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Franchise / The Smurfs

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From left to right: Brainy Smurf, Greedy Smurf, a Smurf, Smurfette, Papa Smurf, Baby Smurf, Jokey Smurf, a Smurf, and Harmony Smurf.
The Smurfsnote  (Les Schtroumpfs) are originally an extremely popular (and still ongoing) Belgian comic book series by cartoonist Pierre Culliford (aka Peyo) that started in the 1960s. It is more universally known for the long-running Saturday-Morning Cartoon series that Hanna-Barbera created for NBC in the 1980s.

The Smurfs are tiny creatures, who looked human except for their blue skin and tails, and were constantly pursued by Gargamel, an impoverished sorcerer who plotted to steal the Smurfs so he could create gold (or eat them, he's never really been all that clear on his motivations). Papa Smurf, an alchemist in his own right, generally saves the day.

The Smurfs were born in another comic, Johan and Peewit, where they made their first appearances on October 23, 1958 in the story La Flûte à six schtroumpfs. They became so popular they got their own Spin-Off books. Starting with short comics in 1959, they received their first album in 1963. These stories eventually overshadowed the comics that created them.

The Smurfs tend to be named according to their personality or occupation. They were originally all males and because of this, storks were responsible for bringing them to the village until Gargamel created a female Smurf with black hair. After she entered the Smurfs' mushroom village, however, Papa Smurf transformed "Smurfette" into a blonde, with an appropriate change in personality. Later, the Smurfs made human friends such as Johan and Peewit (comics), or the canon King Gerard (Hanna-Barbera cartoon series) and the Winslows (2011 movie). Also, three Smurfs were irrevocably rascalized, and they later created another female Smurf called Sassette. (More information here.) They also have threenote  wikis dedicated to them: Smurf wiki, another Smurf wiki and the Sony Pictures wiki.

Way before the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, there was a 1965 black-and-white 87 minute animated film called “Les Aventures des Schtroumpfs” released in theatres in Belgium. It consisted of five short cartoons made in the previous years for broadcasting on Walloon TV. The stories were based on existing Smurf stories like The Black Smurfs and The Smurfs and the Egg, and were created by writer Maurice Rosy and artist Eddy Ryssack from the small Dupuis animation studios. All of the shorts that constituted the film are currently available on YouTube in unsubtitled French. A further five shorts would be made in color by the same team.

Then in 1976, "La Flûte à six Schtroumpfs"note  was released. Michel Legrand provided the musical score to the film and it was considered the only Smurfs film until 2011. The film was released in the United States in 1983 after the animated series became popular there in an English language dubbed version titled "The Smurfs and the Magic Flute". A few more full-length Smurf movies were made, most notably The Baby Smurf and Here are the Smurfs, created from episodes of the Hanna-Barbera television cartoon series.

A third Smurfs animated series, this time animated in CGI, premiered in 2021. The teaser for the series was released on October 6, 2020. It premiered on RTBF's La Trois in French-speaking regions of Belgium on Sunday, April 18, 2021. The show was produced in the franchise's home country of Belgium.

Although not strictly Merchandise-Driven, the Smurfs were featured in just about every category of products intended for children: dolls, toys, clothing, comic books and even a breakfast cereal. Besides their Saturday morning series, the Smurfs appeared in two Christmas Specials and other seasonal programs in prime time.

Works that are part of the Smurfs franchise:

    open/close all folders 

    Comics 
  • Johan and Peewit (1952 — 2001) The Smurfs made their first appearance in Book #16, and guest-starred in an additional three stories a few years afterward.
  • The Smurfs comic book series (1963 — present)

    Western Animation 

     Film — Animation 

     Film — Live-Action 

     Theme Parks 

     Video Games 
  • Smurf: Rescue In Gargamel's Castle for ColecoVision and Atari 2600
  • Smurf Paint & Play Workshop for ColecoVision
  • The Smurfs (1993/1994) for the Game Boy, NES, Master System, Game Gear, Super Nintendo, Mega Drive, Mega-CD, Windows/DOS, and Game Boy Advance (as Revenge of the Smurfs)
  • The TeleTransport Smurf for Windows PC
  • The Learn with the Smurfs series for Windows PC
  • The Smurfs Travel the World (aka The Smurfs 2, 1995/1996) for the Game Boy, Master System, Game Gear, Super Nintendo, and Mega Drive
  • The Smurfs Nightmare (aka The Smurfs 3, 1997/1998) for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color
  • The Smurfs (1999) by Infogrames for PlayStation
  • The Adventures of the Smurfs (2000) for Game Boy Color
  • Smurf Racer (a.k.a. 3, 2, 1, Smurf!) for PlayStation and Windows PC
  • Smurfs Village for Apple iPad and Android
  • The Smurfs (2011) by UbiSoft for Nintendo DS, based on the 2011 eponymous film
  • The Smurfs Dance Party for Nintendo Wii
  • The Smurfs 2 by UbiSoft
  • The Smurfs (2015) by UbiSoft for Nintendo 3DS
  • The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf (2021) by Microids for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One
    • The Smurfs 2 - The Prisoner of the Green Stone (2023)

Frequent Smurfs tropes:

  • Explosions in Papa Smurf's workshop.
  • Gargamel trying to enter the Smurfs' village but usually ending up back at his own house because only a smurf (or people the smurfs trust) can find the village. Some plots have him overcome this.
  • International Adaptation: the original name is "Schtroumpf," a word Peyo had thought he randomly made up that lacked any meaning.note  In any language, the translation is a similar and evocating meaningless sound, except for the Italian word 'puffi', which is a word meaning 'debts' in Genoan Dialect; the Turkish word 'Şirin', which means 'cute'; the Hebrew word "dardas" which is made up from the words for thistle and gnome; the Spanish name "pitufo" which derives from "patufet" a character of Catalan folklore; the Catalan name "barrufets" that means "imp" or "fey"; and some few others like "hupikék törpikék" in Hungarian and "pottokiak" in Euskera.
  • Overuse of the word smurf, as any part of speech, in the blue guys' conversations. It is used as a contextual language; Umberto Eco wrote a pun essay on the subject, "Schtroumpf und Drang", (see the essay collection "Sette anni di desiderio", 1983). It is not a swear-word replacement but is somet-, usu-, ALL THE SMURFIN' TIME parodied as such.
  • Jokey Smurf's exploding "surprise packages".
  • Brainy Smurf moralizing and subsequently being hit with a wooden mallet (thrown out of the village in the animated version).
  • Papa Smurf leading the other Smurfs on a long journey.

The Smurfs in all forms of media provide examples of the following tropes:

  • Absurdly Ineffective Barricade: In the comic book story "The Smurfs And The Howlibird" (and its Animated Adaptation), a Smurf tries to keep the Howlibird from destroying his house by piling a lot of furniture around his front door, only to realize that the bird destroys the house from above.
  • An Aesop
  • Affirmative Action Girl: Sassette.
  • All There in the Manual: An old Smurfs music album released in the early 80's called "Smurfing Sing Song" has a song called "Smurfing Land" which explains the origin of how the Smurfs were created. According to the song, a magician/wizard (possibly Homnibus) felt lonely and decided to make some little friends by waving his magic wand which created Smurfs. The wizard even tells The Smurfs where they would live at and the creation of their houses.
  • Alternate Continuity: The franchise has currently five different continuities: the comic books/2021 cartoon show, the 1960s cartoon show, the 1980s cartoon show, Sony Pictures' live-action film series, and Smurfs: The Lost Village. For notable differences, read these
sixseparate pages at the Smurfs Wiki. (Their stories in the Johan and Peewit series could be considered a fifth continuity, since their Smurf Village is located in the Cursed Land instead of the Smurf Forest.) Sometimes for the sake of merchandise like the Smurfs Village game app, there would be mixing of characters from most if not all of these continuities.
  • Always Lawful Good: The Smurfs can be the embodiment of negative emotions like greed or pride, but in the end, they'll always do the right thing.
  • Ambiguously Gay: Vanity Smurf.
    • This gets hinted at in the comic book story Bathing Smurfs as Vanity and another Smurf sit with each other at Handy's new private beach resort, with the other Smurf commenting that it's a great place to "watch the Smurfs".
    • In the cartoon show episode "Hats Off To Smurfs", Vanity is told to "come out of the closet" when Papa Smurf wants to examine his face after Vanity put on a strange hat that disfigured it.
  • Anachronism Stew: Numerous references to chocolate are mentioned in "The Dark-Ness Monster." The thing is, chocolate was unknown in Europe until it was imported from the Americas in the early 16th century, and the background of the Smurf cartoon series is the late Middle Ages.
    • Same thing with the comic books, such as You Don't Smurf Progress.
    • More a case of the Smurf Forest being a fantastical setting, since "The Dark Ness Monster" reveals that the Smurfs get their chocolate from the pools of the Dark Ness Cavern.
      • The Chocolate can be Hand Waved, - the balloons that also show up in the episode cannot, unless you want to say "they invented it first".
  • And I'm the Queen of Sheba: In Smurf Versus Smurf, when Papa Smurf has switched bodies with Gargamel (long story), and the smurfs have caught not-Gargamel, he reveals that he's really Papa Smurf. Cue one smurf: "Yes, and I'm the Smurfette." This also appears in the cartoon version of "Romeo And Smurfette", which lifts that scene particularly from that story.
    • In the cartoon show episode "The Magic Egg", Papa Smurf sees the three Smurfs who have turned themselves in Papa Smurf and says, "If you're me, then I'm a monkey's uncle", while inadvertently hitting the magic egg — and becomes a monkey!
  • Animated Adaptation: In addition to the Hanna-Barbera series, there are several animated Belgian shorts produced in the 1960s, a Belgian feature film in 1976 (La Flûte à six schtroumpfs which was later dubbed to English and released in the United States in 1983 as The Smurfs and the Magic Flute), and new animated features co-produced by Sony Pictures Animation and Duck Studios (The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol and The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow).
  • Anthropomorphic Personification: Father Time and Mother Nature helped the Smurfs on more than one occasion.
  • Art Evolution: In the first episode for the 1961 series adaptation of "The Smurfsnapper". The character designs for the Smurfs alongside Gargamel and Azrael is notably different appearances and had much choppier character animation. This is due to the animators not be used to drawing Peyo's original designs. Later episodes redesigned the characters to look much closer to their comic counterparts.
  • Are We There Yet?
    "Is it much farther, Papa Smurf?"
    "Not far now..."
    "Is it much farther, Papa Smurf?"
    "Not far now..."
    Later: "Is it much farther, Papa Smurf?"
    "Yes, IT IS!".
  • Ascended Extra: Smurfette in her original appearance in the comic books eventually became a regular. Also Clumsy was promoted to the main character hero in the live-action movie.
  • Balcony Speech: King Smurf in the comic book story of the same name (and its Animated Adaptation) delivers one from the balcony of his newly-finished royal palace, thanking his "loyal" subjects for its completion. However, only one Smurf remains standing to give applause to the speech, saying "Long live King Smurf".
  • Battering Ram: Used by the Smurfs in the comic book story "The Fake Smurf" (and its Animated Adaptation). Also used in "The Smurfs And The Book That Tells Everything" to pound open Brainy's door, until Brainy opens the door and lets the Smurfs with the ram enter only to crash into a wall.
  • Battle-Interrupting Shout: In the comic book story and cartoon episode of "King Smurf," all that is needed to stop the Smurf civil war is for Papa Smurf to return and roar, "Stop!"
  • Beauty Equals Goodness: Actually more of an inversion, but Smurfette originally looked like a male Smurf with a bad black wig and a dress. The cartoon features her makeover as seemingly coming with her Heel–Face Turn (the comics had Papa Smurf give her some ''Plastic Smurfery", so it wasn't an entirely automatic transformation).
    • Actually, it was a bit more complex: the Smurfette was created by Gargamel, who made her attractive to his standards of beauty (fully expecting the Smurfs to fall for her). However, the Smurfs found her ugly, and Papa Smurf used his magic to transform her into an attractive female Smurf (according to the Smurfs' standards).
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Papa Smurf can become a Papa Wolf, and when he's pissed, look out.
  • Big Dam Plot: The Smurfs have a dam protecting their village from flooding. Many stories have the dam breaking or threatening to break, like in the Smurfette's initial appearance, where she makes Poet Smurf open the dam out of curiosity.
    • The cartoon show's Season 4 intro has Gargamel summoning a storm to flood the dam.
  • Big Eater: Greedy Smurf and Bigmouth.
  • Big Friendly Dog: Puppy, who is relatively bigger than the Smurfs, becomes Baby Smurf's pet.
  • Big Word Shout: "SMUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRFS!!!"
  • Bindle Stick: The Smurfs in the comic book stories "Traveling Smurf" (with its Animated Adaptation) and "The Finance Smurf" carried these.
  • Bizarre Instrument: The peddler who sells musical instruments in The Smurfs and the Magic Flute produces one while showing of his wares. He even admits that he doesn't know what it is but says it sure makes a lot of noise.
  • Black-and-White Morality: Smurfs = GOOD. Gargamel = Evil.
    • Though Gargamel become more of a minor character as the series went on. The most important problems come generally from the Smurfs themselves, especially when Papa Smurf is away.
  • Blind Without 'Em: Brainy Smurf.
  • Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: As of late, for female Smurf characters, it's Smurfette (blonde), Vexy (brunette), and Sassette (redhead)
  • Born as an Adult: Smurfette.
  • Breaking the Bonds: In the cartoon show episode "The Purple Smurfs" (the Animated Adaptation of the comic book story "The Black Smurfs"), Lazy as a purple Smurf is shown to be strong enough to break the ropes that are binding him. Hefty as a Purple Smurf also breaks the ropes in the same fashion.
  • Breakout Character: After the Sony live-action films, Clumsy quickly bumped from a supporting character to becoming a main character of the franchise. Even Smurfs: The Lost Village made Clumsy one of the leading Smurfs of the film.
    • The Smurfs themselves, from Johann & Peewit.
  • Broken Aesop: The Smurfs, who generally do not use money in their society since they emphasize friendships and family more than personal possessions, pay the player of the Facebook game The Smurfs & Co. with coins which can be used to purchase more Smurf houses and structures to populate their village with.
  • Brown Note: The turlusiphon (shazalla-kazoo in the cartoon show), a magic trumpet that caused anyone who heard its song to fall into a permanent magical sleep.
  • Butt Biter: The Bzz Fly from the comic book story "The Black Smurfs", who turns Smurfs black by biting them in the tail. Also the purple fly in the Animated Adaptation counterpart "The Purple Smurfs", and the Japanese slumber bug in "Papa's Big Snooze".
  • Butt-Monkey:
    • Harmless Villain Gargamel suffers a lot of humiliation and misfortune along with his cat Azrael. All his evil plans are always dooomed to fail.
    • Brainy is the village's Butt Monkey, although half the time he does earn what he gets.
  • Calvinball: The sport of smurfball.
  • Canon Foreigner: Among many original creations in the Hannah Barbera cartoon, Grandpa and Nanny Smurf. They did appear in the comics that were issued in the short-lived Schtroumpf! magazine, though
    • A lot of the spin-off merchandise have Smurf characters who don't appear in either comic or cartoon.
  • Captain Ersatz: Wild Smurf is essentially Tarzan as a Smurf, and Don Smurfo was Zorro as a Smurf.
  • Casual Interstellar Travel: Failed. An adventurous Smurf built himself a space rocket but couldn't even get it to take off. The other Smurfs set up an elaborate hoax to convince him he had actually made it to another planet. It didn't work the second time around in the cartoon show as the spell used for turning the Smurfs into Swoofs wore off too soon.
  • Catchphrase:
    • Brainy Smurf: "As Papa Smurf always says...", "I'll tell Papa Smurf on you!"
    • Jokey Smurf: -"I've a gift for you!"
    • Anyone (with multiple Lampshade Hangings) receiving a gift from Jokey Smurf: "A gift? For me? That's kind! What is it?" (*BOOM!*)
    • Gargamel: "I'll get you, I'll get all of you if that's the last thing I ever do!"
  • Cats Are Mean: Azrael, Gargamel's cat, is eager to eat Smurfs.
  • Character Development: Grouchy Smurf was mostly a one-note character who said "I hate (whatever was said last)." When Baby Smurf arrived in both comic and cartoon, Grouchy is shown to care more for Baby Smurf that he wants to admit to anyone else (though it's this devotion to Baby that allows Baby to stay with them). He also warms to the Smurflings, so if it's a younger Smurf, especially Baby, involved, he's sometimes been allowed to act out-of-character to save them.
  • Character Name and the Noun Phrase: "The Smurfs And The Magic Flute", "The Smurfs And The Howlibird", "The Smurfs And The Money Tree"
    • This is also present in the non-English forms of the story titles.
  • Chromosome Casting: Before the Smurfette's introduction, every single character is male.
  • Civil War: Two of them. The first when King Smurf took over as Papa Smurf's replacement, and his despotism drove some of the Smurfs into underground dissent and eventually open rebellion. The second when a linguistic divide between the northern and southern halves of the village degenerated into actual war. Peyo was from Belgium... hmmm...
    • The Animated Adaptation had "Romeo And Smurfette" where the village takes sides in Hefty and Handy's feuding over Smurfette, which was induced by a spell cast on her by Gargamel.
  • Clockwork Creature: The Clockwork Smurf, followed by his companion the Clockwork Smurfette in the cartoon show.
  • Color-Coded Patrician: Papa Smurf wears red, where everybody else wears white. Grandpa Smurf - who is no longer a leader, but used to be one, and is considered a great adviser - wears yellow.
  • Comically Missing the Point: In the cartoon, Clumsy Smurf isn't so much clumsy as he is Too Dumb to Live.
  • Company Cross References: In the 1960s animated show by TVA Dupuis, Marsupilami makes a brief appearance in the episode "The Smurfnapper" when a narrator is introducing the viewer to The Smurfs and the use of the word "Smurf". At the time, The Smurfs and Marsupilami (created by André Franquin) were both serialized on Spirou before both works gained official publication.
  • Cool Old Guy: Papa Smurf. He often saved the day and would often volunteer for dangerous physical tasks.
  • *Crack!* "Oh, My Back!": In "Smurphony In 'C'", when Gargamel chases after Harmony after he just put his fellow Smurfs in a death sleep with his turlisiphone (shazala-kazoo in the cartoon version), the evil wizard starts getting pains all over until he ends up collapsing.
  • Crippling Overspecialization: The Smurfs whose names are based on their occupations are good at their specific occupations, but have difficulty adapting to situations where other skills may be needed. For example, in the episode "The Smurfwalk Cafe", when Handy and Greedy split apart from each other after the creation of "smurf cream" due to either of them taking sole credit for its invention, they both try their hand at replicating "smurf cream" themselves but fail because Handy, who is an inventor, is not good at cooking, and Greedy, who is a great cook, is not skilled at building good inventions. In "Papa Smurf, Papa Smurf", this overspecialization is even more obvious as the Smurfs create separate villages for the two Papa Smurfs to live in and try to adapt to filling roles that certain Smurfs have filled before, only to fail for one reason or another.
  • Culturally Sensitive Adaptation: The story The Black Smurfs revolves around a condition where the Smurfs turn black and start acting animalistic. For obvious reasons, the Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Smurfs and most other adaptations of the story have the infected Smurfs turn purple.
  • David Versus Goliath: Usually played straight in that the Smurfs always win against Gargamel. Subverted at one point when a single Smurf tried to take down Azrael with a sling, but his tiny pebble harmlessly bounced off the cat's forehead. ("I always knew this whole David versus Goliath story was just make-believe!")
  • Delivery Stork: Smurfs have a symbiotic relationship with storks, and their reproductive process actually involves baby delivery by stork.
  • Disguised in Drag: Hefty Smurf had to disguise himself as Smurfette to protect her from the unwanted affections of a troll king.
    • Gargamel disguised himself as a female fairy in "Smurphony in 'C'" in order to trick Harmony into taking a magical musical instrument that would put the Smurfs into a death sleep when he plays it.
    • He also later disguised himself as the Tooth Fairy when Sassette lost her first tooth.
    • And again as a Wishing Fairy when Clumsy wanted to make a wish with a penny.
    • Jokey Smurf once disguised himself as Smurfette to play a joke. His disguise was a total failure and got him a black eye.
    • A male Smurf had to dress in drag in order to be a queen when two Smurfs were using their fellow Smurfs to play a game of chess.
  • Distaff Counterpart: The animated movie Smurfs: The Lost Village introduces a second Smurf village full of female Smurfs in contrast to the main village which - with just a few exceptions - consists of only male Smurfs. Smurfwillow, the leader of that village, is a direct Distaff Counterpart of Papa Smurf.
  • Distracted by the Sexy: Smurfette elicits this response with her fellow Smurfs, as seen on the cover of the children's book Meet Smurfette.
  • The Ditz: Dopey/Dimwitty Smurf.
  • Dramatic Slip: In "The Weather-Smurfing Machine" (the second story of the book "The Astrosmurf"), the Smurfs are trying to return to the Smurf Village during a snowstorm. Brainy Smurf falls, and when another Smurf offers to carry him, he tells "no, let me die here". The Smurf takes his word and leaves him, so a scared Brainy gets up again and keeps running.
  • Dreadful Musician: Harmony Smurf.
  • Dressing as the Enemy / The Mole: Gargamel and Hogatha posed as actual Smurfs at one time or another, with Gargamel (Hogatha in the 1981 TV series) being the first but lacking a tail which made him a dead giveaway near the end of the story.
  • Droste Image: The album cover for Best Of Friends - The Smurfs.
  • Dumb Is Good: The other Smurfs disliked Brainy's bossy know-it-all behavior, despite the times he actually has a point.
  • Early Adaptation Weirdness: In the 1960s series, the prologue for the episode "The Smurfnapper" establishes that Smurf Village takes place somewhere in South America instead of Europe.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness:
    • In the early years of the franchise. Smurfs used to not only walk, but they were mostly seen bouncing/hopping from place to place. This is most notable in The Smurfs and the Magic Flute where the majority of smurfs were spotted hopping besides walking making them move quicker. This was later removed in the 80's and they are only seen walking. The last time they were spotted bouncing and walking was in the animated intro to The Smurfs Sega CD game. This aspect would be brought back for the 2021 animated series.
    • In early comic book stories of the franchise, most of the Smurfs went unnamed (except for Papa Smurf) and can be only identified through their personalities and occupations. Names for the Smurfs would be officially first given to them in the Little Comics Collection print of "The Hundredth Smurf".
    • In the older comics and the 1960s show, Azrael was originally a female cat before being changed to male cat starting with the Hannah-Barbara series.
  • Ear Notch: Azrael has one. In the live-action movie, it is even shown how he gets it.
  • Eat the Bomb: In the comic book story "Smurf Soup" (and its Animated Adaptation episode "Soup A La Smurf"), Bigmouth eats one of Jokey's surprises, thinking it was food, and it explodes harmlessly in his mouth.
  • Enemy Mine: Gargamel and the Smurfs occasionally team together when something vital to both their livelihoods is at stake, such as the Smurf Forest in the comic book story The Gambler Smurfs.
  • Ephebophile: Papa Smurf's one-time attraction to Smurfette in "Romeo And Smurfette". Thankfully averted in the rest of the show and the live-action movie series, where his relationship to Smurfette is genuinely father to daughter.
    "You could be Mama Smurfette!"note 
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": None of the Smurfs has a name; they are known by their occupation or most obvious personality trait (Handy Smurf, Clumsy Smurf, etc.). The only Smurf that has an actual given name is Sassette.
    • In the 1981 cartoon show, an adult male Smurf is given the name Marco Smurf, after Marco Polo.
  • Everybody Do the Endless Loop: When the Smurfs are around the camp fire dancing and when the Smurfs are performing with their instruments in the 1981 TV series.
  • Everyone Loves Blondes: Smurfette is modeled after Gargamel, so he creates her with short black hair. At the beginning, everyone finds her unappealing, so Papa Smurf gives her a makeover. After she becomes a blonde, everyone falls in love with her.
  • Everything Is an Instrument: The Smurflings upstaged Brainy's orchestral performance in one story (and the animated episode adapted from it) with music from instruments made of junk.
  • Evil Sorcerer: Gargamel.
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin: the Smurfs' names.
  • Exposed to the Elements: The Smurfs go through winter wearing just a hat and pants and are hardly affected by the elements. Even Wild Smurf gets away with it, and he's just wearing a loincloth and a hat.
  • Faceless Masses: All identical Smurfs in white clothing. It works for the creators of both the comic books and the cartoon show so they can bring in a character that becomes prominent for a while and then easily write him out.
    Smurfs: Now do you think we're the same? This very claim, we're not the same...
    • This created a problem in the comic book version of "The Astro Smurf" as Papa Smurf in the guise of Grandpa Swoof couldn't tell apart his little Smurfs when they were turned into Swoofs. He tried to select the one he thought was Hefty Smurf for Astro Smurf's fighting opponent, but it turned out to be Vanity!
  • Failure Is the Only Option: Gargamel's goal of vengeance is condemned to failure, of course. But there's also Season 9 of the 1981 cartoon series, when the Smurfs were sucked into a time warp and spent the remainder of the series desperately trying to make their way back to Smurf Village. So it's two Sisyphean goals in one!
    • Actually, only one Sisyphean goal replaced by another, as the Smurfs in the final season mostly dealt with Gargamel's distant ancestors and not the wizard himself.
  • Faked Rip Van Winkle: In an episode, the other Smurfs fool Lazy into thinking he has slept his way into the future where all his fellow Smurfs are now elderly and Papa Smurf has long since passed away. However, Lazy discovers the truth when he uses magic to try bringing them back to their actual ages and they wind up being young Smurflings.
    • The comic version is almost the same, except that Lazy Smurf finds out when overhearing a conversation, and pretends to have added a de-aging potion in the soup to get even.
  • Fauxtastic Voyage: Happens in "Astro Smurf". The Smurfs help another Smurf's dreams of visiting another world by pretending to go on one of these. Using a volcano crator as the moon and dressing as aliens called Schlips, which in the Animated Adaptation were renamed Swoofs.
    • The 1981 cartoon show sequel story, "Dreamy's Pen Pals", had the Smurfs this time transform the Smurf Village into the Swoof Village when Dreamy as Astro Smurf entered his spaceship to "travel" to their world. Unfortunately, Brainy had cut corners in completing the transformation formula Papa Smurf used to transform the Smurfs into Swoofs, so they changed back a bit too soon, revealing to Dreamy that he had never really traveled to the stars.
  • Feathered Fiend (type C): The Cracoucass/Howlibird, a giant mutant bird that laid waste to the Smurf village.
  • Flight: The main method of air travel for the Smurfs is to ride storks. However, one Smurf wanted to fly unaided and tried all sorts of methods, none of which was successful. He eventually drank a magic potion that made him lighter than air, but found he couldn't get back down to ground level. The others fed him bricks until he was too heavy to fly again.
  • Fountain of Youth: Three Smurfs get youthened unexpectedly in "The Smurflings".
  • Four-Fingered Hands: The Smurfs have four-fingered hands and four-toed feet, while the humans they encounter have five-fingered hands. In their first comic book appearance, though, they did have five fingers.
  • "Freaky Friday" Flip
  • Furry Female Mane: Although not a furry, Smurfette embodies the spirit of this trope: Males of a species are apparently bald but females must have plenty of head hair.
    • The Smurfs are rarely seen without their hat, Papa Smurf being an exception while in the first album.
  • Genghis Gambit: In order to reunite the Smurfs riven by Civil War, Papa Smurf swaps bodies with Gargamel and attacks the village.
  • Genre Blind: everyone keeps falling for Jokey Smurf's overused prank. When they do refuse the "surprise package", it turns out it wasn't a prank but a real present, often a big cake. Done several times.
    • One time in the 1981 cartoon show, Jokey was magicked so that his surprises actually contained gifts.
    • In the comics, Slouchy Smurfling turns Jokey's prank against the jokester, then shrugs the prankster off by calling him and his old prank as something outdated.
  • Ghibli Hills
  • Giftedly Bad: Harmony Smurf. Just carrying a music box makes it play badly.
  • Go-Karting with Bowser: In one Live-Action Greek music video. The Smurfs and Gargamel are seen having fun at a amusement park instead of him chasing them.
  • Goo-Goo-Godlike: In the 1981 TV series, Baby Smurf is enchanted and often demonstrates magic powers when a Deus ex Machina is required without the other Smurfs knowledge with the lone exception of Papa.
  • Hate Plague: "The Root Of Evil" in the 1981 cartoon show.
  • Hates Everyone Equally: Grouchy Smurf. Although, he does like Baby Smurf, Smurfette, and Papa Smurf.
    • He loves flowers, but he doesn't likes the idea of everyone knowing that.
  • Head-Turning Beauty Smurfette, after her makeover, elicits this response in her fellow Smurfs. She actually became a nurse several times in the comics, such as in Doctor Smurf.
  • The Hecate Sisters: At least in form, Sassette (maiden), Smurfette (mother), and Nanny (crone)
  • Heel–Face Turn: The Smurfette. Note she was never evil in a The Vamp or The Baroness way, more a case of The Scrappy: She got on everyone's nerves, offered her help, despite not being useful, and expected that everyone paid attention to her and fulfill all of her wishes, no matter how outrageous. Also note the list of "ingredients" when Gargamel creates her, which includes envy and vanity. Strangely, her most negative deed (she actually tried to have the entire village flooded) happened after said smurfical surgery. Yet, when she reveals that Gargamel created her, she is put on a trial. Which is heavily biased, but in her favor: everyone testified for her because she was pretty! In later stories, she is good, but no real explanation is given.
    • In the 1981 cartoon show, Smurfette was changed into a real Smurf through the use of magic, and this following her attempt to flood the village and she confesses she was doing it on Gargamel's orders. With that her change of heart is genuine and she quickly proves it to everyone.
    • In the 1981 cartoon, Smurfette followed Gargamel's orders out of fear because he created her and could un-create her as well. In the comic, Smurfette was just left to be found by the Smurfs and her mere presence should have caused them to fight for her note , so she was never following any orders and just knew Gargamel as the guy who created her, something she didn't find important to tell and ended coming in casual conversation. On both cases, she ended up ditching Gargamel by her own will.
  • Hidden Elf Village: In the original comic books and the first few seasons of the cartoon. In "The Smurfs and the Magic Flute," the Smurf Village could only be reached by the magical method of "hypnokinesis." And in the 2011 movie, there's some invisible magical barrier hiding it.
  • Hidden Heart of Gold: Grouchy may say he hates everything, but if theres one thing he does love, it's Baby Smurf. Papa Smurf even lampshaded this after Brainy accused him of getting rid of Baby when he went missing.
    • In an earlier episode of the 1981 TV series that showed Smurfette's origin, after Grouchy and the others were captured by Gargamel and they believed that Smurfette tricked them, Grouchy says, "I hate the Smurfette". But at the end after she saves everyone, he privatly draws a heart with an arrow through it and says, "I love the Smurfette too, but I hate anybody to know about it".
  • Hollywood Giftwrap: Jokey Smurf's stock exploding gifts take this form.
  • Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Peewit and the Smurfette (even Harmony Smurf notices how bad she sings).
    • Harmony Smurf himself is a very bad singer, as noted in both the comics and the 1981 cartoon show.
  • Home Base: Smurf Village.
  • The Hyena: Jokey Smurf generally finds everything funny.
  • Idiot Ball: Jokey's presents are a physical example of this. No one ever sees it coming.
  • If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: The reason the Smurfs engage in Save the Villain moments, particularly when it's their Arch-Enemy Gargamel. Papa Smurf even mentions this in the 1981 TV series episode "For The Love Of Gargamel".
  • Imposter Forgot One Detail: In the comic book story "The Fake Smurf", Gargamel (and Hogatha in the Animated Adaptation) was capable of creating a formula that can change him into the form of a Smurf...but one detail that was missing in the transformation was that his impersonation doesn't have a tail. Gargamel tries to correct this by gluing a fake tail onto his behind, but later on the tail ended up falling off, and Gargamel was soon spotted and revealed to be the fake Smurf.
  • Improvised Lightning Rod: In the comic book story "The Weather-Smurfing Machine" (and its Animated Adaptation counterpart "Foul Weather Smurf"), the Smurfs put an end to the out-of-control Weather-Control Machine by flying a kite attached to the machine straight into a lightning storm.
  • Incredible Shrinking Man: Gargamel was shrunk to Smurf-size twice.
  • Informed Attractiveness: Vanity Smurf considers himself the most handsome smurf in the village. If it wasn't for that flower in his hat, he'd be indistinguishable from most smurfs.
  • Insufferable Genius: Poor Brainy.
  • Invisibility: Gargamel once used magic paint that made him invisible. Strangely enough, that paint seemed to make any surface look paper-thin when seen through the invisible part.
    • Jokey in the 1981 cartoon show once wore a cloak that made him invisible, though when he got wet wearing the cloak, it made the invisibility permanent until Papa Smurf took care of the problem.
  • Jerkass: Jokey Smurf and his constant pranks.
  • Kick Them While They Are Down: Comically averted in the comic book story "Smurphony In 'C'" (and its Animated Adaptation): when Gargamel falls off a log crossing over a high ravine and hangs onto the log for dear life, Harmony comes over with his shazalakazoo, ready to play a tune that will send the wizard falling his doom when the wizard cries out for mercy. Harmony remembers that Papa Smurf told him that he shouldn't kick a Smurf when he's down, so he instead razzes the wizard and leaves him be.
  • The Klutz: Clumsy Smurf.
  • Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Brainy.
  • Ladder Tipping: In the comic book story "King Smurf" (and its Animated Adaptation), the rebel Smurfs attempt to break through King Smurf's defenses by climbing up a ladder, but King Smurf's forces douse the ladder with glue, causing the rebels to get their hands and feet stuck on the ladder long enough to get tipped over.
  • Lilliputians
  • Limited Animation: The 1961 - 1965 Belgian shorts.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Just a hat and pants for the male Smurfs. Papa Smurf wore red pants, and Grandpa Smurf yellow; other Smurfs wore white.
    • Nat Smurfling wear a brown hillbilly hat and footless pants with a suspender, Wild wore a leaf-woven hat and a loincloth, Sweepy wore a black suit due to his being a chimney sweep, and Willow wore a sand-colored dress and red pants.
    • Smurfette is shown to have multiple copies of the same dress she wears.
    • The Smurf Girls wore sand-colored hats, dresses, and shoes.
  • Lots of Luggage: In the comic book story "The Hunger Of The Smurfs" (and its Animated Adaptation episode "Haunted Smurfs"), before the Smurfs set off to find food and shelter for the winter after their storehouse has been burned to ashes, Papa Smurf tells his little Smurfs to "take only the bare essentials" with them on their journey. Apparently they interpreted the "essentials" to mean everything that they couldn't live without, as Papa Smurf sees that they're ready to take the whole village with them!
  • Ludd Was Right: Whenever a Smurf decides to bring a new technology or system that is meant to make their lives easier, it will always be dropped by the end.
  • Mad Libs Catch Phrase:
    • Grouchy Smurf: "I hate (X) !"
    • Dopey Smurf confusing an object with another: "Bring me a (X)!" "Sure." "No! That's a (Y) !!" "Ah ?"
  • Magic Feather: The smurfberry jam in the Smurf Olympics and in the episode "A Little Smurf-Confidence".
  • Magic Music: The first time the Smurfs were mentioned in Johan & Peewit was because of a magic flute they had made, which causes people to dance uncontrollably until consuming all of their stamina when played. Also, Gargamel once tricked the Smurfs by giving Harmony Smurf a magical instrument that causes everyone who hears its sound to fall into catatonia.
  • Magic Plastic Surgery: Or "plastic smurfery", according to the original English translation of the comic book story "The Smurfette" for how Papa Smurf made Smurfette into a real Smurf. The cartoon show version of the story eschews that and simply has Papa Smurf transform her into a real Smurf through magic.
  • Magical Land
  • The Makeover: Papa Smurf gives one to Smurfette.
  • Mass Oh Smurf!: Happens when a crowd of Smurfs instantly find themselves confronting Gargamel or some danger bigger than themselves.
  • May–December Romance: Attempted and failed with Papa Smurf trying to go after Smurfette. Thankfully.
  • Mayfly–December Friendship: The Smurfs, by way of being able to live for centuries, have this kind of relationship with their human friends, such as Johan and Peewit.
  • Meaningful Name: Every Smurf character seems to have one, which is coupled with Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep".
  • Merchandise-Driven: Smurfs tend to be created more for collectible plastic figures than for stories.
    • Not to mention that much of the latest comic book stories are cliché storms that do little to add depth to the universe.
  • Meta Guy: Brainy.
  • The Middle Ages: As with its predecessor Johan And Peewit, the series is set somewhere in Europe during this time period. (The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow suggests that it's the latter end of that period.)
  • Mirror Self: In the Smurfs story "The Hundredth Smurf", Vanity Smurf's mirror is struck by lightning, which brings his reflection to life. The reflection speaks backwards and does everything Vanity Smurf does, but in reverse (lifting the right arm when Vanity lifts the left, for instance). After he causes chaos in the village by his opposite nature, the reflection decides to return to the mirror, but he goes through it instead, and comes out a regular Smurf.
  • Mordor: Retconned. The Smurfs were initially supposed to live in a remote place called "the Cursed Land", surrounded with hostile deserts and ice-capped mountains, and covered with dark forests. By the time they got their own spin-off series, however, the Cursed Land had become a regular forest, whose only peculiarity was that humans would always get lost in it unless guided by a Smurf (except for the area where Gargamel lives, which retained a sinister look). As time went by, the setting became ever more hospitable, until it turned into an actual Sugar Bowl (see below).
  • Motive Decay: Gargamel originally wanted to get the Smurfs so he could use them in a potion to make the Philosopher's Stone. But as he faced defeat after defeat, he came to personally despise the Smurfs so much he decided to make them suffer or cause them humiliation.
  • Mouse World
  • Narcissist: Vanity Smurf.
  • Nature Hero: Wild Smurf, who is the Smurf expy of Tarzan. He was even raised by squirrels.
  • Nerd Glasses: This is why Brainy Smurf wears glasses. In the original French version, he is called "Schtroumpf à lunettes" which means "Glasses Smurf".
  • Never Bareheaded: The Smurfs rarely if ever take their hats off.
    • In one album, you can spot one smurf without pants, but who still kept his cap.
  • No Eye in Magic: In the comic book story Smurf vs. Smurf, Papa Smurf uses an eye contact magic spell on Gargamel the wizard so that the two of them would switch appearances and that Papa Smurf would be able to stop the Smurfs from fighting over the use of the word "smurf" in compounded words and phrases. During this, however, Gargamel breaks into Papa Smurf's laboratory and finds the magic words so that he can make eye contact with Papa Smurf and transform back to their original appearances. This scene is later adapted into the cartoon episode version of "Romeo And Smurfette".
  • No Name Given: In the comic books and the cartoon show, there are important characters in the stories that aren't given any names.
  • Non-Fatal Explosions: Jokey's explosive presents never do any harm except splatter black soot on people.
  • Older Than They Look: The young adult male Smurfs are really about 100 years old (150 in the cartoon show), while Papa Smurf is 542.Grandpa Smurf was mentioned as being twice Papa Smurf's age.
  • The Olympics: The comic book story The Olympic Smurfs and the cartoon special "The Smurfic Games".
  • One-Gender Race: And it was to be remembered that all the female Smurfs were magically created.
  • Our Ogres Are Hungrier: Bigmouth, from the comic book story "Smurf Soup" and its Animated Adaptation, although in the original story he was technically a giant.
  • Over-the-Shoulder Carry: Hefty or some Smurf does this to Smurfette when they first meet her in the forest in "The Smurfette" when she was expecting the Bridal Carry.
  • Papa Wolf: Don't threaten the Smurfs if you don't want to be on the receiving end of one of Papa Smurf's potions.
  • Perma-Stubble: The Swoofs (magically-disguised Smurfs in the album "The Astrosmurf") have what appears to be a ring of Fred Flintstone stubble around their mouths, though it could also simply be tribal face paint. In the animated adaptation of the story, there's a Swoofette, who is Smurfette in disguise, and even she has it!
  • Pervert Dad: Papa Smurf's one-time attraction to Smurfette in "Romeo And Smurfette". Also thankfully averted in the live-action movie series (so far).
  • Pet the Dog: In the album where Baby Smurf is introduced, when Grouchy learns that the stork is coming back to take away Baby, he decides to take him away in the woods because he doesn't want him to leave. When he eventually returns, he cries and shows more emotion that he has ever done in the series.
    • Gargamel has some regarding Azrael, despite being abusive to him sometimes. For example, when he dissuaded Bigmouth from eating Azrael in "Smurf Soup" (the animated version of that story tried to make Gargamel more self-centered, though).
  • Pie in the Face: Jokey masquerades as the Masked Pie Smurfer to attack his fellow Smurfs with pies. The reason he did this was because he thought they were getting too gloomy. Of course this resulted in an Escalating War and Jokey ended up being pied by Baby Smurf. In the comic version "The Masked Smurfer", Jokey did it to take advantage of the frequent arguments among Smurfs, and even pied himself to avoid suspicions.
  • Planet of Steves: All verbs and nouns are replaced with "Smurf".
    • Actually this trope is played straighter in the books: Smurfs who don't have a specific hobby/job are named just "Smurf". "I picked Smurf's bottle smurfer/smurf screwer" "Poor Smurf !" "Vote for Smurf"...
  • Playing Sick: Jokey does it at least twice in the series: once in "Jokey's Funny Bone" in order to get attention, and another time in "Calling Doctor Smurf" in order to make Dabbler feel useful as a doctor.
    • The Smurfs themselves do this in the comic book story The Reporter Smurf to fool Gargamel into thinking he has contracted a disease from them which turns humans into toads.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: Gargamel reasons that the best way to destroy the Smurf village is... to send in a female Smurf.
  • Purely Aesthetic Era: Averted with most of the world who keep their Middle Age setting, yet played straight specifically with the Smurf Village, thanks to Handy Smurf's somewhat advanced inventions.
  • Raised By Squirrels: Wild Smurf.
  • La Résistance: The opponents to King Smurf's tyranny.
  • Riddle for the Ages: To whom the Baby Smurf was supposed to be delivered? Could there be another Smurf village in the forest?
  • Rightful King Returns: Besides Dreamy in the cartoon episode "The Smurf Who Would Be King", Papa Smurf also plays this role in "King Smurf" when he returns to stop the fighting among all his little Smurfs and to put an end to King Smurf's role as king.
  • Right-Hand Cat: Azrael, who due to his relative size to the Smurfs, doubles as a Right-Hand Attack Dog.
  • Running Gag: Several of them, most notably Jokey Smurf's exploding gift boxes.
  • Save the Villain: The Smurfs end up doing this to Gargamel at various occasions, one reluctantly being when Gargamel accidentally turned himself into a statue while the Smurfs rejoiced afterward, Papa Smurf being the exception.
  • Secret-Keeper: Papa Smurf either knows absolutely or strongly suspects that Baby Smurf is enchanted whenever the Smurfs are saved from certain death with no knowledge of how or why they survived. Papa Smurf deems it wise not to tempt fate by explaining or exploiting Baby.
  • She's a Man in Japan: Azrael was female in the original Spirou stories and made a tom in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon. In what has to be a first for this trope, the gender switch was made canon!
  • Silence Is Golden: In the European exclusive port for The Smurfs game that was released on the Sega CD. The opening and closing cutscenes were mostly silent besides character grumbling and making noises.
  • Slipping a Mickey: In the comic book story "The Astro Smurf" (and its Animated Adaptation), Papa Smurf slips a sleeping potion into the raspberry juice that Astro Smurf drinks before he goes into his spaceship and starts to take off. Throughout the story in the original comic book version, the Smurfs keep him asleep during their travels to and from the extinct volcano by making him drink more of the potion.
    • Papa Smurf in the comic book story "The Smurfs And The Book That Tells Everything" was given a glass of smurfonade after he had collapsed and was brought back to the village, which was laced with a formula that the book gave to Lazy for curing insomnia. While he was asleep, his little Smurfs locked him inside his own house.
  • Smurf-Eating Plant: Papa Smurf accidentally created one in the story "The Smurfs And The Howlibird" (and its Animated Adaptation), which required a Smurf to chop at its roots to stop.
  • The Smurfette Principle: The Trope Namer. So many smurfs, yet only two of the primary characters (Smurfette and Sassette) are female. Nanny Smurf (introduced in Season 8) makes it three, and if you count mechanical Smurfs, Clockwork Smurfette would make four.
    • Finally subverted in the animated movie Smurfs: The Lost Village which introduces a whole other Smurf-village where only female Smurfs live. This is a big plot point throughout the movie. The female Smurfs are also heavingly included in the marketing.
  • Smurfing: Also the Trope Namer.
    • There was often Lampshade Hanging, such as in a Johan & Peewit album where Peewit attempts to explain the Smurf language to other humans, but things get extremely confusing:.
    Peewit: If I say "I smurf the smurf", it means...
    Humans: Well... urr... I eat in bed?
    Peewit: No, it doesn't! It means: I go to the woods! I mean, it's obvious!
    Smurf: No, no! "I go to the woods" is "I smurf the smurf"! As for "I smurf the smurf", it means "I warble at aurora" !
  • Something Else Also Rises: In the story "The Smurf Garden", when Smurfette kisses Dopey Smurf, the floppy part of his hat rises. This sometimes happens to each Smurf who gets kissed by Smurfette.
    • One wonders in the cartoon show episode "Swapping Smurfs" what the Well Wizard actually did to the Smurfs that made them look so happy that the floppy part of their hats end up standing straight.
  • Status Quo Is Almost God: Save for some new characters (the Smurfette, the Smurflings...), the village always come back to its previous state at the end of the story. in fact, many of the albums seem to be about a new idea or trend coming to the village, winning over the Smurfs (with Papa Smurf as the Only Sane Smurf), before leading to widespread chaos and the ultimate conclusion that the status quo is actually better.
  • Stern Chase
  • Stewed Alive: Gargamel's original plan in the comics was to make a potion to create a Philosopher's Stone. The recipe required doing this to a Smurf.
  • Storming The Village: In the comic book story "King Smurf" (and its Animated Adaptation), the rebel Smurfs do this to the Smurf Village when King Smurf orders his Smurfs to build a high fence around it.
  • Stroke the Beard: Papa Smurf can be found doing this.
  • Sugar Apocalypse: The rather infamous Unicef ad campaign that bombs the Smurf Village.
  • Sugar Bowl: The Middle Ages never looked so good. Also Gargamel creating a Female Smurf being the only change he ever successfully made to their village.
  • Take That!: Peyo got the inspiration for Brainy Smurf through one of his childhood friends, who liked to show off and to play the wise guy.
  • Tampering with Food and Drink: In the comic book story "The Fake Smurf", Gargamel (and Hogatha in the Animated Adaptation) attempted to poison the Smurfs by slipping something into a boiling pot that he thought was their meal of the day. However, when he saw that the Smurfs weren't being affected, he went to check the pot that he put the poison into, and it turned out to be full of dirty laundry!
  • Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Smurfette gets changed into a 'proper Smurf' by Papa Smurf because the other Smurfs don't approve of her.
  • That Poor Plant: Papa Smurf once tried a growth serum on a daisy, but it ended up turning the flower into a huge Man-Eating Plant.
  • Theme Parks: There was a Smurf theme park in France, but it didn't work well and has now become Walygator Parc (with not a single Smurf-related element in it). However characters from the Smurfs can be spotted at the Belgian theme park Bobbejaaland and a Smurf Village area will be at the upcoming theme park in Dubai called "Motiongate"
  • This Is My Side: In Smurf versus Smurf, the village is divided and one enterprising north Smurf paints a line along the middle. Unfortunately, it runs right through one poor Smurf's home, creating confusion as to which side he belongs to.
    • The line painting is also done in the cartoon show episode "Romeo And Smurfette" and "The Smurfic Games" special.
  • This Means War!: In the comic book story "The Smurf Threat", the Grey Smurfs send an Arrowgram to the Smurfs, warning them to surrender Hefty or else. Papa Smurf refuses to turn over Hefty to the Grey Smurfs, and the next Arrowgram reads something to the effect of "this means war" — with the next thing the Smurfs see is the Grey Smurfs surrounding the village.
    • This also happens in the cartoon show episode "All's Smurfy That Ends Smurfy", with the fairy Prince Garth waging war against the Smurfs.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Sassette and Smurfette.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Sarsaparilla leaves, in the original comics. In real life, sarsaparilla is poisonous and Peyo intentionally drew them different so that child readers would not attempt eating them if they found it. In the series it's Smurfberries.
  • TV Genius: Brainy Smurf.
  • Tyrant Takes the Helm: King Smurf's arc. Also "The Finance Smurf".
  • Unusual Euphemism: "Smurf" has been used as such a few times, like that time a Smurf insulted another one for taking his ladder. In parodies, it's used only as such.
  • Unwanted Harem: Smurfette has a harem of male Smurf suitors all wanting to be her one true love, but though she is flattered by their affections, she turns them down because (1) she's too young to think about marriage, and (2) she loves all her fellow Smurfs equally.
  • Vague Age: Granted, The Smurfs are defined as 100 years old (150 in the cartoon show), but what makes them an example of the trope is the fact that it's unclear which human age equals that; most of them have specific jobs inside the village, yet they frequently play ball and act immature. Maybe one thing or the other may be the consequence of living in a small village led by their father (Papa Smurf is no mere name - he raised the 98 Smurfs). They were more clearly defined as adults when three of them were age-reversed to Smurflings, which made the adult Smurfs behave somewhat more mature and proved that we were better with the vague age.
    • The vagueness is amped up with the live-action movie character Gutsy Smurf, who sports really long sideburns while most of his fellow Smurfs are barefaced.
  • Verbal Tic: Using the word 'Smurf' in every single sentence can be very annoying.
  • The Virus: "The Black Smurfs" (adapted into the episode "Purple Smurfs").
  • Voice Grunting: The Sega CD version of the 1994 The Smurfs game contained no voice acting for the opening and closing cutscenes. Most of the characters only making grunting and gasping noises.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Pretty much what a male Smurf's life is, coupled with the Limited Wardrobe. Given that in cold weather they tend to wear little else besides a scarf, it would suggest that they are adaptable to weather changes. Narrator from the film series and Snappy and Slouchy Smurfling are the only male Smurfs that avert this trope.
  • Warp Whistle: The magic whistle in "Traveling Smurf" and its Animated Adaptation episode "Dreamy's Nightmare".
  • We Are as Mayflies: The Smurfs are definite long-livers compared to humans — they can live up to 600 years (Grandpa Smurf is a few centuries beyond that) and still remain active and sprightly. In the Animated Adaptation, it's mostly due to the Long Life Stone which gives the Smurfs their longevity, though its power must be replenished every 1000 years or the Smurfs will suffer Rapid Aging that leads to their death.
  • Weather-Control Machine: The Smurfs invented one, but Farmer Smurf and Poet Smurf fought over which weather they wanted, and caused it to go berserk. Papa Smurf in the comic books, and Handy in the cartoon show, had to destroy it.
  • Why Am I Ticking?: When Gargamel finds about the creation of Sassette, he uses sorcery to make everything made with that clay to explode with the noon sun. Papa Smurf manages to create an antidote, and uses it just in time before she does explode as she scares Gargamel by trying to befriend him after she was initially rejected by her fellow Smurflings.
  • Wicked Witch: A common threat against the Smurfs, notably Hogatha and Chlorhydris.
  • Wild Card: Bigmouth, who can be an ally or enemy of the Smurfs, depending what will get him some food.
  • Wishplosion: One Smurf episode featured a Literal Genie.
    • The comics and cartoon show featured a magic egg that conceded wishes when hitting it.
  • Wizard Beard: Homnibus the good wizard.
  • A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: In "The Black Smurfs" and its Animated Adaptation counterpart "The Purple Smurfs", one of the diseased Smurfs pulls this off by painting himself blue and infiltrating the village.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Gargamel would even hurt Baby Smurf.
  • Younger Than They Look: Smurfette, despite being an adult Smurf, is only about a few years old, being a magically-created Smurf.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: "The Black Smurfs" ("The Purple Smurfs" on the international markets), who are the result of being bitten by a fly. Black Smurfs can infect other Smurfs by biting them. Notable for the fact the original graphic novel predates the Living Dead Series by a few years, making it the Ur-Example of the trope.

Alternative Title(s): Les Schtroumpfs

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