Recap / Asterix and the Class Act

Asterix and the Class Act (Astérix et la rentrée gauloise) is the 33rd album in the Asterix series. Unlike previous albums, it's a collection of several short stories that were published separately before in various media; chiefly one-shot strips for Pilote, the magazine that originally published Asterix, but also other sources, including a strip designed to introduce the series to the American market and a story done for the promotional material for Paris' bid for the 1992 Olympics, plus one brand new story written especially for the album.

The stories, in order (with their original publication date):

• "Introduction": A one page intro where Vitalstatistix gives a modern press conferences to tell the reader the album will contain several short stories. A slightly modified version of a similar page originally published for Asterix and the Big Fight.
• "Asterix and the Class Act" (06 October 1966): Asterix and Obelix have to gather the children of the village for the first day of school.
• "The Birth of Asterix" (October 1994): This story shows what happened in the famous Gaulish village on the day Asterix was born.
• "In 50 BC" (May 1977): An introduction story for the setting of the series and the main characters. Done for the American market.
• "Chanticleerix" (August 2003): A day in the limelight for the rooster of the village. This is the only new story in the album.
• "For Gaul Lang Syne" (07 December 1963): Obelix waits at a mistletoe in hopes of getting a kiss from Panacea.
• "Mini Midi Maxi" (02 August 1971): The narrator tries to convince the reader the Gauls were far from barbaric. Naturally, he's proven wrong.
• "Asterix as You Have Never Seen Him Before" (11 December 1969): A collection of some of the weirdest fan requests the authors ever received.
• "The Lutetia Olympics" (25 October 1986): The Gaulish city of Lutetia is determined to get chosen to host the next Olympic Games, and tries its best to impress the Olympic Committee. But Julius Caesar is equally determined to see Rome become the host city instead. Made to promote France's (unsuccessful) attempt to host the 1992 Olympic Games.
• "Springtime in Gaul" (17 March 1966): Asterix and Obelix help a personification of spring to defeat the winter.
• "The Mascot" (13 June 1968): Dogmatix becomes the Romans' new mascot.
• "Latinomania" (March 1973): A story poking fun at Franglais, use of English words in France.
• "The Obelix Family Tree" (07 February 1963): The authors of the Asterix comics meet a modern-day descendant of Obelix.
• "How Do They Think It All Up?" (August 1993): Goscinny and Uderzo try to come up with a new story idea for Asterix.

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Tropes present in the album as a whole + the introduction page.

• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Vitalstatistix directly addresses the reader.
• Short Story: All of the stories in the album.

Tropes present in "Asterix and the Class Act"

• Anachronism Stew: The Gaulish children's education looks a lot like a modern-day school, with the concept of a "new school year" and children sitting at desks.
• Back to School: Happens to Obelix when he fails to answer Getafix's question about when the battle of Gergovia was.
• School Is for Losers: The children of the village really don't want to go back to school, hence why Asterix and Obelix have to catch them.
• Spoiler Cover: The cover of the album as a whole gives away the joke that Obelix will be send back to school in this story.
• Straw Feminist: A girl caught by Asterix acts like one, calling Asterix a "Brutal misogynist", and he wonders where she learned that language.
• Title Drop: In the English edition, Obelix at one point mentions that he and Asterix are "A real class act".

Tropes present in "The Birth of Asterix"

• Like Father, Like Son: After the young Vitalstatistix comes home bruised and beaten from a fight with the young Fulliautomatix, his father immediately storms off to pick a fight with Fulliautomatix's father.
• Like Parent, Like Spouse: Vitalstastix's mother has the same domineering personality as his future wife Impedimenta.
• Panicky Expectant Father: As their wives go into labor, Astronomix and Obeliscoidix are shooed out of their houses so the women of the village can handle it. Both nervous, they meet up and decide to join the ongoing brawl over Unhealthix's fish to calm down a little.
• Series Continuity Error:
  • The story depicts Vitalstatistix as a child around the time Asterix and Obelix were born, thus stating he's at most a few years older than them. The book How Obelix Fell into the Magic Potion When He Was a Little Boy, however, shows he was already an adult, and chieftain of the tribe, during Asterix's and Obelix's youth, thus stating he's at least several decades older than them.
  • The story shows Asterix and Obelix were born on the same day. This contradicts Obelix and Co., in which Obelix celebrates his birthday but Asterix does not. Considering that this short story was published 20 years after Obelix and Co., and except for the live-action movie, every other Asterix story since maintains the idea of Asterix and Obelix sharing a birthday, it can be considered a retcon.
• Spinoff Babies: Downplayed; the story is actually a flashback set during the characters' youth, but otherwise plays the trope completely straight, with all characters appearing as children but already acting like their adult selves.

Tropes present in "In 50 BC"

• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Caesar can be seen pointing at a map, and wondering if there truly is nothing else to conquer on the other side of the Atlantic.
• Mobile Shrubbery: Asterix easily unmasks a Roman spy disguised as a tree (which, truth be told, was rather obvious).
• Running Gag: The same Roman soldier getting beaten up or crushed under objects again, and again.

Tropes present in "Chanticleerix"

• Animal Talk: In this story, animals (or at least birds and dogs) can freely talk with each other.
• Artistic License – History: Chanticleerix claims he is the emblem of the Gauls. While the rooster is an emblem of France, this imagery does not date back to Gaulish times.
• Character Title: The story is named after its protagonist.
• Cocky Rooster: Chanticleerix acts far more cocky than the chickens, though it's mostly since he sees it as his duty to defend them.
• A Day in the Limelight: For Chanticleerix, the village rooster.
• Feathered Fiend: The eagle that terrorizes the chickens of the village.
• Instantly Defeathered Bird: After being empowered by magic potion, Chanticleerix shots up in the air like a rocket and collides mid-air with the eagle, rendering the latter completely bald and grounded. The bald eagle is seen walking away from the village afterwards.
• Showdown at High Noon: Between Chanticleerix and a large Eagle, to see who is the better emblem (the eagle for the Romans, or the rooster for the Gauls).
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Obelix is strongly hinted to have this ability near the end, as he understands what Dogmatix told him about helping Chanticleerix win a fight. It makes Asterix wonder if perhaps Obelix is just acting stupid to annoy him.
• Suddenly Voiced: Since Animal Talk is a thing in this story, Dogmatix actually has dialogue.

Tropes present in "For Gaul Lang Syne"

• Artistic License – History: While the ancient Gauls did have rituals involving mistletoe, kissing under it wasn't one of them. That tradition did not exist until Victorian times.
• Friendly Enemy: A Roman who passes by Obelix and the mistletoe tries to respect the Gaulish tradition (which Caesar ordered his troops to do apparently) and kisses Obelix. It has the predictable results.
• Pun-Based Title: The English title is a pun on the song "Auld Lang Syne".
• Throw the Dog a Bone: At the start of the story, Obelix sends Dogmatix to go play with Asterix while he himself waits for Panacea. In the end, Dogmatix is the only one who ends up getting kissed by Panacea under the mistletoe.
• Under the Mistletoe: The main plot of the story, which presents this as a Gaulish tradition. Unfortunately for Obelix, he keeps encountering the wrong people while waiting at a Mistletoe.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Getafix berates Obelix for punching the Roman that kissed him, since a custom is a custom, and the Roman was just trying to honor their tradition.

Tropes present in "Mini Midi Maxi"

• Conforming OOC Moment: Asterix joins in the fight, despite not doing this in any other albums.
• Designated Girl Fight: The usual huge brawl between the Gauls is actually started by Impedimenta and Mrs. Geriatrix getting into an argument, and later, at the height of the brawl, Impedimenta actually gets into a fist fight with Bacteria.
• Escalating Brawl: Currently provides the page image for this trope. It starts with Impedimenta and Mrs. Geriatrix getting into an argument, and ends with a huge brawl in which the whole village participates (even some of the women).
• Fisticuff-Provoking Comment: Getting called an Old Wreck is this for Geriatrix, who instantly starts acting aggressive afterwards.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: The narrator, who nevertheless keeps on insisting that the Gauls were not barbaric, even as the Escalating Brawl escalates further and further.

Tropes present in "Asterix as You Have Never Seen Him Before"

• Art Shift: The various suggestions show Asterix and Obelix in radically different styles of illustration.
• Ascended Fanoninvoked: All the various ideas seen in this story were apparently suggested by fans, who wanted to see something different.
• Darker and Edgier: Suggestion 1 depicts a far more violent and edgier Asterix and Obelix.
• Elseworld: Suggestion 3 shows the two protagonists taken from their standard setting of 50 BC Gaul, and put in a science-fiction setting.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: As the title of the story indicates, the Asterix series is depicted in genres massively different from the actual comic.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Not exactly evil, but the Asterix in Suggestion 1 has bat wings on his helmet to fit with the Darker and Edgier look.
• Nap-Inducing Speak: Suggestion 4 ends with Obelix falling asleep due to the immense amount of dialogue by Asterix.
• Schizo Tech: Suggestion 1 shows what would happen if Getafix were to invent modern weaponry.
• Take That!: The whole story is meant to show how crazy some fans can get with their ideas. Asterix and Obelix are clearly not happy with it and say that "These authors are crazy."
• Telegraph Gag STOP: Suggestion 2 involves a very short Asterix story drawn in simple black and white, with the characters talking in this manner to reduce dialogue.
• Wall of Text: Suggestion 4 involves a comic with so much dialogue that there is barely room left for the drawing, and the text balloons are cluttered with walls of text.

Tropes present in "The Lutetia Olympics"

• Cool Train: Played with; the Olympic Committee travels to Lutetia by R.E.R. (Regional Eurostella Routes); multiple chariots attached together like a train.
• Flourish Cape in Front of Face: The Roman spy in charge of the agents send to sabotage Lutetia's attempts to become the next Olympic City constantly hides his face in this manner.
• Instant Messenger Pigeon: One of these delivers a message from Partipolitix to Vitalstatistix, asking for the Gauls help to see Lutetia get chosen as the Olympic city.
• Milestone Celebration: In-Universe example; the Olympic Committee has decided to, for once, allow a city outside Greece to host the Olympics, in honor of the 100th anniversary of a Gaulish athlete becoming the first non-Greek Olympic champion.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The Roman agents send by Julius Caesar eventually resort to kidnapping the president of the Olympic Committee to prevent Lutetia from getting chosen to host the games. Asterix and Obelix save him, and the resulting Curb-Stomp Battle convinces the president that Lutatia has the perfect security to be the next Olympic City.
• One-Word Vocabulary: For the majority of the story, the president of the Olympic Committee only says "Yeah..." to everything.
• Shout-Out:
  • The whole plot is one to the modern Olympics, and countries competing to get the rights to host one.
  • Lutetia has a large wooden tower for its messenger pigeons. It looks just like a smaller version of the Eiffel Tower.

Tropes present in "Springtime in Gaul"

• Anthropomorphic Personification: Spring and Winter are both personified here as tiny, humanoid creatures.
• Foot Bath Treatment: Spring is given one and is also wrapped in an Illness Blanket.
• Oh, Crap!: Winter as he sees the now magic-potion empowered Spring racing towards him, leaving a trail of instant spring behind.
• Pungeon Master: Spring makes several puns, including calling himself "the most seasoned fighter", and when defeating Winter he declares "No more Mr. Ice guy."
• Tap on the Head: How Winter initially defeats Spring.

Tropes present in "The Mascot"

• Bandaged Face: The Roman soldiers all end up this way after multiple beatings in a row.
• Bring It: The Roman Centurion actually challenges Asterix and Obelix to try and reclaim Dogmatix, even though the two just forcefully entered the camp.
• Good Luck Charm: The Romans want a mascot in hopes that it will bring them luck, and thus prevent them from getting beaten up by the Gauls.
• Mascot: Dogmatix becomes one for the Romans. It doesn't do them any good though.

Tropes present in "Latinomania"

• Fishbowl Helmet: With an actual fish bowl for good measure, which Impedimenta angrily puts on Vitalstatistix's head during an argument.
• Hypocrite: Getafix berates Asterix, Obelix, Vitalstatistix and Impedimenta for using Latin words, claiming they should honor the Gaulish language. Then he ends the conversation by using the Latin word "etcetera".
• Take That!: To the whole campaign by the French government against English words invading the French language (called Franglais).

Tropes present in "The Obelix Family Tree"

• Author Avatar: Goscinny and Uderzo themselves play a role in this story.
• Good Luck Charm: Menhirs are these for the Obelix's family, and as such Obelisc'h refuses to go anywhere without one. He ends up causing several accidents with it.
• Identical Grandson: Obelisc'h not only looks like Obelix, he also shares his love for roast boar and is just as strong. He later shows Goscinny and Uderzo his family tree, with several other ancestors on it, all looking strongly alike.
• Recursive Canon: Apparently, in this story's universe, Asterix and Obelix really existed, and Goscinny and Uderzo are simply retelling their stories for a modern audience.

Tropes present in "How Do They Think It All Up?"

• Author Avatar: Goscinny and Uderzo are the stars of this story.
• Idea Bulb: Goscinny gets one when inspiration finally strikes.
• Laughing Mad: The owner of the café where Goscinny and Uderzo are brainstorming certainly thinks this has happened due to their over-the-top behavior, and calls for an ambulance to pick them up.