for ONE traumatic childhood event, she would've wound up fitting her name just perfectly.)
272* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:Tedd successfully convinces the Will of Magic to not change the rules of magic, but this results in a whole lot of changes in how it is used in practical terms. Firstly, it is no longer feasible to grant everyone even the extremely minor boost to magic resistance. Next, old systems of magic become available once more, and this includes Uryuoms and hybrids descended from them regaining access to magic. Additionally, Tedd informed the Will of Magic that the spellbook descriptions are hard to understand, resulting in it simplifying the descriptions. Finally, the Will of Magic can no longer find it feasible to assist people in the actual magic casting, changing spells from auto to manual. It gets to the point that InUniverse, the characters refer to magic not changing in air quotes]].
273* ISenseADisturbanceInTheForce
274** Greg, up to becoming [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-07-13 rather jumpy]] from a shapeshifter's exercises without being in the same house.
275** [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-05-17 Tedd sensing anything sexy involving Grace.]]
276* IsThatWhatHeToldYou: Elliot learns about the other side of the story of Justin's outing. [[spoiler:[[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-01-28 "She told ''one person''." (who then told everyone)]]]]
277* IThinkYouBrokeHim:
278** Elliot, with his "Gracelyn" form, once [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-02-21 "broke Tedd."]]
279** [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2004-07-02 Two Ellens can cause a sensory overload.]]
280* ItMakesSenseInContext: [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/party-228 "Pressure release chopsticks."]] {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in TheRant where the author is proud to be able to make a comic where those words make sense.
281* ItsASmallWorldAfterAll:
282** Grace seeks out Tedd for help after reading about him in the newspaper, not knowing he is Edward's son [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-02-17 until she sees Edward.]] Both Grace and Edward are stunned to see each other.
283** Jerry is shocked to learn one of the girls he just met [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-07-26 is dating Tedd Verres]], son of Edward Verres who is a VIP in the magic community.
284** Dex, a character introduced in ''New and Old Flames'', once [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-05-27 saw Greg cosplaying as Chun-Li]].
285* IWasJustJoking: In [[http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp.php?id=56 El Goonish Shive: NewsPaper: Non-gratuitious Nudity - Part 3]], Susan once told Sarah to buy a cheap adult magazine instead of more expensive official reference materials and Sarah likes the idea. Susan quickly says she was just joking.
286* IWillShowYouX: During the WizardDuel between Terra and Magus, Terra promised to [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2007-01-01 show him "potential."]]
287* JawDrop: There are lots of instances where characters can only react with a stunned open mouth in response to surprises:
288** The last two panels of [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-08-08 this strip]] show Elliot's jaw dropping when Susan figured out the girl in a guy's uniform was him.
289** Susan's jaw drops in pure flabbergastment in response to their principal [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2007-09-21 allowing Sarah's beret.]]
290** And [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-07-26 this]] shows an ''Immortal'' being dumbfounded by all the crazy things Grace narrates.
291** Tedd's jaw drops in shock when he learns Ashley saw Elliot transform [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1806 in this strip.]]
292* JugglingLoadedGuns: Sarah is scared of ShapeShifting and holds a grudge against Tedd after his "just ''[[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-12-02 joking around]]''" with a supposedly "not charged" TransformationRay gun.
293* JumpingTheGenderBarrier:
294** Elliot and Nanase's relationship had no spark and eventually failed, and she couldn't explain why...until Ellen showed up having all of Elliot's personality traits that she likes, ''and'' is female.
295** Though this trope is never actually invoked and the trope will probably never be played straight in this case, but Elliot and Tedd's odd connection twists it. It seems like in any universe where they were born opposite genders (such as one where Elliot has always been "Ellen," and the technically non-canon story where Tedd accidentally and retroactively became "Tess") they are inevitably dating. An exception was the world of "Second Life", but even then Tedd has a crush on her and she, while ObliviousToLove, considered him a good friend.
296* KansasCityShuffle: Magus, when begging Sirleck to help him in his last (ultimately successful) plot to regain a corporeal body, dangles the prospect of having a powerful wizard in his debt. When Sirleck appears reluctant, he appears to emphasize the value of the debt by pointing out that he literally has no one else to turn to; it's Sirleck or nothing. With this, Sirleck accepts... but not because he wants Magus in his debt, but because he notices that Magus's body is young, fit, magically powerful, and utterly undocumented and without allies. A perfect crime. Except it was exactly Magus's intent that Sirlek would notice this, get greedy, and agree to help.
297* KaraokeBondingScene: Ellen and Nanase sing a duet at Grace's birthday party and are the only people to get a perfect score from the karaoke machine. By the end of the party, they realize they're in love.
298* KaleidoscopeHair: In general, hair can spontaneously change colour as a result of magic, to the point the government spooks pushed to have spontaneous hair colour changes as an official medical condition to help keep the masquerade intact. Specific instances:
299** When Nanase suffers a magic burnout, her hair turns black from red.
300** When Susan goes through an angst-induced awakening, her hair colour goes from blond to blue.
301* KamehameHadoken:
302** As a practitioner of "''anime-style'' martial arts," it's no big surprise that Elliot (and [[OppositeSexClone Ellen]], who "inherited" his abilities) uses a variety that emits short-range force blast. He needs to have free hands to do it.
303** Ellen has a variant with shooting beam from her hand. Sensei Greg is, of course, jealous when he sees it. It turns people into attractive girls, and lately can turn HER into whatever she hits.
304* KeepingSecretsSucks:
305** Grace [[http://egscomics.com/comic/tsos-49 hates having to hide who she is]].
306** Ashley [[http://egscomics.com/comic/party-011 discovers]] how much she doesn't like having to lie to her friend.
307*** [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/party-180 later]] [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/party-181 on]] in the same storyline.
308* KickTheDog:
309** Almost made literal in Elliot's imaginary scenario of [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1782 Tom manipulating Susan into date him.]] Of course, Elliot thought Susan's most [[TalkToTheFist likely answer]].
310** PlayedForLaughs in the BSideComics. Susan plays a game with a KarmaMeter that changes your appearance based on your morality. After accidentally setting her alignment to good, Susan decides that she prefers the devil look over the angel look. She tries to set her KarmaMeter back to evil by literally kicking a dog, but she doesn't have the heart to go through with it.
311* KickedUpstairs: Mr. Verres winds up in [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-01-19 a position created just for him]] when his boss decides that it's best that he not be directly involved with [[ItsPersonal the frequent cases involving his son, niece, and their friends]], and keep away as a [[TheMenInBlack cover-up specialist]] from the limelight. The last part may yet backfire due to BrokenMasquerade, but as Dan put it, "[[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2012-01-10 There might be a good reason why they kept Mr. Verres employed]]" either way.
312* KissMeImVirtual: While not exactly romantical, [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1260 Dex gets rather attached to his semi-autonomous fairy companion,]] despite knowing exactly what she is.
313* KnightInSourArmor: [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2012-08-14 Elliot describes Susan]] as willing to do the right thing and help people even if she's grumpty about it.
314* KnightOfCerebus: [[BigBad Damien]]. It's sort of a subversion as [[spoiler:Dan killed off Damien because he didn't want his comic to develop CerebusSyndrome.]] It did anyway, just with seriousness developing within the characters' personal demons rather than fantastical conflict.
315* KudzuPlot: The comic has several long-running multi arching plot threads, most of which were revealed as actually being inter-connected in ''Sister III'' and resolved in that arc:
316** Lord Tedd's multi-dimensional activities.
317** Uryuoms and their relation with human society.
318** Pandora's plans, which she makes complicated out of boredom.
319** Magus' desire to regain a physical body and return home.
320** The connection between Susan and Diane.
321** Tedd's goals of making magic safely accessible to the general public instead of a select few.
322** The surge in ambient magic energy in Moperville.
323** The other side of reality from which the griffins came from.
324** Voltaire's plans.
325* LampshadeHanging:
326** [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-11-26 Mr. Verres']] lampshades himself being the MrExposition when he calls himself "an endless barrel of exposition."
327** And a Star Wars fan ranting about [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-04-26 writers deciding they need to]] [[CerebusRetcon explain things that no one was questioning]]. (In the middle of Dan trying to CerebusRetcon hammerspace.) Just to make sure nobody misses the lampshade, this sequence is titled 'Hammerchlorians'. It turns out the lampshading goes deeper than that, as the whole arc sets the immortal Jerry up to [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-07-02 lampshade]] the HyperspaceMallet gag, including Dan's reasons for initially using it as well as the reason why he stopped using it.
328--->'''George:''' Fans ''willingly'' suspended their disbelief for years, and out of ''nowhere'' Lucas figures he has to explain it. Any writer who takes something ''no one was questioning'' and tries to ''explain it'' is a ''hack''. ([[GilliganCut Cut to Susan on the phone expositing the hell out of the Hammers]].)
329** [[MrExposition Mr. Verres]] lampshades one of [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-11-22 Grace's attempts]] to be [[MrExposition Miss Exposition]].
330** [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2018-05-02 Ellen's hair changes color]], but we have to [[TakeOurWordForIt take Elliot and Kevin's word for it]], as the comic is in greyscale. Kevin is remarkably emphatic about the hue change to make sure the readers note it. Dan lampshades the lampshade in the author commentary.
331* LargeHam:
332** Mr. Verres [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2008-11-26 gets his moment,]] even if only for one panel, when he loudly declares himself to be an endless barrel of exposition.
333** Tedd [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2011-09-27 can have his moments]] too. With a Music/{{Queen|Band}} quote at that.
334---> '''Commentary:''' Tedd has ''the blood of kings inside'' of him and he ''will rock you'' because ''he is the champion''!
335** "The Child Left Behind" and the same character later. He speaks very formally and with an advanced vocabulary.
336* LastHetRomance:
337** Melissa is the first, last, and only girl Justin ever dated before he found out he is gay.
338** Out of all the boyfriends Nanase ever had, Elliot is the last of them and the longest-lasting. He was almost perfect, but the fundamental issue is that Nanase is a lesbian while Elliot is not a woman.
339* LastBreathBullet: [[spoiler:Faced with her impeding reset, Pandora uses her final moments to commit Abberation genocide]].
340* LatinIsMagic: {{Invoked|Trope}} when Tedd builds a set of {{Magic Wand}}s. He can pick anything to be their activation phrase, but he specifically chooses (poorly-translated) Latin because it's easy to remember, it's not something you'd say by accident, and [[RuleOfCool it sounds cool]].
341* LaughingMad: Ellen gives a maniacal laugh when she's first created and thinks she's going to die due to a misunderstanding of how the curse-removing diamond worked.
342* LeaningOnTheFourthWall:
343** When Tedd and Sarah are [[ConversationalTroping talking about]] {{shipping}}, Sarah acknowledges the possibility of people shipping them, and suggests [[BelligerentSexualTension being meaner to each other]] to prevent it. Tedd informs her that it would just make it worse.
344** In another [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2051 comic,]] after Elliot accidentally reveals information that he wasn't intending to due to jumping to conclusions, the strip immediately cuts to Tedd who appears to be calling him out on it despite being in a completely different location. However, [[FourthWallPsych it turns out he's just watching an old sitcom, and commenting on a similar mistake]].
345** When Tedd discovers that Diane has a charisma boosting spell she didn't know about, they comment on how a piece of entertainment media would even show it is happening, like changing the font if it is a comic, which is how Dan actually shows the usage of that spell.
346* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain:
347** Elliot tells Tedd to never bring up the former being attracted to the latter's feminine face [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-06-15 here]]. Not that it stopped them [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-10-05 from speaking of it again.]]
348** [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-11-19 Grace's suggestion that Elliot turn into her to be sexy in front of a mirror]] is also something Elliot refuses to talk about again.
349* LifeDrinker: Aberrations are a variety of monsters that are all actually former humans who achieved immortality by stealing it from other people. The monster in France was one such monster who achieved immortality by draining the lives of young women.
350* LighterAndSofter: One chapter is titled, "Bringing Silly Back." It starts off substantially lighter than the previous chapter about life and death struggle with a simple arc about a race through an IKEA parody. Then, after "Hammerchlorians" explores some of the darker parts of Susan's backstory, "New and Old Flames" followed it up with a goofy super hero story
351* ALightInTheDistance: [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-10-08 Abraham sees a light in the distance]] which turns out to be Angel Nanase [[{{Incoming}} coming in fast]] to stop him from killing Ellen.
352* LockedOutOfTheLoop: The main characters make the deliberate decision to ''not'' tell Edward, their in-guy with the local magical law enforcement, everything about what they do or their capabilities. They do trust him, but [[spoiler:Pandora told Sarah, who told the others, that Edward has been passing on everything he knows about them to his workplace. Every details Edward found out about them or was told about is in a file that the government spooks have access to and they want to limit what's in those files]].
353* LongRunnerTechMarchesOn:
354** In ''Shade'' (2002), Elliot had a landline [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=22 phone extension in his room]] (with then-old-tech corded handset); later on all telecommunication among the teenage cast is via cellphone and even adults are shown using landlines only at their workplaces.
355** At the beginning of Grace's birthday party (2005), Sarah gleefully details the specs of the digital camera with which she intends to document the evening. A 512 MB memory card and a computer with "gigs" of space to back up said card onto means lots of pictures, sure, but it also looks positively quaint next to the ''phones'' some characters are using much more recently (and within less than a year of in-universe time).
356** Susan still works in a video rental store, despite them being very rare these days. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/ourf-005 near the start of the Our Future arc (2023)]], when Tensaided mentions that he doesn't know how long he can stay in business now that streaming is commonplace. The commentary adds to this by mentioning that the only reason the shop is still open is because [[WebcomicTime only about a year has passed in-universe]].
357* LookBehindYou:
358** The characters sometime distract each other by asking "Is that a demonic duck of some sort?" Subverted, there really ''is'' a demonic duck of some sort except [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-02-23 during the strike]].
359** Also, used without the duck during Elliot vs. Noah [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-03-22 Epic Race,]] where they try to distract each other by pointing out to various things for sale.
360* LoopholeAbuse: The immortal laws that restricts them to "empowering and guiding" has one of the biggest loopholes in the universe -- [[spoiler:it's enforced ''automatically'', and only if the violator breaks it ''on purpose''. If they can utilize InsaneTrollLogic to convince themselves that they're abiding by the laws, [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2226 they can do whatever they want]].]] Unsurprisingly, Pandora exploits this, to [[spoiler:cause the energy clog on the grounds that it's "empowering" all of Moperville.]]
361-->[[spoiler:'''Emissary of Magic''': So... so long as '''you''' don't think you're breaking Immortal law...\
362'''Pandora''': Then I'm ''not''!]]
363* LoveAtFirstSight: Played with. Tedd and Grace were attracted to each other since they first met and quickly got into a relationship the day after they met. However, when asked by Elliot almost a year later, Tedd admits it was not ''love'' but ''attraction''. Tedd mostly liked Grace was a girl in his house. Grace mostly liked Tedd was a guy that isn't one of her brothers. But they fell in love for real as they got to know each other properly.
364* LoveEpiphany:
365** [[spoiler:Elliot realises he likes Susan after listing several qualities he likes about her. [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2013-03-14 Uh-oh indeed]]]].
366** Inverted when [[spoiler:Elliot realizes he [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=1596 loves Sarah like a sister]].]]
367** [[spoiler:[[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2013-06-05 Here,]] Diane realises she wants a real relationship with Elliot instead of the long-string of shallow ones she had with various other men]].
368** [[spoiler:Diane finds that the romance she has been wishing for is actually the kind of relationship she has with ''Lucy''.]]
369* LoveDodecahedron: Among the main cast many have shown a obvious attraction to more than one of their friends, even if they don't ever plan on acting on those feelings. Then once you add the occasional side character with an attraction to someone from the main cast it can get pretty confusing as to who likes who.
370* LoveIsInTheAir: The super-pheromones of the Variant Five settings. [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2002-06-12 "Male, female, gay, straight... female variant #5 cares not."]]

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