Webcomic / Yonkoma Nuzlocke

The two tails alongside the panel form the 四 kanji ("yon" ie. four). It's a visual pun. ^note Featuring left-to-right: Sabrina, Daisy Oak, Gary Oak and Doug Runner.

''Yonkoma Nuzlocke'' (official full name: Yonkoma Nuzlocke: Fire Red) is a webcomic based off a Nuzlocke run done by the author, eworm. Initially uploaded on now-defunct Smack Jeeves, it has since moved to its own dedicated website. The story follows Doug Runner, a scaredy-cat protagonist, and his childhood best friend Gary Green Oak, as the two leave Pallet Town in hopes of challenging the Pokémon League for the Champion title. On the way, they quickly get involved in a brewing war between the Gym Leaders and Team Rocket.

The comic has been running since November 19th 2012 and has over 450 pages (naturally resulting in significant Art Evolution) and that's not counting numerous specials and bonus pages. Despite the comedy-focused format, it focuses on the story and characters a lot.

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Yonkoma Nuzlocke contains examples of:

• Action Girlfriend: Bill has one or two.
• Adaptation Expansion: It's easy to forget Yonkoma Nuzlocke is based on a playthrough of the games. It has so much original content that expands the plot, the characters and the world that it might as well not be.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: All over the place.
• Always Second Best: Lott was this to Vang for a long time, which eventually... had its consequences.
• Art Evolution: As it happens with long-running webcomics, Yonkoma Nuzlocke started out with fairly rough drawings. For a while, it didn't even have backgrounds.
• Art Shift: Two instances relating to a world inside a certain character's mind, one of them being a Guest Strip.
• Ascended Extra: So much. Yonkoma Nuzlocke spends so much time on its supportive cast, as well as countless in-game characters, it has to remind itself who the protagonist is.
• Aside Glance: Often.
• Author Avatar: A recurring character.
• Ax-Crazy: Brom has some issues to work out. There's also Lilith, a member of Team Rocket, who seems to hide this behind her calm demeanor.
• Backstory: Is it a character? Yes? Then they probably have a backstory.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Quite frequently. Sometimes comes with extra superpowers like predicting the future based on what was seen on the chapter cover.
• Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Inverted with Koga, though he's still reluctant to let his girl go.
• The Cameo: The comic has featured characters from other Nuzlocke comics, as well as some other fictional characters, including Satonaka Chie who actually has a minor role in the plot. There's also Copycat, who's a walking Cameo to the point of having never been seen without a disguise of some sort.
• Canon Foreigner: Several characters are not based on anything from the games.
• Cerebus Retcon: A ton of running jokes eventually turn out to be this.
• Chekhov's Armoury
• Chekhov's Gag: Happens a lot.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Bill and Daisy are only the most prominent examples.
• Cute Mute: Steen.
• Dark and Troubled Past: It's a comedy comic. Here, have a flashback.
• Death by Adaptation: For a moment it seemed Brock would end like this.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Chapter XIII has Doug and Anzu pretending to be members of Team Rocket.
• Disguised in Drag: Henry transforms into "Henrietta" for spy purposes. In the same chapter we see Petrel disguised as Lorelei.
• Elemental Personalities: Yonkoma Nuzlocke introduces so-caled "Elemental Theory" which attributes certain personality traits to the eighteen Pokémon types - and supposes that as a result human characters also have types, just not the "powers" associated with them. It's never really the focus and it is stated outright that the characters are not limited to their type characteristics, but it does act as a sort of built-in BonusContent.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: It's a Nuzlocke and it's in a yonkoma format.
• Expressive Hair: Happens quite commonly. Most notably Zea's "Pidgeotto Ahoge" acts like this on occasions and so does Doug's own (when visible).
• Everyone Can See It: Anzu's crush on Doug is painfully obvious and far from unreciprocated. Problem is, she's quite shy about it (and mistakenly thinks it's a case of Arranged Marriage), while he thinks she's way out of his league, thus believing all obvious hints to be his own misunderstanding.
• Fake-Out Twist: Many. Most notably Chapter X is a lot to take in, but really puts a lot of past events into new perspective and answers a lot of questions. The big reveal is only the first in a series of surprises.
• Format-Specific Joke: One of the early pages has Gary uppercut Doug so hard it breaks through the space between the panels. Another instant has a character fall out of a panel
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: Mayumi's Good Cop is quite a Bad Cop.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Ivan's death is easily the most graphic part of the otherwise family-friendly comic, so the framing is appropriately discreet, though not enough to prevent you from getting what happened.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Zea and Sakura both die protecting others.
• Hiding Behind Your Bangs: Doug and Sabrina both started out more withdrawn, their hair reflecting that.

  Sabrina: It feels weird to have my face be this… visible.

• Idiosyncratic Shipnaming: The author himself provides intentionally weird names for ships, all of which start with an S. Currently we have shipshipping, stinkshipping and sketchshipping. One of those seems to be just a joke, but considering YN's track record, that only makes it more likely to become canon, somehow.
• I Just Write the Thing: According to the author, his joke ideas are often derailed by what the characters choose to do.
• Impersonation Gambit
• Important Haircut: Happens to Doug, Daisy and Sabrina for various reasons. We also get glimpses of Daisy and Erika's many different hairstyles throughout their life.
• Lampshade Hanging: Nearly every page. Yonkoma Nuzlocke loves playing with, deconstructing, commenting on and subverting everything about the games it's based on, popular tropes in general, other popular works, memes and perhaps most commonly itself.
• Last Stand: When Team Rocket attempts to take over Pewter City, Mayumi faces their boss in battle. She turns out not only too much for him, but for his immediate associates, so Rockets have to gather from the entire City in order to finally, still with difficulty, take her down. They take her captive, but are still forced to retreat after the beating they took.
• Letting Her Hair Down: Happens twice, but is inverted in both cases. The first instance happens as a result of the character's sheer rage, while the second is a part of a disguise.
• Like an Old Married Couple: Gary and Sabrina.
• Limited Wardrobe: Usually, but with exceptions. Most notably, Doug himself wears many different outfits.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Doug and Gary have known each other from childhood. Daisy and Erika are also an example.
• The Mole: It would seem both the Gym Leaders and Team Rocket have inside-men in the other group.
• Mook–Face Turn: Lott in Chapter IV.
• Narrator: Appears out of nowhere late into the story (which is immediately lampshaded) and bickers with the characters. Apparently separate from the author, who is himself a character in the comic. As of strip #357 he was supposedly fired by the author for criticizing him.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: A lot of the time a new Pokémon of Doug's father is revealed right at the point where the skill of that particular mon would be useful to have around. Lampshaded by the author himself, but somewhat justified considering this guy is part of the International Police.
• Official Couple: Bill and Mayumi as well as Misty. Gary and Sabrina get closer and closer to achieving this status, much to their dismay.
• Partial Transformation: A certain bonus page has the scenario of Misty shapeshifting into a CuteMonsterGirl. It's played for laughs and remains unclear how canon it is.
• Psychic Link: Oliver has an unusual power that allows him to [[Telepathy read the thoughts]] of Psychic-type Pokémon. [[Backstory For reasons]], Steen is the only non-Psychic Pokémon Oliver can similarly read - and since Steen is TheSpeechless, this makes the two a common duo.
• Pun-Based Title: One of the chapters is called "Good Cop & Dad Cop".
• Punny Name: Many random Pokémon used by many random characters receive those.
• Puzzle Boss: The battle against Koga most notably, though many others also have hints of this.
• Reset Button: Inverted. On one point Yonkoma Nuzlocke announced a full reboot of the comic. It turned out to be only a short series of specials with humorous twists on old moments. It also served the role of [[Previously on…... a helpful reminder]] after a lengthy hiatus.
• Series Hiatus: The comic had its fair share of lengthy pauses. It keeps coming back though.
• Shipper on Deck: Daisy very much supports Gary and Sabrina pairing even if neither of the parties involved do.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: Doug undergoes two changes to his design, each time changing his clothes completely. Same happens later to Sabrina.
• Slasher Smile: Played for laughs. Usually.
• Slipknot Ponytail: In Chapter XII Sabrina's anger results in her psychic powers going wild as she tries to fight Mewtwo. By the end, her hair is a complete mess, unlike her mind.
• Sticky Fingers: Klow the Meowth's Pickup Ability turns out to be this, at least in part.
• Talking Animal: Like in many other Nuzlocke comics, Pokémon can speak and be understood by humans and vice-versa. Curiously, one of the few (unexplained) exceptions seems to be Mewtwo.
• Teleportation: Used occasionally through the use of the self-evident Pokémon move.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: In Chapter X Daisy keeps telling Gary and Sabrina that her best friend Erika is not evil. They think they know better.
• The Reveal: YN absolutely loves its plot twists and is not missing its fair share of surprising reveals.
• The Shadow Knows: When Brom refuses to partake in Lt. Surge's test, his shadow reveals his reasons.
• The Unfought: Chapter XII teases a big battle between Sabrina and Mewtwo, the latter really appearing in the story for the first time, outside of flashbacks. Not quite what happens.
• Trolling Creator: So much. Here's one author who revels in plot-twisting the carpet right from under his readers' feet.
• When She Smiles: Definitely played a part in [spoiler: Gary] falling for [spoiler: Sabrina].
• World of Technicolor Hair
• Yamato Nadeshiko: Erika. With her being the only female character who's neither a Tomboy nor a Cloudcuckoolander, the characters themselves speculate the author has a type.
• Yonkoma: Duh.