Line #24 Webcomic/Academia


1	[[quoteright:342:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/academiaimage_2179.JPG]]
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3	->'''Stephen''': I used to be a serious scientist.\
4	'''Pasha''': And then you moved in with ''me''.
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6	''Academia '', "the webcomic for the intellectual in all of us", is a [[SliceOfLifeWebcomics slice-of-life webcomic]] about a pair of undergraduate students with different majors and different outlooks, who [[OddCouple live together]] in Toronto. Stephen Janzen Gould is a high-strung, prickly ambitious student of neurobiology and immunology, who is making a genuine effort to be a more pleasant person to be around without compromising his academic future, and dealing with a minor inferiority complex. Pavel "Pasha" Moskowitz is a gigantic and affable Russian Jew with a double major in music and philosophy, easygoing but for his nightmares of ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]'' and the occasional philosophical quandary.
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8	Supporting characters include Gloriana Muruthi, Stephen's lab partner, Jack Fortinbras, her roommate (who is awesome), Ida Portinari, a snarky figure skater, and Zelig, Pasha's pet coconut octopus.
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10	This being a series about the different mindsets of different types of university student, GeniusBonus abounds, naturally.
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12	You can read it [[http://academia.thecomicseries.com/ here]]. The comic debuted in September 2012 and the last comic was posted in May 2013 before the comic stopped updating without any explanation.
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14	----
15	!! This comic provides examples of:
16	* TheAce: Jack Fortinbras is better than you.
17	* AnimalTesting: Stephen wants to run some tests on Zelig the octopus.
18	* ArtShift: Pasha's dream sequences are done in the style of Creator/GustaveDore 's illustrations for ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''.
19	* AuthorAppeal: In-universe. Pasha comments that, since Dante's guide through the Inferno was Virgil, his should probably be J.K. Rowling.
20	* BigEater: Pasha. "I ''love'' cream eggs." Although it's implied he keeps kosher about food.
21	* TheBigGuy: Pasha
22	* BerserkButton: Stephen's is apparently the colloquial misinterpretation of the word "[[GravityIsOnlyATheory theory]]"
23	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Ana's character page tells us that she's an example of this. Presumably it will come into play later on.
24	* BreadEggsBreadedEggs: "Kids today with their rap music and their iPods and their cephalopods and their... [=cephaloiPods=]..."
25	* ContemplateOurNavels: "Fucking philosophy students."
26	* CargoShip: In-universe. Pasha's breakup with his reading glasses.
27	* CirclesOfHell See DreamSequence
28	* {{Cthulhumanoid}}: Invoked by Pasha.
29	-->'''Stephen''': "You have an octopus on your face, don't you?"\
30	'''Pasha''':"Stephen, help. He has ''suction cups''."
31	* DreamSequence: Pasha's Dante dreams
32	* DeadpanSnarker: Ida, Ana, and Pasha's grandfather. Additionally, there's a poster above the sofa at Stephen and Pasha's place, depicting a "[[NeverSmileAtACrocodile Snarkosuchus]]".
33	-->"Someday your descendants will be picking my descendants' teeth."
34	* DiscreditedMeme: In-universe during one of the Hell sequences.
35	-->'''Zeyda''': I'm not having you pass out at Paolo and Francesca. [[DreamWithinADream Falling unconscious within a dream?]]\
36	'''Pasha''': Inferno[[Film/{{Inception}} ception]].\
37	'''Zeyda''': Even I find that reference dated, and I died at 97.
38	* EyeScream: "Should you really be putting your gloves in your eyes?"
39	* FireAndBrimstoneHell: Averted, overall. Since it's closely based on Dante, the first look we get at Hell is "a dark wood" full of mist, and then we get a lot of rain on the river Styx.
40	* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the very first comic, we see Pasha quoting ''Inferno'' in his sleep.
41	* FootnoteFever: All the quotations from Dante receive proper academic citations.
42	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: The series is full of this in the form of posters on people's walls.
43	** Gloriana has one of UsefulNotes/CharlesDarwin, labelled "[[Music/PublicEnemy Chuck D]]".
44	** The above "Snarkosuchus" poster, as well as "Well-Meaning but Racist Apatosaurus" at Pasha and Stephen's place.
45	-->I like all dinosaurs, Triassic, Cretaceous, and regular.
46	* FunnyOctopus: Zelig, the vaguely cuddly coconut octopus who functions as a sort of TeamPet.
47	* GagPenis: Subverted, when it turns out Jack isn't talking about his penis after all.
48	* GentleGiant: Pasha
49	* GeniusBruiser: Jack's sports scholarship is almost as big as his academic scholarship.
50	* GodWasMyCopilot: Yo-Yo Ma is an angel.
51	* GravityIsOnlyATheory: Stephen mentions this specific example as part of [[TheRant a rant]] about common misconceptions of scientific terminology.
52	* HellGate: "I am the way into the doleful city..."
53	* HiveMind: Zelig. As Stephen explains, "Besides the central brain, each arm has a nerve cluster that can independently carry out simple commands."
54	* HuskyRusskie: Pasha
55	* IgnoredEpiphany: "For some reason, I feel compelled to go to the gym. I'm not ''going'' to, of course."
56	* InsufferableGenius: Stephen is trying not to be this. Massively averted with Jack.
57	* JerkAss: Pasha's grandfather
58	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Stephen
59	* LawyerFriendlyCameo: Yo-Yo Ma
60	* LovableJock: Jack. Ida is working on being more lovable.
61	* KindHeartedCatLover: Ana
62	* NiceJewishBoy: Pasha
63	* NiceGuy: Jack
64	* NonIndicativeName: "I Thought [[Literature/TheDivineComedy Comedies]] Were Supposed To Be Funny"
65	* OddCouple
66	* TheProfessor: Dr. Sun, of Neurobiology, and Dr. Cadbury, of History of Modern Composition
67	* PosthumousCharacter: Pasha's grandfather, who appears only in Pasha's dreams
68	* RedOniBlueOni: Pasha is the blue one, and Stephen the red. There's a bit of variation in that the more even-tempered one is the humanities student and the scientist is the irritable, energetic one.
69	* TheScottishTrope: Pasha's references to "[[{{God}} G-D]]"
70	* TheScream: Stephen's reaction to an 82% yield.
71	* ShoutOut:
72	** Pasha's surname, girth, and violin-playing are likely references to Papa from ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail''
73	** A panel depicting Stephen outside the chemistry building parodies the poster for ''Film/TheRaid: Redemption''.
74	** The octopus, a creature renowned for its flexibility and camouflage abilities, is named "Film/{{Zelig}}".
75	** One of the leads is a scientist named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_jay_gould Stephen J. Gould]].
76	** Pasha's character page features a variation on the ''Webcomic/HyperboleAndAHalf'' "Clean all the things" meme, and Jack's has a doodle of [[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner Trogdor]].
77	* TheSmartGuy: Everybody. Literally everybody.
78	* StealthInsult: Pasha's grandfather tells him he'll be "seeing plenty of this circle." Pasha doesn't immediately recognize what that means; they're in the circle of the gluttonous.
79	* TeamPet: Zelig
80	* TotallyRadical: "Gould out. Peace!"
81	* {{Tsundere}}: Both Ida and Ana, to an extent.
82	* WMG/TimeLord: Jack's character page suggests he might be one.
83	* VisualPun: Some of Stephen's t-shirts
84	* WhatMeasureIsANonCute: Dr. Sun mentions that the Ethics board won't object to Stephen running tests on Zelig.

Context Webcomic / Academia