History ComicStrip / BeetleBailey

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* WardrobeMalfunction: The Army supply corps ended up from an unfortunate order mixup delivering pajama bottoms instead of standard army pants to Camp Swampy (which the corps refused to amend their mistake by rationalizing that they are "two legs, same thing, pal!"), and it is implied that this is not the first time such a tragic mixup happened (General Halftrack, when seeing their... new wardrobe, mutters in exasperation "First the berets, now THIS?!")

* UnusualEuphemism: [[http://beetlebailey.com/comics/january-4-2015/ The January 4, 2015 strip]] has the base chaplain suggest to Sarge that he use the word [[BriffitsAndSqueans "grawlix"]] in place of profanity. As in the actual word "grawlix"

* SexySecretary: Ms. Buxley has been known to set the general's hair on fire, literally, or ignite rockets when he sees her in a bikini. (See the Rule 34 entry below, most of it is intentional.) Not that she's some dumb blonde, seeing as she has far more brains than her boss does.

* HeroicBuild, HeroicChin: Sarge has a nightmare in which Beetle appears with these (which also counts as NonstandardCharacterDesign) and upon waking upon waking up remarks he's been reading too many superhero comic books.

-->1. The officers, and Sarge, receive a written order from the general, with one obvious spelling error that changes the meaning completely.
-->2. Someone points out what the general probably meant to say (tanks, not tacks, tooth check, not toot check, guns, not buns, etc.)
-->3. Someone else asks: "But who dares to tell the general that he did a mistake?" Rhetorically, since nobody ever dares to tell the general this. To simply just ignore the mistake is never considered an option, as this would technically be insubordination.
-->4. The officers carry out the order, exactly the way it's written, even though they know that it makes no sense. The general is upset anyway, but at least he's not upset because anybody told him he did a mistake, which is...better?

* GoodAngelBadAngel: Beetle has got a [[http://beetlebailey.com/comics/july-28-1996/ shoulder angel, shoulder devil, shoulder hippie, shoulder diplomat, shoulder wasteland punk]] and who knows what else.

* DumbButDiligent: Zero from gets his nickname from his simple-minded behavior. However, he is very dedicated to his work, despite not always understanding Sarge's orders.

** Killer peeks through a knothole at some women at a swimming pool. Next, people are wondering how he managed to get his head stuck on the other side of the hole, which is just the size of his neck (his neck being drawn as very thin as usually). When someone says it's impossible, Beetle says that "''he's'' impossible."
** Sarge comes into the lounge and announces he wants to watch football on TV. The others try to convince him the football season is over, but he picks up the set and shouts "I WANT $#?!@ FOOTBALL!", shaking it until he gets a football game. "The scary part is that he sees this as perfectly normal."

** According to a one-off strip, when deprived of food he gets even stronger. He also turns a greenish shade and goes berserk in his pursuit of sustenance. "Look out! It's [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk the Incredible Bulk]]!"

It's got an incredibly diverse cast that increases as the years go by, possibly in attempts to boost low ratings or to keep up with the times. The comic used to deal with military issues that were either somewhat relevant, or were funny to those who were already in the army. The series is now run by Mort Walker's son, and much of the tone and theme of the strip has divorced itself from reality in terms of having Beetle and his fellow soldiers remain stationed within the US, oblivious to wars waged in the Middle East.

* BlindingBangs: Beetle's old but since disappeared friend in the army Bammy had these, making him a little like Beetle in never showing his eyes.

It's got an [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters incredibly diverse cast]] that increases as the years go by, possibly in attempts to boost low ratings or to keep up with the times. The comic used to deal with military issues that were either somewhat relevant, or were funny to those who were already in the army. The series is now run by Mort Walker's son, and much of the tone and theme of the strip has divorced itself from reality in terms of having Beetle and his fellow soldiers remain stationed within the US, oblivious to wars waged in the Middle East.

As said before, there's a [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters rich cast of characters]], but here's a list of the ones most commonly seen:

* FMinusMinus: When training to be a cook, Cookie reportely ranked 50th out of a class of twenty-five.[[note]]At least in a Finnish translation. It's the kind of joke that could have been changed in translation.[[/note]]

'''Ms. Buxley:''' General Halftrack's [[SexySecretary beautiful secretary.]] She used to be as [[BrainlessBeauty dumb as a post]], but has [[CharacterDevelopment developed]] some since the whole [[MediaWatchdog sexism criticism thing]]. She usually works with [[SassySecretary Private Blips]], [[GadgeteerGenius Chip Gizmo]], and the officers of the camp. She seems to be [[StrangledByTheRedString dating Beetle now,]] even though there wasn't much to their relationship [[LastMinuteHookup before a few years ago.]] Halftrack's other assistant is a mature and rather plain woman called Private Blips. For unknown reasons, she has appeared in every Wednesday strip but four since her introduction.

* BigBallOfViolence: Almost any Sarge/Beetle fight. Beetle also manages to make one by himself, when it appears he has attacked Sarge but is not even touching him because he's not ''that'' crazy. (They're sometimes portrayed as able to have a fight; sometimes so that Sarge is far superior.)

* WimpFight: A fight between Julius and Rocky is shown as pretty hopeless fist-poking. That's understandable with Julius, who's one of the wimpiest characters around -- someone once remarked that if he and Lt. Fuzz were to fight, both would lose -- but it's odd for Rocky, an ex-gang member and PsychoForHire wannabe.

* SirSwearsALot: Sgt. Snorkel is heavily implied to be the worst swear offender in the camp. He does lose a swearing contest once when his opponent hits him with something rendered as '''CENSORED'''. That's right, they couldn't even show the {{symbol|Swearing}} for it.

** In one especially egregious example, [[https://disqus.com/home/discussion/comicskingdom/beetle_bailey_2019_08_02/#comment-4562977296 this strip]] has a flashback of Halftrack being a second lieutenant in ''1989''. To put this in perspective, in the real world 1989, Bettle Bailey had been ruinning in newspapers for nearly four decades at that time.

** A more recent and noticeable example is [[http://www.rankopedia.com/CandidatePix/125408.gif Captain Sam Scabbard]]. He actually used to be a quite important character in that he was the Sarge's StraightMan, but then his appearances became increasingly more rare, and now he hasn't appeared for such a long time that he may very well be forgotten by the creators.

* MeanBoss: General Halftrack just can't take criticism. Which can be a real problem, because he's also [[PointyHairedBoss an inept boss]]. The only person in a uniform who ever dares to tell him the truth is Ms. Blips, who often finds herself playing the part of the [[TheJester court jester]].

* CharacterDevelopment: A few strips in the comic's first years portrayed PVT Blips as out-ditzing Ms. Buxley (such as calling the firefighters when Sarge loudly exclaimed "'''Fire!'''" during a shooting session, which, by the way, was [[RecycledScript recycled]] for Ms. Buxley). [[StatusQuoIsGod Everybody else, though...]]

** Beetle's girlfriend from college, Buzz, stayed around for a while after he went into the army, but then was forgotten. (She showed up in a strip with a RecycledScript in 2008 or so, which may have been some kind of ContinuityNod, and was almost appropriate since the strip involved a letter about old stuff back home.) At some point, he started dating a new girl called Bunny; since about 2002 or so, she's also vanished without a trace.

** Due to the amounts of [[RelationshipWritingFumble accidental]] HoYay (Or FoeYay) between them, Beetle and Sarge can get this from readers.

* [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything The Soldiers Who Don't Do Anything]]: By WordOfGod, the strip is specifically about the foibles of the ''peacetime'' army. Accordingly, we never see the soldiers do any soldiering. They have sometimes appeared crawling on the ground in the middle of what could be real combat with no context given, but given the general context of the strip, this was unlikely to be anything other than practice.

* WatchThePaintJob: If Sarge's jeep is not breaking down or otherwise in a state of disrepair, its being abused by the main characters....which probably explains its condition in the first place.

The comic was [[MediaWatchdog criticized]] fairly often through the years due to the sexist way women were portrayed. Though the creator has taken steps to fix this, some [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar sexist aspects]] still remain.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** Some strips have occasionally sneaked in a sexual joke, though the trope is also averted: Mort Walker drew several strips that threw the radar out the window as they contained nudity, blatant sexual jokes or even sexual ''actions'', but they were never allowed to go further than the drafting stage. In some countries, however, particularly Scandinavian ones, said drafts were released for fans to read under the label of "too risky" content. To give examples, one draft had Zero being implied to masturbate, while another had Louise Lugg appearing to give Sarge fellatio. Another featured Miss Buxley having a "nightmare" of fleeing naked from an equally naked General Halftrack while he had an erection. And the list goes on.
** One finished strip that ''somehow'' made it past the censors had General Halftrack hinting with a big grin to his wife that he wanted to have sex, with her answering that "it" was "too long and hard." Halftrack proudly questions this only for her to explain that she was talking about a cake she was baking.
** From the 2nd panel of the [[https://comicskingdom.com/beetle-bailey-1 August 27, 2018]] edition (after Beetle wrecks Sarge's Jeep):
-->'''Killer''': "You opened a can of [[IncrediblyLamePun whoop-US]], Beetle!"
** In a strip made by Walker's sons, Miss Buxley heavily implies that she and Beetle has sex as she complains how "Last night he fell asleep on my chest."