Line #82 Webcomic/UnicornJelly


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4	''[[http://unicornjelly.com/ Unicorn Jelly]]'' is a webcomic by Creator/JenniferDianeReitz, or in her own words, "a philosophical science fiction manga strip which tells a metaphoric and purposeful story with a definitive beginning and ending." The comic is known for its retro-style computer art. The comic was drawn entirely in [=DeluxePaint 2=], an old paint program for DOS.
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6	It starts off as a cute little thing about a Lupiko Kazemahou, a young witch; Uni, her pet jelly, and Chou Yaru, Lupiko's crystalline-human hybrid adopted daughter. [[CerebusSyndrome Then it gets weird.]] For starters, it's slowly revealed that it isn't set on Earth or an Earthlike fantasy world, but rather on a triangular world-plate with crystal life-forms which is about to be destroyed. The alchemists and witches are fighting, there are murder plots and spaceships, and sometimes {{alternate universe}} comics are drawn as well and linked under the main comic.
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8	The comic usually deals with issues related to homosexuality, feminism, transgender identity, existentialism and the acceptance of minorities.
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10	After ''Unicorn Jelly'' ended, Reitz began drawing an independent sequel, ''Webcomic/PastelDefenderHeliotrope'' (now also completed), and a related AlternateUniverse story, ''Webcomic/ToSaveHer'' (now also, also completed). These comics all share a common... [[TheMultiverse multiverse]], a ScienceFiction setting made up of many worlds, each with [[AnotherDimension completely distinct physical laws]] and in no way similar to the others. (And then each universe has ''its own'' [[AlternateUniverse parallel worlds]], which are subtly different, and... it gets complicated). Our own universe is occasionally mentioned as the original home of humanity, but is never visited in the comics.
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12	----
13	!! ''Unicorn Jelly'' contains examples of:
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15	* AcrophobicBird: Lupiko
16	%%* AfterTheEnd
17	* AllThereInTheManual: The extended author notes, including Reitz's descriptions of alternate realities. Say what you will about her, she can think up some really odd universes.
18	* AlternateContinuity: the "alternate universe" comics, the "outtakes", later ''To Save Her''
19	%%* AncientConspiracy
20	%%* AndManGrewProud
21	* {{Animesque}}: And ''how''. Reitz even refers to it as a "mangastrip" rather than a webcomic.
22	* ApocalypseHow: Class X-4. Tryslmaistan [[spoiler: "scrolls" on a 4th dimensional axis, meaning if something falls far enough it appears right above where it fell. Humans in Tryslmaistan destroyed a worldplate, and the debris caused a chain reaction that literally destroyed the universe.]] Fortunately humanity has the technology to survive this.
23	%%* ArtEvolution
24	* BetterManhandleTheMurderWeapon: Zuzux and Texto trick an innocent bystander into it.
25	* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler: Chou, at the end, centuries after the events of the comic, right as her crystalline cybernetics finally win the battle and start eating her alive.]]
26	* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Chou, who, upon realizing that the human government is going to repeat the same mistakes--again--on the new worldplate, and that they are rapidly running out of time (and spare Worldplates), goes across the sea, infests the majority of the plate's Slime population turning them into her own personal hive mind, and shows up in biological ''mechs'' just in time to prevent the main characters from being put to death by the corrupt government.]]
27	* BittersweetEnding: Arguably for both ''Unicorn Jelly'' and ''To Save Her''.
28	%%* BizarreAlienBiology
29	* BlobMonster: Slimes.
30	* BookEnds: The comic begins and ends with the Multiversal Rain bringing a new species (humans and Burangidaeni, respectively) to Tryslmaistan.
31	* BSideComics: the "Alternate Universe" comics.
32	* CerebusSyndrome: It all started so nicely.
33	** Completely intentional in this case, though. The whole thing was definitely planned to go this way. Comic #0000 specifically says UJ is "A philosophical and metaphorical science fiction story ''with a definitive beginning and ending''". The cute beginning mostly serves to introduce the world and characters before the world-shattering events take place.
34	* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: ''The title character'', at least in-universe. [[spoiler:It's implied Chou used him for... parts]]. Uni returns in ''To Save Her'', though. [[spoiler: For a little bit, anyway.]]
35	* ConLang: Very detailed and imaginative [[http://unicornjelly.com/alt37.html Talcrylic]] [[http://unicornjelly.com/uni126b.html Script]].
36	* ContinuityCreep: It all started so simply.
37	* CorruptChurch: see also Anvilicious.
38	* DistantFinale: the first series ends with jumps of 350, 116,666, and finally 150,000 years. Then the semi-sequel ''WebComic/PastelDefenderHeliotrope'' jumps 700,000 years after the original. And then ''that'' sequel has a 100,000 years later Distant Finale.
39	* DoingInTheWizard: All the "magic" seen in the beginning eventually gets un-magicked. [[spoiler:Except maybe the unicorn]], and even that is deliberately left ambiguous, as the original vision occurs around [[spoiler:a [[MushroomSamba hallucinogenic flower]]]].
40	%%* {{Dystopia}}
41	* EmotionlessGirl: Chou, whose mind has been replaced by the crystalline version of cybernetics.
42	* ExactTimeToFailure: Done right before [[spoiler: Stormfall]] with a handy on screen countdown.
43	%%* FantasticRacism
44	%%* FloatingContinent
45	* FlyingBroomstick: Another magic that's turned into alien physics.
46	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Lots, especially in the author notes. One particularly poignant example was when the author pointed out that shattrel (a form of crystalline weather) was as static and regular as everything else in the world, literally letting people time their clocks by it... unless something is horribly, horribly ''wrong''.
47	* FutureImperfect: The Tryslmaistan humans have only fragmenary knowledge about their origins, and some of that is wrong.
48	* GenreShift: It goes from a low fantasy comic about a witch and her pet slime and ends up in a multiverse spanning scifi epic that covers time travel, alternate universes, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence and the singularity. This was apparently all planned, to boot--note the comic's first page called it a "Science Fiction Epic with a definitive beginning and end".
49	* GreenRocks: Vlax, necessary for [[strike:human]] all "red" life but mutagenic in high doses.
50	* HilariousOuttakes: Posted after the mangastrip had ended.
51	* HonorBeforeReason: Texto [[LawfulEvil refuses to break a promise]], even one made under duress, regardless of the personal consequences. This is normally a hero's trope, but Texto still takes it up to eleven.
52	* HumansThroughAlienEyes: The "Alien Invaders" arc. Also [[http://unicornjelly.com/uni625.html this]], featuring Chou's "educated guess" at what humanity's original universe must have been like.
53	* IdentityAmnesia: Chou, at one point
54	* KarmaHoudini: Too many to count, but [[spoiler: Texto/Virtue, Chou, Pho, and Kaye]] stand out.
55	* LogicBomb: The Jellies, having evolved in and for a static universe, do not handle change well. [[spoiler: A major part of Chou's plot involves dissecting [=KayWai=], who is a mutant and hybird red/green organism, and learning how to infect the various slimes with the ability to adapt.]]
56	* LostTechnology: from Myrmil.
57	* [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]: [[spoiler:Chou. She intentionally fakes emotions to keep Lupiko from stopping her, goes out and creates an army by [[MindRape mindraping]] the entire Jelly population of her new worldplate, and, when confronted by Redcloak about how much power she's aquired, simply retires--since she's going to live for a very, very long time, she can simply wait for them to die of old age.]] Also [[spoiler: Kaye Haychold]].
58	* MeaningfulName: Chou's name means "Butterfly." Redcloak and Fodderman were supposed to be jokes on RedShirt, which was then subverted in the comic.
59	* MisterSeahorse: [[spoiler:In exchange for Wai-Wai (a transgender man) being able to legally live as a man, he has to carry a child to term.]]
60	%%* TheMultiverse
61	* MundaneUtility: The accident that turns Chou into... what she was is eventually duplicated safely to produce hyper-intelligent precognitive navigators.
62	* OffingTheOffspring: Chou's Father
63	* OrganicTechnology: [[spoiler:The jelly-walkers]].
64	%%* OurMonstersAreDifferent
65	* PosthumanNudism: in the DistantFinale, [[http://unicornjelly.com/uni666.html while greeting the newest wave of castaways]], the Humano-Jellese seem to wear only 'floaty butt covers' on various parts of their bodies.
66	%%* ProphecyTwist
67	* {{Retraux}}: Entirely drawn using a paint program from the '80s.
68	* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Uni
69	* SecretTestOfCharacter: Thilia originally refuses to take Chou's companions along with her on the Arkship. When Chou refuses and insists that others are brought aboard too, Thilia reveals that she was testing her, and would have tossed everyone out if Chou ''had'' agreed to leave the others behind.
70	* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: The alternate universe version of [=KayWai=] in ''To Save Her''. Subverted in that her plan isn't to save [[spoiler: Chou]] like it appears at first but rather to save [[spoiler: the alternate reality [=KayWai=]s.]] Since [[spoiler: [=KayWai=] dying to create the hybird slimes that can survive in a dynamic universe]] was so vital to saving humanity, she explicitly [[spoiler: is trying to kill off humanity.]]
71	* ShoutOut: Many subtle and not-so-subtle references to classic and contemporary movies, comics, and video games. In one comic, a military commander is shown ordering his squad to "Take off every (fighter)! For Great Justice!. In another, a bit of alien speech is rendered as "KlaatuBaradaNikto".
72	* ShownTheirWork: The physics of the various universes have been worked out in great detail.
73	* SingleStrokeBattle: Sort of, seen in Millian's flashback [[spoiler: to when he went to the Overseas Colony Project]].
74	%%* StableTimeLoop
75	* StealthPun: There's a jelly named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-Y_Jelly Kay Wai]]...
76	** Who also happens to be ''[[UsefulNotes/{{Kawaisa}} kawaii]]''. Double StealthPun.
77	* SymbolSwearing: Talcryl runes in particular shapes are used to stand in for harsher four letter words.
78	* StrawVulcan: Chou
79	* TheSmartGuy: Chou
80	* TheSpock: Chou
81	* [[spoiler:TimeyWimeyBall]]: Most obviously seen in Pastel Defender Heliotrope, towards the end. ESPECIALLY the last two chapters.
82	%%* TransplantedHumans
83	%%* UnsoundEffect
84	* UnusualEuphemism: "Farg"
85	* ViewersAreGeniuses: You pretty much have to have a brain like Chou's to follow the massive plot complexity and transdimensional physics of what started as a simple story of a witch and her blob.
86	** At one point early in the comic's life, the author revealed that everything that had been shown so far would be enough to guess at what the overall plot was going to be, and she invited readers to e-mail her their guess. A few fans got it exactly right.
87	* WhenDimensionsCollide: The dimension of Tryslmaistan periodically intersects with other dimensions, including that of Earth, leaving those residing in those portions of the other worlds stranded in Tryslmaistan. While the physics (and inhabitants) of Tryslmaistan are somewhat hostile to terrestrial life, it is similar enough that human castaways are able to form a civilization on the Myrmil Worldplate [[spoiler: before catastrophe struck and they needed to move on to other Worldplates]]. The DistantFinale shows [[spoiler: a group of Humano-Jellese welcoming]] a new group of castaways from yet another dimension.
88	* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: At the end of Unicorn Jelly, which points out which people were the first poet, teacher, etc of the new world.
89	* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Lupiko is dreadfully afraid of heights and falling. So of course she has to [[spoiler:dive off a worldplate to save Chou and Uni]].
90	* WitchClassic: The Witches in the series (including Lupiko) appear to be this at first. However, there's more going on than meets the eye.
91	* WrapAround: The universe of Tryslmaistan wraps around in all directions.
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Context Webcomic / UnicornJelly