Left to right: Jacob Linkletter, Bud Oven, Autumn Pingo, and Tiffany Et.
"Where cognitive dissonance thrives! Cute furry little animal children will lead us into chaos!"
Precocious is a webcomic by Christopher J. "Chrispy" Paulsen built around a rather large group of "superintelligent" children who live in two separate neighborhoods, who just happen to be canines and felines. The main characters are known for being completely insane in one way or another. Not very serious, but very funny, the comic is about those children/mad scientists in their everyday lives.Read it here.
Tropes:
Actual Pacifist: Max, overtly. Yvette, possibly as well, though she is so timid it's hard to know what's in her head. Ursula almost certainly will be.
Adults Are Useless: Both subverted and played straight. Many of the parents are at least as smart as their kids (with the exception of Kaitlyn Hu's mother).
Art Evolution: Compare Strip #1 to Strip #28. See a difference? Good. Now look at an even later strip, like #87. Big difference, eh?
An even more dramatic comparison is at the bottom of this page.
Recently regressing, at least in detail. In chronological order: eliminating color strips altogether; eliminating almost all backgrounds or inanimate objects; positioning all characters at the same depth (with few exceptions). Color is back, for now, thanks to a fan contributor.
However, now backgrounds seem not to be as much of an issue anymore, and there's even some varied perspective.
Ascended Extra: The other side of the class (a.k.a.: the cast of Copper Road).
And probably just the second-most visible of Tiffany's disorders, after her narcolepsy.
Author Avatar: In his FAQ, Chris states that Bud was originally "a cartoony avatar of myself." However, a more straight example would be Kaitlyn Hu, especially in the Copper Road strips.
Batman Gambit: "See?" A battle plan that depended on what the enemy was likely to do.
Card-Carrying Villain: Most of the children, but a special mention goes to Dionne, who even freely admits her selfishness and evil intentions in a debate for class president.
Cats Are Mean: Well, not particularly. Though it's probably no coincidence that the two nicest Gemstone kids are dogs (well, a dog and a wolf), while Dionne (said to have no soul) is a cheetah.
Five-Man Band: Most of the characters have atypical personalities for the roles they play, but nevertheless they fit into two parallel bands, one consisting primarily of Gemstone kids and the other of Copper Road kids:
The Sixth Ranger: Max/Xander note Yvette may be being moved into this role with Ursula replacing Xander
Which leaves Suzette, who stands alone. And for that, everyone is grateful.
Flanderization: Inverted (sort of). Most of the minor characters are introduced pre-Flanderized. Played straight, however, for Shii Ann Hu. Mentioned by trope name in the alt-text for strip 237.
For the Evulz: Dionne's impetus to do pretty much anything. Example. Not that the Gemstone Estates kids usually cite any other reason..
Funny Background Event: in the "The Protest" story, Tiffany is found in both the "down with Jacob" and the "Team Jacob" groups.
Furry Confusion: One of the many reasons Chrispy made all the characters either cats or dogs was to avert this.
The comments for 'Normal Clothes' raises this point; when Principal Blessure decides to dress up as Cruella DeVil it was theorized that in the Precocious world that the movie is about a woman who kidnaps children (of a specific race) in order to skin them and wear their pelts. In the real world, family movie; In a furry world, horror movie.
Generation Xerox: Autumn is fighting a losing battle not to become one.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: Bud and Tiff during Autumn's paranoid delusion about their museum trip. Tiffany again after consuming an entire pot of coffee.
Grounded Forever: The Sapphire Lake kids' antics usually get Autumn grounded for eternity, though after a few days or weeks they usually open to negotiations.
Noodle Incident: Whatever the Sapphire kids did preceding their hiding out at Kaitlyn's birthday party. One by one, supporting characters learned the details in tiny whispers indecipherable by the audience.
Almost all of the children's unseen escapades are treated as Noodle Incidents unless the joke or plot specifically requires otherwise, as well as wealth of Noodle Implements in play when their schemes have yet to come to fruition.
Subverted with Tiffany's aging. Strip 893 presents the accident that halted Tiff's aging as a Noodle Incident, but strip 896 provides an explanation.
Heck, there are so many Noodle Incidents in the comic that it's even addressed in the FAQ!
Question: Will we get to see what happened when _____?
Answer: Probably not. I think some things are funnier when you have to imagine what crazy stuff went down yourself!
One-Hour Work Week: Nobody remembers what Gene Et's job description is or what he's responsible for. He's literally paid to sit in an out-of-the-way office and play video games all day.
Only Sane Man: Kaitlyn. Her time spent observing the others has built up remarkable insight into the social dynamics of the class. She employs this to great effect starting in this strip. The ensuing conversation provides her with justified time in the spotlight.
The Pollyanna: Max and Ursula both, although Max isn't completely oblivious.
Max:[to Ursula] Not all of them are nice all the time.
Post-Kiss Catatonia: Vincent, after Autumn kisses him for returning her dossier binder. Not that she cares much about him - she just really wanted the binder back.
President Evil: Dionne makes a campaign platform out of promising to be one of these when running for class president.
"Those who support me will be exalted. Those who do not will be destroyed. The minority is irrelevant. They have no voice. I can and will take from them and give to the strong. It's majority rule!"
Running gags involving Autumn and her family include jokes about her family reproducing via cloning and library science.
In the more recent "internEt" mini-arc, Rule #4 (first introduced in this strip) has become a running gag and is regularly used in the comments section.
Word Of God: Chrispy typically replies to the comments people leave in the comments section of each strip's page and explains things when necessary. As well as occasionally on his blog
For example, he recently Jossed most of the potential invokedToy Ships.
0 reviews 