YMMV / 8-Bit Theater

• Abandon Shipping: The aforementioned Black Mage Moral Event Horizon killed much of the fandom's interest in Black Mage/White Mage which Brian said was inexplicable to him anyway.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Is Fighter a naive idiot with occasional sparks of genius, or is he a brilliant mastermind lulling everyone into a false sense of security? Strangely enough, offered by Fighter himself. Further supported here. (The Socratic Method is a method in which you ask questions and debate to get answers instead of just finding someone who knows. Also could reference the well-known Socrates quote, "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.") Oh, and here.
    • "You realize of course this means Fighter is the smartest." "I want to cry, but there aren't enough tears..."
    • Further evidenced here where Fighter displays a surprising grasp of physics.

• Arc Fatigue: The last arc, which spent several months of what was essentially one continuous conflict which kept changing, then spent about 4 months on the Light Warriors screwing around to try and gain levels to face the final opponent. It then becomes clear this was completely intentional to make the ending all the more anti-climactic.
• Archive Panic: 1,224 comics. Have fun.
• Crazy Is Cool: A majority of the cast qualify, from Black Mage's audacity to Red Mage's stunningly stupid plans that somehow, sometimes, work perfectly. However, special mention goes to Ranger, a supporting cast member, who dualdualwields long-bows.
• Creepy Awesome: Black Mage is borderline evil personified, but being both a ra
• Crosses the Line Twice: Black Mage's relentless and shameless pursuit of White Mage goes so far beyond obnoxious and creepy that it wraps around to funny.
  • His regular blood thirst also qualifies at times, such as slaughtering Dwarf cities.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: King Steve, despite being prominent only in the first arc, and making scattered appearances afterwards, is one of the most popular characters in the strip.
• Genius Bonus: The LaGrange Terrace joke in this strip. For those unfamiliar, Lagrangian points are the five locations in space where a small object can be in stationary orbit relative to two larger celestial bodies (such as a planet and its sun).
• Harsher in Hindsight: Once Brian started revisiting the comic for the 20th anniversary complete script, he was impressed at how it wound up "predicting the downfall of democracy" with things like the Dark Warriors successfully creating a slander campaign based on false information that made the people of Corneria turn against the Light Warriors.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The vampire from the game is replaced with an Emo Teen who says no one understands him. This was years before the Twilight craze, although caricatures of Anne Rice's work did often make them look like this. In fact, Vilbert is a stereotype of Vampire: The Masquerade LARP enthusiasts.
  • Obviously Evil, Sharp-Dressed (considering the graphics) Cool Old responsible for his own Start of Darkness manipulating the heroes... Hello, Xehanort!
  • Given he was a Composite Character designed to represent the first game, imagine the cocktail of insanity the Warrior of Light would have been in this universe.
  • The idea of King Steve drilling for mana is considered ridiculous until the final episode. Mining for mana would turn out to be a big deal in another fantasy setting.
  • Black Mage's Hadoken is considered a monstrous spell because it siphons love out of the universe with each casting. Now look up why Black Magic is a forbidden art in Final Fantasy XIV.
  • Garland ending up one of the heroes at the end.
• Ho Yay:
  • Fighter and Black Mage, and foursome.
  • Also, the Light Warriors inside a sack had some uncomfortable groping...
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Black Mage is a selfish and violent monster, who is never able to succeed at anything.
  • Sarda is a manipulative and remorseless piece of work, but his backstory makes him sympathetic. This is subverted somewhat in that he technically brought it upon himself.
  • Thief stealing his class change from the future came back to bite him.
• It Was His Sled: The fact that Chaos is defeated off screen by four white mages, a strategy dismissed in the seventh episode is one of the most well known aspects of the strip.
• Love to Hate: All of the Light Warriors, except Fighter, are, in the words of Sarda "all evil monsters who need to die for the good of everybody else", but their antics are such Black Comedy gold that the fandom loves both their antics and the terrible things that happen to them as as a result of said antics.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "I am the Black Mage! I casts the spells that makes the peoples fall down!" A reference to Black Mage's less than intimidating description of himself.
  • "I like swords." Fighter's catchphrase, which also pretty much sums up his personality.
  • "Sword Chucks, yo!" A reference to Fighter inventing a new weapon, placing two swords on the ends of a chain and wielding them like nunchucks.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • It is acknowledged that Black Mage has crossed the point of unredeemable evil, the discussion is when he crossed it.
    • Shortly after he becomes evil incarnate in the Temple of Fiends.
    • His plan to either get White Mage drunk and then rape her, or - if the thing he bought was paint thinner rather than liquor (not that he cared) - make her drink it anyway and then rape her corpse. Thief and Red Mage treated this as his MEH in-universe.
    Thief: You know she could die if she drinks this.
    Black Mage: The way I see it, the body takes a while to cool. So, either way, I get what I want.
    Red Mage: That... may be the worst thing you've ever said.
    • When the living embodiment of evil is sickened by you, you know you have done something seriously wrong. See for yourself.
  • Red Mage's infamous Chocobo experiments were his crossing of the MEH. Even Black Mage was horrified.
  • King Steve in what may be the most disturbing clothing ever. ...EVER!
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • DON'T LOOK AT ME!
  • The implication that Black Mage is actually The Corruption and is the reason the other Light Warriors act like they do.
• Older Than They Think: Many concepts which some believe originated in 8-Bit Theater are actually much older, and appeared because Brian Clevinger was part of Final Fantasy Fandom. For instance: the Black Mage being non-human (this came from Final Fantasy IX and there are clues to this effect as far back as Final Fantasy III), White Mage being a woman (this was a common perception among fans), and the grouping of four White Mages defeating Chaos (winning the game with this party is an old test of mettle for players).
• Parody Displacement:
  • Some of the things that people believe to be true about Final Fantasy is stuff that was invented by Clevinger rather than things that were inherent in the original game, such as Fighters being dim, Black Mages being sarcastic, etc.
  • The idea that White Mages are women was present long before this comic, but it was cemented here.
• Rewatch Bonus: A lot of the brick jokes and the extent of the Stable Time Loop will only become apparent on second readings. For example, the significance of Thief stealing his future self's power.
• Squick:
  • Witch-dragon relationship, "animal husbandry", most of the killings... you pick.
  • One of Red Mage's plans involved him watching chocobos mate for a few hours; when asked by Black Mage why he had to watch, he replied: Oh, I never said I had to.
  • Also, the cultists' "tea parties".
  • The whole Face Full of Alien Wing-Wong thing with that eye monster and Red Mage.
  • What Black Mage does with the dead body of his doppelganger. See Screw Yourself on the main page.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The death of Black Belt. As seen here.
    Black Belt: Life is funny. You start out with limitless potential, but time is always shaving away the possibilities. Every choice you make is the choice not to do a thousand other things. What’s important when all is said and done is that you made a difference. Your choices and everything undone, have to mean something. Otherwise, what was the point? I’m lucky that way. My path was already there. I had only to walk it. I often thought even if no one knew of the good I had done with my life, it didn’t matter. That it was done is all that counts in the end. But then I died.
    White Mage: Black Belt?
    Black Belt: And I hadn’t gotten to do any of it yet.
    • White Mage's panicked attempts to heal him in the subsequent strip reinforce how severe the situation got.
    White Mage: I can't do this! He's in pieces! He won't stop bleeding!
  • Fighter's reaction to Black Mage being killed by Lich:
    Fighter: Black Mage? Get up and yell at me. Black Mage, get up. Please.
• The Woobie: White Mage, a Nice Girl living in a Crapsack World where No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. To make matters worse, the most evil person in said world has a crush on her. Though at least she gets the last laugh in saving the world, if only for the sake of an Anti-Climax Brick Joke.

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