Webcomic / Electric Wonderland

Trawn, Shroomy, NJ, and Aerynn will bring peace to Cyberspace...eventually.

"Welcome to the internet...of the future! It's evolved beyond its dimensions and become a fully immersive virtual world! Anyone can log onto this world from anywhere and take on any form or shape! Some only come to check their email or bank account...others spend much of their lives here. Some find jobs. Some find love. Some get robbed. Some get scammed. Some get ruined. And some do the ruining. The truth is that, no matter how advanced things get, the same problems of the past exist in the future."

— Introduction to Pilot

Peter Paltridge, the host of Platypus Comix, created Electric Wonderland in 2007. Unlike the other flagship series, it has a strong reliance on continuity and connecting events. Set in a futuristic^note Word of God says each comic takes place approximately 100 years after Peter wrote it, Internet-based City of Adventure called "Nettropolis", the comic focuses mainly on the staff of the Nettropolis Free Press, which originally consisted of Intrepid Reporter Eileen "Trawn" Peccadillo, pompous ninja NJ, naive painter Shroomy, and unpredictable Magical Girl Aerynn Arlia. Although Trawn hopes to end corruption with their independent newspaper, the comic spends more time exploring the comedic and dramatic potential of a community evolved from Cyberspace.

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This comic provides examples of:

• Accentuate the Negative: "The Nameless Decade," in which Lululu (an outside agent of Trawn's paper) takes a field trip to the Nettropolis Museum and learns about how society had decayed from 2000-2009, features this trope when discussing television, movies, and music.
• Action Girl: Trawn's friend Natasha Wing, who overthrows corruption by working for the Nettropolis Police Department.
• Affectionate Parody: "The Time That People Forgot" has a three-page opening modeled after Disney's "I'm No Fool" shorts starring Jiminy Cricket.
• Alliterative Family: Natasha and her parents, antivirus software developer Nathaniel Wing and his wife Nina Wing (CEO of Wing Antivirus Corporation), all have first names that begin with "N".
• Alliterative Name: Aerynn Arlia, Lululu Lopez
• Angels Pose: This Platypus Comix banner◊ has Shroomy perform one with Mulberry and Princess Pi.
• April Fools' Plot: Celebrated in "Day of the Fools", much to Trawn's inconvenience.
• Art Evolution: The first issue was illustrated by one of Peter's friends, Jesse Barboza. Since he did not sign on to illustrate successive issues, Peter had to ease the characters into his usual style without deviating too far from the original designs. Compare this scene◊ from Trawn and NJ's first meeting to the cover◊ Peter added to the first issue in 2009, to this promotional drawing◊ added to the Platypus Comix character bio page in 2010, to the last panel◊ of 2011's "Day of Fools".
• Asian Airhead: Natasha kind of counts. She's quite competent at fighting bad guys, but she also got straight C's in college.
• Author Appeal: Trawn's efforts to revitalize the medium of printed word, which Peter would later try himself with BANG! Magazine.
• Bag of Holding: After Natasha graduates college in "Wings," her parents give hera cardboard box with an infinite capacity. She puts all her belongings in it when moving out of the dorm, but a truck runs over it as she exits.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment: Nina Wing says one on this page of "Shrooming With Shroomy".
• Battle Couple: The Nettropolis Narvel and Girl Friday, both of whom first appeared in "The New Adventures of the Nettropolis Narvel."
• Berserk Button: Natasha gets enraged when someone asks to borrow some of the money her parents don't give her.
• Bigger on the Inside: The Nettropolis Free Press domain (which doubles as the staff's Home Base) resembles an old, abandoned building on the outside, and a comfortable, spacious loft on the inside.
• Bittersweet Ending: By the end of "Wings," Natasha has proven her worth as a crimefighter, escaped her father's shadow, and become a full-time member of the NPD, but her newfound fame starts interfering with Trawn's attempts to spend time with her. (Fortunately, "LuLo" already showed that they eventually got back together.)
• Bottle Episode: All of "Valentine's Day Massacre" takes place either in or outside the Nettropolis Free Press domain, except for the part where Trawn and NJ hang up a want ad.
• Bratty Half-Pint: Lululu Lopez
• Break the Cutie: Shroomy's flashback in "Wings" has her fail to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a carnie for Art Lawsey's Imaginarium after it goes belly-up. She also loses her boyfriend Parker over the course of the fourth through sixth comics.
• Break the Haughty: NJ's flashback in "Wings" has him earn a Master's degree, which raises his hopes that he can get a prominent career. Instead, he has to settle for working at a department store. He later loses that job some time in between "Wings" and the pilot, after which he gets hired to help Trawn revive a medium he knew nothing about beforehand, and then becomes The Chew Toy of her staff.
• Brick Joke: In "The New Adventures of the Nettropolis Narvel," Narvel asks Girl Friday, "Will you marry me?" right before entering a world in which he never became a superhero, nor developed superpowers. On the last page of the comic, Friday tells Narvel, " By the way...the answer is yes!" Narvel needs a while to remember why Friday said that.
• Brutal Honesty: After Trawn and NJ read a comic from Shroomy in "Valentine's Day Masssacre", Trawn tells Shroomy that it was a nice try, but not what she was looking for. NJ, who had already scolded Shroomy for not having a clever enough joke, adds, "Also, it wasn't a nice try!"
• Butt-Monkey: NJ rarely finds prolonged satisfaction or goes one day without enduring a spell from Aerynn.
• The Cameo: Sargent Squealy from Laverne & Shirley In the Army (which Peter called, "the worst TV show of all time") acts as a forum moderator in "In the Zone".
• Cerebus Rollercoaster: Some serious comics come up every now and then, such as "Deviantaaargh", but Peter doesn't want the series to become too serious.
• Character Focus: Trawn's founding of the Netropolis Free Press sets the events of Electric Wonderland in motion, but some issues focus more on her allies than on her.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • At the beginning of the Oregon Trail test in "The Time That People Forgot", NJ purchases a piano for his group so they could have something to dispose later when the time comes to lighten the load. Later, he accidentally crashes his group's wagon into the river, so they use the piano as a backup vehicle.
  • "Into Thin Aerynn" begins with Aerynn watching VHS tapes of the short-lived sitcom Free Spirit (1989), whose heroine, Winnie Goodwin, has magical powers and spontaneity not unlike Aerynn's. When Aerynn runs away from the NFP domain to avoid getting caught by Natasha, NJ finds her hiding in one of the tapes.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Before Peter revealed Natasha Wing as a friend of Trawn with a detailed backstory, she was introduced in "The Search For Parker" as a random cop NJ unsuccessfully tried to report Aerynn's powers to. (However, she had already been Trawn's friend since high school.)
• Christmas Episode: "Inevitable Christmas Adventure", which (unlike most of Platypus Comix's "Kristmas Klassics") ties into the series' main continuity; Aerynn reveals NJ's real name (Nate), and some scenes set up a sub-plot regarding the disappearance of Parker.
• Circular Reasoning: According to "Day of Fools," 4chan memes get repeated by everyone because they're humorous, are considered humorous because they got repeated by everyone, and got repeated by everyone because they're humorous.
• City of Adventure: Nettropolis.
• Coattail-Riding Relative: "The Influencer" follows Trawn's efforts to convince her trend-setting niece, Sierra, to plug the NFP. Unfortunately, the newspaper doesn't really appeal to Sierra.
• Coincidental Broadcast: "Wings" has a news report about Nathaniel Wing's rise to fame immediately follow Natasha's lament about how she'll have to unwillingly work for him after graduating college.
• Continuity Nod: Shroomy reveals in "Into Thin Aerynn" that she only made one friend on DeviantArt, Moth-Grll, but she shut down her profile without telling Shroomy how else to contact her. Readers actually saw Moth-Grrl become Shroomy's friend at the end of "Deviantaaargh". (See Throw the Dog a Bone below.)
• Contrived Coincidence: NJ discovers in "WTF" that his girlfriend, Suē, cheated on him with twenty-seven guys, which is also the name of his favorite burger joint (apparently the Nettropolis equivalent of Five Guys).
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Nina Wing
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: After the close call with Dark Magical Girl Nea Politan in "The Search For Parker," Aerynn re-reads the post that caused them to search in her domain, and realizes the author was actually named, "Porker".
• Covers Always Lie: "Formation Team Trawn" has a cover with Aerynn exclaiming, "I said I would shoot, but you didn't believe me! Why didn't you believe me??" She doesn't actually shoot anyone in that comic.
• Crash-Into Hello: Shroomy tried to invoke this in "Valentine's Day Massacre".
• Deliberately Monochrome: This page of "Valentine's Day Massacre", which closely resembles part of Scott Pilgrim.
• Description Cut: In "Into Thin Aerynn", Trawn invites Natasha to visit the Nettropolis Free Press domain. She tells Natasha that the rest of the staff should be "humming along", but unbeknownst to her, they're actually having a recreational battle.
• Digital Avatar: Everyone is one.
• Digital Piracy Is Evil: "Shrooming with Shroomy" has some scenes that promote this mindset while NJ, Aerynn, and Shroomy circulate tapes that NJ's grandfather made of shows and movies unavailable for streaming. NJ and Aerynn can't decide whether or not to adopt this attitude, since they know piracy has become illegal, but their business also prevents works of the past from becoming forever lost from the public. They stop circulating the tapes at the end of the comic, after Nathaniel Wing announces that he found a different company to release official copies of the shows and movies his wife bought streaming rights to, then stashed in a vault.
• The Dog Is The Mastermind: Contrary to Trawn's and Lululu's initial assumptions, "the guy who yells a lot" did not bomb the Nettropollis Mall in "LuLo". His cat did.
• Doomsday Clock: Aerynn's flashback in "Wings" ends by showing a clock reading 11:54 AM while she wonders if something might go wrong soon. The clock reappears in Shroomy's and NJ's flashbacks, reading 11:59 AM both times. It finally reaches 12:00 PM during Natasha's flashback, when a virus nearly wipes out everyone in Nettropolis.
• Drugs Are Bad: A subplot of "Shrooming with Shroomy" has Shroomy take some "Harmoxacil", to suppress her seemingly futile dreams of finding love. It causes her to figuratively grab ahold of a Jerkass Ball. At the end of the comic, Aerynn sentences Shroomy to watching several videotapes containing Very Special Episodes teaching that Drugs Are Bad.
• Dumb Muscle: NJ's friend Trevor takes the form of a bull named "Torro" and doesn't appear very bright.
• Dysfunction Junction
• Eating the Eye Candy: The new NFP cartoonist in "Valentine's Day Massacre" admittedly can't draw, and doesn't even want to become their cartoonist (he only enters their domain because he got lost). Despite this, he still gets the job, because he catches the eyes of Trawn, Aerynn, and Shroomy.
• Embarrassing First Name: At the beginning of "Inevitable Christmas Adventure," Aerynn explains to the others that NJ does not want anyone on the Internet to call him "Nate", so they should try to forget learning that is his name. She then proceeds to call him "Nate" at every possible opportunity. Times when people call him by his real real name, "Nathan", come even more rarely.
• Everyone Meets Everyone: Electric Wonderland's pilot.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles:
  • Aerynn demonstrates this in "Friends of Lululu".
  • Later demonstrated again in "Valentine's Day Massacre, but by someone else.
• Evil Is Hammy: Nina Wing in "Friends of Lululu", in order to evoke Rita Repulsa.
• Expy: Word of God says Natasha Wing joined the comic after Peter got annoyed with Chuck introducing a strong Asian female, Anna Wu, then demoting her to extra.
• Failure Is the Only Option: After Lululu helps Trawn find the bomber of the Nettropolis Mall in "LuLo," Trawn and the others publish their discoveries and eagerly await the good publicity this will give their newspaper. Television reporters announce the capturing of the suspect, but only refer to Trawn as "an anonymous informant" who helped find him. He wasn't the real bomber either.
  Lululu: Go figure, how could a day that starts with a deadly explosion possibly go wrong?
• Famous for Being Famous: Any selfie or video that Sierra posts becomes an Instant Web Hit, for no apparent reason other than her inexplicable gift to "influence" people into loving everything she does or endorses (and inversely, hating everything that she gives her disdain).
• Fiery Redhead: Trawn
  Trawn: I've always dreamed of being a reporter, but not the kind the few conglomerate-controlled news outlets are currently looking for today! I want to print what they don't let me! I want to dig into the dirt and expose scandals at the highest levels of power! Nettropolis Free Press will launch a new era of hard-hitting journalism, unafraid of offending investors and losing advertisers! Within three years every corrupt member of government will fear us! That's basically it. What do you think?
  NJ: I'm just...here to find a job. I think you need someone to talk to!
• Film Comic: "Into Thin Aerynn" has, in lieu of clips of Free Spirit, screencaps of the show with word balloons added.
• First-Name Basis: Sometimes, Natasha calls Trawn, "Eileen".
• Five-Token Band: The Eco-Teens (Nettropolis' equivalent to Planeteers) consist of American Skeeter, German Gretel, South African Squami, Korean Ling-Ling, and Hispanic Lululu (who left at the end of their first comic). Since Squami only has nine fingers and Lululu has a mermaid tail instead of mobile legs, they serve as Twofer Token Minorities.
• Follow in My Footsteps: Natasha subverted this by studying about antivirus protection, then entering the police force instead of her parents' business. However, she also served as spokesman for the antivirus software.
• Foregone Conclusion: If you already read the comics released before the flashback-loaded "Wings", you'll come in already knowing that Natasha will join the Nettropolis Police Department, and that the comic will not have a "Everybody Dies" Ending. You'll probably also at least assume that Shroomy and NJ won't achieve their respective career goals.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Regarding the founding members of the NFP:
  • Eileen "Trawn" Pecadillo: Choleric
  • NJ/Nate: Melancholic
  • Shroomy: Phlegmatic
  • Aerynn Arlia: Sanguine
• Fun with Acronyms: The titular organization of "WTF" has a name that stands for, "World Trolling Federation".
• Genius Cripple: Lululu can't walk because of her mermaid tail, but she knows a lot about bombs. She may also qualify as a Genius Ditz.
• Girl Friday: The Nettropolis Narvel's aptly-named love interest.
• Gratuitous Ninja: NJ uses the screen name "Night Ninja," and he has claimed his nickname stands for "NinJa." Ironically, he hasn't hasn't performed any ninja stunts since the time he saved Shroomy from a xenomorph in the first issue, and he frequently goes out in public during the daytime.
• Halfway Plot Switch: Seems to have become the norm for comics released in 2010 or later. "Wings," in particular, seems to do this three times: From Aerynn sensing impending doom, to Shroomy's lifelong dream getting shattered, to NJ's optimism getting shattered, to Natasha fulfilling her lifelong dream (that story takes up more than half of the comic).
• Hammerspace Hideaway: Aerynn sneaks Trawn into John Quaff's press conference in "Friends of Lululu" by hiding her in her sombrero.
• "Have a Nice Day" Smile: The menu for the character biographies displays eight, each bearing the same hat or hairstyle as one of the comic's stars. Some of them also have different color schemes.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Torro allows the army to take him over NJ or Jodie in "The Time That People Forgot", and beats all the other Oregon Trail players as a result.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • At the end of "Friends of Lululu," the Eco-Teens turn against their founder, John Quaff, after learning about his oil spill.
  • After NJ discovers in "WTF" that Suē is a Consummate Liar who simultaneously carried out several affairs, he sends chat logs of conversations between her and her flings to 4chan, in hopes that they can stop her from unfairly landing a job at a video game company. However, he becomes labeled as a chauvinist who only praises female-created video games if the creators make out with him (never mind the fact the NFP didn't even publish a review of Suē's game), then tries to prevent those women from rising up the corporate ladder.
• Hypocritical Humor: Trawn ends up in a domain containing nothing but amalgamations of pop culture references during one part of "Day of the Fools", causing her to complain about Internet comedians who uncleverly acknowledge popular media all the time. Never mind that her own creator made the references she criticized while unknowingly following his script.
• I Got a Rock: In "The Time That People Forgot", NJ gets assigned a giant rock as his report subject, and later has to play Iraq in Hetalia class.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Trawn can occasionally seem single-minded and forceful in her movement for her newspaper's success, but she does show sympathy for Aerynn (due to her rejections from society) and Lululu (due to her household's state of poverty).
• Katanas Are Just Better: NJ and Natasha both sport some, but NJ rarely uses his, and Natasha's doubles as a Laser Blade.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Lululu having a mermaid tail came out of left field to people who read "LuLo" when it first came out, but people who read her bio (written about a year after her debut) beforehand won't feel too surprised.
• Lie Detector: In "Formation Team Trawn", Aerynn exposes a liar by lighting his pants on fire. The remake, "Team Trawn Redrawn", gives this spell two victims.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: The Sim Life chamber from "The New Adventures of the Nettropolis Narvel" can send people into a convincingly realistic delusion.
• Love Makes You Crazy: Happened to Trawn, Shroomy, and Aerynn in "Valentine's Day Massacre".
• Lower-Deck Episode: "The New Adventures of the Nettropolis Narvel" focuses entirely on a superhero who doesn't appear to have significant connections to the NFP or the NPD.
• Mandatory Line:
  • Lululu makes an appearance on the third-to-last page of "Wings".
  • Aerynn chimes in during the last panel of "The New Adventures of the Nettropolis Narvel" (see Schrödinger's Butterfly below), ensuring that the comic doesn't completely ignore the series' main characters.
• Meaningful Echo: "Into Thin Aerynn" has a part in which NJ challenges Aerynn, "I bet you can't possibly manage this team for two hours without resorting once to one of your spells!" Aerynn responds, "Really...so is that a bet?" Later, NJ and Shroomy watch one of the Free Spirit tapes, and come across a scene where one of Winnie's bosses challenges her, "I bet you can't possibly manage this house for two hours without resorting once to one of your spells!" Winnie responds using the exact same wording that Aerynn used when presented with a similar bet.
  NJ: Okay, this is freaky...
• Medium Awareness: In "Day of the Fools", Aerynn uses the chant, "Ala-Ka-Jeff Smith!" to change the font of Platypus Comix's word balloons.
• Medium Blending: During the beginning of "Wings," a fear of impending doom causes Aerynn to accidentally teleport into Alien.
• Misfit Mobilization Moment: One in "Inevitable Christmas Adventure," as NJ, Shroomy, Aerynn, and Beatrice (NJ's girlfreind) all head to the Cyber Middle East to rescue Trawn, and two in "LuLo," as the entire NFP staff rushes to investigate the bombing of the mall and later reports on the discovered suspect.
• Monster of the Week: The protagonists face a different villain every issue, unless the issue doesn't contain any adventures.
• Negated Moment of Awesome: The Eco-Teens' first attempt to summon a Giant Mecha gets interrupted by the monster squishing Gretel.
• Never My Fault: NJ refuses to claim responsibility for starting another Gamergate in "WTF". Even after becoming publicly revealed as the one responsible for informing 4chan about Suē's affairs, he claims she deserves to get punished for her infidelity and lies.
• New First Comics: "Formation Team Trawn", the first Electric Wonderland comic that Peter drew himself, became re-relased in 2012 as "Team Trawn Redrawn", featuring improved artwork, and an updated ending.
  NJ: Is it just me, or does it feel like we've done this already?
• No Celebrities Were Harmed:
  • John Quaff provides a pastiche of Ted Turner.
  • "WTF" applies this treatment to several people involved with video game development and media. In particular, JonTron gets a Nettropolis counterpart in the form of Trawn's brother, JonTrawn.
• Nobody Poops: "The Time That People Forgot" implies this when Jiminy Cricket mentions that no one in Nettropolis has to log out to perform bodily functions. Although, the series did establish early on that denizens could eat, drink, and poop with their avatars.
• Nonstandard Character Design: Bruce Timm is drawn in Timm Style during his visit to Toon Zone during "In The Zone".
• Noodle Incident: NJ describes several when detailing Aerynn's abilities to Natasha at the end of "The Search For Parker".
• Number Two: "Into Thin Aerynn" sees Trawn entrust Aerynn to keep the NFP domain under control in her absence. NJ gets chosen to supervise during a time when neither Trawn nor Aerynn can.
• Odd-Shaped Panel: The taxi ride that Trawn, NJ, and Shroomy take in the first issue is drawn with tilted panels to simulate the bumpiness felt as the driver struggles to make his steering wheel reappear after a glitch occurs.
• The One That Got Away: During a discussion in "Into Thin Aerynn" about how abruptly online "friendships" can end, NJ recalls how his high school sweetheart broke his heart by abandoning the school and their most frequent social media networks without a trace.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: The characters page includes the real names of Trawn (Eileen), NJ (Nate), and Torro (Trevor), as well as those of five characters who already use their real names in Nettropolis, but lists that Shroomy's real name is unknown.
• Only Sane Man:
  • NJ most of the time.
  • Aerynn held the Sanity Ball while NJ was going out with Beatrice.
  So, everyone notices she looks like a guy, but no one minds he's dating a DEER?
  • "Day of Fools" turned Trawn into the only sane person.
  Donut Saleslady: (after Trawn falls up and hits the ceiling) Want some donuts? Our store's different today!
  Trawn: Here's an idea, how about something NORMAL?
  Donut Saleslady: Normal? What kind of April Fool's Scrooge are you? I hope some night specters show you the way!
• Ornamental Weapon: NJ carries a katana despite having no formal training on how to fight with it.
• Painting the Medium: After Trawn falls out of a ventilation shaft in "Friends of Lululu," she speaks in upside-down word balloons as she dangles out from the vent's opening.
• Out of Focus: Ever since "Day of Fools", Each comic only shows Lululu in one panel at most.
• Parachute Petticoat: Shroomy's dress acts as one after she jumps out of a window in "The Search For Parker," but it collapses after Aerynn grabs her.
• Parasol of Pain: Aerynn gives one to Shroomy at the end of "Inevitable Christmas Adventure" after Shroomy realizes Parker didn't get her a Christmas present.
• Pet the Dog: Aerynn assures NJ in "Formation Team Trawn" that she'd never kill him or Trawn, since Trawn's the kindest person she met.
  I'm not really bad. I'm just rendered that way.
  • "Team Trawn Redrawn" had NJ later show a hint of kindness for Aerynn.
• Production Foreshadowing: Free Spirit heroine Winnie Goodwin appeared in "Into Thin Aerynn" about a year before receiving her own Platypus Comix series. Although, Peter hadn't decided at the time to actually go through with giving Winnie her own comic.
• Puberty Superpower: "Puberty of the Future" reveals that Nettropolis avatars undergo a random and apparently permanent transformation at about the time they enter high school. While most of these transformations consist simply of becoming taller, some of NJ's enemies and friends assume more powerful forms in the story. NJ doesn't get a superpower, for the record, just whiskers.
• Punny Name: Nea Politan, the Dark Magical Girl from "The Search For Parker," who's part Caucasian, part African-American, and part Native American.
• Put on a Bus: Parker went absent around the time the events of "Inevitable Christmas Adventure" occurred, though Shroomy expected him to return eventually.
  • The Bus Came Back: As detailed in "The Search For Parker," Parker returned to the Nettropolis Free Press domain after two Comic-Book Time months (seven months passed in Real World Time), only to borrow $50 from Shroomy. Aerynn then advised Shroomy to dump him so she could find a worthier boyfriend. The only appearance Parker made since then occurred when he made a disposable cameo in "WTF".
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The staff of the Nettropolis Free Press.
  NJ: Now we're gaining a girl with a mushroom on her head? Do you have any hiring standards at ALL?
  Trawn: Of course not. I hired you, remember?
• Real Life Writes the Plot:
  • Shroomy's flashback in "Wings" details her forming a life-long dream to work at the Imaginarium, only to find it closing down by the time she becomes old enough to work. Word of God says this was inspired by Peter forming a childhood dream of writing newspaper comics, only to find newspapers going bankrupt by the time he became old enough to work.
  • It's not hard to draw parallels between the story of Barry Dootmayer, from "Shrooming with Shroomy," and the then-recent shutdown of Megaupload.
  • "WTF" essentially retells Gamergate and the cancellation of Game_Jam in comic form, with some names changed.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Beatrice gives NJ one in "Inevitable Christmas Adventure".
  • Trawn delivers one in "WTF" to those responsible for starting another Gamergate. WTF refuses to agree, until Aerynn clubs them.
  Trawn: Suē, you're not innocent! NJ, you're not innocent either! The rest of you are a thousand times worse! Yes, Suē has done some bad things! But so have the rest of you! So has everyone! The truth is, you can dig up dirt on anyone and make them look bad! If you really think this kind of mob persecution is justice, then you'd better be prepared to receive it! Any one of you could face this kind of treatment! No one deserves to be persecuted!! No one!!
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Nina Wing and Nathaniel Wing, respectively.
• Replacement Goldfish: Vicky becomes this for Narvel in "The New Adventures of the Nettropolis Narvel," after he ends up in a Sim Life in which he never became a superhero, since she resembles Girl Friday. The two of them eventually learn that she is Girl Friday, but became a Criminal Amnesiac after entering the Sim Life.
• Rule of Funny: Personified in Aerynn Arlia, Electric Wonderland's Magical Girl character with no apparent limits. Aerynn can literally do anything at any time, as long as it's amusing — usually with NJ as the victim.
• Schrödinger's Butterfly: "The New Adventures of the Nettropolis Narvel" starts off with Narvel performing typical superheroic duties, only to learn he's not really a superhero, but a madman who lived his whole life in a simulation chamber, to entertain viewers of a Venezuelan TV channel. However, he discovers his life wasn't a simulation, but the world in which he had no superpowers was.
  Girl Friday: How do I know this is reality?
  Aerynn: Trust me...it is!
• Secret Keepers: Trawn volunteers to keep Administration from finding out that Aerynn can perform witchcraft. The rest of the NFP staff follows suit.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story:
  • Aerynn and Shroomy (with NJ unwillingly providing occasional assistance during fight scenes) break into a database and face a Dark Magical Girl during "The Search For Parker," only to come up empty-handed after each place they visit.
  • "Day of the Fools" ends with Trawn losing her Race Against the Clock to warn Aerynn about a scan for hackers and magicians, then learning that those scans never detect Aerynn's powers.
• Shout-Out
  • Trawn's screenname and outfit are quite similar to those of the tile character of a certain Disney movie set in Cyberspace.
  • "Inevitable Christmas Adventure" contains numerous references to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
  • After Shroomy asks Aerynn if hacking into the Nonspecific Supply Co. database in "The Search For Parker" will prove dangerous, she answers, "It'll be Dangeresque..." Some Homestar Runner fans overhear and promptly decide to record this Shout-Out at the Homestar Wiki. (The comic soon did get mentioned there.)
    • That same comic page also contains a quote from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
  • Trawn organizes a celebration at "Weegee's Pizza" after catching the bomber in "LuLo".
  • The guy at the "Make a You a Robot" booth in Shroomy's flashback in "Wings" looks bears a strong resemblance to Classic Robotnik.
  • "The Time That People Forgot" reveals that NJ and Torro attended school at Julian Zavier's School For Ungifted Students.
  • One of NJ's and Torro's classmates in "The Time That People Forgot", Jodie Vasquez, has the same last name and initials as Jhonen Vasquez. Trevor's Heroic Sacrifice also evokes a scene from The Iron Giant.
  • "Shrooming with Shroomy" has Aerynn perform a Jeannie impression to teleport some VHS tapes to the NFP domain.
• Lady Not Appearing In The Tenth Anniversary Ensemble: The drawing Peter made for Platypus Comix's 10th anniversary includes all of the NFP founding staff members, except Trawn.
• Skintone Sclerae: Comics written from 2009-2010 have the NFP founders rendered with eyes containing off-white portions surrounding the pupils. Peter explained that adding a white portion didn't look good to him unless he could shape it into a perfect circle, but it didn't seem fitting to give these characters eyes with shades that matched their skin either.
• Sliding Scale of Gender Inequality: It scores 6. Currently among the heroes, women outnumber men 5:2, and men always seem to get the more unlikable character traits. NJ lampshaded the comic's abundance of women in "Valentine's Day Massacre".
• Speechbubbles Interruption: At the beginning of "In The Zone," word balloons from a conversation between NJ, Trawn, and Aerynn overlap the boxes recapping the comic's Cyberspace setting and main characters. Justified in that the boxes simply repeat information from comics the reader probably already read by this point.
• Spiritual Successor: One of the Platypus Comix books, containing stories Peter deemed too old and/or subpar to keep on his website, reportedly contains an unreleased Cyberspace-themed comic from the short-lived series Cocktails and Dreams.
• Stepford Smiler: Shroomy fits Type A.
• Super-Senses: Aerynn grants Trawn the ability to hear the private messages people send each other in "Day of the Fools".
• Take a Third Option: "WTF" ends with NJ recommending Suē get professional help for her constant lying. Fearing that the video game community would shun her if she admitted having psychological issues, she starts feeling compelled to choose between following his advice, or changing the subject. Instead, she punches NJ for making her affairs publicly known.
• Take This Job and Shove It: "Into Thin Aerynn" has NJ threaten to quit the Nettropolis Free Press after Aerynn gets chosen over him to become Trawn's Number Two. Aerynn forbids him from quitting that day.
• Tempting Fate: NJ's flashback in "Wings" of working in a department store includes a moment of his boss accusing him of alcoholism and sexism. NJ mentally wishes he were dead, then catches a virus one second later, that could very well have killed him (and everyone else in Nettropolis) if not for Natasha and Nathaniel Wing sending a cure.
• Terrible Interviewees Montage: "Valentine's Day Massacre" has one when the staff of the Nettropolis Free Press searches in vain for someone to make comics for their paper.
• Fourth Option Love Interest: "Valentine's Day Massacre" ends with the girls' crush flirting with Lululu.
• Three-Dimensional Episode: The covers to every issue are in legitimate 3-D, and work with either red-blue anaglyph glasses or a Nintendo 3DS.
• Throw the Dog a Bone:
  • Shroomy gets one in "Deviantaaargh". After she goes from woefully overlooked on deviantART, to receiving two consecutive Daily Deviations, ( both of which came as a result of Aerynn's hacking) to falling from a brief and high jump in fame, Moth-Grrl (one of deviantART's most popular artists of the time) still puts Shroomy on her friend list and congratulates her achievement.
  • Trawn arguably got one in "LuLo". The Nettropolis Free Press failed to become more famous because of the other reporters referring to her as an "anonymous informant", but she at least reunited with Natasha, and the two of them and Lululu got to capture the real bomber because of Trawn's "Eureka!" Moment.
• True Love's Kiss: In "The New Adventures of the Nettropolis Narvel," one of Narvel's kisses to Vicky helps the two of them return to the real Nettropolis.
• Tuckerization: Word of God says when defining the character of Trawn, Peter decided to model her in part after his friend Eileen Cruz, who founded Toon Zone. Cruz and Trawn have the same first name as a result. Also, Trawn's last name, Pecadillo, rhymes with Eileen Cruz's maiden name, Delgadillo.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: "Inevitable Christmas Adventure" has two subplots.
• Unfortunate Implications: Ling-Ling lampshaded in-universe the potential connection between her yellow costume and her race, and also pointed out that Ling-Ling isn't her real name.
• Useless Useful Spell: Aerynn casts one as she and Shroomy investigate a database in "The Search For Parker."
  Shroomy: Why can't you just make us invisible, create a sound-muting field so no one can hear us, and make us transparent so we could walk through walls?
  Aerynn: Yeah! Why don't I?
  (Aerynn casts the requested spell on herself and Shroomy, causing both of them to fall out of the building)
  Aerynn: ...Right. THAT'S why I don't do that...
• Wham Episode: "Into Thin Aerynn" brings Trawn's Conflicting Loyalty between Aerynn and Natasha to the forefront, and casts a darker light on the series' dominance of virtual relationships over physical ones.
• Wham Line: What Natasha says in the third-to-last panel of "The Search For Parker", after NJ tries to turn Aerynn in:
  You wanna fool someone, call a rookie next time. I'm rank AAA. I've fought at least a hundred magicians and taken a history course on thousands more. And I've never seen the fantasy you just cooked up. Ever. I've also studied the physics code for the Internet and over half the powers you told me are impossible. IM. POSSIBLE.
  • Aerynn gives another one in "Day of Fools".
• "What Now?" Ending: "Into Thin Aerynn" has one. Even though the staff of the NFP gets Aerynn back, it still seems uncertain how much time they have left until she gets arrested. Trawn has to bear the guilt of acting secretive towards one friend (Natasha) to ensure the safety of another (Aerynn). Natasha might also have to toss Trawn in jail if she ever finds her harboring a lawbreaker. Plus, it seems possible that the animosity between Aerynn and NJ has finally started cooling down after her return.
• Whole Episode Flashback:
  • "The Time That People Forgot" flashes back to when NJ, Torro, and their classmate Jodie had to survive The Wild West while playing an immersive version of The Oregon Trail.
  • "Puberty of the Future" follows the above trio's entry into ninth grade.
  • "Wings" consists of four flashbacks, one of which encompasses more than half of the comic.
• Whole-Plot Reference: "Friends of Lululu" serves as a parody of Captain Planet with a dash of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. This was reflected in its working title, "Commander Eco and the Eco-Teens."
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: During Parker's two month absence, Shroomy continued to deny the possibility that Parker didn't love her, even after he admitted coming back into her life for selfish desires.
• Willfully Weak: Aerynn admits at the end of "Day of Fools" that she practices a unique brand of magic, and often feels too scared to use its full potential.
• Witch with a Capital "B": NJ used this insult on Aerynn in "Formation Team Trawn".
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Lululu receives a wheelchair in "Friends of Lululu," but it gets stolen from her as she uses it outside for the first time.
• You Don't Look Like You:
  • Compare Natasha's appearance at the end of "The Search For Parker" with the design used from "LuLo" onward.
  • The fact the comic changed illustrators during its run raises the possibility that everyone has fallen victim to this.
• Zeerust: Sometimes, characters use technology dated by 2000s standards (such as Betamax tapes). Peter reportedly hopes that this will prevent any references that will date in the future from sticking out.

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