Candi
is a slice-of-life webcomic created by Starline Hodge about a young woman in her freshman year of university. The plot focuses primarily on the personal lives of Candi and her fellow residents of an off-campus housing unit run by a foundation; every so often, though, her telepathic pet ferret, Menjou, is the focus of the story as he does battle with the Squirrel Mafia.
Tropes involved include:
- Animesque - The artwork is strongly influenced by the shoujo manga style.
- Author Avatar - Candi is a multi-racial art student, just like Starline Hodge.
- Can Not Spit It Out - Candi's life would probably much less complicated if she could tell Alex and Linda to go die in a fire.
- Clingy Jealous Girl - Candi's other arch-rival Rebecca. The mere mention of Candi's name is guaranteed to bring out the violent loon in her.
- Dogged Nice Guy - Rebecca's boyfriend Jon; the reason she hates Candi is that since she and Jon are friends, she fears that he'll cheat on her. This makes her look even more jealous because Word Of God is that Candi and Jon will never pair off.
- Eye Beams - looks like the ferret isn't the only one with powers....
- Evil Teacher - Candi's art teacher, Professor Fitzgibbons, who routinely gives her a lower-than-expected mark for turning out subpar (by which he means easily understandable) artwork.
- Life Embellished - College life, plus telepathic rodents.
- Narm - The chief source of drama in the strip is the recent break-up between Candi and her high-school boyfriend Alex; owing to the slow pace of the strip, we've spent at least two years watching the first few weeks of her adjusting to it and, since we get sidetracked by other business, will spend another two years until it's summer vacation and they can clear the air.
- Selective Obliviousness - Candi's ex, Alex, had to have it explained to him that his wanting to be friends with her while maintaining a relationship with her rival Linda was a bad idea. Even after having this spelled out, he thinks it'll work if Candi and Linda would just be reasonable.
- True Art Is Incomprehensible - The motto of Professor Fitzgibbons, who resents that Candi's art assignments are easily understood.
- Unfortunate Implications - Linda, whose scheming played a major role in breaking up Candi and Alex, is possibly one of the most selfish and manipulative characters in the stip. She is also the only major character drawn to look even remotely overweight...
- To be fair (ish?) it could be an attempt at femme fatale curves... Does that give it unfortunate implications, or just following a common trope?
- Weasel Mascot - Menjou, the telepathic ferret; the strip's B plot involves his ongoing battle with the campus squirrels.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair - Candi herself has pink hair while her rival Linda has dark blue hair.
- Yoko Oh No — Linda, to the rest of Candi's (and formerly hers as well) circle of friends.
