History Webcomic / SkinHorse

* LampshadedDoubleEntendre: When the other sapient creations are having [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/wind-up-the/ nightmares of their creators]] saying "[[CallingYourOrgasms I'm coming for you", [[spoiler:Sweetheart asks if Nick has had nightmares about it... before realizing she should rephrase.]]
-->'''Dr. Lee''': ''[smirking]'' [[SexGod It never is.]]

* LampshadedDoubleEntendre: When the other sapient creations are having [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/wind-up-the/ nightmares of their creators]] saying "I'm coming for you", [[spoiler:Sweetheart asks if Nick has had nightmares about it... before realizing she should rephrase.]]
-->'''Dr. Lee''': *''smirking''* [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex It never is.]]

* LamePunReaction: When Unity is protesting to her colleagues that they're berating her for something that is her disembodied hand's fault, she says "[[http://skin-horse.com/comic/todays-comic-494/ Talk to the hand!]]" They're both horrified, and she apologisfrzies.

%%** Keeps on [[UpToEleven delivering]] with ''[[spoiler: sapient corporations]]'', [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/the-outside-world/ here]].

* KillerRabbit: Sweetheart and her packmates. Or at least that was the plan... The mad scientist who created her could also apply. Aside from this whole "take over the world with sentient sled dogs" thing, he was the nicest, most politely Canadian guy you could ever meet. Turned [[UpToEleven up to about seven hundred fifty-three]].

* UpToEleven:
** Gerda is a "Kinsey Seven, a type of lesbian so profound it was once thought not to exist in nature." (Still, even she can't resist going off to [[EventheGuysWantHim watch Tip and Konstantin mud wrestle]]. Maybe Tip's ambiguous beauty had something to do with it?)
** Bonus ShownTheirWork: [[JustForFun/KinseyScaleOfTropes The Kinsey Scale is a real thing]], which measures how gay a person is on a scale from 0, totally hetero, to 6, totally homo (1-5 don't define the gradation well). This means that a similar scale may be required to gauge sex appeal so that Tip can be put above the top category himself.

** Emphasis on the ''wholesome'' part too; Tip manages to make it seem totally normal for a manly stud to wear frilly things. Granted, he then proceeds to willfully and decadently [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready seduce most of the female cast members]], so "wholesome" may not be entirely the right word.

[[folder:The Story So Far]]
* "Cowardly Lion": A day in the life of the Project Skin Horse employees as they go to bring in a genetically-enhanced lion.
* "The Borrowers": Tip tries to make peace among the many forms of intelligent life that have developed in the office basement over several decades.
* "Wild Things": Unity urges Sweetheart to go on a destructive rampage.
* "I Can Fly": The team investigates the case of a military helicopter that used to be a video game nerd named Nick.
* "Dead Dogs"/"Big Bad Wolves": Tip is in charge of a mission to Alaska. Involves werewolves and sapient canids.
* "Tin Soldier": It appears to be Moustachio's turn to go on a rampage. Also features the return of Dr. Lee from "I Can Fly".
* "Brave Little Toasters": Gorgeous and FUNKY mad scientist brought in to repair Moustachio due to his breakdown from the events in Tin Soldier.
* "And All the Lovely Ladies": Tip and Konstantin must mud-wrestle. The ladies of SH gather to watch.
* "Come Swing From My Branches": The SH team is mobilized to serve notice to a GeniusLoci, a sentient swamp.
* "If I Ran the Zoo": Unity and Nick are sent to investigate the mysterious fire at The Cypress, while Sweetheart and Tip go to a talking animal convention.
* "Once And Future": Unity wants to be a Notary Public, which coincidentally involves becoming part of an Ancient Order in Idaho, where Dr. Lee is looking into rogue robot sightings.
* "Choose" While Sweetheart deals with issues, two former acquaintances of Nick investigate his disappearance.
* "A Wrinkle in Time": A short guest-written story in which [[{{Webcomic/Narbonic}} Dave Davenport's]] time machine goes wrong, and an infinite number of Arties try to steal Tip's dress.
* "Railway Children": SH and Anasigma (represented by Dr. Lee, Violet, and Sergio) are both invited to a mobile city of mad scientists and must compete to see which gets to represent them to the outside world.
* "My House Is Me": The team visits a disused amusement park with sapient animatronics, to try to get some answers about the Old War.
* "My Brother Sam is Dead": Dr. Lee perfects her brain-dispensing machine to improve human/zombie relations. Skin Horse escorts her to California, where Dead Rights legislation is being enacted.
* "The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day": Skin Horse gets back from California to discover that Gavotte has gone stupid, and everyone needs the Basement Dweller files.
* "Grillo Parlante": The return of Jonah and Nera from "Choose", who now runs a conspiracy website.
* "Mixed-Up Files": Mr. Green does some exposition, Tigerlily Jones escapes from the Institute, and Skin Horse reforms to infiltrate A-Sig.
* "Looking Glass Land": The new Skin Horse gets organised and visits a parallel universe where "My Brother Sam" went differently.
* "Can't Catch Me": Ginny joins Skin Horse and goes on an entirely routine mission where nothing could possibly go wrong...
* "What Big Teeth": Sweetheart tries to get ready for a meeting.
* "Purple Waves": With the Department of Irradiation defunct, Chris and Marcie are given the chance to regain their irradiator, but they're not the only ones after it.
* "Yes, Virginia": Skin Horse has a Secret Santa to improve morale.
* "Fun for Some": Nick playtests the VR Whimsyworld, with the help of Baron Mistycorn and a familiar AI.
* "Ghosts I Have Been": A guest-written story in which Remy tries to help a spirit possessing an alligator.
* "Sure as You're Born": Skin Horse goes on an unofficial mission to support a vote for nonhuman rights, and discovers an old enemy is involved.
* "Unsinkable": Jonah and Nera investigate the fallout from the previous story and encounter Skin Horse, AG-I and a sea serpent.
* "The Hundred Dresses": Sweetheart uses drone technology to go on a date. It doesn't go well.
* "Angry at the Sky": Some kind of weather control threatens ''all'' Skin Horse's clients, and Mr Green is revealed.
* "Figgs and Phantoms": Mr. Green makes his move. Virginia finally learns what extirpation is.
* "The Iron Man": Tigerlily gets her mojo back and builds a ''really'' big robot.
* "Green Noah": Robot Fight Club.
* "Swiftly I Glide": The team infiltrates an A-Sig facility with surprising ease but conflicting mission goals.
* "A Life in the Woods": Tip finds himself on a new team with a familiar mission.
* "The Dreadful Future": Everyone's getting ominous dreams, but is that the ''real'' threat?
* "Muddled Wuddled Fuddled Duddled Fox": Renard has to pick a side.
* "The Lee of the Stone": A-Sig has a new target.
* "Off to the Fair": The team have to negotiate between Aimee, Tigerlily and Pavane.
* "Space-Bat-Angel-Dragon": Everything starts coming together, exactly as planned. Planned by who is another question.
* "Phantomwise": The grand finale!
[[/folder]]

%%

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In an impressive bit of Meta-fiction that leads back to Wiki/ThisVeryWiki, there is a scene where Sweetheart is reading the IronicEchoCut page, only to be interrupted with an IronicEchoCut.

* AmusementParkOfDoom: The Little House of Wonders. It was abandoned years ago, and the "It's A Small World" parody ride now has toxic waste instead of water, is dotted with asbestos warning signs, and the [[InstantAIJustAddWater self-aware animatronics]] are all cynical and depressed. However, to the naturally cynical and depressed Sweetheart, this comes as a relief compared to the wall-to-wall TastesLikeDiabetes she was expecting.

* SpiritualSuccessor: A good chunk of ''{{Webcomic/Narbonic}}'s'' tone and themes are present and accounted for. As of May 6, 2011, it officially became a SpinOff and official part of the ''Narbonic'' with the appearance of Artie (in his human form).

* ContestWinnerCameo: Shaenon and Jeff have run contests on Kickstarter where the winners are incorporated into the comic as minor characters. The first few were all eaten by zombies; most of the later ones have survived, and one was transformed into a dragon.

* NiceHat:
** Tip's outfits very often are accessorized with pretty hats.
** And in a semi-meta example: after Unity ran into a cute little fox, fans collectively decided that it would look cute with a little hat on. Shaenon warned them that they'd be sorry to have said it...[[spoiler:and in the next strip, said fox ''became'' a cute little hat for Unity. Ouch.]]

* FilkSong:
** The comments section regularly features a filk related to that day's strip.
*** [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/that-was-the/ This strip]] has Unity sing Creator/GilbertAndSullivan's "[[Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance A Policeman's Lot is Not A Happy One]]", which made for easy Filking.
** This strip, about Unity literally freezing her butt off, inspired the song "Put On Your Weekend Butt", to the tune of "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" from the musical "Hello Dolly".
** It needs to be pointed out that Ed Gedeon (of ''Webcomic/EverydayHeroes'') writes a filk song ''every single day''. Several other people are likely to contribute one as well.

** A-Sig agents all have two-letter MilitaryAlphabet codenames like Echo Bravo, Alfa Alfa, and Charlie Sierra. The hidden theme is that these are all references to children's authors (of books about TalkingAnimals) known by two initials and their surname: Creator/EBWhite, Creator/AAMilne, and Creator/CSLewis.

* NoodleImplements: Whatever "[[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness extirpation]]" is in Anasigma involves monkeys, walnuts, and potentially shea butter.

** A-Sig agents all have two-letter MilitaryAlphabet codenames like Echo Bravo, Alfa Alfa, and Charlie Sierra. The hidden theme is that these are all references to children's authors known by two initials and their surname: Creator/EBWhite, Creator/AAMilne, and Creator/CSLewis.

* PeripheryHatedom: In-universe example, Nick [[http://skin-horse.com/2013/new-friends/ claims]] the reason he has a huge amount [[BlandNameProduct Whimsy]] [[Franchise/DisneyPrincess Princess]] movies on his computer is "because I hate it a '''lot'''." [[GuiltyPleasures It's possible he's lying, though.]]

* PeripheryHatedom: In-universe example, Nick [[http://skin-horse.com/2013/new-friends/ claims]] the reason he has a huge amount [[BlandNameProduct Whimsy]] [[Franchise/DisneyPrincess Princess]] movies on his computer is "because I hate it a '''lot'''." It's [[GuiltyPleasures possible he's lying, though]].

* PersonOfMassDestruction: Unity [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/at-the-office/ according to this comic.]]

* PlaceWorseThanDeath: For the animatronics at [[BlandNameProduct Whimsey World]], being told they might get dumped in a hazmat disposal doesn't sound so bad, but mention their being sent to Euro-Whimsy, and it must be stopped.

* PokemonSpeak: A number of the non-human sapients have this.

** Bubbles, the office water cooler, has "Service is my only joy" - [[spoiler: upon gaining a body, she became an IntelligibleUnintelligible, and eventually added "Not" to her vocabulary]].
* PretenderDiss: The Abbess of the Notaries Public calls Tigerlily Jones a [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/todays-comic-839/ "child of the '80s who has never known true funk."]]

* TheReveal: On two occasions, characters have revealed important information and then commented that it would have been much more dramatic had their intended audience been paying any attention.
** One that caught ''everyone'' off-guard was learning the identity of Mr. Green - [[spoiler: he was actually Ira, the ScatterbrainedSenior security guard]].

** Practically anything in "The Little House" (basically "It's a Small World"), but [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/looking-at/ the ones in the Star Chamber]] [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/you-from/ take the cake.]]

* RousseauWasRight: The [[spoiler: Kansas A-Sig team that Tip let himself get locked up for [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/had-nayed/ joined up with Skin Horse]] at the start of the next arc, though they were [[MinionWithAnFInEvil already very pleasant to start with]].]]

* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Tip, regarding Dr. Lee, though she's certainly the closest he's come to a meaningful relationship so far.
* ShoehornedAcronym: The military AI [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/todays-comic-1039/ GODOT]] was programmed to create backronyms, turning words into project titles. It's implied to have been responsible for the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act]] as well. [[spoiler: And went insane trying to come up with a backronym for U.N.I.T.Y., Skin Horse's resident zombie SuperSoldier.]]

* TemptingFate: [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/skin-horse/ Dr. Phillips]], who [[GenreBlind should really know]] not go around invoking the wrath of the universe while he's in a city of mad scientists. Everyone else [[GenreSavvy realizes]] that he's a dead man walking, and not the pleasantly ''au courant'' zombie type.
* ThatCameOutWrong: Nick states that "[[http://skin-horse.com/comic/which-just-happens/ Ain't nothing like spending a cold night]] with [[BestialityIsDepraved a warm dog inside you]]" before realizing his mistake.

** And Dr. Lee took her gender-inverted turn when Nick said, "I'm a machine."
** And again with ''Sweetheart'' [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/sweetheart-all/ when Nick says he's "awesome at keeping it up"]].

** A-Sig agents all have two-letter MilitaryAlphabet codenames like Echo Bravo, Alfa Alfa, and Charlie Sierra. The hidden theme is that these are all references to children's authors known by two initals and their surname: Creator/EBWhite, Creator/AAMilne, and Creator/CSLewis.

* TooSpicyForYogSothoth: When [[spoiler: Tigerlily Jones gets absorbed by the Biomass]], its attempt to [[spoiler: take over her mind]] results in a CurbStompBattle from the ''inside''.

* TriggerPhrase: The phrase "blueberry waffles" suspends Unity's aggression patterns. And causes her some pain, judging from her reaction.
** It turns out that all of Virginia Lee's projects have similar trigger phrases, from 'buttermilk pancakes' to 'Rice Krispies'. She gets hungry on those long projects.

* UmbrellaDrink: [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/2015-10-18/ A Kickstarter request sketch]] has Gavotte drinking one.
** And as mentioned under GargleBlaster, the resulting concoction ''[[AteTheSpoon dissolved]]'' the one in Zombie Emperor Norton's drink.
** After [[spoiler: learning that there are ''283'' more Anasigma strike bases in the US, [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/regarding/ Nick accidentally swallows one]]]] in his haste [[INeedAFreakingDrink to down his drink]].

** And again when Tip's reaction to her saying "This is a job for Tip" means it becomes "This is a job for Tip, supervised by me."

* VillainousCrush: Mr. Green on Dr. Lee - [[spoiler: and [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/was-aware/ he'll kill anyone]] who finds out it's unrequited.]]

** At the end of the "Come Swing from my Branches" arc, we have TheReveal [[spoiler: that the peppy mediator from "Brave Little Toasters", Violet Bee, [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/todays-comic-572/ is actually an Anasigma spy,]] saying that "We're preparing for war. Neutralizing the swamp creature is just one front"]].

** [[spoiler: H.T.]] implements one [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/ill-have-my/ during the Zombie Rights arc]]. The legislation, if accepted, frees him from Transgenic prison. If rejected, it pushes the Zombies in California into allying with zombies in the Florida Keys, and also towards extremism, furthering his anti-Human agenda.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Unity's tendency to binge-eat brains to get smarter is treated as alcoholism, complete with her hurting her loved ones (she gets very insightful and points out their flaws, shortcomings, and mental hangups) and them preferring her "normal" dumb self.

* FacelessMooks: Mocked [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/his-existence/ here]], when Sweetheart asks if they're ''sure'' [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality they're the good guys]], and Unity counters by pointing out the helmets worn by Anasigma's security team.

'''Unity''': [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Noisy birds, though]].

* FantasticRacism: The Transgenic Convention is full of intelligent mutant animals and hybrids, many of whom have utter contempt for Tip (such as some surly squirrels, and a part-Macaw woman whose inexplicable BerserkButton is people who wear hats).

** Among the birdfolk crowd, [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/todays-comic-604/ wearing a hat is a]] ''major'' [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/todays-comic-605/ faux pas]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Following the reveal of Mr. Green's true identity, a Sunday strip showed that this had been foreshadowed ''[[http://skin-horse.com/comic/2018-08-12/ since the beginning of the strip]]''. [[spoiler: Specifically, Ira had, at various points given Unity pins, Sweetheart booze, Nick a plush heart, and - just before the reveal - Tip a balloon, revealing that, in ''Skin Horse'''s massive ''Land of Oz'' shout-out, he was the wizard]].

* GeekyTurnOn: Nick's reaction to Dr. Lee and Unity discussing [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/sweetheart-wasnt/ the Hulk]].

** [[http://skin-horse.com/2008/spread-through/ From Konstantin, the assassin of Boris Yelzin, who now works for the traffic police]].
** Konstantin's colleague sings the Russian folk song "Степь да степь кругом" ("step' da step' krugom", which translates roughly to "steppe all around". English translation available [[http://www.barynya.com/russian_lyrics.stm here]], scroll down to the lyrics of the song or use Ctrl+F.) and speaks a few rather decent Russian senteces.
* GreatOffscreenWar: The Old War. Tip has no idea what it was and finds it very hard to get details from the nonhuman community, either because [[http://skin-horse.com/2011/todays-comic-526/ a crisis is going on]], or because [[http://skin-horse.com/2012/reminding-himself/ they don't actually know anything]]. We eventually get the details in "Mixed-Up Files", starting [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/2015-05-06/ here]]. It turns out to be a desperate shadow war in the 19th century between human and nonhuman, provoked by [[spoiler: Moustachio's attack on the Great Exhibition]].

* GroundhogPeggySue: More weirdness at Anasigma. In the "Choose" arc, after accidentally falling into an alternate-universe viewing portal, Jonah gains what appears to be a variant on a SavePoint - whenever he dies, he 'resets' to the point where he originally snapped out of the portal-induced daze. [[spoiler:This is heavily implied to be based on the ExpendableAlternateUniverse principle instead of a time loop; by the time they finally escape Anisigma he's "reset" either 27 times (Nera's count) or ''40'' (Jonah's).]] What makes this a Peggy Sue instead of a normal GroundhogDayLoop is [[spoiler:the ending makes it unclear whether this will happen again after he's lived a long, full life]].

* GuyOnGuyIsHot: The fight between Tip and Konstantin, the Russian security guard, brought ''every'' woman that works at Annex One (and one that doesn't) out to spectate - including a Kinsey-7 lesbian who was disinterested until she heard Tip was involved.

** In a later strip, Unity is told to find [[MrAltDisney Dr. Colloid's]] daughter in "the Most Delightful Place on Earth". [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/never-mind/ Her search doesn't take long]].

** The Abbess of Notaries Public has a sword called "[[http://skin-horse.com/comic/todays-comic-846/ Sensual Overdrive]]" - even Tigerlily Jones admits [[AwesomeMcCoolname that's a damn fine sword name]].

** [[http://skin-horse.com/2008/sure-about-the-name/ Dr. Lee doesn't think Tip is an idiot, as such,]] but she certainly wasn't expecting his pithy assessment of the situation.

** Leo's predictable interpretation of the slang "cat's paw" [[HitlerAteSugar gets a harsh verbal reaction]] [[http://skin-horse.com/2011/todays-comic-687/ from Sweetheart.]]

** Dr. Lee, [[spoiler: during her extirpation, manages to find the "bugs" [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/always-worth/ in the VR program]].]]

** [[LampshadeHanging Referenced by name]] in another strip, where Sweetheart is reading this very page on TV Tropes and complains that no one on their team gets to do anything cool anymore. Cut to Nick fighting a giant octopus in the middle of a typhoon.
** Also, [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/only-first-graders this strip]]: "You know what we need? '''Tech support'''." (Cut to zombies eating the tech support guy) "You know what we need? '''Marinade'''."

* JiveTurkey: Tigerlily Jones and all of her creations. Shelby, one of the maintenance crew at Annex One, [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/believe-he/ is also fluent]].

* LampshadedDoubleEntendre: When the other sapient creations are having [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/wind-up-the/ nightmares of their creators]] saying "I'm coming for you", [[spoiler:Sweetheart asks if Nick has had nightmares about it... before realizing she should rephrase]].

* LostInTransmission: This guest strip.

* MediumAwareness: Seen on this page.

* MoodWhiplash: The Alaskan Werewolves are downright ''terrifying'', and the comic gets the goriest it's ever gotten when they show up. It also has a BittersweetEnding for that arc.

* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: On this page]].

* NonSequiturEnvironment: Tip has developed this into a superpower, as the writers decided to turn the smash cuts that marked his successful seductions into an in-universe effect. Basically, if he needs to get into or out of somewhere, he just has to get an unattached woman to agree to a date — and the next panel will show the two of them elsewhere, hopefully where they need to be.

** "The worst [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/whole-problem-there/ perversion of science]] ''I've'' seen was with a sonic probe and a '''really''' surprised lemur.
** And [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/todays-comic-949/ what did Jonah do]] to ThatPoorCat?

''[[http://skin-horse.com Skin Horse]]'' is a {{webcomic}} written and drawn by Shaenon K. Garrity (of ''{{Webcomic/Narbonic}}'' fame) and co-written by Jeffrey Channing Wells. It was launched in December 2007, and on [[http://comicsbyshaenon.free-forums.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=236 November 5, 2008]] became syndicated on [[http://www.gocomics.com/skinhorse GoComics]]. The comic updates daily, with regular strips posted Monday through Saturday and posts of material related to the comic on Sundays.

The comic ended on June 26, 2022.

* BabiesEverAfter: The final storyline reveals that, due to TimeDilation resulting from most of the cast [[spoiler:traveling around on a FlyingSaucer which was apparently moving at relativistic speeds]], [[spoiler:Nick and Dr. Lee]] have multiple kids and one on the way, and [[spoiler:Marcie and Chris]] also have one child.

* BreakingTheBonds: In the "Dead Dogs" arc, Tip finds himself handcuffed to a bed for both his own protection (as stated by the town sheriff) and...other things. Later, however, he reappears, catching the others off guard.
-->'''Tip:''' Please, like I've never been ChainedToABed before.

* ChainedToABed: The friendly werewolf sheriff in Alaska chains Tip to bed so he won't get hurt when the town transforms into man-eating monsters during the night. Tip is a CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass, though, and very experienced with kinky chicks, so this doesn't slow him down much.

[[quoteright:321:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/skinhorse1_big.jpg]]

* FurryReminder: Niue, a minor character, appears more or less human but is in fact a transgenic creation and part macaw. She generally also acts quite human, until she sees a hat, which drives her into a rage. Apparently it’s a bird thing; one fan theory related it to the number of their ancestors who were killed to supply feathers for fashion hats, but apparently, it’s just that her brain can’t handle the change in someone’s appearance when they don or remove a hat.

* LampshadedDoubleEntendre: When the other sapient creations are having [[http://skin-horse.com/comic/wind-up-the/ nightmares of their creators]] saying "I'm coming for you", [[spoiler: Sweetheart asks if Nick has had nightmares about it... before realizing she should rephrase]].
-->'''Dr. Lee''': (''Smirking'') [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex It never is]].

--->'''Sweetheart:''' [[LampshadeHanging Its so hard to tell when Unity is euphemizing]].\\

!! Tropes used in this comic include:

* AcronymAndAbbreviationOverload: Godot, or G.O.D.O.T. is an AI meant to backronymise project titles for the US government but became exhausted by its work and eventually went mad when it had an impossible problem.