History Webcomic / CtrlAltDel

The comic alternated its updates between story-based strips and video game-specific ones, until on November 24, 2012 the comic [[http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20121124 concluded its main storyline, wrapping up the stories of Ethan, Lilah, Lucas, and Zeke]]. Following this conclusion, [[{{Retool}} the comic has become almost exclusively video-game jokes]], now starring the four colored players [[AscendedExtra previously seen in occasional earlier joke strips.]]

* BestBeforeDecade: Ethan consumes breakfast cereal that expired in May 1985. Lucas hypothesizes that consuming mold-culture cereal has made Ethan more delusional and sociopathic than usual.

* FastRoping: The sheer amount of places that you can do in the RainbowSix: Vegas games is jokingly explained [[http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20080321 here]].

* BrotherChuck: Scott may as well be, seeing as he was never officially PutOnABus. For that matter, when was the last time we saw Chef Brian?

* TheUnfavorite: [[http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20091118 Ethan.]]

** Faildruid, a hapless WorldOfWarcraft player/character who happens to be [[EverythingsWorseWithBears a bear]] (and later an [[DungeonsAndDragons owl-bear]]). His crime is basically being a very naive newbie.

* EverythingsWorseWithBears: Poor [[ButtMonkey Fail]][[TheWoobie druid]].

* WebComicTime: One day in Buckley's world equals ''at least'' four months in real life. [[WordOfGod Buckley]] says he draws the plot out so people doing {{Archive Binge}}s can spend more time with the story. The oddest manifestation of this is [[spoiler: Ethan saving the day with a cellphone that ''didn't exist'' commercially before the arc started.]]

** Before the {{revamp}} the alt-text was just repeating the name of the strip. Post-revamp, it's now the de facto name of the strip since they're now untitled.

* AltText / FootnoteFever: The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjnozEUrmek Annotated Series]].

The comic tends to alternate its updates between story-based strips and video game-specific ones. On November 24, 2012 the comic [[http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20121124 concluded its main storyline, wrapping up the stories of Ethan, Lilah, Lucas, and Zeke]]. Following this conclusion, [[{{Retool}} the comic has become almost exclusively video-game jokes]], now starring the four colored players [[AscendedExtra previously seen in occasional earlier joke strips.]]

The comic tends to alternate its updates between story-based strips and video game-specific ones. On November 24, 2012 the comic [[http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20121124 concluded it main storyline, wrapping up the stories of Ethan, Lilah, Lucas, and Zeke.]] Following this conclusion, [[{{Retool}} the comic has become almost exclusively video-game jokes]], now starring the four colored players [[AscendedExtra previously seen in occasional earlier joke strips.]]

The comic tends to alternate its updates between story-based strips and video game-specific ones. On November 24, 2012 the comic [[http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20121124 concluded it main storyline, wrapping up the stories of Ethan, Lilah, Lucas, and Zeke.]] Following this conclusion, the comic has become almost exclusively video-game jokes, now starring the four colored players [[AscendedExtra previously seen in occasional earlier joke strips.]]

The comic tends to alternate its updates between story-based strips and video game-specific ones.

* ArtEvolution: An incredibly slow one, but it's happening nonetheless, at least with regards to using some different angles and new expressions.

* CerebusSyndrome: Since the miscarriage, there have been more purely dramatic strips and less gags.

* CutAndPasteComic: To a fairly large degree, especially during a con demonstration of how he works his comics, it's shown that he ''keeps a file full of different eyes and mouths to copy and paste from, along with differently shaded body parts''. Seems to be appearing less and less recently. Although in the earlier strips you could tell that Lucas and Barry; Ethan's former boss at the game store had the exact same hair, or that he drew women like Lilah and Emma that looks virtually the same, bar hair and clothes.

* DramaBomb: See JumpingTheShark below.

* StatusQuoIsGod: Recently {{averted}}. Things were looking bad for Ethan for a while but now that the marriage has happened and Ethan apparently owns the game store, status quo isn't the word.

* TwoGamersOnACouch: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the very first comic, even. They eventually get armchairs, but whatever.

* TheMerch: Mostly character and Wintereenmass T-Shirts, although those [[BattlestarGalactica "Starbuck's Fresh Roasted Cylon"]] mugs might be a bit iffy.

* XanatosGambit: Christian buying the video game store, which was all part of a scheme to [[spoiler:steal Lilah away from Ethan]].

* BecomingTheMask: Meta example, but the current SomethingAwful mock thread has moved on to drawing fan art ([[AWorldwidePunomenon ban art]]) of Buckley's characters, often in an attempt to fix the flaws in his writing/art/characterisation. This has led to the horrible realisation:

Not to be confused with the three-finger-salute/[[StarTrek Vulcan Nerve Pinch]].

* GISSyndrome: One of the more prominent users. YourMileageMayVary on its effectiveness.

* PaleSkinnedBrunette: Lucas, [[strike:concentration camp Lucas]] Barry (Ethan's old boss), [[strike:Scott]], Lucas' murderous girlfriend, Christian's agent Shannon, and Abby the GamerChick who's gaming Ethan (does the author have some kind of thing against brunette women?).

--> '''Ryan Sohmer:''' "We produced Ctrl+Alt+Del season one. Never again. Lost HUGE amounts of money."

---> We ''are'' the CAD fans!

* CharacterDevelopment / CharacterDerailment: [[spoiler: Ethan suddenly acquires competence when he uses his cellphone as a wire. It's been theorized that this has something to do with Ethan and Lilah moving from boyfriend-girlfriend to married couple, where Ethan's behavior wouldn't really work. Or he did it as part of his daily seven seconds of focus.]]

* [=~Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like~=]: Ethan reacts to being saved from the mafia by Rory by being outright furious. Somewhat justified since Rory caused the mafia to show up in the first place, but that he reacts this way just a couple of seconds after Rory had saved him from bodily harm, and maybe even death, by knocking out the mobsters, makes Ethan seem angry about being saved.

* TheMafia:[[spoiler: The ''Hawaiian'' mafia no less.]]

* OrwellianEditor: Several characters have been removed from the series, some with explinations ([[PutOnABus Zeke, Embla]]), some without ([[BrotherChuck Scott, Ted, Chef Brian]]). Regardless, no matter what, [[{{unperson}} if you mention any of those characters on the CAD forums, you're banned for life.]]
* PaleSkinnedBrunette: Lucas, [[strike: concentration camp Lucas]] Barry (Ethan's old boss), [[strike: Scott]], Lucas' murderous girlfriend, Christian's agent Shannon, and Abby the GamerChick who's gaming Ethan (does the author have some kind of thing against brunette women?).

* ScheduleSlip: Notably averted. One thing you have to give Ctrl+Alt+Del is that it's good about sticking to schedule.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: Kate does this to Lucas [[spoiler: by showing up for their date in a fat suit; she wants a guy who doesn't care about appearances]], and it appears that he passes [[spoiler: subverted in that his thoughts show he clearly doesn't, which leads to a BrokenAesop.]]

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* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Ethan borders between this and RalphWiggum.