"Saving the princess can get tiring, especially when you hate her."
— Series logline
JumpHero
is a weekly-updating webcomic series created by Marlene Santos. It takes place in a universe filled with video game tropes. It focuses on a superhero named Uptop who’s tasked to save a certain princess who gets kidnapped every other day. Unfortunately, he hates the princess and hates anything to do with being a hero.
The series takes the form of episodic chapters highlighting the strange but daily lives of Uptop and various other people he knows. Many of these characters, including Uptop, belong to a race of presumably artificial lifeforms called the bodoblocks. Each one of them has a unique super power, but they don’t really seem to be into fighting crime or anything like that.
A major gimmick in this series is that it contains an incredibly large amount of video game references. These can range to being minor remarks on personal memories the author had with playing certain games to the Legally Distinct Mario Bros.. They're incorporated in a way that it is not necessary to recognize them to understand what is going on, but it does end up causing readers wanting to guess what the next chapter could possibly be about.
Contains examples of:
- Affectionate Parody: Many chapters are based on the plots of existing video games
- Amplifier Artifact: A couple of strange rocks have be used to trigger a Super Mode in some characters.
- Anti-Gravity Clothing: Shadow's hat is floating for no specified reason.
- Anti-Hero - Uptop very much acts like this.
- Arboreal Abode: Uptop and Downlow live a hollowed out tree.
- Artificial Human: Implied. The bodoblocks come from a machine, but no one knows how it actually works.
- Back from the Dead: A reference to the Video-Game Lives trope, characters can very literally die and quickly respawn as long as they have enough lives again.
- Bearer of Bad News: It is implied that Poppy is the one who calls the heroes whenever Princess is kidnapped.
- Better with Non-Human Company: Princess actually struggles to get along with the other bodoblocks, but does great with her entire army of poppins.
- Big Bad: Titanius, the only villain who's an actual villain.
- Black Bead Eyes: Some characters are depicted with these eyes.
- Bloodlust: The Plant King goes on a whole monologue about how overeating blood makes him more beautiful.
- Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": The plucky cats look more like stoats.
- CamelCase: The title of the series.
- Cartoon Creature: No one actually knows what Downlow is.
- Cast Herd: All the characters on the series cover can be essentially split up into those who live in the Bodoblock Kingdom and those who live in the Dark Castle.
- Cast of Snowflakes: Even background characters appear to be various different creatures.
- Chainsaw Good: Kaizo's super power.
- Chef of Iron: Tama, one of the villains, has Food-Based Superpowers.
- Civilized Animal: Poppy can talk and act like the more humanoid members of the cast, but he's still considered a pet.
- Color-Coded Elements: Some characters have color pallets related to their “elemental” powers, if they have them.
- Conversation Cut: The prologue features such a montage where Uptop explains the premise of the series as he and Downlow walk through probably miles of land in only 12 panels.
- Cool Crown: Princess is always seen with a crown. The Plant King has some petals on his head that take the form of a tiara.
- Cowboy: Bucky is a character with this aesthetic. He even has a lasso for his super power.
- Darkness Von Gothick Name: Shadow and Titanius.
- Deadline News: During a news broadcast during the chapter "Roll Me In", the station's helicopter gets stuck in the "unidentified rolling object".
- Deliberately Monochrome: Flashbacks in the chapter, "Confess the Truth" are depicted as such.
- Dressed to Heal: Doc's outfit.
- Dr. Jerk: Doc really hates actually being a doctor.
- Dynamic Entry: Shadow makes his first appearance by slamming a door open in Kaizo’s unsuspecting face.
- Easily Detachable Robot Parts: The bodoblocks aren’t considered robots, but they have this trait.
- Elemental Powers: Several characters have super powers based on these tropes.
- An Ice Person: Haley.
- Green Thumb: Fern and the Plant King.
- Light 'em Up: Shadow.
- Make Some Noise: Roxy.
- Making a Splash: Mara.
- Playing with Fire: Rigel.
- Shock and Awe: Sparky.
- Technopath: Pixel.
- The Engineer: Widget's super power.
- Ensemble Cast: While Uptop is marketed as the protagonist, the series takes time to focus on different characters each chapter.
- Everyone Is a Super: While every single bodoblock is a super, some more typical races can develop powers too.
- Evil Is Bigger: The Plant King and Titanius are the largest characters in the series and the only villains played straight so far.
- Evil Overlooker: A silhouette of Titanius can be seen on the series cover.
- Evil Overlord: While there doesn't seem to be any other sapient life around to govern, the Plant King considers himself to be an actual ruler.
- Expy: Some characters seems to start off as intentional, blatant copies of characters from existing video games, only to reveal their unique selves as time goes on.
- Eyes Always Shut: Kimi typically has her eyes appear shut.
- The Face of the Sun: The Sun seems to have a pretty apathetic face.
- Fish People: Mara is designed to look vaguely like one.
- Flashback Effects: Flashbacks are depicted differently from the present time.
- Flash of Pain: That little circle bodoblocks have on their disks blinks red when they get hurt.
- Flight: Shadow and Buzzy have the ability to fly.
- Floating Limbs: Characters such as Princess and Miranda exhibit this trait.
- Gender-Blender Name - Poppy has a feminine name despite being a boy.
- Girly Bruiser: Princess carries a giant mallet as her main weapon and also manages to one-shot a giant monster.
- Good Is Not Nice - Uptop has actually shown to have morals, but his stubborn personality remains present.
- The Good Kingdom: The Bodoblock Kingdom is a relatively safe space.
- Healing Hands: Doc's power.
- How We Got Here: The chapter "999ft Below" is told in this format.
- Humongous-Headed Hammer: Princess's main weapon is a giant hammer with a head that's almost the size of her body.
- In a Single Bound - Uptop’s super power.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Uptop’s right: Princess should actually be doing something to stop the kidnappings.
- Knows the Ropes: Bucky summons a lasso for his power.
- Light Is Not Good: when Shadow becomes mad with power, his super install covers him entirely in light (a stark contrast from his typical gray appearance.
- Like Brother and Sister: Seems to be the relationship between Uptop and Downlow.
- Man-Eating Plant: The Plant King threatens to eat the Princess and her poppins.
- The Man in the Moon: The Moon has a grimacing face.
- Man on Fire: Punchy comically falls into a flaming hole one time.
- Meaningful Name: Many of these characters have names related to their abilities or other characteristics.
- Micro Monarchy: The Bodoblock “Kingdom” is probably covers about an acre of grass.
- Monochromatic Eyes: Gladius, Punchy, Pixel, Super Shadow and Super Princess have these eyes.
- Moral Myopia:
Uptop: I’m sorry, but it’s just wrong to go around calling someone’s name, thinking you’re both friends. [notices Shadow] Oh hi, Shadow!
- Never Bareheaded: Princess and Shadow always have hats on and visible, even when they realistically would not.
- Never Given a Name: The Plant King doesn't seem to have an actual name.
- Nice Guy: Downlow, though she isn't perfect.
"She is so normal, everyone loves her. She’s Uptop’s best friend who also saves Princess. To keep things running smoothly, she sometimes tells Uptop to keep quiet about how he truly feels."
— Official character bio
- No Biological Sex: Appears to be a trait of the bodoblocks.
- No Conservation of Energy: Princess can make stuff out of thin air.
- No Mouth: Punchy and Pixel. Gladius’s only appears in certain situations.
- Ominous Multiple Screens: In the prologue, we find Titanius and Shadow in a room like this.
- One Person, One Power: Each bodoblock only has one. In-universe, Uptop and Downlow's Fusion Dance doesn't seem to count against this.
- One-Winged Angel: Shadow and the Plant King get their own forms of this trope
- Planimal: The residents of Starfruit Island.
- Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: The kingdom actually considers the villains to be pretty decent people. Meanwhile Uptop comments that his neighbors hate each other.
- Portable Hole: The Plucky Cat Pirates have this technology.
- Power Copying: Kimi's super power.
- Power Glows: A character using their superpowers is typically portrayed with a glittery glow.
- The Power of Creation: Princess’s super power.
- Pretty Princess Powerhouse: While she spends most of the first season as very afraid of taking action, when put to the test Princess ends up proving incredibly capable.
- Princesses Prefer Pink: Pretty much everything Princess owns is pink.
- Princesses Rule: It is not only her name but also her official title.
- Punch-Clock Hero: Uptop and Downlow do this because no one else even tries.
- Punny Name: The fruitimals are all named after the fruit and animal they represent.
- Robot Kid: While intentionally built to be a product rather than a person, Ari ends up fitting this trope.
- Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick: Downlow is more of The Lancer but essentially fits this trope.
- Save the Princess: Major plot element of this series.
- Scary Teeth: The audience only sees the Plant King's teeth after he reveals his true intentions.
- Signature Instrument: Roxy's guitar.
- Silent Scenery Panel: While JumpHero is usually a very fast past series, these will show up at times.
- Solid Clouds: Can be seen in the prologue.
- Sorting Algorithm of Threatening Geography: Uptop and Downlow's typical quest seems to follow these tropes in order:
- The Speechless: Kimi is nonspeaking.
- Summon to Hand: Gladius's super power involves summoning a sword. Princess's super power can technically do this as well.
- Super Mode: A mysterious rock ends up being a catalyst for this.
- Super-Speed: Tuslow's power.
- Super-Strength: Punchy's super power.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Defied. Most characters are intentionally portrayed with androgynous characteristics or even ones associated with the opposite gender.
- Theme Naming: The bodoblocks tend to have pretty cartoonish names. For an even more obvious theme, consider Uptop and Downlow (and Tuslow despite not being very associated with them).
- Titled After the Song: Several chapters are named after songs that come from the video games they parody.
- Vacation Episode: Starfruit Island
- Vine Tentacles: The Plant King uses vines as limbs
- Waddling Head: The poppins are based on this trope.
- Weakened by the Light: The Plant King suffers a relatively horrific death when wilting away completely after being exposed to the Sun
- The World Is Just Awesome: When Uptop and Downlow travel to the eponymous cave in the sky.
- World of Funny Animals: Humans do not exist in this universe.
- Younger Than They Look: Ari acts like preteen but was actually built pretty recently by the time he's introduced.
