Line #23 Webcomic/DoesNotPlayWellWithOthers


1	Michael Poe's (''Webcomic/ExploitationNow'', ''Webcomic/ErrantStory'') gag-a-day webcomic, starring Francesca (a college age wizardess) and her roommate, Naga ([[ADogNamedDog a naga]]).
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3	Started at the beginning of 2011. Signs so far point to it being closer in tone to the first rather than the second of his previous series. Can be found -- surprisingly -- at [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com DoesNotPlayWellWithOthers.com]]
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5	----
6	!!This comic provides examples of:
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8	* AbortedArc: In an inversion of RealLifeWritesThePlot, a planned story arc where Craig was going to be accused of being a Nazi for beating up a pair of [[SoapBoxSadie annoying protesters]] [[note]]meant to parody tokenism in comics in general, and in particular Captain America being [[RetCon Retconned]] into having been a Nazi all along[[/note]] was cut short because it came right at the heels of a real-life incident where an actual Nazi ran over a counter-protester with a car. Instead, the idea of outing Craig as a Nazi turned out to just be a BatmanGambit by his public relations representatives to make him [[AnythingButThat more amenable]] to the idea of signing a public apology.
9	* AccidentalMisnaming: Craig admits to Janis that he calls the Artificer "Tekmage" because during their first fight he was so nervous he couldn't remember the real name, so he just made one up on the spot. [[MaliciousMisnaming He kept doing it because he saw how much it annoyed him]].
10	* AllWomenAreLustful: The female characters are every bit as gross and horny as [[ImAManICantHelpIt the male ones.]] In fact, [[NiceJewishBoy Seth]] is just about the only character, male or female, who ''isn't'' interested in hitting just anyone.
11	* AltText: Generally containing commentary and alternative punchlines or continuations on them.
12	* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Fran's mom, who is a devout Wicca and is... ''matter-of-factly'' when it comes to sex, to the point of once sleeping with Fran's first-ever boyfriend so that he'd know how to give Fran a good first experience. On the flip side, Fran's mom is embarrassed that her daughter is completely uninterested in the spiritual implications of magic and just wants to blow things up.
13	* AMindIsATerribleThingToRead: When Nikki reveals that she can read minds she says that Francesca tends to think about X-rated fan pairings while talking to her. Nikki finds this ''really'' gross, and [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0405 at one point]] is literally driven away from Fran because the witch has started randomly picturing [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Jafar]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}} Rasputin]] having sex.
14	* AnalProbing: Fran finally gets around to asking her alien neighbors [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0415 what the deal is with the anal probes]]. Zakmar reveals it's because the polyps produced by pre-cancerous human colons taste almost exactly like an extremely rare delicacy from their homeworld. The probing is to find and harvest these polyps, which are big money as well as delicious.
15	* AsianRudeness: [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0215 This]] parody of the FiveTokenBand tendencies of [[Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}} certain]] [[Webcomic/QuestionableContent other]] webcomics includes it.
16	-->'''Chubby Asian Chick:''' I buck Asian stereotypes by being a huge unlikeable bitch!
17	* BarbieDollAnatomy: Amusingly justified ''and'' lampshaded. See NippleAndDimed. Comes full circle to an aversion in later comics, after the webcomic moved to it's own domain name: Naga loses her shirt in an OutOfClothesExperience and both SceneryCensor and BarbieDollAnatomy are averted. Amusingly, the nipples go from a dot, to a undefined circle where the areola are, to being fully detailed over the next few strips.
18	* [[BizarreAlienBiology Bizarre Monster Biology]]: Whenever it's relevant for a gag, such as Naga's hair turning into snakes when it gets long.
19	* BookDumb: Craig fully admits to being barely literate ("I spent my teenage years on a planet two hundred light years away fighting a robot overlord"), but he tends to play up his stupidity, and is actually rather clever when it comes to things that directly relate to his job as a superhero. For example, he has an excellent memory, recalling a random friend Janis made up to explain her absence one time, and later instantly recognizes "Ann" as a robot.
20	* BrainlessBeauty: Janis implies that Craig is one [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0302 here.]]
21	* BrickJoke: The one-off gag [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0326 here]] comes back as a way for Nikki to one-up Naga at [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0331 the end of the same storyline.]]
22	* ButtMonkey: Ann, the {{Sexbot}} Janis invents to set Seth up with. Janis takes [[ComedicSociopathy entirely too much glee]] in [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman treating her like a disposal object that is worth exactly zero consideration.]] Possibly subverted in that she might actually ''be'' an object (as in, she might not be self-aware and her reactions might be purely scripted with no genuine feelings behind them - the comic is a bit vague on the subject), though in that case Janis certainly programmed her to ''appear'' very much like this trope.
23	* CaptainErsatz: Khinkae's barbarian (as the AltText indicates what her character is) is very clearly drawn to look like the Amazon from ''VideoGame/DragonsCrown'', right down to her weapon as well.
24	* ChildEater:
25	** A recurring [[BlackComedy gag]] about side-character Baba Agnieszka, a WitchClassic from Russia based on UsefulNotes/BabaYaga.
26	** Naga has eaten ''at least'' one of her own fertilized eggs [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0316 so as to avoid having to deal with the hassle of being a mother]].
27	* {{Crossover}}: Jordan from ''Webcomic/ExploitationNow'' shows up.
28	* DatingCatwoman: Falchion and Tekmage are archenemies, but are dating. Not that Falchion is aware of this; he thinks that Tekmage is male, and his girlfriend is Tekmage's daughter.
29	* DarkAndTroubledPast: To varying degrees, mostly played for laughs. Naga is a constant disappointment to her family. Francesca's mother is a "dance naked under the moon" style Wiccan, with such charming parenting tactics as sleeping with her daughter's first boyfriend to make sure he knew what he was doing (which Francesca walked in on). Seth is an orphan elf raised by Jews who has been persecuted for being an elf, being Jewish, and being gay ([[{{Elfeminate}} which he's not]]). Nikki [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0254 became a vampire in an impulsive burst of fear after her mother died of breast cancer]], and has kind of regretted it ever since. Craig is a superhero with an abusive father who used mind-control pheromones to make the rest of the world see him as a selfless hero, and spent his formative years on the other side of the galaxy fighting various evil overlords. Craig's sister, though not seen, has it worse, as until their father sacrificed himself to save the world, her boyfriends tended to disappear under mysterious circumstances and she once adopted a cute BlobMonster pet that turned out to be a shapeshifting alien sex criminal with a thing for human girls. Janis hasn't gone into much detail, but her parents are conspicuously absent and she's missing an arm, not to mention the times she's muttered about not being able to go to school as a child. [[note]]The story behind all those things is detailed in ''Webcomic/ExploitationNow'', and yes, it's all pretty brutal.[[/note]] For added humor, the one with the worst past by far is a random member of Nikki's blood stable, who tells a story about how her stepfather tried to rape her and she and her little sister had to prostitute themselves to survive.
30	-->'''Francesca:''' IT'S NOT A COMPETITION!
31	* DontFearTheReaper: [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0474 Death turns out to be quite amiable,]] even granting a recently dead woman's request to come back to life for five minutes so she can teach a JerkAss nurse not to use her death to make herself look good on social media.
32	* DysfunctionJunction: See DarkAndTroubledPast above, add the fact that most of the cast are varying degrees of UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist, and top it off WithFriendsLikeThese
33	* EvenEvilHasStandards:
34	** Inverted. Falchion finds [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comics/pwc-0157 one of Tekmage's schemes]] to have [[PokeThePoodle such a low "evil" content]] that he just can't bring himself to foil it.
35	--->'''Tekmage:''' [-Mheh... I knew there was a reason I let you fuck me on the first date.-]\
36	'''Falchion:''' Hm?\
37	'''Tekmage:''' I said, I knew there was a reason my ''daughter'' let you fuck her on the first date.\
38	'''Falchion:''' Okay, that's not weird and awkward ''at all''...
39	** During the 2012 elections and American government shutdown, Tekmage can't bring herself to do anything particularly destructive, comparing it to kicking retarded puppies.
40	** Likewise, during the time of furious protests, counter-protests and overheated accusations flying around following the 2016 election, most supervillains appear to lay low "until things start making sense again."
41	* FlyingBroomstick: Fran's transportation method of choice. [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comics/pwc-0029 she doesn't find it all that comfortable.]]
42	* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Naga, whom everyone loathes but who they keep hanging out with anyway. Justified by the [[DysfunctionJunction neurotic mindset of the rest of the cast]] -- Nikki has a lot of guilt about being a vampire and drinking blood to survive, so she enjoys being around someone who she is a really good person in comparison to, and Fran is just so lonely and pathetic that Naga is the closest thing to a friend she's got.
43	* GogglesDoNothing: Averted. Fran usually wears goggles on her hat, but she does actually use them to protect her eyes when flying.
44	* ICallHimMisterHappy: May decides to masturbate using the penis-in-a-jar as a dildo, affectionately referring to it as "Music/KingMissile".
45	* IdiotHair: Naga's old design.
46	* IgnoredAesop: [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0367 The universe needn't think that it can make Janis learn her lesson!]]
47	-->'''Janis:''' Okay, you know what? Fuck you, world! [[GenreSavvy I know where this is going!]] [[TheDogBitesBack This]] is supposed to be some kind of ironic ''morality'' lesson about how I should be nicer to a glorified ''[[SexBot fuck toaster]]''! Well, ''tough shit! [[PreAssKickingOneLiner I refuse to learn anything!]]''
48	* ImAHumanitarian: Naga. It's ok, though, as she eats [[PedoHunt pedophiles]] she meets online... [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0284 and at least one person with a vore fetish who was only too happy to be eaten by her]].
49	-->'''Molly:''' You have no idea how relieved I was when Naga turned out to be an ''actual'' man-eating monster instead of another twenty-something guy living in a basement.
50	* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Naga again -- she has no nudity taboo, is actually outright opposed to the idea of wearing clothing, and only wears shirts because [[BreakingTheFourthWall her contract includes royalties]] on any shirt designs they help sell.
51	* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Janis (who is missing an arm) absolutely loathes this trope and considers it insulting. She learned to cope with her handicap because ''she had no damn choice,'' not to make other people feel warm and fuzzy!
52	* IntimidatingRevenueService: They send a pair of half-demons (tieflings) after Naga's unreported livestream income.
53	* {{Irony}}: There are apparently countless in-universe Falchion/Tekmage fanfics portraying them as in a gay relationship ([[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne with Falchion as the bottom]]). They actually ''are'' dating... but Tekmage is a girl. And Falchion actually isn't aware that he's dating Tekmage for a good part of the comic.
54	* IThoughtEveryoneCouldDoThat: See NippleAndDimed.
55	* JackassGenie: A genie offers a young man a wish, with a warning that there will be consequences. He wishes to be able to transform into a helicopter, and the genie starts a transphobic meme that destroys his superhero career by association.
56	* {{Jerkass}}: Par for the course for a Micheal Poe comic. Naga's the worst offender of course.
57	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Craig/Falchion may act like a [[SmugSuper superpowered fratboy]] a lot of the time, but he has plenty of PetTheDog moments and seem to basically mean well.
58	* MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter: Janis poses as this when Falchion catches her outside her Tekmage armor.
59	* MermaidProblem: Well, [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0294 naga problem]].
60	* MistakenForRacist: Happens to Fran a lot. It might not be [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0341 entirely]] a mistake, though.
61	* NiceJewishBoy: Seth is Jewish (by adoption) and is the nicest, most normal person in the strip.
62	* NippleAndDimed: Naga's are retractable!
63	* OnlySaneMan: Seth, most of the time.
64	* OutOfClothesExperience: Naga has a tendency to get naked more than any other character in the strip. The first major version is [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0033 when she gets squashed by a refrigerator]] and undergoes a trip into her own psyche.
65	* OrificeInvasion: During [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0020 their first sessions]] playing ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' together, Naga's character attempts to defeat the dragon kicking their asses by climbing into its anus to invoke KillItThroughItsStomach. Their disgusted DM has the dragon promptly die of a heart attack, its death-spasms crushing Naga's character to death before it is violently ejected in a heap of burning, acidic dragon feces.
66	* PayEvilUntoEvil: It's revealed in the forth comic that Naga eats people. To get around Fran's moral complaints, [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0004 she explains she's been eating pedophiles she meets online and tricks into meeting up with her]]. That doesn't exactly make it ok, but the other characters can't bring themselves to get her to stop.
67	* {{Pheromones}}: According to Craig, [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0221 the reason]] why his Dad is remembered as a great hero instead of a bigoted jerk.
68	* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: Francesca to Naga over the course of the first few strips.
69	* PokeThePoodle: Power and Prejudice, social justice supervillains, never actually commit any crimes. They just go out in public and yell at people and try to make them feel bad.
70	* PoliticalCorrectnessIsEvil: The comic takes numerous potshots at the perpetually offended [[StrawFeminist social justice warriors]] that Website/{{Tumblr}} has become known for.
71	** A walking Tumblr SJW stereotype [[PlayingTheVictimCard plays a literal victim card]] [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0229 here]]. She later shows up as the superhero [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0269 Princess Badass]], still playing the victim [[CrocodileTears by using VapoRub to make herself cry]], [[FalseRapeAccusation and screaming "rape"]] after it's clear Tekmage [[WouldHitAGirl isn't going to hold back when fighting a woman]], which ends up attracting a [[VisualPun literal white knight]] to the scene.
72	** The "[[SwearJar Bullshit Tumblr/SJW Words Jar]]" mentioned below.
73	** Naga [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0239 becomes a feminist icon]] by taking ''Literature/MeinKampf'' and just replacing all mentions of Jews with men and the patriarchy, which immediately becomes a huge success and makes her tons of money, with women's studies courses adding it to their syllabuses as early as next semester. [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0248 Then she fakes death threats against herself to weasel out of having to give a lecture about the book]], which only makes her even ''more'' money from all the sympathy donations she gets.
74	--->'''Naga:''' [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0249 Being a professional internet victim is awesome!]]
75	** Related to the above example, Naga plans to "complete the circle" by taking the SCUM Manifesto and replacing all mentions of men with black people and Latinos, then selling it to white supremacists.
76	* PoliticallyCorrectVillain: Power and Prejudice are this. [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0335 Craig finds that even more annoying than the normal kind of villain.]]
77	* RapeAsDrama: {{Discussed\|Trope}} [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comics/pwc-0050 here]].
78	* SamusIsAGirl: [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comics/pwc-0110 Tekmage]] uses a voice changer to sound male and disguise her identity.
79	* SarcasticConfession: Quite knowingly used [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comics/pwc-0084 here]]. And the AltText is related to a [[GirlfriendInCanada another trope]]...
80	* SceneryCensor: The original filler comics from ''Webcomic/ErrantStory'' used this and lampshaded it. Later strips avert it.
81	* SexForServices: May, the zombie "[[BackAlleyDoctor doctor]]" that Fran and Nikki take Naga to, hits on both Fran and Nikki, offering to accept sex as payment for her medical services.
82	* ShoutOut:
83	** In [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0251 strip #251]], Nikki learns it's actually possible for vampires to have sex. In the next strip, it's clarified that it runs on ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' rules, with vampires needing to expend stored blood to... "lubricate" the necessary parts, and the whole thing is less than satisfactory for vampires. Although Nikki is so sexually pent up that she really, ''really'' doesn't care. Overlaps with at least a mild invocation of TakeThat, as the AltText has the author note how stupid White Wolf's prudishness about the matter was considering they put a ''VaginaDentata color picture'' on the back cover of their Tzimisce clanbook.
84	** Reaching, but, in [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0236 strip #236]], the backstory for Craig's sister Rebecca whose pet BlobMonster turned out to be a shapeshifting pervert could be seen as a combination of this and TakeThat to ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', given the similarity between Rebecca's "pet" and Ranma 1/2's P-chan gag.[[note]]A secondary character in Ranma 1/2 named Ryoga Hibiki has a ForcedTransformation curse that turns him into a small black pig. The female protagonist, Akane Tendo, has adopted this pig as her pet, naming it "P-chan". Being completely oblivious to P-chan's real nature, she routinely does all manner of intimate things with him, including letting him sleep in her bed. Whilst Ryoga is canonically established as too shy to take full perverted advantage of the situation, it's easier to see the darker interpretations.[[/note]]
85	** Another shout-out/TakeThat overlap in [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0410 this comic]], which references the infamously contentious finale of ''Series/GameOfThrones''.
86	** One [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0385 two-strip comic]] is an homage to ''Literature/GoblinSlayer'' and the negative publicity around it.
87	** As part of their gaming group, the protagonists have run games of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', and ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu]], amongst others.
88	* SleepParalysisCreature: Fran is [[https://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0576 tormented by one]] until she manages to get rid of it.
89	* {{Squick}}: [[invoked]]Fran's reaction when she discovers that Naga brought home a [[ImAHumanitarian meal]] that she met on a vore fetish website in [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0284 strip #284]].
90	-->'''Naga:''' Did you remember to stop at Costco for the bucket of butter and the paintbrush?\
91	'''Fran:''' ... I think my vagina and stomach are having a race to see which can eject themselves from my body and flee in horror the quickest.
92	* SuddenlyEthnicity: In a version that [[BreakingTheFourthWall breaks the fourth wall]], the first strip that was in color had Naga being surprised by her own AmbiguouslyBrown skin color.
93	-->'''Naga:''' I suddenly have opinions about white privilege and cultural appropriation.
94	* SwearJar: Fran and Naga have a "Bullshit Tumblr/SJW Words Jar", seen being used in [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0223 this strip]].
95	* TooKinkyToTorture: A variation. "A certain mayor" turns out to be [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0475 Too Kinky To Extort.]]
96	* UnsoundEffect: John Johnson, the muscle wizard, [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comics/pwc-0169 attacks]] with a ''Ka-Fist!''
97	* UnwantedRescue: [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0401 Parodied.]] When the DamselInDistress in one of Fran's roleplaying sessions starts insulting their efforts to rescue her, the players promptly put her back in her cell, on the principle that she can rescue her own damn self if she's so sure she can do a better job of it.
98	* UrbanFantasy: Major characters include a Wizard, a Naga, a Vampire, an Elf, a Superhero, and a group of alien geeks.
99	* VampiresAreRich: Averted with Jian, [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comic/pwc-0346 who never developed the knack for making successful long-term investments.]]
100	* VillainHasAPoint: On at least [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comics/pwc-0157 two]] [[http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comics/pwc-0165 occasions,]] Falchion has found Tekmage's goals so sympathetic that he didn't really want to stop him. On one of them, he actually did take a dive and let Tekmage succeed.
101	* VillainProtagonist: Naga, hands down. All of the other main characters have at least some shallow signs of HiddenDepths to keep from being entirely evil. Naga is a cannibalistic[[note]]in both the "eats other sapient beings" sense and in the "eats her own kind" sense[[/note]] impulsive murderous psychopath[[note]]she ate her own unhatched egg and later reminisces about it happily, even anthropomorphizing it by giving it a name and a gender[[/note]] at her worst, and a shallow, selfish, impulsive, irresponsible JerkAss {{troll}} at her best. There's a reason why she's TheFriendNobodyLikes.
102	* WellIntentionedExtremist:
103	** Tekmage's actual ideology seem to be nothing more sinister than mainstream American liberalism. It's just that she pursues it by means of [[KillSat killer satellites]] and mind control rays...
104	** Power and Prejudice ("together we are Bigotry!") parodies this trope. In theory, their schtick is to [[PayEvilUntoEvil give the privileged majority a taste of the suffering endured by marginalised groups.]] However, since they don't have any powers or fighting skills whatsoever, their extremism is limited to going out on the streets and yelling mean slogans at people.
105	* WorldOfJerkass: It kind of goes without saying for a Michael Poe comic. Even by his standards, the cast are absolutely monstrous, including an unrepentant LiteralManEater [[SnakePeople Naga]], a half-heartedly reluctant vampire, a somewhat narcissistic DarkMagicalGirl who is obsessed with blowing things up, a narcissistic and shallow superhero, and a liberal supervillain with empathy problems. The author has actually used AltText at several points in the comic's run to remind readers that the cast are supposed to be terrible people who shouldn't be respected, believed or emulated.

Context Webcomic / DoesNotPlayWellWithOthers