Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures is a light-hearted AnimesqueFurry Comic originally based on characters on an early MMO (Furcadia) of which the author, Amber M. Williams, was a regular member.It has a consistently comical tone and the manual has a detailed Back Story. Check it out.
Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures provides examples of:
Fa'Lina, to the point that some wonder if she's even evil at all. Although, evil or not, Fa'Lina is an utter bitch sometimes. And kidnapping someone "for their own good" is still kidnapping. (Technically she is a complete bitch all the time. Since she's, you know, a poodle.)
All Crimes Are Equal: Albanion is well known for handing out Fae curses at the most minute perceived slight towards Queen Nutmeg. Refusing a hug (even if the spear in her chest would have killed you for accepting), running out of Nutmeg's favorite cookies, sneezing in her general direction... of course, this is pretty much par for the course for his Cloud Cuckoo Lander race.
That being said, in at least one of those cases the "curse" was actually a blessing in disguise, as it is actually a mark that the bearer has been singled out for revenge by a Fae. Given the immense power of that race, most other creatures won't attack a being who has been marked in such a way as it could anger the Fae in question, and it is mentioned that many beings die of old age prior to the Fae ever taking revenge... Of course, the latter point also suggests that, perhaps, Fae may often do this for exactly this reason. Albanion apparently "cursed" Jyrras on Mab's behest to protect him.
Arranged Marriage: Wildy has one set up for a certain age and her father has so far found five possible candidate husbands which she finds acceptable. When Dan points out how weird this sounds to him, she replies that not having your marriage arranged sounds weird, backwards and impractical to her.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Kria's hobbies are "chaos, destruction, hiking" while Regina's are "mayhem, murder, jewelery-making".
Art Evolution: Just look at the first comic and the last comic- you could never tell they were the same artist!
Lampshaded after Dan has become an adult cubi: he is shown a photo album picture of an old strip to demonstrate that yes, his powers have made him sexier.
Asexual: Abel, he claims that he doesn't think he is gay, or straight, or bi, or whatever recent slang he hasn't bothered to memorize. And that the closest thing he has to an orientation is "not interested".
Badass Normal: Dan, back during his adventuring days. Inferred, from his being called out of retirement, vanquishing Dark Pegasus, and because Regina fears to face him without a weapon in hand. The "Normal" part is arguable, though. Normal for the setting, at least.
Back from the Dead: Dark Pegasus. Thrice prior to the series, then a fourth time that Dan tries (and fails) to stop after killing him for the third time.
Bag of Holding: Matilda has a belt designed to sneak food into movie theaters that can hold a whole lot of stuff. Matilda sells these kinds of things for a living. Mab originally went to her store to find one to LIVE IN. The sword she gave Dan as a gift during that visit also has one in it.
Mab Can Breathe In Space: Just don't point out that she should need a space suit, she hates nitpicking.
Lorenda Soulstealer, at least early in the series, where she actually does eat people on occasion.
Kria Soulstealer... though, after about the 900th comic, when she stops being so actively depicted as a literal maneater, she's still not exactly "nice" so much as "Affably Evil".
Jyrras always showed some shades of this, but it comes out in a big way when he pulls out a semiautomatic he'd designed and delivers an ultimatum to some adventurers threatening Abel and Alexsi.
Demons and Fae, at least, amongst the Creatures, both have this going on. Fae are, well, they're The Fair Folk. Demons believe strongly in Social Darwinism and thusly not only are fine with eating anyone too weak to keep them from doing so, are stated to generally not have a concept of "revenge" on the individual level. By their viewpoint, any Demon weak enough to be killed by another race deserved to be killed.
When Kria sees Dan trying to kill her niece Regina, she does nothing to stop him and laments that if she'd only been younger, Dan would have sworn to kill her instead.
Aaryana theorizes that this is because Abel hasn't been eating emotions lately. He's becoming more like a Being since he's not feeding like a Cubi should.
Carnivore Confusion: Even beyond the fact Demons and some 'Cubi (at the very least) eat Beings, there are also non-sentient animals running around that are eaten for meat. The author's notes state that there is something of a taboo against eating "equivalent" species (dog-Being eating a non-sentient dog, for example), but otherwise nobody makes a big deal out of it. The Creatures do tend to throw this fact around when Beings object to being eaten by them.
Cat Smile: Since about half of the population is feline-based, they're not rare.
While retaining its comical roots, the strip has become... darker.
In-universe, this is actually an aversion — the secondary arc in chapter 24, likely the darkest one thus far, is actually a flashback to Dan's first outing as an adventurer.
Abel was taught magic by Kria Soulstealer; the two have yet to meet in the main comic.
Dan's father. For starters, it's implied that Abel knows him. Well, he definitely knew his former wife. You know, the mother of his boss... and the killer of his dad.
Genesis (Jen) and Merlitz' former adventuring party.
The Chessmaster: Mab, of all people, who, as a member of an immortal and nigh-omniscient and omnipotent race, appears to be running atleastone major gambit with some very sneaky behind-the-scenes and direct manipulation. The true motives and goals are yet unrevealed, as is if these gambits are even linked. It appears that the plot is mostly to do with keeping her friends alive as long as possible. Just how far this will go, and for how many friends, is yet to be seen.
Childhood Friends: Dan with Wildy and Mab. Jyrras met Dan during the former's childhood and has been friends since.
Comic Book Time: Though the strip has been going strong since the beginning of the 2000s the strip implies itself to have only really progressed by days, weeks or months at a time rather than the many years it has been running.
Dan is twice mentioned to have a stash of high heels under his bed "to improve his balance". In a flashback of his first adventure, Dan sprains his ankle while wearing high heels and decides to find a way to keep that from happening again.
Contractual Genre Blindness: Dark Pegasus isn't so much genre blind as he prefers the "classic ways" of doing things whenever possible. Not being a stupid villain, however, leads him to only fall in the cliches when facing Dan, as he knows that Dan believes in a fair fight. This is probably why Dan has managed to kill him before the series started. Twice.
Conversation Casualty: During a flashback to the first meeting between Dan and Dark Pegasus, Dark Pegasus kills a girl with a blast of magic in mid-sentence.
"I offer this advice to you two: If you're going to destroy something... do it mid-dialogue. They always expect you to finish talking first."
Crapsaccharine World: While fuzzy, comedic and with pastel colors (see image above), the world is flat out one of the most brutal, depressive, unfair settings you will ever find. People are free to rape and torture as they please, casual murder is routine and is treated as comedic, a race of Jerkass Gods run around creating havoc with impunity and the Demons roam Furrae unchecked to torment mortals for eons. Winterweir is freaking Equestria in comparison. This strip states that the vast majority of races don't live to die of old age because Furrae is such a tough world, with the Vampire race going extinct due to it.
Mab loves hugging. She keeps a list of things she has not hugged yet so that she doesn't miss a single one. It's over 38 pages long! Don't ask us how she managed to hug death.
And Merlitz vs Abel, which, according to Aaryana, is the worst Cubi tat anyone can pick a fight with.
Cursed with Awesome: Dan seems to think Fae curses of vengeance fit this. Makes sense, since a Fae curse discourages anyone else from harming the target — Fae really don't like kill-stealing. Fae are also capricious enough that they tend to forget about their targets for years, and the eventual "revenge" is usually little more than a harmless prank. Dan once had such a curse.He abused the hell out of it. But then the Fae called in their revenge. So now he loses all his feathers whenever he eats shellfish.
Cute Monster Girl: Arguably, Matilda. At least when compared to everyone else.
Confirmed here with what a male member of the Blue Volcano Mythos looks like. Females aren't as colorful as males but they are smaller and less monstrous-looking over all.
Even Dan has shown some skill with this trope: He has to fake being somebody's boyfriend? He tells his real girlfriend all about it, preventing possible misunderstandings.
Since earlier in the series there's a foreshadown/lampsade over this here.
Dating Service Disaster: A dating service file sorting error matched Jyrras' parents for a date because it failed to tell apart regular kangaroos from kangaroo rats, leading to a Tiny Guy, Huge Girl match that was also Love at First Sight. They are still Happily Married. Not only that, they got pregnant again in their sixties. The subsequent Parental Sexuality Squick got Jyrras reaching for the Brain Bleach. His sister seemed just fine with it though.
When he's not The Unintelligible, Pip shows traces of this. Maybe. A rare example seen here, hinting at being far more than we've been let on to believe.
As noted above, Dark Pegasus just won't stay dead. Of course, this is largely thanks to his sister reviving him with the ritual he developed. Kria points out that he would stay dead if they just cremated the corpse. It's also arguable how "cheap" death is, since Kria says he comes back slightly more wrong every time.
Defeat by Modesty: When the inn is attacked by adventurers who heard a cubi was there, Wildy takes one of them out by tearing off her clothes. Wildy didn't mean to tear off her clothes, but it still lead to the invader grabbing whatever she could to cover herself and running away.
A Degree In Useless: When Fa'Lina explains to Abel that he's following Dan back to Lost Lake, he objects that he will miss his classes. In golf and grass growing.
Detached Sleeves: Apparently these have a fanbase in Furrae; a number of characters wear them, most notably Abel.
Distinguishing Mark / Glamour Failure: Most Cubi have a Clan mark, which they cannot conceal with shapeshifting. They can, however, cover it with clothing or even make-up.
Double Take: Dan is walking down the halls, shirtless, annoyed by Nact'larn stealing his robe, Dan doesn't bother to stop and talk to some other students in the halls, other than to tell them who took his clothes. After a few more steps, Dan stops.
Dude Looks Like a Lady: Dan, with his long hair, fluffy wings, and dress robe, gets mistaken for a woman all the time. Sometimes he hates it, but sometimes he uses it to his advantage...
Inverted with Quill, the Cubi giraffe; she looks so much like a man that, if it weren't for the title of the strip in which she appeared, one would easily think she's a gay man. Admittedly, the fact all Cubi are Gender Benders means it's possible she really is manifesting in male form.
She's not. Amber stated on the forums that Quill was never well endowed to begin with, and her increase in muscle over the years her breasts even smaller.
Despite her protests, at first Lorenda seems almost as dangerous as her mother, meeting Jyrras after killing some predators stalking him, moving in with him after being evicted for killing and eating everyone else in her building, and as soon as she's settled in killing two door-to-door salesmen for being door-to-door salesmen. Contrast to when Jyrras is under the Fae curse, and she harmlessly knocks out the paparazzi. It was suggested in that early story arc that Beings followed the normal food chain, and the Soulstealers' demonic heritage only explained why a cow and a horse eat meat, whereas it's later established that all Beings are omnivores, preying on non-anthropomorphic animals, but only Demons and other Creatures eat sentient beings, and indeed, even this is later downplayed.
A joke is made early on about Mab being caught up in in eighties nostalgia, when later knowledge about the history of Furrae ("guy" is an older word than "man," a flashback to the seventeenth century looks very much like the twentieth, etc.) makes the similarity in eighties fashion seem essentially pure coincidence, and a date of 1991 making the nostalgia joke seem odd. And Mab's Sailor Moon doll is much more recent than the eighties.
When Aaryanna first appears, it seems Succubi are a kind of Demon (indeed, she even calls Destania a "Demon" at one point) who act like typical Horny Devils and necessarily feast on the innocent. All this flies hard out the window when we meet Abel and Fa'lina...
Easter Egg: A number of secret pages have existed on the site at one time or another, with a warning that mentioning them on the forums would result in a ban, containing plot-relevant future information, including a bio of Rose with a number of insights into the Fae, and Fa'Lina's bio before it was posted officially. However, likely due to the attention from outside sites such as these, all that haven't been posted openly have been taken down, with one exception (a page on human/creature hybrids, found via the grey arrow on the "last" page of the hybrid sequence, confirming that humans once did exist and hinting that their fate would become relevant later on).
Eccentric Mentor: Fa'Lina fits this trope perfectly, as her semi-omniscience gives her the desire and opportunity to play a very odd mentor. While she always tries to help those involved with her, she prefers teaching them lessons in the most ironic ways possible. And muffins.
Even the Guys Want Him: Less an in-story development than a local meme: Everyone is gay for Abel. Everyone. And now everyoneisstraight for Abel. Well, except girls, who are all gay now. Fugit. Everyone is now Bi for Abel.
Everyone Is Related: Almost everyone in the series has deep connections to the Ti'Fiona and Soulstealer families.
Evil Brit: Dark Pegasus is voiced by a British man in the DMFA Radio Project. Why? "Because the villain always has to be English".
Exact Words: Mink telling Dan that he will never want for another bed after spending a night in his room. Possibly Mink's room is the reason why most Cubi don't sleep.
The Fair Folk: The author does a good job showing that the Fae, rather than being expressly good or evil, are utterly alien to the rest of the setting. Visiting their realm indeed qualifies as a Mind Screw to non-natives.
Fan Fic: There have been numerous stories posted by fans on the forum that take place in the DMFA universe. Fortunately the most prominent ones barely qualify as the first type of Elsewhere Fic.
One of which is being adapted into a webcomic (note that it doesn't have any canon characters and takes place over a century later).
There's a lot of tension between Beings (effectively humans) and Creatures (everything else with magic powers) from a long, not quite over history of Creatures considering Beings to be prey. Different kinds of Creatures have had outright racial warfare.
Dark Pegasus despises the Undead and considers them his greatest mistake. Seeing a fashion article that considers the Undead to be popular hits his Berserk Button, and he decides to put all of his other ambitions on hold to finally deal with the Undead once and for all.
Fantasy Gun Control: "I mean, who knows what kind of device one can make with a fully natural material?!" "Bang."
Four-Fingered Hands: All the Beings and being based races have them. Averted sometimes, such as when Dan was turned into a human, he had five fingers, and Maltilda has two (no thumbs).
Gag Boobs: Fa'Lina. It's a rather subtle progression, but Fa'Lina's breasts gain a noticeable size increase between her first appearance and present day.
Gambit Pileup: Several factions — most of them with nebulous motives — are known to be making plots involving the main cast, including Destania and Biggs, the Creature Council, Fa'Lina, Mab and possibly Kria and Pyroduck. And Dark Pegasus, while he's alive anyway...
Gender Bender: Dan and Abel a few times, for various reasons. The characters treat it as crossdressing, with phrases like "look female," even though the art makes it clear it's..."total," at least (and according to Word Of God, only) externally.
Gender Equals Breed: Jyrras and his sisters. Their dad is a kangaroo mouse while their mom is a kangaroo. Yes, he gets glomped a lot by his much bigger siblings, why do you ask?
Though when beings and creatures (demons, etc.) interbreed their offspring look like their being parent with creature traits tacked on, regardless of gender. For example Lorenda is a half-demon cow, her mother is a demon mare and her father was a bull being.
And then there's the issue of body type, children will always take on the type of their mother; i.e. a taur mother will always have taur children, same with bipedal and serpentine body types. Amber made the rule on the fly when she considered a taur being born to a non-taur mother.
Genius Loci: The SAIA Librarian is bound to Library in all possible ways...
Genki Girl: Mink. While he/she fits the energetic, enthusiastic Motor Mouth description, the "girl" part is still up for debate.
Gilligan Cut: Comic 597, Abel: "I don't want to go. And I know you won't force me, so unless you have a trick up your gloves, this matter is closed." Cut to Abel walking down the hall with his luggage.
Glamour Failure: Fae and Cubi can both shapeshift, sometimes imperfectly. Jyrras has tried to synthesize it with his Patches, with varying success.
Cubi can't hide their clan markings by shapeshifting, although clothes and makeup work.
Nutmeg screws up her impersonation of Albanion, and Mab catches it.
Invoked by Destania when she impersonates Biggs. He calls her out for using his old hairstyle and she mentions she meant to give Dan at least ONE clue he wasn't talking to the real Biggs.
When Dan had to pass as Alexsi, Abel forgot to changehis eyes. This may become relevant someday.
Glasses Pull: Amber answers a letter pointing out that Jyrras is sometimes seen without his glasses. Amber then does a dramatic glasses pull when she delivers the shocking news that glasses can be taken off. DUN! DUN! DUN!!!
Inverted (thankfully off-panel) by a SAIA combat student. Judging by the instructor's reaction, this isn't even the first time it's happened.
Growing Wings: Cubi grow a second pair of wings on their head when they come into power. They are also rumored to grow a third pair when they reach a different power level.
Hair Wings: 'Cubi have miniature “headwings” (as well as a regular pair) in their default form. Dan discovered he was one by having them grow in. Instantaneously.
Hidden Agenda Villain: Fa'Lina's agenda is so well hidden we can't even be sure if she's a good guy or not. Of course, that all depends of whether you consider her actually evil or not.
Horny Devils: Largely averted with the Cubi race despite the name — they're not really demons, and while they feed on emotions their (clan-dependent) affinities for specific ones range all over the map. It's explained that the clan Nact'larn, who fit the trope much better, have a tendency to hog the spotlight. Kria Soulstealer on the other hand definitely plays with the trope every now and again, though mostly for laughs. Aaryana, who was introduced before the rules for Cubi were really developed, also plays it more-or-less straight.
Hyperspace Arsenal: Dan can hide BFS in his clothes. Alexis hides a giant mallet in hers. Though somewhat justified by their preferences for loose, baggy clothing (though usually a robe in Dan's case).
Hyperspace Mallet: Alexi has one, she sometimes uses it on patrons who try to skip out on their bill.
If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: Before leaving for SAIA, Dan makes it clear that if anything happens to Alexsi, Pyroduck and Abel will die; he's not worried that they will do anything to Alexsi—Pyroduck and her are already dating—it's that Dan is very protective of his sister, and with him gone for a month, is passing responsibility for her safety to them.
I Have No Son: When Pyroduck attempted to reconcile with his estranged father (a very powerful Dragon), his father said that he would only take Pyroduck back in if he slays five hundred Cubi to avenge the deaths of five of the father's sons. He considers Pyroduck one of those five slain sons.
Destania feels this way about her stepdaughter Alexsi after discovering the latter is dating Pyroduck (Pyroduck's estranged father is her archenemy). She didn't care that the adventurers she sicced on Abel might have hurt or killed Alexsi in the crossfire (and Alexsi was the first to be hurt), calling her an expendable "traitor".
One of the reasons Beings and Creatures don't get on so well is that Creatures are often quite willing to eat Beings. Lorenda and Kria Soulstealer both eat a number of Beings in the series. At least, during the early strips.
The last time someone killed a member of Piflak's clan, she killed them, turned their bones into a pipe organ that to this day hasn't needed tuning, and the rest were baked into pies.
Mink: They were the most delicious pies ever created...
They're not actually immortal, but pretty much every species of creature seems to stop aging in their mid to late twenties.
Fa'Lina seems to be a bit older.
Cubi can shapeshift. Cyra explicitly shapeshifted to fit Dan's expectation of his grandmother, even though she first appeared around Fa'Lina's age and hundreds of feet tall.
Cubi Clan leaders, while not truly immortal, are unable to have children of their own.
The Fae have their own version: no Fae can have children unless auctioned/given the soul of a voluntarily deceased Fae to "recycle" for their own child, keeping their population at a constant number at all times. It's not that the Fae can't have children without the donation of another Fae's soul. It's that they choose not to, since without said donation, the kid is... well... soul-less. The result is not pretty. Or, at least, it's horribly depressing: without a soul, the kid has no emotions and no magic — and no motivation to do anything. They're termed Hollows, and the only one shown so far shows up in Demonology 101, in what looks like a padded room. To quote Demonology 101, "they're more or less, empty husks". Also motivating the prohibition of Fae/anything relations that would lead to kids being born is the fact that Hollows always die on the 21st hour of their 21st birthday... as if having a kid who is magically null, and also void of all emotion weren't depressing enough.
Informed Ability: Dan's pre-'Cubi powers badassery. (Well, he did take out Dark Pegasus on-page once.)
Insane Troll Logic: In a in-universe Spy-parody fanfict by Wildy, the Boss warned her spy that Jyrras' hideout is so well hidden that no other agent managed to find it and come back alive... all that while she hands him a file with blueprints, scans and photographs of the hideout and a plan to succesfully infiltrate in it. When the agent points out that Jyrras' hideout isn't that secret, his boss insists it is because of the agency ease in study it.
I Will Tear Your Arms Off: The reason why Matilda was exiled, according to her. This is later revealed by Fluffy to be a Half Truth for Dan's benefit: she was indeed exiled for tearing her brother's arm off and beating him with it, but only because, due to the society's hypermasculine values (and the fact that they can regrow limbs), the act earned her a commutation of the execution she was due for disobeying him in the first place.
Karma Houdini: The second cornerstone of the setting. An example: A female cubi for thousands of years had systematically raped, mutilated, slaughtered entire families and untold inoccents left and right without a single shred of empathy. Then she got in to teaching and she had to be forcefully restrained from torturing children's to death by the Headmistress as a form of education. Who is this demon that makes Mr. Rictus look decent? Dan's mother, who is in quest to eradicate the Dragons. And she is treated sympathetically or at least with slapstick comedy. OH DEAR MORALITY.
Other examples include the entire Soulstealer family. Though at least Dark Pegasus is treated as a villain and has died repeatedly.
Killer Rabbit: The Mows can digest any non living matter, though they usually stick to fabrics and such...
Lampshaded Double Entendre: "Most likely because all adventurers are known for their impressive swords! Now... I have not seen his sword in action myself... but I can assure you that it is most likely of fine quality".
"You two like to get a little 'yiffy'! Don't ya? Eh? Yiff yiff!"
Fa'Lina is the last of her clan, and due to the Immortal Procreation Clause, that's not changing any time soon. When attaining Tri-Wing clan leadership status, a Cubi loses the ability to bear children. Lacking a regular Cubi to create more clan-affiliated Cubi usually drives clanless leaders insane, though Fa'Lina seems to have staved off madness by taking care of the SAIA students as her own clan and loving Pyroduck as her own son.
Aniz was also left the last of his clan by the dragons c. 1500, and Destania was already the last ordinary Cubi of hers when this happened. Both of them went on to have children, but with Aniz dead, Abel is now ostensibly the last of his own clan.
Late Arrival Spoiler: It's difficult to talk about almost anything in later chapters — including the existence of three or four major characters — without giving away a major twist in Chapter 14. In fact, seeing any one of the majority of the strips that so much as feature the main character himself afterward will be enough to give it away.
Mad Scientist: Jyrras. Who has created, among other things: the aformentioned Deathbringer, a Griffin-shaped Humongous Mecha, and the Mows. (Well, it was in his lab, though he wasn't there at the time...)
Abel. Abel's Story implies that this is significant
According to the relevant Clan Leader page, all Cubi belonging to Clan Quoar also have these as a common trait, though none of them have been seen in a major role yet and it can occur outside the clan. (Abel himself is an example.)
Having either the eyes or the feather/bat combo wings are considered a good omen, and any Cubi born with both are rare and highly idealized.
Mood Whiplash: The dark, grim and moody Fae arc is immediately followed by the general wackiness the cast is known for. Amber also seems uncomfortable letting a strip into the main series without a gag, so any dramatic installment will end with one featuring her and Fluffy, often apologizing for the lack of a punchline.
Kria cares about her family and immediate acquaintances, but tends to randomly kill other people on a whim. She's also extremely protective of Lorenda. Most other demons apparently consider her to be applying the correct morals to the random strangers she kills, and to have a moral lapse for the people she knows, but in practice, it's a common lapse.
Aaryanna, likewise, goes around killing Beings for fun, and knows that Destania at least has no moral qualms with torturing children, but still accuses Destania's alleged killer of Van Helsing Hate Crimes. Unlike Demons, most Cubi aren't like this, although they do tolerate it.
Motor Mouth: Mink, frequent purveyor of panel-filling monologues. Also Cyra, in her first opportunity to talk with her grandson. While the former is canonically androgynous, the latter is undeniably female: the author gets in some Self-Deprecating Humor with the caption.
Polearms are probably not even a class weapon for Fae.
No Bisexuals: After coming to terms with his crush on Dan, Jyrras immediately becomes convinced his attraction to Lorenda was just a mechanism of denial. For what it's worth, Abel's choice of language suggests he doesn't entirely believe him (which is justifiable given that Abel also sensed that Jyrras has attraction to Lorenda in the same day that he found that Jyrras has a crush on Dan).
Not So Omniscient After All: The Phoenix Oracles. There are forces that exist outside of their vision. The Phoenixes don't know their names, but they know that they exist and that they don't want to be seen.
Offing the Offspring: While her step-daughter Alexsi wasn't the primary target, Destania doesn't care that the adventurers she tricked into attacking Lost Lake might have harmed her too because of Alexsi's relationship with Pyroduck. As far as she's concerned, Alexsi is "compromised, a traitor, and expendable." Her current employer thinks this is cold even for her.
Offscreen Teleportation: Fa'Lina pulls one off in Abel's Story part 2. When Abel wakes up in SAIA's infirmary with Fa'Lina on the bed next to him, he tries to slip away while she's ranting about her Gag Boobs; he makes it as far as the door, and finds Fa'Lina already on the other side.
Omniscient Morality License: Fa'Lina comments that being nigh-omniscient has the side-effect of turning you into a sociopathic Jerkass. With what little we know of Fa'Lina, though, she could easily just have been that way before she became so powerful. Considering her signature emotion is hope, she may very well just be putting on an act.
One Degree of Separation: The entire cast seems to be connected through Fa'lina, Kria, and/or Destania.
Our Vampires Are Different: One letter in the Fourth Wall Mail Slot asked about vampires, only to be told that Our Vampires Are Extinct, having been crowded out by more efficient predators like demons and 'cubi.
Our Zombies Are Different: For the most part the undead are pretty much the same as the were before they died. Except with detachable limbs.
Outnumbered Sibling: Jyrras has seven sisters. The older ones are all quite a bit larger than him. He resents them treating him like some kind of living doll.
Before that, Mab attempted to remove the tourists of her Glen, and after one Being gone too far by pulling her antennas, she vanqished with them... and her Glen.
Deebs, especially if she gives aforementioned Puppy Eyes.
Chibi Abel. And deliberately so.
Amber: I will not rest until I kill a diabetic with this website.
Retool: Chapter 16, building on The Reveal in Chapter 14, makes Cubi almost as central to the strip as adventurers, introducing such central characters as Abel and Fa'lina.
Speaking of Abel, there are also his Sucker Punches.
Adding that someone has a cute butt when describing what one likes about somebody.
Sarcasm Mode: Abel's switch is fused in the "on" position.
Saving Christmas: Referenced in a non-canon bonus arc. Rather hilariously, Deebs wants to save Christmas so much that she gets Jyrras to kill Santa (again) just so she can do it. Given her name, it could be considered sinister...
Schedule Slip: The Author is frequently sick. Doesn't seem to matter as her viewers are addicted to the comic, but it's noticeable. Amber also suffers frequent obnoxious computer breakdowns preventing her from working on the strip. Recently, she started posting rough colored strips that lack fine shading and background details to give the fans their fix of updates sooner than her production schedule would otherwise allow, posting the finished page once completed. The community reaction has been positive to this initiative.
Schizo Tech: According to the background, Furrae has widely varying technology levels, where modern cities and medieval towns can be a short walk away from each other. Then there's Jyrras and his Humongous Mecha and Magitek, but he's been advised by some to not release his best technology too soon...
Sexy Backless Outfit: Expect any winged Creature to wear one of these at least once, though the purpose for wearing is generally not for Fanservice. Fa'Lina may be a more traditional example, however.
Slap-Slap-Kiss: Apparently, what Aaryaana wants with Abel.
The So-Called Coward: Kria Soulstealer. While visiting Trik'na Island, the land of the undead, Kria is the target of an assassination attempt. When it fails, the assassins are shocked that Kria retreats instead of coming after them, so they believe that she's scared of them; in reality, Sherri, the undead diplomat convinced her to not chase her would-be assassins, and that Kria was very willing to kill them in all kinds of horrible ways.
Spikes of Doom: While Kria does believe in placing spikes in her pit trap, she finds that placing them on the floor lacks originality.
Square Race, Round Class: Agent Chazore is one of Kria's top spies, though she can't understand how a winged demon with rainbow-colored fur can do stealth.
Azlan is forced to wear one by Neni at one point. He's also forcedto wear one by Wildy, in exchange for the return of his lost wedding ring. He got it from Neni, though.
Mab gets put in one in an earlier arc.
Ahem. Mink trumps all of them with nothing but a loincloth on.
Abel gets pretty close with his miniskirt and boots.
Sufficiently Analyzed Magic: Jyrras's inquiries in magical contaminants in materials have found some highly consistent properties that may lead him eventually to create a theoretical all-natural material with no contaminants whatsoever. Mab is apparently behind this, carefully manipulating towards this goal.
Superhero Trophy Shelf: The walls of Dan's room are covered with weapons displays. No telling how many of these are souvenirs, since it's been shown that Dan appreciates swords.
Lorenda and Jyrras' sisters figured out that Jyrras was gay before he did.
And Abel learned of his crush on Dan simply by proving to Jyrras he could read his mind, though he wasn't trying to find anything specific. He didn't even realize how important that detail was until the terrified Jyrras fainted.
Also, Cubi don't actually need to eat physical food, so most only eat a couple of favourite foods for pleasure. This appears to be the case with Dan and ale.
Dan swears vengeance on Dark Pegasus after seeing him obliterate in cold blood an undead adventurer who had become his friend. This was the catalyst that drove Dan to kill him multiple times and try (unsuccessfully) to keep him dead.
Victoria's Secret Compartment: Mink is terrified of what Piflak is going to do when one of her clan was murdered. First s/he hides in Jakob's shirt, then s/he hides in Fa'Lina. Fridge Brilliance when you consider that squids (Mink's tail and "ears" have suction cups) possess an affinity for squeezing into tight spaces when scared. Many underwater divers have reported smaller ones slipping inside their masks!
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Several races in Furrae have two forms, but 'Cubi are the masters of this. And the Fae are the Grand Masters, but we don't see them using it so much, while Cubi use it for combat and to disguise their nature.
The medal goes to SAIA's shapeshifting class teacher Change who keeps changing forms not only in every single frame she is in, but is in constant fluxwithin severalof those.
Xanatos Gambit: Biggs (or better, Destania disguised as Biggs) hired Dan to (once again) slay Dark Pegasus, this time for good. Biggs explained that Dark Pegasus is an pain in his ass and that he needed to be stopped, so, he needs to send Dan to do the job for him due to dan's fame in killing Dark Pegasus. When Dan points out the possibility of Dark Pegasus killing him, Biggs retorts that Destania wouldn't allow her son's killer to escape unpunished. In either way, Dark Pegasus would be killed and, as Biggs pointed out, he would win in any way.
Cubi can't dream. Said Abel right before he woke up. If it isn't a dream, then what is it?
Chapter 14. The revelation that Dan is an incubus is so central to what comes after that it's hard to even talk about later arcs without giving it away.
Chapter 30 isn't even complete and it's already becoming one of these. Then again, it's pretty honest about it, being titled "And Then Everything Went Wrong". To elaborate, The Blunt Object Brigade attack Lost Lake under the belief that a Cubi murderer they're hunting is there. The murdered victim? Merlitz. Although they're driven off and no one is (seriously) hurt, Pyroduck is confused that the Phoenix Oracles would give them such a straightforward answer, so he calls one and she confirms that it wasn't true. She then says that she doesn't know what happened to Merlitz. The Phoenixs, famous for literally knowing everything that was, is, and ever will be, have no idea what happened to Merlitz.
More accurately, wham text, but still, Abel's father, Aniz Siar, is pronounced deceased for twenty-seven years, killed by Quintinga Ti'Fiona. In other words, Abel's father, whom he'd vowed revenge on, although having cryptically told Dan it was "no longer an option," was killed by Dan's father's first wife, Alexsi's mother; bear in mind also that Dan's mother was a bitter former lover of Abel's father.
Earlier, "Destania must be so proud to have an incubus like you for a son!"
"Jyrras... known Dan since childhood... came to rescue him... have had a slight crush on him since..."
"We weren't trying to attack folks! We're trying to track down and kill the Cubi that murdered Merlitz Meshaiko." - during Wildy's fight with Nitemyste as he and his compatriots attack Lost Lake.
What is the most frightening thing you can ever hear from a Phoenix Oracle, someone who can, with absolute accuracy, see everything that has happened and everything that will happen? I Don't Know.
What the Hell, Hero?: Abel calling out Dan on not staying at SAIA to train properly, pointing out that not learning to control his 'Cubi powers made it more likely that he'd lose control and truly become the menace he feared.
Abel gets one himself in his sidestory, when Aaryana spells out to him that he could've easily defeated Aniz (and, possibly, saved his mother) if he had actually taken advantage of what he's learned at SAIA, but instead he chose to seclude himself and be a brooding loner.
And now Destania's getting in on it too, reminding Abel of just how many people have died or otherwise had their lives ruined because of him.
Writer Revolt: This strip. It's played for laughs, but Amber is definitely making a (valid) point.
Yaoi Fangirl: Wildy, originator of the idea of "Death by Shonen-ai."
Dan: I don't think I can kill him... or want to anymore...
You Never Asked: During the all All Hail Queen Mab story arc, it is revealed Mab has a daughter. When questioned about it by Jyrras, she simply responds "No one ever asked."
Your Soul Is Mine: Cubi have a reputation for killing people and eating their souls. It's somewhat deserved.
Zombie Apocalypse: The Big Bad Dark Pegasus tried to trigger one in the Backstory, but the zombies turned out to be just too nice to work for him. Even the method of transmission is Lighter and Softer: bites and scratches infect you with The Virus, but it stays in remission unless you die before it wears off, which it does quickly, and the bites and scratches aren't any more likely to be fatal than any other injury. The zombies show up once in a while, although they mostly keep to themselves. They do have a representative on the Creature council though. Nonetheless there's Fantastic Racism towards them for fear of this, and from the aforementioned Big Bad, for the exact opposite reason. Plus there's some cultish group of undead that keep trying to turn him into an undead to take his place as their leader. He's not too thrilled at the idea, unsurprisingly.
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