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7[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/least_i_could_do.jpg]]
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10One of the three webcomics from the creative team of Ryan Sohmer and Lar [=DeSouza=] (the others being ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'' and ''Webcomic/TheGutters''). ''[[http://www.leasticoulddo.com Least I Could Do]]'' is mainly a gag-based comic strip about the misadventures of a group of longtime 20-something geek friends living in the city. The stories mainly revolve around sex, love, modern life and all things geeky from ''Franchise/StarWars'' to ''Franchise/StarTrek'' to ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' to {{comic book}}s to video games and back again. Mostly, it's about their relationships and sex though.
11
12The main character is the incredibly promiscuous Rayne, who, if you were to judge lecherousness on a scale of one to ten with ten being the highest a human could possibly be, would probably hit somewhere [[BrokeTheRatingScale around a 23]]. Throw in a lot of IdiotHero, a few dashes of {{Manchild}} (with a few hints of PsychopathicManchild), and a lot of JerkAss and you will have a pretty good idea of what to expect from Rayne, although there are many occasions where he shows HiddenDepths behind the intentionally and unapologetically shallow face he presents to the world.
13
14The rest of the main cast consists of:
15* Issa, one of the few women to ever refuse Rayne's advances (and who has done so since at least their teens) or that Rayne has expressed deeper feelings for, and perhaps the closest thing he has to a confidante - for example, she knows about [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20040521 some heartbreaks a young Rayne went through]] that no one else does. Can be a voice of reason, although she's not above joining in on the antics of the others or using her sex appeal to manipulate Rayne. Has been a neglected character in recent years.
16* John, Rayne's oldest friend and a near polar opposite in views of love and dating. He serves as Rayne's most direct {{foil}}, but just as Rayne's commitment phobia is examined, so are John's issues with emotional neediness and his determination to find a wife or see anyone who comes along as a potential long-term relationship, regardless of their suitability for that.
17* Noel, a laid back DeadpanSnarker who tends to fall somewhere between Rayne and John in terms of his views on life and dating. Although added onto the strip several years into its run, he took over John's role as Rayne's foil while also becoming Rayne's primary wingman.
18* Mick, the [[FatBestFriend overweight]], tech-savvy and good-natured friend who has the misfortune of being Rayne's punching bag. He is perhaps the most socially awkward of the group, but despite often having been the butt of jokes about being unable to get so much as a date, he nonetheless has usually had the best luck in healthy and committed relationships.
19
20Sohmer had tried to get an AnimatedAdaptation off the ground. He asked $75,000 (half the projected budget, with him footing the other half) from his fans; by the projected deadline, [[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/537261515/least-i-could-do-the-pilot around 1,200 backers had donated well over $100,000.]] The {{pilot}} can be found on Vimeo, albeit unofficially. You can also buy the video on the official iPod/Android app. It was never picked up due to various reasons.
21----
22!!This webcomic includes examples of:
23* AffectionateParody: ''Franchise/StarWars'', Creator/SandraBoynton, ''Series/LaughIn'', SuperHero comics, oh, so many.
24* ArcWords[=/=]IronicEcho: [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20110117 "The]] [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20110118 rapid]] [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20110122 flick."]]
25* ArtEvolution: Sohmer picked up artists who were progressively more skilled, and said artists' styles also evolved over time.
26** The comic had three artists prior to Desouza. Chad Porter and Trevor Adams quit on their own accord. J. Horsley III was also involved, but he left before the comic was published, believing himself not to be prolific enough for a webcomic.
27** Although it leaves out Lar's own personal ArtEvolution, [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090731 this strip]] nicely shows the difference in artists for LICD. The anime-style Rayne is from the very first artist, Marcus, from before the series had started or had a title yet. Not much is known about Marcus as of this time.
28* ArtShift:
29** Least I Could Do and its weekly offshoot "Least I Could Do: Beginnings" are in two markedly different styles.
30** During the arc "[[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20101211 For Young Readers]]", the story shifts to a Creator/SandraBoynton parody for [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20101214 three and a half pages]].
31** The story in [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20140917 this arc]] changes to sepia, though it's still [=DeSouza=]'s style.
32* AscendedExtra: Jumpmaster Julie begins the series as just a hot skydiving instructor, but she eventually becomes Rayne's girlfriend and main LoveInterest.
33* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Rayne by a long shot. Has been lampshaded by himself.
34-->[[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20110201 I'm honestly concerned about my attention span.]]
35* AuthorAvatar: Rayne Summers has an awful lot in common with Ryan Sohmer. Even their names are pretty similar (Rayne = Ryan, Summers = Sohmer). Also, Rayne's {{jerkass}} brother Eric looks like Sohmer (and is the character Sohmer has claimed represents him), while Harry The Homeless Artist was modeled on [=deSouza=], who was homeless for a time before he began collaborating with Sohmer. The pilot for the series [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ked4N_BNZ0Y&list=UU2bF3oZhfE2cDrurqv_LvYA Con Season]] demonstrates this further. It's mostly Sohmer goofing off with people while the other members of Blind Ferret say how great he is.
36* AuthorFilibuster: A not-uncommon criticism, especially regarding the infamous rant against the various things the writer doesn't like about the rest of the webcomics industry.
37* BallsOfSteel:
38-->[[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20080507 CRACK! "The Emperor protects his soldiers."]]
39-->--[[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20080507 "Where once I had a knee, I now have thousands of tiny floating bones."]]
40* BedmateReveal:
41** Rayne woke up [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20060103 one day]] from a bad New Years Eve hangover to find a naked Cyndi in his bed.
42** And when he wakes up in [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090619 this bed]], well... let's just say that it add questions about Rayne's sexuality. He seems a bit uncomfortable about the whole thing, though. In Rayne's words, "Not the sandwich I wanted to be the meat of".
43*** I think [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20100724 this]] truly removes any doubts about how far Rayne is willing to go.
44** And the strip's [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20040101 original bedmate reveal]]. Ouch.
45* BeenThereShapedHistory: Rayne, through some creative tennis-ball dodging, was apparently responsible for ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' series.
46* BrickJoke: In [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20080926 this]] comic, Rayne says to Noel that he would desecrate Noel's wedding bed on his wedding night. [[spoiler:In [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090911 this]] strip he doesn't... in the night, at least.]]
47* BuffySpeak: Rayne [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20100329 indulges]] in a moment of weakness.
48* BunnyEarsLawyer: Pretty much explicitly stated in [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20061102 this strip]].
49* CallingTheOldManOut: Mick is doing this to his mother over [[spoiler:her place in the murder of his father/her husband.]]
50* CaptainObvious: In one series of strips, Rayne is asked to arbitrate a dispute between IDS' union and the management. He asks what they want: the unions want a 4% pay increase, the management is offering 2%. After a facial FlatWhat and a near-facepalm, Rayne asks if either of them thought to compromise at 3%. Their response is "I don't follow you."
51* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Rayne starts as an very idiotic LovableSexManiac. As the series progress, he gets nerdier and nerdier, and far more intelligent. His idiotic-ness is retconned as {{ManChild}}ness.
52* CloudCuckooLander: Rayne. Let's just use [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20070802 this strip]] as a STARTING example and go from there.
53%%* CommitmentIssues: Rayne.
54* ConRecap: In the form of "Con Tales (Woo-ooo!)".
55* CreditCardPlot: Subverted. Rayne is aware that Ashley has a poor understanding of money but gives her his card anyway, but also had payment tracking put on the card so he'll be notified of every purchase she makes with it just in case. He might be her favourite uncle and he does trust her to be responsible, but he's still giving a credit card to a teenager whose family (in particular her two uncles) have proven repeatedly to do very stupid things with their money.
56* CutHimselfShaving: "I fell down some stairs." "[[DefiedTrope No he didn't. I beat the shit out of him with a smile on my face.]]."
57%%* DeadpanSnarker
58* DistaffCounterpart: One Halloween series of strips introduces a girl who is apparently Rayne's (the header refers to her as "Summer Rains"), but she never appeared after that single arc.
59* {{Fanservice}}: The art and filler strips from the past are full of it.
60* ForcedMeme: A meta-example. Ryan Sohmer [[http://coelasquid.tumblr.com/post/87617683563/spacetwinks-webcomic-history-ryan-sohmer attempted to get some attention at a panel]] (and exploited it during a petition) by having one of his fans go: ''"Why isn't Ryan Sohmer writing ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}?"'' The response from Creator/JoeQuesada is the stuff of legend if you're not fond of [[SmallNameBigEgo Ryan]], especially since this move was a rather [[ItsAllAboutMe unprofessional way to grab attention]]:
61--->'''Joe Quesada''': Never heard of him.
62* FourOneNineScam: Rayne gets an e-mail with this sort of scam in [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090225 this strip]] and decides to go to Nigeria to meet his princess and claim his inheritance.
63* FillerStrips: Desouza doesn't do this all that often, but Porter did, drawing mostly naked women or poking fun at the fans' attraction to Issa.
64* FriendsWithBenefits: Rayne and Cyndi, sometimes.
65* TheFunInFuneral: Rayne at one point takes it upon himself to make a funeral entertaining with his usual antics due to a combination of boredom, awkwardness (he barely knows the coworker whose grandfather's funeral it is), and irritation that the deceased's supposed loved ones are acting even more selfish and insensitive than he is.
66* FutureLoser: Subverted. Rayne is shown a vision of how he ends up as an old man. It shows him sitting by a fireplace, alone, with just a servant tending him. But then the story is more fleshed out and we see [[spoiler:Rayne is stupidly well-off, and he shows nothing but the utmost hospitality and generosity to his old friends, their families, and his own niece.]] About the only thing that hints at it being played "straight" is [[spoiler:Rayne never had any wife or kids of his own, but then again, probably didn't want either one anyway.]]
67** [[SpottingTheThread The servant was the first clue.]]
68%%* {{Geek}}s
69* GenerationXerox: Ashley is basically a female 5-year old Rayne. Just without the extreme interest in the opposite sex (which is good, since, you know, FIVE). She's shown to have an attention span even shorter than his (though perhaps it's justified, since, again, five years old), and in Rayne's vision of the future, [[spoiler:she's taken his place as company CEO after he retires, matching his business sense as well]].
70* GoodAngelBadAngel: John's shoulder devil is Darth Vader. His angel? Chewbacca.[[note]]One of them anyway. Another seemed to be Jar-Jar.[[/note]]
71** Rayne's good angel is apparently [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20070926/ HITLER]].
72* HandsomeLech: Rayne, as discussed above.
73* HappyEndingMassage: Discussed; Rayne's sent to a massage therapist, and the masseur isn't what he expected it to be (read: a guy named Rudy). After it's over, he comments that Rudy "made [Rayne] feel like a girl. With your big strong hands."
74-->'''Rayne''': ...no sucky-sucky?\
75'''Rudy''': No sucky-sucky.
76** It's not entirely certain who he's suggesting sucky-suckies who, either.
77* HeadTiltinglyKinky: Rayne tries watching some Asian porn to help decide if it's worth impressing Cyndi's parents just to sleep with her. His (and John's) conclusion? [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20030927/ Well...]]
78** Also, [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20170204 this stop]] on his tour of a porn studio.
79* HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct: Subverted and dressed in a [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090105 Hawaiian shirt]].
80* HypocriticalHumor:
81** [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20080508 Here]].
82** Also prevalent in the Star Wars arc.
83* IgnoredEpiphany: The arc with Marcy's boyfriend made it look like Rayne might come to terms with his man-whore behavior, after realizing that he missed his chance with Marcy because he assumed she would just wait for him to make his move and never find any other men. But then he gets over it by watching ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' with Ashley, and by next week he's back to normal.
84* IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer: [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20091026 Rayne at his most terrifying]].
85%%* ImAManICantHelpIt: Subverted.
86* ImaginaryFriend: Ashley's is Creator/LouFerrigno. [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20100414 Only he's not so imaginary.]]
87* ImpossibleHourglassFigure: [[MsFanservice Issa]] has one of the largest racks in the comic, equally wide hips, and a waist that could fit through a keyhole.
88* InformedAbility:
89** Rayne's mastery of picking up chicks was originally a strong case of this. Virtually every strip featuring him hitting on a girl showed his asinine pick-up lines, childish behavior, and utter shoot-downs from the girls. 95% of the time, his hook-ups were only shown AFTER they'd already happened. Sure, Rayne was supposed to be good-looking, but it was more than a little obvious the writer didn't really know how a master pick-up artist works, and it was implied that Rayne merely used the "Shotgun approach" (A Tao of Rayne strip [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20050525 pointed out that the one girl who said yes was more important than the 99 who said no]]).
90** Later strips partially fixed this. [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20050711 On very rare occasions]], Rayne has shown signs that he can be more subtle and sneaky about pickups. The implication is that usually he just doesn't bother. Plus, the cute, charming, and childlike angle does work for some. His pick-up of the hot cougar at the bar was a ''much'' nicer change of pace, showing his style and smoothness in place of his general idiocy.
91** His skills as a business manager are this as well. Most of the time, Rayne is shown goofing off or ditching work to go on some wacky adventure. When he is shown doing his job, we're either informed he's doing something or his 'great ideas' would only work in a fantasy world
92%%* IntercourseWithYou
93* InTheStyleOf: [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20101214 Sandra Boynton,]] to whom they apologized profusely.
94* ItsAllAboutMe: Rayne, to the point where he tells [[spoiler:Mick]] that in order for him to be interested in [[spoiler:Mick and Tammy's upcoming wedding]], the event has to be about ''Rayne''. [[He's even like this in bed.]]
95* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: On Alvin the Chipmunk, of all people.
96* JailbaitTaboo: In a very early strip Rayne once unknowingly slept with a high school girl he picked up at a bar. When the mother found out she tried to press charges but the judge ended up dismissing the case on the grounds that her daughter had used a fake ID to enter a bar so Rayne could not reasonably be expected to know she was underage.
97* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Rayne can be quite a dick sometimes. But if he really trusts someone, or sees someone in he cares about in what he perceives as danger, he will stop at nothing to help them, even if it reveals his nice side. A few examples are
98** When Issa started dating Michael (Archie as Rayne calls him), see the IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer entry above.
99** Whenever his niece is having trouble, he will instantly help her like a mature adult...most of the time. He even told her "Avoid guys like me" because he wants her to be really happy when she's older, and not get hurt. Given what he threatened to do to Mike for making Issa frown, one must shudder to think what he'd do to a guy who hurt his niece by making her a one night stand.
100** When Rayne is having a possible heart attack, he keeps his facade of being horny and silly up all throughout the procedure, until he's alone in the ambulance with his secretary, then he drops it and expresses his pain.
101* JustEatGilligan / KillHimAlready: [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20080721 Here ya go.]]
102* KarmaHoudini: Just so you know how bad it is, Rayne once [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_impersonation dressed up as a police officer]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_by_fraud just so he could sleep with two]] lesbians. He spent one night in jail, and [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse the incident was never brought up again]].
103* LifeEmbellished: Sohmer shares many of Rayne's obsessions and geek ways.
104* LikesOlderWomen: Rayne recently picked up a woman in her late 40s, early 50s (judging by the gray streaks in her otherwise blond hair).
105* LousyLoversAreLosers: Despite Rayne's ExtremeLibido and the fact he's TheCasanova he's shown to care more about [[ItsAllAboutMe his own pleasure]] than his partners, such as [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20040831 in this strip]] when he walked out on a GirlOfTheWeek after having a quickie because ''he'' already orgasmed, much to her ire.
106%%* LovableSexManiac: Almost the definition of the trope.
107* LyricalDissonance: The (proposed) opening theme to ''Least I Could Do: The Animated Series'' is rife with this--it's a cheery, upbeat tune about desiring to live life while facing absolutely none of the consequences or repercussions for one's actions.
108** In other words, [[KarmaHoudini the perfect song]] [[ItsAllAboutMe for Rayne Summers]].
109* MediumAwareness: Rayne takes the occasional [[BreakingTheFourthWall poke at the Fourth Wall]].
110** [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20140714 Here]] he mentions thought bubbles and the comic's artist.
111* {{Metaphorgotten}}:
112** "I fell down some stairs. Some lunatic and physically abusive stairs. During sex."
113** In [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20070629 this]] comic: "He's like a puppy...that you just want to strangle. [[DerailedTrainOfThought And then neuter to protect future generations]]."]]
114* MiddleChildSyndrome: Invoked by Rayne when he and Eric learn they have an older sister their mother gave up for adoption. After one {{Jerkass}} comment too many, Rayne points out that Eric is now the ''middle'' child and asks how he feels.
115* MotiveDecay: Rayne's original reason for getting a job with IDS was because he saw a news report about Marcy (a very attractive and rich CEO) and made it his personal goal to bed her. The last mention of his quest was during the vacation arc in early 2007. Briefly reversed in by arc in September 2011, where Rayne gets jealous over Marcy's new boyfriend and he admits that he was interested (which she responds to by saying he should have ''done'' something, and that his inaction meant he missed his chance). The latter is especially odd because both he and Marcy previously had no problems expressing their attraction for one another (and in one storyline Marcy gave him a blowjob as a reward) but they agreed ''not'' to sleep together for ethical reasons.
116%%* MrViceGuy: Rayne. Just... Rayne.
117* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Rayne once tried to go to his [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID-19]] vaccine shot completely naked, thinking of it as a "post-birth shot".
118%%* NearDeathExperience
119* NotSoAboveItAll: Issa in a few situations, such as the series where Rayne and Eric have a bet and Eric's prize is sleeping with Issa. When the others observe how mellow she's being about being used as a trophy, her response is effectively "He's a doctor, of course I want to do him."
120* NotAllowedToGrowUp: Rayne bluntly tells Urchin [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20170318/ here]] that like the animals in the comic, he will never age.
121* OddCouple: You do wonder how some of these friends/roomies can put up with each other...
122* OnlySixFaces: Chad Porter was especially bad with this. It was literally impossible to tell most women apart aside from hair, and Rayne wasn't any more notable than any other guy.
123* OutOfFocus: John, for ''years'', thanks to RealLifeWritesThePlot (see below).
124%%* PetTheDog: Rayne has these frequently enough to push him into the JerkWithAHeartOfGold category.
125* PersonAsVerb: [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20061114 Noel/Rayne]]
126%%* PhraseCatcher: Jumpmaster Julie. "Hai."
127%%* ThePornomancer
128%%* {{Practical Joke}}s
129* PrecisionFStrike: [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090925 Right here]]. Sohmer made a big deal about it on his forum, though the constant sex jokes in the comic kind of lessen the impact.
130* PrisonRape - Averted early on in the strip's run as it was for the most part implied to be consensual, played straight later in its run.
131* ProgressivelyPrettier: ZigZagged with the "Suck for a buck" prostitute, who starts out looking quite normal and even rather attractive. Later she's wall-eyed, lank-haired, and all skin and bones. However most recently she's once again quite normal. ''Especially'' [[spoiler:after revealing she was largely doing the whole thing as research]]. Also veers into DependingOnTheArtist.
132* RealLifeWritesThePlot:
133** One of the reasons John was temporarily pushed to the background and Noel emerged was author Sohmer's growing distance from the friend on whom John was based.
134** The "Suck for a buck" prostitute is also based on a strange encounter Sohmer had as a teenager.
135%%* ReallyGetsAround: Rayne
136* ReallySeventeenYearsOld: There's a storyline involving a girl in a bar who turns out to be underage.
137* RedundantRomanceAttempt: {{Parodied}}. Rayne spends half an evening trying to charm an interested girl at a bar by using his various tricks and zany techniques. When she finally gets mad and calls him on it, he admits that he had been messing around, and resolves to just be his true self... the whole time slipping into a completely artificial DoggedNiceGuy persona. Mick, the actual DoggedNiceGuy, is at his RageBreakingPoint about it.
138* TheRedStapler: Defied; one of the strips in the arc about Rayne's AlternateHistory novel shows his [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi]] assistant wearing a Hawaiian-style shirt with swastikas on it. The header text for that comic reads "No, you can't have a shirt".
139* RememberTheNewGuy: One day, Noel simply knocks on Rayne's door out of nowhere to become the number two character in the strip, replacing John as Rayne's foil and main talking post. He was given an immediate backstory that stated he was Rayne's best friend.
140* RefugeInAudacity: The "Midget Hooker" and "Rejected LICD Storylines" arcs.
141* RuleOfFunny: The comic runs on this. Rayne and company can do virtually anything without any consequences, even in cases where they probably should be in serious legal trouble.
142* RunningGag: "And that's when I bought the horse a prostitute." The prostitute herself also counts.
143** [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20100526 here]].
144* SelectiveObliviousness: Rayne literally only hears people say what he wants to [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20190913 hear.]]
145* SexGod:
146** The 2005 Valentine Days date for Mike, Ariba is TheAce in a lot of things... [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20050221 including the bedroom]].
147** When Rayne finally gets to sleep with Cyndi, she turns out to be a SexGoddess [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20060109 who more than lives up to his expectations.]]
148** Subverted with Rayne. Despite his ExtremeLibido he's [[LousyLoversAreLosers shown to be a selfish lover]] who carse more about [[ItsAllAboutMe his own pleasure]] than [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20040831 his partners]].
149-->'''GirlOfTheWeek:''' Don't you care about ''my'' sexual satisfaction?\
150'''Rayne:''' I'm not even going to dignify that with a response.
151* ShamelessFanserviceGuy: Rayne doesn't have much modesty and has no problem being seen naked by [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20060213 his friends]] or even strangers.
152* SheCleansUpNicely: [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20180303 It turns out]] [[spoiler: the "Suck for a Buck" prostitute]] isn't what she first appears to be.
153* ShoutOut: So many:
154** To ''Franchise/DuckTales'', with the short stories ''Con Tales''.
155** To ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', ''and'' [[InvokedTrope invoked]] the TwentyPercentMoreAwesome trope (see the comic title) in this [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20121020 strip]].
156** Rayne encounters [[Webcomic/GirlsWithSlingshots Hazel and Jamie]] in a grocery store, but [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20080526 fails to lure them into a threesome]].
157** Rayne [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090206 serenades]] [[Webcomic/PvP Jade and Miranda]].
158** [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20170925 This entire arc]] consists of Rayne interacting with famous syndicated comic characters (and BreakingTheFourthWall) while others [[FunnyBackgroundEvent wander around behind them]].
159* ShowerOfAwkward: One [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20040927 early arc]] has Rayne walking on John and his girlfriend in the shower as a RunningGag. First he catches her in a ModestyTowel and starts flirting with her, and later walks in on both of them while they're [[ShowerOfLove showering together.]]
160* SlidingScaleOfFourthWallHardness: More often than not, it's stiff as a sheet of iron, but the scale moves quite a bit on occasion, sometimes veering into MediumAwareness or [[NoFourthWall disappearing altogether.]]
161* SmashCut: [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20140923 Here]].
162* SmugSnake: Rayne at times can be this, but plays this ''painfully'' straight when [[AuthorAvatar he talked down to webcomic artists in a story arc]].
163* StatusQuoIsGod: For major, and more serious events, averted. Played straight with Rayne's [[HilarityEnsues Zany Antics arcs]]. Lampshaded when he has flashbacks to sleeping with a sadomasochist and throws popsicles at a hot girl who tries to talk to him, but Noel expects the "issues" will go away by Monday ([[spoiler:[[PlayingWithATrope and double-subverted]] only to bring it up the next Friday, to find by the last panel that it's an IntercourseWithYou speech]])
164* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: One storyline concerned Rayne wanting to buy an aircraft carrier and use it to feed Africa, something many fans attacked as unrealistic. Several years later the story reveals the carrier was bought... then captured by pirates and sunk, costing Rayne's company millions. Turns out having someone who knows nothing about ships in command of one purely because they liked GI Joe is a bad idea.
165* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial:
166-->Rayne: [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20100909 You've seen my birth certificate. It specifically says 'not a Jedi' on it.]]
167%%* TakeThat: multiple
168* ThePowerOfCheese: [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20061113 This.]]
169%%* ThreeWaySex
170* TitleDrop:
171** [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090820 Punished]]. [[spoiler:Desouza (the arm hair tipped us off) immediately bitch-slaps John for doing it.]]
172** Used [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20050404 here]] in a conversation that intentionally breaks the fourth wall in ''so'' many ways.
173* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Rayne has, on several occasions, been bribed into favors with large amounts of Cadbury Cream Eggs, Red Bull, or a combination of both. He also has a fondness for chocolate milk and has been seen eating raspberries when he's upset. Also, on one occasion where he tried to give blood, [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20060223 they drew Orange Julius instead]]. [[spoiler:A prank, not MagicRealism.]]
174* ValentinesDayEpisodes: Where ContestWinnerCameos go on a date with their chosen characters.
175* VariableTerminalVelocity: Figures prominently in the "Time to Jump" StoryArc.
176* TheVoiceless: Both the "Suck for a buck" prostitute, and Wild Bill, neither of whom has ever actually said a word in the comic (assuming you don't count Bill's threatening growls).
177* WebcomicsLongRunners: First strip posted on February 10th, 2003.
178* WebcomicTime: Belatedly averted. After years of the characters forever remaining the same age and their lives being stuck more or less in status quo, they received a letter from the author stating that they would not stay 24 forever and their lives would actually change.
179* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: parodied in [[https://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20080912 this comic]].
180* WriteWhoYouKnow: Most characters are at least loosely based on real people, hence why [[RealLifeWritesThePlot real life will sometimes write the plot]].
181* WriterOnBoard:
182** A storyline where Rayne helps his old paper reinvigorate itself into a new format seems to be a way for Sohmer to express his dissatisfaction with newspapers as a medium and the way they are run, containing more than a few {{Take That}}s to newspaper owners and publishers.
183** We've also got an arc where Rayne shows up to give a [[http://www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090921 lecture]] for [[http://www.ted.com/ TED]] on fear, materialism and entitlement. Given that this is ''Rayne'' speaking, you may be experiencing some dissonance.
184** There was also his rant about webcomics missing updates when Rayne and Ashley went to Nerdcon. That's right, [[HypocriticalHumor a webcomic that slammed the whole medium of the webcomic]]
185** Sohmer takes a lot of the writing from his own views and experiences.
186*** This is putting it mildly. In recent years more and more focus is less on jokes and more on Sohmer using the comic to pitch his theories on how to fix the world. See the AbortedArc section on how those panned out.

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