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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zinefreedom.png]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:Three of our journalists (from left to right)-- [[TheSmartGuy Chelle]], [[GenreSavvy Devin]], and [[GenkiGirl Cail]] -- in their natural habitat.]]
3->''[[ItMakesSenseInContext "Oh come on, those anime titty pillows don't pay for themselves."]]''
4-->-- '''Devin'''
5
6
7''[[http://dear-children.com Dear Children]]'' is a drama/mystery/horror/comedy {{webcomic}} created by Mitchell Pepper and Kyle Holcomb.
8
9Dear Children takes place in Hearthbrook, Massachusetts, a fictional coastal town, and follows Cailin Carver as a member of her high school's Journalism Club. Hearthbrook was once a tourism hotspot following a series of occult killings in the 50s. While this reputation has since faded over time, Cail and co. have decided to use the town's many urban legends as a way of promoting their club's failing newspaper.
10
11However, things take a darker turn after the group investigates the bizarre suicide of a classmate that might ultimately reveal a very old, and very horrific, conspiracy rooted in their small town.
12
13The comic updates (almost) every MWF, and is notable for (formerly) featuring music and even some voice acting (among other things) in its occasional flash animation pages.
14
15An (slightly) alternate version of ''Dear Children'' may be found on [[https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/dear-children/list?title_no=269685 Webtoons]]. This lacks the multimedia features, but in compensation has a little more text content. With Flash no longer being supported as of 2021, it is now the only practical way to get a grip on the storyline, as the most important parts of the original were always the interactive Flash segments, which now no longer work. Sadly, this version ends with Chapter 3 out of the 5 ultimately released for the original.
16
17As of the year 2020, [[https://www.facebook.com/DearChildrenWebComic/ according to the author's own comments on the series' Facebook page]], [[OrphanedSeries it's been put on indefinite hiatus due to low readership as the creators moved on to other projects.]]
18
19----
20!!This comic provides examples of the following tropes:
21
22* TheFifties: When the Crooked Saint erupted onto the Hearthbrook scene -- around 1955 or 1956, almost exactly sixty years before the webcomic's "present-day" of 2015. Hal Armstrong considers the decade nostalgically: he was born around 1967 by his own account, so this nostalgia would be a bit second-hand on his part.
23* TheSixties: Even though the Crooked Saint had been quiet since the last decade, they still feared his return. Peggy [=McAries=] remembers being a child and her mother's warnings that if she stayed out too late the Crooked Saint would get her.
24* AFriendInNeed: When [[spoiler:Cail]] protects [[spoiler:Chelle]] against [[spoiler:the Wesley-thing]], it utterly ends [[spoiler:Chelle]]'s resentment against [[spoiler:Cail]] for her earlier ''faux pas''.
25* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Not certain yet, but it seems that Emma has a crush on Josh, who may have a crush on Chelle, Devin MAY have a crush on Josh; Cail may have a crush on Gabe, who definitely has a crush on Chelle. Would be perfectly unrequited, except that Chelle may like Josh back.
26* AltText: Many pages have them, and are almost always humorous.
27* ArtEvolution: It's pretty easy to tell when the artist gets familiar with drawing a particular character.
28* ArtShift: The comic often indicates flashbacks or other data presentations in this manner:
29** Emma explains Hearthbrook High School's club and clique structure to Gabe. She does this by making a rapid pencil-sketch. This is in-Universe, as Gabe compliments her for her art skills, and the =JoJoJo's= comment on the presentation.
30** In Chapter 3, Hal Taylor and Peggy [=McAries=] tell Gabe the tale of [[SerialKiller The Crooked Saint]], which mostly took place in the 1950's and 1980's. This is done in a black-and-white FilmNoir style, quite distinct from the webcomic's normally colorful style.
31** A little later in Chapter 3, Emma tells Gabe the story of how Devin and Aaron went from being best friends to outright enemies. This is rendered in the same pencil-sketches she used to explain the high school's cliques.
32** In Chapter 4, Taylor Armstrong relates something odd she saw in the night. The flashback looks like high-detail chalk art, compared to the more three-dimensional and full-color style normal to the comic. This is meant to convey Taylor's personality.
33* TheBigGuy: Girl, to be precise. Cailin is the tallest member of the Journalism club.
34** Runner-up would be Josh, who is almost as tall as Cailin, and -- as a farm boy -- may be physically stronger.
35*** Josh wins: a picture of him wearing something slightly more revealing than usual makes it plain that he is ''massively'' muscled, under all those clothes. Guess farm living really ''is'' healthy!
36* BirdsOfAFeather: In some cases there are obvious similarities between characters which make close friendship and even romance plausible.
37** Emma and Josh share a love of puns; Emma is more compulsive about it, but Josh clearly finds her puns funny and sometimes puns right back at her; Josh also gives his animals punny names. Emma and Josh are also both very fond of animals; Emma keeps multiple cats in her house, and other pets in her room; Josh makes pets out of many of his farm's livestock.
38** Chelle, Emma and Josh are highly-intelligent: Chelle excels at verbal/reading/writing skills; Emma at mathematical and probably spatial reasoning; Josh at social skills and animal handling.
39** Devin and Gabe are both natural detectives, possessing significant deductive and research skills.
40** Cailin and Gabe share a love of fantasy, which Cailin expresses as an obsession with ghosts and Gabe of anime/manga (they are both fans of Japanese series about the supernatural).
41* BishieSparkle: When Gabe first gets a good close-up look at Chelle, he sees this effect. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because Gabe is a big anime fan, who often sees real life as if it were anime or manga.
42* BlackCloak: The figures in the graveyard and in Cail's dream.
43* BloodStainedLetter: The last page of Wesley's [[ApocalypticLog Dream Journal]], presumably from the initial effects of his oncoming [[spoiler: MonstrousTransformation]].
44* BrownNote: [[spoiler: Wesley]]'s torture porn video files are this to 3 of the 4 teenagers who view them. Gabe looks as if he is close to [[SanitySlippage losing his mind]] at the sight; Cail (though she insists that the truth must be confronted) is horrified; Whitney seems about to throw up (she's especially hard-hit because these files belonged to [[spoiler:her beloved ''twin brother'']]). Devin is the only one who views them unflinchingly, gaining a look of grim determination. Admittedly, all four of them are around 16-18 and hence a bit naïve (for instance, they don't realize that most videos of this sort are at least partly-faked). But still ...
45* CannotSpitItOut: [[spoiler:Cailin]] has trouble telling Gabe that she is a [[spoiler:trans girl]]. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by her fear of rejection, a quite-likely outcome in that sort of situation. Gabe misses what she's trying to communicate.
46* CastFullOfGay: At ''least'' three of the six main characters are some kind of LGBT.
47** [[spoiler:Cailin]] is [[spoiler:trans]].
48** [[spoiler:Devin]] is gay.
49** [[spoiler:Emma]] is bisexual.
50** Also, given certain crushes and the fact that the members of the Journalism Club know each other well, with the exception of TheNewGuy Gabe, it is quite possible that [[spoiler:Josh]] and [[spoiler:Chelle]] are also gay or bi.
51* CastHerd: Basically every character other than the main characters fall into some kind of clique.
52* CastOfSnowflakes: All of the main characters have subtle differences in their facial features that set them apart.
53* CasualKink: It's odd that Devin keeps "accidentally" getting his dick stuck in inanimate objects.
54* CharacterBlog: Cail records a video diary.
55* ClusterFBomb: One clue that [[spoiler:Wesley]] is [[GoMadFromTheRevelation going insane]] from the stress of his horrifying dreams and incipent MonstrousTransformation is that his Dream Journal starts to disintegrate into a babbling mess of profanity and insults, in stark contrast to his formerly rational writing style.
56* ColorCodedCharacters: In Dear Children every main character that has been introduced so far seems to be associated with a color. This color helps indicate who is talking, as background characters tend to speak in a gray text boxes, whereas the main cast has a colored gradient in theirs. Each character's color can also be found somewhere on their wardrobe at all times.
57** Journalism club members: Cail is purple, Michelle is blue, Emma is orange, Devin is pink, Gabe is red, and Josh is green.
58** Other possible main characters: Isaac is lavender blue, Aaron is black, Whitney has been granted a shade of pink ([[MediumAwareness by explicit agreement]] between Cail, Devin and Whitney).
59* ComicallyMissingThePoint: After hearing that Sabrina is domineering, manipulative, and just leading Luke on to take advantage of him:
60--->Gabe: Soooooo she's single?
61* CompanyTown: The container shipping port is currently the main source of income for Hearthbrook.
62* CringeComedy: Most notably when [[spoiler:Gabe]] hits on [[spoiler:Chelle]] in a cellphone conversation. He is so incoherent that at first she has no idea what he's trying to say to her; when he tries to compliment her he winds up emphasizing her appearance rather than intellect ([[spoiler:Chelle is actually ''proud'' of her intellect]]) and calling her bossy without even realizing what he's saying. He thinks things have gone well, but he actually annoys and embarrasses her to the point that she excludes him from a conference call.
63* CrushBlush: Quite often seen among members of the Journalism Club, which makes sense given that this is a manga-style comic about a bunch of hormone-addled and relatively-innocent teenagers.
64* DebutQueue: The first half of Chapter One introduces all five of the starting members of the Journalism Club (in order, Cailin, Devin, Emma, Chelle and Josh), before they begin the cemetery adventure. Chapter Two then introduces (and is largely from the POV of) [[NaiveNewcomer Gabe Hernandez]].
65* DestructiveRomance: Between DomesticAbuser Eric Saddler and GoldDigger Vallory King. He is in it for sex and the opportunity to psychologically abuse her; she is in it for expensive gifts and a boost to her modeling career. They do not love each other; they don't seem to even ''like'' each other.
66* DisapprovingLook: A common reaction from background characters to the members of the Journalism Club, most especially to [[CloudCuckoolander Cailin]].
67* DoubleMeaning: Emma's conversation with Devin about what happened to Devin and Josh at the port, while returning from that adventure. She starts off clearly worried about the fact that Josh got injured, but things she says later make it obvious that she's also thinking about Devin's crush on Josh.
68* Franchise/CthulhuMythos: Aside from the general CosmicHorror tone of the series, Miskatonic University may be real in this world, judging by Wesley's shirt.
69** This is later confirmed when Clara casually mentions that Wesley was trying to get into Ivy League colleges, and mentions "Miskatonic" as one of those on his list.
70* TheCutie: Something of a tie between Cail and Josh, in that
71** Cailin is rather childlike and innocent for her age; this is emphasized by her obsession with ghosts and her sunny and affectionate expressions and mannerisms.
72** Josh is a sweet farmboy who is naturally-chivalrous toward girls, loves animals and tries to avoid conflict.
73* DarkerAndEdgier: In-universe, the adventures of the Journalism Club start to darken as soon as they find the [[spoiler:graveyard altar]] and continue as the [[spoiler:apparent deaths and abductions]] begin. The protagonists very much notice this, and so far this has led to [[spoiler:Josh quitting the team]].
74* DeadpanSnarker: Devin, Emma, Chelle, even Gabe to some extent... the journalism club is chock full of snark.
75* DeathGlare: The only appropriate reaction to Emma's better puns.
76* DeathIsCheap: What with her brother Wesley [[spoiler:(apparently?) dying and then (maybe?) turning out to be BackFromTheDead]], Whitney's been missing rehearsals and may not be able to appear in ''The King in Yellow''.
77* DisapprovingLook: Chelle makes her disappointment in Emma's display of moral cowardice ''very'' obvious to Emma in pages 1639-1641, starting [[http://dear-children.com/comic/page_1639/ here]]. [[http://dear-children.com/comic/page_1641/ Here]] we see Emma's expression of deep shame in response.
78* DoubleTake: Chelle, in response to ''this'' revelation when riding in the van under discussion.
79-->Cailin: Y'know, you're taking this whole stolen van thing much better than I thought you would.
80-->Chelle: Yeah. (*beat*) Wait, what!?
81* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: When Josh displays a mixture of polite and sincere interest in the activities of the various school clubs whose members they interview, Chelle assumes that he is merely faking it to trick the interviewees. Josh isn't -- he actually finds the other clubs interesting, and by the end of the day [[spoiler:he quits the Journalism Club and ''joins'' one of them]].
82* DreamSequence: Fairly common, and there's probably a reason for them, though that reason has not yet been revealed.
83** [[spoiler:Wesley]] has a series of nightmares, so frequent that he has been keeping a dream journal, before his [[spoiler:apparent death and actual transformation into a monster]].
84** [[spoiler:Gabe]] dreams of an eerie landscape dominated by a lightning-blasted tower frozen in the moment of its collapse.
85** [[spoiler:Cailin]] dreams of a shadowy cloaked humanoid figure menacing her in her bed.
86** [[spoiler:Josh]] dreams of being chased by a dark HumanoidAbomination in what looks like a 17th-18th century farm; while dreaming he [[OrWasItADream disappears from one location and reappears many yards away]].
87** [[spoiler:Devin]] dreams first of an early adventure with the Journalism Club, and then of trying to [[spoiler:escape a crashed airplane while being pursued by a watery monster]].
88** [[spoiler:Emma]] dreams of being trapped in a hospital room by chains leading from her bed and [[BodyHorror agonizingly embedded in her leg]].
89* EarlyBirdCameo: A number of secondary characters are first shown as apparently-unimportant background characters, often in crowd scenes, with or without speaking lines, sometimes ''chapters'' before they are introduced in more important capacities.
90* ElectromagneticGhosts: ''Whatever'' is haunting Hearthbrook seems to interfere with cameras, and possibly other electrical devices. The effect has so far been noticed on cellphone and security cameras.
91* EyeAmWatchingYou: Done by at least two characters in the webcomic:
92** Eric, who has a tendency to make melodramatic threats, and
93** Mr. Gordon, which suggests that Eric copied this behavior from the gym coach.
94* FailedASpotCheck: Even though he was ''there'' for all the clues that [[spoiler:Cailin is a trans girl]], the rather naive Gabe seems to have missed their significance -- including her hesitant attempt to tell him.
95* FamilyPortraitOfCharacterization: A technique frequently used by the creators to hint backstory.
96* FauxDeath: Appears to be a standard stage of the [[TransformationHorror monstrous transformation]] which victims of the Hearthbrook Curse undergo. It obviously includes some sort of metabolic suspension, during which further transformation occurs, before the victim rises again as a HumanoidAbomination.
97* FeudEpisode: Happens when Cailin and Chelle quarrel over Cailin's insensitivity to Chelle's feelings over Chelle's MissingMom. Results in them becoming even stronger FireForgedFriends due to tneir encounter with the [[spoiler:Wesley-Thing]] under [[spoiler:Port Langworthy]].
98* FireForgedFriends: Several examples:
99** Cailin and Chelle's encounter with the [[spoiler:Wesley-Thing]] under [[spoiler:Port Langworthy]] leads to them each helping to save the other from peril, mending their quarrel and becoming even closer friends.
100** Devin fights [[spoiler:Aaron]] when he picks on Gabe; later Gabe returns the favor by picking a fight with [[spoiler: Eric Saddler]] when he insults Devin and the Journalism Club behind their backs. In consequence, Devin and Gabe come to respect and like each other.
101** Seems to be happening between Cailin and Whitney in their shared quest to find out the fate of Whitney's brother Wesley.
102* FirstDayOfSchoolEpisode: Chapter 2 introduces [[NaiveNewcomer Gabe Hernandez]] and follows him through his first day of school, including his induction into the Journalism Club.
103* {{Foreshadowing}}
104** On his first day at school, [[HormoneAddledTeenager Gabe]] thinks "There are a lot of cute girls at this school ..." He's looking right at Whitney and Sabrina, both of whom he will soon come to know better (and not through any romantic efforts of his own), when he says this.
105* FriendlyRivalry: Devin and Chelle fight often, but for the most part seem to still be close friends.
106* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Quite frequent, whether it's Devin getting smacked or all the seniors developing devilish grins.
107* GangOfBullies: The AV club essentially serves this role to the journalism club.
108* GivingSomeoneThePointerFinger: Done specifically as a reference to ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''.
109* GoMadFromTheRevelation: One reason why the horrifying dreams from which so many inhabitants of Hearthbrook are starting to suffer cause SanitySlippage is that they slowly communicate some terrible truth to the dreamer, according to one victim's ApocalypticLog.
110-->(Victim): It walked up and I looked into its eyes and I saw ... [[spoiler:I don't even know what I saw. I saw everyone I knew in a gelatinous, writhing mass of bodies. It was the future. I knew that]].
111* GoshDangItToHeck: In a cast full of potty mouths, Josh is a saint.
112* GreenEyedMonster: Jealousy frequently motivates characters to greater or lesser degrees -- which is quite realistic for teenagers.
113** Aaron trips Gabe, causing [[spoiler:Devin to punch him]], because Aaron is jealous of Gabe's (merely apparent) romantic success with [[spoiler:Chelle and Emma]], coming as it does right after [[spoiler:Candace]] has rejected his advances.
114** Devin and Emma both want Josh, and Emma's resentment regarding this leads to her refusal to [[spoiler:help Chelle end the fight between Aaron and Devin]].
115** Cail is dismayed when Gabe's reaction to learning that [[spoiler:Sabrina isn't really attracted to Luke]] is to comment "Soooooo ... she's single?" Cail's expression makes it obvious that she's jealous about Gabe's apparent attraction to the girl.
116* HarsherInHindsight:
117** InUniverse, when Aaron refers to Devin's "dumbass sister," to Devin's face, one might first imagine that this is just Aaron's general hostility and rudeness toward the Journalism Club. As we later find out, Aaron [[spoiler:used to be Devin's best friend, was always hanging around him, and hence probably knew Kaycee quite well]].
118** Out of universe, the conflict between Cailin's desire to [[spoiler:play sports on the girls' teams]] and the school's to [[spoiler:keep her playing on boys' teams or not at all]] was mentioned in story ''before'' this exact issue became a real-life major point of contention between [[spoiler:transgender activists]] and [[spoiler:TERF's]].
119* HasTwoThumbsAnd: “GUESS WHO HAS TWO THUMBS AND KNOWS WHAT A THUMB LOOKS LIKE. THIS GUY.”
120* TheHeart: Emma is the most traditionally-female member of the Journalism Club, and spends a lot of time and energy supporting them in ways both emotional and practical.
121* HeelFaceDoorSlam: A minor and subtle one, involving Josh's AmbiguouslyEvil mother. When introduced she kicks her front door open and leaps out, shotgun in hand, to deal with the trespassers on her farm. When she realizes it's just Josh sneaking out at night with the Journalism Club, her expression looks relieved -- only for her heart to harden when Devin throws TP and flips her the bird. NiceJobBreakingItHero.
122* [[HeroWithBadPublicity Heroes With Bad Publicity]]: Most of the other students (and probably some of the teachers) at Hearthbrook High School think that the Journalism Club's nocturnal adventures are a cover for drinking, doing drugs, and maybe even worse activities. In truth, they're pretty good kids.
123** Most of the parents of the Journalism Club are either okay with or not too opposed to their kids' choice of friends. A big exception is Josh's mom, who basically thinks they're a bunch of perverts, corrupting and weakening her son. (She ''may'' suspect Devin's attraction to Josh).
124* HopeSpot: Two in rapid succession in Chapter 2.
125** Whitney Perkovitch cheers her suffering brother Wesley when he's starting to feel the pain of his [[spoiler:incipient MonstrousTransformation]]. It looks like he's gonna be all right.
126** Gabe Hernandez is heartened by the friendliness of Ms. Cunningham and thinks things will be okay from now on at Hearthbrook High School ... just before he bumps into Eric Saddler the ''second'' time.
127* HumanoidAbomination: [[spoiler:Wesley. When Cail and Chelle run into him in the cave underneath the pier, there is clearly [[FacialHorror something wrong with his face]] [[NothingIsScarier but it's hidden from view.]] And then he's able to hitch a ride on the bottom of the journalism club's van, and it's ''clear'' that there's something like fingers popping out of his cheek.]]
128* HurricaneOfPuns: Emma wouldn't have it any other way.
129* IfOnlyYouKnew: Josh accidentally hits a major truth when he's hamming it up in front of Devin's camera in among the shipping containers: namely, that important things can be learned by studying the movement of crates. Given that [[spoiler:Arthur Langworthy appears to be moving supplies and/or Creatures for the cult in shipping containers]], this is quite relevant to the main story, though Josh doesn't know it.
130* ImaginaryLoveTriangle: Cail regarding herself, Gabe and Sabrina. Gabe probably doesn't like Cail that way, and Sabrina barely knows Gabe exists.
131* IntelligenceEqualsIsolation: How Chelle seems to perceive her social situation. She has her circle of friends, of course -- the Journalism Club -- but we see in early scenes that she considers herself (with ''some'' justification) to be smarter than all of them, and she's outright ''saddened'' by the fact that the un-intellectual Cailin doesn't get her high vocabulary level sarcasm.
132* InsufferableGenius: The flip side of Chelle's [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation loneliness]] is that she is obnoxious about her superior intellect, and often tends to confuse reading, writing and verbal skills (at which she excels) for general intelligence.
133* UsefulNotes/IvyLeague: In the story verse, this includes not only the eight real-world colleges, but also Creator/HPLovecraft's LovecraftCountry fictional school, Miskatonic University. This is one of the biggest indications that the story takes place at least peripherally in the Cthulhu Mythos.
134* JerkAss: Aaron. [[spoiler: Immediately after learning that Devin is gay and has feelings for him, he becomes rabidly homophobic, pushes him in the water and walks away when Devin panics after revealing he doesn't know how to swim. [[FromBadToWorse Then Aaron outs Devin to the entire school.]]]]
135* KangarooCourt: Not only was Leroy Whittaker unable to afford a good defense attorney and assigned an inexperienced public defender, but the townsfolk well might have ''lynched'' him if he'd been acquitted or received any sentence other than death, according to Mr. Taylor and Mrs. [=McAries=].
136* LamePunReaction: It's only natural when being with Emma.
137* LargeHam: Mr. Gordon has this in spades. Also Devin to a lesser extent.
138* LeaveYourQuestTest: When [[spoiler:Josh]] realizes just how dark things are getting, and compares it to the relatively carefree lives of the people in the other clubs, [[spoiler: he quits the JC and joins the football team]].
139* LiteralMetaphor: Josh tells Chelle that a "wild goose chase" isn't fun. Given his animal handling experience, he's probably had to chase wild geese ''for real'' at one time or another.
140* LovableJock: Two examples:
141** Leo is big, strong, ruggedly handsome -- and super [[NiceGuy nice]]. It's no wonder that Paige is in love with him.
142** Cail herself was an aspiring athlete, limited primarily by her [[spoiler:transgender status]]. She is also one of the nicest characters in the comic.
143* LovecraftCountry: Set in coastal Massachusetts, specifically Essex county as well.
144* MakingASpectacleOfYourself: Devin and Chelle certainly don't seem to have any problem screaming at each other in the middle of the cafeteria.
145* MalevolentMaskedMen: The figures in the graveyard and in Cail's dream.
146* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Not much is known about the skull found in the graveyard. There seems to be a disagreement on its legitimacy.
147** Ditto the skull found in the shipping container.
148* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: A technique often used in this comic.
149** Important, or later to be important, characters are often shown in the background of other characters for a while before they are brought on-stage. Wesley, Whitney and others are introduced this way, as are the members of the Journalism Club from Gabe's POV (well after the ''reader'' knows them fairly well).
150** [[http://dear-children.com/comic/page_0635/ Here]] Chelle is discussing Cailie's sightings of spectral figures on the road and in her dream last night; in the background, Luke and Sabrina (whom we haven't met yet save as background characters) are getting a shocking phone call -- presumably from Whitney about [[spoiler:Wesley's apparent death]]. Among other things, Sabrina's expression shows she was more emotionally-affected by it than she claimed later on when Chelle and Josh asked her about [[spoiler:Wesley]].
151** Emma is sitting in her room; in the background [[spoiler:the Wesley-thing]] crawls up outside her second-story window to peer inside for one panel. She doesn't notice it, and there is no immediate followup. Later, we see terrifying claw-marks on the window-frame.
152* MediumAwareness: Devin and Cail dispute whether or not they should let Whitney use pink-bordered speech bubbles for their dialogue (Devin finding it too close to Cail's and his own respective colors, and Cail being more accepting). This is done for laughs: the characters can't ''really'' see their speech bubbles.
153* MissingMom: Chelle states that her mother was "never in the picture".
154* MissionBriefing: Invoked by Josh in the graveyard, who slept through the one the journalism club had the day before. Naturally, Chelle is not amused.
155* MoodWhiplash: In chapter 1 there is a spooky graveyard scene immediately followed by a somewhat touching romantic moment between Emma and Josh (which then briefly goes back into scary territory).
156** Actually happens quite frequently in the early chapters, going from comedy to drama at the drop of a hat.
157* MyBelovedSmother: Gabe's mother tries to constantly monitor what he does and has to be physically-forced out of his room. Gabe's father is quite aware that this is bad, and even opines that this behavior is why Gabe is obsessed with anime girls.
158* [[MysteriousWatcher Mysterious Watchers]]: Several in-story, who may be related:
159** The hat-wearing man (?) who watches the AV van pulling into Chelle's front drive to pick her up. (This might be her father).
160** The person in black with long dark hair who is shown observing the AV Van pulling ''out'' of Chelle's neighborhood after picking her up.
161** The redheaded girl who reports on them by cellphone to another person from school.
162** And, of course, the black-robed cultists, seen mostly in dreams.
163* NerdGlasses: Many characters in Dear Children wear glasses, Chelle probably has the most stereotypically nerdy glasses, being perfectly round and very Harry Potter-esque.
164* NightmareSequence: Gabe and Cail both have sinister dream sequences at the end of chapter 2.
165* NoodleIncident: The solution of the "The Legend of the Ever-Watching Doll Heads," an adventure told to Whitney by Cail, of which we hear only how someone (probably Josh) escaped at the end from an abandoned toy factory by jumping out of an upper window and landing on some cushioning plants.
166* NoSocialSkills: Gabe, immediately after a funny moment: “Do you... like anime?”
167* NotBloodSiblings: Devin and Emma, despite being very emotionally-close, are actually ''step'' siblings.
168* OccidentalOtaku: Gabe. This affects him in several ways:
169** He gets teased / bullied (both, by different people) about this at school.
170** His parents are worried about his obsession with anime.
171** He totally misreads Chelle because he imagines her a stereotypical {{Tsundere}}.
172** He's so busy [[WrongGenreSavvy trying to see everything he's encountering]] in Hearthbrook as a {{Shonen}} {{Manga}} that he's missing the clues that he's drifting into a CosmicHorror story.
173* OfficialCouple: Leo Fitzgerald and Paige Langworthy are seriously dating, explicitly stated to be lovers, and very much in love with one another. What makes them even more exemplars of this trope is that almost the ''whole school'' loves them and want them to get married and have children!
174* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Devin's reaction to Aaron is definitely a break from his normal sarcastic self, and it's clear afterward how upset he was.
175** Cailin's angry "Fuck!" is quite unlike her normal cheerful manner. It shows just how badly the loss of her athletic dreams has scarred her.
176* OpaqueLenses: Gary, making him all the more intimidating.
177* OrWasItADream: [[spoiler: Josh]] physically disappears from atop a cargo container when he has his nightmare of being attacked by a monster on what looks like an 17th to 18th century woodlands farm; he then reappears in another location, complete with minor injuries. Dream, or did he fall through a Gate into another world?
178* PhotoMontage: Frequently used in this comic to show the development of characters during their backstory.
179** In the first chapter we see three photographs illustrating how the Carver family has changed over time. It's not emphasized, but after you get to know Cail better it's obvious that she developed from an [[spoiler:unhappy little boy]] to a [[spoiler:much happier teenage girl]]. You can also clearly see that Cail's natural hair color is brown, like her mother's.
180* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: [[spoiler: Aaron -- mainly to [[Devin, but also to Cailin and Josh.]]
181* PopUpTexting: Variants of this are repeatedly done to depict cellphone conversations, whether in the form of whole panels or Flash animations.
182* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: Seems to be happening to the Journalism Club. Unless they're ''all'' psychic, which is distinctly possible.
183** According to Johannes Kepler, a lot of students want sedatives, because they are having trouble sleeping at night. According to Ms. Cunningham, a lot of students are reporting strange dream to her.
184* RecklessGunUsage: Around the end of Chapter 4, Josh's granny is cleaning her shotgun at the dinner table, and the muzzle keeps straying toward Josh -- who is visibly (and justifiably) alarmed at her behavior. One should ''never'' point a gun at someone one does not actually intend to shoot!
185* RepeatingSoTheAudienceCanHear: Done frequently, presumably because of how much information is thrown at the reader in the early chapters.
186* RewatchBonus: Being a mystery comic, this is bound to happen.
187** One notable example is the name Cromwell, which has been dropped several times, first as being the name of the neighborhood Chelle lives in, second as being the name of Isaac's aunt, and finally as being the name of Hearthbrook's mayor.
188** Numerous secondary characters, some who prove to be of major importance later in the comic, are introduced or shown doing things in the background in earlier scenes.
189* RichBitch: Eric, and on occasion Chelle.
190* RichSuitorPoorSuitor: Eric Saddler is Paige Langworthy's (former) rich suitor; Leo Fitzgerald the (relative to both Eric and Paige) poor one. Sometime before the webcomic actually began, Paige decisively chose the (far nicer) Leo over Eric.
191* SalemIsWitchCountry: The Journalism Club initially starts out investigating witchcraft rumors, and the tale takes place in coastal Massachusetts.
192** ... and Hearthbrook was settled in 1693, the year after the Salem Witch Trials, and the same year that numerous Franchise/CthulhuMythos cultists fled Salem for other towns, according to Creator/HPLovecraft and later writers.
193* SanitySlippage: As befits a CosmicHorror webcomic, happens to several characters.
194** To [[spoiler:Wesley Perkovitch]], as detailed in his Dream Journal.
195** To Cail, Gabe and [[spoiler:Whitney]], when they view [[spoiler:Wesley's]] snuff porn. (Interestingly, Devin is less horrified by it, though it plainly disturbs him).
196* SayMyName: When [[spoiler:Josh]] is scared and shoved down by a masked [[spoiler:Aaron]], [[spoiler:Emma]] rushes to [[spoiler:Josh]]'s side, repeatedly crying his name, and utterly-ignoring the still-extant threat posed by the mysterious masked figure. Because she had no way of knowing that this would happen or planning for it, this very much demonstrates the sincerity of her love.
197* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Josh and Devin.
198* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Chelle, as shown in her texts to Cail and some of her later dialogue.
199* SchoolClubFront: The journalism club mainly uses their club status so the teachers don't question them using equipment to investigate paranormal mysteries.
200* SerialKiller: Based on the graveyard conversation, The Crooked Saint seems to be a locally infamous serial killer. There are few details given about him, but it is implied that the bodies of his victims were heavily mutilated.
201* ShipTease: Emma and Josh. Gabe and Chelle. Among a few others.
202* ShirtlessScene: Done more than once as PG-level {Fanservice}. Notably:
203** Josh strips to change after feeding the animals in the barn. Josh's naked upper half (and possibly lower half, the scene doesn't make it clear) is [[http://dear-children.com/comic/page_1247/ drawn]] [[AuthorAppeal lovingly]]. Also makes obvious that Josh is ''very'' muscular.
204** Repeated the next morning when Josh awakens and climbs out of bed.
205** The most openly-erotic scene in the comic so far features Leo and Paige in swimsuits making out in a hot tub. Leo is, of course, shirtless; Paige is wearing both halves of a normal bikini.
206* ShoutOut: There are plenty.
207** Devin's pose in chapter one is a clear reference to ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''.
208** Gabe is decked out in many anime-related articles of clothing. Among them are references to ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' and ''Anime/MekakucityActors''.
209** During the AV room scene in chapter 2, Aaron drops a line from ''Film/{{Heathers}}''.
210** Interestingly, the science teacher Ms. Grant appears to be a direct copy of a charter with the same name in ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange''.
211** 'Freeze your brain' slushies seem to be named after a song from ''[[Theatre/{{Heathers}} Heathers: The Musical]]''.
212* SinisterShades: Mr. Gordon.
213* {{Sleepyhead}}: Josh often falls asleep at random. This may be a matter of him staying up late with his chores and pets and hobbies, or it may be true narcolepsy. It's predictable enough that Aaron exploits it to harass him by taping obscene messages to his back. On one terrifying occasion, he falls asleep on a mission and [[spoiler:through some sort of portal into what may or may not have been a physically-real dreamworld, or the past]].
214* SlutShaming: DomesticAbuser Eric Saddler essentially accuses his girlfriend Val of being slutty, simply for posting some [[FullyClothedNudity rather tame cheesecake]] of herself in mildly-erotic clothing and poses on her [[NewMediaAreEvil website]], and then flirting online with her fans.
215-->Val: [[DramaticStutter T-that's]] just how people talk on there sometimes! And it's mostly from strangers! Everyone else is just having fun.
216-->Eric: Fun? There's some from people in our grade. Football players, even! They're not just messaging you for fun!
217-->Val: What's that supposed to mean?
218-->Eric: It means [[AllMenArePerverts they want to fuck you]]. And you're [[TheTease leading them on]] by posting all these revealing pictures.
219-->Val: Leading them on? What!? Do you think I'm just going to go around and sleep with everyone who comments on my pictures?
220-->Eric: I dunno. I mean, [[SlipperySlopeFallacy I didn't realize this was what you were posting. Who knows what else you might be into?]].
221* SnuffFilm: [[spoiler:Wesley]] had one or possibly many of them [[spoiler:on his secret computer]], and ''may'' have been somehow involved in their production or distribution. In real life, of course, snuff films are generally fakes (for the obvious reasons), but there are [[TheConspiracy various]] [[EldritchAbomination reasons]] in [[TownWithADarkSecret this]] [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos setting]] why this might be the real thing.
222* StealthPun: Numerous ones, mostly background [[WritingAroundTrademarks product names]].
223** [[http://dear-children.com/comic/page_0633/ Here]], Devin is eating cereal. The brand name? "[[PlugNPlayTechnology Universal Serial Bus]]." The shape of the bus in the cover art is even a little reminiscent of a USB.
224* StrongerThanTheyLook: It's not surprising that [[TheBigGuy Cail]] can easily carry short little Chelle in her athletic arms. But when Cail is temporarily incapacitated, we find out that ''Chelle'' can not only carry ''Cail'' in her arms, but can slog back with her a ''quarter-mile'' through ''ankle-deep water''. Part of the way on unplaned rock, too. Chelle looks a bit pudgy, but most of that "pudge" must actually be muscle.
225* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: When Devin lustfully eyes a lawn gnome, and Cailin calls him on it, Devin responds with ''this'' gem:
226-->Devin: Actin' like I'm some gnome fucker ...
227(Cailin had said nothing about Devin being a "gnome fucker").
228* TeamMom: Emma seems to be in charge of keeping the others alive.
229* ThatWasTheLastEntry: The last entry of [[spoiler:Wesley's Dream Journal]] is terrifying in its utter ''serenity'', which makes it horribly obvious that he is now under the control of the Shadow Under Hearthbrook. Plus, he apparently CouldntFindAPen, ''and'' the [[RustproofBlood blood was immune to oxidization]].
230* ToiletPaperPrank: Devin first appears in Chapter One with a big pack of toilet paper, which he proceeds to use to TP (or threaten to TP) the houses and foliage of all his friends. This spectacularly boomerangs when Josh's mother comes out to confront the Journalism Club [[spoiler:with a SHOTGUN]]!!
231* TopHeavyGuy: Again, Mr. Gordon.
232* TownWithADarkSecret: It certainly seems as if there is something strange going on in Hearthbrook.
233* TransformationHorror: We clearly see [[spoiler:Wesley]] undergoing the early stages of a monstrous transformation. Made all the worse as he's previously been established as a sympathetic character, beloved by at least one other sympathetic character. Afterward, he is so badly mutated that he is [[FauxDeath mistaken for dead]] (though this may also be due to a death-like sleep as part of the transformation. Later, we see [[spoiler:the partly transformed Wesley]], who is recognizable mostly by his sweater to people ''already familiar with his human appearance''. Still later, his [[spoiler:actions demonstrate that he has truly become a monster]].
234* TwoPersonPoolParty: Leo and Paige enjoy this in the Langworthy hot tub. They definitely make out there (and probably more, see VisualPun below).
235* VillainousFaceHold: Mary [=DeWitt=] does this to her son Josh from pages 1384-1390, with cruel emphasis, even though she's at most AmbiguouslyEvil (it both frightens and hurts Josh, even though he's a big strapping youth). This action is one of the things she implicitly aplogizes for in her later note.
236* VisualPun: We cut away from Leo and Paige making out in the hot tub to Chelle watching one of her dad's action movies. The sound effect? "BANG!"
237* WasOnceAMan: ''All'' of the [[spoiler:dark shadowy humanoid creatures]] seen so far seem to have been. Especially horrible in the case of [[spoiler:Wesley]], because we get to know him as a character before his transformation.
238* WebcomicTime: The comic has been running for over a year and has only recently gotten through the first day in the comic.
239* WelcomeEpisode: Chapter 1 to the main cast, and Chapter 2 to the school environment.
240* WrongGenreSavvy: At least two.
241** Cail thinks she's in a GothicHorror rather than CosmicHorror tale.
242** Gabe thinks he's in a school anime world.

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