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1[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/austencomics_8446.png]]
2
3->''"I was told I make intelligent comics, and then I made a comic about a horse that pooped."''
4-->-- '''Kate Beaton'''
5
6''[[http://www.harkavagrant.com/ Hark! A Vagrant]]'' is a largely history-based {{Webcomic}} by Kate Beaton, best known for its historical comics, which are one-shots of varying length focusing on historical events or figures [[AnachronismStew getting into pretty inaccurate situations.]]
7
8Recurring themes include Beaton visiting her younger self, UsefulNotes/{{Canada}}, a pony called "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Fat Pony]]", and a story about a sailor who meets a mermaid. Like most webcomics, there is little continuity between entries, and it rose to fame through MemeticMutation taking hold on a few comics. Also, rather than use AltText, Beaton usually accompanies each comic with a short paragraph.
9
10The webcomic went on hiatus in mid-December 2016 as Beaton switched focus to a graphic novel she was working on, though she continued to post sporadic updates on her Website/{{Tumblr}}. On the 10th of October 2018 Beaton updated the website to inform readers that due to personal issues and continuing work on other projects she had decided that ''Hark!'' had run its course and the website would now be an archive of the comic with no new comics planned. The comic can be read [[http://harkavagrant.com on its site.]] Additionally, Kate Beaton has a personal tumblr which can be seen [[http://beatonna.tumblr.com/ here,]] and a Platform/LiveJournal [[http://beatonna.livejournal.com here.]], though both have been dormant since 2017 and 2012 respectively; she can currently be found on [[https://twitter.com/beatonna Twitter]] and [[https://www.instagram.com/kate.beaton/ Instagram]].
11
12----
13!!This webcomic provides examples of:
14
15* AdaptationDecay: Not of the comic itself, but Beaton [[DiscussedTrope has a pretty good theory]] for [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=210 how this happened to]] [[Literature/SherlockHolmes Dr. Watson]].
16* AdiposeRex: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=26 "George IV, You Are Too Fat To Be King."]]
17* AffectionateParody: Of history and literature, among other things.
18* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Satirized [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=202 using two of the authors who popularized the trope]].
19* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: PlayedForLaughs InUniverse.
20** [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=15 Marat]] spends all his time in the tub because he really likes baths.
21---> "Sometimes? I pretend to be Neptune."
22** Also, her ''Literature/NancyDrew'' comics, where she takes the covers to old books in the series and comes up with... alternate explanations for the scenes shown. Other characters are often shown worrying about Nancy's mental health.
23** Her [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=305 take]] on [[Characters/SupermanLoisLane Lois Lane]] is that she's a normal reporter who's just trying to do her job, but ComicBook/{{Superman}} keeps bothering her by trying (and failing) to get her to care about his SecretIdentity.
24** Beaton's interpretation of Franchise/WonderWoman is [[{{Jerkass}} somewhat unconventional]].
25** [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=295 Sexy Batman]] definitely qualifies.
26* AmateurSleuth: Parodied with the Mystery Solving Teens, who are rather apathetic about their "job" of solving mysteries and usually just want to loiter somewhere. In Beaton's words, "real teens don't give a shit about anything".
27* AmazonianBeauty: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=346 Cinderella]], of all people!
28* AmusinglyShortList: In [[http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=40 this]] instalment, [[UsefulNotes/MiyamotoMusashi Musashi's]] opponent has a list of things necessary for a duel: that list being "dudes" and "swords".
29* AnachronismStew: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=139 Lampshaded here]].
30* AngelsPose: The Strong Female Characters, often combined with a BoobsAndButtPose (with all the ridiculous contortion that would suggest).
31* AntiquatedLinguistics: Consistently [[AvertedTrope averted]]. No matter what time period the comic is set in, all characters use modern English [[RuleOfFunny because it's funny]]. The only comics that play this straight are the [[TitleDrop title-dropping]] comic with Kate and the [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=132 vagrant]] and [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=372 the Founding Fathers]] [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=375 strips]], which invert this by having characters speak in AntiquatedLinguistics in very modern settings (the exception being Creator/BenjaminFranklin, who immediately adapts to modern American English for extra funny).
32* ApologizesALot: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=250 Canadians]].
33* AreYouPonderingWhatImPondering: Beaton's version of Macbeth's reaction to the witches' prophecy:
34-->'''Banquo''': Are you thinking what I'm thinking?\
35'''Macbeth''': ''(thinking)'' Kill everyone.\
36'''Banquo''': Ha ha! Our kids are totally gonna hook up!\
37'''Macbeth''': What?
38* ArtEvolution: Compare [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=1 the first posted comic]] to [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=332 one from 2012]].
39* AuthorAppeal: Beaton's comics are about literature and history.
40* AuthorAvatar: In the "younger self" comics.
41* BadassBoast: The [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=331 velocipedestrienne]] has one, partly thanks to NoPunctuationIsFunnier.
42-->'''Velocipedestrienne''': You see me rollin up pops you step aside
43* BeigeProse: Very frequently, sometimes averted.
44* BerserkButton:
45** [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=5 Charles Babbage and musicians]].
46---> '''Georgiana:''' [speculating on her husband's legacy] "Charles Babbage, he hated musicians"\
47'''Charles:''' I hate musicians SO MUCH\
48'''Georgiana:''' "Charles Babbage, does he have to make a big spectacle of it every time we go out"
49** [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=219 Beethoven, at the mention of Haydn by his nephew Karl van Beethoven]].
50---> '''Beethoven:''' Ah, you say these things to hurt me, but I know it isn't true. You love me best.\
51'''Karl:''' Everything you know you learned from Haydn.\
52'''Beethoven:''' Why do you always - HAYDN TAUGHT ME '''NOTHING'''.\
53'''Karl:''' You're such a '''douche'''.
54* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Pointed out in the parody of the colonial-era novel ''Young Goodman Brown''. Even ''the Devil'' thinks Brown is a hypocrite.
55* BlackComedy:
56** Historical events and personages are depicted in a comedic manner, even the darker, more terrifying ones.
57** Defied in an early strip about the Battle of Gettysburg, where her attempts to brainstorm cartoon ideas with a ghost has him snap that "everyone I knew died and it was grisly as fuck."
58* BlackSpot:
59** Spoofed in [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=281 here]] (second comic), where a group of [[DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster gangsters]] give a man the Black Spot, to which he responds "You've mixed up genres."
60** Also spoofed [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=265 here]] (third comic), where an actual pirate comments on the Black Spot not being a real practice. The guy who gave it to him kills him anyway.
61* BleepDammit: A weird case of this happening with ''nudity''; one of the Strong Female Characters was originally designed with an eyepatch covering only one of her breasts, but the final design has a pair of them... but then the original concept art is posted further down on the page anyway.
62* BoobsAndButtPose:
63** [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=311 The strong female characters take this as a challenge]].
64** Anne of Cleves is shown doing this in her portrait in [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=348 "Anne of Cleves Gables"]].
65** Of all people, [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=187 so did Prince Albert.]]
66** The original Pygmalion "perfects" his statue of Galatea with this.
67* BrainBleach: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=32 "Get away from me James Joyce."]]
68* BreakoutCharacter: Fat Pony. Lampshaded in one of the later comics where he appears.
69* BritsLoveTea: And [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=38 Australian General John Monash is having none of it]].
70-->'''British General''': Mock the British, then, Monash, go ahead! But I hardly think--
71-->'''Monocled Upper-Class Twit''': [''looming into the frame holding a teacup''] DID SOMEONE SAY TEA PARTY
72* CallBack:
73** "Janice", one of the skulls from [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=279 Nancy Drew 2]], returns in [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=317 Nancy Drew 4]] to lead Nancy on a wild goose chase.
74** [[Literature/TheGreatGatsby Tom and Daisy]], who originally appeared in [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php/index.php?id=259 Great Gatsbys]], show up again in [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=393 Goreys]].
75* CatUpATree: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=225 Here]]. And Franchise/WonderWoman is supposed to rescue it. HilarityEnsues.
76* CanadaEh: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=250 Canadian stereotypes comics]].
77* CelibateHero: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=61 Tesla]], the Celibate Scientist.
78* CharlieAndTheChocolateParody: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=203 Charlie and the Marvelous Turnip Factory]], where Charlie gets a ticket to go to the "wonderful and magical" factory. Too bad Charlie hates turnips.
79* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: The comic synopsis of ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'' points out that Tom and Daisy's daughter disappears (and isn't mentioned again) after she's introduced, giving the impression that Tom and Daisy are both terrible parents who often neglect her.
80* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}:
81** Literature/NancyDrew, [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=278 in]] [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=279 four]] [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=293 Gorey]] [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=317 Covers]] collections.
82** Arguably, Kate herself. The [[{{Filler}} lunch break comics]] seem to support this theory.
83* ClusterFBomb: A good deal of the Mystery-Solving Teens' dialogue.
84* CoolOldGuy: [[http://beatonna.livejournal.com/41704.html Pope John Paul II]].
85* CourteousCanadian: One of the titular stereotypes in the "Canadian Stereotype Comics" strip:
86** The United States staves off a mob of upset Canadians by engaging them in polite conversation. The angry hockey fans instinctively respond back with "...thank you, it's so nice to be here."
87** A Canadian guy [[BedroomAdulteryScene catches his wife in bed with another man]] -- and all three of them end up apologizing to each other over the situation.
88* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: [[http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=40 A humourous portrayal of Musashi]] in his duel against Kojiro, being late and using an oar because he forgot his sword ("You can't expect me to remember everything!"), while Kojiro is annoyed because there were only two things they needed for their duel - ''Dudes and Swords''. [[RuleOfFunny Kate Beaton notes he actually carved the oar into a sword intentionally, but it was funnier this way]]. Kojiro is naturally annoyed at losing to such a person.
89* CutenessProximity: "[[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=307 Awe dogs of war! How can I stay all broody around you?]]"
90* DeadlyDeferredConversation: In the ''Literature/{{Kokoro}}'' comics Sensei's reluctance and hesitance to share his backstory with the young man, and the fact that he only does so in his suicide note, is lampshaded in [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=359 "The Heart of Things (But Later)"]]
91-->''I would like to tell you about my past juicy secrets, and yet I think a dog will bark somewhere so that I cannot continue my story.''
92* {{Determinator}}: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=276 Andrew Jackson does not like getting outdone, especially not about cheese]].
93* DirtyOldMan: Creator/BenjaminFranklin in the [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=372 Founding Fathers]] [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=375 strips]]...[[TruthInTelevision just like in real life, really]].
94* DroitDuSeigneur: "[[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=342 So there I was]], about to take my right as lord of the land, to first night with this hot young bride" "...[[SarcasmMode As is 100% expected and real]]"
95* DungAges: The Medieval Peasant Teen Couple are living in them. They try to make the best of it, but it's pretty bad all around.
96** Also, the strip parodying the non-fiction book ''The Origins Of the Medieval World''.
97---> '''Peasant''': Why are we eating gruel with our hands?!\
98'''Other Peasant''': Dude, it's the Dark Ages, no one knows shit about anything yet. You're lucky we have ''bowls''.
99* EntertaininglyWrong: Banquo in [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=262 strip #2]].
100* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: The dark-haired Mystery Solving Teen loves his [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=241 grandma]]. The Mystery Solving Teen with bangs loves his grandma, too, but he doesn't look like a giant tit when he wears the things she makes for him.
101* EvenEvilHasStandards: Even the Devil himself quickly gets fed up with ''Literature/YoungGoodmanBrown''s hypocrisy and racism.
102--> '''Satan''': Jeez, you and your binaries.
103* EvenTheGuysWantHim: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=120 "Meanwhile in a 20 mile radius of this event: Bodices ripping, men turning gay."]]
104* {{Facepalm}}: Karl Heinrich Ulrichs slaps a hand over his face while he's trying to argue for gay rights, when he compares it to people needing to speak up against witch hunts in the (then) near past only for a lady to say that ''[[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=396 "Ok, except everyone knows witches don't exist."]]'' Ulrichs is a real historical figure, who was advocating for gay rights ''before the word homosexual was coined'' and ended up exiled for his activism.
105* FanDumb: [[invoked]] Creator/JaneAusten is frustrated with people obsessing over Darcy's hotness and [[Literature/PrideAndPrejudiceAndZombies adding zombies to her books]].
106--> '''Fan:''' Is it a social commentary about hunky dreamboats\
107'''Austen:''' NO
108* FanFic: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=266 "You are not a very good monk."]]
109* TheFateOfThePrincesInTheTower: PlayedForLaughs, obviously, while pointing out that UsefulNotes/RichardIII wasn't the only one with motive, means and opportunity.
110* FemmeFatale: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=362 Parodied, of course.]]
111--> "I enjoy guns and crafts. Don't box me in."
112* {{Flanderization}}: Watson appears as a FatIdiot who goes about saying things like “By jove, a clue!” The original, un-Flanderized Watson is very annoyed by this. He's not happy about Gay Watson either.
113* FoeRomanceSubtext:
114** [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=265 NEMESIS]]
115** [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=327 Taken here to exorbitant levels]].
116** Also [[Literature/LesMiserables Jean Valjean and Javert]], even if [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=288 Javert doesn't quite get it]].
117* GeneralFailure: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=12 Charles Edward Stewart]] "leads" his troops to slaughter at Culloden, except he stays behind and buggers off to France afterwards.
118* GogglesDoNothing: "[[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=266 Tell me they do something]]."
119* HardOnSoftScience: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=231 "You can't just 'make things up'!"]]
120* {{Hipster}}s: They [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=228 ruin]] [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=229 everything]]. It also demonstrates that hipsters are OlderThanYouThink: ''historical'' hipsters, like the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incroyables_and_Merveilleuses Incroyables and Merveilleuses]] of post-revolutionary France who enrage an aristocratic survivor of the Terror by wearing fancy clothes "ironically" while he does as an act of defiance. The point being that directionless youths have always appropriated things and made them annoying. [[invoked]]
121* HistoricalInJoke: The main point behind most of the comics.
122* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: One strip [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=53 points out]] that [[TheHighwayman Dick Turpin]] doesn't deserve his status as a FolkHero.
123* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: Used frequently, although PlayedForLaughs.
124* HistoricalVillainUpgrade:
125** Lampshaded. [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=50 "We have no REAL proof that Richard killed his nephews!"]]
126** [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=25 Genghis Khan sets the record straight on his own.]] He does kill all his enemies though. And he's not gonna lie, it's pretty brutal.
127* HotterAndSexier: The strip "[[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=230 Sexy Tudors]]" explicitly invokes the trope to parody ''Series/TheTudors'': Lord Cecil goes to inform Queen Elizabeth I about her cousin/rival Mary of Scotland. The English Queen is posing sexily in every panel and showing cleavage, and chides Cecil for not doing the same. Cecil then '''tries''' to strike a sexy pose, but looks very awkward doing so.
128-->''History blows unless it's sexy!''
129* HoYay: Invoked.
130** Victorian scholars [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=164 couldn't handle it]].
131** Also [[PlayingWithATrope played with]] in this [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=264 follow-up]] to the above-referenced Holmes comic.
132** And some with [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=295 Sexy Batman]]. [[HoYay/{{Batman}} Appropriately enough]].
133* HospitalHottie: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=258 "Help me, handsome doctor."]]
134* HotWitch: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=352 It's hard to be sexy inside a pumpkin.]]
135* HypocriticalHumor:
136** [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=266 Victorians]].
137** Concerning Victoria herself, [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=187 her son's disapproval of her racy memoirs]].
138-->Mummy that is not appropriate.
139-->You're one to talk.
140** Charlotte Corday, [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=15 to Marat's rubber duck]]:
141-->Damn nutty revolutionaries.
142* ICantBelieveItsNotHeroin: Apparently there's ''something'' growing in Literature/TheSecretGarden that makes Mary and Colin very...[[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=350 relaxed]].
143* InsufferableGenius: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=302 Chopin and Liszt]].
144-->'''Chopin''': Unrelated, we are both on the cover of "Enormous Ego" this week.\
145'''Liszt''': Only this week?
146** Liszt is shown having written a biography on Chopin...the issue with this [[ItsAllAboutMe is shown by how his name and face take up a much larger part of the cover]].
147* IntimateOpenShirt: Parodied in "[[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=120 'Ooh Mister Darcy', a Fan Fiction]]". Darcy arrives home and states that "also my shirt opened?" This seems to have happened completely out of nowhere, to the point that Darcy himself [[ConfusedQuestionMark seems confused about it]], but it leads to him and Elizabeth having sex. And he leaves his cravat on.
148* {{Jerkass}}: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=154 Lord Alfred Douglas]].
149-->'''Bosie''': I hate my father. Oscar, you must sue him in a mindless case that will lead to your downfall so I can piss him off.
150-->'''Oscar''': [''adoringly''] Okay.
151-->'''Bosie''': [''AsideGlance, smirking''] [[ShoutOut Ain't I a]] [[WesternAnimation/BugsBunny stinker]].
152* KissingCousins: Spoofed [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=353 here]]:
153-->'''Edward the Black Prince:''' But I want to marry my cousin.
154-->'''Edward III:''' A man wishes to marry his cousins, this is natural! Yet think of the realm. God, the cousins I could have -- but no.
155* LoonyFan: Actor Edwin Booth (brother of John Wilkes Booth) and his [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=19 fans having a Hamletgasm]].
156* LoopholeAbuse: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=144 Chiune Sugihara]] writing thousands of visas for Jewish refugees fleeing Lithuania, claiming that they're all legitimate tourists.
157-->''Chiune:'' Jews--they LOVE Japan, everyone knows that!
158* LoveableRogue: Played straight in [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=53 Robin Hood]], then immediately subverted by Dick Turpin, who doesn't care about the poor.
159* MadonnaWhoreComplex: Parodied, naturally with the [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=391 "Body Police"]]
160* ManlyFacialHair: Apparently, at least one objection to Sanford Fleming's proposed system of standardized time zones was inspired by [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=22 jealousy of Fleming's magnificent beard]].
161* MemeticMutation: Referenced InUniverse. [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=120 "OH MR. [insert character here], A Fanfiction"]] is spoofed commonly in [[SlashFic slash]] circles, as is [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=258 "Help Me Handsome Doctor"]].
162** [[http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=326 Motha. Fuckin. Bread crumbs.]]
163* {{Metaphorgotten}}: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=300 Elizabeth I]] provides what may be the '''most incredibly awesome''' example of this to date.
164* {{Mooning}}: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=238 "Gentlemen, I propose my bottom!"]]
165* MrFanservice: Mr. Darcy, Handsome Doctor, and Sexy {{ComicBook/Batman}}.
166* MushroomSamba: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=350 In the Secret Garden.]]
167* MyBelovedSmother: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=65 Wu Zetian]].
168-->'''Kate Beaton''': I think if Creator/SamuelLJackson was a woman, Chinese, and alive during the Tang Dynasty, he would be this woman right here.
169* MyGirlIsNotASlut: The entire point of ''Literature/{{Dracula}}''.
170* MyGrandmaCanDoBetterThanYou: Nelson's grandma kisses [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=164 better than Hardy]].
171* NightmareFuel: InUniverse. [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=32 James Joyce's letters to Nora Barnacle]] would give anyone nightmares.
172* NominalHero: Nick, the narrator of ''Gatsby'', is portrayed as this when he tells his fellow characters that he's an easygoing, nonjudgmental guy who can be friends with assholes like them.
173* NoPunctuationIsFunnier: More often than not, sentences are left hanging in their bubbles.
174* NoRespectGuy: Benedict Arnold can't get anyone to surrender [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=3 because they don't know who he is]].
175* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=327 Because of]] the FoeRomanceSubtext.
176* OtherMeAnnoysMe: Watson's reaction to [[{{Flanderization}} Stupid Watson]].
177* OvershadowedByAwesome: Katherine Sui Fun Cheng can't tone down [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=374 that thing where she's cooler than everyone else]]
178* ParentalNeglect: PlayedForLaughs in her ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'' comics. [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=259 WHAT BABY.]]
179* PlagiarismInFiction: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=240 "Every Lady Scientist Who Ever Did Anything (until recently)"]] depicts a simplified version of the real life theft of Rosalind Franklin's research and innovations by male scientists.
180* PeriodPieceModernLanguage: Much of the comic's humor is from the historical figures and fictional characters speaking very casually and humorously. For example, the [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=202 Brontës]] react to a [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys mean guy with "Nice" and "I know, right?"]] or [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=213 Jules Verne writing to Edgar Allan Poe like a fangirl]].
181* PolitenessJudo: The President makes good use of this when the Canadians invade. [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=250 "Don't worry. I know their weakness. They can't help themselves."]]
182* PoliticiansKissBabies: Kissing babies [[http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=43 gets in the way of Emperor Norton's duties]].
183* PrecisionFStrike: By UsefulNotes/MarkAntony, [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=307 of all people]].
184* ProfessionalButtKisser: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=262 Joking portrayal of Shakespeare]] from him likely writing ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}'' to appeal to King James I.
185-->'''Witch''': Banquo's sons will be kings, yes.
186-->Each one will get handsomer and handsomer until King James I.
187-->'''King James''': ''(starry-eyed)'' Did that really happen??
188-->'''Shakespeare''': Yes.
189* RealDreamsAreWeirder: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=307 This strip]]. Calpurnia dreams that Caesar is going to be killed on the Ides of March. Caesar dreams about robes made of hot dogs.
190* ReallyGetsAround: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=144 Catherine the Great-In-Bed]]. Who invades Poland by ''sleeping with all of it''.
191* RealWomenDontWearDresses: Parodied with [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=311 "Strong Female Characters"]].
192-->'''Strong Female Character''' ''(while punching a {{housewife}} in the face)'': Your reign of terror is over you cookie baking [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch BITCH!]]
193* RecurringCharacter: There are several of them.
194** Creator/KateBeaton
195** Young Kate Beaton ("Younger Self")
196** UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte
197** Creator/JaneAusten
198** The fat Shetland pony
199** The Founding Fathers
200** [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent Saucy Mermaids]]
201** Pope John Paul II
202** [[KidDetective The Mystery-Solving Teens]]
203** St. Francis
204** [[FoeRomanceSubtext A Pirate and his British Naval Officer Nemesis]] [[invoked]]
205** The Strong Female Characters
206** The Canadian Stereotype guys
207** Literature/NancyDrew
208** Creator/TomCruise in ''Film/TopGun''
209** [[DungAges The Medieval Peasant Teen Couple]]
210** The Bronte sisters, with Creator/AnneBronte acting as the OnlySaneMan
211* RuleOfFunny: The reason why various historical figures and fictional characters are shown saying/doing things they would never actually say/do.
212%%* ShmuckBait
213* ScreamingAtSquick: In "[[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=145 Anne of Cleves You Are Not The Favorite Wife]]", Anne shrieks in horror at the sight of her [[UsefulNotes/HenryVIII new husband]].
214-->AAAAUGH! Shit, I mean -- ooooh.
215%%* SeashellBra
216* SelfDeprecation:
217** [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=73 "You should see the garbage you try to pass off as comics!"]]
218** [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=81 Also inverted]].
219** Beaton usually portrays her present-self as stocky and sardonic while her "younger" self is always very optimistic; unpredictably, her younger self is almost always disappointed of her present-self.
220* ShoutOut: My fossils bring all the boys to the yard and they're like: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=399 you still can't join the geological society of London.]] [[note]] Is Music/{{Kelis}}' milkshake song a gift to humanity, or what?[[/note]]
221* ShownTheirWork: Beaton is a legitimate historian, and her comics reflect that.
222* ShowSomeLeg: The best way to attract Dracula is apparently to show off a bit of cleavage.
223* SingleTargetSexuality: Queen Victoria for [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=187 Albert]].
224%%* SophisticatedAsHell
225* SoreLoser: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=349 Alexander the Great doesn't like to lose at board games, and Alexander Pushkin doesn't like to lose at cat shows]].
226* StalkerWithACrush: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=305 Superman, apparently]].
227* StrawFeminist:
228** Though Beaton herself doesn't consider them as such, [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=311 The Strong Female Characters]], who are the movieland, ActionGirl version.
229** Mocked ''impressively'' in the (actual) [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=341 Straw Feminists strip]].
230* StayInTheKitchen:
231** Regarding "Literature/TheYellowWallpaper", an early work of American feminist literature (and a Gothic horror story):
232-->'''Protagonist''': Doctor, there's a woman in the wallpaper.\
233'''Doctor''': That woman has a feminist agenda. Tell her to get in the wallpaper that's in the kitchen.
234** In another strip, a man finds out the book he's reading was written by a woman. He then drops the book and tells a random woman "Shame on you!"
235* StealthPun: Possibly [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=266 Stupid Rooster Comics]].
236* {{Steampunk}}: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=266 Isambard Kingdom Brunel is not impressed]].
237* TheStoner: Nellie Dean in ''[[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=322 Wuthering Heights]]''.
238-->'''Lockwood''': Just what is going on around here!
239-->'''Nellie Dean''': I'll tell you, sir. Come now, sit down, get comfortable. [''hands him a joint''] Smoke dis joint. This shit's gonna be a trip
240* {{Stripperiffic}}: Mocked in [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=311 this strip]], in regards to the often flimsy ways various works try to [[JustifiedTrope justify]] this trope.
241-->"Where I come from, bullets are important so this bra is part of my culture, you can't judge that!"
242* StylisticSuck: The "Lunch Break Comics" filler, which are just MS Paint doodles Beaton drew on her lunch break.
243* TakeThat: To ''Series/TheTudors'': [[http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=230 "Elizabeth's kingdom will be mine!"]]
244* TakeAThirdOption: "[[UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt FUCK IT]] [[http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=54 LET'S DO BOTH]]"
245* TestosteronePoisoning: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=262 Lady Macbeth seems to want to invoke this trope]].
246-->'''Lady Macbeth''': I wish I was a man. I'd kill Duncan in a second. Then I'd get a BONER.\
247'''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}''': [[LampshadeHanging Dang, that's manly]].
248* TheThemeParkVersion: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=342 Of Vikings.]]
249* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: [[http://s237.photobucket.com/user/beatonna/media/aquamansm.png.html He's a bit of a dick too]].
250* ThisMeansWar: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=329 Heathcliff]] invokes this, but it turns out events have overtaken him a bit.
251-->'''Heathcliff''': It's all Hindley's fault that I am dirty and uneducated and that Cathy is tired of me. I SWEAR REVENGE!
252-->'''Nelly''': Oh god, Hindley's wife has died and now he has descended into a drunken life of shame
253-->'''Heathcliff''': Oh--well, I swear...more revenge. Than that.
254* ThoseTwoGuys: The Mystery-Solving Teens.
255* TitleDrop: In [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=132 this]] comic, though it's more likely the website was named after that line. Interestingly, this strip was not contained in the book of the same name.
256* ToiletHumor: "Fat Pony" seems to be the outlet for this as shown [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=339 here]].
257* TraitorShot: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=50 Richard III]], while preparing for party times.
258* UglyGuyHotWife: "Strong Female Character" Susan B. Assthony ends up [[http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=311 marrying one.]]
259-->'''Susan:''' I don't need a man! ''(the very next panel)'' There's just [[WeaknessTurnsHerOn something]] '''about''' this [[ThisLoserIsYou incredibly weak male lead]]...
260* TheUnfavorite: Creator/AnneBronte of the Brontë sisters, shown in the comic and also TruthInTelevision.
261* UnfortunateSearchResults: What happens when [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=32 Kate responds to a suggestion]] that she write a comic about the letters Creator/JamesJoyce wrote to his partner Nora Barnacle.
262* UnusualDysphemism: Beaton's dad calls hands "shithooks".
263* VerbalBackspace: In "[[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=196 Goldman and Czolgosz]]."
264-->'''Emma Goldman:''' Everyone must join the anarchist movement! We can make a difference!\
265'''Leon Czolgosz:''' Can I join?\
266''[beat]''\
267'''Emma Goldman:''' Everyone except creepy losers must join the anarchist movement!
268* ViewersAreGeniuses: To an extent. Knowledge of European and North American history certainly helps, as the comic isn't going to explain the characters and events to you, but most of the time the comics are funny even if you don't know the history. (And at any rate, there's always Website/TheOtherWiki if you need a refresher... Hell, it's a ''web''comic, so you must be close to a search engine, right?)
269* TheVoiceless: The woman of the Medieval Peasant Teen Couple has never spoken.
270* WaxingLyrical: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=372 Some of the Founding Fathers go to the mall.]]
271--> [[Music/{{Nelly}} It's getting hot in here]]\
272[[Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix SOMEONE OUGHT TO OPEN UP A WINDOW]]
273* WideEyedIdealist: The terribly earnest [[http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=309 Emperor Maximilian of Mexico]].
274-->'''Juarez:''' Why can't you just be a power-hungry despot like any other good European ruler?
275* WingedHumanoid: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=300 Queen Elizabeth the First]], apparently.
276* WrongGenreSavvy:
277** [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=288 Javert is in]] [[SlashFic slash fiction]] and [[{{Crossover}} Javert is in]] [[Theatre/{{RENT}} the wrong musical]].
278** Those '20s gangsters with the black spot.
279* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=342 This comic]] on bad historical movies. As TheRant says, "No one would ever try to shoot a movie in Chaucer-y English like the 4th comic, and if they did they probably wouldn't know their way around the actual grammar if Chaucer himself had a Dummies book explaining it. That shit is hard!"
280* [[YouCanLeaveYourHatOn You Can Leave Your Cravat On]]: The ([[StupidSexyFlanders in]])famous "Ooh Mr. Darcy" strip.
281* YourAnswerToEverything: [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=144 Catherine the Great-In-Bed's is just what you'd expect]].
282-->'''Man:''' Empress, you are blind to corruption in your court because you only care about the dudes you sleep with.
283-->'''Catherine:''' Then I will sleep with the ''whole'' court.
284-->'''Other Man:''' Empress, Poland is unhappy with Russian rule!
285-->'''Catherine:''' Then I will sleep with ''Poland.''
286-->'''Disheveled Polish Man''': This is one hell of a takeover...
287* YourMom: The "Your Wife" variation -- [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=316 Tycho's rude response]] to Kepler suggesting the possibility that the sun might orbit around the earth as opposed to him believing in the opposite.
288-->'''Tycho''': What if your wife orbits my dick?
289----
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