| 1 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dc_casticon_kimiko.png]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:300:Kimiko.]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | ->'''Sokar''': I have issues with the Schrödinger's cat experiment. [...] In the period before observing the outcome, [the cat] is said to be in "superposition," a state of both decay and not decay, meaning [it] is both dead and not dead. Observer-dependent physics undermines the gods' decision three thousand years ago to ban cats from straddling the borders of the Netherworld. We won't have it! \ |
| 5 | '''Kimiko''': I have reservations about reconciling a quantum mechanics thought experiment with Egyptian mythology. More importantly, what possible threat could superpositioned cats pose? \ |
| 6 | '''Sokar''': Somewhere, Niels Bohr walks among us, unobserved and '''immortal'''. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | ''[[http://dresdencodak.com/ Dresden Codak]]'' is a webcomic by A. Senna "Sen" Diaz that has been running at an irregular (and very slow) pace since 2005. It offers whimsical humor focused on physics, philosophy, and transhumanism -- except for the Hob storyline, which, while having the same focus, was much more serious. The current extended story, [[http://dresdencodak.com/2010/06/03/dark-science-01/ "Dark Science",]] starts out humorous, but [[CerebusSyndrome that doesn't last long.]] |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Dresden Codak is a sometimes {{Dada|Comics}}, sometimes MindScrew comic. Early stories focused on the (mis)adventures of several often unrelated characters: |
| 11 | |
| 12 | * Kimiko "Thunderbolt" Ross: A misanthropic (read: human-hating), [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul cybernetically]]-enhanced MadScientist. |
| 13 | * Tiny Carl Jung: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Self-explanatory]]. |
| 14 | * Dmitri and Alina Tokamak: A parody of the Wonder Twins and Marvel Family. They also have [[WonderTwinPowers similar powers]], except rather than using transformation and...water... they use physics. |
| 15 | * "D.H." Ron Awning: A caricature of the literary-minded artsy intellectual. |
| 16 | * Yvonne "Vonnie" Awning: Ron's sister and a fashionable, trend-focused bureaucrat, fitting, considering she works for the Department of Taste. |
| 17 | * Rupert and Hubert: Two elderly Victorian scientists who live in a castle they built on the moon. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | However, "Dark Science" is all about Kimiko's misadventures, and the only supporting character carried over into it is Vonnie. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Not to be confused with ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' or the city of Dresden, though its name is a reference to the [[{{Mayincatec}} Dresden Codex]]. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | The comic also has a number of similarly surreal one-shots, including the page that we adapted into the JustForFun/EssentialThirdActTwists. |
| 24 | ---- |
| 25 | !!Provides examples of: |
| 26 | * TheAlcoholic: Father Abaddon. Apparently he found the [[http://media.tumblr.com/40a870531852a06ef326ec946f751113/tumblr_inline_n9hwxiBVge1qc9wc7.jpg best facial expressions in the comic]] at the bottom of a glass. |
| 27 | * AllOfThem: As seen at the end of [[http://dresdencodak.com/2012/02/15/dark-science-16/ this strip]]. |
| 28 | * AlliterationAndAdventurers: A few strips have the characters playing ''[[http://dresdencodak.com/2006/12/03/dungeons-and-discourse/ Dungeons]] & [[http://dresdencodak.com/2009/01/27/advanced-dungeons-and-discourse/ Discourse]]'' which combines fantasy role-playing with Philosophy. |
| 29 | * AlliterativeName: Kim's dad (Kaito Kusanagi) and Kim herself as a child, before she had her surname changed. |
| 30 | * AmbiguouslyBi: Kim has shown an interest in men several times, but after being kissed by Lilith was rather flustered when she tried to explain her motivations in [[http://dresdencodak.com/2017/06/25/dark-science-78-tactical-retreat/ Tactical Retreat]]. Take a look at [[http://dresdencodak.com/2020/03/02/dark-science-96-cyborg-team-up/ this squee ]] in Dark Science #96 [[spoiler: when arena fighter-turned Mezzode Liberation Front leader Azazel turns out to be Xiaoling Chavez (who is female), and who wants to be Kim's ally. ]] |
| 31 | * AnachronismStew: Alina knew that a group of people were time travelers because they were dressed in a mismash of styles from all eras and segments of the 20th century, in a similar fashion to how other centuries are portrayed in modern media. |
| 32 | * AnArmAndALeg: Kimiko loses one arm, both legs, an eye and part of her spinal column after being attacked by robots. However, GadgeteerGenius roboticist that she is, she builds herself new ones. |
| 33 | * AnAesop: |
| 34 | ** Transhumanism is a good idea and cyborgs and robots should get the benefit of the doubt... because preserving your flesh does not automatically preserve your humanity; guarding your humanity is on you. Some of the characters gradually become cruel and ruthless while still retaining all their flesh, because they let their ambitions overcome their principles. Meanwhile, Kimiko removes parts of herself in ''pursuit'' of understanding and helping the people around her, and ends up with a mostly robotic body while gaining a more human personality than she started with. |
| 35 | ** The Dark Science arc explains why science ''alone'' cannot improve society. Nephilopolis became so obsessed with technological advancement that they ignored everything else, and now the city is ruled by wacky incompetents who simply ''don't know how to govern''. Even with technology that could fulfill every need, the bureaucracy to approve and apply that technology is a barely-functioning mess that manages to be weirder than anything else in the entire comic, and so Nephilopolis is a dystopian hellhole. |
| 36 | * AncientConspiracy: [[spoiler:The Dark Scientists]] have been around for thousands of years, possibly longer; and they seem to have some nefarious agenda, in addition to [[spoiler:creating and/or manipulating the strange bureaucracy of Nephilopolis]]. |
| 37 | * AndroclesLion: [[http://dresdencodak.com/2015/05/05/dark-science-45/ "The Favor"]]: |
| 38 | -->[[CallBack On your first day in the city,]] [[http://dresdencodak.com/2010/11/28/dark-science-06/ you repaired a robot.]] This is completely unheard of, you see. They've been trying to process it ever since. |
| 39 | * ArcSymbol: the "rising sun" half-circle, aka [[spoiler:the mark of Dark Science]]. |
| 40 | * ArcWords: The poem from [[http://dresdencodak.com/2006/03/02/zhuangzi/ Zhuangzi]] appears again years later, on the 24th page of ''[[http://dresdencodak.com/2012/12/24/dark-science-24/ Dark Science]]'': |
| 41 | --> At twilight's end, the shadow's crossed,\ |
| 42 | a new world birthed, the elder lost.\ |
| 43 | Yet on the morn we wake to find\ |
| 44 | that mem'ry left so far behind.\ |
| 45 | To deafened ears we ask, unseen,\ |
| 46 | ''"Which is life and which the dream?"'' |
| 47 | * ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In a newspaper slandering Kimiko, it gives a very unflattering description, depicting her as a demagogue, a thug, and a weather balloon. It also mentions an unflattering overbite. |
| 48 | * ArtEvolution: The art quality increases immensely as the comic progressed. For full effect, compare [[http://dresdencodak.com/2005/06/08/the-tomorrow-man/ this first strip]] to [[http://dresdencodak.com/2009/09/07/the-sleepwalkers/ this more recent strip]] and [[http://dresdencodak.com/2010/07/10/dark-science-03/ this even more recent strip]]. The art is actually starting to get kind of ridiculously detailed. Perhaps not coincidentally, author Senna Diaz considers Creator/{{Moebius}} to be her most important artistic influence. |
| 49 | * ArtificialLimbs: Kimiko, post-Hob. |
| 50 | * AuthorAppeal: Among Diaz's four majors was Anthropology. It shows. |
| 51 | ** As Diaz's interest in wrestling increases, so do Kim's muscles, to the point she just got a full-on redesign as a tight-wearing muscular robotgirl. |
| 52 | * BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Very much averted with Kimiko, who loses three limbs, one eye and part of her spinal column, although she gets better (see ArtificialLimbs). Even then, when she gets beaten up in later strips, she comes out covered in scratches and bruises. After her [[spoiler:upgrade to a robot body]], she still has to be repaired. |
| 53 | * BeliefMakesYouStupid: Diaz doesn't like religious types, especially [[http://dresdencodak.com/2006/12/03/dungeons-and-discourse/ Evangelical,]] [[http://dresdencodak.com/2005/11/29/secular-heaven/ fundamentalist]] [[http://dresdencodak.com/2005/12/07/oldman-man-returns/ Christians.]] |
| 54 | * {{BFS}}: [[http://dresdencodak.com/2015/02/10/dark-science-40/ Azera-El Memita wields one]]. |
| 55 | * {{Bifauxnen}}: Kim starts rocking this look after abandoning the way-too-big dress given to her in ''Dark Science'', even more so after [[spoiler:building her "Exode" body.]] |
| 56 | * BigEater: Kimiko's prostheses run on [[http://dresdencodak.com/2012/02/15/dark-science-16/ glucose]] , which requires her to eat huge amounts of sweet stuff. |
| 57 | * BioData: In one comic Kimiko can't find her flash drive, so she starts overwriting her own junk DNA. But then she finds something already written in it, [[spoiler: which turns out to be billion-year-old spam.]] |
| 58 | * BitchInSheepsClothing: Balthazar acts fascinated by and kindly to Kimiko when they first meet, and she initially even views him as a possible romantic interest. But he is also involved in shady dealings with the Department of Opposition. At around the time Lilith enters the story, he shows increasing signs of {{Jerkass}} behavior, culminating in him showing FantasticRacism against cyborgs and betraying Kimiko to the city. |
| 59 | * BlueAndOrangeMorality: Nephilopolis has this in spades, on top of its already VastBureaucracy. There's the [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Department of Recursion]] which exists solely to repeat things, the Department of Inquisition which values tenure over measurable fact [[labelnote:note]]They find it more likely that Kim is a weather balloon than that she is the first person to object to their rulings, citing that one outlier does not disprove a pattern. Of course, they tell her this as she's standing directly in front of them.[[/labelnote]], the Department of Opposition lets you commit any crime you want, provided you fill out the proper paperwork, and the Department of Taste, which determines what opinions you can have and who you can befriend. |
| 60 | --> '''Vonnie:''' I thought I could...pass you as human.\ |
| 61 | '''Kimiko:''' I ''am'' human.\ |
| 62 | '''Vonnie:''' You're foreign hardware; you'll be dismantled. Even worse, they wiped my social score. I'll never be able to afford new loved ones. |
| 63 | * BookDumb: Kimiko got very poor grades in school. According to WordOfGod, this is because she generally [[BrilliantButLazy didn't bother]] to do her schoolwork in the first place. |
| 64 | * BoomerangBigot: Enoch the mezzode despises mezzodes for "selling off your humanity just because you didn't save up." |
| 65 | -->'''Essene''': Enoch, we're mezzodes. You're a mezzode. |
| 66 | -->'''Enoch''': [''whose head is '''literally''' a camera''] No, I'm temporarily decapitated. I get my head back when my student loans are paid. |
| 67 | * BrainInAJar: [[spoiler:Kim's "Exode" form is her brain in an entirely cybernetic body.]] |
| 68 | * BrainlessBeauty: At the beginning of "Hob", Kim is sitting in a café when she sees a hot guy carrying a copy of a book by the real life transhumanist philosopher [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM-2030 FM-2030]]. She has an ImagineSpot in which she has a conversation with the guy who takes her up in his airship, they swap high-minded chat about transhumanism, and then make out. This is broken when, in real life, the guy asks merely if he can borrow the spare chair at her table, whereupon she blurts out a random sentence about Victor Hugo.[[note]]"Victor Hugo once got so mad he threw a baseball through a dog."[[/note]] At the end of the entire story, Kim (whose adventures in the meantime have mutilated her so that she's made herself into a cyborg) sees the guy working in a library and asks him out for coffee, mentioning the FM-2030 book. He says yes and burbles on about how it'd be "cool to have, y'know, a big robot body for sportball" and how he likes the "Sportland Sports". Kim's heart sinks, because he's turned out to be this trope. |
| 69 | * BrickJoke: [[http://dresdencodak.com/2007/05/06/after-many-a-summer-dies-the-swan/ Alina jokes]] that a group of time travelers can't get in because they don't know how to use the doorknob. After a lengthy diversion about axolotls, the time travelers open the door, and make a comment implying that they had been arguing about how to work a doorknob. |
| 70 | ** A much longer example between [[http://dresdencodak.com/2011/06/16/dark-science-10/ this comic where someone mentions having heard that Kimiko was a mid-sized Sedan]] and [[http://dresdencodak.com/2015/07/08/dark-science-49-exode/ this more recent comic, where someone comments that Kimiko is now technically classified as a motor-vehicle]] [[spoiler: due to her now fully mechanical body]]. |
| 71 | * CapitalismIsBad: |
| 72 | ** Played for dark comedy in a [[https://dresdencodak.com/2006/10/07/summer-dream-job/ strip]] titled "Summer Dream Job", where Kim gets a job in which she works in her dreams, chasing down monsters (she rides a dinosaur and scoops up random Frankensteins and vampires into a bucket). The FBI inform her that since her job doesn't involve having her ideas "bought and sterilized by god-fearing American business interests", she's in violation of federal labour laws, and since she can't afford to pay the fine or afford the fee for crossing the border into R.E.M. sleep, she is deported from her subconscious. The last frame has her sitting at her kitchen table with blank hollow eyes, observing that she can't afford to sleep.[[note]]This is a joke about capitalism because capitalism is not merely business; it's business institutionalised and protected by government.[[/note]] |
| 73 | ** "Dark Science" arc played this trope straight, moving the story to the city of Nephilopolis, where the inhabitants are so focused on wealth and technological prestige achievement that much of the dysfunctions (namely immense wealth gap and complete societal disregard for safety standards) were ignored, leading to the formation of the Department of Opposition. |
| 74 | * CastOfSnowflakes: Senna Diaz [[http://dresdencodak.tumblr.com/post/3583964949/figures-they-speak-for-themselves-mildly-nsfw makes a point to design characters this way]] (mildly NSFW). |
| 75 | * CastFromHitPoints: Kimiko gained a streak of grey after blasting away an enemy with a fire beam |
| 76 | * CerebusSyndrome: The comic started out as a gag comic, albeit a very dense and erudite one. Characters talked to Egyptian gods, Niels Bohr is apparently a cat, the cast played "Dungeons and Discourses". Then the Hob arc came along, with an ongoing plot and real stakes. After that it returned to comedy, then swung back to drama in the Dark Science storyline. |
| 77 | * ChangedMyJumper: The time travelers in the Hob storyline who look like mashups of several pop culture characters. |
| 78 | * CharacterBlog: Kimiko, D.H. Ron, and Tiny Carl Jung have their own Twitter accounts, though they haven't been updated for several years. |
| 79 | * CharacterDevelopment: Kimiko started out as slightly grumpy, then in the "Hob" storyline blossomed into a full-blown misanthrope, literally not caring if humanity were wiped out, marking the strip's notorious case of CerebusSyndrome. Then, on losing her home and all her money at the beginning of "Dark Science", she moves to Nephilopolis and has some new adventures which involve her already heavily modified body getting seriously damaged. As a result of her showing some kindness to robots at the beginning of the storyline, the grateful robots build her a treatment facility and she proceeds to [[spoiler: transplant her brain into a cool new robot body which makes her feel truly alive for the first time]]. In the course of being betrayed by one friend, [[spoiler: Vonnie]], she makes new acquaintances and admits that she's used to shunning people because they think of her as the "spooky girl", but that [[spoiler: she genuinely wants friends]], and is told that she already has some. Whereupon they all [[https://dresdencodak.com/2022/08/22/dark-science-122-dr-kill/ go to the movies]]. |
| 80 | * ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler:tiny Hob]] |
| 81 | * ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Dimitri and Alina are pretty much gone from the series from Dark Science onwards. WordOfGod puts this down to them [[http://tmblr.co/ZhC7FyNurCcS being kind of boring]]. As for Tiny Carl Jung, who knows? |
| 82 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Kimiko herself, if [[http://twitter.com/KimikoRoss her Twitter account]] is anything to go by. |
| 83 | * ClueEvidenceAndASmokingGun: When Kim is the victim of a SatchelSwitcheroo, Vonnie explains how she ran the contents of the thief's bag through several departments of the city's VastBureaucracy and finally managed to narrow down his identity... while a caption points out that one of said contents was a teacher's ID card with his name and address on it. This kind of myopia is entirely in keeping with Nephilopolis' culture of preferring by-the-numbers scientific literature review to direct observation of ''anything''. |
| 84 | * CosmicRetcon: On a level never before demonstrated in fiction. [[spoiler:The Dark Scientific Method works via a method absolute, perfect observation that destroys whatever it observes. This includes the laws of physics. Normally, for science what is true for one person is true for everyone, but if this method is used, whatever law drives that principle literally ceases to exist for everyone except the observer. No one even remembers that the rule or its effects existed. This is why those who use it are literally able to defy the laws of reality: Because they are using science that works on laws that only apply to them and no one else. For some reason, Kimiko can still remember the things that the Dark Scientists erase.]] |
| 85 | * CyberneticsEatYourSoul: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. Diaz is an avowed transhumanist; it shows when [[spoiler: Kimiko is no more or less human after losing her arm and legs in the Hob storyline and becoming a BrainInAJar in the Dark Science storyline]]. |
| 86 | ** If anything she's ''more'' human now. |
| 87 | ** Believed by the time travelers from the future. When talking about the mediators, they said "There were, however, those who had sacrificed their humanity to merge directly with technology." Of course they're generally depicted as Luddites and the mediator they dealt with was the somewhat misanthropic to start with [[spoiler: Kimiko]] so they were probably wrong. |
| 88 | * DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler:Yvonne loses everything thanks to sneaking Kimiko into a social event due to Kimiko being a cyborg. After betraying Kimiko, she is offered power and knowledge in return for swearing loyalty to the Dark Scientists and their malevolent agenda. Mathias calls her out on her attempts to rationalize her decision, stating that she has chosen to follow the path of least resistance and that she should get used to describing it as evil]] |
| 89 | * DeepImmersionGaming: Whenever the characters engage in a tabletop roleplaying session. |
| 90 | * {{Dehumanization}}: The mezzodes have been frequently debased by propaganda as overly-augmented half-machines constantly at risk of snapping and going terrorist (without the necessary paperwork). We see that they've become third-class citizens with almost no say or opportunity, while the 'terrorists' have their own code of honor. |
| 91 | * DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: A literal example in Nephilopolis's Department of Recursion. The one member who appears is shown simply repeating the same phrase over and over again. |
| 92 | * DisappearedDad: Kimiko's father who was always away doing his job. He appears [[http://dresdencodak.com/2008/10/02/epilogue-2/ briefly]] at the end of the Hob storyline, and Kimiko's [[FlippingTheBird reaction to his presence]] says a lot. |
| 93 | * ElectronicEye: As of the Dark Science storyline, Kimiko has one brown and one (artificial) blue eye. [[spoiler:As of "Exode", they're both artificial, as is the entire rest of her body.]] |
| 94 | * EvilVersusEvil: The city of Nephilopolis is comprised of crazy {{Evil Luddite}}s and the Dark Scientists are a malevolent AncientConspiracy. They are also enemies with one another. |
| 95 | * ExpressiveMask: Leviathan in the "Dark Science" arc. |
| 96 | * FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Vonnie, after losing everything, is approached by the Dark Scientists.]] |
| 97 | * FakeMemories: [[spoiler: Appears to be the case for Kimiko's memories of her mother - what's more, she is unaware of it, drawing the Dark Science symbol when she believes she is drawing her mother's face.]] |
| 98 | * FakeNationality: [[spoiler:Kaito Kusanagi was actually Korean and born Kim Young-Soo]]. [[invoked]] |
| 99 | * FalseUtopia: Nephilopolis. It's housed on a floating precursor titan and technologically advanced with cutting-edge biosynthetics, under the premise that anyone could achieve greatness. Then Kimiko learns about the credit system, where citizens and criminals willingly participate in mandatory self-surveillance, their every move and thought recorded and sent to multiple departments designed to judge their actions, up to and including ''pardoning murder because it was properly recorded''. Entire departments are "sent to the big farm upstate" as artists and freelance professors are found guilty of "supposedly stealing from a charity they don't support and have never heard of", with the Dark Scientists outright mocking the public for supporting a system that uplifts the weak, obedient, and foolish. Finally, it devolves into a full-blown police state as prisoners are executed, known rebels are unpersonned, and all of this is covered up with BlatantLies and redacted photographs on public news feeds. The whole series is revealed to be a supernatural nightmare fueled by Nephilopolis, as Dark Science involves [[spoiler:''retconning the laws of reality itself'' through the ritual sacrifice of objects and phenomena linked to those laws; the only thing that has kept the Dark Scientsts from becoming gods was the world's (increasingly-violated) privacy, which Nephilopolis has dedicated itself to ruining]]. |
| 100 | * {{Fanservice}}: Mostly of Kimiko herself. Special mention goes to Kimiko [[http://dresdencodak.com/2009/09/07/the-sleepwalkers/ naked]] (Mildly {{NSFW}}), and Kimiko in a [[http://dresdencodak.com/2008/01/25/future-memories/ loose dressing gown]]. One of the odder examples is when [[spoiler:she has an entirely new body built from scratch]], but the robots responsible don't bother to give her a full set of clothes, so she [[http://dresdencodak.com/2015/07/08/dark-science-49-exode/ just walks around in only a sports bra and briefs]] for a few pages. [[spoiler: Arguably justified in that her new body gives her enhanced powers of perception, e.g. being able to see all the stars in the sky during daylight hours, and she feels more at home in her new body than she did in her original one, so clothes might inhibit that.]] |
| 101 | * FanservicePack: Kimiko has one of these when she replaces her cyborg body with a full-body prosthesis. [[https://dresdencodak.com/2015/06/15/dark-science-48-final-form/ Very much so.]] |
| 102 | * FantasticRacism: The regular human inhabitants of Nephilopolis have something against cyborgs. |
| 103 | * FantasticSlur: "Mezzode," for a cyborg. |
| 104 | * LeFilmArtistique: [[http://www.vimeo.com/10593465 This video]], which took over the ''Dresden Codak'' website on AprilFoolsDay 2010. |
| 105 | ** And [[http://vimeo.com/39131013 the sequel]] from AprilFoolsDay 2012. ''And'' the [[ShowWithinAShow Film Within This Film]]! |
| 106 | * FloatingContinent: Nephilopolis |
| 107 | * ForScience: Kimiko's entire purpose in life. |
| 108 | * FunSize: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Tiny Carl Jung.]] |
| 109 | * FunWithAcronyms: [[http://dresdencodak.com/2010/03/11/mademoiselle/ M.A.D.E.M.O.I.S.E.L.L.E.]] |
| 110 | * FutureImperfect: See the ChangedMyJumper point above. |
| 111 | * GadgeteerGenius: Kimiko. |
| 112 | * GratuitousFrench and GratuitousGerman: The AprilFoolsDay movies ''[[http://vimeo.com/10593465 En Deuil]]'' and ''[[http://vimeo.com/39131013 A Work in Progress]]'' respectively. |
| 113 | * GreenEyedMonster: Aside from ParentalAbandonment, this is one of the two reasons Kimiko deeply resents her father, wanting what he has, but also being afraid of what she would have done in his place. |
| 114 | * HerCodenameWasMarySue: Kimiko's attempts at writing fan fiction. |
| 115 | ** [[ViewersAreGeniuses Alternate]] [[ShownTheirWork prehistory]] [[http://dresdencodak.com/2009/09/07/the-sleepwalkers/ fan fiction]] involving her [[WishFulfillment making out with the T.A. from her physics class]]. |
| 116 | * HotBloodedSideburns: Kaito Kusanagi. |
| 117 | * HotPaintJob: In [[http://dresdencodak.com/2019/10/14/dark-science-93-cyborg-violence/ this strip,]] Kim fixes three cyborgs which need attention; she augments one's gyrostabiliser, restores another's eyes to full enhanced function — and paints cool flames on the third's wheels so it can go faster. |
| 118 | * HumansArePsychicInTheFuture: In the first strip. |
| 119 | * ImpracticallyFancyOutfit: [[http://dresdencodak.com/2012/09/26/dark-science-21/ Kimiko borrowing a party dress from Yvonne]] is a rather humorous example, as the latter is taller and much... ahem, [[BuxomBeautyStandard bigger]] than the former. Also, Vonnie's preference for NavelDeepNeckline leaves Kim with some "severe structural questions" (namely how one holds up the front without using their hands). |
| 120 | * IncomingHam: The Aligeri, all except one of whom announce themselves with a VerbalBusinessCard and a flourish of grandiose violence: |
| 121 | -->'''Gulae''': I am Gulae the Devourer. And I cannot be sated. [''kills a bunch of mooks''] |
| 122 | -->'''Fortuna''': Fortuna the Broker. Try not to die. [''destroys a bunch of mook vessels''] |
| 123 | -->'''Volo''': [''who manifests as two people''] Relax, you gals are in good hands. We're Volo the Gambler. [''fuses into a single person with four arms and two faces and then takes out a bunch of mooks with a dual bow-and-arrow thing''] |
| 124 | -->'''Volo''': Somno, introduce yourself. |
| 125 | -->'''Somno''': [''sitting on the ground some distance away''] Nah. |
| 126 | * InfiniteCanvas: [[https://web.archive.org/web/20180517154908/http://dresdencodak.com/cartoons/dc_029.htm Several]] [[http://dresdencodak.com/cartoons/dc_031.htm comics]] [[http://dresdencodak.com/cartoons/dc_027.htm are]] of a length that would be at best impractical for a print comic. Note that the linked comics are not apt to be split into smaller-sized comics either. This has continued into her later strips; [[http://dresdencodak.com/2009/12/16/lantern-season Lantern Season]], arguably the largest one to date[[note]]5,195 pixels tall[[/note]], is, according to the author, "the exact height of Dustin Hoffman". |
| 127 | * InsaneTrollLogic: The Department of Inquisition in Nephilopolis believes that science is about finding the most credible explanation, so therefore the explanation of the one with the best credibility score has to be correct. That this results in them concluding a very real human standing right in front of them is really a weather balloon is neither here nor there. |
| 128 | --->'''Kimiko''': If I may - \ |
| 129 | [TrapDoor]\ |
| 130 | '''Department Head''': You may not. |
| 131 | * InNameOnly: Ronnie's "adaptations." Kimiko sponsors them in order to harvest the energy of their original creators spinning in their graves. |
| 132 | * InterchangeableAsianCultures: In-universe, if [[http://dresdencodak.com/2016/03/08/dark-science-60-kim this]] is any indication, [[spoiler:Kaito Kusanagi, and by extension Kim]] isn't actually Japanese, but Korean, but was forced to pretend to be the former. |
| 133 | * InvisibleToNormals: Implied to be the true nature of Dark Science and Kimiko's memories of bizarre things that do not match up with most people's perception of reality. |
| 134 | * IronicHell: Hell is apparently reserved strictly for [[ChurchMilitant religious]] types. This comic also has an ironic heaven, namely, Secular Heaven, a parody of FluffyCloudHeaven |
| 135 | * ItIsDehumanizing: One Nephilopolitan calls Kimiko an "it" after discovering she's more than 50% prosthetic. |
| 136 | * KentBrockmanNews: The news magazines in Dark Science are hysterically Orwellian, with articles about the hikes in prices-per-word of dissenting speech, a "[[FantasticRacism cyborg rights]]" activist somehow committing suicide in police custody [[TheCoronerDothProtestToomuch with artillery rounds fired from 10 meters away]], and an article about a terrorist assassin whose name is literally written in the paper as "[[OrwellianRetcon Name Deleted, Replace Later]]". |
| 137 | * KickTheDog: Dark Science has Mathias Melchior, Director of the Department of Opposition, who in his first appearance trips a scientist/bureaucrat carrying a huge stack of paper and tosses a old lady with a walking frame off the side of a building. But then again, [[PunchClockVillain that's his job]]. |
| 138 | * LameComeback: Kimiko has one when being [[https://dresdencodak.com/2013/12/02/dark-science-29/ chased and insulted by Leviathan]]. |
| 139 | -->'''Leviathan''': A pretender. A spoiled brat so envious of your so-called father that you can't even see the wondrous gift he gave you. |
| 140 | -->'''Kimiko''': Oh yeah? Well-- |
| 141 | -->[''Beat Panel''] |
| 142 | -->[''Kimiko runs off''] |
| 143 | * LawfulStupid: Alongside VastBureaucracy, is [[PlanetOfHats Nephilopolis' hat]]. So far, every character in the story works for one department or another, and everything is regimented and regulated. You even have to fill out paperwork to have an opinion on a work of art. |
| 144 | ** While she's normally a well-adjusted young lady, in high stress situations, Vonnie routinely reverts to citing rules and regulations, insisting that they be followed to the letter. She even called the police on herself when she was part of an unauthorized escape from custody. |
| 145 | * LightningGun: Leviathan can fly, and has a staff that shoots lightning. Rather than be terrified, Kim seems more interested in finding out how the hell any of that is possible. |
| 146 | * LiteralSplitPersonality: [[http://dresdencodak.com/2006/05/17/anagoge-starring-tiny-carl-jung/ Extrovert Kimiko]]. |
| 147 | * LosingYourHead: Melchior becomes a talking head in a jar, which he's quite annoyed about. |
| 148 | * MadScientist: Kim. |
| 149 | ** Her estranged father seems to be a bit out of touch with reality as well. |
| 150 | * MeaningfulName: Biblical names seem to be popular in Nephilopolis and, worryingly enough, a lot of high-ranking officials are named after demons. They also look [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience suspiciously tanned]]... |
| 151 | * MistakenForSpecialGuest: It turns out that Nephilopolis REALLY likes this trope: Kusanagi himself [[spoiler:was originally an apprentice architect but got stonewalled into the head of robotics engineering. And he's Korean, not Japanese. And due to naming restrictions, Kimiko is technically Kim Young-Soo II because naming his daughter after himself was the only way he could preserve his name]]. |
| 152 | * MsFanservice: Yvonne frequently sports an [[MostCommonSuperpower impressive]] CleavageWindow. |
| 153 | ** Kimiko, more often than you'd think. |
| 154 | * NarratingTheObvious: To create a CatchPhrase - Diaz frequently says that characters are "in a pickle". |
| 155 | * NecessarilyEvil: Thomas, one of the Dark Scientists, attempts to murder Kimiko, because he believes something very bad will happen if Morningstar, the leader of the Dark Scientists, manages to get his hands on her. |
| 156 | * NetworkDecay: Highlighted in-universe in [[http://dresdencodak.com/2010/05/09/spike-guest-comic/ "Spike's Guest Comic"]] |
| 157 | * NomDeMom: Kimiko changed her surname from Kusanagi to Ross after her mother died, with the implication that it was largely to slight her father. |
| 158 | * NoodleIncident: [[http://dresdencodak.com/2008/10/02/epilogue-2/ "Remember when Reverse Moses parted the city to escape Aqua-Pharaoh?"]] |
| 159 | * ObstructiveBureaucrat: Nephilopolis seems to be in the hands of these. |
| 160 | * OddShapedPanel: Panels are often warped and/or arranged in unusual ways. |
| 161 | * OrphanedPunchline: "More like [[http://dresdencodak.com/2009/12/16/lantern-season/ "Nothing but nyet!"]]" |
| 162 | * OverlyLongName: |
| 163 | --> ''My name is Marcus Antonius Claudius Dardanelles [[spoiler:Belphegor]], [[http://dresdencodak.com/2015/01/25/dark-science-39/ Head of the Department of Dissipation...]]'' |
| 164 | * OverlyNarrowSuperlative |
| 165 | * PacingProblems: One of the most commonly recurring criticisms of the comic is that it has these--not Padding or Arc Fatigue, but ''too much plot'' in each episode. One [[https://www.saffroncomic.com/2017/09/06/patron-review-dresden-codak-dark-science/ review]] pointed that the first storyline, "Hob", had ''twelve'' significant plot twists in 80 pages, many of which overrode previous plot twists. The effect of reading several strips in a row is that the reader feels like intervening strips, where the story actually breathes, have been skipped. This may be a feature of how slowly the comic gets written, but for all the awesome art and good ideas, the storytelling has been repeatedly [[https://webcomicoverlook.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/wco239-dresden-codak/ criticised]] as very poorly paced. |
| 166 | * ParentalAbandonment: Kimiko's mom is dead, and her dad had apparently long since [[DisappearedDad buggered off to parts unknown]]. Then HE died. |
| 167 | * PlayingGamesAtWork: [[http://dresdencodak.com/2011/04/19/dark-science-09/ On this page,]] one of the speakers is playing Tetris while talking. |
| 168 | * PrecisionFStrike: Two occur during the first batch of guest comics in the form of newspaper clippings. |
| 169 | * PropagandaPiece: Played for laughs with the ''Nephilopolitan Tribune'', which whenever it posts a story concerning Kimiko always portrays her as a demented assassin and existential threat to society. This is partly done by means of amusing StylisticSuck: for example, the [[https://dresdencodak.com/2015/01/06/dark-science-38/ image]] illustrating a completely fictional story about Kimiko trying to kill Alisa Caspar is actually the [[https://dresdencodak.com/2013/10/02/dark-science-28/ image]] from an earlier strip of Leviathan threatening Kimiko, with Kimiko airbrushed out of it and her head crudely Photoshopped onto Leviathan's body. |
| 170 | ** Its list of "20 Essential Facts you should know about Kimiko Ross" includes "Described as 'demagogue', 'thug' and 'weather balloon' by trusted sources." |
| 171 | * PurpleProse: A ''lot'' of the comic is in text, especially really stilted dialogue that doesn't usually sound like it would come naturally to a person. |
| 172 | * QuintessentialBritishGentleman: Well, Gentlemen: Rupert and Hubert. |
| 173 | * RedOniBlueOni: In the most literal form [[http://dresdencodak.com/2006/05/17/anagoge-starring-tiny-carl-jung/ here.]] The dress sense appears to be a clothing (and hair) example of ColorCodedForYourConvenience |
| 174 | * LaResistance: The Department of Opposition. |
| 175 | ** PlayedWith. The Department are still part of the city's VastBureaucracy and still reports to Nephilopolis' ruling council. |
| 176 | * {{Retcon}}: The in-universe explanation for the Dadaist early strips is that someone has either altered Kimiko's memory or written her new memories from scratch. |
| 177 | --> '''Mr. Bogan:''' [[WhoWritesThisCrap "It's like her mind's a poorly curated wiki."]] |
| 178 | * RetGone: Thomas Caspar, a Dark Scientist who rebelled against the others, begs Kimiko to remember him, because even his own mother won't. [[spoiler:Because as punishment for turning on them, the other Dark Scientists allow a new recruit, Yvonne, to use the Dark Scientific Method to effectively consume his place in reality, reducing him to little more than a SplitPersonality in her head.]] |
| 179 | * RidiculousRepossession: The Dark Science arc starts with Kimiko becoming bankrupt and the bank responding by [[http://dresdencodak.com/2010/06/10/dark-science-02/ blowing up her house]] |
| 180 | * RippleEffectProofMemory: [[spoiler:Even after the Dark Scientists pull a CosmicRetcon, eating pieces of reality out of existence and memory, Kimiko can still remember what they changed.]] |
| 181 | * RPGEpisode: The philosophy-based role-playing game ''[[AlliterationAndAdventurers Dungeons & Discourse]]''. |
| 182 | ** Particularly notable for Dmitri's "Dark Kantian": "[[StupidEvil I am compelled to do evil, regardless of its utility]]." |
| 183 | ** [[DeFictionalization Now in playable form]], thanks to the fans. |
| 184 | * RuleOfDrama: Invoked for laughs when [[https://dresdencodak.com/2021/11/29/dark-science-112-detangling/ Lilith is having a hard time defeating Volo]], and then Ling takes out Volo with a single punch. |
| 185 | -->'''Lilith''': Hold on, you were watching that whole fight? Why didn't you jump in sooner? |
| 186 | -->'''Ling''': Drama. |
| 187 | * RunningGag: Kim just can't go five steps in Nephilopolis without being classified as a vehicle of some description - Vonnie creatively misfiles her as a mid-size sedan, the Department of Inquisition dubs her a weather balloon, [[spoiler:her "Exode" full-body prosthetic is formally classed as a motor vehicle]]... |
| 188 | ** Every time one of the Departments [[YouHaveFailedMe fails to capture Kim]], we get a news article saying "Department Of [X] [[ReleasedToElsewhere Sent to Big Farm Upstate]]". |
| 189 | * SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining: Kim [[http://dresdencodak.com/2010/03/11/mademoiselle/ concentrated on science]] and [[http://dresdencodak.com/2011/02/23/dark-science-08/ let her social skills languish]] all her life. This is especially apparent on her Twitter account. |
| 190 | * ScaryShinyGlasses: Kaito Kusanagi. |
| 191 | * ScienceHero: Kimiko. For example, defeating a flying, lightning-blasting opponent by quickly MacGyvering a giant electromagnet and [[http://dresdencodak.com/2013/12/24/dark-science-30/ tricking them into providing the juice]]? |
| 192 | * ScienceIsBad: Parodied and taken to extremes in [[http://dresdencodak.com/2009/09/22/caveman-science-fiction/ "Caveman Science Fiction".]] |
| 193 | ** A similar parody of this trope appears in the lengthy comment under [[http://dresdencodak.com/2007/09/04/an-exotic-matter/ this comic.]] |
| 194 | * SevenDeadlySins: The Dark Scientists have demonic imagery and several of them share this theme. |
| 195 | * ShaggyDogStory: [[http://dresdencodak.com/2009/12/16/lantern-season/ Lantern Season]] |
| 196 | * ShoutOut: |
| 197 | ** Kimiko "[[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Thunderbolt]]" Ross (née Kimiko Sarai '''Kusanagi''') dresses (and at times acts) a lot like Motoko Kusanagi from ''Franchise/GhostInTheShell'', and like her is a cyborg following the Hob arc. |
| 198 | ** The title of [[https://dresdencodak.com/2008/04/05/kimiko-battles-the-pink-robots/ Hob #19]], "Kimiko Battles The Pink Robots", is a reference to ''Music/YoshimiBattlesThePinkRobots''. |
| 199 | ** [[http://dresdencodak.com/2010/05/07/kc-guest-comic/ This guest strip]] has references to ''Literature/{{Fahrenheit 451}}'', ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'', ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'', ''Film/IRobot'', ''Film/MadMax'' and ''Literature/{{Snowcrash}}''. Wait... [[Webcomic/SweetBroAndHellaJeff what did that first one say about stairs?]] |
| 200 | ** The stuffed animals near the beginning of [[http://dresdencodak.com/2009/12/16/lantern-season/ this]] comic include Beartato and Reginald from ''Webcomic/{{Nedroid}}''. |
| 201 | ** [[http://dresdencodak.com/2012/03/09/dark-science-17/ Caspar]] is clearly a stand-in for Creator/AynRand, considering her books titled [[Literature/TheFountainhead "Wellspring"]] and [[Literature/AtlasShrugged "Nimrod Faltered"]] |
| 202 | ** [[http://dresdencodak.com/2007/12/01/live-forever-or-die-trying/ This page]] references ''Anime/PrincessMononoke''. |
| 203 | ** The time colonists were a parody of the primary crew of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. Their leader, in particular, is a dead ringer for Creator/PatrickStewart. He refers to his second in command as [[NumberTwo Number One]] and [[http://dresdencodak.com/2008/10/22/the-end/ later]] responds to a request with "I will [[Catchphrase/LiveActionTV make it so]]." Another set of TNG parodies appear in "Dark Science", with a dark-skinned guard with a silver sash being a pretty clear reference to Worf. |
| 204 | ** Unknown, but the fellows apprehending Balthazar [[http://dresdencodak.com/2012/12/03/dark-science-23/ here]] seem to have something of a resemblance to [[ComicStrip/SpyVsSPy "Spy"]] |
| 205 | ** Melchior of the Dark Science arc has an uncanny resemblance to The Thin Man from ''{{Film/Metropolis}}'', and the base of the organzation to wich he belongs looks exactly as Rotwang's home from the same film. |
| 206 | ** [[http://dresdencodak.com/2012/12/24/dark-science-24/ The ruin on an island]] that Melchior and Balthazar visit is a near-exact replica of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_the_Dead_(painting)#mediaviewer/File:Arnold_B%C3%B6cklin_006.jpg Isle of the Dead]], which was painted by Arnold Böcklin in the late 19th century. |
| 207 | ** The exam being given to [[spoiler:Vonnie]] in [[http://dresdencodak.com/2015/05/18/dark-science-46/ "Moving On"]] is fairly reminiscent of the Voight-Kampff test in ''Film/BladeRunner''. The blaster she uses [[http://dresdencodak.com/2015/07/08/dark-science-49-exode/ here]] is also identical to Rick Deckard's. |
| 208 | ** When [[spoiler: Kim is asked to draw her mother, she ends up drawing the Rising Sun symbol instead]], in the same way that [[Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex being ghost hacked made people unknowingly draw The Laughing Man's logo instead of his face]]. |
| 209 | ** The multiple mentions of autistic boys in "Essential Third Act Twists" should sound familiar to anyone who knows of the infamous finale of ''Series/StElsewhere''. |
| 210 | * SigilSpam: Kimiko puts the Dark Science symbol on pretty much everything, apparently [[http://dresdencodak.com/2015/11/30/dark-science-56-memories/ without realizing it]]. |
| 211 | * TheSingularity: Kimiko mentions it a few times in the comic. She (and the author) ''are'' futurists, after all. |
| 212 | ** [[spoiler: In addition, the time travelers are refugees from an alternate timeline where this almost happened, but they rebelled and killed off anyone beyond baseline human intelligence,]] and [[spoiler: the series climax involves a second, small-scale one causing a DeusExitMachina.]] |
| 213 | * SophisticatedAsHell: Regarding [[http://dresdencodak.com/2014/10/06/dark-science-35/ Melchior:]] |
| 214 | -->'''Belphegor:''' His mind is an unpalatable web of lies and deception. Suffice it to say, he's an ass. |
| 215 | * SpaceAmish: The time travelers in the Hob arc [[spoiler: destroyed future Earth because they believed post-singularity technology had taken all meaning from their lives, and they planned to colonize the past Earth and live like us "noble savages"]] |
| 216 | * SpringtimeForHitler: "Your "Pay by the hour apartment" concept actually makes money. -go back 2-" |
| 217 | * StuffBlowingUp: [[LampshadeHanging "This seems excessive on the bank's part."]] With a PlungerDetonator, too. |
| 218 | * StupidEvil: Dmitri Tokamak's "Dark Kantian" in [[http://dresdencodak.com/2009/01/27/advanced-dungeons-and-discourse/ Advanced Dungeons and Discourse]]: |
| 219 | --> I am compelled to do evil, regardless of its utility. |
| 220 | * StylisticSuck: The Nephilopolis newspaper, ''Nephilopolitan Tribune'', suffers a staff strike, with the result that there's nobody to proofread it. The results are... amateurish. |
| 221 | -->While Nephilopolitan staff have gone on strike over "unpaid wages" and "un comfortable number of handguns in the writer's room", management is exci ted to announce a new internship position. Can you read? Also do you kno w where spell check button is? If you can find it for us, you may already be qualified! Startinng pay is up to and including exposure. Contact human resources at New Hires at Nephilopolitan dot what? Gone? How does an unpaid intern go on strike? Unbelievable. Then who's answerin g the email? I don't have the login. I said I don't have the login. Quantifica tion's gonna liquidate ius if we don't. [=HOld=] on the dictation bot is still on. Delet e last paragraph. Delete laste paragre. Delete. Last. Paragragh. I think it w orked. |
| 222 | * SuperSenses: According to the author, Kimiko's robotic eye shifts, the iris becoming more square, to give her better vision in low light. |
| 223 | ** Then majorly upgraded after [[spoiler: she gets her new body]], and can hear "the bioelectric voices of the river, tugging at the Earth's magnetic field", among other things. |
| 224 | * SuperStrength: After her [[spoiler: upgrade to a new body]], Kimiko can lift several cows. |
| 225 | * SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: "I'm not a criminal, I've never even been convicted of a felony in this state," gives us three. "Convicted"[[labelnote:*]]Which leaves the possibility of mistrials, "not guilty" verdicts, and committing the crime undetected.[[/labelnote]], "felony"[[labelnote:*]]Leaves open misdemeanors.[[/labelnote]], and obviously "in this state"[[labelnote:*]]There are many other states.[[/labelnote]]. |
| 226 | * SwissArmyAppendage: Kim's artificial arm. It's apparently weaker than her real one, though. |
| 227 | * TalkativeLoon: "Radnar!" "By the stone of Daggoth!" "Keeper of the five rings!" |
| 228 | ** "By the moat of Maggoth!" "The cloak of Bungo!" |
| 229 | ** [[spoiler: "Hey, it's her."]] |
| 230 | * TeenGenius: Kimiko. Who has entered her early twenties (it says so on the cast page!), but continues to fit in the looser sense of being young, brilliant, and angsty. |
| 231 | * TendrilsOfDarkness: Leviathan/Thomas [[https://dresdencodak.com/2014/09/22/dark-science-34/ uses these on Kimiko]] when he's just about to kill her--in a particularly nasty example, they wrap around her throat and then envelop her whole head. [[spoiler: Fortunately for her, his 15 minutes of mandated mayhem then end, and she survives.]] |
| 232 | * TerminallyDependentSociety: "Mother" is a world-assimilating ArtificialIntelligence[=/=]GreyGoo/[[TheSingularity Singularity]] that provides everything Humanity asks for -- to point of making people unnecessary, irrelevant and progressively infantile. They go to the verge of extinction as life in the virtual worlds she/it provides takes precedence over breeding. When humanity finally goes to war with Mother, victory comes at a terrible cost: much of human history and culture dies with Mother, and every human is blinded. |
| 233 | * ThinkingOutLoud: Played for laughs when Kimiko monologues to Tvcat[[note]]It's a cat with a TV instead of a head, obviously[[/note]] about Nephilopolis, her father and her own early life, thinking that Tvcat is merely your average local animal, and then notices Asmodea and Balthazar hiding behind the furniture listening to her. |
| 234 | -->'''Kimiko''': [''falling out of her chair'''] WAUGH How long were you-- |
| 235 | -->'''Asmodea''': Pretty much the whole time. |
| 236 | -->'''Balthazar''': You kept going and it got increasingly awkward to say something. |
| 237 | -->'''Tvcat''': It's also very rude to interrupt. |
| 238 | -->[''Kimiko has a "WTF the cat can TALK?" expression''] |
| 239 | * TokenEvilTeammate: the Dark Kantian in [[http://dresdencodak.com/2009/01/27/advanced-dungeons-and-discourse/ this one]]. He is compelled to do evil, regardless of its utility. |
| 240 | * {{Transhuman}}: See TheSingularity above. |
| 241 | * TransTribulations: Asmodea [[spoiler:was split into three parts. One and Two are respectively brains and brawn, but the third, Lilith, is Asmodea's gender dysphoria. After they realize this, they change their name to Elith and start wearing masculine clothing]]. |
| 242 | * TruthInTelevision: [[http://dresdencodak.com/2006/10/22/phantoms-of-a-lost-muse/ Phantoms of a Lost Muse]] is based on the premise that people contribute small parts towards a greater work. Similarly, [[http://www.westendshowslondon.com/news/91129royal-opera-house-is-all-of-a-twitter/ the Royal Opera house is planning to show an opera written by Twitter contributors]]. |
| 243 | * {{Underboobs}}: Vonnie [[http://dresdencodak.com/2012/09/26/dark-science-21/ wears a dress]] that confers these upon her. |
| 244 | ** Later on, [[https://dresdencodak.com/2021/05/30/dark-science-107-performance-of-a-lifetime/ during an]] ImagineSpot (although this being ''Dresden Codak'', it might not be), Kimiko herself is dressed in a {{Stripperiffic}} warrior costume that gives her these. |
| 245 | * UnreliableNarrator: Played for laughs when Kim asks a BrainlessBeauty guy out for coffee under the impression that he's very smart and as into transhumanism as she is. He turns out to be a Ditz who's chiefly interested in sports, and when he refers to his favourite team as the "Sportland Sports", this is presumably Kim's own complete lack of interest in sport editing his dialogue to reflect the fact that one sports team (and indeed one sport) is, as far as she's concerned, no different from any other. |
| 246 | * UnusualUserInterface: Kimiko has a interface jack in her upper back post-Hob. |
| 247 | -->'''Kim:''' Ugh, your network tastes like old soap. |
| 248 | * VastBureaucracy: Nephilopolis not only has departments of 'Tastes' and 'Opposition', but you have to register every single robbery you commit. |
| 249 | -->'''Nephilopolis Poster''': Register your crimes. It's the law. |
| 250 | * VerbalTic: Whenever Kimiko is startled while seated to the point that she falls off her chair, she cries "Waugh!" This [[Creator/EvelynWaugh may or may not be]] a ShoutOut. |
| 251 | * ViewersAreGeniuses: |
| 252 | ** It does tend to refer to all sorts of weird and obscure topics; but the author, [[TheSingularity unsurprisingly]], expects readers to augment their own intelligences with the Internet while reading, as mentioned in the comic comment [[http://dresdencodak.com/2007/05/06/after-many-a-summer-dies-the-swan/ here]]. |
| 253 | * WeaksauceWeakness: For some inane reason, the Dark Scientists can be slowed by [[spoiler:trapping them in a ring of water]], despite common sense saying they should be able to fly over it. [[spoiler:Except for those who joined later, apparently...]][[spoiler:It's later revealed that only Yvonne could teleport over the ring because she's the only one for whom the technology would work, due to the CosmicRetcon principles of the Dark Scientific Method.]] |
| 254 | * WhatYearIsThis: The time travelers in the Hob storyline, when they realize [[spoiler:Kimiko is their BigBad]]. |
| 255 | * WonderTwinPowers: ''[[http://dresdencodak.com/2007/11/15/you-gotta-make-way-for-the-homo-superior/ Kimiko's friends appear to have these powers.]]'' |
| 256 | --> Powers...Combine!\ |
| 257 | [[SuperSpeed Probability Distribution of]]...Electron Cloud!\ |
| 258 | [[SuperToughness Density with mass reaching the boundaries of]]...[[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/blogs/physics/2012/01/the-chandrasekhar-limit-the-threshold-that-makes-life-possible/ The Chandrasekhar Limit!]] |
| 259 | * WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Kimiko. Especially the strips where she flashes back to her childhood. ''All of 'em.'' Also, [[http://dresdencodak.com/2010/03/11/mademoiselle/ the board game]] about it. |
| 260 | * WordSaladTitle: The title is a reference to the Dresden Codex, a Maya book considered to be the oldest written document in the New World. |
| 261 | * WrenchWench: Kimiko, especially in the Hob storyline. |
| 262 | * YouCanSeeMe: Balthazar is constantly followed by what looks like a hovering robot that frequently says "Radnar". When Kimiko asks him about it, he asks what in the world she is talking about and the entity asks this question word for word. |
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