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The three main characters.
"In one little corner of the universe, there's nothing more irritating than a misfile . . ."
A webcomic by Chris Hazelton, Misfile ( first page) is the story of two ordinary high school students whose lives are turned upside down by a Celestial filing accident and the pot-smoking angel who did it to them. Boy-racer Ash was turned into a girl, studious Emily lost the last two years of her life—including her admission to Harvard—and Rumisiel was exiled to Earth for his incompetence. Fortunately only Ash, Emily, and Rumisiel remember the universe as it was originally due to a side effect of the accident because if Rumisiel's superiors ever did find out about it they'd probably 'correct' the misfile by making it permanent.
Mixing street racing, girl bonding, and car tuning sessions with angels, supernatural weirdness and the trials and tribulations—from getting hit on by guys to bras—of a boy suddenly transformed a girl, Misfile defies simple categorization as the two heroines struggle to deal with the craziness that has taken over their lives, all while trying to get Rumisiel back into heaven so he can fix his mistake. Complications arise, of course, not the least of which is Rumisiel's perpetual slacker nature.
This webcomic provides examples of the following tropes:
- All There In The Manual - If you really want to understand how the Celestial Depository works and the effects of reversing the misfile, and find out just how Tempest has such a cool mountain racetrack you need to have read the "about" section on the website, read the Ask Ash column, and ordered the print books so you could read the liner notes.
- Almost Kiss - A few times, the first being here.
- Alternative Character Interpretation - Emily: Transparent Closet or Single Target Sexuality? Nothing in Canon contradicts either one.
- A Man Is Not A Virgin - Inverted; boy!Ash was a virgin and is thoroughly squicked to learn girl!Ash is not.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents - Ash's father Dr. Edward Upton is a gynecologist who never forgets a vulva (and isn't at all shy about talking about them) while her mom Marie is a former lingerie model who has appeared in her fair share of racy catalogs. Ash notes that trying on bras would be awkward enough even if there wasn't a large poster of her topless mother hanging in the fitting room.
- Animesque
- Archive Binge
- Art Evolution
- Attractive Bent Gender - In full effect, to Ash's constant chagrin. In her own words, "What I wouldn't have given to be a flat chested no-looker that no one noticed."
- Author Appeal - Amateur street racing in this case.
- Ax Crazy - Kamikaze Kate
- Brand X - "Beer" and "Cola"
- Broken Bird - Kamikaze Kate.
- Beware The Nice Ones - Vash and Rumisel, and ocassionally Emily.
- Bi The Way - Missi.
- Cannot Hold Their Liquor - While Rumi's liver could probably be used to sole and heel army boots by now, when Ash and Vash get sloshed it leads to the inevitable results.
- Cannot Tell A Lie - Vashiel
- Catapult Nightmare - Well, Catapult Sex Dream, actually.
- Cat Fight - Cassiel vs. Jenny, at the modeling event.
- Celestial Bureaucracy - The Celestial Filing Depository. Comes complete with corruption and errors.
- Cerebus Syndrome - The murder of several high ranking angels, including "two keyholders" has heralded in a steadily darkening plotline. That and Ash is more prone to depression of late and there's usually a fight going on between her, Emily, or Missi.
- Chekhov MIA - Ash's mom. Emily's dad could become one of these, but it hasn't happened yet. The other angels in Vash's old division also qualify.
- Chekhovs Gun - The Monster XR.
- Also, Emily's promise to give Ash a kiss in return for a perfect test score.
- Conflict Ball - Lately Emily's been picking fights left and right with everyone in sight.
- She's gotten much better.
- Cool Big Sis - Kamikaze Kate, after her Character Development
- Cool Car - Pick a car, any car.
- By far the coolest though, Ash's Monster XR is a four-wheel drive hybrid Merkur XR4Ti using the drivetrain components of a Merkur XR4X4 and Ford Sierra Cosworth RS, all powered by a Mustang 5.0 V8 HO engine. It's so good, it can keep up with a Jaguar XKR.
- Not to mention all the cool cars featured in the exceptionally good Misfile fanfic Misfiled Dreams. Many Porsches including a Carrera GT, a Plymouth Hemi Barracuda, a Z28 Camaro, a Lotus Elise, several Mercedes' and Jags . . . It's enough to make car lovers happy in the pants.
- Council Of Angels - The Celestial Filing Depository
- Cross Popping Veins
- Crouching Moron Hidden Badass - Rumisiel. Vashiel qualifies too, even if he isn't as much of an idiot.
- Crowning Moment Of Awesome - Rumi gets several of these.
- Daydream Surprise - This strip.
- Dead Little Sister - Angelica, Kate's older sister
- Die For Our Ship - Missi, who seems to wander in and out of being considered The Scrappy by some fans depending on whether she's still displaying her attraction to Ash in any given script.
- Different For Girls
- Disappeared Dad - Emily's father, got her mom knocked up and was never heard from again.
- Dude, She's Like, In A Coma! - Well, asleep. Emily kisses Ash.
- Education Mama - Ms. McArthur, to a T.
- Embarrassing Cover Up - Rumisiel proclaiming that he and Ash are dating. Further down the line, Ash realizes that this isn't actually such a bad thing, given that it helps keep guys from asking "her" out.
- Erudite Stoner - Whenever Rumisiel isn't unconscious, puking or whimpering, you can tell that he's Really An Ancient, Wise Angelic Being.
- Of course, he used to spend thirty percent of his time doing each of those.
- Ash has harangued him out of stoning and boozing, and now he spends more than half of his time whimpering. Progress is progress.
- He's godly at video games though.
- Everythings Better With Princesses - Lampshaded here.
- Evil Is Sexy - The Traditional evil conscience female uniform, Cassiel
- Expy - This is the cover of Issue 6 of Hazelton's first webcomic, Building 12. Guess which one's the female lead.
- Failure Is The Only Option
- Fan Service - And lots of it.
- Filler Strips - 25 fillers and over 1300 comics. Pretty good record. Fillers usually are for major holidays and 'Day of Remembrance' pages, but there have been extenuating real life issues (such as the artist's wife going into labor).
- First Girl Wins - Not exactly confirmed yet, but on track like a heat-seeking missile.
- Fountain Of Youth - Emily, though on a much smaller scale than usual.
- Fourth Wall Mail Slot - Email, in this case
- Genki Girl - Missi
- Gender Blender Name - One wonders what would have happened had this not been the case.
- Gender Bender - The premise of the series
- Good Angel Bad Angel
- Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today - Emily . . . well, she seems to be over it
- Have You Seen My God - God is entirely hands off as far as has been shown. He supposedly knowns about the misfile, but hasn't done anything about it.
- This might have something to do with the many good consequences of the misfile we've seen so far. Emily didn't die in a car crash, Angelica was exorcised, Bronwyn lost her spite voodoo before it killed Aiden, everyone but Ash seems happier, and Ash is talking to his/her mother. Not to mention that as a further consequence of that last one, the Monster XR has an engine. Alternatively, it results in Rumi and Vash being in Tempest to discover Raechiel's body, which is something Heaven really needs to know about.
- Heroic BSOD - Ash, after learning that Rumisiel wouldn't be allowed back into Heaven for 72 years. Complete with Shower Of Angst. She also has mini-BSOD's whenever she feels she's lost too much to the ongoing tide of Chickification.
- Homoerotic Dream - Ash has one about Emily while they were asleep in the same room. Emily figures it out, but she isn't bothered at all—she's had one about a friend of hers too. Not that it says anything about her.
- Honest John's Dealership - Played straight, but gleefully twisted when Ash turns the sleazebag's own game on him.
- Hot Dad - Subverted. Ash's father exhibits most of the traits, but his job as a gynecologist is a definite turn off.
- Hot Mom - Played straight. Ash's Mom is a former lingerie model (see Fan Service) and owns a big house on the beach.
- Idiot Ball - Although Rumisiel is the most frequent bearer, all three main characters have had their chance at carrying it.
- I Dont Know Mortal Kombat - Averted: Ash. Straight: Vashiel
- If It's You, It's Okay - Em/Ash, somehow. Either as the (possibly) het Em's one female love, or as the one person that Ash trusts enough to allow to see "her" getting all girly.
- I Have Boobs You Must Obey - Missi daydreams about doing this.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain - Cassiel
- Innocent Innuendo
- Leet Lingo - It shouldn't be a surprise that Missi has now used this, nor that Emily called her on it.
- Les Yay - Em is pretty clearly "Ashsexual" at this point.
- Luminescent Blush - Ash wears these often, but never so severely as here.
- Mandys Law Of Anime Gender Bending
- Man I Feel Like A Woman - Ash starts out this way but eventually gets over it, which only feeds her fears of assimilation.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl - Missi
- Master Of The Mixed Message - Emily
- Memetic Badass - Doris became popular on the forums after her first (and at the time of this writing, only) appearance.
- Moment Killer - Rumisiel, then Missi.
- Ms Fanservice - Though all the women take their turn, Missi and Cassiel have the highest percentage of their appearances being Fan Service.
- Not to mention that this is basically what Ash's mom used to do for a living.
- My God What Have I Done - Ash goes through a freakout after hitting a girl, which she sees as tantamount to surrendering "her" manhood.
- Names To Run Away From Really Fast - Kamikaze Kate.
- Nightmare Fuel - How the Celestial Depository works.
- No Periods Period - Averted, to Ash's unending torment.
- Nosebleed - Vashiel, whenever he comes into contact with "temptation". "Tissue. Tissue. Tissue." He required no fewer than 8 tissues when he learned what Dr. Upton did for a living.
- Not What It Looks Like - Subverted; it's exactly what it looks like.
- Oddly Visible Eyebrows
- Omake - Not much, though.
- Ooh Me Accents Slipping- the attempt to represent Harry's Welsh accent comes across as some kind of weird Sarf London . . . thing
- Open Minded Parent - Both of Ash's parents are amazingly accommodating towards what are, from their perspective, complete strangers, as well as their daughter's racing habit. Ash's dad knows that his wife left him because he was too controlling, and has resolved not to lose Ash the same way. Ash's mom, on the other hand, is just cool like that.
- Our Angels Are Different
- Our Ghosts Are Different - Kamikaze Kate's sister.
- Out Of Clothes Experience - Kate and Angelica
- Peek A Bangs - Ash. Not for any of the usual reasons listed on the trope page, she just wears it that way. Apparently he had the same style before the Gender Bender.
- Peek A Boo - Here, executed extremely close to the line with clever use of panel borders.
- Pettanko - Missi
- Please Keep Your Hat On - Subverted. Emily almost always wears a headband in order to hide her widow's peak, which she was teased about when she was younger. Ash, of course, tells her that she looks beautiful without it.
- Pointy Haired Boss - Rumisiel's bosses, at least as portrayed by a guy they fired for being a pot-smoking shiftless layabout who may just be an Unreliable Narrator.
- Pool Episode
- Power Perversion Potential - It's hinted that Rumisiel and Cassiel's former relationship fully explored this trope.
- Pronoun Trouble
- Porn Stash - Ash expects his to have disappeared due to the misfile, but it turns out to simply have changed from featuring women to featuring men.
- Psycho Ex Girlfriend - Cassiel.
- Rapunzel Hair - Kate.
- Really Seven Hundred Years Old - All the angels.
- Red Headed Hero - Ash, though it's more orange than red.
- Ret Gone - Ash and Emily's pre-Misfile identities.
- Ripple Effect Proof Memory - Ash and Emily and maybe angels.
- Rule 34 - Invoked by the forum members.
- Satan - He exists, and Cassiel is his niece, but he hasn't put in a personal appearance . . . yet.
- Selective Obliviousness - Ash's father displays a staggering amount considering that from his point of view his daughter's personality has changed overnight. It goes without saying that There Are No Therapists of course.
- Single Target Sexuality - One possible explanation of Emily's attraction to Ash. Hotly debated in the fandom.
- Emily and Ash thought Missi was a case of this when she was first introduced, but it would be impossible to verify if Missi would have liked Ash as a guy.
- Shipping - More than the Panama Canal handles per day. Often lampooned as actual shipping (of freight by sea) on the forums.
- Shower Of Angst - Ash, during a Heroic BSOD.
- Skinship Grope - Ash actually invites one from Emily and Emily actually complies, shocking both of them. Turns out Ash was only teasing.
- Spirited Competitor - Kate, while racing . . . in more ways than one.
- Spork - Emily resists the temptation to test Rumisiel's immortality with one in this strip.
- Strip Buffer - The forums are rife with speculation about the next day's comic, but that comic was completed a week earlier.
- The Atoner - Rumisiel, somewhat half-heartedly at first, but he has recently started to become more proactive in his role. Also Vashiel, for past misdeeds unknown to his little brother.
- The Beard - Rumi and later Ash, to Rumi's older brother
- The Mind Is A Plaything Of The Body - Largely averted, unless it's Ash's time of the month, but Ash's worst nightmare nonetheless.
- The Paolo - Missi
- The Scrappy - Missi, at first.
- Though she may slowly be becoming it again.
- The Slacker - Rumisiel, started out as a stoner but developed into a slacker. It speaks volumes about Rumisiel's character that this is an improvement.
- The Sweat Drop - Even Rumisiel's Tshirt gets one.
- The Stoner - Rumisiel, at first. Ash seems to have beat it out of him.
- This Is Something He's Got To Do Himself - Ash's race against Tom.
- Tomboy - Ash, though, of course, "she's" actually a guy. In a cruel twist, though, she is subject to an intentional in-story slow descent into Chickification. She is well aware of this and it worries her greatly.
- Tomboy And Girly Girl - Ash and Em.
- The Woobie - Rumisiel and Ash take turns; Emily, when she's fighting with her mother. Aiden to some.
- Transparent Closet - The other possible explanation for Emily's attraction to Ash. Emily's confusion on this point is a large part of the Unresolved Sexual Tension in the strip. Was running wheel to wheel with Single Target Sexuality but now appears to be pulling ahead. Also, Ash to anyone even slightly observant (Remember, they think she's always been a chick).
- Transsexual - Ash acts more like a real transgendered teenager than most Gender Bender webcomic protagonists. Emily even suggests gender reassignment surgery as an option at one point.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight- Rumi's and Vash's Unusual Ears
- Apparently they use some of their more subtle angel powers to accomplish this.
- Unwanted Harem - Gender Flipped with Ash.
- Vapor Wear - Angels apparently don't
approve of need brassieres.
- Wangst - Much of the comic finely treads the line, but so far it hasn't really stepped over.
- Webcomic Time - As of the date of editing, Misfile is a hair under five years, eight months old. Ash and Em, however, have only been dealing with Rumisiel's eponymous mistake for a little over six months.
- Weirdness Magnet - A lot of weird stuff just happens to all happen in a small town in Western Massachusetts.
- Having a couple angels around is hinted to draw all this to the top.
- When A Jerk Loves A Tsundere - Rumi and Ash appear to be this, but in reality he's The Beard.
- Why Didn't You Just Say So? - See here, and the following strip.
- Wouldn't Hit A Girl - Ash. Finally does, and has a freakout after doing so.
- Wrench Wench - Ash and Missi. Emily is a Wrench Wench in training. Kate's obsession with street racing implies that she's a Wrench Wench too, but Harry brags that he did all the work on her latest car himself.
- Yandere - Heather, for James.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair - When colored, Emily's hair is depicted as a dark blue. It's unknown whether this is a dye job, her natural color via a small tweak to reality (as in El Goonish Shive), or simply a bit of Artistic License.
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