History GirlGenius / TropesAToE

** Krosp asks [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20240429 Martellus is trying to become Storm King]] when he already has a pretty decent smaller kingdom of beasts. The Storm King may be more prestigious, but none of the nobles will give a damn when he dies. He and his sparky beast subjects already have mutual loyalty to one another. Does he really want to risk the subjects that actually like him for a bigger crown?

* DropTheHammer: Hoffman's "[[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20150729 Kinetic Energy Accumulator]]". Whack things with it for a week, switch it to "Discharge", and obliterate clank vehicles with a hammer that looks like a toy (And break the waterworks in the surrounding block, which resulted in Master Voltaire confiscating it).

* BleachedUnderpants: A lot of ''Girl Genius'' is made up of brilliant little ideas that Foglio previously used in his pornographic work. The Jägers' speech pattern and dental work? From ''[=XXXenophile=]'': "A Beautiful Tail" and "My Favorite Oitling". Zeetha's jewelry, with the little faces that mimic whatever her current facial expression is? From ''[=XXXenophile=]'': "Blue Opal".

** ''Castle Wulfenbach'', of course.

* BenevolentDictator: Baron Klaus Wulfenbach is the head of a ''de facto'' military regime ruling over the European continent, which he built out of (more or less) brute force. Yet his rule is actually very moderate: citizens enjoy enough freedom of expression to openly mock him (to his [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20110516 amusement]]), he treats [=POWs=] [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20071207 remarkably well]], and the worst punishments (namely lobotomy) are saved for the worst criminals. He's only really a dictator in that he wasn't elected, and that his government keeps local monarchs in line with the threat of force. Keep in mind that time period [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040804 before]] his [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040806 empire]] was one of constant, brutal warfare that he ''single-handedly ended,'' and a mere [[spoiler:''two'' years after his regime collapsed, it's remembered as a [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20131021 "lost golden age of antiquity"]]]]. He's practically a textbook example of TheExtremistWasRight.

* DeaderThanDead: While DeathIsCheap in this universe (see below) you can only resurrect the person themselves, as opposed to merely the body, if their brain isn't damaged. Madame Olga dies when she's thrown from a cart and her head strikes a rock; while Klaus was able to fully restore her body, her brain was unsalvageable and he planned to install another one in what amounted to an empty shell. Professor Diaz [[ItMakesSenseInContext had his head smashed in with a marshmallow gun by Zola]], and his colleagues Mittelmind and Mezzasalma bluntly say there's no hope of reviving him and start planning to use his body for raw materials.

* DeaderThanDead: While DeathIsCheap in this universe (see below) you can only resurrect the person themselves, as opposed to merely the body, if their brain isn't damaged. Madame Olga died when she was thrown from a cart and her head struck a rock; while Klaus was able to fully restore her body, her brain was unsalvageable and he planned to install another one in what amounted to an empty shell. Professor Diaz [[ItMakesSenseInContext had his head smashed in with a marshmallow gun by Zola]], and his colleagues Mittelmind and Mezzasalma bluntly say there's no hope of reviving him and start planning to use his body for raw materials.

* DeaderThanDead: While DeathIsCheap in this universe (see below) you can only resurrect the person themselves, as opposed to merely the body, if their brain isn't damaged. For instance, Madame Olga died when she was thrown from a cart and her head struck a rock; while Baron Wulfenbach was able to fully restore her body, her brain was unsalvageable and he planned to install another one in what amounted to a blank shell. Professor Diaz [[ItMakesSenseInContext had his head smashed in with a marshmallow gun by Zola]], and his colleagues Mittelmind and Mezzasalma bluntly say there's no hope of reviving him and instantly start planning to use his body for raw materials.

* DeathIsCheap: The horrifying tendency towards murder that Sparks possess is made slightly less horrifying when you find out they can (under some circumstances) bring the dead back to life. Examples:

* CrapsackWorld: The world is dominated by people and things who'd fit right in with ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' Orks; a few years back the Other systematically leveled much of Europe using meteor-attacks before mysteriously falling silent. The only thing keeping things mostly in check is anti-villain dictator Klaus, who is quite willing to level cities in order to achieve such. His territory is described as containing a lot of empty space despite being central Europe, is littered with forgotten but highly-lethal Spark inventions, and walled-in cities are the closest one comes to safe. To quote the Secret Blueprints;

** The Spark itself. If you have it, you can warp the laws of physics with the contents of the average [[LockingMacGyverInTheStoreCupboard Store Cupboard]]. Bad part? ''[[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity You go insane to varying degrees whenever you do it]]''. The natural result of that is that most Sparks, and Agatha in particular, have to deal with being shunned, used, or attacked by most everyone they meet. And that's if they don't get killed by one of their own creations. Or get the TorchesAndPitchforks treatment.

** [[AxCrazy Bangladesh DuPree]]. Don't let her [[FauxAffablyEvil cheerful attitude]] or status as perhaps [[EvilIsSexy the most consistently fully-clothed female]] semi-regular throw you. She's probably the most AxCrazy evil non-Spark in the series.

** [[Lucrezia's]] scenes are cut entirely; they are only ever referred to in the past tense.

** As Violetta points out though Gil and Agatha would be problematic in terms of getting married because Agatha would have to give up much of her power and they would have to be careful in terms of the proposal, while Tarvek is much more at Agatha's level politically and is a skilled manipulater and can craft treaties.

** Heterodynes are a family of powerful [[MadScientist Sparks]] with a signature hereditary ability of "heterodyning" or humming a specific way to completely tune out all distraction, who were feared and hated even among others of their own kind, to say nothing about the rest of the continent. They created Castle Heterodyne – an omnipotent sentient SupervillainLair with a dark sense of humor and Jägermonsters – scientifically modified SuperSoldiers, completely loyal to the house Heterodyne. Then Bill and Barry happened. They redeemed their family’s name by travelling across Europa and defeating monsters and evil Sparks, and were considered the greatest heroes of their generation. There is also the latest scion, Agatha – a powerful Spark in her own right who is just beginning to make her indelible mark on the world.

** Lord Bunstable is explaining to Agatha why people were up in arms over Professor Tobin's research into higher dimensions and the implication that intelligent, higher-order life exists. Agatha can't understand why anyone would be concerned, since the only way such beings would even known humanity exists would be if humans interfered with some fundamental force, like gravity... [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20180629 or time.]]

* ExtremelyShortTimeSpan: While there's a time skip of two years just before the change of story arcs, for Agatha, Violetta, Krosp and Tarvek the story from Volume 5 onward takes place over the span of about a ''month.''

** A single panel in the middle of a flashback showed Tarvek [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090921 held prisoner by DuPree]]. ''Many'' strips later, Tarvek [[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20120222 runs into her]] much to his horror.