History Webcomic / NineteenNinetySomething

* BareYourMidriff: The female characters often wear clothes that show off their bellies. Just look at the main image for proof.

** Tina, Joel and Katy's mother, is a downplayed example. She's very controlling and short tempered towards her family, and refuses to see the world as nothing else but a hive of smut and filth. CharacterDevelopment allowed Tina to redeem herself, and be more laid-back towards her children.
*** It's later revealed that Tina is the way she is because of her mother, who doesn't show Tina any sign of respect even as an adult.

* AlcoholicParent: Patricia is shown to be a pretty heavy drinker.

* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents:
** Marion, Aaron's mom, who is perhaps one of the ''only'' adult characters in the comic that isn't a complete {{jerkass}}.
** One comic following Tina's HeelFaceTurn has her wishing to be more supportive of her son and get to know his friends better. Her attempt ends up falling flat as she clearly has no idea what they actually do (for starters, she thinks they talk in "grunge slang").

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling:
** Michelle's younger sister, Jenny, will do just about everything she can to annoy her.
** Joel views Katy as one. On the inverse side, Katy also views Joel as this.

** Principal Mulroney. He's actually well aware of the behavior of his students and the overall state of his school, but believes that there isn't much he can do about it and eventually just stopped caring.
*** He actually got worse in the rebooted continuity, calling Joel a slacker on his way to a life of petty crime, ''in front of his parents.''
* ArchEnemy: Kevin and (formerly) Lindsay, both to Joel and Aaron. ''Especially'' Joel.

* AsianAndNerdy: Michelle. She designs her own computer games and enthusiastically rambles on about them if anyone asks. Plus she shares Joel's love of riffing bad movies.

* BigSisterMentor: Post-face turn Lindsay became this to Katy and Ashleigh.

* ButtMonkey:
** Aaron often gets hurt or makes an idiot out of himself.
** Joel has his fair share of this, though not as much as Aaron.

* CasanovaWannabe: Aaron, definitely. Kinda gets {{deconstructed}} since Aaron eventually becomes depressed when he struggles to find a girlfriend.

* CloudCuckoolander:
** Denise, Katy, and Ashleigh all tend to be stuck in their own little bizarre fantasy world.
** Aaron showed some signs of this in earlier strips.
** Jenny can occasionally fall under this category. Justified as she's a young, hyperactive kid.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The 90s are supposed to be one the more progressive decades, but a few of the {{Jerkass}} characters made a few [[https://jbwarner86.deviantart.com/art/1990S-So-Sexy-It-Hurts-668544745 homophobic]] [[https://jbwarner86.deviantart.com/art/1990S-Punched-In-The-Face-670072249 remarks]].

* DidNotGetTheGirl: Joel's ill-fated dates with NewAgeRetroHippie girl Denise and obnoxious Music/SineadOConnor fan Selina, as well as Aaron's disastrous attempt to ask out former cheerleading captain Jessica Sullivan.

*** While on the topic of the Maxwell family, Tina was eventually revealed to have suffered from an emotionally abusive childhood, with her mom chastising her at every moment and her father is implied to have died when Tina was around Joel's age.

* ForegoneConclusion:
** If you've read the original ''Forever 16'' comic strip from which this originated from, you should know that Joel and Michelle are going to hook up, Steve and Jocelyn are going to hook, and Aaron will start his own band called "[=WestWorld=]".
** "This is going to end with you getting slapped, isn't it?" ([[http://1990somethingcomic.com/comic/march-25-1990 It actually doesn't, but Aaron still manages to make an ass of himself.]])

* TheFundamentalist: Jocelyn's parents (her father especially).

* GagBoobs: Well, not exactly "gag" since they're fairly realistic looking but, out of all the female characters shown so far, [[GranolaGirl Denise]] has the biggest pair of boobs.

* KnightOfCerebus: In the 2015 version, Kevin Duquesne. Whenever he shows up, the strip gets '''dark.'''

* MarshmallowHell: Lindsay forcibly does this to Joel in one strip when she tries to trick Michelle into thinking he's cheating on her.

* OfficialCouple:
** Joel and Michelle as of the "Misery Loves Company" arc.
** Jocelyn and Steve as of the "What About Steve?" arc.
** Eric and Jenny as of the "Play Date" arc.
** Aaron and Kendra as of the "Don't Ask Don't Yell" arc.
** Craig and Amber as of the "Going Into Overtime" arc.
* OhCrap: Joel and Aaron's reaction when they learn the full extent of Lindsay's evilness.

* RedOniBlueOni:
** Aaron often fits the category of red to Joel's blue.
** Jenny is definitely the red to Eric's blue.

* ScaryFlashlightFace: Aaron does this in his attempt to put a scary spin on the early '90s AT&T commercials.

* ShakingTheRump: Katy does this when she listens to "[[Music/SirMixALot Baby Got Back]]".

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Jocelyn and Michelle, respectively. {{Downplayed}} in Michelle's case, however, as she isn't really much of a girly girl.

* ValuesDissonance: In-Universe; [[spoiler:Adam tries to use the excuse that it's normal for adults to hit on teens in other countries (like Japan) so Joel wouldn't beat him into a pulp for trying to date his younger sister. Joel doesn't buy it, and neither does Katy when she finds out herself]].

* AlphaBitch: Lindsay Duquesne, prior to her CharacterDevelopment before the events of the series, was the head cheerleader at her old school and a horrible person all around.

** Tina, Joel and Katy's mother, is a downplayed example. She's very controlling and short tempered towards her family, and refuses to see the world as nothing else but a hive of smut and filth. CharacterDevelopment allowed Tina to redeem herself, and be more laid-back towards her children.
*** It's later revealed that Tina is the way she is because of her mother, who doesn't show Tina any sign of respect even as an adult.
** Rick, Aaron's dad, devolved into one in later strips. He [[BerserkButton loses his temper when Aaron declares that he was going to start his own band]], and from that point onwards, he emotionally and verbally abuses Aaron at every given opportunity.
** Patricia is shown to have ''very'' high expectations of both Lindsay and Kevin, the former especially, and is implied to be the reason why they're both horrible people to begin with. Displayed notably well in the "Poor Little Bitch Girl" arc, where Patricia verbally ''and'' physically abuses Lindsay after discovering she quit the cheerleading squad out of remorse. [[spoiler:At the end of "The Fall of the House of Duquesne", she ultimately abandons Lindsay and Brad when they chew her out after Kevin's incarceration]].

* AlphaBitch: Lindsay Duquesne, prior to her CharacterDevelopment, was the head cheerleader and a horrible person all around.
* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents:
** Marion, Aaron's mom, who is perhaps one of the ''only'' adult characters in the comic that isn't a complete {{jerkass}}.
** One comic following Tina's HeelFaceTurn has her wishing to be more supportive of her son and get to know his friends better. Her attempt ends up falling flat as she clearly has no idea what they actually do (for starters, she thinks they talk in "grunge slang").

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Happens occasionally whenever the strip references some aspect of '90s culture that's been largely forgotten today. Some readers didn't know that [[http://1990somethingcomic.com/comic/march-21-1990 the Lambada revival of 1990]] was a real thing.

His friends include Michelle, his girlfriend and fellow gamer; Aaron, a would-be womanizer and the lead singer of his band Westworld; Jocelyn, a bisexual punk-lover who delights in discomforting the uptight MoralGuardians at school and at home; Steve, a laid-back artist and the group's chief DeadpanSnarker; and Kendra, a more introverted artist with dreams of creating the next great cartoon.

** Tina, Joel and Katy's mother, is a downplayed example. She's very controlling and short tempered towards her family, and refuses to see the world as nothing else but a hive of smut and filth. CharacterDevelopment allowed Tina to redeem herself, and be more laid-back towards her children.
*** It's later revealed that Tina is the way she is because of her mother, who doesn't show Tina any sign of respect even as an adult.
** Rick, Aaron's dad, devolved into one in later strips. He [[BerserkButton loses his temper when Aaron declares that he was going to start his own band]], and from that point onwards, he emotionally and verbally abuses Aaron at every given opportunity.
** Patricia is shown to have ''very'' high expectations of both Lindsay and Kevin, the former especially, and is implied to be the reason why they're both horrible people to begin with. Displayed notably well in the "Poor Little Bitch Girl" arc, where Patricia verbally ''and'' physically abuses Lindsay after discovering she quit the cheerleading squad out of remorse. [[spoiler:At the end of "The Fall of the House of Duquesne", she ultimately abandons Lindsay and Brad when they chew her out after Kevin's incarceration]].

* AllMenArePerverts: Boys at school follow Lindsay around like sheep, just to get a peek at her good stuff. Even Aaron struggles to resist her, despite knowing what a horrible person she is.
* AlphaBitch: Lindsay Duquesne, prior to her CharacterDevelopment, was the head cheerleader and a horrible person all around.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion:
** Katy and Ashleigh's attempt to cheer up Lindsay shortly after a [[spoiler:brutal beatdown she received from Jocelyn]] leads to the latter ranting about how she doesn't want their friendship...
-->'''Lindsay''': I've got plenty of people in my life who worship the fucking ground I walk on! [...] I don't ''need'' you! I've got TONS of friends!
-->'''Katy''': Where are they?
** In the aftermath of a failed date with Kendra, Joel asks Aaron a pretty long overdue question, if you're familiar with someone like [[AllMenArePerverts Aaron]].
-->'''Joel''': Be honest with yourself, do you really ''love'' Kendra, or do you just think she's cute?
* ArtEvolution: The comic's art style has shown some noticeable improvement over the years. Namely, the characters' eyes are now smaller, their heads aren't as big and blocky-looking, and they each display more wider ranges of emotion. The reboot is further refined in its art style.
* ArtStyleDissonance: The stylized art work, layout, and storylines of the comic would not be too out of place as a 90s newspaper comic among the likes of ''Calvin and Hobbes'' or ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}''. However, while those particular comics were (mostly) family-friendly, ''Nineteen-Ninety-Something'' is full of profanity, references to sex and drugs, MaleGaze, and deals with mature subjects that clearly appeal to an older, teenage demographic.
* AsianAndNerdy: Michelle. She designs her own computer games and enthusiastically rambles on about them if anyone asks. Plus she shares Joel's love of riffing bad movies.
* TheAtoner: Lindsay became one in later story arcs, attempting to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong in regards to what she has done and who she treated in past arcs.
* AttemptedRape: [[spoiler:Kevin tries to rape Michelle in the "Let's Take This Outshined" arc, and probably would've been successful had Joel not noticed what he was doing to her. He later attempts to rape Lindsay, ''his own sister'', during "The Fall of the House of Duquesne" arc, but was quickly foiled by Lindsay herself when she stabs him in the groin with one of her heels]].
* AuthorAppeal: Barboza is a self-professed dork for '90s pop culture, having grown up in the decade.
* AuthorAvatar: Steve bears a rather slight resemblance to Barboza himself.
* AuthorFilibuster: Barboza has made it no secret that he likes to use the comic as a way to vent his frustrations regarding certain real world issues (such as the Sunday strip that discusses the 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election, which was posted four days before the 2016 presidential election).
* BareYourMidriff: The female characters often wear clothes that show off their bellies. Just look at the main image for proof.
* BehindTheBlack: One comic somehow had William and Tina failing to notice the massive backhoes and bulldozers tearing the trees out of Patricia and Brad's backyard until they're revealed to the reader.
* BerserkButton:
** Tina, being the MoralGuardian that she was, became absolutely ''furious'' whenever she saw or heard something even remotely inappropriate.
** Rick's fuse shortens up immediately whenever he encounters something that doesn't view his [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain definition]] of "patriotism", e.g. enforcing background checks on gun owners, gay people in the military, women becoming anything more than housewives, etc.
** Ronald, being the strict Christian that he is, will throw a fit whenever somebody does or says anything profane.
** As it turns out, one of the few things that makes Aaron genuinely angry is intolerance.
* BigBrotherInstinct: Rarely does Joel ever get along with Katy and is perfectly aware of the stupid things she does, but there are a few times where he'll show legitimate concern for her, such as offering her support after getting humiliated by Lindsay.
* TheBigDamnKiss: Happens twice to Aaron during the "Don't Ask Don't Yell" arc: first with Steve in an attempt to piss off the homophobic Mrs. Fitzsimmon, and the second with Kendra to prevent Rick from beating the crap outta Aaron when Fitzsimmon tells him about Aaron and Steve kissing.
* BigSisterMentor: Post-face turn Lindsay became this to Katy and Ashleigh.

* BreakTheHaughty: In an example long-overdue for fans, Lindsay is on the verge of winning ''Series/StarSearch'' and earning a recording contract. [[spoiler:She smokes in front of the record executive, which he disapproves of. Since she needs to be a positive role model for young girls, smoking is forbidden by her contract [[ReadTheFinePrint (which she hadn't read)]]. When she refuses to quit, the executive tears up her contract, the bad behavior catches the notice of the ''Star Search'' hosts, and Lindsay is disqualified and evicted from the premises]]. ''Fucking. Sweet.''

* CasanovaWannabe: Aaron, definitely. Kinda gets {{deconstructed}} since Aaron eventually becomes depressed when he struggles to find a girlfriend.
* CassandraTruth: Craig refuses to believe Joel and Aaron when they tell him Lindsay is cheating on him, even when they present him with photographic evidence (though granted, the photos are too blurry to make out clearly).
* CantActPervertedTowardALoveInterest: Subverted; neither Steve or Joel have any problem with expressing their perverted behavior around Jocelyn and Michelle.

* CoolShades: Horrible of a person he may be, Kevin sports a nice pair of sunglasses. Up until "The Fall of the House of Duquesne," he was never once seen without his glasses.

* DespairSpeech:
** Joel finally unleashes his frustration with Tina's lack of understanding:
-->'''Joel''': OKAY, MOM, I GET IT! I'm a big fucking disappointment, okay?! You've made your damn point! I mean, Jesus, God forbid I have feelings! God forbid I have interests that aren't the same as yours! God forbid you try to make an effort to ''learn'' about the shit I like! [[MoralGuardian No, you're better off just fuckin' taking everything away from me because you're scared and confused!]] Yeah, Joel doesn't have any ''real'' problems! [[ArmorPiercingQuestion He's just some big fucking crybaby who wants to make you look bad, isn't he?!]]
** Tina, of all people, has one of these after enduring insult after insult from her mother:
-->'''Tina''': GODDAMMIT, MOM! CAN'T YOU ''EVER'' SUPPORT ME?! CAN'T YOU EVER BE ''HAPPY'' FOR ME, JUST ''ONCE?!'' [[WellDoneSonGuy YOU KNOW HOW HARD I'VE TRIED TO MAKE YOU RESPECT ME?!]] I'VE BENT OVER BACKWARDS, MOM!! JUST ONCE--JUST '''''ONCE!!'''''--I WANTED TO PROVE TO YOU THAT I'M NOT A FAILURE! AFTER 42 YEARS, MOM, WHAT THE HELL IS IT GONNA TAKE?!?
* DidNotGetTheGirl: Joel's ill-fated dates with NewAgeRetroHippie girl Denise and obnoxious Music/SineadOConnor fan Selina, as well as Aaron's disastrous attempt to ask out former cheerleading captain Jessica Sullivan.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: The reason why a lot of Joel's plans backfire on him is because he hardly ever thinks them through.
* DistractedByTheSexy: Aaron can't even insult Lindsay without lusting after her.
* DownerEnding:
** The ending of the "Gothman Prophecies" arc [[spoiler:Joel finds out Tabithia didn't love him so much as he liked his ''potential'' of being her ideal man. Joel doesn't take the revelation well and breaks up with her]].
** A number of stories don't end well for Joel, particularly early on in the series. Usually he'll come within a hair of victory, only to have it snatched away at the last second. These kinds of endings started happening less frequently once Joel's friends were introduced.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: Katy, every time William tries to give her a driving lesson. She's way too excited to actually pay attention to the rules of the road.

** The entire Duquesne family are all horrible, horrible people who practically rip at each others throats. Lindsay, in particular, started off as an evil alpha bitch but a severe beating from Jocelyn and [[spoiler:Jessica]] led her to see herself as the monster she truly is. Lindsay is currently now a sobbing wreck who is ''trying'' to be a better person, but the anxiety, guilt, and the abuse she receives from Kevin and Patricia make it extremely hard for her. And it's shown Brad is becoming fed up with the nightmare Kevin and Patricia are making him go through.
* EasyComeEasyGo: Lindsay manages to procure a contract with A&M Records via her appearances on ''Series/StarSearch'' (and assorted shenanigans between her and her mother, Patricia). Within seconds, the contract is torn up because she violently refused to even consider quitting smoking. She continues her tantrum, and it ends up costing her the ''Star Search'' championship.
* {{Ephebophile}}: [[spoiler:Adam, an 18-year-old college freshman introduced in the "Bloom Is Off The Melrose" arc, is discovered to be one as he tries to woo Katy, who is about four years younger than him]].

* GroinAttack: [[spoiler: Kevin has Lindsay on the ground and is about to rape her, but she grabs one of her stiletto heels that fell off in their fight and '''''STABS HIM IN THE DICK WITH IT.''''' The next strip has him wailing in pain in all four panels while a crowd gathers. He absolutely deserved it, but DAMN.]]
* HairTriggerTemper:
** For someone whose New Year's resolution was to "redouble [her] efforts to be a better person, both outwardly and inwardly", Tina loses her patience an awful lot, especially with Joel. This died down completely after her HeelFaceTurn.
** It really doesn't take much to put Mr. Tucker, one of the teachers at Joel's school, into boiling rage.
** Rick has an '''''incredibly''''' short fuse, and has no problem verbally abusing or threatening physical abuse on others when provoked (which is a lot).
* HeManWomanHater:
** Kevin. His misogyny gets more blatant and violent with each appearance.
** Rick shows some signs of this, though it appears to be more of the StayInTheKitchen type of sexism rather than full-blown misogyny.
* HeelRealization:
** Lindsay, while in the hospital recovering from her beating by [[spoiler:Jocelyn]], hears the doctor describe the injuries suffered by the girl Linday pushed down the stairs in her debut storyline. The look on her face is the first time we've seen anything close to regret on Lindsay's face.
** Jessica's BreakingSpeech in a much later strip does its job, and Lindsay is finally forced to admit the truth to herself:
-->'''Lindsay''': Oh my God...I'm a MONSTER!!
** Selina has one when she [[TheBusCameBack returns for the first time]] since the 1990 strips, when she finally realizes that she's letting Sinéad O'Connor's influence practically take over her life and vows to stop.
** Tina, after being [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech outed]] by both her son and mother, comes to a rather harsh realization on what a terrible mother she truly is.
** Jenny during the "I Am A Fugitive From A Day Camp" arc, where she comes to realize just how much of a pest she can be to Eric.

* HumiliationConga: To finally get her out of her hair, Lindsay tells Katy that her crush (whom she previously, accidentally, had expelled) loves her too. When he bluntly dismisses her (with a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech "Reason You Suck" Speech]], no less), she runs back to Lindsay, gets Lindsay's lunch thrown on her, and leaves the cafeteria crying with the entire school laughing at her.
* IHaveBoobsYouMustObey: Lindsay often attempted to use sex appeal in order to get what she wanted, namely film and music auditions.
* IHaveNoSon: [[spoiler:Patricia disowns Lindsay as she divorces Brad and leaves the house after Kevin's incarceration.]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: Patricia [[SelectiveObliviousness refuses to see]] Kevin for the monster he is (or even get him help for the issues she ''does'' acknowledge) because that would me ''she'' failed as a parent.
* JerkAss: The Duquesne family. All of them. [[spoiler:Although eventually subverted with Lindsay and Brad thanks to CharacterDevelopment]].
* JerkassHasAPoint: The "A League Of Katy's Own" arc has Katy and Ashleigh join a baseball team, and Katy harshly gets chewed out by one of the players for catching the ball with her hat in the middle of a game. However, the player had every right to do this since, apart from Katy not following directions, catching the ball with anything other than your glove is a very illegal move for a fielder to do in baseball, as this automatically results in the batter being given three bases.

* VillainousIncest: An ''extremely'' one-sided example: [[spoiler:Showing just how depraved he really is, Kevin kicks the crap out of Lindsay and then attempts to rape her]].
* VirtueIsWeakness: [[https://www.deviantart.com/art/1990S-Both-A-Blessing-And-A-Purse-703714537 Lindsay tells]] tells [[spoiler: Jessica]] that she's popular and at the top is because she believes that [[SocialDarwinist remorse makes a person weak by letting yourself drop your guard to be eaten alive]].

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Happens occasionally whenever the strip references some aspect of '90s culture that's been largely forgotten today. Some readers didn't know that [[http://1990somethingcomic.com/comic/march-21-1990 the Lambada revival of 1990]] was a real thing.

* AlphaBitch: Lindsay Duquense, prior to her CharacterDevelopment, was the head cheerleader and a horrible person all around.

** The entire Duquense family are all horrible, horrible people who practically rip at each others throats. Lindsay, in particular, started off as an evil alpha bitch but a severe beating from Jocelyn and [[spoiler:Jessica]] led her to see herself as the monster she truly is. Lindsay is currently now a sobbing wreck who is ''trying'' to be a better person, but the anxiety, guilt, and the abuse she receives from Kevin and Patricia make it extremely hard for her. And it's shown Brad is becoming fed up with the nightmare Kevin and Patricia are making him go through.

** In "The Fall of the House of Duquense", Kevin even goes as far as to [[spoiler: try and rape ''[[BrotherSisterIncest his own sister]]'']]!

[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 It's the 90s, do a lot of coke and vote for]] UsefulNotes/BillClinton."'' [[note]]Characters from left to right: [[{{Tomboy}} Jocelyn]], [[CasanovaWannabe Aaron]], [[MellowFellow Steve]], [[AsianAndNerdy Michelle]], [[TheHero Joel]], [[SequentialArtist Kendra]] and (foreground0 [[TeamPet Yorgi]]. Special thanks to Jesse for the specialized image.[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''"[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 It's the 90s, do a lot of coke and vote for]] UsefulNotes/BillClinton."'' [[note]]Characters from left to right: [[{{Tomboy}} Jocelyn]], [[CasanovaWannabe Aaron]], [[MellowFellow Steve]], [[AsianAndNerdy Michelle]], [[TheHero Joel]], and [[SequentialArtist Kendra]]. Special thanks to Jesse for the specialized image.[[/note]]]]

''Nineteen-Ninety-Something'' is a webcomic by Jesse J. Barboza, created as a snark-filled love letter to the 1990s and serves as a reboot of ''Webcomic/Forever16'', which was also created by Barboza.

* CriticalResearchFailure: In-universe, this is what bites Aaron in the ass when he tries to fake his way through a literary analysis of ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'', having gone to see the (very different) movie adaptation instead.

* CanonDiscontinuty: The 2015 version of the comic is no longer considered canon, with the reboot replacing it completely.

* KnightOfCerebus: Kevin Duquesne. Whenever he shows up, the strip gets '''dark.'''
* LeftHanging: Due to Barboza wanting to do another retool of the comic, many of the then ongoing plot threads were left without a conclusion.

%%* MindScrew: Discussed [[spoiler:and demonstrated]] in [[http://1990somethingcomic.com/ this comic]].

* {{Retcon}}: Before getting its own website, the strip ran in bits and spurts on Barboza's Website/DeviantArt page (under the name ''Forever 16'', and before that, ''Maxwell Silver Hammer''), jumping around randomly from week to week within the '90s and even into the 2000s and 2010s. WordOfGod says all the pre-website comics are no longer canon. Indeed, a good many character introduction stories from Barboza's [=DeviantArt=] gallery have been totally rewritten for the current run of the strip.

* ArtEvolution: The comic's art style has shown some noticeable improvement over the years. Namely, the characters' eyes are now smaller, their heads aren't as big and blocky-looking, and they each display more wider ranges of emotion.

* {{Gainaxing}}: Lindsay's boobs jiggled quite a bit when she tried auditioning for ''Series/StarSearch'' in a [[IHaveBoobsYouMustObey vain attempt to get chosen for the show]].

* AmbiguousDisorder: Kendra shows some signs of being on the Autism Spectrum. She has high levels of anxiety, is pretty socially awkward, enjoys going into detail about her interests (often without realizing it), and is highly fixated and defensive of her interests.

* VocalRangeExceeded: Invoked in the rebooted version of the ''Star Search'' arc: Lindsay, faced with a tough initial opponent, goes for broke and chooses to perform Music/MariahCarey's "Emotions." The production assistant warns her against it, as the last girl to attempt that song needed medical attention and there were still loose ceiling tiles..

* ImpossiblyHighNote: Invoked in the rebooted version of the ''Star Search'' arc: Lindsay, faced with a tough initial opponent, goes for broke and chooses to perform Creator/MariahCarey's "Emotions." The production assistant warns her against it, as there were still loose ceiling tiles from the last time someone tried to hit the song's signature high note (and that performer needed medical attention).

* BreakTheHaughty: In an example long-overdue for fans, Lindsay is on the verge of winning ''Star Search'' and earning a recording contract. [[spoiler:She smokes in front of the record executive, which he disapproves of. Since she needs to be a positive role model for young girls, smoking is forbidden by her contract [[ReadTheFinePrint (which she hadn't read)]]. When she refuses to quit, the executive tears up her contract, the bad behavior catches the notice of the ''Star Search'' hosts, and Lindsay is disqualified and evicted from the premises]]. ''Fucking. Sweet.''

** Joel himself briefly appears naked in the beginning of the "[[Film/TheTerminator Hasta La Vista... Maybe]]" arc, in which Joel plays the role of the Terminator himself. [[FemaleGaze Complete with a few shots of his bare butt]].
* NiceHat: Steve is almost never seen without his wool beanie. His comic book alter ego Hammerhead has a pretty spiffy fedora, too.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent:
** Characters will occasionally dream themselves to be the protagonist of a movie they've just seen, leading to a much more in-depth ''MAD magazine''-style parody (i.e. William's dream after seeing ''Film/DancesWithWolves'' in which he becomes Kevin Costner's character).
** Steve's Hammerhead comics also count, with a slight ArtShift to go with it - the panel borders become wobbly and the shading becomes much more simplistic, to look like an amateur comic drawn by a bored teenager.

* OutnumberedSibling: Kendra has two brothers, Vence (the oldest) and Eric (the youngest).

* AuthorFilibuster: Baraboza has made it no secret that he likes to use the comic as a way to vent his frustrations regarding certain real world issues (such as the Sunday strip that discusses the 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election, which was posted four days before the 2016 presidential election).