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7''[[http://www.cad-comic.com/ Ctrl+Alt+Del]]'' is a TwoGamersOnACouch {{webcomic}}, following the adventures of two guys, a girl, and a robot who alternate between sitting around playing video games and getting up to [[HilarityEnsues wacky hijinks]]. Created and written by Tim Buckley ([[Music/TimBuckley no relation]]).
8
9The comic strip has undergone three separate iterations:
10
11* '''The Original Run:''' Beginning on October 23, 2002, the webcomic alternated its updates between story-based strips and video game-specific ones. This iteration ended on November 24, 2012, with the comic [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/endings-and-beginnings/ wrapping up the storyline and ended Ethan, Lilah, Lucas, and Zeke's narratives]].
12* '''The Retool:''' Following this conclusion, [[{{Retool}} the comic became exclusively focused on video game jokes]], occasionally starring the four colored players [[AscendedExtra previously seen in occasional earlier joke strips]]. During this time period, Buckley figured out how he wanted to re-introduce an on-going storyline whilst also [[CutAndPasteComic removing his strip's biggest flaw]]. This run began on November 26, 2012, and is still ongoing, running concurrently with...
13* '''The Reboot:''' An AlternateUniverse take on the webcomic which began on October 29, 2014. The series now features Ethan and Lucas as a gaming-themed superhero team, with a marked change in drawing style, being much more dynamic and detailed. In 2018, Buckley opted to separate the story-based strips from the gag-based strips by referring to the story-based ones as ''Analog and D-Pad'' and the gag-based ones as ''Ctrl+Alt+Del''.
14
15Over the course of its history, the webcomic has accrued a suite of recurring storylines:
16
17* '''Ethan and Lucas''': The original and most famous storyline, starring Ethan, Lucas, Lilah and Zeke. Originally starting out as a gag strip, on-going stories would become more and more common, usually spurred by Ethan's antics. As noted above, it ended just over a decade after it first began.
18* '''Sillies''': Black and white three-panel strips like you'd see in a newspaper, these would often be used to provide quick gags based on current events, usually while an ongoing storyline was running in the main comic. Has a tendency to go on long hiatuses.
19* '''The Console Wars''': A comic that uses a war setting as a metaphor for the actual UsefulNotes/ConsoleWars (game publishers are weapon manufacturers, for example). While it has the most ''frequent'' hiatuses, this is by necessity, as it only updates when major events happen in real life, such as the release of new tentpole games or systems.
20* '''The Campaign''': The Players in a game of TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons, with their adventures depicted as [[ImagineSpot Imagine Spots]] within the fantasy setting (but often interrupted by their own antics at the table). Is the current iteration of The Players, a set of four Players who represented Players 1-4 of a multiplayer game, and were famous for brutally murdering each-other on a regular basis over petty misdeeds.
21* '''The Starcaster Chronicles''': Starring retired and jaded space cop Cort as he stumbles upon the Starcaster, an incredibly powerful superweapon that can alter the state of galactic politics simply by who happens to have one. Is notable for being a StoryBranching format where Patreon subscribers can vote on story decisions (it's then uploaded in full on the main site with the decisions revealed later).
22* '''Analog and D-Pad''': The current iteration of the Ethan and Lucas storyline that started in 2014, and essentially a continuity reboot of an earlier comic with an identical concept. Here Ethan and Lucas are the titular super-heroes, struggling for recognition as they fight crime in Omnitropolis as they balance running a brick-and-mortar games store. Also features Scott as a good guy, Lilah as a budding news writer, and Zeke as a liberated ninja robot learning their way around human culture and why they shouldn't murder all of them.
23** Starcaster is heavily inspired by an earlier storyline, ''Ethan [=McManus=]: Space Archeologist'', which (similar to Analog and D-Pad) [[UniversalAdaptorCast recast]] the characters of the main storyline with the same CYOA structure, only in an [[Franchise/IndianaJones Indy]] InSpace setting that time.
24
25On top of all this, the comic also has "One Shots" that comment on particular events, either being wholly self-contained, set within one of the existing stories above between their arcs, or even a fictional depiction of Buckley's real life as a gamer and parent.
26
27Not to be confused with the three-finger-salute/[[Franchise/StarTrek Vulcan Nerve Pinch]] or [[http://www.s-p-a.be/artikel/ctrlaltdel-eerlijker-is-beter/ the Belgian and socialist political book of the same name]]. Or the keyboard command that the comic gets its name from, for that matter.
28
29There is also an animated adaption, [[TitleTheAdaptation Ctrl+Alt+Del: The Animated Series]]. Its site is [[http://www.cad-series.com/ here]].
30
31----
32!!This webcomic contains examples of:
33
34[[foldercontrol]]
35[[folder:Tropes pertaining to the original series]]
36%%* AcheyScars: On Ethan's shoulder and caused by Rory -- which has only been mentioned once and never again.
37%%* AcidRefluxNightmare: [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/burrito/ This strip]]. "Blame the microwave burrito you ate before bed!"
38%%* AffablyEvil: Rory. Maybe too affable.
39%%* TheAlcoholic: Ethan, when he's depressed.
40* AlmightyJanitor: [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/heroic-janitors/ This strip]]. The PC in VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft after cleaning out the Emerald Nightmare. "Fuck, Malfurion! It's only been a week! Pick up a fucking Swiffer once in a while!"
41%%* AloofOlderBrother: Rory.
42* AltText:
43** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjnozEUrmek Annotated Series]].
44** 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.
45* AnimatedAdaptation: Uses different storylines than those of the comic itself. [[AdaptationDecay It wasn't well received]] and nearly put [[Webcomic/LeastICouldDo Blind Ferret Entertainment]] out of business. One of the creators that produced season one had this to say:
46-->'''Ryan Sohmer:''' We produced ''Ctrl+Alt+Del'' season one. Never again. Lost HUGE amounts of money.
47* ArtEvolution: A slow one, but after stagnating for quite some time, the comic has gotten much more dynamic, moving away from its [[{{Hatedom}} infamous]] CutAndPasteComic status. The Analog and D-pad arc in particular shows a drastic change (for the better) in art quality.
48* ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement: Based on Lilah's word, they were going to cavity search Christian after she indicates him as a terrorist in an airport. They don't seem particularly concerned about the implications of filing a false police report, nor pissing off someone who has demonstrated a willingness to spend lots of money to satiate his own petty whims.
49* AscendedExtra: The colored "players" are the main recurring characters post-reboot
50%%* AtomicFBomb: Ethan lets one loose in the cartoon.
51* AuthorAvatar: The main character, Ethan, has an outstanding physical resemblance to Buckley, and Buckley admitted he based the character on himself just how most of the cast are based on real life friends of his.
52%%* AxeCrazy: The Four Players, but mostly Two and Four.
53%%* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler: For Lucas]]
54* BadFuture: In an alternate timeline, Zeke decides to conquer the world after being convinced by a fellow robot. He succeeds.
55%%* BearsAreBadNews: Poor [[ButtMonkey Faildruid]].
56* BecomingTheMask: Meta example, but the current Website/SomethingAwful mock thread has moved on to drawing fan art ([[IncrediblyLamePun 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:
57-->We ''are'' the CAD fans!
58* BigDamnHeroes: Rory saves Ethan with a fire extinguisher attacking the Hawaiian Mafia.
59* BittersweetEnding: The ending of the main storyline. Ethan gives his life in a HeroicSacrifice to stop the annihilation of two universes, never making it back home, never getting to say "I love you" to Lilah one last time. Everyone mourns his death, but eventually moves on. Zeke reveals himself, saying that he's just "trying to find his place in the world." Lucas learns to love again, marrying Kate and having a son which he names after Ethan. His legacy is remembered in the form of "The Ethan [=MacManus=] Church of Gaming". We're left with an image of Lilah looking up at said church with a proud but sorrowful smile.
60** The alternate ending featured in the collection book is also this with Ethan actually surviving this time and instead getting sent many years into the future with Lilah now an old woman who tells him to go and live his life without her.
61* BoundAndGagged: Happens to Lilah in one strip when she's kidnapped.
62* BreakingTheFourthWall: Done quite literally [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/one-thousand/ in this strip]].
63* BrokenAesop: The comic makes it clear it's wrong to be a "console fanboy," in one strip even having God personally squash one. However, there are issues with this, since the fanboys are ''always'' Gamecube fans, the evil Gamer King in an early strip used a staff with a golden Gamecube controller on top (versus Ethan's Xbox one), Ethan playing a Gamecube is referred to as a "sin against the gaming gods," he mentions that turning the Gamecube into a robot would result into a girl robot, and doing the same to a Playstation would produce a gay one while the Xbox appears to be perfect and sinless.
64* ButtMonkey:
65** Rob. Very seldom will anyone say anything remotely nice to or about him. Ethan once pushed a vending machine on him purely ForTheEvulz and then [[KickTheDog jumped on top of it with Rob still lying under it]]. Rob's hideous crime? He's a "frat boy" who only likes a handful of super-popular games like ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' and ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''.
66*** And Counter Strike. Lots and lots of Counter Strike.
67** Faildruid, a hapless VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft player/character who happens to be a {{bear|sAreBadNews}} (and later an [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons owl-bear]]). His crime is basically being a very naive newbie.
68** Nintendo in the ''Console Wars'' series of strips takes a lot of this, with the "Weeyous" (Wii U) in particular being a subject for ridicule. Although if the most recent couple strips are any indication, the [[http://cdn2.cad-comic.com/comics/cad-20170320-11f41.png tide]] [[http://cdn2.cad-comic.com/comics/cad-20170322-7b619.png is]] [[http://cdn2.cad-comic.com/comics/cad-20170324-968a7.png turning]].
69* CainAndAbel: [[JerkJock Rory]] and [[ManChild Ethan]].
70* CerebusSyndrome: Since the miscarriage, there have been more purely dramatic strips and less gags, culminating in the GrandFinale where [[spoiler: Ethan dies in a HeroicSacrifice to save two timelines.]]
71* ChainsawGood: This strip: [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/just-a-suggestion/]]
72* CharacterDevelopment: 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.
73* CheatersNeverProsper: Ethan trying out an RPG-themed rewards system (one of his rare, not-actually-that-bad ideas) at his game shop when he encounters a GamerChick who's trying to manipulate the system by buying ten games at once to get an eleventh one at a discount and then returning the first ten games. Ethan seems to get the upper hand after he sorts out the rules, but then she moves on rigging the tabletop games by, um, paying the entrance fees for a band of hobos for a prize that's only a percentage of the money she paid.
74%% * ChekhovsGun: "Once you put this on, you get one James Bond quote. '''One.'''"
75* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: The Four Players.
76* ComedicSociopathy: Ethan displayed it a ''lot'' in the past, which is biting the comic in the arse now CerebusSyndrome has kicked in and he's meant to be a little more sympathetic and at least ''trying'' to mature. The Four Players, especially Two and Four.
77* ComicRolePlay: In one strip, Ethan freaks Lucas out by wearing fake breasts when playing his girlfriend.
78* ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike: 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.
79* ConRecap.
80* ContinuityCreep: Starts out as your standard issue gamer comic, and eventually descends into lengthy storylines.
81* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Ethan borders between this and TheDitz.
82* ConvenientMiscarriage: Lilah's miscarriage that spawned a thousand flame wars.
83* CreatorCameo: In the animated series. HilariousInHindsight; ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' eventually ''did'' put out a Mac Edition with special goodies and much fanfare.
84* CutAndPasteComic: To a fairly infamous 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. [[ArtEvolution Eventually]] Buckley has moved away from it, with much more dynamic angles and poses.
85* DeadGuyJunior: [[spoiler: Lucas' child is named for Ethan.]]
86* DullSurprise: Common enough to spawn the B^U MemeticMutation
87* DramaBomb: The infamous miscarriage arc.
88* DramaBombFinale: The [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/endings-and-beginnings/ "Endings...And Beginnings"]] strip.
89* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: 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.
90* EvenNerdsHaveStandards: [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/a-game-of-nerds/ Seen here.]]
91* EvilPlan: Christian buying the video game store, which was all part of a scheme to [[spoiler:steal Lilah away from Ethan]].
92* EvilRedHead: Two of Four, possibly Christian and Kate, who's more of a misguided redhead.
93* FacelessMasses: Averted during the wedding.
94* FalseCause: [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/the-great-escape/ Rogues take less damage from falls. Rogues wear light clothing. Therefore, no clothing would be even better.]]
95* FanSpeak: "Life dropped an [[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft Epic Husband]]..."
96* FastRoping: The sheer amount of places that you can do in the ''VideoGame/RainbowSixVegas'' games is jokingly explained [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/they-come-from-somewhere/ here]].
97* FillerStrip: Ironically the only time when the comic is about video games (WordOfGod says the actual strip is about game''rs'', i.e. the main characters).
98* FourIsDeath: The Four Players to each other, usually [[RedOniBlueOni Player 2 to Player 1]].
99* {{Gamebooks}}: Once or twice a year, the author will come out with a storyline where he decides what the character's actions will be or what plot branch to take in the next update based on the number of emailed votes he receives.
100* GamerChick: Lilah, played completely straight and one of the earliest examples of it.
101* GeniusDitz: Despite being a total idiot, Ethan has constructed a fully sapient (albeit rather misanthropic) robot (out of an Xbox no less), a set of super-strong robot hands, and a hermetically sealed chamber with a chair capable of sensing biorhythms to discourage sleep or inattentiveness. He states that for seven seconds a day, his mind can focus granting him virtually unlimited insight into how the world works, allowing him to build his technological wonders and dispense incredibly good insight into other people's relationships. He then puts pineapple rings over his eyes, saying "heh...Pineapple Goggles."
102* GISSyndrome: One of the more prominent users, particularly for posters. Early strips even had Ethan's Gamecube suffer from this.
103* GoldenMoment: Lilah and Ethan finally [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/boop/ talk to each other.]]
104* GrimReaper: An extra in the Sillies; has his own [[TheMerch T-Shirt!]]
105* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Ethan deactivates the time machine to save both timelines, knowing he will be killed when the vortex closes.]]
106%% * HypocriticalHumor
107* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: Lilah fully exploits this on Ethan. Then Ethan tries it...... and fails.
108* {{Hypocrite}}: Lucas tells Kate they can see other people, then is hurt and offended when she actually ''does''. Then has the balls to make her apologize to him when it was ''his'' idea to move to casual in the first place.
109* IdiotHoudini: Ethan's devolution to this is in large part why the comic has such a hatedom. In early strips, other characters put up with his stupidity only to the extent necessary to keep him as a character in the webcomic. By the time Winter-een-mas rolls around, the universe is bending over backward to turn all of his stupid ideas into outrageous successes. At the comic's end, he did end up getting some comeuppance by getting killed off trying to fix the consequences of his actions. The author admitted the decision behind this was that he was overdue to get some backlash after having things go his way for so long.
110* IronicEcho: The animated series had a short skit involving the Four Players. One of the players doesn't heal the other after shouting, "Heal me!" The player responds by going to the other player in real time and chopping him up with an axe. The victim replies, "Heal me!"
111* ItCameFromTheFridge: [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/but-it-tasted-good/ this]] strip.
112* JerkAss:
113** Ethan when it comes to customers and Rob due to their limited experience or ignorance of video games.
114** Rory to his little brother [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Maowio]], at least when they were kids.
115%%* KarmaHoudini: Ethan, Rory, and to a minor extent, Lucas.
116* KarmicTwistEnding:
117** Ethan's years of escaping consequences for his actions end when a time machine he created is used to show him a Bad Future resulting from his creation of Zeke. When the same time machine overloads, Ethan is forced to commit a HeroicSacrifice.
118** Also seen in a few of the deaths from the Space Archaeologist Choose Your Own Adventure arcs.
119* KickTheDog: Christian. His whole post-miscarriage store plot was to set up Ethan so he could get Lilah back. Putting so much effort to frame a moron so you can get back a girl who left you is both petty and evil, especially when all the money he spent on that asinine plot could have gone into getting whores or dating sites.
120* KillStreak: Parodied in the strip "Perky", with ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare2'' having a perk that lets you play as Franchise/RoboCop after 30 kills.
121* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: In its final years it rather awkwardly changed from a fairly tame "Two Gamers On A Couch" gag comic that never really had a deep plot, to an ''extremely'' dark and character-driven dramedy involving time travel and a quest to prevent the apocalypse. The shift is... rather jarring to say the least.
122* LifeEmbellished: Tim Buckley describes Ethan as a "stylized version" of himself (his avatar looks more or less like Ethan with shorter hair), and Lucas likewise of his best friend. Ethan has gradually evolved away from this. It's visually apparent in [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/quest/ this comic.]]
123* LimitedWardrobe: ''Nobody'' in this strip changes their clothes except for plot reasons.
124* LongBusTrip: Scott the Linux guy and owner of the penguin, who became {{Ensemble Dark Horse}}s. Buckley insists they were meant to be one-off characters. Bringing him up on the forums is grounds for instant banning. Strangely they're both featured in the opening of the animated series and occasionally have walk-on roles.
125* [[WebcomicsLongRunners Long Runner]]: It's been running since 2002 and shows no signs of slowing down.
126* TheMafia:[[spoiler:The ''Hawaiian'' mafia no less.]]
127* ManChild: Ethan. With hints of PsychopathicManChild.
128%%* ManipulativeBastard: Christian and Rory.
129* MoodWhiplash: The strip directly after the dramatic, bloody GrandFinale is about the Gameloft My Little Pony game.
130* MyOwnPrivateIDo: [[spoiler:Ethan and Lilah]] of the Elope First, Plan Later variety. Zeke eventually finds out and uses it as blackmail fodder.
131* NerdNanny: Lilah, as a StraightMan for Ethan.
132* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/artwork-this-is-the-way-the-world-ends/ "This]] is how the world ends". No, ''[[http://www.threadless.com/product/648/THIS_Is_How_The_World_Ends#zoom THIS]]'' is.
133* NoodleIncident: We never ''do'' find out just what Zeke said to make Ethan so mad at him in [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/slow-reading/ these]]-[[http://cad-comic.com/comic/silent-treatment/ three]] [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/ugly-ugly-logic/ strips]].
134* NoSenseOfDirection: [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/21940/ Fail Druid]] makes a return after 6 years. Turns out he never left. He just got lost in the Deeprun Tram!
135* OnlySixFaces: One face and/or [[DullSurprise expression]] commonly called "[[http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u320/LBO_photos/CAD2.gif B^U]]" or "Buckleyface".
136* ParentalFavoritism: Rory > Ethan -- even when Ethan's ''getting married''.
137* ProductPlacement: In addition to video games, movies, and TV, [[spoiler: Ethan produces a Droid cellphone that wasn't available when the wedding arc started.]]
138%%* ProudToBeAGeek: Ethan
139* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: The robots disappeared into the night; Rory's going to jail.]]
140* RealLifeWritesThePlot: (Rapidly-approaching deadline - any planned script) + Alcohol = Chef Brian
141* RecklessGunUsage: [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/planet-of-doom-page-22/ Ethan demonstrates]] why UsefulNotes/GunSafety rules exist.
142* RecycledInSpace: [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/idiots-in-space/ ''Idiots in Space'']] is ''Ctrl+Alt+Del'' [-IN SPACE-]!
143* {{Retool}}: After the conclusion to the "Save the Future" Arc.
144* RichBitch: Christian. He's rich, and he's a bitch. He's also [[DracoInLeatherPants one of the most liked characters in the comic]].
145%%* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Christian.
146* 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.]]
147* ShoutOut:
148** Featured a character strikingly similar in appearance to Tyler Durden from the movie ''Film/FightClub'' speaking for the character Ethan with the line "he fell down some stairs" to explain to a doctor the reasoning behind some suspicious facial trauma.
149** Similarly, there's a strip where Ethan imagines himself in a "happy place"--a frozen cave with Ted's hated pet penguin, and a giant mallet. The penguin's even panicking and thinking, "...slide?"
150** To 'Series/TheBigBangTheory'' in [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/the-chuck-norris-of-numbers/ this strip]].
151** A rare subtle example is a small vocal tic for Embla, which according to seasoned gamers is a match for [[VideoGame/SystemShock SHODAN]].
152* SexySantaDress: [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/xmas-2006/ This strip.]]
153* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Of the 4 people (and one penguin) living in the main characters' house, Lilah is the only female.
154* SmugSnake: Similar to the above example, Christian is smug, and a snake.
155* SnarkyNonHumanSidekick: Zeke, who was made out of an Xbox. Also something of a RoboticPsychopath when he debuted. Now, he's just downgraded to a snarky RobotBuddy with [[DistaffCounterpart Embla]] as the new Psycho.
156* StatusQuoIsGod: Eventually {{averted}} but maintained for years.
157* StepfordSmiler: Lilah is starting to look and act like one. It's -- unsettling.
158* SuddenVideoGameMoment: The fourth panel in [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/strike-two/ this strip]].
159* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Embla. Strangely, Buckley said she's not necessarily female.
160* {{Textplosion}}: It switched into this for the "Winter-een-mas 2012/Game Games Bowl" story-arc. Tim Buckley has said that doing it in comic form would have taken several months, long past the Winter-een-mas "season," and that he didn't want to do another long-term comic story arc so soon after the "Scott and Ted" arc.
161* ThatMakesMeFeelAngry: Ethan's reaction to the resolution of a Christian Arc: "That is, all at once, unexpected, hilarious, and extremely satisfying."
162* TheNameIsBondJamesBond: Ethan tries this, and hilariously fails.
163--> '''Ethan''': The name's Ethan. MacManus Ethan.
164--> . . . . . .
165--> '''Ethan''': '''facepalm''' shit, shit, how did I mess that up?
166* TooDumbToLive: Ethan. According to [[RobotBuddy Zeke]], if you run the data from Ethan's various misadventures, his life expectancy comes out negative. Negative ''forty''.
167* TwoGamersOnACouch: Lampshaded in the very first comic, even. They eventually get armchairs, but whatever. Following the revamp, now four players on the couch.
168* UncannyValley: Invoked. The mouth on Zeke's human disguise doesn't move because Ethan couldn't get it to look natural.
169* TheUnfavorite: [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/probably-not-how-that-works/ Ethan.]]
170* UnraveledEntanglement: Ethan somehow manages to do this to himself with duct tape. Even Lucas, who is pretty thoroughly desensitized to his roommate's misadventures, is a bit perturbed by this.
171%%* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Ethan
172* WallsOfText: [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/landing/ A particularly extreme example.]] At least [[http://cad-comic.com/comic/how-we-used-to-do-it/ one strip]] used this to [[LampshadeHanging deliberate comedic effect.]]
173* WayPastTheExpirationDate: 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.
174* WeWait: Lilah and Lucas' plan for dealing with Ethan's big brother-induced alcoholism. [[spoiler: It works. Ethan seeing Lilah with her wedding dress was enough to convince him to get cleaned up, at least for the day.]]
175* WebComicTime: One day in the comic 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.]]
176* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Lucas' girlfriend Kate, last seen in the background of Ethan and Lilah's wedding.
177* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: The final comic of the main storyline is this for Lilah, Lucas, and Zeke.
178* WordSaladHumor: Anything involving the strangely surreal Chef Brian.
179* YouMeanXmas: Wintereenmas... sort of.
180[[/folder]]
181
182[[folder:Tropes pertaining to post-reboot continuity]]
183* AIIsACrapshoot: Post-reboot Zeke is a robot made to hunt their creator's enemies, with a burning hatred for humanity. But [[FreudianExcuse they have a very good reason for that]].
184* BeatThemAtTheirOwnElement: ''The Campaign: Into the Fire'' involves the Fire Form spell being used against the party. [[spoiler:It was overcome using a fire attack, specifically by choking out the air required for the fire to use.]]
185* OutsideTheBoxTactic: Post-Reboot, ''The Campaign'' storyline had the party's [[PlayingWithFire Fire Mage]] ready to level up and learn the [[ElementalShapeshifter Fire Form.]] But first, he must pass the test from an instructor, who assumed the Fire Form and fought him. Much to the Mage's chagrin, [[CripplingOverspecialization since he has nothing but fire spells.]] But he managed to defeat the instructor by [[spoiler: enveloping the instructor with a dome of flames, snuffing out the oxygen and ending the Fire Form.]]
186* SympathyForTheDevil: Ethan's attitude towards the homicidal Zeke. Underneath all [[AIIsACrapshoot that rage]], he can see real fear, the fear of dying. A fear Ethan has not experienced for a long time now, thanks to his ResurrectiveImmortality.

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