History Webcomic / SkinDeep

* SuperpowerLottery: Bugbears. Enhanced strength, magic powers that allow them to do a lot (at least, [[RuleOfFunny as long as it's funny]]), possible teleportation, and absolute awareness of every non-bugbear sentient being around them for miles. They could probably take over the planet if they were interested in using their powers for any purpose besides {{troll}}ing people.

* SuperpowerLottery: Bugbears. Enhanced strength, magic powers, possible teleportation, and absolute awareness of every non-bugbear sentient being around them for miles. They could probably take over the planet if they were interested in using their powers for any purpose besides {{troll}}ing people.

* {{Youkai}}: Yokai are a type of magical creatures related to North American spirit animals -- they're not immediate relatives, but they're closer to each other than either is to, for instance, European mythical. They tend to be highly magical and long-lived, and known varieties include [[AsianFoxSpirit Kitsunes]] and tsuchinokos.

** Gabe is bossy, arrogant and hostile towards everyone, but he works hard to keep people safe.

* MeaningfulName: Implied to be the case in-universe; the Rakasha that they met was ''absolutely delighted'' to discover that [[spoiler:the female sphinx Jocasta's name had survived '''centuries''' and passed down to Michelle]]. The way he spoke about the name, it seems that there ''might'' be something important about the Jocasta family name.

** [[spoiler: Later in ''Illumination'', it was revealed that the old family 'curse' isn't a curse, but rather a ''gift.'' Apparently, Jim has the [[ElementalPowers "magic of Earth"]], and Colin, [[ElementalPowers water, a "versatile element"]]. Unfortunately the Rakasha that bestowed the original blessing has been negligent in informing later generations.]]

''[[http://www.skindeepcomic.com/archive/illumination-page-1/ Illumination]]'' takes the Missouri Crew (Michelle, Greg, and Merial) to England to meet Jim's family... and to search for clues to the mystery of the sphinx.

!! ''Skin Deep'' contains examples of:

* {{Youkai}}: Yokai are a type of magical creatures related to North American spirit animals -- they're not immediate relatives, but they're closer to each other than either is to, for instance, European mythical. They tend to be highly magical and long-lived, and known varieties include {{Kitsune}}s and tsuchinokos.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: [[http://www.skindeepcomic.com/characters-2/ These guys]], and there's more that haven't been introduced yet!

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Jim, as the result of a supposed curse that runs through his family line, has green hair. [[spoiler: And as of ''Illumination,'' we now know that Colin Finn has blue hair]]. As it turns out, this isn't exactly a curse at all -- the Finn family [[spoiler:was given the ability to spontaneously manifest ElementalPowers once or twice a generation, and the hair serves as an outward sign of this, but this was forgotten a few generations back]].

* ItsPronouncedTropay: Meee-shell, just like the Beatles song, which her father loved to sing to her as a child.

* RealityEnsues:
** In [[http://www.skindeepcomic.com/archive/illumination-3-page-14/ this]] strip, Michelle shows herself to the elders that she is a sphinx, to the expected shock and surprise. Madame U's reaction shot is her simply sitting there, because she had earlier been established as being blind.
** Ravi reveals [[spoiler:that the Finn curse was a gift he put in that enables some people in the line to use magic]] and then [[spoiler:criticises the family for being unaware that it was a gift and was more of a case of CursedWithAwesome, then lectures them as if they are children for not properly comprehending what he tasked Phineas's line with centuries ago]]. Naturally, the family gets ''quite'' annoyed with this and respond ''exactly'' the way you would expect them to in that situation.

** Ike Sanford gets a lot of prejudice because he's half-buggane and half-manticore. Worse, his own mother Lynn is a vicious bigot with no filter, and is very open about her disdain for non-bugganes and her disapproval of Ike being romantically involved with a "feline" -- [[{{Hypocrite}} her own past tryst with a manticore notwithstanding]]. Ike's girlfriend Rhonda is determined to make Lynn's prejudice as self-punishing as possible, hence the title of the side-story ''Kill Them With Kindness''.

* ElementalHair: The hair color of [[spoiler:Finn family members who inherit the Finn curse match whichever element they're attuned to -- Phineas had a red mane to go with his fire powers, Jim's green hair matches his plant-based magic and Colin' blue hair symbolizes his water magic. Phineas' blue-haired daughter, presumably, also controlled water. This is a more literal example than most, as the hair will literally transform into the matching element when it's cut -- Jim's hair turns into foliage and Colin's into droplets of water, for examples.]]

* LieToTheBeholder: WordOfGod's explanation for how the shapeshifting medallions operate, both by the author and in-universe characters. [[BellisariosMaxim Try not to think too hard]] about some of the specifics.

* TheMasquerade: There's a whole secret culture comprised of mythical creatures, but it's kept secret from humanity, mostly out of a vague fear that TheWorldIsNotReady. It's an unusually low-key Masquerade, though, because they don't go to [[LaserGuidedAmnesia extreme]] [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade lengths]] to keep humans away; they just try to make their [[HiddenElfVillage Avalons]] inconspicuous and scare off any humans who manage to find one, and if a human gets past those obstacles then they're expected to keep it a secret as well but not threatened with dire consequences for breaking the Masquerade. [[CassandraTruth It's not very likely that someone who blabbed the secret would be believed]], so they probably don't ''need'' to do much more.