Line #17 Webcomic/CodeNameHunter


1	[[quoteright:189:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/CodeNameHunter_Cover_09_1711.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:189:Code Name: Hunter - Cover of Issue 9]]
3
4	->''"Diplomacy is hard. Mixing diplomacy with magic is harder."''
5	-->-- The TagLine
6
7	In a parallel world with [[WorldOfFunnyAnimals Furries but no humans]], an age old barrier in UsefulNotes/{{London}} designed to prevent magic entering the world had been broken by German bombing in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and a secret British Government Agency develops around it to police the magic and maintain the {{Masquerade}}. Focuses on two agents, Hunter and Gypsy.
8
9	The Royal Centre for Special Investigations has the difficult task of protecting Britain from loose magic. There's only one problem: England doesn't have any powerful, trained mages.
10
11	Read it [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/ here.]] Also available as downloads and in dead-tree format.
12
13	Rated PG-13 for mild violence, language, adult themes and trigger happy redheads.
14
15	Appears to be on hiatus. What's more, at least a few chapters are missing from the site, with the story currently cutting off shortly before [[spoiler:the final confrontation with Gavin]].
16
17	----
18	!!''Code Name: Hunter'' contains examples of:
19
20	* ActionGirl: Ruby, AKA Agent Gypsy.
21	* AlliterativeName: [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2007/03/05 Brad comments]] on Max's non-conquest of ''vivacious, voluptuous Vicky''.
22	* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Known as "Aspects" in the setting. The Summer and Winter Queen are, naturally, the aspects of summer and winter respectively. [[spoiler:It's mentioned that Moraine is so powerful that she could potentially become an aspect herself, but the cost would be very high.]]
23	* ArtEvolution: Extremely subtle, but the changes are there.
24	** Mostly related to the late-2008 change in how the pages are drawn and colored.
25	* BadAssLongCoat: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] by [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2011/12/26 this]] reporter.
26	* BatmanGambit:
27	** [[spoiler:Puck told Spooky the names of the Summer and Winter Queens, which would grant him some control over them, knowing that he'd tell Moraine. Since you become a thrall to the one who told you the names after using them three times (a key detail he left out when telling Spooky about the deal), his plan was that she would become Spooky's thrall, and thus Puck's when Spooky had used up all three of his uses. Not a bad plan, except he decides to gloat about it...]]
28	** [[spoiler:...which ultimately leads to Spooky sabotaging the whole thing. At some point he realises that in order to use the names, you actually have to ''know'' them in the first place. End result: his second boon from the Queens is for them to erase their names from his memory altogether.]]
29	* BattleButler: Mr Allen seems to be fitting this trope as seen [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2014/05/19 here]].
30	** He begins demonstrating that he has what it takes to be this a few pages [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2014/05/28 later]].
31	* BodyguardCrush: [[spoiler:A mutual one, too - Spooky and Moraine developed feelings for each other over time. Naturally, Moraine didn't take it well when Spooky went to the Fey realm and never came back.]]
32	* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] as the main reason why the Agency doesn't exploit the Fey [[ColdIron weakness to iron]] and go to war against them. See WhyDontYouJustShootHim below.
33	* CapeSnag: Gavin will most likely [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten never hear the end]] of [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2015/06/11 this]].
34	** We [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2016/04/22 later get to see]] why this trope is one to be avoided by characters.
35	* CharacterDevelopment: Slow, but, it's there.
36	* {{Codename}}: It's right there in the title. All of the field agents get one. If an agent goes missing or is killed in the line of duty, their codename is retired.
37	* CodenameTitle
38	* CuteBruiser: Agent Gypsy again.
39	** In the no-longer cannon flashback arcs, she has sent 2 of her superiors to the hospital. One of them has been permanently relegated to desk work due to injuries she caused.
40	* DepartureMeansDeath: The Fey Realm is this for anyone who's either consumed anything of that realm while there or remained for longer than 24 hours within it.
41	* TheFairFolk: The Fey are characterized as being rather dangerous to mere mortals. Making use of a Fey gate is generally viewed as suicidal.
42	* FryingPanOfDoom: At one point, the palace was under threat of invasion by hostile Fey. The palace staff [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2016/01/15 grab whatever metal objects were handy]].
43	* FullNameUltimatum: Max wants to get Ruby's [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2008/08/15 attention]]:
44	-->'''Hunter''': "Rubella Jane Pyrenees!" \
45	'''Gypsy''': "Oh! I ''know'' you did not just use me full name."
46	* FunctionalMagic: It disrupts most complex modern tech.
47	* GenerationalMagicDecline: The nation of Astoria used to run mostly on magic, with wizards and sorcerors aplenty. When covert agents Max and Ruby visit the island nation, one Astorian mage mentions debating with the Queen that wizards and acolytes are in decline, a symptom of diminishing magic overall within the realm. WordOfGod states that a nation's magic level is tied to the well-being of its people, and Astoria is losing magic because of their ''insane'' oppression of non-mages while people from prosperous first-world countries like Britain positively radiate magic. Which Astoria's queen has [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2008/06/23 noticed]], though she doesn't know why.
48	* GirlyGirl: Sissy Simmons, to the point that she drags Gypsy off, kicking and screaming, on a shopping expedition.
49	* GlamorFailure: In the ''Fairy Tale'' flashback arc, Jack Frost notices that the person he just killed isn't bleeding. Cue the reveal that it's actually a log.
50	* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: Royal Center for Special Investigations.
51	* HeManWomanHater: Reruns of the original comics suggest that Hunter was a severe gynophobe - to the point where his unwillingness to work with female agents almost cost him his job. Now he's merely severely shy around any non-Gypsy female. (This has since been redacted for the current story. The original run is [[OrwellianRetcon no longer consider canon]].)
52	** [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2010/07/19 In a recent storyline]], we have a [[SuccubiAndIncubi succubus]] asking Ruby if Max is gay. She says she's found his [[PornStash stash of lad's mags]] and reassures her that he's just shy.
53	* HoYay: If you read carefully and between the lines, Jim and Benjamin are this way. Mr. Allen is understanding and tolerant, but demands discretion.
54	* HumblePie: Looks like Gadel got one [[PieInTheFace in the face]] ([[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2011/03/21 last panel]]).
55	* LesYay: Lady Gadel and Wynnifred might be this.
56	--> '''WordOfGod from Gadel's cast page entry''': Her closest friend seems to be Wynnie Laisah, though rumors at court hint at something more than friendship between the two women.
57	* TheMagicComesBack: Magic in England was sealed away centuries ago by a king paranoid of a mage rebellion, the seal was broken when a bomb was dropped near it during WWII.
58	** According to Ruby's mother most of the rest of the world was never sealed or places that broke away from England, including America.
59	*** Which of course raises the questions why the {{Masquerade}} is still possible in a time of global communication and why most of the world is so similar to ours.
60	* MagicHarmsTechnology: Magic tends to disrupt electrical devices, in the prologue it somehow even caused a revolver to jam. However it's mentioned that American technology is more resilient to magic.
61	* {{Masquerade}}: RCSI Travel is a front for the Agency.
62	* MedievalStasis: And Astoria (Or more accurately - the [[TheMagocracy ruling class of Astoria]]) likes it that way.
63	* MysteriousPast: We are only slowly learning bits and pieces about the pasts of some agents.
64	* NoPeriodsPeriod: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] [[spoiler: Gypsy is seen [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2011/12/19 suffering]] from "PMS" just before the [[TheFairFolk Fey]] treaty signing.]]
65	* OlderThanTheyLook: [[spoiler:Spooky, as well as everyone else trapped in the Fey realm.]]
66	* OpenMouthInsertFoot: Gypsy inserts both feet knee deep by way of SuspiciouslySpecificDenial upon arriving at the [[https://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2019/10/18 commander's office]].
67	* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Only hounds are susceptible to lycanthropy, during full moons they become ravenous beasts capable of infecting hundreds in one night. Ruby's uncle Ishmael was lucky to get away with just a damaged eye, [[spoiler: as all infected agents are "put down".]]
68	* PuppyDogEyes: Prince Matthew does a nice job [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2006/11/06 here]].
69	* RoyalWe: During her pre-treaty night [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2012/01/16 speech]] to RSCI Moraine switches from saying "I" to ''we'' in order to emphasize how important formality is this night.
70	* SceneryCensor: How do you think they maintained a PG-13 rating through [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2006/12/25 The]] [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2007/01/15 Streak]]?
71	* ShoutOut: Several notable instances.
72	** British cartoon ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse''.
73	** Two separate Shouts to ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures''.
74	** One [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2005/09/19 Shout]] to Scudder Kiddwell's White Pony from the ''Webcomic/CrossTimeCafe''. The same reference points indirectly toward ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'s'' Florence Ambrose.
75	** A [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2008/10/29 shout]] to Yzma's original EvilPlan from ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove''.
76	* SomethingThatBeginsWithBoring: After their [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2008/04/16 boat sinks]], Ruby tries to play this game with Max while [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2008/05/02 swimming to shore]].
77	* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: See OpenMouthInsertFoot above.
78	* {{Tykebomb}}: Prince Matthew Mousira.
79	-->'''Queen Moraine''': My grandson is a magical time bomb. No. Everything is not fine.
80	* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: When Moraine's grandson ask why her grandmother didn't try to destroy the FairFolk, despite their traditional [[ColdIron weakness to iron]], generally harmful interactions with mortals and Moraine's large resources, [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2012/02/10 Hunter explained why]]: The fey are the living embodiment of winter and summer, and any open war against them would result in an environmental disaster of possible global proportions. Or else, even if they win, [[PyrrhicVictory the price could be way too high to be worth it]].
81	* WizardingSchool: The Astorian Mage Academy.
82	* WizardsLiveLonger: In Astoria mages live up to 200 years, while the peasantry have a life expectancy of 30. Most likely because they're [[MedievalStasis stuck in the]] [[TheDungAges middle ages]].
83	** [[spoiler: Moraine hasn't aged since the late 40s. Her grey hair and wrinkles are [[http://www.codenamehunter.com/archive/comic/2014/10/17 just illusions]].]]
84	* WorldOfFunnyAnimals: No humans to be found here.

Context Webcomic / CodeNameHunter