First introduced in Johan et Pirlouit story “La flûte à six trous,” literally meaning “The Flute with Six Holes,” published in 1958, les Schtroumpfs...er, the Smurfs weren’t officially seen right away. The artisans of the six holed flute wouldn’t be announced until more than midway through the story.Their creator Pierre “Peyo” Culliford wanted these humanoid little blue elves be mysterious by having them shadow Johan and Pirlouit, I mean, Peewit throughout the tale’s beginning by showing their shrouded eyes in some panels or a five fingered blue hand reaching out from behind some leaves in another. It wasn’t until wizard Homnibus sends both knight and his squire to the Cursed Land where the Smurfs live via “hypnokinesis” are we introduced to said creatures.Just like introducing troublesome Peewit which proved to be an excellent contrast to somber and serious Johan before them, the Smurfs were a huge success delivered in a small package where popular demands had them appearing in the next Johan and Peewit adventure called “La Guerre des sept fontaines,” “War of the Seven Fountains” in English, published in 1959.Recently made Editor-in-Chief Yvan Delporte recognized the diminutive stature of the Smurfs made them perfect stars to fit in the mini-récits (short stories) that gave readers fully contained forty-eight page story in a postcard sized comic in the pages of Spirou. After Spirou publisher Charles Dupuis approached Peyo with the idea, Peyo agree and, on the condition Delporte helps him write the comic, the Smurfs first comic “Les Schtroumpfs noirs” was introduced the same year, the story helping establish the basic setting and some of the original characters that would become the staples of the series.note Not only did it introduce Delporte’s role as a collaborator in the creative process, but Peyo had ultimate control of the storylines and characters whilst Delporte helped develop the particulars of the plots and write the dialogue before Peyo committed the final script to paper.By 1963, The Smurfs graduated from supplementary mini-comics to the prestigious pages of Spirou. Starting with “Le Schtroumpf Volant,” which is “The Smurfnapper” in English, the Smurfs’ adventures expanded from postcard sized mini-récits to the more traditional A4 single-fold-sized comics roughly 8.5X11 inches found in the page of Spirou magazines. Meaning since the size of the pages increased, more panels could fit on a page, reducing the page count for each individual story, so more stories were required to fill each individual book, eventually the pages expanded to forty. As with Johan And Peewit, the adventures became serialized over a string of weekly issues. Having the longer format meant character development along with emergence of numerous Smurfs from what been relative anonymity in the blue masses of identical Smurfs.Not only did the first book “Les Schtroumpfs noirs” feature three tales but story “Le Voleur des Schtroumpfs” introduces villainous Gargamel and his cat Azrael, making them the Smurfs’ main and only adversary. It wasn’t until 1966 another character was introduced: la Schtroumpfette, though she won’t officially become a main character until later on. Despite Bigmouth’s only sole appearance in “La Soupe aux Schtroumpfs” (“Smurf Soup” in English), other new characters won’t be introduced until “Le Bébé Schtroumpf,“ where Baby Smurf becomes an official main comic book character in 1984. Four years later saw the introduction of the Smurflings (Nat, Snappy, Slouchy and Sassette) in “Les P'tits Schtroumpfs.”“Le Schtroumpf Financier”, “The Finance Smurf” in English, was the last album published on the first of January by the Smurfs’ creator as Pierre “Peyo” Culliford died of cardiac arrest on Christmas Eve 1992. Despite the loss of the Smurfs’ true Papa Smurf, the Smurfs continued to live on thanks in large part to the Culliford family’s efforts. While International Merchandizing, Promotion & Services — a company founded in 1984 by Peyo’s daughter Véronique Culliford — continues to license the property throughout the world, Peyo’s son Thierry Culliford continues his father’s work by continuing having the Smurfs appear in new comics produced by Cartoon Creations, formally called Peyo Studios and distributed by Le Lombard with other artists drawing the characters.Tropes under here are specifically for the Belgian comic books. Tropes exclusively for the whole franchise go here. Tropes exclusively for the animated film The Smurfs And The Magic Flute go here. Tropes exclusively for the Hanna Barbera cartoon series go here. Tropes exclusively for the live action/CGI films by Sony Pictures go hereNow has a shout out page.
Frequent tropes:
Accidental Art: In an one-page story, Painter Smurf's canvas is taken away by the wind and it hits the ground several times, getting all kind of stains. Papa Smurf arrives and thinks his painting is brilliant, asking him how he did it. Painter Smurf replies it was "a little inspiration, a lot of perspiration".
Agitated Item Stomping: Smurfette in "The Reporter Smurf" stomps her blue dress to death when Reporter catches wind of the dress she planned to surprise her fellow Smurfs with from outside Tailor's shop and leaks the information to the press.
A.I. Is a Crapshoot: In the album You Don't Smurf Progress!, the Smurfs create robots that do their chores, but these eventually rebel. Though in this case only one robot becomes sentient and it then reprogrammed every other one to obey him.
Alas, Poor Villain: King Smurf doesn't die, but when all the blame on the disaster that befallen the village falls on him, he just bows his head in shame and sets out to repair all the damage he did. The others join in and the village starts to recover from the civil war.
And Then What?: In The Egg And The Smurfs, the Smurfs found an egg which gave them as many wishes as they liked. One Smurf wishes for riches and gets a lot of jewels. At first he's happy, but then another Smurf asks what he's gonna do with them. He has no answer.
Anthropomorphic Food: Salad Smurfs is a comic book story about the Smurfs turning into anthropomorphic vegetables.
Arrowgram: The Grey Smurfs sent arrowgrams to the Smurfs prior to attacking them, hoping that they would surrender, in the comic book story "The Smurf Threat". Unfortunately, Papa Smurf's response leads to a war with the Grey Smurfs.
Art Evolution: The Smurfs, in their very first appearance in Johann and Peewit, had very pointy hats that only drooped a little at the end.
Banana Peel: Used in a comic book story about Baby Smurf's paper dolls, who play that trick on a hapless Greedy Smurf carrying a dessert with him.
Bedmate Reveal: In a one-page comic gag, a Smurf takes a walk outside when he can't get any sleep, only for the clouds to obscure the light of the moon so that he couldn't see his way, so he ended up going back to what he thinks is his own house and goes to sleep. In the morning, he wakes up and finds out he is sleeping in Papa Smurf's bed.
Bedsheet Ladder: In the comic book story "The Smurf Threat", Papa Smurf, Hefty, and Jokey escape their imprisonment inside the Grey Smurf prison camp by making a ladder using torn pieces of Smurf pants...leaving the hapless victims with a Censor Shadow.
The Bet: In the comic book story "The Gambler Smurfs", the Smurfs have Gargamel make a bet with the earl of Aubenas that he would best the earl's knights in a contest of skill so that the earl would not cut down the forest that Gargamel and the Smurfs live in, with Gargamel offering to be a jester to the earl for three years if he lost the bet.
Big "NEVER!": In the comic book story "You Don't Smurf Progress", the waste disposal robot, who became the tyrant of the Smurf Village, shouts this when he tries to escape from the front door of his castle, but finds himself surrounded by the Smurfs that were once his captives, demanding for his surrender. He tries to use a secret escape hatch, only to be turned into furniture when Handy cuts off his escape with his furniture-making machine.
Blank Book: The Book That Tells Everything in the comic book story "The Smurfs And The Book That Tells Everything" is initially blank except for the page numbers. However, when the reader of the book asks it a question, the book will cause the answer to the question to appear only on that selected page.
Book Burning: The Grey Smurfs in the comic book story "The Smurf Threat" burn all of Papa Smurf's spell books in order to keep him from finding the spell to make the Grey Smurfs vanish.
Bottomless Bladder: The comic book story "Bathing Smurfs" has Handy build an outhouse near his house by the lake, in case anyone was wondering about a Smurf's personal physical habits.
Bowel Breaking Bricks: It's simply the main function of the waste disposal robot in the comic book story "You Don't Smurf Progress": he eats garbage and he turns them into bricks which he ejects from his rear hatch. Surprisingly, he doesn't poop bricks when he sees that the queen companion Handy Smurf made for him when he became King Trash fell apart and a swarm of termites came out of her.
Brown Bag Mask: Vanity Smurf uses a shopping bag mask in "The Smurfs and The Book That Tells Everything".
Carrying a Cake: A one-page gag has Jokey stumbling to keep a pie intact as he carries it over to his recipient so that he could splatter his face with it.
Censor Shadow: Used in the comic book story "The Smurf Threat" depicting the Smurfs who gave up their...uh, pants to create a Bedsheet Ladder for Papa Smurf, Jokey, and Hefty to escape the Grey Smurfs prison camp.
Deal with the Devil: Quite literally in Gargamel's case in the story "Sagratamabarb", where the evil wizard makes a deal with Beelzebub that if he helps to get rid of Gargamel's cousin, then he would belong to him forever. It didn't turn out well for Gargamel.
Democracy Is Flawed: When Papa Smurf is away, the Smurfs argue who should be the new leader. In the first round of voting, everyone votes for himself. The second round ends with a Smurf elected (by making empty promises) who installs a monarchy with himself as the king.
Did Not Get the Girl: For all the troubles Weakling Smurf went through in the story "The Olympic Smurfs", he winds up not getting Smurfette (or at least, not getting a kiss from Smurfette) by the story's end.
Empty Swimming Pool Dive: Hefty in the comic book story "The Smurf Threat" makes a masterful dive into an empty river bed.
Enemy Mine: Gargamel reluctantly works together with the Smurfs to save their forest in The Gambler Smurfs.
Enfant Terrible: The so-non-aptly-named Jeantil (which sounds like "gentil", meaning "considerate").
Evil Twin: The Smurfs deal with evil duplicates of themselves in The Smurf Threat that were created by Papa Smurf to get the Smurfs to stop fighting with each other.
Eyes Always Shut: The nameless Thief of Abelagot from The Jewel Smurfer.
Face Palm: Papa Smurf does this a few times in "Bathing Smurfs".
Fainting: Papa Smurf collapses in a faint in the comic book story "The Smurfs And The Book That Tells Everything" when he gets so frustrated with his little Smurfs being so dependent on the titular book that he stamps his feet in anger.
Fishing For Sole: In the comic book story "You Don't Smurf Progress", a Smurf who is using one of Handy's robot servants to go fishing ends up catching an old sock and other bits of junk from the river.
Floating in a Bubble: One of Flying Smurf's methods for attempting flight in the story "The Flying Smurf" involved being blown up inside a bubble which floated in the air until a passing bird popped it and sent him falling down, crashing through the roof of a Smurf house.
Freudian Slip: Brainy referring to Papa Smurf as "Papa Pea" (at least that's how it's translated) after he got transformed into a pea in Salad Smurfs.
Friend or Idol Decision: Near the end of "The Smurfs And The Book That Tells Everything", Brainy is trapped on a rock with Baby Smurf and the titular book and he is forced to choose either to save Baby or the book in order to swim across to safety. The book tells Brainy since that it's more important, he should sacrifice Baby. Brainy thinks that the book is a monster and so throws the book into the water and swims to safety with Baby.
Frothy Mugs of Water: Averted. Gargamel and Azrael were bottle partners, and the Smurfs themselves were fond of drinking alcohol- at the point that Papa Smurf had to invent a wacky story of an evil genie trapped inside a bottle to prevent the Smurfs from opening it and drinking the special liquor he had on it.
In Bathing Smurfs, however, one Smurf appeared to be getting drunk on berry juice.
Giant Food: The comic book story "Salad Smurfs" had Farmer grow really big vegetables from his garden when Chef Smurf forced him to use more of Papa Smurf's fungicide and fertilizer than was necessary. Unfortunately, it had the side effect of turning the Smurfs who ate the vegetables into Anthropomorphic Food.
Going Commando: Mostly with the male Smurfs, as they are shown to not have any underwear when putting on or taking off their pants.
The Golden Rule: Quoted by Brainy near the end of the story "King Smurf" when he and his fellow Smurfs decide to help King Smurf clean and fix up the village.
Gone Horribly Right: In the comic book story "The Smurf Threat", Papa Smurf had to create a group of evil duplicates of himself and his little Smurfs so that they could see in the duplicates what they were becoming with all their fighting among themselves. It succeeds all too well in bringing the Smurfs together when the duplicates become such a threat that they nearly destroy the village and take the original Smurfs captives. Near the end of the story, Papa Smurf spends it working on a way to make the duplicates disappear.
Great Big Book of Everything: The Book That Tells Everything from the comic book story "The Smurfs And The Book That Tells Everything". It's capable of answering every question and solving every problem, except that it never warns the consulter of the book the consequences of using its solutions.
Homage: Doctor Smurf is largely inspired by Jules Romains' well-known and beloved play Dr. Knock. It lampshades the play with a comical footnote and a retake in Smurfing of the play's most popular lines.
How We Got Here: Much of Smurf Versus Smurf is Papa Smurf recalling what went on the village that required him to seek out Gargamel's help.
Human Chess: A non-villainous version appears as a one-page gag in the comic book story "Smurfery".
Impersonating the Evil Twin: Papa Smurf in the story "The Smurf Menace" attempts to impersonate his Evil Twin self the Great Chief after he, Jokey, and Hefty escape being imprisoned in the Grey Smurfs' prison camp in order to find the laboratory in the Grey Smurf Village and make the antidote that will cause the Grey Smurfs to disappear. The Grey Smurfs encountering Papa Smurf almost buy into the impersonation until Jokey accidentally lets slip a joke that gives them away.
Is That Cute Kid Yours?: In the story "The Baby Smurf", the Smurfs are all wondering whose child that Baby Smurf is, and Brainy has the audacity to suggest that the child could be Smurfette's, which she rewards with throwing objects at Brainy.
Kick Me Prank: King Smurf in the comic book story of the same name gets "Down with King Smurf" placed on the back of his royal cape after he sees the graffiti marking up Smurf houses saying the same thing.
Lady in Red: Smurfette wore a red dress in the comic book story "The Great Smurfette", though it was more the feminine version of Papa Smurf's outfit, and it was mostly to show that she was in charge of the Smurf Village.
Less Embarrassing Term: King Smurf's costume is not yellow but gold. Though to be fair, the suit does sparkle when he first shows it off, so it may simply be factual.
Lingerie Scene: Smurfette was seen in lingerie when she was abducted along with her fellow Smurfs in their nightclothes by the robot servants reprogrammed by the now-sentient waste disposal robot in the comic book story "You Don't Smurf Progress". Cue drooling male Smurfs.
Literal Ass Kicking: In a comic book story where Handy Smurf creates problems with a new handheld power driller by drilling through everything he can get his hands on, the Smurfs retaliate by turning his power drill into an ass-kicking machine.
Live Mink Coat: In a one-page gag from "Romeo And Smurfette", one of the Smurfs tries to give what Smurfette thinks is a fur stole, only that it turns out to be a caterpillar.
Loin Cloth: Tailor Smurf made one to Wild Smurf to wear. Before that, Wild Smurf was covered with leaves.
Loves Me Not: Deconstructed. One smurf was doing the routine, and ends up with "Loves Me Not". Another smurf asks him about his luck and he replies, gesturing to the now barren flower field that "Yeah, I can't find one that has an odd number of petals!"
And there's other time that, as a joke, two Smurfs take petals from the flowers to ensure the one doing the routine always gets "Loves Me not".
Magic Plastic Surgery: Or make that "plastic smurfery", which is the explanation in the original English translation of the story "The Smurfette" for how the title character was changed from her original appearance into a real Smurf.
Modesty Towel: One Smurf got stuck wearing a towel throughout most of the comic book story "The Smurfs And The Howlibird", and when Papa Smurf has to do a bullfight with a Howlibird stripped of its feathers to wear it down, he takes that Smurf's towel to do it!
Mutagenic Food: The comic book story "Salad Smurfs" had the Smurfs turning into Anthropomorphic Food from eating magically-treated giant vegetables.
Nobody Poops: An outhouse is hinted at in the comic book story Bathing Smurfs, where Handy shows Painter and Poet the house he has built by a lake in the mountains.
Off Model: Comic example. In the original editions, there are several coloring errors, such as Papa Smurf's pants turning white in a panel, a Smurf's pants turning blue in another one...
Oh Wait This Is My Grocery List: In the comic book version of "The Astro Smurf", Harmony (or Drummer) makes an announcement that Astro Smurf's invention is ready to be unveiled, but the first thing he reads off is a recipe Greedy Smurf had given him.
Paper-Thin Disguise: This was subverted when Gargamel once put on a rabbit suit — with his face still visible — and the Smurfs had a lot of trouble to keep themselves from laughing (even Azrael laughed) as they decided to pretend his disguise fooled them, until they trapped him with a paralyzing potion.
The Peeping Tom: Greedy Smurf plays this role in the comic book story "You Don't Smurf Progress" when Smurfette takes a shower out in the forest and Greedy tries to get a peek, but is stopped by one of the robot servants.
Playing Sick: The Smurfs in "The Reporter Smurf" when Gargamel receives a bogus news article about a disease that the Smurfs are carrying that turns any human that comes into contact with them into a toad.
Please Put Some Clothes On: In "The Smurflings", the three boy Smurflings try to avert their eyes as much as possible after Sassette comes to life while handing her a Smurf hat and a pair of pink overalls to wear.
POW Camp: The Grey Smurfs set up one for the captured Smurfs in the story "The Smurf Threat".
Prank Date: In "Romeo And Smurfette", a Smurf is given a date invitation by who he thinks is Smurfette, so he gets all washed up, perfumed, and carrying a big bouquet of flowers out into the forest where the invitation said she would be. It turned out to be a prank played on him by Jokey who dressed himself up as Smurfette. And that Smurf was none too happy about it!
Product Placement: A 15-page spinoff story arc was an advertisement for the Benco breakfast chocolate powder brand.
Reverse Psychology: In the comic book version of "King Smurf", when the King and his soldiers are looking for the rebel camp, they encounter a series of signs, saying "The camp is not in this way" "Smurf back before it's too late", "No. You're on the wrong smurf" and "Beware — do not look up!" Naturally, they go that way and look up, and they end up falling into a lake.
Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Papa Smurf in The Finance Smurf refuses to go along with the title character's suggestion of charging his little Smurfs for his services, even as impoverished as he is when he has to pay off his little Smurfs for their services during the time he was sick when the Smurf Village monetary system was in place. Eventually every Smurf decides to go Screw The Money to Finance Smurf when they realize that the old ways of cooperation and sharing were better.
Series Continuity Error: the story The Finance Smurf introduces the money system and the Smurfs are revealed as not knowing what money is at all. This contradicts earlier stories, such as The Egg and the Smurfs where a Smurf makes a wish to become rich and ends with jewels and money as a result (though he can't actually do anything with them) and in Smurf Stories where Handy Smurf creates a machine that can turn hazelnuts into gold coins and Handy Smurf tells Papa Smurf he'll use the coins to buy more hazelnuts.
During the Smurflings origin story, three Smurfs are sent to Father Time's home to get a new sand clock for Papa Smurf. The place is full with all kinds of clocks, and there's a lot of coins scattered in the floor, because "Time is money". The Smurfs recognize them as money and even can tell their worth.
Shot in the Ass: In the comic book story "The Smurf Threat", Farmer receives an Arrowgram for Papa Smurf from the Grey Smurfs right in the behind.
Shower Scene: The comic book story "You Don't Smurf Progress" has Smurfette in a Shower Scene, though mostly blocked by the robot servants holding up a sheet for modesty. This doesn't stop Greedy from playing The Peeping Tom, hoping to see Smurfette naked, though the robot servants foil that attempt.
Show Within a Show: The Smurfs use a play in The Jewel Smurfer to frame not only a thief who's after the Duke of Abelagot's treasure, but also the duke's supposed friend who kidnapped his son.
Silly Reason for War: In Smurf Versus Smurf, a civil war erupts in the Smurf village over whether the word "smurf" should be used as an adjective (south end) or a verb (north end). This gets funnier in languages that allow for many composite words (e.g. Dutch and German) because now the war is about whether the proper term is "corksmurf" or "smurfscrew".
As a whole, this was parodying the language divide issues in Belgium.
Slipping a Mickey: Papa Smurf in the comic book story "The Smurfs And The Book That Tells Everything" was given a glass of smurfonade after he had collapsed and was brought back to the village, which was laced with a formula that the book gave to Lazy for curing insomnia. While he was asleep, his little Smurfs locked him inside his own house.
Smells Sexy: In the comic book story "The Wild Smurf", Wild briefly smells Smurfette and then suddenly has the hots for her.
Sticky Situation: Gargamel creates a treat that ends up trapping a Smurf that touches it, but as Gargamel runs over to where he has set the trap, he also gets stuck in the trap, and so do birds, a cow, and several other things on his way home. Papa Smurf makes a potion that frees everything that got stuck in the trap — everything, that is, except for Gargamel, whom Papa Smurf has no more potion for, but he does leave a recipe for the formula for Gargamel to make up.
Symbol Swearing: You might be surprised but it happened all the time in the original comics by Peyo. Yep, the comic overall was much less childlike than its Animated Adaptation.
Snappy Smurf cursed all the time.
It was even played with in one one-page gag story, where a random Smurf hits his foot with a hammer and begins Symbol Swearing up a storm until Papa Smurf tells him to wash his mouth out with soap. In the last panel, when the Smurf speaks again, his word balloon is completely clean, but now soap bubbles containing swear symbols are floating all around him.
Termite Trouble: The termites that saved the Smurf Village from King Trash and the mechanical robot servants turned against the Smurfs in "You Don't Smurf Progress" become the new problem in the village by the book's end.
That Cloud Looks Like: In a one-page gag, the characters look at the various cloud formations in the sky and are able to recognize what each of them resemble...except for the last, which takes on the form of continental Europe.
This Is No Time for Knitting: In "The Weather-Smurfing Machine", Papa Smurf, facing a Weather Control Machine gone amok, hastily makes a kite. The onlooking Smurfs comment that the old man is probably trying to cheer himself up in the dire situation, and proceed to hesitantly engage in some games themselves. Papa Smurf, meanwhile, uses the kite to bring down lightning and destroy the machine.
Trail of Bread Crumbs: In the comic book story "Bathing Smurfs", the Smurfs trick Gargamel into leaving his camping area near the Smurf Village by saying that his house is on fire, and then set up a bonfire behind the house to make it look like the house was on fire. Gargamel tries to one-up on the Smurfs by leaving a trail of cherries behind him so that he can find his way back to the camping spot, but on his return, he sees that a bear is scooping up the cherries and eating them.
We Are Not Going Through That Again: Played with: in the comic book story "The Astro Smurf", one of the Smurfs dreams of travelling to outer space in a spaceship he builds. Not wanting to disappoint him, Papa Smurf concocts a convoluted plan to drug him and make him thinks he's travelled to another planet populated by Smurflike humanoids called Swoofs. So convoluted, in fact, that when Astrosmurf "returns" (after drinking a similarly drugged beverage given to him by the Swoofs), he contemplates going back someday, only to be overridden by the rest of the village, who practically yell the trope name at him.
They do go through it again, though in the Animated Adaptation episode "Dreamy's Pen Pals".
We Want Our Jerk Back: In a comic book story, Papa Smurf plays a prank on Jokey Smurf in order to get him to stop playing his pranks on other Smurfs, only to find out that the other Smurfs are bored from the lack of his pranks, so he allows Jokey to play them once again.
Word Schmord: In the original English translation of the comic book story "King Smurf", Papa Smurf returns and sees his little Smurfs in the final battle with King Smurf ready to let him have it and stops the fight, asking what's going on. They turn and innocently ask if he's got the euphorbium that he left the village for, and he replies "euphorbium smurfphorbium".
In the Papercutz translation of "A Smurfing Party", a Smurf accompanying Brainy into the forest replies with "Smurf schmurf" and "Gargamel schmargamel".
Worthless Yellow Rocks: Miner Smurf dislikes gold, as he thinks it is a too soft metal to be of any use. Finance Smurf decides to take the gold to turn them into coins and create a money system. The gold coins ends up being melted and reforged into musical instruments at the story's end.
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