"Welcome to Lore, a world where a celestial centennial event creates new fairy tales.
This generation's selection is an especially unlucky group when a petty ink fairy decides to mess with the natural order of things."
This generation's selection is an especially unlucky group when a petty ink fairy decides to mess with the natural order of things."
Beanstalked
is a webcomic on ComicFurynote by RockyBloo (also the author of Glitter and Guilt).
Every one hundred years in the world of Lore, a random selection of individuals are "Bookmarked" by the gods, assigned roles from various classic fairy tales and fated to live them out. Since time immemorial this cycle has gone off without a hitch, but this generation's picks and their assigned fables have been severely tampered with, with far more at stake than a few averted happy endings.
Into this world comes Jack, Bookmarked wth the role of Jack and the Beanstalk, who sets out on an adventure with some new Bookmarked friends of his, on a quest to restore everybody's endings.
Tropes featured in Beanstalked include:
- Birthmark of Destiny: All Bookmarkeds have a mystical version: a heart-shaped vial bound to them them wreathed with a gold chain and locket, and with a fountain pen's nib at its base, which can only be seen by gods.
- Cold Iron: Azure has an "iron allergy", as Pinokuni puts it, which manifests as it completely negating her fairy magic.
- Colourful Theme Naming: Azure is the name of a shade of blue.
- Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: When Malt is barrelling through town in Chapter 1, a mother shields her child's eyes from the spectacle.Kid: Aw, c'mon! I wanna see!
- Deadpan Snarker: Pinokuni has a very dry wit, and is as willing to turn it against a Jerkass giant as to his own Fairy Godmother.
- Don't Fear the Reaper: Despite his job as The Grim Reaper of Lore and his skeletal appearance, Grimfather is a calm individual who views all of the living as his children.
- Downer Beginning: The comic begins with Jack's mother urging him to sell his beloved cow, Malt, out of no longer being able to afford to care for her.
- Giant Foot of Stomping: After Jack discovers the giant's house in the clouds in Chapter 2, he wonders aloud if anybody would be so kind as to lend him directions. Cue being squashed by a gigantic boot.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Jack frequently uses "flock" as a substitute for "fuck".
- I Never Told You My Name: In Chapter 1, Luna calls Jack by his name without having heard it from him first, which takes him aback. Later, she does this again with his full first and last names plus those of his parents.
- Meaningful Name: The name "Pinokuni" is made of two words for wood: pino, the Italian for "pine", and kuni, the Swahili for "firewood".
- Painting the Medium: Grimfather's speech bubbles have tan lettering and outlines with black backgrounds, contrasting against other folks' speech bubbles with white backgrounds and black lettering.
- Pointy Ears: Azure has pointed ears, to further distinguish her as a fairy.
- Prophecy Armor: People who're Bookmarked can only permanently die under very specific circumstances. If they don't croak by those means, then Grimfather wills them back to life.
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Grimfather wears a large beast's skull over his head, which Word of God says is the skull of the first creature to die in the world.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Azure can turn into a butterfly, and she mentions that that form's quicker and easier to fly in.
