Yps was a German magazine for kids which published a number of syndicated comics (both American and Franco-Belgian ones) plus some homebrewed ones (see below). During the earlier years, they also brought articles about science and technics. The real reason the magazine became famous was a different one: The gimmick (not The Gimmick), some toy readers could build by themselves, or something similar.
- Yps & co: Four Funny Animals living together in a house: The mouse Kaspar, the frog Patsch, the canary Willy and the eponymous checkered kangaroo Yps. Not to the joy of their square neighbor Waldig. Each magazine contains a one-pager where they present the gimmick of the week.
- Yinni & Yan aka The Yps-Team: Four young journalists making TV reportages and getting involved in adventures and other hijinks. Consists of Yinni at the microphone, her boyfriend cameraman Yan, Yorick who's responsible for the sound, and their coworker Yack, who mostly stays in the studio.
- Gespenster GmbH ("ghosts inc."): A family of ghosts spooking on a castle. The realtor owning the castle wants to get rid of them, while the old gardener is at their side.
- Professor Ypsus: Ranging between Absent-Minded Professor and Mad Scientist. Then, there are also his colleagues Schwyps and Gryps.
- Bens Bande (Ben's gang): A group of four kids (and a raven) around Ben, who's really the son of a noble family, in a small German city.
- Mister Melone: A short Italian guy in Chicago and his big grandma versus the mafia.
- Gries, Gram & Grimm: Three grumpy old men in the Stone Age.
- Various historical comics, like Thomas der Trommler (a count's son during the Thirty Years' War is forced to join the army of general Tilly - who is responsible for the death of his parents).
Syndicated comics:
- Pif und Herkules (Pif le chien / Spiff and Hercules), from the French magazine Pif Gadget. Pif (a dog) and Herkules (a stray cat) are buddies who stay together even if they often have a fight.
- Piffi (Pifou), also from Pif Gadget. Piffi is a small dog living together with the bulldog Brutus, who is the Straight Man (and sometimes Butt-Monkey) in their short, gag-based strips.
- Robin Dubois, a Robin Hood parody
- Several adaptations of famous stories as comics, like Baron Münchhausen, Aladdin, Tom Sawyer, drawn by Chiqui
- Lucky Luke
- Asterix
- Iznogoud
- Marsupilami
- Animal Crackers (towards the beginning)
- Dennis the Menace (US) (towards the end)
- Garfield (towards the end)
Examples:
The magazine itself:
- Long Runner: Once a week (towards the end once in two weeks), for over 1250 numbers. Do the math.
- Only One Name: Everyone in Yps & co, AND in the Yps-Team.
- Seven-Year Rule: The articles about science, technics, history etc. Many gimmicks were also repeated, not that fans would mind.
Yps & co:
- Bungling Inventor: Kaspar, often.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Kaspar only wears long pants, including one big suspender. Patsch wears trunks for swimming and flippers (for swimming, you know)
- Stock Animal Diet: Kaspar likes cheese.
- Unmoving Plaid: Yps the kangaroo.
Yinni & Yan:
- Alphabetical Theme Naming: The Yps-Team
- Art Shift: The style especially of Yinni & Yan changed radically several times through the decades, as you can see here. Strangely, the artist stayed the same all the time.
- Big Eater: Yorick
- Blackface: When Idi Amok has Yinni and Yan arrested, Yorick and Yack disguise as Africans to liberate their colleagues.
- Blind Without 'Em: Yan
- Boomerang Comeback: When the Yps team went to Australia
- The Ditz: Yorick
- Fat Bastard: Idi Amok
- The fourth ranger: Yack, who often doesn't appear in the stories at all - he didn't fulfill a role necessary for character or story dynamics.
- Got Volunteered: Happens to a runt cop when a film team needs a policeman who gets knocked down by bank robbers. And then, the actors get mugged and their clothes stolen by real gangsters.
- The Klutz: Yorick
- Mean Boss: Herr Knüllmüller. More realistic than other examples - he's old, grumpy, constantly criticizes their work and doesn't make their life any easier, but doesn't resort to criminal means. Not that we know of.
- Motor Mouth: Yinni, occasionally
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Idi Amok reminds of Idi Amin (natch), but also of Bokassa (he wants to become emperor of his country).
- Outdated Outfit: Yan was still wearing huge 70s' style glasses in 2000.
- Shout-Out: In one story, a singer in cowgirl attire named Lucky Lucy appears.
- Stick 'em Up: Yan did this once with his camera, when the plane they were on was hijacked. It didn't work for more than a few seconds, though.
- Superstition Episode: Yack is very superstitious. And then, the day came when they had to take flight 1313 from gate 13 at 13:13 on a friday the thirteenth, where he got place 13, to top it off.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: A rare good example. To get rid of Idi Amok, they mix laxatives in his food.
- Third-Person Person: Yorick
- Translation: "Yes": When they meet African dictator Idi Amok.Idi Amok: "Guh!"Translator: "We, Idi Amok, the monocrat..."
- And later we see that he speaks perfect English - or German - anyway. Maybe he was talking gibberish.
- Traumatic Haircut: Happens to Yorick when he becomes a lama in Tibet (It Makes Sense in Context)
Gespenster Gmbh:
- Bedsheet Ghost:
- Meaningful Name: The realtor Wucher (=usury / extortion)
- Old Retainer: Grabegrün
- Only One Name: Gardener Grabegrün, realtor Wucher, and in fact all the ghosts.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: The ghost Ojammer is one from the Thirty Year War. It's Played for Laughs. "The Swedes are attacking!"
Piffi:
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Piffi wears a bowtie.
- Catchphrase: "glop-glop" for Piffi. Or "nix glop" if things don't run well.
- Furry Confusion: In one Piffi story, he is sent to school because Brutus is fed up with Piffi's catchphrase. A dog (four-legged and all) seeing this comments, Comically Missing the Point: "Good thing that I'm a dog!"
- Stand-In Portrait: Piffi does it once. Brutus feels pissed off having to look at Piffi's smug face and starts making faces at the pic. When Piffi returns the favor, Brutus is so shocked he goes KO.
Bens Bande:
- Big Eater: Saul, of the fat kind
- Clever Crows: Nathan
- Cool Old Guy: Butler Jean-Johann
- Perky Goth: Tim is the son of a coffin-maker and often helps with the work. That's why he always wears black. This was before there was a real Goth movement (especially in small German cities), but otherwise he fits.
- Quicksand Sucks: Saul thinks he fell into quicksand in one story, but it's just mud. And only hip-deep.
- Team Pet: Nathan the raven
- Theme Naming: Almost - Ben, Mirjam, Saul and Nathan are biblical names, and Tim (Timotheus?) is borderline.