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Introduction
Day 1
Settle Down
Released: July 16, 2014 - January 6, 2016
Tropes:
- Ask a Stupid Question...: Alfred asks Caroline if there are rules immediately after she says she's going to explain the rules. She sarcastically responds that there are no rules, which he believes until she yells, "Of course there are rules!" The incident is brought up at least once in future days.
- Dumb Struck: Patrick Tempo utters a single question about teams, gets laughed at by most of the room, and never speaks on-screen again.
- Intro Dump: Pages 14 and 15 are dedicated to the contestants' introductions, in which they state their name, grade, school, and primary instrument.
- Orwellian Retcon: When Gretta's surname is changed, the one page that contains it is also changed.
Phase 1: Two Teams
Day 2
Class vs. Jazz
Released: January 13, 2016 - March 23, 2016
Challenge: Sight-reading ensembles
Up for voting: Team Classic
Day 3
I Got Rhythm
Released: April 7, 2016 - June 3, 2016
Eliminated: Patrick Tempo
Challenge: Rhythmic Dictation
Up for voting: Team Classic
Tropes
- Blush Sticker: Cassie gets one when Gretta catches her staring into space. She denies staring at anything in particular.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Cassie certainly wasn't staring at anything at all when she got a blush sticker. Cyrissa wasn't staring at anything either.
- Titled After the Song: This Day is titled after the song by George Gershwin.
Day 4
HisMusicStory
Released: August 18, 2016
Eliminated: Harry Boisen
Challenge: Music History Test
Up for voting: Team Jazz
Tropes:
- Art Shift: The first four pages were drawn by Fenori, the title page was digitally drawn, and the rest of the pages have digital lineart, compared to the rest of the traditionally inked comic.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Trudy asks if Vincent got eliminated, so Vincent gives her a "shut up" several times larger than the normal dialogue.
- Precision F-Strike: In a work where even Gosh Dang It to Heck! isn't used, Vincent's Big "SHUT UP!" stands out even more, emphasizing how exasperated the young teenager is with the cousin war.
Day 5
I Got Melody
Released: September 10, 2016 - January 25, 2017
Eliminated: Cassie Clara
Challenge: Melodic Dictation
Up for voting: Team Jazz
Tropes:
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Played for laughs. Caroline states that Cassie was eliminated because she's boring, her romance with Cedric is annoying, and she can play the saxophone.
- Clothing-Concealed Injury: Turie wears dark glasses after Trudy throws Vincent's wallet into his eye.
Day 6
Team Players
Released: February 18, 2017 - January 4, 2018
Eliminated: Trudy Pratte
Challenge: Basketball, Musical Painting
Up for voting: Gretta, Angelo, Paris, Corbin, Bessie, Braeden, Guilla, Cedric
- Bowdlerize: The Tumblr version cuts out the entirety of the spat between Vincent and Trudy.
- Flipping the Bird: Trudy shows Vincent a finger during their argument. The finger has a colored nail, and her middle fingernail is shown to be the only colored one. Context would have given away which finger she used regardless.
Day 7
Run, Run, Run!
Released: January 11, 2018 - May 8, 2018
Eliminated: Gretta Bashford
Challenge: Mile Run
Up for voting: Eliminated contestants (rejoin)
Tropes:
- Call-Back: Bessie and Corbin name their teams using Braeden and Troy's propositions from Day 1.
Phase 2: Three-Team Shuffle
Day 8
Released: May 16, 2018 - June 27, 2018
Power Tower
Rejoined: Cassie Clara
Challenge: Building a tower for a metronome
Up for voting: Troy, Corbin, Paris, Vincent, Connie
Day 9
Chem Is Try
Released: July 5, 2018 - August 2, 2018
Eliminated: Troy Bonsen
Challenge: Chemistry Demonstration
Up for voting: Claire, Flo, Connie, Paris, Vincent
Tropes:
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: Most of the contestants are glad to see Troy eliminated, so they join the elimination chant.
Day 10
SOL-MI-za-TIon
Released: August 2, 2018 - November 5, 2018
Eliminated: Vincent Linette
Challenge: Scales and Arpeggios
Up for voting: Angelo, Claire, Guilla, Cyrissa, Corbin
Tropes:
- Sudden Video-Game Moment: As Angelo convinces Marianna to come to the mid-season recital, a Choices interface pops up as she tries to refuse.
- Take That!: Marianna Cors sees every chance for an outing as a diamond choice and has to be convinced to watch the recital on Day 14.
Day 11
Perfect Pitching
Released: November 18, 2018 - January 14, 2019
Eliminated: Angelo Cors
Challenge: Tent pitching, Baseball pitching, Pitch matching, Sales pitching
Up for voting: Turie, Flo, Cedric, Alfred, Cyrissa
Tropes:
- Baseball Episode: Downplayed. Baseball is one of the day's four challenges and takes up about a fifth of the chapter.
- Brake Angrily: Implied when Alfred tells Cedric to drive after they get into a small argument on their drive home. There's no indication of how quickly Alfred stopped the car, but he recognizes that he's too angry to keep driving safely.
Day 12
Round Robin Reading
Released: January 26, 2019 - March 31, 2019
Eliminated: Turie Bassa
Challenge: Sight Reading
Up for voting: Braeden, Guilla, Cyrissa, Paris, Claire, Flo
Tropes:
- Alliterative Title: Round Robin Reading, the new title, is chosen for its alliterative appeal.
- Blunt "Yes": After Vincent brings up something Harry said, Carella questions whether Harry is trustworthy enough. Vincent is about to affirm it, but Carella refuses to hear it.
- Carella: You trust some random boy over me?Vincent: Y-Carella: You're making a spectacle.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Philyra calls herself a rebel for shifting the voting bias away from Alfred, joining her high school's symphonic band as a TA, joining her college's wind ensemble without telling her parents, and walking to a jazz club at night all alone. In the page description, she says she didn't tell her parents when her ear piercing was infected, which is going way too far.
- Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: Bessie clamps her hands over Claire's ears after Philyra talks about walking alone at night because she doesn't want Claire thinking so lowly of the buddy system.
- Cross-Referenced Titles: The former title, "Class v. Jazz Round", referenced Day 2's title, "Class vs. Jazz".
- Orwellian Retcon: A year and a half after its release, the episode was renamed. The titles of all the deviations and the title page itself were changed.
- Rule-Abiding Rebel: Philyra shows off her rebellious spirit by describing things she did that were well within her rights but against her parents' wishes and/or bad for her personal safety.
Day 13
Baton Pass
Released: April 27, 2019 - June 30, 2019
Eliminated: Claire Inez
Challenge: 100 meter relay, redecorating the band room
Up for voting: Eliminated contestants (rejoin)
Phase 3: Points
Day 14
88 Keys
Released: January 16, 2020 - January 24, 2020
Rejoined: Claire Inez
Challenge: Piano Recital
Voting subject: Piano pieces
Tropes:
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Played for drama this time around. Carella baits Alfred into trying to punch her so he would fall over, harasses Harry, belittles Vincent for wearing a transgender pride shirt, calls Trudy a r- (AAAAAAAH!!!), inappropriately brings up Braeden's deceased older sister, and calls Bessie fat.
- Bowdlerize: The Tumblr version cuts out a good chunk of Carella's actions, especially relating to Vincent.
- Sudden Video-Game Moment: The Choices interface returns when Cyrissa asks to exchange phone numbers with Marianna.
- You Are Fat: Carella's last action before getting kicked out is to mock Bessie for her size.
Day 15
Geometric Dances
Released: February 4, 2020 - April 2, 2020
Eliminated: Corbin Harmony
Challenge: Geometry Test
Voting subject: Geometric drawings
Tropes:
- Titled After the Song: This Day shares a title with the concert piece by Roger Cichy.
- Traumatic Haircut: Vincent suffers a nasty haircut from Carella and shuts down for the rest of the day.
Day 16
Cake at Stake
Released: April 9, 2020 - July 16, 2020
Eliminated: Paris Forte
Challenge: Cake decorating
Voting subject: Cakes
Tropes:
- Birthday Episode: For Alfred's 18th birthday, a group of contestants surprises him when he enters the band room. The challenge of the day is to decorate cakes, and Alfred blows some candles after the contest.
- Catch Phrase Interruptus: Philyra interrupts Caroline's "Practice Room" opening to deliver more votes. Caroline doesn't finish it, opting for BFDI's points "Cake at Stake" song instead.
Day 17
The Power of Three
Released: August 1, 2020 - September 29, 2020
Eliminated: Cedric Violon
Challenge: Trios
Voting subject: Trio pieces
Tropes:
- Blunt "Yes": Flo gives a non-verbal one after complaining about the sheet music having sharps. Braeden pulls out a version with a double-flat key signature. Before he can finish warning her about what a pain it would be to read, she snatches it out of his hands.
- Fully-Clothed Nudity: Cassie has a Naked Freak-Out when Cedric walks in on her while she's in her underwear... which consists of a padded tank top and shorts. The shorts are not much shorter than her typical outer layer. The top shows absolutely nothing since she is completely flat-chested, compared to Bessie, who wears a similar, lower-cut tank top as an outer layer in Day 11.
Day 18
Run, Run, Jump!
Released: November 1, 2020 - April 20, 2021
Eliminated: Flo Tempo
Challenge: Hurdles
Up for voting: Eliminated contestants (rejoin)
Tropes:
- Cross-Referenced Titles: With Day 7, "Run, Run, Run!"
- Exposed to the Elements: It's particularly cold this day, as many people are seen wearing thick coats. Cassie, however, is still wearing her typical shorts. Cedric asks her how she isn't freezing, so she points out that he isn't wearing a jacket.
- Throwing Down the Gauntlet: Connie throws her glove at Cyrissa's feet to challenge her to a duel.
- Wall of Blather: When Elise introduces herself, she goes into a bit more detail than anyone would care to hear. When Sally interrupts her, she slides over to cover the unimportant text before a typical reader could finish reading it.
Day 19
Impromptu
Released: May 22, 2021 - August 9, 2021
Rejoined: Paris Forte
Challenge: Jazz improvisation
Voting subject: Jazz solos
Tropes:
- April Fools' Day: While Day 18 was still in its voting period, a Day 19 page was released. In that page, Caroline and Tierney stated that they lost most of the audience votes and allowed Ellen Ottavi, a non-contestant, to rejoin. Like the previous April Fools comic, this one reuses old assets.
- Orwellian Retcon: Upon the arrival of the flute recordings, Guilla and Claire's solos were switched and they were redrawn playing their new instruments.
Phase 4: Immunity
Day 20
Instrument Shuffle
Released: September 11, 2021 - November 21, 2021
Eliminated: Cyrissa Bales
Challenge: Quartets with new instruments
Up for voting: Braeden, Bessie, Connie, Alfred
Tropes:
- Damned by Faint Praise: Samuel votes for the jazz piece because it has a "clear rhythm", and Philyra votes for the classical piece because it's "mostly in tune". Their expressions give away that they really didn't like the music that was performed by people who just learned how to play the instruments.
- Phonýmon: There is an in-universe franchise called "Diskaryote", which is a portmanteau of "disk" (the substitute for Pokéballs) and "eukaryote". Claire's favorite Diskaryote is the Starter Mon Soleike, a fire snake with violin features.
- Sudden Video-Game Moment: It's much briefer this time around, but Marianna gets a diamond choice to dodge the phone thief.
- Take That!:
- Claire quit the Diskaryote games because her favorite Starter Mon line was cut, a clear jab at Dexit.
- Marianna freezes up when attacked because she saw dodging as a diamond choice à la Witness: A Bodyguard Romance. The fact that she was inspired by the Bloodbound player character serves to highlight the disparity between older and newer books.
- Working with the Ex: It's revealed that Caroline and Samuel dated for three years but broke up before the events of SWAP.
Day 21
Picture Studies
Released: December 29, 2021 - April 22, 2022
Eliminated: Connie Basette
Challenge: Drawing
Up for voting: Braeden, Bessie, Alfred, Paris
Tropes:
- Call-Back: Connie winds up in another tiebreaker elimination like in Day 12, which Cedric remarks upon.
- Don't Try This at Home: The page description of Cyrissa and Connie's duel warns against using cymbals in an actual brawl. For all the magical attacks used in the scene, the cymbals could realistically cause serious injuries.
- If I Had a Nickel...: Cedric begins to tell Connie what would happen if she had a nickel for every time she was involved in a tiebreaker elimination. She cuts him off before he can finish it, but the description carries on.
- Shout-Out: Cedric's If I Had a Nickel... quote is a clear reference to Phineas and Ferb. Even though he gets cut off, Connie's quip about it being a meme makes it clear where he's going. The description finishes the quote.
- Titled After the Song: Titled after the concert piece "Picture Studies" by Adam Schoenberg.
Day 22
Double Time
Released: May 5, 2022 - July 6, 2022
Eliminated: Alfred Violon
Challenge: Duets with Day 20 instruments
Up for voting: Braeden, Cassie, Claire, Guilla
Day 23
Cast a Spell on You
Released: July 20, 2022 - September 26, 2022
Eliminated: Braeden Sound
Challenge: Spelling bee
Up for voting: Cassie, Claire, Guilla, Paris
Tropes:
- Bland-Name Product: The Phonýmon series "Diskaryote" has a Gacha Game called "Diskarya Champs", a play on Pokémon Masters.
- Spelling Bee: The competition of the day is a spelling bee centered around musical terms. The first two rounds are simple enough, but they become progressively more obscure until they are outright foreign. There are even some trick words like "automaton" (sounds like "otamatone") and contrapuntal (sounds like "contrapunto").
Day 24
Run, Climb, Jump!
Released: October 13, 2022 - February 1, 2023
Eliminated: Cassie Clara
Challenge: Obstacle course
Voting subject: Four-question survey
Tropes:
- All the Worlds Are a Stage: The challenge is to complete an obstacle course that harkens back to every previous challenge.
- Cliffhanger: Unlike in the past, the Day ends before the challenge does. All four contestants have reached the final stage but failed once. Philyra decides to do the survey right then and there.
Finale
Day 25
Showdown!
Released: February 4, 2023 - March 29, 2023
Eliminated: Paris Forte
Challenge: Solo festival
Tropes:
- One-Man Band: All three performers play at least three instruments; some are played at the same time while others are sustained by the floor organ. Bessie takes the cake by playing the piano with her hands, the floor organ with her left foot, the hi-hat with her right toes, and the kick drum with her right heel.
Finale
Finale
Released: May 2, 2023 - ongoing
Winner: Guilla Tarah
Tropes:
- Art Shift:
- Several characters are drawn as Miis leading into the dance sequence.
- Page 10 is primarily drawn with a calligraphy pen and no prior sketch lines.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Braeden asks Philyra about the bag of paints she's carrying. She mentions a drawing slump, which is the reason the author painted that page instead of drawing it.
- Madness Mantra: On page 10, Philyra repeats "Just keep drawing" 14 times while drawing with a calligraphy pen, representing just how this page was drawn.
- Medium-Shift Gag: Page 8 is painted on a canvas with acrylics as a way for the author to get over her drawing slump.
- Shout-Out:
- Patrick reads a book called "Sky" with a picture of a cat on the cover. Sky was the latest book in Warrior Cats at the analogous time period.
- Several characters are dressed in outfits from Tomodachi Life and dance to the "Musical" song. These characters are also drawn in Mii form.
- Stylistic Suck: The characters' proportions in page 10 are off because they weren't sketched out prior. It indicates Philyra's state of mind to "just keep drawing" rather than get hung up on the quality of her drawings.
