[[quoteright:298:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/freaks-squeele-2_4292.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:298:Meet TheTeam]]

''Freaks' Squeele'' is a French series of comic books created by Florent Maudoux and published by Creator/{{Ankama}}. The series is unique in its graphic style, [[{{Animesque}} mixing]] {{manga}}, American comics and classic {{FrancoBelgian comics}} style.

The story follows the adventures of three students in a university for Heroes (the F.E.A.H.), specializing in Bad Guys and {{Villains}}. It is fair to say they may not be the brightest element of the classes. The team consists of Chance, an [[CuteMonsterGirl adorable clumsy demon-girl]]; Ombre de Loup (Wolfshade), a big-hearted [[WolfMan lycanthrope]] stuck in his animal form, and Xiong Mao, who has [[BadassNormal no superpower whatsoever]] apart from being a relentless worker.

There are several spinoffs, such as Rouge (about teenage Xiong Mao), Masiko (about her mother) and Funérailles, which is set in a fantasy world and is about the youth of the titular character and his brother Scipio.

Expect slices of college life, sadistic professors and epic brawls. The references to pop culture are pervasive explaining the large number of tropes referenced here.

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!! This comic provides examples of:
%% * ActionGirl: Primarily Xiong Mao, although Chance might also qualify.
* AdvertisingTropes:
** ProductPlacement: Several books include recommendations by the author of comic books by the same company. Non-intrusive since it happens in the bonus pages.
** SubliminalAdvertising: Number 619 [[ArcNumber occurs quite often]]. This comic belongs in Label 619 which is a section of Creator/{{Ankama}}.
* AllLovingHero: Ombre has so much love in him he could take over the world with it using an army of gingerbread warriors.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Poor [[Film/CitizenKane Rosebud]]!
%% * AlphaBitch: Amanite
* ApologeticAttacker: [[spoiler: Xiong Mao's sister ambushes her with along with a few friends from China, but several of them would rather not fight her.]]
* AppliedPhlebotinum: The "life expectancy hourglass" handled by Funerailles, is used to "send back demons to the inferior planes".
* AuthorAvatar: The author draws himself as a character from Film/{{Gremlins}}. Most of the time he appears between chapters, but when Chance owns a pizza truck he his hired to do some artistic painting on its body.
* BadassNormal: Xiong Mao got admitted to a hero academy despite having no supernatural abilities whatsoever. She only goes up from there.
* BeachEpisode: The last chapters of the first book ends with a pool.
* BearsAreBadNews: One has an epic fight with Ombre for territory control.
* {{BFS}}: The one found in the Library, an obvious ShoutOut to ''{{Manga/Berserk}}''.
* BigBeautifulWoman: Lynette, when she's wearing her glasses. When She's not she's stunning too, but she's skinny.
* BishieSparkle: Fei Long in his first appearance.
* ByThePowerOfGreyskull: Parodied. Valkyrie says "Par le pouvoir de l'amour ancestral" when transforming. That is litterally the French dubs for "By the Power of Greyskull" (Par le pouvoir du crâne ancestral) except she replaced skull with love.
* TheCameo: Lots of them. Creator/HughLaurie as a sadistic professor, Creator/SeanConnery as a school director, Creator/QuentinTarantino as a pervert homeowner ...
* {{Catfight}}: The pool outing turns this way, [[AllMenArePerverts much to the pleasure of the male onlookers]].
* CastOfSnowflakes: All major and minor characters and many of one-shot characters are unique.
* CatGirl: There's one in the protagonists' class named Felicia, as well as another one with two heads.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: averted, sort of, with Xiong Mao; her practice of martial arts makes her a competent fighter and stronger than average girl, but according to the test, her strength are still on human level.
* TheChessMaster: [[spoiler: Apparently the president of FEAH has a larger plan than just ratings and money, considering one of the illustrations shows the main trio defending him and Funerailles later agrees with his plan.]]
* ChineseGirl: Xiong Mao [[spoiler: Actually half-Chinese. Her full-blooded relatives never let her forget.]]
* ClarkKenting: "The Law of Kent" (how a well-placed accessory can disguise you completely) is actually taught at F.E.A.H. Apparently it's the reason that no one realizes Ombre is a huge wolf-man when he's wearing a hat.
* ClothingDamage:
** The PowerTrio's costumes get torn up pretty badly during the monster hunting assignment.
** ''All'' of Ombre's clothes are always in tatters (even his ''underwear'') due to spending so much time tromping through the woods. [[spoiler:His Care Bear costume also gets sliced up a bit during the battle with St. Ange's students.]]
* CoolSword:
** Xiong Mao sure can forge pretty cool ones.
** Most notably, Razorback.
** And Claidheamor turns into one!
%% * CuteMonsterGirl: Chance.
* DanceBattler: Xiong Mao using Flamendo. Chance learns fencing through tango with Funerailles.
* DefeatByModesty: [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]] in the strategy exam, where the students are eliminated once they lose their sarongs.
%% * {{Dhampyr}}: Alucrade.
* {{Dominatrix}}: Amanite to [[spoiler: Changelin after discovering his/her real, skinny male form. Actually has him on a leash, blindfolded, with a ball-gag and his arms tied behind his back for their villain project presentation. "Call me Hermione!"]]
* DoorstopBaby: [[spoiler: Chance, apparently. Her new parents were quite happy to have her, horns and all.]]
* DragonsUpTheYinYang: Wong Fei Long's [[PowerTattoo magic tattoo]].
* DreamSequence: Ombre and the animals of the forest hold meetings through these.
* DynamicEntry: Fei Long literally explodes onto the scene when he first appears at the pool. Everyone's ears are ringing afterward.
* EatingLunchAlone: Ombre, in the first book and not just eating alone. He's under the table!
* ElaborateUniversityHigh: The F.E.A.H. and the surrounding campus.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: Xiong Mao. She takes great care to conceal that her name actually means "Little Panda".
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Alucrade and Gunther. The former is especially popular, as he's an Adorkable SoapBoxSadie.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Xiong Mao and Ombre both have different hairstyles after [[spoiler:spending time in the underground forge]].
* FanGirl: Amanite is apparently one for ''Literature/HarryPotter'', seeing as she [[spoiler:forces Changlin to stay in his skinny male form, wear round glasses, and call her Hermione.]]
* {{Fanservice}}: Lampshaded. The university even gives classes of Fanservice for heroines.
* FastballSpecial: Used by Chance and Ombre during the tactics exam.
* GagPenis:
** Fei Long has an oversized CensorBox when he loses his sarong.
** Another student has an ability similar to Goku's Super Saiyan mode. During the pool episode, when he transforms another student notices that the transformation happens "down there" as well.
%% * GenderBender: Changelin
* GentleGiant: Ombre is a tall, strong wolf-man who's been in the commandos... and collects stuffed animals.
* GirlsLoveStuffedAnimals: Subverted, since Ombre is the one who collects and make plushies (and he's pretty [[RealMenWearPink embarrassed when the girls find out]]). Nevertheless, also played straight as the girls seems to love them too.
* TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Xiong Mao and her sister. They even attend rival schools. [[spoiler: Actually half-sisters; it seems Xiong's mother wasn't Chinese. When the "heroes" of St. Ange ambush the FEAH students Xiong Mao's convinced she's being attacked personally.]]
* GoodScarsEvilScars: Subverted with Funerailles as despite his nasty scars he is a much better person than [[spoiler: his older brother, the president of F.E.A.H.]]
* GreatBigLibraryOfEverything: Complete with a colossal underground quarry of unclassified files and books. Also, [[Literature/{{Discworld}} the librarian seems to be an orangutan]]...
* TheGrimReaper: Appears in person in the second book.
* HammerSpace: Where Val gets her clothes from.
%% * HandicappedBadass: Funerailles
* HeroWithBadPublicity: [[spoiler: FEAH itself thanks to scheming between its headmaster and St. Ange's. It doesn't help that their students are skeletons, mafia heirs, werewolves, demons, spider-women, and Amanite.]]
* HotTeacher: One of the transformations of Valkyrie.
** NaughtyNurseOutfit: Another transformation.
* IJustWantToBeYou: [[spoiler: Changelin to Chance.]]
* ImportantHaircut: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]. [[spoiler: Actually, it's important when Xiong Mao decides NOT to cut her hair. She had previously kept it short due to being ashamed of how her curly hair exposed her mixed parentage. Once she accepts it, she wears her hair long.]]
* ImprovisedGolems: Amanite can summon very nice ones out of paper sheets or tennis balls.
* KillTheCutie: Ombre's bunny. Once released, he tastes the joy of freedom but gets eaten by a bird of prey.
* TheKlutz: Chance. Ombre might also qualify, as the objects are sometimes unsteady in his gigantic hands/paws.
* KnightInShiningArmor: Or rather, the armor itself, who has come to life after its owner has died inside
* LargeHam: Fei-long. His speech and the fact he [[GagPenis does pack an impressive amount of meat]] has him qualify.
* LifeMeter: Subverted in Chance and "Archangel"'s fight -- they can't hurt each other, but they're judged by how popular they are with the spectators. Because this is being televised, there's a mass of suits whose job it is to equalize the score so neither of them "die" too quickly.
* LukeIAmYourFather: Played with. Several characters have to lie to Gunther about being his father.
* MacGuffin: A tapestry which contains secret indications on the way to bring a gingerbread man to life.
* MafiaPrincess: [[spoiler:Xiong Mao is basically the next leader of her family but she'd rather be a heroic weapons-smith.]]
* MagicalGirl: The dream profession of Valkyrie.
* MaskPower:
** One of Sablon's teammates is a girl named Venise who always wears masks, though we've yet to see her do anything particularly powerful.
** That said, Sablon himself, with his face-concealing turban, qualifies.
* MartialArtsAndCrafts: The Flamendo which is supernatural.
* MayDecemberRomance: [[spoiler: Chance and Funerailles, complete with a shout-out to Remus Lupin and Tonks ("Too old, too ugly, and too dangerous").]]
* MeaningfulName: Everyone. Most notably Chance whose full name is Chance D'Estaing (Name of an ancient family of Central France, used because it sounds like the French word for "Destiny").
* MessyHair: [[spoiler: Xiong Mao has wavy/bushy hair, a sign she's not 100% Chinese.]]
* ModestyTowel:
** Everyone (including the camera crew) wears stylized sarongs at the pool that serve this purpose. Then the students are given an assignment to steal each others' sarongs. Chaos (and [[HilarityEnsues hilarity]]) ensues.
** According to WordOfGod, early storyboards used regular towels, but they looked like they would fall off too easily and weren't sexy enough, so the sarongs were invented.
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Ombre was sent to the human world to prepare them for actual diplomatic relationships with the Therian council.]]
* MrExposition: Sablon explains Flamendo to the reporter and keeps this role pretty much everytime we see him, when he's not busy kicking ass.
* MrFanservice / MsFanservice: Pretty much everyone in the student cast qualifies, and the author seems to take any occasion to show off his snowflakes. [[spoiler: Especially Ombre de loup in his human form.]]
* NakedPeopleAreFunny:
** The Bathhouse battle. On a less savory note, [[spoiler: Chance loves walking around nude in her apartment and leaves hair all over. ''They're not the ones from her head''.]]
** Chance also tends to suggest "everybody get naked" as the solution to a lot of problems. Sometimes, she's partially right!
** And then there's Alucrade, FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire, who faces the forces of law and order with his fellow students rioteers, all in the nude.
** NudityEqualsHonesty: Chance sometimes uses this as a justification.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Funerailles[[spoiler:, who is actually a pretty nice guy.]]
%% * OldMediaAreEvil
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: St. Ange's is a self-righteous jerkass. "I'm a hero, I'm always right!"
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Despite his impressive height and strength, Ombre is most lovable guy in the campus.
* OvenLogic: Chance tries the equivalent with two combined pasta dishes. It's not exactly disastrous, but only [[BigEater Ombre]] is willing to finish his portion.
* ThePowerOfLove: Literally used as a magic ingredient to bring the gingerbread men to life.
* PowerTrio: Xiong Mao (Ego), Chance (Id), and Ombre (Superego).
* RealPlaceBackground: Some stealth clues (license plates, tramway numbers, maps...) suggest the school is located in Villeurbanne, a university suburb of Lyon, France.
* RuleOfThree: The whole universe seems to run on this rule.
** Heroes (students and professionals) are always in trios.
** [[spoiler: Even the ones that attained a form of godhood by becoming the AnthropomorphicPersonfication of a powerful concept are grouped by three, such as the Grim Reaper, the High Executioner and the Master Raven forming the trio of Death.]]
* SealedArmyInACan: In order to conquer the world (which is a "science project" for the School), the group create an army of gingerbread soldiers. [[GoneHorriblyRight A little bit rebellious, still...]]
* SceneryPorn: Various very detailed environment and ambiances.
* ShoutOut: Lots of them. Many are visual or just name dropping. Many sentences are direct quotes from either French culture or French dubs.
** In chapter 9, Xiong Mao conjures the [[{{BFS}} Dragon Slayer]] from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' to use in the fight against the AnimatedArmor Halifax: "Flamendo also applies to giant sword fencing!"
** Chance's duel against Ange imitates the early tournaments in ''Manga/DragonBall'' when fighting took place in the sky. In particular some of the sports commentator's text seems very similar.
* SiblingYinYang: [[spoiler: The handsome but scheming head of FEAH and his disfigured but straight-talking brother Praetorius (or as we know him, Funeraillis).]]
* SpeakingSimlish: The Gingerbread Warriors say [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail "Ni!"]] except for [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer Rosebud]] who says "Nou!".
* SplitPersonality: St. Ange student Requiem AKA [[spoiler: ''PSYCHOPORN!!!'' He just wants more personal freedom.]]
* SpotlightStealingSquad: Alucrade [[spoiler: [[Music/DavidBowie Can you hear me major Tom?]] Well Played Flaurent, well played.]]
* SpyCatsuit: Worn against their will by the female members of the team.
* SunglassesAtNight: St. Ange's "Archangel".
* SuperheroSchool:
** The F.E.A.H. [Faculty of Heroïc Academical Studies]
** St. Ange, a top-tier superhero university with more money and connections.
* ThemeNaming: The superhero teams' code names will match their theme.
** Brothers Scipio and Praetorius, aka [[spoiler: the head of FEAH and Funerailles.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: Xiong Mao, Ombre, Chance, and Fei Long all take one in the months leading up to the duel with Ange, albeit in different ways.
* TransformationTrinket: Valkyrie can use the ring on her forehead as one.
* TheTriadsAndTheTongs: [[spoiler:Xiong Mao's family.]]
* TrumanShowPlot: [[spoiler:Unbeknownst to them, all the students of the school are part of a reality TV show.]]
%% * TheUnfavorite: [[spoiler: Xiong Mao]]
%%* UnresolvedSexualTension: Xiong Mao and Ombre.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Ombre can walk around in public just fine so long as he wears a hat. Only dogs, or perhaps animals in general, can see past the hat and realize what he is.
* UnwantedAssistance: The students cheer Xiong Mao by chanting her name -- first the embarrassing translation, then a mangled pronunciation.
* {{Valkyries}}: Valkyrie (but you can call her Val).
** Later she fights [[spoiler: VF-1 [[ShoutOutThemeNaming Valkyries]] from the Anime/{{Macross}} universe]].
** In the Funérailles spinoff, a warrior dies in combat and is supposed to go to Valhalla. A Valkyrie comes to him and she looks exactly like Val.
%% * WickedWitch: Amanite
* WorldOfBadass: Anyone appearing for more than a page can totally hold himself in a fight, often with spectacular results.
* YearInsideHourOutside: The month variant.
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