Webcomic / Close to Your Heart

Close to Your Heart is a Just Shapes & Beats fan webcomic series made by Afrothunder678.

Legend tells of a powerful artifact guarded in a temple by 4 knights of rhythm and light, who protect the artifact's main guardian. Cuda seeks to steal the artifact to gain the power to rule the world, but his rival Blixer beats him to it. Complicating matters further is that the legend is not all it's cracked up to be, and Blixer ends up taking the guardian, named Cube, along with the artifact.

As Cube learns about the outside world and Blixer conspires how to obtain the power of the artifact, the improbable happens as they develop a bond. But Cuda prepares a comeback, and the knights are determined to get their friend and the artifact back home. Hilarity ensues, as well as romance, lots of butt-kicking action and more.

The comic (as well as its mini-comics) can be read on Afrothunder's website here.

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Close to Your Heart provides examples of:

• Big Entrance: In contrast to Cuda who is sneaking towards the temple, Blixer makes his presence known by blaring into a horn. Cuda takes him out after the knights are alerted, and then Lycan suggests that they should have came up with a plan to beat Cuda rather than make an awesome introduction. Blixer scoffs it off, stating that "presentation is the key".
• Black Comedy Rape: In the past, when the artifact suddenly produces Cube out of nowhere, the knights are confused as to how that happened. Cider asks Cyan if he impregnated the artifact, with his suggested reasoning being that Cyan often spends his alone time with it. The other knights beat up Cider over the crude joke.
• The Blank: All four knights have zero facial features. Cider lampshades once that he takes a while to realise that he doesn't have eyes after he goes off to cry.
• Blatant Lies:
  • When Cube asks if the triangular object on her captor's fridge is the artifact, Blixer gives a delayed and drawn-out "Nooooo." Lycan explains that Blixer thought Cube couldn't reach it if it was somewhere high up.
  • A flashback sequence shows Cyan harboring feelings of uncertainty and low self-esteem regarding his duty as a knight, but he keeps saying that nothing is wrong to the other knights, who are aware that he's hiding something.
• The Big Guy:
  • Shamrock is the most top-heavy and muscular of the knights.
  • The older brother of the Grey Twins, Steel, is the largest of the recurring town members, even towering the fairly tall Blixer. He's more of a Gentle Giant, however.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: Subverted. As the legend illustrates, the 4 knights protect the artifact's main guardian, who appears mightier than all of them combined. In reality, she's meeker than any of them.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • Blixer acknowledges that keeping the artifact away from Cube even after he learns it's her Soul Jar is a jerk move, and looks at the viewers while remarking that he can hear the audience angrily commenting away.
    Blixer: Yeah I hear you guys typing in the comment section about me being rude to the guardian, but just shut up OK?
  • When Blixer tries to dodge the option of confessing his love to Cube, Lycan refuses to allow it, saying that he's been waiting for several pages already for them to hit it off.
    Lycan: I've waited for over 200 pages to see this ship sail and you are not ruining this because you're scared of your own feelings!
• Brick Joke: When Cube tells her name to Blixer, he says that he thought it'd be Bruce or Lee. A Flash Back to the distant past shows that when Cube first appears in the temple, Cider suggests Bruce or Lee as possible names for her.
• Bridal Carry: Blixer catches Cube as they fall down the collapsing temple and carries her at the back and legs. He's only trying to get the artifact in her clutches, however, and drops Cube after he grabs it from her.
• Buffy Speak: Blixer refers to the black chains of triangles that Cuda can control as "[Cuda's] snake things." Granted, Cuda does call them snakes.
• Chain of People: The top of Cuda's moving base slices through Blixer's mass of minions that he's riding on, but he's caught from his fall by Lycan, who's being held by other minions who are still in formation.
• Colorful Contrails: The knights can be seen from a distance by the colored trail of light they each leave behind as they fly.
• Creator Cameo: During Blixer's Travel Montage, Afrothunder herself appears in one of the panels, perplexed as to how her characters got in her room.
• Cross-Popping Veins: There are several instances where (usually white) floating vein-like crosses are visible above an angered character.
• Curse Cut Short:
  • When Blixer sees the eye of Cuda's moving base shoot an attack towards him, he exclaims, "Oh, s-!" right before it lands with a blast.
  • When Cuda finds out that Blixer beat him to the artifact, his chain of angry insults ends with "son of a b-", but then it cuts to Blixer saying he's itchy from swimming in the river earlier.
• Cyclops: Like their original designs from the game, the antagonists Blixer and Cuda only have one eye each. Cuda's younger brother, Rave, also has only one eye, but he's far less malicious.
• Dark Is Evil: The two who seek to steal the artifact are primarily black and pink, and Cuda's moving base is a completely black pyramid-shaped machine, which contrasts the white temple in the scenery.
• Eating Optional: Cube finds her first meal with Blixer and Lycan interesting, and then asks why they're putting the stuff in their mouths. Blixer is beyond puzzled to learn that Cube has never eaten before, with the line of "How are you not dead?" Lycan guesses that she's immortal.
• Electric Torture: Cuda has the four knights caught in his mechanical snakes. Cyan breaks free to strike him, but Cuda has him caught again, and makes his snakes electrocute him. Even Cuda wishes he didn't have to resort to such measures and is evidently shocked when he potentially kills Cyan by doing so.
• Energy Weapon: Cuda can control the top of his pyramid machine to float and shoot from its eye, such as a solid eye-shaped attack which makes a blast upon impact, and a giant laser that sets fire to the entire forest.
• Fan-Created Offspring: In-Universe: Lycan ships Blixer with Cube so much that he shows Blixer his drawings of what their kids would look like. They're all designs by other artists and their due credits are given here.
• Fingerless Hands: Blixer's minions only have floating circles for hands. Lycan lampshades his lack of fingers when he asks his boss to help him open a tub of ice cream.
  Lycan: Boss can you open this for me? Since you're like the only one here with fingers.
• First Time in the Sun: The morning after Cube tells Blixer that her knowledge on The Outside World is very limited, Blixer wakes her up to take her to a nice spot outside and watch her first sunrise.
  Blixer: Have you ever seen a sunrise before, Cube?
  Cube: No! I never have! It's beautiful!
• Floating Limbs:
  • Blixer's minions have a stack of floating pink spiked circles making up each of their bodies. The mini-comics imply that this wasn't always the case.
  • Downplayed for most of the characters, who lack necks as their heads float above their torsos, but their limbs are otherwise attached.
• Flowers of Romance: Lycan tells Blixer to get a rare glowing white flower from the top of a mountain to confess his feelings to Cube since he doesn't want to do so directly. He constantly questions himself as to whether she wants anything to do with him during the trip, but he makes it to the top. However, Cuda shows up to plant seeds of doubt in Blixer, resulting in him stepping on the flower instead of taking it.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Cyan has been questioning why he was chosen to protect the artifact when he sees himself as an incapable worthless shape. Flax helps him see his good qualities again once he finally opens up, and it's revealed that the other knights have been coping with their own doubts about their duty to conceal the fact.
• Humongous Mecha: The boat and the helicopter from the original game are giant mechs instead. The boat has arm cannons and the helicopter can summon two swords. When combined together with the help of the knights, they become an even bigger and more powerful mech to contend with.
• Insecure Protagonist, Arrogant Antagonist: The leader of the knights, Cyan, is hiding insecurities about his duty and whether he's truly up for the task of protecting the artifact. Cyan finds out his fellow knights are also coping to conceal their doubtful thoughts. The bad guys who wish to steal it from the knights are of varying egoism; Cuda can back up his badass boasts, while that's less of the case for Blixer, who's more pompous and impulsive.
• Lecherous Licking: Blixer licks the artifact after successfully obtaining it, and Cube is highly grossed out because the artifact is her life force and thus she can feel what it feels. Only after learning that does Blixer realise how awkward that was.
• Light Is Good: The knights of light and rhythm, as well as the guardian Cube, are all light-colored and live in a white temple where they protect the artifact from the wrong hands.
• Macguffin: The triangular artifact, said to behold great power to whoever possesses it. It is what Cuda and Blixer are after and what the heroes and guardian seek to protect.
• Macguffin Delivery Service: While Cuda takes around 8 years to locate the artifact, Blixer follows him right to it and beats him at stealing it. Reasonably, this angers Cuda to no end.
  Cuda: What! How did you figure out the artifact was here too!?
  Blixer: I didn't! I just waited while you did all the work, and then I followed you!
• Malevolent Masked Men: Cyan and Flax encounter a hostile trio of travellers in the forest consisting of two ninjas and one bounty hunter, all with eyes that look like they're glowing from the shadow of their masks. Instead of stating their purpose, they pull their weapons on the knights. Cyan and Flax beat them up and find a scared Heli and an incapacitated Boat hidden in the trespassers' wagon.
• Meaningful Background Event: As Blixer tells Lycan that he loves Cube, a trail of black triangles can be seen circling up a building pillar on Blixer's left. This is Cuda listening into their conversation.
• Myopic Architecture: The knights protect a powerful artifact in an isolated temple, but when they and the other defensive forces are distracted by Cuda, Blixer gets inside by pulling open the entrance (which takes some effort) and punching another door inwards. He even remarks that the security should be better.
  Blixer: So much for the security of this place! If they didn't want anyone to get in then they should-of (sic) had better protection!
• Named by the Adaptation: The game lacks official names for the characters, while this fan comic gives them names.
  • The four player shapes from the game's multiplayer mode are this comic's ensemble of knights, and the protagonist's blue square friend is now the guardian the knights protect. The light blue square is Cyan, the orange circle is Cider, the green pentagon is Shamrock, the yellow triangle is Flax, and the square friend is Cube.
  • The closest to an official name the game gives is "The Boss" for the main villain via filename. Here, although Lycan calls him Boss, his name is Blixer. Lycan himself is the corrupted flower from the "Lycanthropy" boss battle. The game's triangle enemy has a more major role in this comic and is named Cuda, after his boss level's song "Barracuda".
• "Open!" Says Me: Blixer approaches the temple door as the knights are busy fighting Cuda. He says, "Now how am I going to get through?..." before punching it, sending the door flying inside.
• Parting-Words Regret: After Cuda tells him that Cube is toying with him, Blixer returns the next morning to accusingly yell at Cube for lying, and she runs away with the artifact in her arms and tears in her eyes. Blixer immediately regrets what he said, but Cuda kidnaps her shortly afterwards.
• The Power of Love: Implied. Cube uses the energy from Blixer's heart to heal her and the artifact after both were damaged by Blixer taking a bite out of it. All it takes is for her to hug Blixer and tell him to open his heart to her. After Blixer's sincere apology, the part of her head that went missing after the bite is restored.
• Punny Name: Just as how Cuda is named from Noisestorm's "Barracuda", his younger brother Rave is named from another Noisestorm song, "Crab Rave".
• Relationship Sabotage: Cuda overhears Blixer confiding with Lycan about his feelings for the guardian, Cube. To split them up, he intercepts Blixer on his walk and gives him "relationship advice" that buys into his insecurity, saying that Cube is merely using Blixer to get away from her responsibilities. It works at getting Blixer to yell at Cube, leading her to run with the artifact and right into Cuda's clutches.
• Sad Clown: Cider is the jokester of the knights, but once they all confess that their duty as eternal knights is getting to them, he reveals that his (bad) jokes were his coping mechanism. As they disperse, he says that he's off to go cry in a bush (only to realise that he doesn't have eyes to cry with).
• Shipper on Deck: Lycan has a tendency of teasing Blixer towards intimacy with Cube, and watches in awe when they're together. As it turns out, he's been wanting Blixer to find a mate for ages, and is ecstatic when he finally realises his feelings for Cube. He even drew fanart of what their children would look like!
  Blixer: Here, I'll walk you to your room, Cube. Now don't be fooled by this kind gesture! You're still my prisoner!
  Lycan: Carry her bridal style!
  Blixer: Oh my god Lycan shut up!
• Shout-Out:
  • When Blixer's lying on the ground after getting blasted by Cuda, Lycan tries to help him get up, with the line that does it being "I'll never let go, Jack!". Blixer replies, "Eww! Gross! That movie was terrible!"
  • Blixer is ecstatic at having the artifact, or moreso that he beat Cuda to it. He yells out to the open, "Suck it, Cuda! I beat you! You pink Bill Cypher looking conehead!"
  • To prevent Cube from running off while he tries to navigate the cave pathways, Blixer gives a warning to Cube that's intentionally similar to the phone speech scene from Taken.
    Blixer: I'm just gonna sit you down right here. And you better not run! Because if you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money, but what I do have is skills. Skills that make it a nightmare for people like you! If you stay right here, like I told you to, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you do run, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you. [beat] Good luck.
  • Blixer asks for the guardian's name, and she replies that the knights call her Cube. Blixer says that he "thought it would be something like Bruce or Lee". In the past, Cider suggested Bruce or Lee as names for Cube when she first formed, with other suggestions being "Sad Boi" and other fan nicknames for the blue square character (who's unnamed in the game).
  • A meme by Mike Geno based off the comic makes its way into the actual comic... as a random illustration that Blixer chucks over his shoulder as garbage.
  • Cuda angrily calls Blixer a "Mike Wazowski-looking son of a bi-".
• Small, Secluded World: Played with. There used to be folks who visited the temple, but everyone migrated over time, so the knights were appointed to protect the artifact there for eternity. They've been isolated from outside contact for a long time as the temple is surrounded by forest. Coming across a hostile band of shapes once says to them that the world has changed with time and they must protect Cube and the artifact at all costs, even if that meant to stop telling stories of their past to Cube to try snuff out her curiosity.
• Smash Cut: Cuda angrily yells when he realises Blixer stole the artifact before he could, but it cuts off at "son of a bi-" before cutting to Blixer saying he's "-itchy."
  Cuda: That dull-witted, punk goth, pink, overbite, Mike Wazowski-looking SON OF A BI-!
  Blixer: -itchy! Maybe we should've changed into some bathing suits before we got in the water.
• Snakes Are Sinister: A variant. Part of Cuda's weapon arsenal are controllable swarms of snake-like formations made of black triangles. They can attack, constrict, hear for Cuda and even electrocute people in their grasps.
• Soul Jar: The artifact is Cube's life force. As she puts it, she and the artifact are one and the same. This explains why she keeps it so dearly, her extreme discomfort when Blixer licks the artifact, and why part of her head disappears when Blixer takes a bite out of it. After this revelation, Blixer regrets those actions.
• Speech-Bubbles Interruption: When Cuda questions the captured knights of the artifact's whereabouts, Cyan is perplexed that Cube is missing, while Cider yells over him that they will never tell, his orange speech bubble overlaying Cyan's blue one.
  Cyan: Huh? Wha-! Where is Cu-
  Cider: We are not telling you anything!
• Spikes of Villainy: Blixer is the more showy bad guy, and has spikes on his collar, wristbands, shoulder pads, boots, and handheld cannon.
• Tactical Withdrawal: Lycan suggests going after Cuda after the other minions can reform since it'd be tough for him to handle them and the knights at once, but Blixer instead tells him to retreat with the others. He explains that Cuda would be discouraged to proceed if he thinks they've turned back, so it'd be easier for Blixer to sneak into the temple to steal the artifact.
• Take Over the World: Cuda intends to use the artifact's power to become the most powerful ruler in all of the land, with further ambitions of being the new world order. Blixer and Lycan have the same goal to rule the world after getting the artifact's power, although for them it's to shape the world into their own image, and so that no one could boss them around ever again.
• Travel Montage: Blixer walks the whole way home from the temple while carrying Cube and the artifact. He walks through a forest, a desert, an ocean, and even the comic artist's room in a few panels, each one showing a scenery he passes by.
• Unusual Euphemism: In response to Cuda trying to get him to say where the artifact is, Flax yells to the other male triangle, "How about you go shove it up your perpendicular bisector!"
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: After Cyan tells Flax that he's been insecure since they were appointed as knights to protect the artifact for all time, Flax admits that the eternity aspect of their duty has been getting to him too, and that he copes by focusing on his friends' well being. Cider and Shamrock have also been coping with being immortal knights in their own ways.
• The Worm That Walks: Blixer's minions can move as one giant mass, sometimes appearing as one larger minion. This ability acts as convenient transport for Blixer.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Blixer tries to command Cube to give him the artifact by saying he would pummel her otherwise, but she still refuses. After a pause, Blixer facepalms and exclaims that this would be so much easier if the guardian was a guy. Since he won't leave without the artifact either way, he resorts to kidnapping her along with it.
• You Monster!: When Cuda sets fire to the entire forest outside the temple since "the artifact couldn't have gone far", Cyan cries out "You monster!" while flying towards him to attack, only to get caught in his metal constrictors again.

The mini-comics contain examples of:

• Action Girl: Discussed in "Knight's Career Day". When a girl in the crowd asks the knights if a woman can be a knight, the notion is laughed off by Shamrock because "Girls are too weak to be knights!", but the other 3 knights say there used to be a female knight that disguised herself as male and trained to become a warrior.
• Ass Shove: Heavily implied when Cuda returns the dildo that Blixer gave him as a present... while the latter is asleep, with his butt in the air, and Cuda holds the "gift" over his back while sporting a Glowing Eye Of Doom. The next panel cuts to Cuda's younger brother, no longer Innocent Inaccurate, asking "That wasn't a jellyfish at all was it?"
• Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: In "Knight's Career Day", Cyan asks the kids what it takes to be a knight. Among the answers are "bravery," "fashion,", "a sword," and "big booty b*tches." Cyan exclaims "Excuse me what?!?!" and the last kid backtracks and says "great power!"
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • "Blixer's Intervention" features the debut of Rave, Cuda's younger brother. Blixer points out that this is his first appearance in a mini-comic. Additionally, the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue also entails how the artist is at the time of the mini-comic, she continues making the main series since she now has a external drive.
  • Everyone in "Cube Force" mentions their awareness of being in an AU mini-comic (because why else would Blixer be a freaking cat?) and what they do and don't do in the main story. Cube also mentions wanting to "use all of our anime references."
• Chest Burster: Blixer's entire body save for his head is covered in cast for a joke. After he gets Cuda to ask what happened to him, Blixer replies, "I was out in space, when suddenly, out of nowhere-" and Lycan screams as he bursts out of the chest area of Blixer's body cast.
• Curse Cut Short: A visual example. In "Lycan Can't Sleep", Cuda scribbles on a sleeping Blixer's face. Some half-visible words on the side of his head say "Dor- Bit-", which in full is probably "Dorito Bitch".
• Disney Creatures of the Farce: Played with. What Lycan finds most admirable about fairytale princesses is how animals come and dance whenever they sing. After Blixer asks for Cuda's favor to help make Lycan's dream come true, Lycan (in a dress) sings while Cuda controls his snake to rise. Not only is he tone-deaf, Lycan exhausts himself singing that he gives up at being a princess and leaves in a huff.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: "Blixer's Intervention" is about the characters; Cube, Lycan, the knights and even Cuda (plus Rave), holding a meeting for Blixer as an intervention for his dorito-eating addiction. It's played out with them confessing that they feel Blixer's changed because of it and urging him to stop. He says he shall, and remains sober for 3 hours before relapsing.
• Face Doodling: After Cuda gets Lycan to fall asleep and carries him to bed, the last thing he does before leaving Blixer's base is doodle on his knocked-out rival's face, saying that he should be more accountable for his friend next time.
• Feigning Intelligence: In "Blixer and Lycan Get New Jobs", Blixer and Lycan try to get hired by appearing in formal attire to a town local and using office work terms, such as "liquidate salaries," "coordinate predecessors," and "distribute profitability" to seem smarter. It just ends up confusing Sam the fruit seller, who offers them labour work instead, which relieves Blixer.
• Gilligan Cut: "Blixer and Lycan Sign Up For Yoga Classes" has the titular two walking into a yoga centre to take up free classes. Blixer speaks as if he's going to say no, but the next panel cuts to the two of them holding yoga mats outside. Lycan is happy to be more involved in town, but Blixer belts out a Skyward Scream of anguish.
  Blixer: After careful consideration, we have decided... that we will NEVER under any circumstances EVER!!!...
  [cut to "Later..."]
  Lycan: This is going to be great, Boss! Now we have more reasons to visit Town Paradise and be more involved in the community!
  Blixer: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
• Hollywood Tone-Deaf: In "Lycan Wants To Be a Princess", Lycan wears a princess getup while Cuda controls a snake to rise as Lycan sings. However, his singing voice is so horrible that it makes Blixer and Cuda shudder. Lycan figures singing to be too hard anyway and gives up being a princess.
• Humongous-Headed Hammer: Cube's weapon in "Cube Force" is a hammer with a large head. The Surprisingly Realistic Outcome happens when she tries to use it... and it's too heavy to wield that it ends up falling over her back.
• Ignorance Is Bliss: Due to the mirror showing George what he used to look like before becoming a minion and getting an identity crisis as a result, he decides to stay away from mirrors.
  George: George is never going to look at another mirror again! ... After all, George is happy here!
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Downplayed in "Blixer and Lycan Get New Jobs", where Lycan says their new jobs in the Town Paradise would open a new chapter in their lives... then Blixer makes the bigger fourth-wall break of saying they'll have mini-comics taking place here.
  Lycan: I can tell that this is going to open a new chapter in our lives! Soon we'll make some memories in this town and tell people about our adventures here!
  Blixer: Or... you know we'll just probably have a bunch of mini comics that will take place here...
• Malevolent Masked Men: Subverted in "Cube Force". The Grey Twins play as the bad guys, but given their Nice Guy status, they are harmless villains, and their only change in appearance are added shoulder pieces and masks. Steel wears an eye mask while Ash wears a face mask, and their "devious plan" is... to hack into all devices in the world to spread joyful messages.
• The Mirror Shows Your True Self: In "Meet George the Minion", George gets uneasy every time he looks in a mirror for too long. Looking at it long enough makes George remember what he used to look like - a blue humanoid flower with a face instead of a pink, Floating Limbs creature with only eyes as facial features. The text changes from black to light blue along with the POV shift. Once George has snapped out of his identity crisis, he decides Ignorance Is Bliss and avoids mirrors.
• No-Sell: In "Lycan Can't Sleep", Blixer tries making a "sleeping potion" for Lycan to help him sleep. It knocks out Blixer in minutes, but it doesn't affect Lycan at all.
• Pet the Dog: "Lycan Can't Sleep" has Lycan asking for Cuda's help to get Lycan to sleep because Blixer knocked himself out trying. Cuda dries him from the rain, reads him a book to sleep, and even carries him back to his bed in Blixer's base. This mini-comic also reveals that Cuda has a younger brother named Rave who he keeps unaware of his world-dominating endeavours while still loving him dearly, promising that he'll return home someday.
• Pixellation: Mild pixellation is applied to the phallic gift that Cuda receives from Blixer. It doesn't do much to hide its shape.
• Real Men Hate Affection: Lycan tries to get Blixer to find a lover, but he doesn't want to because he thinks being in love makes others weaker and relationships restrict them to only do things with the other's approval, which he sees as a threat to his masculinity. On top of that, he just finds it gross and only fangirls enjoy that kind of mush. Lycan says that not all relationships are like that, but Blixer replies, "Agree to disagree." In the main comic, however, the real reason Blixer is so evasive of love is that he fears his lover will see him as a lost cause and abandon him like his previous loved ones did.
• Shout-Out: "Cyan's Mom" has Blixer singing the chorus of Fountains of Wayne's "Stacy's Mom", except "Stacy" is replaced with "Cyan" and he's singing in reference to Cube while holding her. Cyan beats him up for it.
  Cyan: Cube is not my mom and you're not allowed to do anything to her!!!
• Take That!: One of the drawings on the wall in "Knight's Career Day" is not a drawing of oneself like the others, but a sketch of the creator's OC yelling "The Howard the Duck movie sucked!"
• Talking Animal: "Blixer is a Freaking Cat" features a Blixer who has inexplicably become a talking cat, engaging in cat-like shenanigans while still able to talk. He vocalises his demands, even by screaming.
  Cuda: Oh my god! Can you at least meow like a normal cat!?
• Tempting Fate: Sam, pulling his wagon of fruit towards his store, is impressed with his progress and says that he could probably make a few trips with his current timing. Unfortunately, one of his wagon's wheels snaps over a pothole just after he says that, and his fruit baskets spill out.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: How do Blixer and Lycan get rid of the abomination that is Lycan's failed soup recipe? Shoot it with a cannon. BOOM!
• Third-Person Person: "Meet George the Minion" shows that Blixer's minions state their own name in a sentence of whatever task they're doing. Then it's defied when George looks in the mirror and sees who he used to be, questioning himself in first person until he's snapped out of it.
  George: This is George's reflection... but for some reason, George feels weird when looking at it... What is this?... What is George?... Who... Who am I? Who did I use to be? Is George really my name?
• Transformation Sequence: Cube gets a Magical Girl-style transformation when she notices the artifact glowing. She holds it up, yells "Artifact powers activate!" and floats while glowing into a new form. She even does a peace sign while striking a pose afterwards.
• Visual Pun: In "Blixer Gets His Palm Read", Cider offers to read Blixer's palm. He then keeps saying, "Oh. Oh! OH!" and Blixer asks him what it says. Cider replies, "Your palm says "O"." while pointing at the circle on the skin of Blixer's palm.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Parodied in "Blixer's Intervention". After successfully talking Blixer out of his Dorito addiction, the future of each character is described as such; Lycan lives his days as a fairytale princess and finds his Prince Charming, the knights start a band only to fail because they have no talent, Cuda and Rave become The Illuminati and form an empire, Blixer remains sober for 3 hours before relapsing, the Grey Twins are unaffected because Blixer didn't want them in this comic, and finally, Afrothunder resumes making the series because she now has an external hard drive for her computer.

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