Line #60 Webcomic/UmlautHouse


1	->'''Saundra:''' Do you ever worry that we're playing God?
2	->'''Dr Pegasus:''' Not really. At some point, [[AGodAmI we definitely stopped playing]].
3	-->-- ''Umlaut House 2'', [[http://maskedretriever.com/uh2/d/20060808.html 8-8-2006]]
4
5	The original [[http://maskedretriever.com/uh/ Umlaut House]] was a UsefulNotes/{{Furry\|Fandom}} comic that started out with grad student Saundra Bifrost's [[WillTheyOrWontThey bickersome friend]] Volair Lee moving in to replace her roommate, their ''mutual'' ex-boyfriend Jake Miller, when he begins working for, and before long, seeing quasi-FlamboyantGay MadScientist Rick Hundecoph, whom Volair is tracking in his job as an international spy.
6
7	The comic could be said to mix a number of genres. Other characters are:
8	* Liz Parker, Volair's partner and general voice of reason. Also the straightest cast member. Really. She swears.
9	* Amanda Cartwright - "Queen of weird," Volair's DistaffCounterpart plus some grade points and dignity and minus some international espionage.
10	* Calvin Gauss - A nerdy classmate of Saundra's who develops a crush on her.
11	* Ascii - You don't want to know. [[spoiler: He's an amnesiac android created by Rick, by [=UH2=] he's gone rogue and is attempting to create a HiveMind using Eye-Fi's.]]
12
13	In 2004, the comic ended after four years, and after some randomness, gave birth to a sequel, [[http://www.maskedretriever.com/uh2/ UH2]], set some time later and moved from grad school to high school, primarily about Volair's son, Jake's daughter, and Rick's protégée. Yes, that's vague, but this ''is'' a sequel comic, so for the more detailed character list (aside from, of course, the ones above), spoilers.
14
15	* Pierce [[spoiler:Lee, son of Volair and Saundra]]. Recently realized his bisexuality.
16	* Rhonda [[spoiler:Hundecoph, daughter of Jake and Rick]].
17	* Eliza, Rick's apprentice.
18	* Alice and Lain [[spoiler:Gauss]], classmates of Pierce and Rhonda, [[spoiler:twin daughters of Amanda and Calvin.]]
19	* Alex, a football jock, Pierce's boyfriend.
20	* Dr. "Sissy" Sisyphus, a MadScientist, target of Rick (well post-HeelFaceTurn) and Eliza...the latter in [[DatingCatwoman more ways than one]].
21
22	As of September 2018 the site is down, but the [[http://umlauthouse.keenspace.com/ archive of first 8 years]] remains at Platform/ComicGenesis.
23
24	----
25	!! This comic provides examples of:
26	* AnimalisticAbomination: The "''[[http://maskedretriever.com/uh2/d/20071002.html Dragon]]''".
27	** The Dragon is later [[http://maskedretriever.com/uh2/d/20080729.html reveled]] to be the personification of the Id of all people who share Ascii's neural connection. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice going, Ascii]].
28	* AGodAmI: Let's just say that by [=UH2=], Saundra and Sissy are playing on another level.
29	* AlternateUniverse: Where everyone's sexuality is reversed, except Volair's.
30	* ArtEvolution (compare the [[http://maskedretriever.com/uh/d/20000815.html first strip]] of UH to the [[http://maskedretriever.com/uh2/d/20050531.html corresponding first strip of UH2]], a little under five years later.)
31	* ArtificialGravity: [[http://maskedretriever.com/uh2/d/20060103.html Invented by a transgender horse named Peggy]], uses gyroscopes with ridiculously precise control circuitry.
32	* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: On [[http://maskedretriever.com/uh/d/20040206.html this strip]], Saundra complains a gay marriage would be too boring for the furst run ending, and the story needs a twist to keep the story funny. Cue, a time travel subplot.
33	* BrainComputerInterface: Casual cybernetic implants are commonplace in [=UH2=], especially the "Eye-Fi".
34	* CerebusSyndrome: [=UH2=] is substantially plottier than [=UH1=], though most of the time he still remembers a punchline.
35	* ClosetKey: Volair, for Jake (but also see the Trivia section for a related matter).
36	* CriminalConvention: One arc had the main characters going to [[http://maskedretriever.com/uh/d/20020806.html Evil Con 2021]].
37	* CutLexLuthorACheck: Even before reforming, Rick had made a fortune off of his patents.
38	* {{Cyborg}}: Almost everyone in [=UH2=] has some internal electronics, except Alex. Before they became trendy in the first series Rick is pretty much a severed head hooked up to an android's neck (and has multiple such bodies), while Volair has wires directly from his brain to muscles to enhance his reflexes and a processor that can simulate several forms of martial arts (WordOfGod). While in the 2040s Eliza is apparently less than 50% biological (when her mom asks how much has been replaced she simply states that her brain is mostly organic), while Pierce is implied to have some similar cybernetics to his dad, though likely commercial versions.
39	* DatingCatwoman: Eliza and Sissy ([[http://maskedretriever.com/uh2/d/20081017.html just look at their Halloween costumes]]), [[spoiler:Sappho and Liz]].
40	* DesignerBabies: Rhonda, according to the WordOfGod.
41	* ExtremeOmnisexual: Volair Lee, who cheerfully claims he's only bisexual to score [[http://maskedretriever.com/uh/d/20011023.html 5% more nookie]]," and whose brain confuses {{Gaydar}}.
42	* FromBeyondTheFourthWall: The author will occasionally interact with the characters. In continuity during the first series but largely just in filler strips with the second.
43	* GenderBender: Volair, [[http://maskedretriever.com/uh/d/20010821.html briefly and accidentally]]; the same technology has been [[EasySexChange put to good use]], particularly with minor character [[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} Dr. Pegasus]].
44	* HeelFaceTurn: Rick, future Sissy.
45	* HereditaryHomosexuality:
46	** Rick and his father are both gay, and came out on the same day even.
47	** Jake is bi but leaning toward male preference, and his dad commented that he thought he was gay before meeting Jake's mother.
48	** Volair and his son Pearce are bisexual.
49	** One of Amanda's daughters, Alice, is bi like her. The other one, Lain, is straight.
50	** In an aversion, Rhonda, Rick and Jake's genetically engineered daughter, is straight.
51	* [[spoiler: HiveMind (Ascii has created a gestalt consciousness formed from the unconsciousnesses of over 800 people, unfortunately their combined Ids have created a monster)]]
52	* HomosexualReproduction: Rhonda, apparently there are genetic engineering companies that can make kids for gay couples.
53	* HugeSchoolgirl: Lain.
54	* KidFromTheFuture
55	* LikeFatherLikeSon: [[http://maskedretriever.com/uh2/d/20080708.html Much to Volair's chagrin.]]
56	* LosingYourHead: Rick is cybernetic below the neck, and his head can detach and walk around on mechanical spider legs.
57	* MadScientist: A mad scientist ''convention''.
58	* MeaningfulName: [[spoiler:Hundecoph means "dog's head"]]
59	** Some have suggested that Dr. Pegasus' real last name (Seus, one letter removed from Zeus) is a hint to the outcome of Sissy's attempt to seize the Staff of Time from her.
60	* NanoMachines: A specialty of Dr. Lyse in the second series, he even [[spoiler: replaced his cells with foglets.]]
61	* NGOSuperpower: The agency that Volair, and in the sequel Rick and Eliza, work for. Also Moire Dziva.
62	* {{Official Couple}}s: confirmed by SpinOffspring.
63	* RemoteBody: Moire Dziva.
64	* ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder: While Rick is reformed from his criminal career, he remains a mad scientist. He's hardly the only one in the main cast, at that.
65	** Saundra started on her path to Mad Science after seeing one of Rick's giant robots, lending credence to the "memetic" aspect.
66	* ScrewYourself: Attempted by Saundra's lesbian AlternateUniverse [[http://maskedretriever.com/uh/d/20020802.html counterpart]].
67	* SwissArmyAppendage: Rick kept several bodies on hand for various purposes before finally getting a new, permanent organic one.
68	* TheMadHatter: Volair, Amanda.
69	* ThePowerOfLove: ThePowerOfLove + AppliedPhlebotinum = [[spoiler:DatingCatwoman]].
70	* [[spoiler: TheSingularity]]: Though not clear what it will mean so far.
71	* TimeTravel: Accidentally invented by Saundra, also Sissy's speciality.
72	** StableTimeLoop[=/=]YouAlreadyChangedThePast: How paradoxes are treated, as explained by future Saundra [[http://maskedretriever.com/uh/d/20040224.html here.]]
73	* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: Voilar thinks that his bisexuality means that he can withstand Jake and Rick having hard sex. [[http://maskedretriever.com/uh/d/20011116.html He soon proved to be wrong]].
74	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Sort of; not our future, which lacks the furry animals, but about two decades ahead nonetheless. The sequel is, of course, about two decades further ahead.
75	* WackyCollege: Quickly abandoned.
76	* WillTheyOrWontThey: Volair and Saundra.
77	* WrongTimeTravelSavvy: Pierce was worried that the timeline could be altered and he might cease to exist when Rhonda first broke into his mom's lab. [[http://maskedretriever.com/uh/d/20030627.html It can't]]

Context Webcomic / UmlautHouse