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"The terrible Horsemen of the Apocalypse have reformed and sworn off their ancient ways. Now retired and leading peaceful lives in a small town of England, these ancient calamities eventually find their anonymity, as well as their very existence, threatened by the arrival of one nosy student journalist… and a child who could bring about the End of the World."

Apocalyptic Horseplay is a webtoon by French cartoonist Boredman, a Spin-Off set in the same universe as, and taking place after, his previous comic Undead Ed (with a few characters from there appearing here). Can be found here.

The series is completed, having come to an end on February 2020.


Apocalyptic Horseplay contains examples of following tropes:

  • All Animals Are Dogs: Apparently, even germs. However, we don't see them, so we don't know if they really act like dogs, or it it's just Pesty treating them like that. According to him, they don't want to ride in the car trunk as they want to see the road and they are cute. Germs even guard the house by night and Pesty needs to "call them back" off of intruders.
  • Animals Hate Him: Dogs, at least, don't like Lily very much at all, since she's The Antichrist, and she doesn't like them much either (though her reasoning is because it was the reason Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz couldn't join the wizard on his balloon ride as Toto jumped out of her hands chasing a cat and she had to go retrieve him just as the balloon was set to take off). Cats seem OK with her though, though it might just be because it's a witch's cat.
  • Anti-Anti-Christ: Lily ends up being this. She just had to realize her destiny was only a trapping of her own mind.
  • Anthropomorphic Personification: Of course, the four Horsemen. Just to make it explicit, Apocalyptic Horseplay goes with Pestilence, War, Famine and Death, unlike the heavily debated Horsemen of the White Horse, Red Horse, Black Horse and Pale Horse.
  • Asshole Victim: For his pranks, Marvin chooses a blunt, arrogant Hollywood Atheist and a dirty fat sexist.
  • Been There, Shaped History: The Horsemen were at least partially responsible for, among other things, the Black Death and both World Wars. They directly guided Heinrich Himmler. The Holocaust indirectly causes them to have a Heel Realization.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Pesty. Overall the nicest, most caring and most reformed of the Horsemen, but piss him off and he will show you that, despite his demeanor all the years of hiding, he's still a goddamn Horseman of the Apocalypse. And by the end, Word of God says that he's more dangerous than Warrace or Marvin, despite them both having gained massive powerups. Of course, by that point the "nice" aspect isn't nearly as easy to see, since he's reverted entirely to his old self.
  • Big Damn Kiss: Not really. Angela kissing Mot just quickly leaves both a bit confused. Their final kiss in the finale is a subversion as well where it has Angela saying that something about it doesn't feel right. It's Mot explaining that she's not in love with him, but rather she just simply loves him (platonically), that she needs to allow herself to be close with someone, and telling her he loves her that has Angela tearfully saying that now it feels right.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Heinrich Himmler appears in Chapter 4, and turns out to be Master Ozzam some 64 strips later. As Boredman himself puts it, "Some details about Himmler's life and career can be found in the footnotes for CH4. What, did you think I just randomly trying to educate you this whole time?"
  • Connected All Along: Angela's flatmate is the granddaughter of the witch from Undead Ed.
  • Darker and Edgier: Undead Ed was more a comedy adventure and never took itself too seriously. This series, while likewise having its moments of levity, is a lot more drama focused.
  • Death Seeker: Angela, subconsciously. That's why she was willing to help the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and that's why she could see Mot, as could the hopeless prisoner. Fortunately, however, unlike the prisoner, seeing the Horsemen gave Angela hope in being able to change and find a purpose.
  • Do Not Call Me "Paul": Mot does not like being called "Death" these days.
  • Don't Fear the Reaper: Mot, the personification of death looks a bit like a typical grandpa, maybe with a little bony knee. He's also the nicest, most composed of the Horsemen, and the one who convinced them to settle down instead of bringing constant chaos to earth. His appearance is somehow close to Discworld Death, with his heavy way of speaking, kindness to humans and lack of understanding them in the same time. He subscribed to police magazines out of sympathy to the cop he ended up scaring when he went to his door to advertise subscriptions and had to hear Mot unintentionally narrate the violent history of his gun and its previous user. He doesn't like the name "Death" and doesn't act as it. Until you know to much. Then you better watch out. (Though if Wallace is to be believed, he was bluffing.)
  • Dumbass Has a Point: Bellsing noticed something was off about Master Ozzam and realized his records made him out to be over a hundred years old. That's because Ozzam's life is being extended by Babel.
  • Eating Optional: Marvin likes to hang out in a pub enjoying some pie. When Mot states that he doesn't need to eat, his answer is that he likes to. He's the only one of Four doing that, likely due to him being the personification of hunger.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: In a surprising act of sincerity, when Lily asks Lucy if her father really loved her. Lucy states that he indeed does as if there's one thing Heaven and Hell agree on, is that love is an emotion they both share.
  • Evil All Along: Master Ozzam's no nice old priest being overly trusting of his lonely protege Babel. He's Heinrich Himmler, and knew she was a witch extending his life all along, which he wanted.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Babel doesn't take well to realizing Ozzam-sorry, Heinrich Himmler, was just using her to hope to redeem himself.
  • God Was My Co-Pilot: Episode 39 of Chapter 7 reveals that the hopeless prisoner, the bum that took Angela to the Horsemen's residence, and Father Matthew were all people through which God provided guidance to Mot, Angela and Bellsing.
  • Happily Adopted: Lily by Angela and Betty by the end of the story (though they admit it was a headache to get the papers since Lily was born in Spain and both aren't fluent in Spanish).
  • Happily Married: Bellsing and Babel by the epilogue of the comic. Amusingly lampshaded by Lily who thinks Bellsing is too old for her until she's reminded Babel is a witch and her magic slows her aging, so she's actually just as old.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Just decades ago, the Four Horsemen's goal was the end of the world, but they changed their mind for (initially) unknown reasons and are already retired.
  • Heel Realization: The reason the Horsemen abandoned their goals of causing the Apocalypse? They had believed that they were God's instruments, cleansing the Earth and sending humanity to its final judgment, but near the end of WWII, they encountered an orphan gypsy girl from a concentration camp who could see them all. When she saw Mot, she asked him why he hadn't come for her. Mot saw that it wasn't her time and warned her that wishing for her own demise would stain her soul, but she said that she'd lost all will to live and all hope to be saved. When Mot asked if she had any faith, she said that she didn't anymore, that "no god would have wanted this". That's when the Horsemen realized that they were only following their own will, not God's and that they weren't carrying out his plan and bringing Salvation to the worthy, but were instead stripping them of hope. For Mot it involved her asking him what would happen when even death dies.
    • Heinrich Himmler also realized he was totally going to sent straight to Hell for his death, but he's more of a Falsely Reformed Villain by becoming Ozzam and letting Babel extend his life unnaturally solely to hope to redeem himself and avoid his justly-deserved punishment.
  • He Knows Too Much: Angela, very quickly. But thanks to luck rather than a superior journalist method.
  • Historical Domain Character: Master Ozzam, who was once Heinrich Himmler. His life is being extended by Babel, which he accepts in the hopes of doing a sufficiently good deed to redeem himself of the whole being Heinrich Himmler and very responsible for The Holocaust things.
  • Hollywood Atheist: Randy, a side character from the opening. He is rude, slacks off, forced to participate in bible study as part of rehabilitation for some misdeeds. He's clearly doing great for an acceptable target for Marvin's pranks.
  • Hope Crusher: The realization that they had become this played a significant part om the Horsemen's Heel Realization.
  • Hope Springs Eternal: What the Horsemen hoped to do by making Good Readings. And it turns out finding them gave Angela faith in change as well.
  • Horsemen of the Apocalypse: They are the main characters, but Hell no longer follows with them, for they are retired. Having had a change of heart and sworn off their destructive ways, they are now settled in a small town where they live in anonymity. They now also go by Pesty (Pestilence), Warrace (War), Marvin (Famine) and Mot (Death).
  • Humanoid Abomination: The Husher. It seems incapable of speech, has some kind of destructive power, survived Pesty rotting it away, and has some skill at Stealth Hi/Bye.
    • Justified in that he is revealed to be Oblivion, Mot's horse, to whom he bestowed all of his powers, not trusting himself with them.
  • I Just Want to Have Friends: Lily. She never really wanted to end the world, she was just alone, unloved and hoped fulfilling her "destiny" would bring her to her father.
  • Immortals Fear Death: Death turned from his goal of bringing about the Apocalypse after the dying orphan girl asked what happens when even Death dies.
  • Intrepid Reporter: Angela, the protagonist. It helps that she's apparently left school prematurely and refuses to consider returning, probably hoping to prove herself on her own with some big story. So intrepid in fact, she may be more suicidal.
  • Invisible to Normals: Save for Mot, one can normally only see the Horsemen if they've been influenced by them somehow, directly or in essence. For example, Bellsing being able to see Pesty because he got sick. Angela can see them all for some reason. It's because she subconsciously wants to die. Mot could apparently do this in the past, as evident with a photo.
  • Meaningful Name: Angela is a fitting name for a protagonist who helps the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse realize they don't have to do that whole Apocalypse thing. The Antichrist is named Lily after the flower, which is fairly close to Lilith. Lilies are also associated with Mary, and their association with purity reflects Mot's plan to turn Lily into an Anti-Anti-Christ.
  • Mercy Kill: The Horsemen granted one to the hopeless prisoner they met. Tellingly, all of the other prisoners due to be executed that day were spared.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: Bellsing and Babel realize that neither of them felt like the other approached the other as an equal while both felt the other was above themselves (Babel running her own order, Bellsing always managing to stay in the Council despite being... Bellsing) as they yell their grievances toward each other, ending in "YOU NEVER GAVE ME A CHANCE!"
  • Not Brainwashed: Sort of. While Lily did mesmerize Betty into loving her, after Lily stops it and apologizes to Betty, Betty makes it clear that she loves and cared for her still.
  • Number of the Beast: A virgin birth apparently happened on June 6, 2006 (06/06/06), to a 6-year-old mother that died in childbirth. Bellsing thinks these numbers are indicating the child is a Gemini, while the obvious inference is the child may be The Antichrist.
  • Painting the Medium: Mot's speech bubbles are black with white words surrounded by a grey border. His fellow Horsemen have the same white-with-black-words speech bubbles as everyone else. It seems that particularly special supernatural characters get this. God's are green.
  • Purpose-Driven Immortality: Mot understandably fears Oblivion, as he must be the only thing beyond Death itself. Fortunately, though, it turns out that Mot's existence is linked to humanity just as their mortality is linked to him, and so his existence is beyond Oblivion.
  • Samus Is a Girl: The Antichrist turns out to be female. Apparently, Satan was messing with everyone (or playing the pronoun game, as Lucy puts it).
  • Screw Destiny: Mot avoids his supposed destiny in bringing about the Apocalypse. The Devil himself, however, claims that it is inevitable.
    • Turns out this is God's plan all along, to show the Horsemen (and by extension Lily) that destiny and prophecies are utter bunk. At the end of the day, it's your free will, you choose how you live and act and must not let others decide for you.
  • Seethru Specs: Pesty’s eyes are used to make a pair of goggles that do this. (Don't worry. He has spares.)
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Mot only started to try and bring about the End of Days and seeking out the other Horsemen after he learned about the Book of Revelations.
  • She's All Grown Up: In the epilogue of the story, Von Bellsing and Babel come to visit Angela and Betty who're still living together with Lily, who by this point is now a teenager.
  • Shapeshifting: The Horsemen's horses. In a Q&A, the author stated that they have evolved themselves and can now take humanoid forms.
  • Talking the Monster to Death: Angela manages to halt the apocalypse simply by telling Lily that she doesn't have to be evil, she has a choice in the matter regardless of being the Anti-Christ and pretty much proven before she can be herself if she wishes. Lily agrees and cancels Armageddon.
  • Term Of Endangerment: Lucifer calls Mot "darling", "sweetheart", and "baby" as he tells him into his path of starting the Apocalypse is inevitable.
  • Time Skip: The epilogue takes place about 4 years after the events of the comic.
  • Tired of Running: Talking to Angela made Mot realized he never stopped fearing his compatriots could not change from their past, and so he resolved to face his fears and thus Oblivion. Who then vaporizes him. Don't worry, it turns out Death and humanity are linked together and so Mot was promptly brought back.
  • Too Broken to Break: Pesty states that his heart's already broken so many times over that he has no more fear of pain. However, when immobilized by Mot's ghost army he starts begging Mot not to hurt Lily, stating that he "can't lose her too."
  • Truth in Television: "War Offering" states some conclusions of war from modern research: Despite battle's horror and infamy, far more people are killed by disease and starvation brought on by war rather than its actual combat.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Babel is this two-fold: 1) She is a witch without knowing, having been manipulated by Hellish forces through her faith in preparation for her role in the Apocalypse. 2) She has been used by her master Ozzam/Himmler to extend his life for long enough that he may find a way to redeem himself.
  • Villainous Glutton: Hunger.
  • "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: A four-part epilogue followed from the ending of the story, detailing where most of the cast is.
    • Von Bellsing and Babel are married, though stated the council was disavowed by the Catholic Church after Ozzam's deception was revealed. The pair revealed they made their own council but rather than hunt, they harbor any non-malicious supernaturals with a few of the former council members.
    • Angela, Betty, and Lily still live together in Betty's grandmother's house which is a secluded location to prevent any hunters from coming after Lily after the events of the comic (in fact the reason Bellsing and Babel visit them is to just make sure they're okay). Lily is officially adopted by Betty and they still keep in contact with the Horsemen through letters but never personally see them anymore. Instead, documenting their findings on Angela's news website.
    • And for the Horsemen themselves, they all went their separate ways: Warrace went West and was there during the "Black Lives Matter" protests, though makes sure mankind doesn't go too far in their hatred and keep a clear focus what they're fighting for. Marvin went South to third world countries to remind himself of those less fortunate for food. Pesty went East, going quiet until the present time of the story where he caused the COVID 19 pandemic. The other characters aren't sure why he did it but surmise it was so Fever can be brought back into the world, and the two are shown living together. And finally, Mot went North, away from civilization. While he hasn't given up on humanity, he figures it's better he spends time away from them, only coming among them when he needs to. We see Oblivion and him living together in a cabin. The final scene is him putting up a sign with the Latin phrase "Dum Vivio Spero" note .


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