Line #0 Webcomic/CollegeRoomiesFromHell


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6	What was that sound just now? Oh, nothing, just the Freshman dorm exploding...
7
8	''[[http://www.crfh.net CRFH]]'', formerly titled ''College Roomies From Hell!!!'', is a WebComic by Maritza Campos; it has run since 1999, and was one of the flagship series on the [[http://www.keenspot.com Keenspot]] comics portal.
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10	Three mismatched guys end up reluctantly rooming together when after showing up late to get a replacement apartment, and find themselves (and the three equally mismatched girls across the hall) thrown head-first into WorldOfWeirdness, with super-powered mutations, Cthulhu, were-coyotes, genies, [[MadScientist mad scientists]], and oh yes, [[{{Satan}} the imminent birth of the Anti-Christ]], just for starters. To call this series strange is an understatement; yet somehow, despite a severe case of CerebusSyndrome, it all seems to hang together and remain funny.
11
12	----
13	!!Provides examples of:
14
15	* AllMenArePerverts: Dave almost quotes this word for word at one point, and as for Mike's apparent fetish for "[[RuleThirtyFour Gummi Bears in Leather Underwear]]"...
16	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking
17	--> "[[AC: Chaos! Mayhem!]] Hair-splitting [[AC:Disaster!]] It's all flooded and the mermaids have gone berserk and the sharks are eating people and [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons the turkey was dry]] and there are explosions everywhere..."
18	* ArtEvolution: And how! [[http://www.crfh.net/d/19990212.html Exhibit A]]; [[http://www.crfh.net/d/20060109.html Exhibit B]]. Those are the same six characters in both comics; granted, one of them is in a chicken suit in the first. And yeah, that one guy did pick up a tentacle for a left arm along the way. Just read the comic.
19	* ArtifactOfDoom: The evil staff. It's actually pretty loyal, considering. Apparently because Mike beat its boss in a fair fight. [[spoiler:He is able to transfer its ownership to Marsha before he dies]].
20	* ArtShift: Dream sequences are usually rendered in a much more realistic style than the rest of the series.
21	* AscendedMeme: The forums had a meme that every poll had to have an option for "Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (Deceased)". Then a cat was introduced into the comic by the name of Archie. Explained as being short for...
22	* AuthorGuestSpot: A [[http://www.crfh.net/d/20001104.html cameo]] as an optician.
23	* AuthorsSavingThrow: When Maritza [[http://www.crfh.net/d/20000426.html tried to kill off Dave]], the outcry was so intense that she [[http://www.crfh.net/d/20000430.html found a way out of it]] immediately afterward, leading to a significantly better resolution of the situation.
24	** Possibly also [[spoiler: Mike's zombification; apparently the corpse Waldo and Steve reanimated was a lookalike that was planted by Hazel and Damascus while Mike's real body was kept in suspended animation at Dundun Island pending resurrection. It's not clear whether this twist was a genuine AuthorsSavingThrow or in fact planned from the start.]]
25	* BackFromTheDead: Dave once, [[spoiler: Mike twice.]]
26	* BadassNormal: Margaret.
27	* BattleButler: Thaddeus, Hazel's lovestruck majordomo.
28	* BerserkButton: [[http://www.crfh.net/d/19990820.html Do NOT say anything about Mike's nose. Seriously, don't even MENTION it.]]
29	* BigDamnHeroes: How about Roger [[spoiler: shooting Satan with a shotgun to save Dave and Margarette literal souls?]]
30	* BigRedButton: One in Dundun Island. Roger can never resist taking the SchmuckBait, even after learning what it does.
31	* BlindWithoutEm: Leads to Roger meeting Diana, through a [[HilarityEnsues wacky misunderstanding]].
32	* BoomHeadshot: At one point, Hazel puts a bullet through [[spoiler:Marsha]]'s eye, knocking her unconscious [[spoiler:and out of the sky]]. All present disregard her as if dead for the rest of the scene, but we later find that only her eye was permanently lost.
33	* CargoShip: Mike with the TV remote, in-universe.
34	* CerebusSyndrome: Very.
35	** Possibly related to CreatorBreakdown.
36	* CerebusRetcon: Pretty much everyone after the "Adversary" storyline, which marked the beginning of the DarkerAndEdgier era.
37	** Mike's manipulative nature is explained as a result of having an overbearing and abusive mother.
38	** In a throwaway gag early on, Dave is mentioned to be deathly allergic to bee stings. Later, when he and Margaret are running away from Satan, they have to walk through a field of sunflowers buzzing with bees.
39	** Margaret is initially depicted as a competitive overachiever. She is then [[{{Flanderization}} Flanderized]] and turned up to eleven, going from competitive to aggressive to outright AxCrazy with her own military-grade stash of weapons. The reason behind all this is revealed to be the fact that Margaret has been preparing for the imminent Apocalypse ever since she had a vision of it years earlier.
40	** Roger goes from comically paranoid of being a were-coyote to actual were-coyote who is doomed to eventually lose all traces of humanity.
41	* TheChessmaster: Mike's ManipulativeBastard capabilities sometimes break through into this - notably where he has to bust his psychotic girlfriend Marsha out of the loony bin, he does so by means of a complex plan which involves making everyone else who was involved in a recent incident alongside Marsha ''also'' appear to have been driven insane by it, thus making the authorities think she wasn't in her right mind when she attacked her ex-boyfriend.
42	* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: The eye in Roger's hand.
43	** FridgeBrilliance: [[spoiler:Roger's been learning how to control his shapeshifting, and can change any part of his body--including his eyes.]]
44	* ClingyJealousGirl: Marsha, primarily, though both Blue and -- surprisingly -- Diana have their moments.
45	* CloudCuckoolander: All of the Pepitone family, apparently.
46	** [[spoiler: Apparently this is actually a deliberate tactic to control their anger, and thus their [[WolfMan transformations]]. By occupying their minds with utter nonsense they're able to forget about the things that irritate them.]]
47	* [[CombatTentacles Combat Tentacle]]: Mike.
48	* CrazyPrepared: Margaret, with her closet full of weapons and survival gear; sometimes Roger as well, who will prove to have something bizarre on hand that proves inexplicably useful.
49	* DysfunctionJunction (and ''how''.)
50	* EasyRoadToHell: Satan plucks out Dave's soul, for no sin at all, essentially just to show he can. Some supernatural force saves him through Margaret and Roger, but that wasn't the author's original plan. And then there's this exchange:
51	--->'''Satan''': Now let's say I put you in a situation where you have to kill someone to save [[spoiler:Margaret's]] life. Then you die and go to Hell. And once you're there, your ass is mine...
52	--->'''Dave''': God would ''never'' allow that to happen!
53	--->'''Satan''': Sssss. That's what you think. The Other Guy doesn't care if you live or die. You're supposed to settle for eternal life.
54	* EekAMouse: Marsha, the Girliest Girl in the comic, is terrified of mice. This may be [[JustifiedTrope justified]], however, as she does seem to have a actual phobia of them.
55	* EmbarrassingMiddleName: Michael Redford Green.
56	* EvilMatriarch: Mike's mom, aka The Dragon.
57	* EyeBeams: Dave's mutation.
58	* FaeriesDontBelieveInHumansEither: Referenced when Roger meets two centaurs who think humans are mythical creatures. However, they're actually genetically engineered creatures who have been given this belief (and a steady diet of drugs) by the Evil Genius in question to avoid them questioning their surroundings.
59	* FakeOutMakeOut: With disastrous consequences.
60	* FilleFatale: Blue.
61	* {{Filth}}: While on the Misery Journey, the guys at some point starred in a soft-core porno, which they didn't remember about when they were sober, until the other three [[http://www.crfh.net/d/20000130.html stumble across a copy of the video]]. Later, when trying to find out how it happened, Mike and April nearly get blackmailed into making another one, with April cast as a Japanese Schoolgirl.
62	* FloatingAdviceReminder: "Invisible Floating Wiser April", to whom the real April rarely listens.
63	* FreakinessShame: Well, sort of. Just...[[http://www.crfh.net/d/20050114.html see for yourself]].
64	* FreudianSlip: All the time, especially during Dave's [[PostKissCatatonia "brain warps"]].
65	* FriendToAllLivingThings: Parodied to the point of taking it into DisneyCreaturesOfTheFarce territory: Marsha hates her 'Snow White Syndrome', which causes her to get mobbed by cute fuzzy animals whenever out in the woods. She does turn it to her advantage on occasion, though.
66	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: [[http://www.crfh.net/d/20021122.html These]] [[http://www.crfh.net/d/20021212.html two]] strips.
67	* FunWithAcronyms: When Mike starts Nobody's Organization for the Elimination of Satan, April proposes changing it to "Satan Elimination" to make the acronym spell "NOSE", as a jab at Mike's large schnozz. Mike is not amused.
68	* GiganticGulp: Margaret's bucket-sized coffee cup, formerly known as "The Suicide".
69	* {{God}}: He's definitely around, but He keeps a ''much'' lower profile than {{Satan}}.
70	* GoodAngelBadAngel: Deconstructed. According to Dave's good angel, they appear proportionately larger and smaller depending on their relative influence on a person - so Mike's bad angel is man-sized, but his good one is doll-sized.
71	** Which has become something of a HilariousInHindsight MindScrew since it's been revealed that [[spoiler:Mike is an actual angel himself]].
72	* GreenEyedEpiphany: Margaret.
73	* HalfIdenticalTwins: Roger and Lily, the {{Trope Namer}}s.
74	* HeadTiltinglyKinky: [[http://www.crfh.net/d/20000214.html Episode 2000-02-14]], where they are watching a movie that the girls got by accident.
75	* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Subverted: Diana ''loves'' being a prostitute, and seems to think she's doing a service by it.
76	* HurricaneOfPuns: [[http://www.crfh.net/d/20021029.html Three in one strip, courtesy of Waldo.]]
77	* HypocriticalHumor: Mike gets mad at his roommates for keeping some smelly clothes, claiming that they were probably touched by the Devil himself. This despite the fact that the whole argument started because they wanted him to get rid of his evil staff. You know, the one that Mike ''stole from Satan's own hand''.
78	* IdiotBall: How obvious could it be that April has been [[spoiler:brainwashed by The Dragon]], yet Marsha, who should be smart enough by now, doesn't twig. See for yourselves [[http://www.crfh.net/d/20100621.html here]] and [[http://www.crfh.net/d/20100628.html here]]
79	* IntoxicationEnsues: The infamous 'blue mushrooms', which often seem to confer insight at the same time; the author has stated that this was strongly influenced by the writings of Carlos Castenada.
80	* ItMakesSenseInContext: Just about everything.
81	* ItsAllAboutMe: Dave is a non-villainous example, but not so much recently thanks to CharacterDevelopment.
82	* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: [[http://www.crfh.net/d/20000423.html Bad guy steals weapon, but it's unloaded.]] Subversion: [[http://www.crfh.net/d/20000430.html It fires]], and it's later explained that it was loaded all along.
83	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: [[spoiler:Margaret, regarding Dave and Blue; unfortunately, it doesn't work out that well for any of them.]]
84	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While Mike is a [[ManipulativeBastard bastard]] to the rest of the cast (with the exception of Blue and Marsha) most of the time, when push comes to shove, he is fiercely loyal and will protect his friends with his life.
85	* LawOfConservationOfNormality: Pretty much the defining example.
86	** One would think that the characters could care less about their grades after all the crap they've been through, and yet they continue to drag themselves back to Mr. Dover's class and freak out about missing exams. Given that Mr. Dover seems to genuinely care about the kids despite wanting to cultivate his SadistTeacher image, one wonders what would happen were they to honestly explain what is actually going on.
87	* LethalChef: Marsha; this is an especially sore point for her, since her father is a world-class chef.
88	* LetsGetDangerous: Roger has these moments. Usually involving him transforming into a werewolf.
89	* LoudOfWar: Mike threatens to drive Dave into submission by poking them repeatedly and singing ''My Heart Will Go On'' in a very high-pitched voice.
90	* LoveTriangle: Two of them; Blue-Dave-Margaret and Marsha-Mike-April
91	%%** Ironically, the most stable relationship in the strip seems to be the one between the CloudCuckoolander and the HookerWithAHeartOfGold.
92	%%** [[spoiler: Though apparently even that wasn't meant to last; Roger dumped her during the TimeSkip.]]
93	* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler: It turns out Dr. Sydney is actually Margaret's father, thought to be long dead.]]
94	* MagicRealism: Impossible stuff just happens. Sometimes the characters try to find a meaning behind it. And fail.
95	* ManipulativeBastard: Mike, who can think on his feet to the point of being able to ''see through the Devil's plans '''while being tortured in Hell'''''. Also Blue, as evidenced by her mind games when she first meets Dave. Apparently the Green children have been inadvertently trained in this sort of behavior since birth.
96	* MaximumFunChamber: The TropeNamer.
97	* TheMenInBlack: Hazel's agents, as well as a recurring ''Series/TheXFiles'' parody.
98	* MistakenForGay: Mike and Dave. Well, Mike and Roger too once or twice, but the running gag is Mike and Dave. Complete with compromising positions, unfortunate repetitive innuendo, and a [[HoYay spur-of-the-moment kiss]] [[http://www.crfh.net/d/20031018.html]] that leaves Dave a bit scarred. [[spoiler:Mike uses it to his advantage later, striking out at his hypocritical conservative father by pretending to be dating Dave. Like everything else in this webcomic, it doesn't end well.]]
99	* MistakenForPregnant: [[http://www.crfh.net/d/20091211.html This comic.]] Blue's talking about class periods and Dave takes it the wrong way.
100	* MondegreenGag: Roger misheard the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" as "Chimpanzee for the Devil".
101	* MoodWhiplash: On a pretty regular basis.
102	* MushroomSamba: On several occasions; oddly, there seems to be a grain of truth behind all the hallucinatory adventures.
103	* MustHaveCaffeine: Margaret.
104	* MyGirlIsNotASlut: Subverted - Roger doesn't particularly mind that Diana is a hooker.
105	** It was played straight in her first appearance, though, where Roger goes AxCrazy when Mike 'tries to break it to him in a tactful way' (which consisted of saying "Roger, your girl's a ho").
106	* MyHairCameOutGreen: Happens to April once, during the "Dementia" storyline.
107	* NaughtyTentacles: Discussed when Marsha is asked to use her [[PuppyDogEyes manga eyes]] to deal with [[ItCameFromTheFridge the Thing from the Fridge]]
108	--> '''Marsha''': Manga eyes plus tentacle monster -- do the freakin' math!
109	* NerdsAreSexy: Dave's devotion to his grades is [[http://crfh.net/d/20091201.html apparently]] among the many things Blue finds attractive about him.
110	* NuclearMutant: Dave and Mike both develop useful mutations after swimming in toxic waste. Roger also grows a third eye on his hand, but like his original two, it's very nearsighted and rarely comes in handy. Also, [[spoiler:Marsha, much later, grows functioning wings from a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot radioactive potato]].]]
111	* OhMyGods: Cthulhu is the most commonly invoked, but others have been used as well.
112	* OurAngelsAreDifferent: [[spoiler: Damascus makes mechanical angels of the conventional WingedHumanoid model on Dundun Island.]]
113	** [[spoiler: Also, more recent strips (late 2008/early 2009) indicate that Mike is actually the Archangel Michael incarnate. Apparently being in the body of a 19-year-old human severely limits his full knowledge and understanding of things, and his actions on Earth have been doing more harm than good as a result.]]
114	* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: Were-coyotes
115	* PoorCommunicationKills: On a very regular basis, and sometimes almost ''literally'', as in the "Blue Madness" arc.
116	* PostKissCatatonia: Dave's "brainwarps", which can be triggered by anything from a kiss to simply seeing a scantily clad girl.
117	* PsychicNosebleed: [[spoiler: Starts happening to Dave later in the series when he tries using his EyeBeams.]]
118	* PsychoExGirlfriend: Marsha. A rare example where the ex-boyfriend isn't the protagonist or even a main character.
119	* PuppyDogEyes: Marsha's 'anime eyes' ability, which borders on the superhuman when it comes to manipulating men.
120	* RunningGag: Several; one is that the guy with the hot dog stand is doing sex change surgeries for cheap.
121	* SadistTeacher: Professor James Dover, known to his calculus class as "The Incredibly Sadistic Bastard"; actually something of a TricksterMentor, though they never seem to realize it.
122	* SarcasticConfession: Blue tries one on Damascus once. He sees through it, but plays along anyway.
123	* {{Satan}}: The BigBad of the series, and definitely not one to be taken lightly. Whenever he shows up, you can bet no matter how badly things were going before, they will get worse.
124	* ShoutOut: Many fan traditions and in-jokes have made brief appearances in the comic, usually in the background.
125	** There are also occasional references to other webcomics, especially Webcomic/SluggyFreelance.
126	* SoulJar: Chester
127	* StalkerWithACrush: Blue acts like this when she first meets Dave.
128	* SummonBiggerFish: When Mike is attacked by a large octopus, he realizes he doesn't stand a chance against it with the tiny knife he has, so he cuts himself to attract a shark with the smell of his blood.
129	* SupervillainLair: Dun-Dun Island
130	* SymbolSwearing: One instance was later converted from symbols to written text to become "spiroratstar", a recurring UnusualEuphemism.
131	* TemptingFate: [[http://www.crfh.net/d/19990407.html Here.]]
132	* TheGlassesComeOff: Justified for Roger, as [[spoiler: he really is BlindWithoutEm in his human form, but not when he transforms into a were-coyote]].
133	* ThemeNaming: Hazel Green, Blue Green and Michael Redford Green.
134	** Later revealed to be Blue ''VIOLET'' Green.
135	* TimeSkip: Two months, when Dave forgets them - pretty significant for a strip that, even after the skip, has taken over ten years to cover less than one year.
136	* TonightSomeoneDies: The author once went on record that she was going to kill off an (undesignated) character by the end of a specific arc. She carried through on the threat.
137	* TrashOfTheTitans
138	* {{Tsundere}}: Margaret.
139	* TwinTelepathy: Since they're only "HalfIdenticalTwins", Roger and Lily only have "half telepathy". When Lily tries to guess what's happened to Roger during the fall term, she's fairly accurate on the general ideas, but is pretty much precisely opposite on the details.
140	* TheUnsmile: When April [[http://www.crfh.net/d/20100920.html thinks she's cracking up.]]
141	* UnusualEuphemism: "Shtoinking" is commonly used to refer to sex, and there are several creative expletives such as "xlempaphroggin" and "spiroratstar".
142	* WackyCollege
143	* WaxOnWaxOff: Roger's anger management training methods for Dave.
144	* WebcomicTime: Running since 1999, by January 30, 2012 (the last in-continuity strip before the ContinuityReboot), less than a full year has been covered, and everything since October 21, 2009 had been ''a single day''.
145	* WingedHumanoid: [[spoiler:Marsha, who develops wings after being bitten by a 'batato']].
146	* WolfMan: Roger, Lily and their mother are were-coyotes, while at least one minor villain is apparently a werewolf.
147	* {{Yandere}}: Marsha is violently jealous and has a history of stalking her ex-boyfriends, and [[spoiler: April turns {{Yandere}} later in the series when she develops a crush on Mike]]. Then when Diana attempts to win Roger back, his new girlfriend tries to ''eat'' her.
148	* ZenSurvivor: [[spoiler:Margaret, who has lost everyone she has ever cared for due to [[{{Satan}} diabolical machinations]].]]
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Context Webcomic / CollegeRoomiesFromHell