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Tear Jerker / Loving Reaper

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  • Hear Me: The duckling's ghost desperately pleading for its mother to notice it after it gets run over. For that matter, the mother duck also looks sad upon realizing that one of her chicks are missing
  • Royal: The Reaper's encounter with the lion. Unlike other souls which seemed confused or at least accepted their fate, the lion is terrified and completely broken.
  • Friends?: Over the course of the comic, we see a dog go from a precocious, friendly puppy to an aggressive dog that sees every living thing (and the Reaper itself) as an enemy.
  • Opponents: Even though the Fox Cub is saved, the last panel reminds us that other small animals aren't as lucky.
  • Shut Up: The Budgie tells the Reaper that its name is Shut Up, because that is what everyone "called" it.
  • Henry: The captured killer whale's only friend is Henry, a poster with his picture on it. It is visibly distraught when the poster is taken down. The last panel makes this even worse, as he reveals he always knew that Henry was only a picture.
  • Unhatched: A mother swan's were smashed by teens throwing a brick leaving only one intact, driving away her mate in the attack and leaving just one egg that doesn't hatch. She dies of heartache curled up with the lone egg.
    • Made worse when you know that this one was based on actual news.
  • Forever: The Carolina Parakeet's reaction upon learning that its entire species is extinct.
  • Say Hello: After the owners friend calls the Hamster "Lame", he stops playing with it, much to the latter's confusion. The poor thing thinks that it's somehow his fault that his human won't interact with him anymore. Although there is a follow-up exclusive to Patreon and the published book that shows the Hamster still alive, saved by the owner's older brother, that notices the little hamster dying and calls out the boy.
  • Little Fish: A young man takes his dog to be euthanized, something he’s clearly dreading. The dog insists on taking his little toy fish, which his owner can’t bring himself to argue with. As the dog dies, his owner stays by his side and when the Reaper comes to collect, we get this exchange:
    Reaper: I am sorry you couldn’t take your fish with you.
    Dog: Oh I didn’t bring it for me! (cut to his owner sobbing as he holds the fish) I thought he might need it.
  • It Will Change:
    • The Reaper is called to a forest wherein he meets a grouping of owls, all but one of whom are ghosts. The one living one, having anticipated his arrival, asks him what happened to her flock, to which he reveals that the mice they had eaten were poisoned. The mother owl is horrified to realize that she fed the mice to her owlets and as they all jump into the Reaper’s arms, one of the ghostly owlets assures its mother that it will learn to fly when it grows up…
      Mother Owl: But… you will never grow up… And it’s all my fault.
    • The mother owl then asks the Reaper if the grief will ever go away. His response…
      Reaper: No. But it will change. It will feel like an open wound for a long time. There will always be a scar. But someday you’ll treat it as a reminder of your love.
  • Saved!: The fact that the puppy dies for the sake of Engineered Heroics is bad enough, but the real gut punch is the end… with the two guys who killed him being hailed on YouTube as “heroes” for “rescuing” him, no one in the comments knowing what really happened. Fortunately, the author then provides guidelines on how to spot a fake rescue and what to do if you suspect it.
  • In one comic, we have a little boy awakening as a ghost and realizing that he's dead. He understandably breaks down, lamenting that he didn't get to say goodbye to his parents. It gets better when the Reaper's little "Reaper Puppy" shows up to ease him into the transition to the afterlife, though.

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