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Bunty was a British comics anthology for girls published by D. C. Thomson & Co. from 1958 to 2001. In contrast to earlier and contemporary comics, it was aimed primarily at working class readers under the age of 14, and contained mostly fictional stories.

It was at one point merged with Mandy.


This comic (and its strips) provide examples of:

  • Action Girl: This IS a girl's comic, after all.
  • Always Identical Twins: Played with - while several stories, like "Last Chance for Laura", "The Secret Sister" and "Second Best Babs", involve identical twins (and in the case of the first two examples, the twins being identical is what motivates the plot,) a few stories have non-identical twins.
  • Art Initiates Life: The Swifts of "Framed!".
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The Rival usually had this sort of personality. Sometimes, the heroine was the "supposedly sweet but really poisonous" one.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Most "Catch the Cat" stories ended with the heroine, Maria Bonnet, foiling the German forces occupying France, but still being alone and cast aside due to the fact she acts friendly towards them to cover for her resistance work.
  • Blackmail: Several stories revolved around the heroine or someone close to them being blackmailed.
  • Boarding School: Many of their stories were set in one, the longest one being "The Four Marys".
    • Boarding School of Horrors: Some of the stories took place in one. One notable example was Thorndale Hall, a Dickenisian nightmare where, not only did the staff take great pleasure in beating and starving the students the school was actually a front for a counterfeiting scheme.
  • Bookworm: The heroine of "Belinda the Bookworm" was Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
  • A Boy, a Girl, and a Baby Family: The Barker siblings in "Bringing Up the Barkers" consist of punk teenagers Gary and Vari and their pre-teen sister, Freda.
  • Break the Haughty: The fate of any Spoiled Brat heroines. Chances are, if the heroine bullies those around her, steals from others and demands they treat her like a princess while in a horror story, her fate is going to be a horrible one.
  • Comics Merger: As mentioned above, it merged with Mandy in 1997. It also absorbed Suzy in 1987 and Nikki in 1989.
  • Conveniently an Orphan: Played with - sometimes being an orphan is a good thing in the stories, sometimes it's a bad thing.
  • Crapsack World: "I Want to Dance" - music and dance are banned, and everyone has to work hard.
  • Cute Ghost Girl: Amy of "Phantom Friend".
  • Demonic Dummy: "The Demon Doll". "Codey" and "The Secrets of Charlie Chatterbox" also qualified, although in those cases the puppets were more like JerkAsses.
  • The Ditz: "Dopey Dora - The Hope of the School". She's also The Klutz.
  • Dreaming of Things to Come: "The Dreams of Dolwyn".
  • Extreme Doormat: Angie of "Lessons from Lindy", until she starts taking lessons from the titular Jerkass.
    • Polly of "Powder Potts" starts out as one due to her shyness, but when a new powder mix accidentally spills on her, she gets a confidence boost.
  • Fairy in a Bottle: "Merry at St Meads". She's also a Fish out of Temporal Water.
  • Forbidden Friendship: "Once Upon a Time…" there were two girls whose mothers fell out because one of the mothers thought the main character in a book the other mother had written was based on her. As a result, the girls were told they could no longer be friends and their mothers went to great lengths to keep them apart, with one even transferring her daughter to another school. However, the girls were determined to keep their friendship going.
  • Fountain of Youth: In "My School Chum Mum", the heroine's mother uses an anti-aging potion which turns her into a child.
  • Gender-Concealing Writing: In "The Seven Sisters", six of the Miller siblings have unambiguously feminine names (Mary, Olive, Celia, Sadie, Ruth and Emily). But the seventh sibling is called Pat, which can be short for either Patrick or Patricia and the story's title leads the reader to assume it's the latter. Since the plot revolves around Emily trying to reunite her siblings after they were separated as young children, the truth is not revealed until the final installment.
  • Generation Xerox: One full edition of "The Four Marys" focused on Fieldy trying to connect with a new student named Ruth, the daughter of a former champion hockey captain who doesn't seem as keen on the sport as she is. It turns out Ruth would rather do athletics. When Fieldy tells Ruth's parents, they fully support her because her mother's parents had put a lot of pressure on her to play tennis, but she ditched it for hockey because "(she) knew that was (her) sport."
  • Genie in a Bottle: Perki of "Jeannie and Her Genie" is a genie in a necklace.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: The titular character of "Tina's Temper" had one.
  • Happily Adopted: Several of the heroines.
  • Hiding the Handicap: The title character in "No Tears for Theresa" tries to keep her blindness secret from those who aren't already in the know. It doesn't always work, an example being when she tries to audition for a place at a ballet school, only to be caught out when she bumps into someone; she is then rejected on the grounds that "a sightless person cannot become a dancer".
  • Human Alien: Morgan of "Boyfriend from Blupo", Marsha of "Marsha the Perfect Schoolgirl", Mina of "Mindreader Mina", Mirra from "Her From Up There", Starla of "Starla's Spell", Blossom of "Flower Power", the titular character of "Oriel", Eta and Elvin of "The Newcomers". Stella from "Wish Upon a Star" appears to be this until the very last frame of the story, when she pushes her hair back to reveal that she has pointed ears.
  • Human Popsicle: "Gelda- The Girl From The Glacier", "The Great Victoria".
  • Identical Stranger: If the heroine wasn't one, she would have to expose one.
  • Idol Singer: Princess Helen of "Princess of the Pops" poses as the masked pop star, “M’Lady of Mystery”.
  • Inept Mage: Jamara of "Abracadabra Academy".
  • Inspirationally Disadvantaged: Tiny of "The Little Shrimp" might be blind, but she's not going to let that stop her from becoming a champion swimmer.
  • Magical Boyfriend: The premise of "Boyfriend from Blupo", where the heroine gets a boyfriend in the form of Morgan, a Human Alien from the planet Blupo.
  • Malicious Slander: The premise of the story "Hot Gossip!" - a school magazine filled with gossip and poison pen lies about staff and pupils starts being published, and it targets the heroine in particular.
  • Massive Numbered Siblings: Mandy of "The Trouble with Boys…" has five brothers.
  • Missing Mom / Disappeared Dad: Several heroines suffered from this, if it wasn't complete Parental Abandonment.
  • Modest Royalty: Princess Katherine, the heroine of "Just Call Me Kate!", refuses to stand on ceremony, and askes the other pupils at her One-Gender School to call her Kate.
  • Mysterious Protector: The heroines of "The Seeker" and "The Hooded Angel".
  • Mysterious Waif: The title characters of "Look After Lobelia" and "Marinda, Mystery Girl Of The Sea".
  • On One Condition: Several stories revolve around the heroine being forced to do something in order to claim an inheritance.
  • One-Gender School: St Elmo's of "The Four Marys". Also, several stories were set in a girls-only school. There was also "Molly the Matron", in which the protagonist was the matron at an all boys school.
  • Orphanage of Fear: Quite a few stories were set in one.
  • Parental Favoritism: Whenever this trope appeared, the heroine was always The Unfavorite.
    • A variant occurred in "Unfair to Favourites" - BOTH parents had a favorite, due to each girl excelling in the parent's respective activity - athletics (Dad) or ballet (Mum).
  • Parent with New Paramour: Several stories involve the heroine having to get used to their parent either dating or remarrying.
  • Plant Person: The title character in "Florinda" emerges from a mysterious flower, needs nectar to survive and is vulnerable to weedkiller.
  • Pony Tale: Many of the stories were focused on this trope.
  • Precocious Crush: The concept of "Oh, Mr Blossom!" - both the heroine and her friend have one on a new teacher, and each one tries to impress him.
  • Prince and Pauper: "The Imposter!" - Lady Harriet and her servant Hetty switch places, but Hetty steals a valuable heirloom belonging to Harriet, forcing Harriet to endure a life of toil and grime below stairs.
    • "Botany Belle": The heroine is tricked into switching places with a pickpocket and is transported to Australia for a crime she didn't commit.
  • Princess Protagonist: The heroine is usually a princess.
  • Rags to Riches: As well as Riches to Rags.
  • Raised by Wolves: Teresa of "The Taming of Teresa", the "Waif Of The Wilds".
  • Rebellious Princess: A few. Examples include Princess Katherine of "Just Call Me Kate!", and Princess Helen of "Princess of the Pops".
  • Revenge: Drove the plot of several stories.
  • The Rival: Many of the stories involved at least one girl who was always trying to defeat the heroine.
  • Robin Hood: He appeared in several "Maid Marian" stories, but Marian was always the main character.
    • The heroines of "Robina Hood" were the descendants of Robin and the Merry Men.
  • The Scapegoat: Sally Smith in "Scapegoat of the School" is forced to look after Princess Rosetta of Centralina in order for an important treaty to be signed. The treaty will only be signed if Rosetta attends a British school, and is happy at all times. So Sally must take any punishments Rosetta earns - and considering Rosetta is a Royal Brat, that's a LOT of punishments!
  • Scullery Maid: Any story set in Victorian times usually had the heroine play this role.
  • Secret Identity: Several heroines had one, like Marie of "Catch the Cat".
  • Shrinking Violet: Polly of "Powder Potts", until she comes into contact with some magical powder and gains a confidence boost.
    • Princess Zonia of "Queen For A Month".
  • Spoiled Brat: Two varieties - 1. the heroine is the brat and becomes subjected to Break the Haughty. 2. - the heroine works for such a brat, but is unable to quit as her family needs the money the job offers.
  • Step Servant: Many of the heroines suffer this, either from Abusive Parents or guardians, or people who are holding them and several other children prisoner and forcing them to slave away.
  • Sweet Polly Oliver: The story "Steamboat Jo", which revolves around the heroine disguising herself as a boy in order to find her father.
  • Talking Animal: "Mojo The Milky Way Dog" - justified, as the dog is really an alien.
  • Team Mom: Carrie Cole in "Carrie's Cab" and Rose Edwards in "Outcasts of the Prairies" are this to their respective younger siblings.
  • The Fagin: Benny Pike in "Hands off Carrie". He even looks like the Trope Namer.
  • Theme Naming: "The Four Marys" focused on four girls who were all named Mary. In order to avoid confusion, they all had nicknames based on their surnames - Raddy (Radleigh); Simpy (Simpson); Fieldy (Field) and Cotty (Cotter).
  • Tomboy: Sarah of "I’ll Make You Miss World".
  • Trapped in Another World: Lydia in "Lydia and the Little People", Raine and Wendy in "Prisoners of the Rainbow"
  • Trapped in the Past:
    • Susie Waters in "The Maze" ends up at a school in Victorian times after wandering into the titular maze. Unable to return until she can get the key to the maze to get back, she is forced to stay at the school.
    • The heroines of "Yesterday's Children".
    • Jan and Hilary in "Trapped in Time" find themselves 200 years in the past - and to make matters worse, they are mistaken for boys and ordered to work on the construction of the canals.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Helen of "I Don't Like Dogs!" is TERRIFIED of dogs - which complicates her relationship with her father's new girlfriend, as the girlfriend has a dog.
  • Wicked Stepmother: Or aunt, or stepfather, or adoptive family, etc.
  • Witch Hunt: The story "Witch!", where life becomes very difficult for the heroine as the people of the village she has moved to believe that she is descended from the village witch, and start to persecute her.
  • Wizarding School: "Abracadabra Academy".
  • World War II: Several stories were set in this time period.
  • You Are Grounded!: Happens to a few kids in the soap opera style strip "The Comp". The protagonists in "Once Upon a Time" also get this after their mothers find out they have been continuing their Forbidden Friendship.
  • You No Take Candle: In the early years of the comic, several foreign characters would talk like this.

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