.The Misadventures of Gerbil provides examples of:
- The Ace: Ace is so good, he makes it better by just being there!
- All There in the Manual: A lot of background info is given in the commentaries.
- Author Avatar: He never interacts with the character, only with the reader. He would be just a narrator if he hadn’t been given a face in his first appearance. Appears now and then to explain something to the reader.
- Burger Fool: Responds to a certain cat.
- Brawn Hilda: A very skinny one.
- The Bully: Well, sort of. Bill and Ted switch roles as nerd and bully from time to time.
- Bully and Wimp Pairing: Bill and Ted.
- The Cheerleader: Amy is a superhero cheerleader.
- Embarrassing First Name: Downplayed, as Heinz is only a reasonably embarrassing name. Played more straight with Gerbil.
- Fun with Acronyms: GUS.
- Girl Posse: The Valley Girl has one that marches.
- Horny Vikings: In the opera.
- Hypocritical Humor: A stick figure complains about XKCD in this comic.
- Lethal Chef: Ms. Hag, the lunch lady.
- Loads and Loads of Characters: So far the only plot is,Gerbil being introduced to new characters.
- McDonald's: With the golden arch upside down, so that it forms a W.
- New Transfer Student: Gerbil is introduced this way.
- School Idol: Two are mentioned, a boy and a girl.
- School Newspaper News Hound: “Deep School” is one.
- Second Year Protagonist: Inverted. The protagonist is a New Transfer Student, but everyone else is second year.
- Terrible Artist: Discussed. In the very first comic, the artist warns for his art skills, which he then shows by drawing a sandcastle.Caption: "(It’s a sandcastle. Am I that bad?)"
- Unfortunate Names: Gerbilliam Überwurst Sandwich.
- Valley Girl
- World of Weirdness: Shows hints of this, with a superhero cheerleader as a secondary character. So far, it’s more about general weirdness.
- The Verse: Called the Gerbilverse. The artist seems to have an obsession with background info.
