Line #1 Webcomic/QUILTBAG


1	[[quoteright:219:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/quiltbag_1293.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:219:Sara and Lisa.]]
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4	''[[http://quiltbag.keenspot.com QUILTBAG]]'' is a SpinOff of ''Webcomic/PennyAndAggie'', written by Creator/TCampbell and with art by Jason Waltrip. The focus of the comic is on alternative sexualities, the title being an acronym used by some in RealLife for "Queer/Questioning, Undecided, Intersex, Lesbian, Transgender, Bisexual, Asexual, Gay."
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6	The comic follows Sara Kim ([[MeaningfulRename née Velte]]) and Lisa Winklemeyer, two ''Penny and Aggie'' characters who have just started college, and are roommates, at the fictional [[http://quiltbag.keenspot.com/d/20120619.html University of]] UsefulNotes/MillardFillmore, loosely based on the real-life College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
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8	The comic was cancelled in October of 2012 due to Campbell being overall unsatisfied with the project and its direction. The archives remain online.
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10	----
11
12	!! QUILTBAG contains examples of:
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14	* AllThereInTheManual: While not quite to the extent of its predecessor comic, a number of important elements of this comic needed to be understood by reading the forums at the time it was running as T Campbell would often answer questions from readers on there. Those forums are now offline, even taking with it the official announcement of the cancellation of the comic that is still linked to on the archive’s main page.
15	* AmbiguouslyGay: [[http://quiltbag.keenspot.com/d/20111117.html Hank]] and [[http://quiltbag.keenspot.com/d/20111218.html Fiona]]. Campbell eventually [[WordOfGod confirmed]] on the comic's Website/{{Facebook}} page and forum, what most readers had suspected: that [[spoiler: Hank is gay]], while the comic itself eventually confirmed that [[spoiler: Fiona is straight.]]
16	* ArtShift: Although ''QUILTBAG'''s artist, Jason Waltrip, is the same one who drew ''Webcomic/PennyAndAggie'' from April 2009 through its September 2011 conclusion, Campbell had him go with a noticeably different style for the SpinOff. The art is thicker-lined and more simple (as in ''Webcomic/{{Fans}}'', Campbell's and Waltrip's other webcomic), in contrast to the thinner-lined and realistic ''Webcomic/PennyAndAggie'' style established by founding artist Gisèle Lagacé. It's also in colour, unlike the majority of ''Penny and Aggie'' strips, and often uses the gradient tool and clip art.
17	** On top of that, there were also much more instances of the artist having to go back and retroactively edit or revise pages due to negative reaction from the fans. Mostly odd choices like "Why would Sara go out to class in a shirt tied into a knot so high it's basically a bikini?" or "Why is Sara's backpack upside down?"
18	* AscendedMeme: When Lisa and Sara's floor are making introductions, Lisa makes a joke about her detached head walking on her pigtails like a spider, a frequent gag in fanart.
19	* BlitheSpirit[=/=]ManicPixieDreamGirl: Lisa is usually a straight example of these tropes, but in "Q", her attempts to be this for Hank, Stan, an LAZ sister, and Chrissie all backfire, leaving her discomfited and shaken... albeit briefly.
20	* CannotTellAJoke: Sara shows hints of this [[http://quiltbag.keenspot.com/d/20111101.html here]] and [[http://quiltbag.keenspot.com/d/20120802.html here]].
21	* CastFullOfGay: And other components of the title acronym.
22	* ComingOutStory: [[spoiler:Iseul]].
23	* ConspicuousTrenchcoat: Lisa spots Chrissie wearing a trenchcoat in warm weather, ostensibly due to her severe gender dysphoria, which their recent sexual encounter had exacerbated.
24	* CoughSnarkCough: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] by Emma with regard to her sorority sister Uma's use of the trope.
25	--> '''Emma:''' So all the moves the current [U.S. presidential] administration has made--\
26	'''Uma:''' Coughwhilenotfullysupportinggaymarriagecough [...]\
27	'''Emma:''' The coughing joke doesn't really work if you put too many words in there.
28	* CutShort: The series ended much much sooner than intended, after Campbell relented that he did not consider himself suitably knowledgeable on the subjects he wanted to address, which included addiction, sexualities, gender identities, and people who are neurodivergent, along with generally being unhappy with the design and limitations of his writing gimmicks for every page.
29	* DiscretionShot: In the strip where Lisa and Chrissie have sex, the [[ArtShift art style shifts]] abruptly in the last panel from realistic, partially-nude depictions of the two characters to an abstract expressionist representation of their skin colours, as well as strands of Lisa's hair and the colours of the bedsheets and the wall. This is done not so much for reasons of [[CensorshipTropes censorship]] as it is for dramatic purposes, in order to convey the ambiguous and problematic nature of the experience for both characters.
30	* ForegoneConclusion: The comic begins five years before the coda of ''Webcomic/PennyAndAggie'', from which a few things can be inferred - most importantly, Lisa will be working on a vodcast professionally with one of Aggie's future girlfriends. And she'll have shaved her head. Furthermore, Sara will eventually have a girlfriend - who was deliberately not shown in ''Webcomic/PennyAndAggie''.
31	* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:Iseul's]] attraction to women, notwithstanding her [[spoiler:marriage to Theo and disapproval of Sara's lesbianism]], was hinted at in the ''Webcomic/PennyAndAggie'' arc [[Recap/PennyAndAggieHeadhunt Headhunt]].
32	* {{Hypocrite}}: Hank suspects [[spoiler: that Lisa is depressed after reading her creative writing homework and fears she could develop into an alcoholic, despite the story not having anything to do with alcohol or substance abuse.]] However, he chews out Michael for [[spoiler: suspecting Marie of being an alcoholic, after he saw her liquor bottle collection.]]
33	* ImagineSpot: Sara has an extended one, in which she tussles with the philosopher René Descartes (whom she's studying at the time) and thereby learns to start thinking for herself.
34	* LetterMotif: Each chapter is named for a letter in the titular acronym, and within each chapter, the [[ConstrainedWriting first word]] (whether dialogue, narrative caption, sound effect or signage) in nearly every strip begins with that letter. For example, the first chapter "Q" features strips with such initial words as "Quack," "Quantum" and "Quote." Furthermore, two of the only strips in the chapter that don't begin with a "Q" nevertheless begin with the ''sound'': "[[http://quiltbag.keenspot.com/d/20111020.html Kim]]" and "[[http://quiltbag.keenspot.com/d/20111218.html Cue]]."
35	* LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Both main characters have this problem. In Sara's case, it's her main weakness. She not only crushes on women in rapid succession, but idealizes nearly every object of her crush as Ms. Right. As for Lisa, a bad phone call with Stan led her to actively try and find what she hoped to be a guilt-free lay to get over it...leading her to an encounter with Chrissie that both individuals have been shown to have regretted almost immediately.
36	* MeaningfulRename: Sara's inner monologue, in the first two strips, reveals that shortly before entering college she legally changed her last name from "Velte" to "Kim." The name change in itself was due to the libellous "lesbian rape" viral video (see [[Recap/PennyAndAggieThePopsicleWarWhispersAndSilence here]] for background) that has dogged her since early junior year of high school. She chose "Kim," rather than her mother Iseul's last name "Kwan," as an "extra reminder" to Iseul that she's her own person.
37	* MyBelovedSmother: Iseul, though she genuinely loves Sara, shows elements of this trope. When she and her husband Theo first take her to campus, Iseul reminds her that she "can always come home." She also gets in a [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent dig at Sara's lesbianism]], something which Sara notes occurs once in every conversation with her.
38	* NightmareSequence: Sara has one within a single strip. As she ages instantly from childhood to mid-adolescence, a pixellated mass she calls "[[Film/TheNeverendingStory the Nothing]]"--here a previously-seen visual metaphor for the emptiness she feels inside--pursues her at the beach and enters her. The dream briefly turns [[EroticDream erotic]] as her latest crush, Leah, seduces her at her current age. Then it abruptly transitions into a NotWearingPantsDream when Sara is suddenly in class, wearing "underwear" (actually the skimpy outfit Lisa pushed her to wear the night before) and everyone laughing at her. She's actually woken up when someone ''else's'' underwear falls on her bunk.
39	* NoBisexuals: Obviously averted with Lisa, but Leah of the LAZ sorority believes this, to the point that she passive-aggressively forces Lisa out after hearing she has a boyfriend, assuming she's just "playing."
40	* NoHoldingBackSpeech: Sara gives one of these to [[spoiler:Rene Descartes]] during her BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind.
41	* NoEnding: The comic ends right after the second chapter with all but two plot lines left hanging.
42	* OddCouple: Played with. Sara is introspective and serious, although she does have a sense of humour and something of a rebellious streak. Lisa is [[GenkiGirl impulsive, hyperkinetic and silly]], but can be serious when the situation calls for it.
43	* SadClown / StepfordSnarker: Lisa's main weakness. She has trouble admitting to others, and to some extent even to herself, when she's miserable and masks it both by ramping up her GenkiGirl tendencies and through snarking.
44	* ShoutOut
45	** Lisa's [[http://quiltbag.keenspot.com/d/20111215.html creative writing composition]] recalls the film ''Film/{{Bent}}''.
46	** "The Nothing" in Sara's nightmare is an allusion to the PowerOfTheVoid entity in ''Film/TheNeverendingStory''.
47	** [[http://quiltbag.keenspot.com/d/20111101.html "My pigtails are also insectoid legs for my detachable head."]] Probably a reference to Lemyra from ''Webcomic/CharbyTheVampirate''.
48	* ATankardOfMooseUrine: How beer tastes to first-time drinkers [[http://quiltbag.keenspot.com/d/20120405.html Sara]] and [[http://quiltbag.keenspot.com/d/20120408.html Lisa]].
49	* TookALevelInDumbass / TookALevelInJerkass: Sara and Lisa respectively. Sara is shown crushing over girls in rapid succession setting herself up for heartbreak, something which Lisa calls her on in a less-than-nice fashion. Speaking of Lisa, she's not just rude to Sara but to [[spoiler: Hank, Stan, Chrissie, her professor in [[http://quiltbag.keenspot.com/d/20120301.html this strip]]]] and is incredibly judgmental and harsh on others. Somewhat justified, in that both are having a hard time transitioning from high school (where such behaviors are tolerated and to be expected) to college.
50	* WebcomicTime: A single day within the comic may take anywhere from a few days to several weeks in real-world time.
51	* WithFriendsLikeThese: Lisa towards Sara during the first chapter, an unintentionally antagonistic, [[spoiler: hypocritical regarding sex life]] and mild case, [[http://quiltbag.keenspot.com/d/20120614.html though they seem to get along much better.]]
52	* WhatDidIDoLastNight: PlayedForDrama with Lisa's casual bedmate Chrissie, who wakes in a panic because she's a male-to-female pre-operative trans person who's sufficiently confused in her identity that she keeps having penetrative sexual intercourse and subsequently regretting it.
53	* WheelOFeet: Lisa as she dodges [[PersonalRaincloud thunderclouds of doom]].
54	* YoungerThanTheyLook: Many of the people who are living on the floor were dedicated fans from the Penny and Aggie message board who won a spot in the comic. The problem is that these characters are supposed to be fresh-faced undergrads... and the message board winners were a bit older.

Context Webcomic / QUILTBAG