Level 30 Psychiatry
is a webcomic hosted on
ComicFury that asks "Have you ever noticed how insane video game characters are?" quickly followed by "What if they had a scrap of common sense and got professional help?"
The titular practice is run by Dr. Gardevoir, a
Gardevoir who has somehow
"broken through the language barrier" to help those who have lost their minds (or never had them in the first place) to reintegrate into society. Other main characters include
Roll, the head of the MM Memorial Hospital and Gardevoir's friend,
Head Nurse Chansey, who has to deal with the physical problems,
former galactic hero and current bumbling janitor Roger Wilco and airheaded Trainee Nurse
Audino.
While most comics are separate entities there are intermittent arcs.
- Another Side: The stress of the job is beginning to get to Gardevoir.
- Olympics: A tie -in to the then-current London Olympic Games.
- Home Visit: Audino has a nightmare and decides to sleep over at Gardevoir's place
- Hire Expectations: After mistaking an ad-placing for part of the Job System, Black Mage and White Mage join the hospital staff.
Updates Friday/Saturday. Late updates are accompanied with "apology sprite comics" featuring author avatars of the creators.
Tropes include:
- Accessory Wearing Pokemon: Chansey and Audino wear Nurse's hats when on the job and Audino wears a night cap to go to sleep.
- Action Bomb: As a Creeper shows us, it's not a lot of fun when you have a nervous disposition.
- After the End: The series takes place in a world created from the fused fragments of other worlds after an event known as The VG Cataclysm.
- All Psychology Is Freudian: Discussed. Gardevoir mentions that Freud's theories are outdated but since they're well know they end up being what most game characters are based on, meaning she has to resort to them.
- Alt Text
- And Then What?: Doubles as an Armour Piercing Question:
Gardevoir: Do you even know what to do when you defeat [Mario]?
Bowser: No...
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Gardevior disbelieves that Audino managed to find her place just by following her breathing, despite being having psychic powers and a best friend who's a Super Powered Robot Meter Maid.
- Art Evolution: Due to increasing personnel added to the comic the style has changed a lot in the first 10 installments. For comparison here's the comic when done by Guybrush20X6 in pencil◊, when done by GigaNerd17 on the lineart, text and coloring and with GigaNerd on the lineart, TheMightyBox doing the colouring and Guybrush20X6 on the text.
- And now the line art is all done with a tablet.
- Big Screwed-Up Family: Solid Snake and his family have issues, to say the least.
- Black Dude Dies First: Conversed by Pyramid Head.
- Bound and Gagged: Sakura has to pull this to get Dan into the office.
- Butt Monkey: Roger Wilco. In his second appearance he is killed by a Witch. Gardevoir's lines indicate it's not the first time this sort of thing has happened.
- Call Back: The comic introducing Nurse Chansey is called "To ER is Human..." The comic introducing Nurse Audino is called "...to Forgive, Asinine".
- Character Blog: Nurse Audino has a Facebook page where she posts her insights.
- The Cobbler's Children Have No Shoes: Gardevoir seems to have an idea of what's wrong with her, but as the only psychologist in the series, she can't really get a second opinion.
- Continuity Snarl: In-Universe. The Street Fighter writer's differing views on whether or not Charlie is alive really puts the strain on Guile.
- Culture Clash: Duke Nukem doesn't really get Pokémon battles.
- The Ditz: Audino lives up to her name.
- Fourth Wall Mail Slot: Dr. Gardevoir has a Comic Fury account and can be messaged at her link. (Comic Fury account required.)
- Freudian Couch: It's been destroyed twice, once by a Creeper and again by Bowser. Gardevoir orders them in bulk.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Gardevoir wears a night gown at bedtime despite not wearing anything normally. It was lampshaded in the second strip she wore it in.
- Have a Nice Death: Even if he's not the main character, Roger Wilco gets snarky comments from a text box when he dies.
- Hard On Soft Science: Inverted. Gardevoir doesn't think highly of physicists but that has more to do with the fact the ones at Black Mesa keep sending head crabs into her office.
- Heroic BSOD: Silver the Hedgehog suffers one when his warnings of a Bad Future are ignored in favour of the Olympics.
- High Pressure Blood: Roger Wilco, after the aforementioned death.
- Hold Your Hippogriffs: "Can't look a gift-Rapidash in the mouth."
- Ink Blot Test: Done with Eggman who mostly sees his foes in pain.
- Interactive Narrator: Like in Space Quest, Roger Wilco's narrator is this but it goes to the point where he has a conversation with Chansey.
- I Owe You My Life: Gardevior apparently saved Roll's life at some point in the comic's backstory. Gardevior takes a Think Nothing of It approach to it.
- “Jump Off a Bridge” Rebuttal: Gardevoir tries this on the Sniper and it backfires.
Glasses Gardevoir: Has that cliff jumping question ever worked?
- Ken Masters in the Mirror: Rufus.
- Lightning Can Do Anything: Invoked and Subverted. Gardevoir and Roll try it to cure Gardevoir's Hollywood schizophrenia but all it does is make Gardevoir's hair stand on end.
- Living Prop: Arakune is forever on a chair in the waiting room.
- Motor Mouth: Ellis, to the point that Gardevoir charges an extra $30 an hour for him.
- Mummy Wrap: A Cofagricus pulls an accidental version of this on Gardevoir.
- Mythology Gag: Roll being in charge of the hospital is a reference to the instruction manual of Tatsunoko Vs Capcom which stated Roll's dream was to one day open a hospital.
- A second nod to the game comes when her bio mentions beating dark gods to death with a broom.
- Non Sequitur Thud: Black Mage sings The Ballad Of Bilbo Baggins while full of tranquilizers.
- Oh My Gods!: Gardevious swears on Arceus' name.
- Opening Narration: The first comic has a narration which explains the background and premise that turns out to be Roll reading aloud a flyer for the titular business.
- Painting the Medium: In the Peanuts parody, Gardevoir's speech is in Peanuts font.
- Pokémon Speak: Averted by Gardevoir who speaks plain English and played straight, though translated, by every other Pokémon.
- Pun-Based Title: Most of the comics have one to the point that significant ones can be identified by the fact they don't.
- Real Is Brown: Referenced in the Alt Text of "Another Side: Wait, what?":
"Apparently, hallucinations have the same color palette as third person shooters."
- Respawning Enemies: The explanation for Waddle Dee's Unexplained Recovery.
- Robot Girl: Roll, and she's a Ridiculously Human Robot to boot.
- Rocket Jump: Unfortunately for the Soldier, Reality Ensued.
Soldier: The what now?
- Seen It All: Chansey's reaction to some of gaming's more bizarre status effects indicates this, though it's defied by her opening Internal Monologue.
"If you think you've seen it all, you've underestimated people's ability to find new ways to hurt themselves."
- Silent Protagonist: Link shows us how difficult this makes psychiatry.
- Species Surname: Dr. Gardevoir appears to be this, under typical naming conventions.
- Split Personality: Gardevoir has one in a mini-arc, Another Side. It seems the other side of her personality, Glasses Gardevoir, is an embodiment of her more collected and "want to be a better doctor" side, as she is always level-headed and examining Gardevoir's problems. Gardevoir is the only one who can see or hear her.
- Standard Status Effects: Chansey has to deal with some pretty unstandard conditions.
- Strongly Worded Letter: Gardevoir's response to a Head Crab attack.
Black Mesa is going to receive another strongly worded letter about this.
- Talking Pokémon: Dr. Gardevoir.
- Talking to Themself: Gardevoir.
- Time Police: Taking his original role to the logical extreme, Mr. Resseti.
- There Are No Therapists: Averting this is the basic premise but played weirdly for Gardevoir herself. She tries giving herself therapy and it backfires.
- They Killed Kenny Again: Take Wilco's penchant for getting killed, add some 1-up mushrooms and you've got this trope.
Gardevoir: The worst part is, when Roger comes back to life, he'll have to mop up his own shredded remains.
- Trauma Inn: Referenced in the tagline.
Because not all problems can be solved by sleeping at an inn.
- Waxing Lyrical: It turns out Tail's theme from Sonic Adventure was a pretty accurate psychiatric assessment.
- Who's on First?: Audino gets into this routine with Chansey. Lampshaded by Gardevoir as Chansey hits her head against the wall.
Gardevoir: What is this, Vaudeville?
- You Gotta Have Green Hair: Mocked by the Scout, taking no notice of his tower of ludicrous hats.
0 reviews 