Webcomic / Warrior U

Oh Harv, that's the least of your problems.

Warrior U is a humour/fantasy webcomic set in medieval times by deviantart's hot-choc chronicling the adventures of its effeminate main character Finn, an author-described "spoiled brat" who dreams of one day becoming a bard. Problem is, to qualify for this, he must survive a semester of warrior classes at his local university: "Warrior U". Luckily for him, Finn is joined by his "best friend" Harv, the most promising student in the class, who he relies on for protection as well as company.

The series revolves around these two, as well as many other likable/terrifying characters, including Finn's glamorous evil sorceress mother Leenan, Harv's bratty and drooling little brothers, the teaching staff and other students at Warrior U, and a psychopathic Unicorn with a taste for homicide and a liking for Finn...

Can be found here, or at the archive here.

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This comic provides examples of:

• Absurd Phobia: Finn has a phobia of horses.
• Affably Evil: Word of God is that Hevvin genuinely does want to be friends with Finn and Harv...but also wants to kill Finn, and sees no discrepancy between these two things because he's completely insane.
• Art Evolution: It's subtle, but over the course of the series a few things change, namely:
  • Harv grows stouter and his hair becomes more bushy,
  • Finn's hair becomes less curly and more feathered, and he adopts a more slouched, cat-like stance.
• Art Shift: During the "Cailburry Tales" arc, the drawing style changes whenever someone holds Finn's Mom's illusion staff.

• Beach Episode: A six-part 'arc' where Finn takes over the class and takes everyone to the beach. Everyone gets detention.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Subverted. Leenan is not nice or liked, and everyone knows it.
• Berserk Button: Finn and Harv's teacher when logic is used on him.
• Blush Stickers: Nearly omnipresent due to Generic Cuteness. Pretty much the only one ones who lack them are tough muscular men.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Harv's brother Rhodri
• Burn the Witch!: Played straight with Finn's Mom in author art and used for another reason with Finn and Harv in another one.
  • One arc features Hevvin framing Finn for murder and convincing the villagers to burn him at the stake.
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": The Camelopard
• Camp Straight: Finn, according to Word of God.

• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Harv. He tries to fight it but tends to give in in the end.
  • It's actually treated like a personal defect in-universe, with Harv at one point apologizing for his "bad habit".
    Finn: (after Harv is run over by a cart while rescuing a cat from the road) He's absent today...bad case of hero.
• Cliffhanger: Finn and Harv's duel with their teacher
• Clothing Damage: There was an entire storyline where Harv's clothes would for various reasons end up falling off piece by piece.
• Continuity Nod: The hole in Finn's stomach caused by Hevvin. Originally, hot-choc intended it to be a throw-away joke, but she then admitted that she couldn't draw him without it.

• Disappeared Dad: In a Question and Answer segment hot-choc did on deviantART it's implied that Leenan has no idea who Finn's father is.
• Disguised in Drag: Rhodri dresses and works as Emet for a day, which goes fairly smoothly until someone tries to propose to 'Emet'... and gets Rhodri instead.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Harv and Finn are late to class, so the teacher decides they should be put to death.
• Distressed Dude: Finn.
• The Ditz: Everybody has their moments, although Finn is the most prominent example.
  • Special mention should go to Hevvin, who at one point is all ready to kill Finn until Finn tells him he'll meet up with him later to get killed. Hevvin waits at the assigned location for the rest of the day and into the night.
• Drama Queen: Finn.
• The Faceless: Finn and Harv's classmates in all but the first issue.
  • Trevor and Cliff will never have their full bodies in a panel at any time, and their faces are never shown (the exception being during the tournament, though their faces are still not seen). Lampshaded in one strip where Finn is unable to remember their names:
    Harv: You've been in this class for months! How can you not know anyone's names?!
    Finn: I CAN'T EVEN SEE THEIR FACES!!

• Fanservice: Most of hot-choc's watchers are Yaoi Fan Girls so the Ambiguously Gay relationship between Finn and Harv plays up to this.

• Fetish: Hevvin has one for death in general.
• Free-Range Children: With psychotic characters like Hevvin roaming the land, they could maybe do with a little more supervision.

• Forced Transformation: Darren's dad has been turned into a frog.

• Guilt by Association Gag: Finn takes the class to the beach and Hevvin joins them. When they return, everyone gets detention. Even Hevvin.
  "Why am I here?! I don't even go to this school!"
• Hair Flip: Finn tries to copy Darren's hair flip... with poor results.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Harv and Finn, officially.
• Hide Your Gays: Harv/Finn and Hevvin/Finn. The artist supports both pairings but will continue to hint at them rather than make them canon. The author said before she's actually a bit scared to make it canon since she is afraid it will deter readers from her comic, but in all honesty would love to make it part of the comic.
• Idiot Hero: Both Finn and Harv sometimes qualify.
• Imagine Spotting: When Finn recalls the day he 'met' Hevvin, he apparently assumes Harv can see his memories.
  Finn: I was once a cute child with a sparkle in my eye, look at me! I'm adorable!
• I Was Told There Would Be Cake: Hevvin, here.
• Jerkass: Finn, sometimes. Though he probably does it unintentionally.
• Last of His Kind: Hevvin is the last unicorn (in England anyway). It's worth mentioning this is because he killed all the others...
• Late for School: Emet makes it a point to never be on time for class.
• Light Is Not Good: Unicorns are traditionally seen as sweet, gentle, and noble... This one, however, is clearly not.
• Limited Wardrobe: Makes sense for Harv, who's a poor peasant. Subverted in some side art.
• Literal-Minded: Hevvin.
• The Load: Downplayed with Finn during his and Harv's duel with their teacher: though Finn spends most of the duel screaming in terror behind Harv's back, he's the reason they win in the end.
• Naked People Are Funny: There are a few moments where characters are stripped down to the nude for comedy.
  • On the cover of the "Harv the Second" storyline, Harv is left naked in the background due to Hevvin stealing his clothes and wearing them himself.
  • In a one-off comic that's clearly meant to be a parody of The Emperor's New Clothes, the king exits his castle to show off the latest fashion trend, much to Finn's excitement. This being a parody of Emperor's New Clothes, the king shows up completely nude. The next day, Finn does the same, smarmily telling Harv that he simply follows the trends.

• Number of the Beast: In one strip, the headmaster announces the students they'll be referred to by number, and promises Finn to give him a number that suits his personality perfectly. He gets 666.
• Older Than They Look: Harv and Finn look slightly younger than 14, but not too much.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Hevvin's human form, considering his skin is white and his horn is still there. In one strip had a note on his horn which read "not a horn"
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Despite it being his dream, Finn is rarely seen doing anything to do with becoming a bard.
• Power Perversion Potential: Hevvin's ability to transform into a human.
• Really 700 Years Old: Hevvin is 170, which translates as 17 in his human form.

• Ship Sinking: Sort of; the author has revealed there will never be official Finn/Harv published in the comic, but she still ships them, so her side artworks make up for it.
• Ship Tease: Despite her officially stating within the comic they're only friends at this point, she really likes throwing her fans a bone now and then, since she herself is a fan of the pairing.
• Shout-Out: Hevvin is The Last Unicorn
  • Leenan is seen flipping 'channels' on her Crystal Ball, the shows she flips past are Ed, Edd n Eddy, The Fairly OddParents!, and Camp Lazlo, all of which are some of hot-choc's favorite shows.
  • Leenan also makes a few poisoned apples to get rid of the neighbors. The neighbors happen to be Snow White and her seven dwarfs.
  • The Headmaster tries to dress up to address his students. One of the options is Willy Wonka's purple suit.
    Headmaster: What do you think? Too candy factory?
• Slasher Smile: Hevvin in more ways than one!
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Emet goes to Warrior class disguised as a boy so she can actually get an education.
• Sweet on Polly Oliver: While Rhodri pretends to be Emet while she's out Emit's admirer Sheil tries to court him.

• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Finn's effeminate ways make Harv feel...odd.
• Teens Are Monsters: Word of God says that Hevvin is seventeen (in unicorn years), which is why his human disguise is a teenager.

• Villain with Good Publicity: Hevvin - Not because of anything he's done, but because of his species' reputation.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Finn and Harv. Harv considers him his best friend while disliking virtually everything about him.
• The Voiceless: The King and Princess speak such thick royalese that no one understands a word they say. Most people just play along and roll with it. The Princess is very profound in her gestures, and pictures in speech bubbles represent what she might be feeling or thinking at the time while the King only says the word 'Bu'.
• When I Was Your Age...: The Old Witches spout off lots of these to Leenan.
• Yes-Man: Finn and Harv's teacher to the Headmaster.

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