Oh dear lord, what have I gotten myself into?
Mountain Time is a very strange Stick-Figure Comic by Chris Combs. It consists mainly of non sequiturs, deriving much of its humour from such bizarre events as a man removing his heart and turning it into macaroni salad, a woman whose silverware keeps getting stolen by ghosts, and a salesman peddling hills as the latest new thing. The comic is often completely incomprehensible, but the author claims that it always has a symbolic meaning. He's probably making it up. We hope.
This comic provides examples of:
- The Alcoholic: Chimneyfoot drinks more than humanly possible, but then again, he isn't a human.
- Alien Geometries: Most notably in the Crypt.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Chimneyfoot. His character page even compares him to Rudolph.
- Anachronism Stew: Computers have flat-screen monitors, but all the televisions are tube (complete with rabbit ears). Interstellar travel is apparently such a trivial matter that any pair of idiots can go on a mission to an exoplanet, but everyone still uses rotary phones. Knights interact with cowboys interact with robots sophisticated enough to have emotions. At least one person still has a beeper.
- Artistic License – Biology: Used in-universe by two characters arguing nonsense pregnancy rules.
- Audience Participation: The author regularly responds to comments... in ways that make as much sense as the comic itself.
- Bilingual Bonus: TORTHOS, EMPEROR OF THE INFERNAL REALM OF IUCUNDUM PRATI. "Iucundum Prati" is slightly mangled Latin for Pleasant Meadows.
- The comic also contains fair amounts of French and Spanish.
- Bizarro Universe: By flipping the Mountain Time logo upside down, River Valley Time was born. Much unease followed.
- *Bleep*-dammit!: Censor bars over stick-figure nudity don't actually accomplish much.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Attorney, architect, doctor, cop, doctor cop, attornitect, lava puncher, etc.
- Break the Cutie: Agoraphobic Hamster has been ripped from his comfort zone, spooked in his own house, and killed multiple times.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Chimneyfoot is an unemployed, raging alcoholic, but he's also an extraordinar mathematician. The Great One collects hot dogs, but almost single-handedly keeps the world from ending.
- Captain Obvious: Raoul has a... condition.
- Catchphrase: Self Aware Dinosaur's "I'm a dinosaur!"
- It may not count as a catch phrase exactly, but Agoraphobic Hamster has "Eep!"
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: A very large percentage of the characters.
- Marvin even has a cloud on top of his head.
- Comically Missing the Point: Dr. Dee Mented can't quite figure out why she feels so sick.
- Dada Comics: To varying degrees. Here is a strong example.
- Did You Die?: three times.
- Drinking Game: A very easy game was described in the notes under this comic, the rules simply being: drink any time you're reading Mountain Time.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Agoraphobic Hamster, Archery Buoy, Pelican Cello, Surf Rat...
- Fate Worse than Death: Dave tricks someone into trapping himself in the five (but not fifth) dimension, where he faces a very long and cruel punishment.
- Fauxlosophic Narration: Any time the snailbear appears.
- Fourth-Wall Observer: Agoraphobic Hamster interacts with the narrator on a regular basis. Some of the other characters do as well, but not nearly as frequently.
- Finish Dialogue in Unison: Regarding what appears to be a faulty crime ring.
- Gargle Blaster: Drinking bearshine is sure to put you in a hallucinogenic blackout state and leave you with a fair bit of missing time.
- Greek Chorus: The penguins. They seem to know about, and comment on, everything going on in the strip, but they're almost never involved in the slightest.
- Grim Reaper: The Great One, god of death and hot dogs.
- Hammerspace: The onions' swords are larger than the onions themselves, but we never see them until they're drawn.
- Hurricane of Puns: Pillow Cop is good at causing them. He's soft, but not on crime. But that's just the cop side of him — his other side is really cool.
- Insistent Terminology: A submarine is a boat, not a ship. This comes up more than once.
- Konami Code: The Contra Waltz.
- Literal-Minded: The guy who isn't Dave in the very first comic, and many others.
- And then Dave here.
- Long List: Pelican Cello is apparently good at making them.
- Meat-O-Vision: Happens to George Washington in the 26th century.
- Mind Screw: Quite often, really, but especially here.
- This one also stands out.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: The lirus, the snailbear, Pelican Cello, Burrito Squid...
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Dave, who seems to have a new power every time he appears.
- Ninja: The onions. Yes, literally.
- Nonindicative Name: It doesn't have terribly much to do with mountains or time.
- Also, Joe's Pool Hall. It's not a hall, it doesn't have a pool table, and there's no one called Joe there.
- Joe's Pool Hall is located in the Mystic Woods, in which there are no trees.
- Non Sequitur, *Thud*: Beefsmoke 4: The Smokening gives us two in a row.Haywood: How is Mario fat? Dude runs everywhere and only eats mushrooms!
Marv: Italy is shaped like a boot. AND JAPAN, IF YOU LOOK AT IT RIGHT, ISN'T! - Not What It Looks Like: played straight, and then, um...
- One-Man Army: Adios Taco and Surf Rat have both resolved wars almost singlehandedly.
- Pokémon Speak: Soup-of-the-day Steve has a weird variant of this, where he can only say whatever the soup of the day is.
- Political Cartoon: Parodied in this comic, which touches on NAFTA, Quebecois sovereignty, and Church's Chicken.
- Planet of Steves: Or, more accurately, Universe of Pauls.
- Precision F-Strike: The comic has almost no swearing, but one recurring character is called Lenny the Fuck You Zebra.
- Previously on…: Parodied in this comic.
- Pull a Rabbit out of My Hat: Dave plays with this one now and then.
- Reality Is Out to Lunch: Reality only shows up for work a few hours a week. The sky is full of ham, settings change mid-conversation, and people suddenly discover they've recently robbed a bank.
- Reality Warper: Probably the best way to explain Dave's powers.
- Running Gag: Luther was right!
- Well, I'm not working in this coal mine any more.
- That really bends my sea lion.
- Shout-Out: There are many, but this one to MST3K is among the most notable.
- To say nothing of a surprisingly detailed Dalek in a stick figure comic.
- The Fly (1958) gets an absurd homage in this comic.
- Snap Back: Otherwise everyone would be dead, like, thrice. There was even a time when Helen Hunt killed more people than live on Earth. Traffic was still bad. Afterward, the world was no worse for the wear.
- Split Personality: Donna the Bears. Her personalities are all bears.
- Stealth Pun: David Tennant's chewing gum is scenery-flavoured.
- Surreal Humor: Basically the whole point. Heck, the comic's tagline is "surreal comics for real people."
- Standard Hero Reward: The White Knight's motivation for slaying the Dreadful Dragon is the hand of Princess Online Dating in marriage.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Frequently.
- The Magazine Rule: Are You Thinking About Cows?, Tumbleweed Enthusiast, I Don't Know Myself, and Toxic Landfill are all magazines available in the Mountain Time universe.
- Tin Tyrant: TORTHOS, EMPEROR OF THE INFERNAL REALM OF IUCUNDUM PRATI.
- Title Drop: No, it's Mountain Time.
- Totem Pole Trench: This strip features Bottom, a squat little...thing who was genetically engineered to be the lower half of one of these.
- Unsound Effect: Detach! Be affected by gravity!
- X Days Since: Being a supervillain.
- Verbal Tic: AAAAH! Troper! Burrito Squid has one.
- Waving Signs Around: Branching off from the the whole "John 3:16" idea.
- Word Salad Title: Comics tend to have titles like Immortality Through Unremarkable Yellow Stickers or Fascism's Belly Button.
- World of Weirdness
- Worst News Judgement Ever: A running gag.