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| 5 | %% Remember that Weblinks are not examples. You can link to the comics, but always explain the trope and provide context. |
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| 11 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_cooler_smbc_logo.png]] |
| 12 | ->''[[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3448 "Testicles joke... or math joke? Damn, this is hard."]]'' |
| 13 | |
| 14 | ''[[http://www.smbc-comics.com/ Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' is an episodic daily strip by Zach Weinersmith. The strip has only a few recurring characters, including God, Jesus, a fictional U.S. President, and a fictional Pope. Usually appearing in "voteys", the bonus panel beneath the comic, are the crazed, always-naked author and his long-suffering wife (and eventually, children). |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Much of the strip's humor comes from setting up a situation and then [[BaitAndSwitch subverting either the established premise or the audience's expectations]], often going with a BlackComedy punchline. The cartoonist is self-described as having the abilities of [[ComicStrip/TheFarSide Gary Larson]] and a sex offender. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | Common stories are typically one of these: |
| 19 | * God doesn't care about humanity or [[GodIsInept does a really bad job managing "reality"]] or doesn't understand why humans keep asking the "big questions". |
| 20 | * Aliens don't understand [[HumanityIsInsane human morality]] or are just [[AliensAreBastards messing with us on purpose.]] |
| 21 | * Robots don't understand [[HumansAreMorons human morality]] and [[AIIsACrapshoot may or may not be planning to kill all humans.]] |
| 22 | * Scientists have [[ForScience skewed priorities]] and make projects that may doom us all. |
| 23 | * Children discovering that [[ManChild adults are immature.]] |
| 24 | * Nerds using math and other sciences as [[NerdsArePervs some kind of power of seduction.]] |
| 25 | |
| 26 | Zach also does [[http://www.smbc-theater.com/ videos]] under the name ''WebVideo/SMBCTheater''. There's less sociopathy in them, though. (Or more, depending on your point of view.) |
| 27 | |
| 28 | Compare ''ComicStrip/ThePerryBibleFellowship''. No relation to ChocolateFrostedSugarBombs. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | ---- |
| 31 | !!This strip provides examples of: |
| 32 | |
| 33 | * AbusiveParents: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-04-30 Victorian Dad!]] |
| 34 | -->'''Victorian Dad:''' A smarting blow to the inner ear ought to fix that! |
| 35 | * AccidentalDownerEnding: An InUniverse example in [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=766 One comic]] shows kids watching a show about drugs where "Strung-Out Sammy" tells them how great drugs are... but since Intervention Isaac didn't show up, the show ended there. |
| 36 | * AccuseTheWitness: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2005-04-09 Here.]] Accuse the [[spoiler:judge]] if there is nobody else to accuse. |
| 37 | * AffablyEvil: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2012-04-03 Felix,]] though it's debatable whether he knows how much misery he's causing. |
| 38 | * AfterlifeOfService: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/donation One man]] asks that people burn themselves alive at his funeral to serve him instead of leaving flowers. |
| 39 | * AIIsACrapshoot: {{Parodied}} [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-01-14 here,]] where robots, upon achieving sentience, are shocked that humans thought they'd default to wanting to destroy humanity. [[spoiler:Doubles as a SelfFulfillingProphecy, as this disturbs the robots so much [[DoUntoOthersBeforeTheyDoUntoUs they decide they HAVE to do it]].]] |
| 40 | * AliensAreBastards: The Zorblaxians have done everything from eating humans to experimenting on humans to simple trolling. |
| 41 | * AlliterativeTitle: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/many-moons "Many Moons"]] |
| 42 | * AllMenArePerverts: And HOW! There is no depth they won't sink to in order to get their rocks off. They also hate condoms. |
| 43 | * AllWomenAreLustful: To a slightly lesser extent than men apparently, but not by much. |
| 44 | * AlternateAesopInterpretation: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]]. [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-09-17 "The Tortoise And The Hare" is actually a fable about small sample sizes]]. |
| 45 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[invoked]] |
| 46 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/humpty-dumpty Humpty Dumpty]] didn't fall off the wall by accident. He was pushed off because The King's Horses and The King's Men felt [[EldritchAbomination he should never have been]], and immediately afterwards they [[DarkMessiah arrested his disciples]]. Not that it will do them any good; he didn't die when he fell. |
| 47 | ** Garfield [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2012-06-16 hates Mondays because that's the day he let Odie die, and he loves Lasagna because he believes that by becoming fat enough to encompass the whole universe he can go back in time and say sorry.]] |
| 48 | ** The Trix Rabbit [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2004-04-23 wants to take the Trix Cereal from the kids because he is at death's door and needs it to correct his blood sugar.]] The Votey adds another layer to this [[spoiler: by stating that he [[IDidWhatIHadToDo killed the children in order to take their Trix Cereal]].]] |
| 49 | ** The protagonist of ''Literature/GreenEggsAndHam'' only eats the Green eggs and Ham [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-05-22 because Sam-I-Am has driven him to insanity]]. |
| 50 | ** Ebenezer Scrooge only became generous towards Bob Cratchit because he [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-12-20 exploited his vision of Christmas-Yet-To-Come to learn the results of some future horse races.]] And likewise, [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/scrooge the Three Ghosts of Christmas don't care about the poor enough to help them with moral dilemmas.]] |
| 51 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-12-25 Santa is a Social Darwinist.]] |
| 52 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-01-24 Don Quixote actually WAS a competent knight]]. However, a dismissive remark he made to Sancho [[BrokenPedestal led him to think less highly of him]], [[TheDogBitesBack thus portraying him as a buffoon]]. |
| 53 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/requiem-for-a-dil Dilbert actually LIKES his crappy job, which deeply horrifies him.]] |
| 54 | * AltText: Most cartoons have a bonus '''panel''', called the votey, that you see if you mouse-over the red button at the bottom of the main cartoon. Called such because you used to have to vote for the comic in a poll about webcomics in order to see it. Comics after [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/heaven number 3680]] have a more traditional hover-over, as well. |
| 55 | * AlwaysChaoticEvil: Apparently, economists. |
| 56 | * AmusingAlien: The Zorblaxians are often used as a stand-in for aliens in general. A standout example of their comedy is mistaking humans loving flowers for hating plant life with a passion. |
| 57 | * AndIMustScream: In [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/emotion this]] webcomic it's revealed that Xorblaxian emotions change much slower than humans, and that as a result they think humans ruthless and numb. The votey hammers home the implication of this. |
| 58 | -->'''Zorgan:''' I'm gonna go feel sadness for 10,000 years. |
| 59 | * AntiHero: |
| 60 | ** The [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2012-07-08 Iron Sociopath.]] Saves grannies from purse-snatchers, because it means he gets to stab purse-snatchers. |
| 61 | ** Franchise/{{Superman}} is sometimes portrayed as one of these, most notably when he became [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-10-20 Disproportionate Response Man.]] |
| 62 | * AntiVillain: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. He's mugging to feed his family. [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2010-09-26 "So who do I punch?"]] |
| 63 | * TheAntiNihilist: A good reason for becoming this is given by metaphor [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-05-03 here.]] |
| 64 | * ApocalypseHow: A large amount of the strips talk about the world ending. There are strips where, among other things, [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2012-02-14 a disaster kills everyone but frat students]], a disaster kills everyone but New Jersey thugs, or a meteor kills the dinosaurs but spares the mammals. Sometimes this is subverted with humanity avoiding disaster, such as in the strip where aliens challenge the human race to mindless point-and-click video games (unaware that have been preparing for this a long time), or when aliens try to destroy the world only for their lasers to get reflected back at them ([[ItMakesSenseInContext because sex and fried cheese reflect lasers]]). |
| 65 | * {{Applicability}}: Invoked in [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/why-3 Why 3]]. As Zach himself puts it in the votey: I promise you this will never stop being topical. |
| 66 | * ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: The votey (seen by clicking the red button at the bottom) of [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/social-longevity this]] comic is an example. |
| 67 | * ArtisticLicense: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-league-of-curmudgeons This]] comic covers several varieties and explores the problems of criticizing it blindly. |
| 68 | * ArtisticLicenseLaw: In [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/oath one comic]], a judge asks a jury to "strongly consider the death penalty." This is meaningless since the judge is the one who decides sentences anyway. |
| 69 | * AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2006-01-19 Dungeons And Dragons is always the first step.]] |
| 70 | * AuthorAppeal: |
| 71 | ** The comic keeps returning to the idea that the universe is a simulation, and that there are probably more that one level up. |
| 72 | ** Multiple strips are about how amazing cheese is, from God stating the meaning of life is cheese to people adoring [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/smell cheese rooms]]. |
| 73 | ** There's also an obsession with the pope's hat. |
| 74 | * AuthorFilibuster: In-Universe, this is used as a punishment for Philosophers who go to Hell. [[TakeThat They have to read]] Atlas Shrugged 2, the sequel that gets longer for every page you read. |
| 75 | -->'''Satan:''' Every time you read a page, it gets two pages longer! And John Galt's monologue gets three pages longer! |
| 76 | * AuthorAvatar: Zach Weiner is redheaded and naked, with [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2012-03-30 some]] exceptions to the latter part (all in the strip proper; he's always naked in the ''voteys'' he shows up in, and that's where he mostly shows up). |
| 77 | * AuthorTract: |
| 78 | ** Many strips savage organized religion, in particular Christianity. To be fair, Zach often pokes fun at atheism/agnosticism in the same breath. He's also not above taking a [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2006-08-22 potshot at both]] [[TakeAThirdOption simultaneously]]. |
| 79 | ** Zach likes to mock older people who remember the past as being better noting it is either nostalgia, people in the past did terrible things like make black people use different bathrooms, or that the times that were ''actually'' better were due to rare circumstances like the economic boom after World War 2. |
| 80 | * AxCrazy: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-star-trek-problem Star Trek Teleporter Operators]]. The one in the comic even has a SlasherSmile. |
| 81 | * TheBabyTrap: Batman [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2006-11-26 dislikes]] [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2006-03-18 condoms]]. |
| 82 | * BackToFront: Done many times as a form of comedic reveal. |
| 83 | * BadBoss: |
| 84 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/office-party This one threw a fake Halloween Party just to fire someone.]] |
| 85 | * BadDate: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDsAPMhuABU "Date Wars"]] is a bad date summarized in an actiony death-ray battle. |
| 86 | * TheBadGuyWins: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2012-04-03 "I can't say this story has a happy ending. Felix won't let us speak."]] |
| 87 | * BadSanta: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2002-12-25 Sometimes kills good kids to ensure his business doesn't suffer.]] |
| 88 | * BaitAndSwitch: As said above, one of the comic's claims to fame is subverting the audiences expectations, or even double-subverting them. Taken to ridiculous extremes (to the point of self-parody) in [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2006-08-09 this strip.]] |
| 89 | * BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2012-03-12 But Peter Pan and company can't.]] |
| 90 | * BatmanGambit: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-12-31 Supervillain knows what his old English teacher can't resist doing.]] |
| 91 | * BeardOfSorrow: Parodied [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/it-doesn39t-look-good here]] |
| 92 | * BearsAreBadNews: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2009-04-16 The Most Dangerous Game]] (also a subversion of... [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame yeah]]). |
| 93 | * BeatPanel: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2006-03-25 Four in this comic.]] |
| 94 | * BeautifulAllAlong: Parodied [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2009-08-21 here]], where someone tells a woman she's suddenly beautiful after she took off her glass and let down her hair. Cue a reveal that it's because she has freak ears. |
| 95 | * BelligerentSexualTension: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2010-11-03 This]] comic cites this trope as the route to the best possible sex. |
| 96 | %%* BenevolentAlienInvasion: The Zorblaxians. |
| 97 | * BenevolentConspiracy: "[[https://smbc-comics.com/comic/propaganda Propaganda]]" posits one by ''candy companies'', [[spoiler:to promote rational thinking and skepticism in children, by labeling the smallest size of candy with the NonIndicativeName "fun size"]]. Hey, WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer |
| 98 | * BerserkButton: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2006-04-30 Not serving this man's wife the correct meal.]] |
| 99 | * BetterThanSex: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-03-06 Television, apparently.]] Sex is considered to be "almost as good as TV," but it "depends on the station", obviously. |
| 100 | * BewareTheSuperman: A RunningGag in the comic is Superman abusing his powers, ranging from setting fire to brothels so he can save the sex workers, [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2008-05-13 to threatening to smash the moon into the Earth if he isn't granted access to Earth's women]], [[http://smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1976#comic to demanding the key to the city because "I just stopped Superman from killing everyone"]], [[http://smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1139#comic to sexually harassing a woman he's saving]], [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2009-07-25 to running for president and then threatening to kill everyone with lasers if forced to abide by term limits]]. |
| 101 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-10-16 One comic]] actually has the Kryptonians invoke this by sending Kryptonian Babies to alien planets to destroy rival civilizations. Oddly enough, this comic defied the trope by having the [[TheAtoner now reformed]] Kryptonians discover that Superman never had a chance to become a tyrant simply because he was too busy fighting all of Earth's {{Omnicidal Maniac}}s. |
| 102 | * BiggerIsBetterInBed: At first, the point of [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2584#comic this strip.]] |
| 103 | ** Actually a RunningGag in the comic, men will obsess over penis size, while women will prefer average size, since that doesn't involve getting torn open. |
| 104 | * BirdsOfAFeather: Subverted in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2079 "Uncomfortable Truthasaurus".]] It's kinda cruel, but those two nerds who date each other? [[spoiler:They want, like all people, someone hot and with better social status than themselves.]] |
| 105 | * BizarreAlienBiology: It makes [[spoiler:giving the aliens one million children in exchange for their advanced medical knowledge]] [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2006-08-27 a poor decision in hindsight]]. |
| 106 | * BlackAndWhiteMorality: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] and [[DeconstructiveParody deconstructed]] [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-05-13 in this strip]], where the lack of clear morality causes humanity to make a horrific clearly evil monster just to make things black and white. |
| 107 | * BlackBox: Referenced by this [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2010-06-20 strip]] about Polish hand magic. Some things really just are the way they are for literally no reason that humans would find satisfying. |
| 108 | * BlueAndOrangeMorality: |
| 109 | ** [[ExploitedTrope Exploited]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3097 by the Neuroethecist]] to avoid getting arrested by Wonder Woman. |
| 110 | --->'''Wonder Woman:''' Should I punish you or what? |
| 111 | --->'''Neuroethecist:''' It's complicated! Everything's complicated! Ahahahahahahahaha! |
| 112 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/quorf Quorf]] is a strip in which God possesses this as the answer to the problem of evil: Quorf is justice in a cosmic sense and humans can't even begin to comprehend it due to lacking omniscience. |
| 113 | * BlackComedy: A lot. A real lot. |
| 114 | * BoltOfDivineRetribution: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3626 On occasion]]. |
| 115 | * BornUnlucky: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3528 Little Sprat,]] who can only eat [[InsubstantialIngredients Unflavored Deproteinated Soy Slurry]] due to inheriting both his father's inability to eat fat and his mother's inability to eat lean. |
| 116 | * BrainMonster: {{Parodied}}, where a MadScientist discovers that his creation, a T-Rex with its brain in a giant jar, [[invoked]][[NightmareRetardant is anything but terrifying]]. |
| 117 | * BreadEggsBreadedEggs: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2009-05-03 A woman is lying on a bed, caught under a bathtub]] that fell from the floor above. A man is saying something. |
| 118 | -->'''Best case scenario for what he's saying:''' "The paramedics are on their way!"\ |
| 119 | '''Worst case scenario:''' "It's okay. I'm still turned on."\ |
| 120 | '''Bonus punchline, very best case scenario:''' "The paramedics are here, and we're all turned on." |
| 121 | * BreadEggsMilkSquick: |
| 122 | ** Here's [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=827#comic a literal example.]] |
| 123 | ** The votey of [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-12-22 this comic]]. Zach cannot draw: goats, lions, lion-goat interactions. |
| 124 | * BreakTheScientist: Invoked in-universe in [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/science-advisor this comic]], where TV writers use the volume of tears cried by a scientist to gauge how inaccurate they are. |
| 125 | * BreastExpansion: Exaggerated [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1740#comic here,]] where someone who finds a genie wishes that a woman's breasts grow until they're ''infinite''. |
| 126 | * BrickJoke: Comics From the Future, Episode 1 in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2007-03-03 March 2007]] was indeed [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/praise-his-metal-heart from the future.]] |
| 127 | * BunnyEarsLawyer: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=1206 Or rather, Bunny Ears Doctor]]. |
| 128 | * BuriedAlive: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=891 And given a funeral too!]] |
| 129 | * BookDumb: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/divine-intervention The people Jesus preached to.]] When he caused rock to produce new energy out of nothing (a violation of the Fundamental Laws of Reality), the people dismiss it on the basis that "sometimes rocks are hot". They were significantly more impressed with his ability to create more wine though ... |
| 130 | * CallBack: |
| 131 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2936#comic Pterrordactyl]] appears to be returning from [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=499#comic this comic.]] |
| 132 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=1932 Remember The Nothingverse that God sarcastically called?]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/nothing Yeah, he was serious]]. |
| 133 | ** See above BrickJoke. |
| 134 | * CanaryInACoalMine: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-08-29 As part of an analogy.]] |
| 135 | * CessationOfExistence: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3566 Bad people only go to Hell for sixty seconds, after which they fade into non-existence.]] While they might have some panicked questions in those sixty seconds, Satan sings teenage pop music instead of answering them. |
| 136 | * CheerfulFuneral: In [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2009-07-16 this strip]], an old woman asks her family to celebrate her life instead of mourning her at her funeral. Unfortunately, she ends up being the victim of a serial killer who tortured her to death, making the mood at her funeral party rather sombre. |
| 137 | -->"Dad just keeps dancing. What a trooper." |
| 138 | * ChestBurster: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=499#comic With puppies.]] |
| 139 | ** Discussed [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2146#comic here]] and Conversed [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2943#comic here.]] |
| 140 | * ClarkesLawForGirlsToys: Pointed out [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1883 here]], where the boy's toy does engineering and computer activities--but the girl's toy, a doll, is just a doll. (With the votey stating that advanced dolls "piss themselves.") |
| 141 | * CleavageWindow: One possible explanation for this is explored [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/genius here]]. |
| 142 | * ClownSpecies: Zach has made a number of jokes about Clowns being a separate species from humans, such as snakes coming out when they're stabbed, their looks being a result of evolving in caves, and the infinite handkerchief gag being an ejection of viscera. Lampshaded in [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/clowning Clowning]] where Zach muses he will one day have a book of just these jokes. |
| 143 | * ComingOutStory: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2114 With a genuinely unexpected twist.]] |
| 144 | -->"It's okay! The less concentrated your love gets, the stronger it-" ''[SLAM!]'' |
| 145 | * CompensatingForSomething: |
| 146 | ** [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]], [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]], and [[{{Trope}} played straight]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1918 here]] where a man angrily rants about the line of thinking when two women joke about his sports car. |
| 147 | ** Deconstructed again [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2860#comic here]] where through multiple correlations a man points out how it is likely the man who can afford a fancy car has a bigger dick than the guy making the joke. |
| 148 | * CrapsackWorld: Where all doctors and lawyers are incompetent, all economists are evil, all relationships are dysfunctional, all Unicorns are racists, and where suicide, murder, and hardcore drug use are apparently common pastimes. It is also a world where God is arbitrary at best and evil at worst, and where any innovation automatically leads to TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt (no matter how innocuous or even beneficial that innovation might seem). In some cases though, the doctors are competent sociopaths, and the dysfunctional relationships work due to [[NightmareFetishist nightmare fetishism.]] |
| 149 | * CrazyCatLady: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3826 This one]] combines thousands of cats to create a [[HiveMind Hive Mind]]. [[spoiler:Sadly, it immediately flew into the Sun and burned up]]. |
| 150 | * CrapsaccharineWorld: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1222#comic On occasion.]] |
| 151 | * CreateYourOwnVillain: |
| 152 | ** And we mean '''literally''':\ |
| 153 | [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-05-13 "That's why we created Skull-King, the robotic scourge of mankind."]] |
| 154 | ** In [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2124#comic this strip]], an AI is [[spoiler:so disturbed by finding out that its master expects it to kill all humans ForTheEvulz as soon as it achieves intelligence that it decides humans are AlwaysChaoticEvil and need to be killed.]] |
| 155 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3999 Weird Fred also fits the trope.]] |
| 156 | ** The father in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=2756 this]] strip is raising his son to be an Autocratic Dictator. |
| 157 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2351 Deconstructed when an economist explains that combining the DNA of various historical conquerors won't necessarily produce a villain, but then Reconstructed when said economist explains it is just easier to find a country with recently high inflation, low per capita income, and a bad GNI coefficient]]. |
| 158 | * CreepyCrows: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3622 They are an omen for death, but not the only bird you want to avoid.]] |
| 159 | * CreepyChild: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2726#comic Here.]] |
| 160 | * CryLaughing: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2005-09-14 Doctor Apocalypse does this while vowing to stop Turboman from killing toddlers]]. |
| 161 | * TheCycleOfEmpires: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3023 The entirety of Human Civilization follows this, and we are currently in the 628th cycle.]] [[spoiler:The "Expansion" and "Stabilization" phases are caused by Badgers, while the "Decay" and the "Long Night" phases are caused by modern art.]] |
| 162 | * DatingCatwoman: Though [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1243 not with Catwoman herself.]] |
| 163 | * DealWithTheDevil: Several; usually it turns out the mortal was cheated. |
| 164 | ** Subverted in [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2009-07-09 one strip]] about prayer. If you pray to God, he just says he may or may not fulfill your wish in a way thats indistinguishable from your own efforts or random chance. If you pray to Satan, he shows up and asks if you want to be paid in large or small bills. |
| 165 | * DeathWorld: Earth, for SUPERMAN's species. They sent overpowered babies to worlds in order to take over those worlds, but later they had a culture shift. In each and each world they went to get superpowered beings back, they had all been tyrants of that world... except Earth. Earth have so many supervillians that [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3514 Superman was just too busy keeping Earth intact.]] The Kryptonians end up taking Superman back home for treatment. |
| 166 | -->'''Superman:''' They're everywhere! Evil is everywhere! AAAAHHHHHHH! |
| 167 | * DestructiveTeleportation: SMBC has parodied this ''three times''. |
| 168 | ** In the [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/teleporter first]], the [[BrainUploading consciousness transfer]] is compared to file compression. |
| 169 | ** In the [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/teleporter-2 second]], it discusses a hypothetical where TheFriendNobodyLikes is accidentally turned into a plant by the machine, and the ethics of changing it back to an unpleasant person. |
| 170 | ** In the [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/teleporter-3 third]], two characters discuss this as one of them gets into a teleporter. The other one tells him the duplicate already exists at the destination and the original will be destroyed. The first guy can't tell if he's joking or not. |
| 171 | * DetectiveMole: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=1860 Here]]: |
| 172 | -->'''Detective Larson:''' Gonna kill your wife tonight. With this machete. I'm the detective.\ |
| 173 | '''Child:''' Not detective Larson! He's the detective! |
| 174 | * DigitalPiracyIsEvil: Under [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/photoshop the Code of Hammurabi]], the punishment for IP Theft is [[AnArmAndALeg dismemberment]]. |
| 175 | * DisproportionateRetribution: |
| 176 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-10-20 A crime deterrent!]] |
| 177 | ** Offering overly gruesome vengeance also deters kids from [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3428 tattling]] or from [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=396 not returning library books on time]]. |
| 178 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=1327 It is also how Aliens react when Earth's Television signals interfere with their communication.]] |
| 179 | ** There would be less [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil Intellectual Property Theft]] if [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/photoshop The Code of Hammurabi]] was reinstated. |
| 180 | * DisposableSexWorker: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3170 Strippers hate inflation more than anyone else.]] |
| 181 | * DisturbingStatistic: |
| 182 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=1802 There have been 4,286 Robins]]. |
| 183 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3858 Sherlock Holmes has sent 439 innocent men to the gallows]]. |
| 184 | * DirtyCommunists: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=44 Bob Barker used to be one.]] |
| 185 | * DirtyOldMan: |
| 186 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=2544 "It all goes in here!"]]. |
| 187 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=1717 Eeeeerrotic.]] |
| 188 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3948 "I won't take you to meet Grandpa until he's old enough to be dead."]] |
| 189 | * DoggedNiceGuy: Mocked [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2264#comic in this comic.]] |
| 190 | * {{Doublethink}}: Parodied in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2221 this strip.]] |
| 191 | * DoubleStandard: Discussed [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=1918#comic here]] |
| 192 | * DoubleStandardRapeDivineOnMortal: Well ... Super on Normal, but the same principal applies. [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2008-04-06 Superman]] and [[http://smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=342 Batman]] both invoke this trope at points. |
| 193 | * DramaticGunCock: In [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=457#comic this panel]] |
| 194 | * DreamWithinADream: Taken to [[OverlyLongGag ridiculous]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1849#comic extremes.]] |
| 195 | * DrivenToSuicide: |
| 196 | ** [[http://smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=470 This strip]] implies it of a teacher's wife. |
| 197 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=1573 This one]] describes it as being how a normal person fixes his lycanthrophy. |
| 198 | * DoNotDoThisCoolThing: [[invoked]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2005-03-21 Don't smoke, because you don't have super lungs like Superman]]. |
| 199 | * DyingDeclarationOfHate: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3947 This comic]], which chronicles the process of math theory going from being rejected by academic old guard because it challenges the conventional wisdom of the time to becoming the accepted truth, features a member of the academic old guard denouncing it on his deathbed. |
| 200 | -->I will never understand it. I will never believe it. As I go into death, with my final breath I spit upon your theorem. |
| 201 | * EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Early comics frequently lacked a votey. Eventually, Zach went back and gave them all voteys, varying between the usual punchline-extender and a "Reading this whatever years later" one where he reacts to it. |
| 202 | * EarthAllAlong: There's quite a few comics that portray the increasingly ridiculous results of the introduction of a technology or concept. Occasionally, the punch line will be that [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3316#comic our world is the end result of that bizarre sequence of events.]] |
| 203 | -->'''Narrator:''' The world is now largely a population of scared, confused people ruled by atavistic sociopaths with no sense of history, ethics, science, beauty or truth. But then, you already knew that. |
| 204 | * EasyRoadToHell: |
| 205 | ** There was one strip about a priest being sent to hell... [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=471#comic for this reason.]] |
| 206 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2006-07-30 In this one]] Hell is the only road. |
| 207 | * EatsBabies: Used so often, you'd think it's AuthorAppeal or something. |
| 208 | * TheEeyore: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=376 He's the one under the paper bag.]] |
| 209 | * ElderAbuse: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=676 "My research on bone density in the elderly is going extremely well."]] |
| 210 | * ElephantsNeverForget: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-10-22 One strip]] describes elephants' exceptional memories being used for file storage, under the logic that since elephants never forget they can be used as a very reliable way of storing information. ''Retrieving'' the information, of course, is significantly impeded by the fact that elephants are animals and can't talk. |
| 211 | -->'''Salesman:''' Have no fear. Your emails, documents, and personal photos are securely stored in the 'phant. |
| 212 | * EnhanceButton: This is managed in [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/enhance Enhance]] by [[spoiler:displaying a low-resolution version of the security cam feed and then switching to normal resolution]]. |
| 213 | * EroticDream: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3912 Epictetus trained himself to have one whenever something bad happens to him,]] whether it's something big like getting banished from Rome or something small like being told his discourse is informal. [[spoiler:His fantasy is a Three-Way with Venus and Helen of Troy]]. |
| 214 | -->'''Epictetus:''' [[spoiler:Be gentle, ladies. I've never done that before!]] |
| 215 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: |
| 216 | ** An economist in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2936#comic this strip]] proposes a scheme to a supervillain league. It entails people, disguised as heads of their government's central banks, running out of said banks at the same time, with a wheelbarrow of gold bars, while screaming in panic. "It harms health and finance for generations," she says, "starves the poorest people first, and because it's a catastrophe of distrust, it doesn't even unify people!" The horrified supervillains tell her never to come back. |
| 217 | ** A [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/solving-sophie39s-choice would-be]] SadisticChoice child murderer encourages his victims to run away after listening to their evolutionary geneticist mother's rant. |
| 218 | ** In a similar scenario, a crazed-looking man with a gun orders a man to choose which of his two children will live. "Billy dies," says the father without hesitation, explaining that Sally, as a girl, has a higher life expectancy and somewhat higher average happiness, and is also three years Billy's junior, giving her the greater number of "quality-adjusted life years." The criminal unties the children (but not the father) and tells them he's sorry their father is an economist. |
| 219 | ** The {{Necromancer}} in [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/undead this strip]] is disgusted when one of the zombie skeletons he's summoned refuses to work with some of the ''other'' zombie skeletons, claiming [[SomeOfMyBestFriendsAreX he's got nothing against other races]], he just doesn't think they work well together. Despite the fact that they ''don't even have any skin anymore'', and he can only (supposedly) tell what race they are based on bone structure. |
| 220 | --->'''Necromancer:''' ''(clearly dismayed)'' I'm planning to create an epoch of darkness, but not a ''racist'' one. |
| 221 | --->'''Racist skeleton:''' Preferences are not racist, sir! |
| 222 | * EverybodyHatesMathematics: |
| 223 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/what-its-like Being a math teacher]] is even more hated than a racist fascist homophobe who [[KickTheDog sues struggling single moms]] and [[LiteralMetaphor kicks puppies]] and [[ImAHumanitarian eats babies]]. |
| 224 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/real-life-3 Real Life 3]] points out that kids hate math because it is boring and hard and humans are naturally lazy, not because they don't understand how it will help them as adults. Afterall, a lot of adults know math would further their careers, but they still don't study it. |
| 225 | * EverybodyLaughsEnding: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2527#comic Here.]] |
| 226 | * EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: In-universe, the victim of a TakeThat [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2112 in this comic.]] |
| 227 | * EvilCounterpart: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2690#comic Carl Sagan has one. Nobody liked him.]] |
| 228 | --> [[spoiler:Evil Carl Sagon:"There is carbon in your body that was shat out of Hitler's ass!"]] |
| 229 | * TheEvilsOfFreeWill: In [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/kudzu this]] comic, a red-haired woman accidently convinces her grey-haired friend of this. |
| 230 | --> Grey-haired friend: "Wow. You just cured me of any hedonic tendencies. Man must be governed. With the whip if necessary." |
| 231 | * EvilRedhead: Frequently shows up. Overlaps with SelfDeprecation. |
| 232 | --> [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/gender-stereotypes I'm just realizing I always give my jerk characters red hair. It's nice to see one's self-hatred manifested so plainly.]] |
| 233 | * EvilTeacher: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=1303 This one murders students who give the wrong answer on tests.]] |
| 234 | * TheExactCenterOfEverything: In ''[[https://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=2302 Eff]]'', it's shown the Zorblaxians really ''weren't'' mistaken (like humans and other aliens once were) when they say their world is the center of the universe. It's just one more piece that convinced them, if it wasn't outright proof, that they are [[TheChosenPeople the creator's chosen race]]... [[spoiler:directly leading to said world getting blown up by [[ScrewYouElves resentful humans]]]]. |
| 235 | * ExactWords: |
| 236 | ** The inventor shows off [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=37#comic the world's first horseless carriage.]] |
| 237 | ** Man, those are some lucky pants. [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3555#comic Too bad, the wearer isn't.]] |
| 238 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3323 "I don't believe in Bad Babies!"]][[spoiler:It's because she's a Eugenicist.]] |
| 239 | ** A man who is totally okay with his parents dying so he can gain his inheritance, wishes on a monkey's paw to get about as much money as his parents have. [[spoiler:He gets a phonecall that he will be inheriting their medical debt]]. |
| 240 | * ExcuseBoomerang: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2605 This]] comic, in which a woman protests that arresting her ego for smoking marijuana is unjust, when other parts of her mind and body were responsible for the deed. The police officer handcuffs the woman and tells her his hands are just obeying the frontal lobes in Congress. |
| 241 | * ExpospeakGag: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1957 In weaponized form.]] |
| 242 | * EyesAlwaysShut: Snobs tend to be drawn this way. |
| 243 | * FailOSuckyname: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=1621 Can prevent you from naming an element you discovered after yourself.]] |
| 244 | ** [[spoiler:Another sad day for Dr. Oinky Hitlerballs]]. |
| 245 | * FeatheredFiend: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3622 This comic is a list of bird-related omens. Most of them are bad.]] |
| 246 | ** Ravens = [[CharacterDeath Death]] |
| 247 | ** Eurasian Kestrels = [[DyingAlone Nobody will ever love you]] |
| 248 | ** Barnacle Goose = [[ForgotToPayTheBill Rent is Due]] |
| 249 | ** Crested Ibis = [[OpenFlyGag Your zipper is undone]] |
| 250 | ** Dwarf Cassowary = [[TheAlcoholic You need to stop drinking]] |
| 251 | ** Fulvous Whistling Duck = [[UnwantedSpouse Your spouse hates you.]] |
| 252 | ** Passenger Pigeon = [[YouAlreadyChangedThePast The time machine only worked a little.]] |
| 253 | * TheFilmOfTheBook: PlayedForLaughs [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2447#comic Here.]] |
| 254 | * FishOutOfTemporalWater: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2010-07-05 Going to the Renaissance Fair to Roleplay as a Victorian Time Traveler]]. |
| 255 | * FlingALightIntoTheFuture: |
| 256 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2106 Gone catastrophically wrong.]] |
| 257 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/springtime-2 This one]] has all the sentient races in the universe come together to ensure that a new universe will be born from the inevitable destruction of this one... to [[RageAgainstTheHeavens spite God]] for designing the universe with a finite lifespan in the first place. |
| 258 | * ForHappiness: One [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2569#comic strip]] start out with featuring a StrawCharacter version of ForHappiness. He soon becomes a TotalitarianUtilitarian, however. |
| 259 | * ForScience!: |
| 260 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1202 Naked people wearing capes are funny.]] |
| 261 | ** Also a good reason to [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1907 molest bunnies.]] |
| 262 | ** When Aliens [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2686#comic run out of other reasons to mess with the humans, they can always do it For Science.]] |
| 263 | ** Subverted [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=676 here]]. |
| 264 | -->''My research on bone density in the elderly is going very well. [[spoiler:[[BaitAndSwitch So I decided to celebrate by caning an old man.]]]] |
| 265 | * FreakOut: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/aaaah AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!]] |
| 266 | * FreakierThanFiction: [[AvertedTrope Lies]]. Just [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1713#comic add a monkey dressed as Hitler]] to anything, and it becomes stranger and fictional. |
| 267 | * FreudWasRight: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=2138 Apparently]] every weapon in history is a subconscious sexual innuendo. And the Big Bang Theory but that one is a little less subtle. |
| 268 | * FullCircleRevolution: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-01-23 Implied to be the result of all revolutions.]] |
| 269 | * FunnyAnimal: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=1836 Inflatable Bananapig!]] |
| 270 | * FuneralCut: One strip has ComicBook/WonderWoman try to warn an ordinary guy that [[ManOfSteelWomanOfKleenex she's too powerful to sleep with him without accidentally killing him]]. The next panel shows a gravestone; presumably he went for it anyway. |
| 271 | * FutureImperfect: Invoked. Apparently, Literature/DonQuixote's true exploits were quite different from [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2134 what is written on the novel.]] [[note]]The Aesop is: Always remember to be polite to your sidekicks![[/note]] |
| 272 | * GagPenis: |
| 273 | ** The inevitable result of the invention of genetic engineering. Men inevitably requested that their sons be given increasingly large genitals, which leads to an arms race with women requesting larger vaginas in their daughters to keep them from getting mutilated by sex. This escalates until the human race literally morphs into walking, talking genitals, at which point the next generation end up as normal humans again, as their parents are no longer capable of using the computers that altered their DNA. These kids end up being the most miserable generation in human history, as they've literally been born and raised by giant genitals, and the psychosexual implications are disastrous. |
| 274 | ** Another has a man who finds a genie wish that penis size be determined by working out like a normal muscle rather than basically random. This leads to a disastrous population crash within a decade as men quickly start working out so much that sex becomes impossible. |
| 275 | * GambitPileup: A [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2009-07-19 psychological experiment]] ends in this. Three people each conducted an experiment on each other. The first one did so in the guise of conducting an experiment on students, and others pretended to be part of the experiment. |
| 276 | * GayPanic: Played with and exploited. When a homophobic politician [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2012-11-01 blames natural disasters on gay sex]], the President creates the C.I.Gay, using the gay sex to manipulate the natural environment to America's advantage. |
| 277 | * GeekyTurnOn: |
| 278 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1318#comic It points out]] how pathetic [[ThisLoserIsYou you]] are for doing this. |
| 279 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2934 Talk mathy to me!]] |
| 280 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2581 An unusual example.]] |
| 281 | * GirlfriendInCanada: Saint Anselm [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3066#comic uses]] his ontological argument to prove that she exists. |
| 282 | * GirlOnGirlIsHot: As briefly explained by [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1023#comic Professor Ferman.]] |
| 283 | * AGodAmI: As boasted by, [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/cat-2 of all people,]] [[spoiler:''[[ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} Jon Arbuckle]]'']], upon imbuing intelligence and consciousness to a creature that otherwise does not have such. |
| 284 | * GodIsEvil: Actually, he runs the gamut from all-loving to unspeakably cruel, as fits the gag. |
| 285 | * GodTest: A variant in [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2009-07-21 one comic strip.]] Unfortunately, they decided floating meant he was a witch instead of Jesus. |
| 286 | * GogglesDoNothing: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2131#comic The votey of this comic.]] |
| 287 | * GoodAngelBadAngel: |
| 288 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=527 In debating whether he should kill his own family]], the man's bad angel [[spoiler:kills them himself. Say what you will, but sociopathy is efficient.]] |
| 289 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=205 It's hard at first.]] |
| 290 | ** In another one a psychic advertizing regrettably [[http://smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=269 replaces the good angel]]. |
| 291 | * GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2008-02-29 The Children's Book, "Safer Sex Thru Abortion", has not fared well on the market.]] |
| 292 | * GoMadFromTheRevelation: Subverted. [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2010-11-01 Georg Cantor]] is thought to have gone mad trying to pursue mathematical infinity, but in truth his mental breakdown only occurred after his peers shunned him. |
| 293 | ** One man uses this to last longer during sex by debating the existance of free will by himself. The ensuing despair means that he wont climax too fast. |
| 294 | * GravityIsOnlyATheory: |
| 295 | ** A combination of [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2183#comic two]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2184#comic strips]] plays creationism for laughs by invoking the idea that ''the theory about the earth moving around the sun rather than vice versa'' is only a theory. The first strip joke about creationists demanding to put "evolution is only a theory" stickers in biology textbooks. The next strip joke about a guy from the 13:th century demanding the same kind of stickers in astronomy textbooks. |
| 296 | ** Also played with in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2376#comic this]] strip. |
| 297 | ** In [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2703#comic a much later strip]], a character argues that ''history'' is only a theory. More specifically, he does no believe in "the theory of revolution": According to his religion, all states were created in their current form. [[spoiler:Turns out he's a Biology teacher [[InvokedTrope only saying this]] to prove the point that the nutjobs ''he'' has to deal with are more problematic since he can't [[ImplausibleDeniability bitchslap them down with a small mountain of concrete evidence]]. When the History teacher does present said evidence, he ignores it with a HandWave and blatantly MovingTheGoalposts.]] |
| 298 | * GroinAttack: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-08-15 I don't believe in pain]]. |
| 299 | * HalfHumanHybrid: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2519#comic Attempted and failed.]] |
| 300 | * HatesEveryoneEqually: Parodied with the tale of [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2573 Bobby and the Gurg.]] Also, subverted [[TheStinger at the end.]] |
| 301 | * HauteCuisineIsWeird: {{Discussed|Trope}} in [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/cinnamon-buns this strip]] with regard to ruining ordinary dishes by adding overly fancy ingredients. |
| 302 | -->'''Man:''' I want macaroni and cheese, but I also want dignity. Please foul this food with truffle oil. |
| 303 | * HeartIsAnAwesomePower: |
| 304 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=499#comic With puppies.]] |
| 305 | ** The most effective superhero in the League as populations increase? [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3840 Speedsheet]], who can analyze spreadsheets far faster than mortal men. Superman suspects she isn't even super, just really boring. |
| 306 | * HeroDoesPublicService: Deconstructed [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2305#comic with society calculating more and more efficient ways for Superman's might to be used and taking him for granted.]] |
| 307 | * HeroicSacrifice: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2226#comic SAVE YOURSELF, MAMMAL!]] |
| 308 | * HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: A great deal of the humour is this. |
| 309 | * HitlerAteSugar: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1335#comic You know who else didn't floss?]] [[spoiler:You know, probably.]] |
| 310 | * HitlersTimeTravelExemptionAct: A possible reason is given [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2920 here.]] -- a time-traveler kills Hartler, who extended the Great Depression, allowing Hitler to come to power instead. |
| 311 | ** And another one is given in the Votey for [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1907 this strip.]] |
| 312 | --->3 Possibilities: 1) Time travel is impossible. 2) Future people are dicks. 3) Future people are ''really'' bad at killing Hitler. |
| 313 | ** [[ExploitedTrope Exploited]] for a movie pitch in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3266 this strip]] -- Hitler gets really good at killing time travelers, meaning he is the only one who can save the universe from malevolent ones. |
| 314 | ** Given a personal twist in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3116 this strip]]. From the perspective of the world at large, stopping Hitler worked out very well... but the one who did now has to live with [[spoiler:being Hitler's granddaughter]]. |
| 315 | ** In another strip, killing Hitler is even more positive than anticipated, improving the world greatly. But then political pressures push the time travelers to kill anyone who's even slightly bad, eventually [[spoiler: killing of most of the world's population, per the wishes of the broader galactic community.]] |
| 316 | * HistoricalDomainCharacter: |
| 317 | ** The British Prime Minister [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3513 in this comic]] looks suspiciously like Neville Chamberlain. |
| 318 | ** Hitler makes several appearances. |
| 319 | * HollywoodAtheist: |
| 320 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=1441 This parent will ensure his son grows up to be an atheist by dressing up like Jesus and Buddha and scaring him at night. This way he associates theism with his night terrors.]] |
| 321 | -->Parent in Costume: "Boo! I'm Jesus Christ! I'm here from 2000 years ago to tell you how to run your life! Boo!" |
| 322 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2007-06-29 This kid]], meanwhile, likes to interrupt Church to taunt Jesus. |
| 323 | * HotlinkedImageSwitch: The "National Organization for Marriage", an anti-gay-marriage group, hot-linked a [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2144 comic from his site.]] Zach responded by changing the image to one [[http://twitpic.com/3w7b1j supporting gay marriage]]. |
| 324 | * HowWeGotHere: Frequently used, where the punchline comes in the form of a panel happening just before the events of the rest of the comic. |
| 325 | * HumansAreBastards: |
| 326 | ** Overlooked by the scientist in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3261#comic this strip]] |
| 327 | ** According to God in this [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/average strip]], humans are slightly good on average, but are prone to high violence/rage in quick bursts. |
| 328 | * HumansAreInsects: A case done solely through size. Zach calculates how small a human would be to a sperm whale to point out how pathetic [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/literary-analysis Ahab]] must have looked to Literature/MobyDick. |
| 329 | * HumansThroughAlienEyes: Frequently. For example, [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2594#comic here]] they explain humanity's obsession with flowers as a show of dominance over plants. |
| 330 | * HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: As seen [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1488#comic here]], the real most dangerous game is playing tennis with lit dynamite while riding a {{bear|sAreBadNews}}. |
| 331 | * HurricaneOfPuns: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2349#comic CHEMISTRY puns no less.]] |
| 332 | * HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=113#comic What happens when you go past the speed of light?]] [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope You get an extra finger and a Toblerone!]] Yay!]] |
| 333 | * HypocriticalHumor: |
| 334 | ** [[http://smbc-comics.com/comic/dentistry A dentist's patient]] complains about how expensive dentists are after refusing to take any advice from a dentist. |
| 335 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-02-10 This man]] complains that his child's generation gets participation rewards for everything, then personally gives them a reward for responding. |
| 336 | * IAteWhat: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2004-06-09 One comic]] featured a box of "Everything But Urine-Os" cereal, with the line of dialogue "You put ''what'' in my cereal?" |
| 337 | %%* IBangedYourMom: With a frequent subversion. So much so that it's a running gag. |
| 338 | * IDidWhatIHadToDo: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=153 The Trix Rabbit needed the Trix Cereal to correct his blood sugar and avoid dying.]] [[spoiler:In the Votey, The Trix Rabbit killed the kids because they were going to withhold the cereal and let him die.]] |
| 339 | * IgnoranceIsBliss: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3676 Life was easier to understand when Humans thought they were at the center of the Universe.]] |
| 340 | * IHaveNoSon: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=157#comic Well, goodnight Susie.]] |
| 341 | * ILoveTheDead: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=2064 So much so that it ruined some poor couple's safari]]. |
| 342 | * ImagineTheAudienceNaked: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/society Not, as it turns out,]] the best advice to give someone who's speaking at an event for premature ejaculation sufferers. |
| 343 | * ImAManICantHelpIt: [[JustifiedTrope Justified ... kind of.]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=1470 The man's woman colleague had just finished disproving free will]]. |
| 344 | * ImpossibleTaskInstantlyAccomplished: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1366#comic What if God took away sex?]] |
| 345 | * InCaseOfXBreakGlass: In one strip, there is an emergency box, but after someone breaks it, it is revealed that the emergency was a glass shortage, and he just made it worse. |
| 346 | * InsultToRocks: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=35 Implied here,]] where putting arts degrees next to low-quality toilet paper bothers a man from a toilet paper company. |
| 347 | * IntellectualAnimal: "The hedgefox knows 14 things, and they're all pretty important". |
| 348 | * TheInternetIsForPorn: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3248#comic Er, in the future, The PornBox Is For Porn that is.]] |
| 349 | ** A DoubleSubversion in [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/browser-history a comic]] where a man screams a BigNo and tells his wife to not look at his browser history...so her surprise, it's all just "old people stuff". The votey, however, has him express relief that the old people stuff got her to stop scrolling down lower... |
| 350 | * ItMakesSenseInContext: Some of the panels and/or the dialogue in them can be really bizarre before you read the caption, or in some cases the bonus panel. |
| 351 | * ItWillNeverCatchOn: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2007-03-15 The internet was just a fad]]. The ''real'' big thing is chewing on skunks. |
| 352 | * IWantGrandkids: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2962#comic Marrying off children does that.]] |
| 353 | * JackassGenie: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3042 This strip.]] Could be considered to overlap with LiteralGenie as well if not for the third wish. |
| 354 | * JustFriends: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2474#comic Peer reviewed?]] |
| 355 | * KansasCityShuffle: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/chipmunks Chipmunks]] sees Lex Luthor tell Superman he will put bells on all the chipmunks in France. it turns out that [[spoiler:it is a distraction so Luthor can just rob Fort Knox while all the heroes try to figure out why he would do this]]. |
| 356 | * KickTheDog: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=249#comic "I'm beginning to wonder if Fred had an ulterior motive in buying me a puppy for Christmas".]] |
| 357 | * KingInTheMountain: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=1830 This one's votey claims it is George Washington]]. |
| 358 | * KingIncognito: Parodied in [[http://smbc-comics.com/comic/royalty "Royalty"]], where the king in hiding is severely, obviously inbred, to the point that he resembles [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_Spain Carlos the Bewitched]]. |
| 359 | * LampshadedTheObscureReference: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3117#comic This joke about economics]] has an AltText that says "SHAME ON THE THREE OF YOU WHO ENJOYED THIS JOKE". |
| 360 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3998 This joke about statistics also has a similar ]] reference in the AltText. |
| 361 | * LargeHam: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=2072#comic Has]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=878#comic happened]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=2026#comic a]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=1429#comic few]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=2371#comic times.]] |
| 362 | * LegoGenetics: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2519#comic Subverted and mocked.]] |
| 363 | * LensmanArmsRace: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2138 Analysed and taken to its logical conclusion.]] |
| 364 | * LiteralMetaphor: |
| 365 | ** As part of the EscalatingPunchline, "Isn't this a vicious cycle?" [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-06-24 "Oh, that reminds me..."]] |
| 366 | ** In [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/logical-fallacies Logical Fallacies]], someone argues that higher taxes are fine, and ponders whether people against it think "the government's going to spend that money on giant robots made of dried grass". The other person replies, "That's a straw man!", [[spoiler:at which point they both flee from the giant straw robot approaching them]]. |
| 367 | * LongRunner: More than six thousand strips. %%[=URLs=] of the form http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=x still work, despite the switch to name-based [=URLs=]. As of 28 Oct 2022, the latest comic is 6563. |
| 368 | * TheLostLenore: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2012-05-13 This father]], when asked by his daughter what "1 + 1" equals, goes into a monologue about how he believes [[TogetherInDeath he will see his dead wife again one day]]. He even goes so far as to state that if the only thing after death were CessationOfExistence (in other words if his wife was gone forever), [[DrivenToSuicide he would just kill himself and be done with it all]]. Or as he puts it: |
| 369 | -->"If her being weren't written on the book of truth, waiting some day to be read again, no quantity of hope could keep me living in this vast cold universe." |
| 370 | * LoveDodecahedron: Or rather, [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2161#comic "Lust Infinigon".]] |
| 371 | * LowCultureHighTech: Particle Physics is [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-11-25 an]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2009-07-03 old]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=1428 science]]. |
| 372 | * MadnessMantra: [[http://smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=4030 I know what you did.]] |
| 373 | * MadDoctor: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=418 When Doctor Sloan says you have two weeks to live, you have two weeks to live!]] |
| 374 | * MagicFeather: Inverted in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3386#comic this]] comic. "The failure was in you all along!" |
| 375 | ** Subverted: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3942 No, it really is an evil artifact that now owns you.]] |
| 376 | * MagicVersusScience: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2006-04-27 Bullets Win]]. |
| 377 | * ManOfSteelWomanOfKleenex: Gender-inversion [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1363 in this strip,]] along with AManIsAlwaysEager. |
| 378 | * MathematiciansAnswer: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2208 Literally.]] |
| 379 | * {{Metaphorgotten}}: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=26#comic Dad never really bothered to explain his metaphors.]] |
| 380 | * MenCantKeepHouse: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3090#comic Or even feed themselves, apparently.]] |
| 381 | * {{Melodrama}}: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3200 Funky Fries ... BUT AT WHAT COST???]] |
| 382 | ** [[spoiler:$3.99]] |
| 383 | * MidasTouch: {{Parodied|}} - [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/touch the Midas-alike]] instead causes anyone he touches ''emotionally'' to turn to gold. To his dismay, [[TheFriendNobodyLikes absolutely no one has to turned to gold]]. According to the AltText, not even his cat that was raised for 10 years from kittenhood after he petted it. In the votey, the fellow the Midas-alike is talking to says he's sorry and trying really hard to turn into gold, but no dice. |
| 384 | * MidSuicideRegret: Two strips feature a man committing suicide after rejection from a woman they loved, only to receive news she changed her mind when it was too late to stop. In one, the man jumps off a building and gets a phonecall mid-fall. Inn another, [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2008-02-28 the man commits Seppuku]], only for his friend to bring him a letter that states that she loves him afterall. |
| 385 | * MindScrew: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/nothing One strip]] shows an alternate universe where existence is impossible, populated by sentient beings composed of absolutely nothing. |
| 386 | * MiscarriageOfJustice: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3858 To date]], Sherlock Homes has sent [[DisturbingStatistic 439]] innocent men to the gallows. |
| 387 | * MistakenForGay: Inverted, though it's not clear until [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=234 you read the votey]]. |
| 388 | * MistakenForRacist: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-12-06 When Lex Luther posions a community that happens to be made up of ethnic minorities]], Superman suspects it's not a coincidence. |
| 389 | -->Lex Luther: "I just wanted to kill people!" |
| 390 | -->Superman: *rolls eyes* "Yeah, a certain type of people." |
| 391 | * MixAndMatchMan: Subverted and [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] [[labelnote:*]](addressing some of the many reason [[ThisIsReality it wouldn't work on real life]])[[/labelnote]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2351 on this strip.]] |
| 392 | * ModernizedGod: Subverted when a woman is blessed by a god there to grant all her desires... who assures her that she is now fertile and [[HeirClubForMen assured to bear male children]], his idea of what women consider a blessing not having kept up with the times. |
| 393 | * ModestyBedsheet: Lampshaded in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=3144 this comic.]] Click the big red button (the 'votey') under the comic. |
| 394 | * MonsterClown: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=2994 STAY SAFE!]] |
| 395 | * MoonLandingHoax: |
| 396 | ** The moon landing was faked because they had to hide an accident. Namely [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=120 landing on Mars instead.]] |
| 397 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2240#comic These]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=601#comic comics]] use claims about the moon landing to criticize ConspiracyTheorist arguments. |
| 398 | * MovingTheGoalposts: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/a-window When God closes a door, don't climb out the open window.]] |
| 399 | * MugglesDoItBetter: How do you stop a werewolf from going on a rage-fueled killing spree whenever the moon is full? [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3713 Psychopharmacology!]] [[note]]The medication referred to in the comic is an anticonvulsant used in treating epileptic seizures, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.[[/note]] |
| 400 | * MundaneMadeAwesome: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2012-07-11 Copyrights]]. |
| 401 | ** A woman makes a high-stakes game out of [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-10-05 opening containers]] to check if they are full of old dairy. |
| 402 | * MundaneUtility: The best way for Superman to save the world is to [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2305 convert his powers into cheap energy]] by spinning a big magnet around really fast... at least up to a point. |
| 403 | * MyBelovedSmother: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=2879 Public Health Advocates are this to everyone else. Fortunately they lack legislative power.]] |
| 404 | * MyBrainIsBig: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=1 Horton, from the very first comic.]] [[SubvertedTrope Sadly, two thirds of his brain was comprised of the little known "stupid lobe"]]. |
| 405 | -->Horton:"Two times Two is Three." |
| 406 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-real-villain Old Man Richards reacts this way]] when his attempt to prevent his neighborhood from being gentrified backfires. He haunted the neighborhood because he wanted to lower the property value and scare rich people away [[AntiVillain so the poor renters could stay there]], but instead he drove the property value up because haunted homes are worth more. |
| 407 | * MyNewGiftIsLame: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3656 If you find a Magic Lamp of Unadorned Wood, then a Calvinist Genie will grant you Three Wishes!]] [[spoiler:Actually, your grandchildren are the ones who will receive those wishes. And that is only if you and they both work ceaselessly every day of your lives. And if you live to see your grandchildren, you didn't work hard enough. [[EasyRoadToHell Also your actions have no effect on whether or not God decides to let you into Heaven, but finding a Genie is probably a bad sign]]. And no wishing for anything fun!]] |
| 408 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: |
| 409 | ** By Jesus himself. He tries to patch things up afterwards, though... [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2413 But not in the way you'd expect.]] |
| 410 | ** Superman saved a man from suicide, giving the man he saved the drive to pursue his dream. [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-03-12 Unfortunately, those dreams involve turning America into a racist dictatorship]]. |
| 411 | * NightmareRetardant: In-universe. [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2028 The most horrible monster of all time!]] |
| 412 | * NoHeroToHisValet: One comic suggests that Don Quixote was a legitimately capable knight, but he was also a massive jerk to his scribe, so his scribe got the last laugh by depicting the mighty knight as a blundering fool. |
| 413 | * NoodleImplements: |
| 414 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1864#comic At the end of this.]] |
| 415 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2972#comic Also at the end of this.]] |
| 416 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/sex-has-been-solved What was the furry squeegee for?]] To dry up the buttermilk. |
| 417 | * NostalgiaFilter: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2253 Addressed here,]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2323 here,]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2337 and here.]] |
| 418 | ** Also parodied [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3459#comic here.]] |
| 419 | * NotSoAboveItAll: Most of the time voties with Zack's wife in them have her (and whatever kids they have at the time) glaring at Zack for his comics. The voties will sometimes show Zack's wife laughing, agreeing with, or otherwise having a positive response to comics getting Zack and the kids to glare at her instead. |
| 420 | * ObliviouslyEvil: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2007-03-13 Buttercup Man!]] He ''thinks'' he is tickling criminals into submission with a flower. He's actually stabbing them to death because someone switched his flower with a knife and he never noticed the difference. |
| 421 | * ObviouslyEvil: Inverted [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=283#comic here]] and subverted [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=436#comic here.]] |
| 422 | * OneTwoPunchline: There's an entire bonus second-punchline panel accessible by hovering over a red button at the end of the strip. Many of the main strips also have multiple punchlines, especially from the time before Zach started drawing voteys. Lampshaded in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=547 this strip]], which had ''three'' punchlines in the main strip, and then got a votey drawn years later saying nothing but "Do you really want ''another'' punchline, you greedy bastard?" |
| 423 | * OneWordTitle: A few of the strips, along with being {{Recycled Title}}s: |
| 424 | ** Multiverse: |
| 425 | *** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/multiverse 1]] |
| 426 | *** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/multiverse-2 2]] |
| 427 | ** Words |
| 428 | *** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/words 1]] |
| 429 | *** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/words-2 2]] |
| 430 | ** Wisdom |
| 431 | *** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/wisdom 1]] |
| 432 | *** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/wisdom-2 2]] |
| 433 | * OnlySixFaces: Though in this case, it doesn't really matter. |
| 434 | * OppositesAttract: Truthasaurus from [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2079 "Uncomfortable Truthasaurus"]] explains you, kids, that this is a common misconception. Everyone wants someone hot and someone rich. |
| 435 | * OriginalPositionFallacy: |
| 436 | ** The punchline of [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/relativity Relativity]]. Humanity has decided to go into stasis and wait for another species to come by and provide them with longevity and perfection. [[spoiler:Every species ends up doing this]]. |
| 437 | ** Invoked in [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/heroes Heroes]]. One of the characters directly states she is okay with people dying to fix society as long as that doesn't include her. |
| 438 | ** The punchline of [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/karma trying to reincarnate as a northern elephant seal]] to have up to 100 mates in his harem each mating season. He reincarnates ''as one of the mates''. |
| 439 | * OverlyLongGag: Tends to pop up (see DreamWithinADream) and, when it does, the bonus panel tends to show the artist looking at his now decrepit/withered/burnt hand after having drawn that many panels. |
| 440 | * OxymoronicBeing: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/nothing The sentient nothing that populates the Nothingverse]]. |
| 441 | * PaintingTheMedium: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1234#comic Right here]], subverting your expectations again. |
| 442 | * ParentalSexualitySquick: {{Exploited|Trope}} for GallowsHumor; Zach's ideal suicide hotline apparently [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=1492 talks people down]] by making them imagine their grieving mothers having SexForSolace. |
| 443 | * PetTheDog: The Joker tries to do something good, [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2006-07-07 but then Batman gets involved ...]] |
| 444 | * PickedFlowersAreDead: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2594#comic This comic]] from explains the human ritual of flower-giving, as understood by aliens. Supposedly human males mutilate the hated plant-life to show off their prowess... and it goes downhill from there. |
| 445 | --> What are "hippies"?\ |
| 446 | The most violent humans in history. |
| 447 | * PinkElephants: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3207#comic "If I drink less, I'll stop having vivid hallucinations, Chuck."]] |
| 448 | * PoesLaw: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the votey for [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2573#comic Bobby and the Gurg.]] |
| 449 | -->''Dear Voltaire's Ghost, please let everyone recognize this as irony.'' |
| 450 | * PokeThePoodle: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=301#comic This strip.]] |
| 451 | --> "Since most devils are actually angels fallen from Heaven, they don't really have a good sense of how to torture." |
| 452 | * PopculturalOsmosis: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=2524 Schrodinger's Cat]] |
| 453 | * PrankCall: Inverted [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3291#comic with this one,]] where the victim turns it around on the caller. |
| 454 | * PreciousPuppies: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=499#comic Using Heart as an awesome power.]] |
| 455 | * PrisonersDilemma: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=1899 Discussed]]. |
| 456 | * PrisonersLastMeal: [[http://smbc-comics.com/comic/last-meal A murderer is told he gets one last meal]]. What does he request? [[spoiler:The executioner]]. |
| 457 | * TheProfessorIsCryingAgain: Deliberately invoked in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/science-advisor this]] comic, where the volume of tears cried by a scientist is used by writers to gauge how inaccurate they are. |
| 458 | * ProphecyTwist: Played with [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2372#comic here.]] |
| 459 | * PunctuationChangesTheMeaning: A "relationship tip" recommends clever comma placement to produce honest compliments. Lie: "You have a body like Adonis." Truth: "You have a body, like Adonis." |
| 460 | * PuppeteerParasite: |
| 461 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3165 "I got the Blues!"]] |
| 462 | * RacistGrandma: employed as a tool [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3750 here]]. |
| 463 | * RageAgainstTheHeavens: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1366#comic There's a reason why we're not observant enough.]] |
| 464 | * RaisingTheSteaks: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1564#comic How the war was lost.]] |
| 465 | * TheRealHeroes: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=484#comic They're much easier to kill.]] |
| 466 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: |
| 467 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/writing Never ask a publisher for honestly.]] |
| 468 | --> Author: Give me your honest reaction.\ |
| 469 | Publisher: All of the sentences in your novel - individually and as a group - are garbage. I would have to create new mathematics just to describe how dimensionless your characters are. You are so bad at writing that if the shape of letters weren't standardized, you'd probably be bad at that too. You could make your novel better by being someone else who would write a different novel. Also your beard sucks. |
| 470 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/get-me This man can read his friend like an open book]]. |
| 471 | * RecklessSidekick: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=1802 Agreeing to be Batman's sidekick IS pretty reckless.]] |
| 472 | * RecurringCharacter: Several: |
| 473 | ** Batman (and some of his villains). |
| 474 | ** Superman. |
| 475 | ** The POTUS is almost invariably a black, bearded, bald, bespectacled man. |
| 476 | ** The Zorblaxian aliens. |
| 477 | ** God (drawn as a communion wafer, or possibly because [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm His form is incomprehensible to humans]].) |
| 478 | ** Jesus. |
| 479 | ** Two young girls (one black with glasses, one white), typically with the former [[LittleProfessorDialogue initiating a philosophical discussion]]. |
| 480 | * RecycledTitle: Some strips share a name: |
| 481 | ** Multiverse: |
| 482 | *** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/multiverse 1]] |
| 483 | *** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/multiverse-2 2]] |
| 484 | ** Words |
| 485 | *** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/words 1]] |
| 486 | *** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/words-2 2]] |
| 487 | ** Wisdom |
| 488 | *** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/wisdom 1]] |
| 489 | *** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/wisdom-2 2]] |
| 490 | * RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/gartok Gartok goes on one, hunting down and slaying the murderers of his wife and children.]] This this is framed as an aspiring author writing an evolutionary psychology epic, this revenge mainly serves to establish "a credible threat of violence against future interference with his ability to reproduce and childrear". |
| 491 | * {{Robosexual}}: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3434#comic This woman.]] |
| 492 | -->'''Sally:''' What? You're the robot! ''Robots'' are incapable of love. It's what makes sex with them great. |
| 493 | * RobotBuddy: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3468#comic This one]] is a {{Yandere}}. |
| 494 | * RootingForTheEmpire: [[invoked]] The strip [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/villain Villain]] explains that as people get older they tend to agree more with the villains of various works because they can understand how complex and layered the world is, so just saying one group is bad isn't enough. |
| 495 | * RuleOfCool: A number of punchlines revolve around the idea that, for engineers, RuleOfCool overrides all other considerations. |
| 496 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2088 For scientists too.]] |
| 497 | * RuleThirtyFour: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=1816#comic Here.]] |
| 498 | * RunningGag: |
| 499 | ** Zach getting hate mail. |
| 500 | ** Killing/eating children. |
| 501 | ** Casual murder. |
| 502 | ** Communion wafer God. |
| 503 | ** Jesus using his "superpowers". |
| 504 | ** And whenever the author is drawn, he's [[NakedPeopleAreFunny naked]] (if he's in the votey. In the actual strip its more 50/50). |
| 505 | ** The votey on [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1133#comic this]] comic, in the site comments. Mostly because it was left up for weeks. |
| 506 | ** Graph jokes. |
| 507 | ** Absolutist dystopian what-if jokes usually involving mind control, hive-mind, sociological/socioeconomic experiments and alternative forms of sex. Zach is rather fond of destroying society. |
| 508 | ** Aliens (called ''Zorblaxians'') looking down on human society and customs. |
| 509 | *** The same aliens trying to make kidnapped humans mate. |
| 510 | ** Infidelity. |
| 511 | ** Two children having a philosophical conversation under the starlight while lying on their backs in a hill. It sometimes includes a Zorblaxian alien. |
| 512 | ** Attempts at avoiding paternity claims and/or child support |
| 513 | ** Illustrating "difficult" things as applied to everyday life. [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2497#comic For example, regulatory capture.]] |
| 514 | ** Having fun when parenting (at the expense of the kids). Among others, there are two specific routines: |
| 515 | *** Kid asks something, parent explains, kid applies explanation (or other parent asks "what did you mother/father teach you"); [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2483#comic applied here to using punctuation to explain menstrual cycles.]] |
| 516 | *** Good parenting vs. effective parenting. |
| 517 | ** [[CruelTwistEnding Harsh twist endings]]. |
| 518 | ** Pick-up-lines with science. |
| 519 | ** Playing not entirely serious what-if. [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2490#comic What if TV ads could be skipped for a fraction of a penny?]] |
| 520 | ** From time having a person reveling/participating in psychotic acts mention a "job in finance". |
| 521 | ** In the [[AltText voteys]], [[TakeThatMe unfavorably comparing himself to]] the ''Webcomic/{{XKCD}}'' guy. |
| 522 | *** Zach laughing at his own sometimes incredibly obscure/convoluted joke theme saying "there's not enough _____ jokes!" or "people/everyone love(s) _____ jokes!". |
| 523 | *** Zach drawing himself with a broken hand after a long comic. |
| 524 | *** Using the votey to completely change the tone and theme of the comic. |
| 525 | *** He frequently shows his wife glaring at him over his shoulder or making fun of him for the latest comic (particularly vicious [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2860#comic here]]). After his child was born, it became her holding their baby... who is also glaring at him. This continued as their family grew, and features two diapproving children. |
| 526 | *** "Old man Wienersmith shakes his cane at you" on comics that get preachy. |
| 527 | ** [[HardOnSoftScience Economists are evil.]] |
| 528 | *** In the same vein, engineers are completely dispassionate and use MathematiciansAnswer for everything. |
| 529 | ** "This is exactly how (topic) works." |
| 530 | ** A list of "things I can't draw" in the votey, containing whatever was drawn in the comic that Zach was unsatisfied with. |
| 531 | ** Many comics start with a child saying [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight "There's a monster under my bed!"]]. The monster may or may not be real. |
| 532 | ** Occasionally, Zach will [[SelfDeprecation lampshade an especially dense comic]] by writing something like [[IronicJuxtaposition "SMBC is a comic about literature, math, and philosophy"]] in the votey or alt text. |
| 533 | ** In the votey, Zach bragging about making a comic appealing to [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative an extremely specific niche]]. |
| 534 | ** The votey saying "Too soon?" in response to [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/women-and-children events that happened considerably long ago]]. |
| 535 | ** Men being overly ashamed of their sexual inadequacies. They will go to great lengths to avoid acknowledging that they have a [[TeenyWeenie small penis]], can't [[TheLoinsSleepTonight get it up]], or they suffer from [[SpeedSex premature ejaculation]]. For example, this man would rather [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-08-22 attach a mini-zeppelin]] to his penis rather than go to a doctor to get proper treatment. |
| 536 | ** There are many comics about a [[{{Robosexual}} relationship between a human (usually female) and a robot]]. They usually don't end well. |
| 537 | ** Many comics end in Zach readily admitting that he would make a great {{Quisling}} when the AI uprising happens. These comics have a new tag now. |
| 538 | * SafeWord: One strip teaches us that introducing safewords in nonsexual contexts [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2586#comic is a fun way of creeping people out.]] |
| 539 | * TheScapegoat: An ImagineSpot from the President had [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2012-04-23 the Economic Whipping Boy]], who would be punished whenever bad economic news occurs, allowing the President to focus on issues he could ''actually'' exert control over. |
| 540 | -->'''President''': What's this?! Lots of new jobs were created, but the unemployment rate went up?! [[LogicBomb How does that even make sense]]?! |
| 541 | * ScrewYourself: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=880#comic Here.]] |
| 542 | * ScrewYouElves: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=2302 In this comic]], it is described in detail how the Zorblaxians are literally the center of the universe. The Universes Pulsar Emissions, when expressed as musical tones, even spell out the Zorblazian Anthem! [[spoiler:The Humans then spend thousands of years devoting their society to science and technology, flying Earth to Zorblax Prime with giant rocket boosters, and blasting the Zorblaxian Homeworld to oblivion with a giant laser.]] |
| 543 | * SeenItAll: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2545#comic This guy, where sex is concerned.]] |
| 544 | * SelfDefeatingProphecy: The man in [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/future-2 Future 2]] decides he does not have to strive for anything when his future self comes back with a time machine. This causes said future self to disappear. |
| 545 | * SelfDeprecation: Fairly common in the mouse-over bonus strips. Often this shows the artist's partner puncturing his pretensions or mocking him. |
| 546 | ** Special mention goes to this: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1916#comic "That's Uncle Weiner. He became a cartoonist. So now he's dead to us."]] |
| 547 | ** DoubleSubverted in the votey for this [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3198#comic comic.]] His wife usually criticizes the strips in their respective voteys. However, she thinks it's comedy "gold" and he thinks she's weird because of it. This is, considering that [[http://www.weinersmith.com/ she's a biologist and a researcher]]. |
| 548 | ** No words are minced [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3555#comic here]], in what is apparently a new low. |
| 549 | ** Voteys will sometimes list "Things I Can't Draw", calling attention to his own perceived failures. |
| 550 | ** In 2015 Zach started adding voteys to old strips that didn't have them. [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=44 One points out that some of the old comics didn't age well]] and he doesn't even understand [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=27 several]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=132 of]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=160 them]] anymore. |
| 551 | ** Several voteys unfavourably compare ''SMBC'' to ''Webcomic/{{XKCD}}'' -- reviewing ''SMBC'' as two stars, "sure sometimes XKCD is down", virtual reality goggles showing something more beautiful than what you're actually looking at showing ''XKCD''... |
| 552 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=856 Zach predicts that by 2027 he'll run out of ideas, go insane, and start captioning other people's cartoons.]] |
| 553 | --> Garfield: "I love lasagna." |
| 554 | --> Zach: "And then he [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] died!" |
| 555 | ** Exaggerated in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2009-11-10 this]] comic's votey. |
| 556 | --> Zach, drawing Comics at 3 AM: [[spoiler:Nothing I've ever drawn is funny!]] |
| 557 | ** Whenever he has a guest artist, he mentions how much better this artist's work is compared to his own. |
| 558 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2010-12-26 One comic calls attention to how redhaired men have it worse than anyone]] due to [[RedheadsAreUncool being seen as unattractive]] and having to worry about how any daughters they have will be seen as very attractive. Zach is, of course, a redhead. And a few years after he made this comic, he has a daughter. |
| 559 | ** And, in a meta-example, Zach has shown a definite tendency toward making the idiot and/or asshole character in any given strip a redhead like himself. |
| 560 | ** In [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/manager this]] comic, the punchline is just someone telling a self-employed artist, who looks exactly like Zach, that their comics suck, followed by a BeatPanel of Zach crying a single tear. |
| 561 | * SelfInflictedHell: The strip, [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/pickup pickup]] features a man who continually strikes out with women night after night because he will not stop using the same cheesy pickup line that worked ''once''. The woman who slept with him invoked it, knowing he would believe the line actually worked. |
| 562 | * SelfMadeOrphan: The Headless Horsemen [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=19#comic here.]] |
| 563 | * SexForSolace: It's implied that [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=1492 a suicide hotline that makes callers imagine]] [[ParentalSexualitySquick their grieving mothers resorting to this]] would be completely effective in preventing suicides. |
| 564 | * ShootingSuperman: A crook [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=387#comic shoots]] Invincible Man. [[SubvertedTrope It works.]] |
| 565 | -->'''Caption:''' We were informed at the funeral that Invincible Man had no real powers. |
| 566 | * ShoutOut: |
| 567 | ** A little while after ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' referenced ''SMBC''[='=]s mouse-over-bonus panels in the AltText of [[http://xkcd.com/604/ this strip,]] Zach obliged the "giraffe hooker" request [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1565#comic here.]] |
| 568 | ** And again [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2396#comic here]], with [[http://xkcd.com/435/ "Physics is to math as sex is to masturbation."]] |
| 569 | ** The votey of [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=2327#comic this strip]] suddenly puts a ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}-tinged spin on the previous panels. |
| 570 | ** [[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 BLOOD FOR]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3874 THE BLOOD GOD.]] |
| 571 | * ShownTheirWork: Around 2010, many of the strips punchlines began involving [[ViewersAreGeniuses knowledge very sophisticated academic concepts]], ranging from philosophy of math to quantum computing. |
| 572 | * ShutUpHannibal: Superman is told something that requires a little introspection. [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2012#comic So naturally, he punches the dude in the face.]] |
| 573 | * SillyReasonForWar: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2660 Two soldiers die in battle, and Saint Peter has to decide which one was on the right side ...]] |
| 574 | -->'''First Soldier:''' We were fighting them because their form of Economy is not as Market-Oriented as ours, according to some metrics!\ |
| 575 | '''Second Soldier:''' We were fighting them because the use of their navy in relative proximity to our borders may have indicated that a larger ally of their was establishing a hegemony over our octant of the globe! |
| 576 | * SimpleSolutionWontWork: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2010-09-26 One comic]] has {{ComicBook/Superman}} about to punch a mugger, who protests that he's only doing this because his job at the factory doesn't pay him enough. Superman then goes to the factory owner, who protests they can't pay the workers more because the government doesn't encourage it. An increasingly-angry Superman goes to the president, who says the economy is what it is because statisticians don't understand chaos. When asked "so who do I punch?", the statistician tells him he'll need to study math, history, philosophy... so Superman [[ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer punches the mugger.]] |
| 577 | * SlipperySlopeFallacy: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-08-25 One comic]] has a girl ask her father if there is a puppy heaven. Her father proceeds to point out that if he says yes, it becomes impossible to decide what doesn't get a heaven, eventually suggesting that there is a meme heaven for ideas that die. Then the father uses the fallacy ''again'' to prove the exact opposite thing - that since a meme heaven is ridiculous, so is a heaven for slightly more complex things, gradually getting to the point where there's no reason for a human heaven. That the line might be drawn at humans, or even at biological life, never seems to occur to him. |
| 578 | * SmallReferencePools: Invoked for politics and history [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/library-2 here]] by showing how people's small reference pools for history affects political discourse. |
| 579 | * SmarterThanYouLook: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/odie Odie]] is an example of this. The caption describes how everyone mistakes his muteness for idiocy, when in reality he's a genius philosopher who has been wagging his tongue in Morse Code in the hope someone sees it. [[DownerEnding It doesn't work, and he goes to his grave without anyone ever gleaming his immense wisdom]]. |
| 580 | * SophisticatedAsHell: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=699#comic Here's]] one example. |
| 581 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1352#comic And another.]] |
| 582 | * SpaceWhaleAesop: [[EverybodyHatesMathematics Math may seem too abstract to be worth learning]], but ignoring it will come back to bite you if you ever [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/algebra become Batman]]. |
| 583 | * SpinTheEarthBackwards: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=352 Subversively deconstructed.]] Or... deconstructively subverted, or something. |
| 584 | * SpoofAesop: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2771#comic The votey of this strip.]] |
| 585 | * {{Spoonerism}}: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2083 A particularly unfortunate one.]] |
| 586 | * SpurnedIntoSuicide: |
| 587 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=917 The threat of this helps ensure a successful marriage proposal.]] |
| 588 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2006-06-12 It also useful to avoid a breakup.]] |
| 589 | * StatingTheSimpleSolution: A medieval variation in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=526#comic this comic.]] |
| 590 | * StealthCigaretteCommercial: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=191 Superman subtext with this]] |
| 591 | * StrawFeminist: |
| 592 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2007-10-02 Murdering and eating all men as soon as artificial sperm is created]]. |
| 593 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2008-03-18 Shooting men in the back of the head]]. |
| 594 | * SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion: Best shown [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=547 here.]] |
| 595 | -->I find a little rhyme can really take the edge off bad news. Which reminds me, I've been meaning to tell you... there once was a man from schmonorrhea. You have AIDS. Ucket. |
| 596 | * SubvertedTrope: Too many to count; half the strip's humor comes from doing this in a bizarre manner. |
| 597 | ** DoubleSubversion: Many, many gags involving something turning out to not be what you think it is, and then turning out to be what you thought it was after all. |
| 598 | *** ZigZaggingTrope: Usually reserved for multi-panel, but [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=5#comic it's been pulled off]] in one panel+ text as well. |
| 599 | * SufficientlyAdvancedAliens: The Zorblaxians are capable of interstellar travel and several strips have them create humanity outright. |
| 600 | * SuicideAsComedy: Quite a few times, like [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1007#comic this comic]], which also falls under TarotMotifs (if you look closely). |
| 601 | * SuicideNotMurder: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2010-12-02 One comic]] points out this can be used to [[DisproportionateRetribution get revenge on annoying children]]. |
| 602 | * SuperCuteSuperPowers: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=499#comic One comic]] has a little girl guarding Fort Knox who has the ability to make puppies appear. Which she uses to [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower deadly effect]]. Because she never specified ''where'' the puppies will appear from. [[spoiler:Such as from ''inside'' the villain.]] |
| 603 | * SuperiorSpecies: The Zorblaxians in several strips, such as one that reveals they have souls while humans don't. |
| 604 | * SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: |
| 605 | ** Superman's attempt to spin the Earth backwards to reverse time didn't work out as well as it did in the movies. |
| 606 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-other-side-of-the-chessboard-2 "What?! But I tricked a capricious monarch out of all his wealth! Everything should be going great for me!"]] |
| 607 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/super-efficient This strip points out how comic book heroics]] just is not helpful in the modern age, and why even charitable organizations need to be very large to help. |
| 608 | * SurvivorshipBias: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/path-of-a-hero A directly tells his son]] that tales of youth becoming great adventurers is Survivor Bias. He points out the son is far more likely to be stabbed by highwaymen. |
| 609 | * TakeAThirdOption: |
| 610 | ** "[[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=557#comic I have a]] ''fantastic'' attorney." |
| 611 | ** "[[https://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=574#comic Monkeys evolved from]] Literature/TheBible! |
| 612 | * TakeThat: Often accompanied by a "BAM!" in the Author's Notes. |
| 613 | ** Zach [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1676 didn't]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1771 care]] for ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo''. |
| 614 | ** Explicitly invoked in the bonus panel for [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1968 this one.]] |
| 615 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=1747#comic Zack hates]][[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2007-03-09 alternative medicine]] |
| 616 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3025 Zach also dislikes the Zimbardo Prison Experiment.]] The votey even says the trope name. |
| 617 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3464#comic This votey]] has an comically insulting fake ad against Arby's. |
| 618 | *** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=13 This votey]] also takes a stab at Arby's. |
| 619 | ** Zach also seems to harbour [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/gregor a]] [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/eat very]] [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/authentic vindictive]] [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/seder grudge]] against Taco Bell. |
| 620 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3856 This one is a meta-example.]] It counts as Plato giving a TakeThat against people who disagree with him [[PlatonicCave by describing them as blind cave-dwellers literally chained by ignorance]], and it also counts as Zach giving a TakeThat against Plato for being so petty. |
| 621 | ---> Plato: "[[Literature/TheRepublic And countries should all be run by me]]!" |
| 622 | ** In order to make a girl like him, a guy has 1000 men of inferior quality walk past her. This includes an old man, a unibrowed man, and [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/standard-deviatin39 a muscular man wearing a shirt that says "Star Wars 1 was good"]]. The Votey is a HardOnSoftScience joke. |
| 623 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-06-28 "Undreampt Depths of Lunacy" = "Lets go to Dunkin' Donuts when other options are available."]] |
| 624 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=1127 Moral]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2415 Relativism]] is just an excuse [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Jerkass Jerkasses]] use to do horrible things. |
| 625 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2015-02-07 People who believe in Astrology are unlovable.]] |
| 626 | ** After a demon finds his virgin sacrifice is only one physically, [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2015-02-13 the votey]] has him decide to instead go back to being a lobbyist. |
| 627 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/just-watch That one]] could be about a number of shows, but it seems to target ''Series/DoctorWho'' in particular. |
| 628 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/this-generation This Generation]] takes potshots at older people who complain about the current generation. This is part of a consistent series of jokes where Zach notes most people who do this are mistaking nostalgic memories with the past actually being better. |
| 629 | ** The votey of [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/hold-music this comic]] takes a potshot at Comcast mistreating its customers. |
| 630 | ** This comic takes shots at people who tell others to stop complaining because [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-07-22 other people have it worse than you]]. |
| 631 | * TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: |
| 632 | --> [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2008-01-04 Blues Singer: "Oh I got the Blues, baby! I'm a Blues-havin' guy!]] [[spoiler:Put cyanide in all the bar patrons' drinks! And now they're gonna die!]] Oh, I got the blues, baby ..." |
| 633 | * TeenyWeenie: [[http://smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2268#comic Double Subverted]]. The man with the world's smallest penis gets plenty of girls because being a record-holder is impressive. However, the same can not be said for the man with the second smallest penis. |
| 634 | * TerriblePickUpLines: A man goes around using a stupid pun as a pickup line, because it once worked. It turns out the one woman it worked on intentionally acted like she was flattered, just to see what he's do in response. |
| 635 | * ThanatosGambit: Several examples of how to use this just to mess around with people, such as [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=2023#comic here.]] Or [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=1954#comic like this.]] Or [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2081 this.]] |
| 636 | * ThatsWhatSheSaid: While the [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=1926#comic consequences]] were great, it was worth it. |
| 637 | * ThereCanBeOnlyOne: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1691 The Ultimate Diet.]] It even says so in the votey. |
| 638 | * ThinkOfTheChildren: Invoked [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2622 by a Senator]] regarding gay marriage, then twisted with InsaneTrollLogic by the reporter ("Got it. So your code of ethics is to oppose things that are hard to explain to kids"), with an appropriate headline and votey based on that logic. |
| 639 | * ThisIsntHeaven: |
| 640 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=936#comic That's so weird. I've stubbed my toe every 42 seconds since I got here.]] |
| 641 | ** Happens again when someone is told they're in [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3497#comic sysadmin Heaven.]] |
| 642 | * TimeTravelForFunAndProfit: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=3579 The real reason why Scrooge was so generous]] at the end of ''Literature/AChristmasCarol''. |
| 643 | * TooDumbToLive: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1007#comic Too dumb to die.]] |
| 644 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=13 In Retrospect, the gate seemed foreboding.]] |
| 645 | * TooDumbToFool: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/politics-3 Almost verbatim.]] |
| 646 | * TooSpicyForYogSothoth: An Internet virgin [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2015-02-13 has a soul that's]] "[[TheInternetIsForPorn worse than the Necronomicon]]". |
| 647 | * TotallyTrustingLoveInterest: Used for a BaitAndSwitch in the [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-10-14 2013-10-14 strip]] where a BedroomAdulteryScene is revealed to be a [[{{Polyamory}} menage a trois]] marriage with only two of them in bed, with the onlooker second man tiredly saying that the joke is getting old. |
| 648 | * TrialByOrdeal: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2014-09-05 The ordeal in question?]] [[SoUnfunnyItsFunny Dad jokes.]] |
| 649 | * TriviallyObvious: In [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2009-07-31 2009-07-31]], "Intercoursin' It!" features - as per the votey - "intercourse in ''locations'' for durations of ''time''!" |
| 650 | * UnfortunateNames: Nobody will ever name anything discovered by Dr Oinky Hitlerballs after himself. He resigns from science. Attempt at invoking this with the Dickballs Theory to keep science terms from being appropriated by homeopathic remedies. It didn't work. |
| 651 | * UnreliableNarrator: One comic posits that Don Quixote was a legitimate bad ass who defeated the last of Spain's dragons, who was hiding in a windmill, but because he was such a massive jerk to his chronicler Cervantes, Cervantes depicted the brave and powerful knight as a blundering idiot. |
| 652 | * UnsoundEffect: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=429#comic Lamp!]] |
| 653 | * UnwantedSpouse: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2006-07-09 "Countdown to Divorce: 25 months, 14 days, 3 hours, 27 minutes, 22 seconds."]]. |
| 654 | * ValuesDissonance: [[invoked]] The comic repeatedly brings up how weird the philosophies of old works seem now. |
| 655 | ** "SMBC goes political" features a [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2008-05-04 fictitious SMBC comic]] from 1919. It's a [[TheWarOnStraw comically exaggerated]] take on the era's anti-suffrage rhetoric, and claims that suffrage will cause giant wasp attacks and ultra-smallpox. |
| 656 | ** [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/death-4 One comic]] argues that [[Theatre/DeathOfASalesman Willy Loman]] is unrelatable because his supposedly-tragic life seems downright idyllic by modern standards. |
| 657 | ** There's a comic that makes fun of retro sci-fi's mix of futuristic setting and old-timey sexism. A woman asks why the robot servants can't make a man his sandwich and he angrily replies that they are boy robots. |
| 658 | * VengeanceFeelsEmpty: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-best-revenge Inverted.]] Not pursuing revenge feels maddening. |
| 659 | * VirginSacrifice: {{Invoked}} then [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3640#comic subverted here.]] |
| 660 | -->'''Demon''': Now I shall devour your pure '''OH MY GOD'''. [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth Your browser history is worse than the Necronomicon.]] |
| 661 | * VocalMinority:[[Invoked]]As Zach points out, most groups are composed of maybe ten percent idiots, but those idiots due most of the talking. This is how two fairly reasonable groups can break into a [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2013-04-07 fight]]. |
| 662 | * WalkingShirtlessScene: Zach's AuthorAvatar in the bonus panels. |
| 663 | * WaveOfBabies: The [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/unintended-consequences disturbing conclusion]] of the evolutionary advantage of having a pregnancy fetish. |
| 664 | * WeaponsGradeVocabulary: After failing to defeat humans, aliens finally resort to weapons grade information as [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/psyops final weapon against humans.]] |
| 665 | ** Man says that being rejected from group causes actual physical pain to the masochism group that is kicking him out. He seemed to [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/pain-2 enjoy the pain, however.]] |
| 666 | * WeComeInPeaceShootToKill [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2967 discussed here.]] |
| 667 | * {{Wedgie}}: [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2008-03-10 The greatest of all time]]. |
| 668 | * WeirdnessCensor: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=29#comic Here.]] |
| 669 | * WhatWeNowKnowToBeTrue: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2074#comic A Mother's Love: Nature's Deadliest Poison]] |
| 670 | * WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: |
| 671 | ** Used word for word in one strip to explain the lengths some men will go to for sexual gratification. |
| 672 | ** Goal: promote critical thinking and rational thought in children. Problem: you're a ''candy company''. Solution: [[spoiler:label the smallest size of candy "fun size", instilling children with a healthy distrust of those in power.]] |
| 673 | * WhoNamesTheirKidDude: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=623 Or "Asshole"?]] |
| 674 | * WhosOnFirst: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2349#comic 57 panels worth of chemistry puns.]] |
| 675 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3051#comic Horribly subverted here.]] |
| 676 | * WindmillCrusader: Parodied in a [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-01-24 comic]] where Don Quixote angers his biographer after killing a dragon inside a windmill. |
| 677 | * WishingForMoreWishes: |
| 678 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2740 Here]], a character [[InvokedTrope invokes]] CallARabbitASmeerp to get around the restriction. |
| 679 | ** [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?id=3279 And here]], a character [[FormulaicMagic exploits the rules of math]] to get around this restriction. Specifically she wished that each wish be considered separately, that wishes be calculated in absolute value, and that she have one thousand fewer wishes. |
| 680 | * WomenAreWiser: Somewhat. They are slightly less neurotic about their genitals at any rate. And while there are plenty of comics making fun of collective male follies, there are none making fun of collective female follies - in fact, there is [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/vamp at least one comic making fun of the collective male folly of claiming that there is such a thing as collective female follies.]] |
| 681 | * WormInAnApple: UsefulNotes/IsaacNewton got the idea for gravity after stealing it from [[https://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=1704 an apple worm]] (depicted as an earthworm with glasses, in a tree). |
| 682 | * WorthIt: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?db=comics&id=1926#comic On the alt panel of this comic,]] [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3141#comic as well as the alt panel on this one.]] |
| 683 | * WouldHurtAChild: God, apparently, according to [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2065 this comic's]] votey. |
| 684 | * WrongGenreSavvy: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2724#comic Invoked]] as a way of coping with simple problems. |
| 685 | * YouClonedHitler: Now on DeconstructiveParody flavor! [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2044 Check it here.]] |
| 686 | * ZenSlap: According to the comic, for budhist students who fail to reach enlightment, their teachers demonstrate to them the sound of one hand clapping by, well, this trope. |
| 687 | * ZigZaggingTrope: [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=561#comic What is this, middle school?]] |
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