History Webcomic / ThePropertyOfHate

{{Bathos}}: Negative's return during "Cutting Room" is ominously built up throughout the chapter, only to be triggered by [[spoiler: Hero's tears of laughter over RGB [[ComedicUnderwearExposure getting pants-ed]] by Doubts (as they're trying to devour our heroes). Negative ends up rather unamused by this, silently giving a look of disapproval.]]

** During "Cutting Room", after RGB tells Hero that the House of Lead has gone mad from it's own loneliness, Hero tries to reply only to be cut off with a loud sound of a cuckoo clock. RGB that it's one way of putting it.

* When Anxiety is fading away due to Hero and RGB's attention being focused on trying to escape the House of Lead instead of them, their dialogue briefly references [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Navi's]] most well known quote.

** [[spoiler: Time]], a rabbit-like creature, says [[Literature/WatershipDown "When they catch us, they will kill us. But first, they must catch us."]]

** During Chapter 11: Page 192, RGB ''literally'' steals a kiss. [[spoiler: He then gives it to Madras as a farewell gift.]]

** "Cutting Room" has [[spoiler:The Butterfly reveal themselves to be Anxiety, as a play on how having butterflies in your stomach is a common expression for feeling anxiety.]]
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: [[spoiler:RGB manifests one after being knocked out by a Grief, referred to as Negative RGB. It later appears as a hallucination during the Butterfly's appearance and later saves Hero later on in the desert. It takes until Double Exposure for Hero to be able to open up to RGB enough to mention him.]]

** [[spoiler:The Butterfly]] serves as one for the Elastic Valley and the House of Lead, [[spoiler:having successfully stolen one of Hero's eyes.]]

* EliteMook: Its implied that fears and griefs are this due to RGB's comments that the former don't normally appear near the Lake of Tears and his dread upon seeing the latter in the Plains of Doubt.

** Click's entire screed against RGB in Target Audience hits very differently when the reader later learns that [[spoiler: he was the second hero after RGB himself and that RGB left him to die due to being unable to deal with Click's path to destruction.]] His accusations that RGB had several victims and him asking Hero what heroes do to monsters end up having far more basis than intial impressions would have you believe when its later revealed that [[spoiler:RGB was bringing in multiple heroes in order to delay the end of the world and Click is implied to have been quite violent as a Hero, showing no care for a Temper he trampled on and using one of its shards as a makeshift knife.]]

-->'''Electrocardiogram Head''': Are you kidding?! Do you KNOW how many fears are out there these days?

* TarotMotifs: Several of them exist, and can be bought from [[https://topatoco.com/products/poh-tarot-postcards?_pos=2&_psq=property&_ss=e&_v=1.0 Mod's Topataco]

* TarotMotifs: Currently, three Tarot Cards exist of Hero, RGB and Madras. Mod has stated that they wish to make more, once the cast is more complete.
** The black and white guardians with the horse and bird heads area reference to the High Priestess card. The white one is always positioned on the right, and the black one is always positioned on the left, in reference to the pillars on the card.

* VisualPun: Occasionally. For instance, on page 348 Hero is (briefly) on the fence about whether to go back for RGB or stay where he wanted her to stay. She is also sitting on a literal picket fence and jumps off it as soon as she's made her decision.

* ShoutOut: From classic movies to alchemy, the author loves putting in references.

* SuperpoweredEvilSide: [[spoiler:RGB manifests one after being knocked out by a Grief, referred to as Negative RGB. It later appears as a hallucination during the Butterfly's appearance and later saves Hero later on in the desert.]]

* BigNo: Preceded by a LittleNo after being presented the horseshoes he's supposed to wear, RGB's reaction to the title of Chapter 13 is effectively this.
* BilingualBonus: Tinker appears to speak in Morse Code wheras Melody, true to her name, speaks in musical notation.

* {{Chiaroscuro}}: [[http://thepropertyofhate.com/TPoH/Pitch/174 Why RGB's brightening in the darkness would not help, it would only make the dark more striking]]. [[http://thepropertyofhate.com/TPoH/Pitch/175 Followed by his realization of how to fix it]].

* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler: [[http://rgb.thecomicseries.com/comics/128 Hero]], when she falls out of the tree and is apparently impaled on a branch. It turns out that the hole that she got from being [[ItMakesSenseInContext stabbed by a fear]] opened back up while she was arguing with RGB, so she's fine.]]
** [[spoiler: It's also possible that RGB and Hero haven't seen the last of Click if [[http://thepropertyofhate.com/TPoH/Ex%20position/297 this page]] is any indication.]]

** [[http://rgb.thecomicseries.com/comics/53/ For instance, here]], revolving around time.

* PrecisionFStrike: Done in a doubly literal sense [[http://tpoh.smackjeeves.com/comics/2044436/beat-page-150/ here]] by Melody, who can only speak in musical notes and symbols. %% ?
* {{Pun}}: The series had so many both obvious and hidden that it'd have it's own page if it were to list every single one. For example, most of the chapters were named after film terminology and camera tricks.

* RewatchBonus: Rereading the comic tends to reveal a lot of information that the reader won't notice the first time round due to the various little details

** [[http://tpoh.smackjeeves.com/comics/2507294/ex-position-page-298/ Page 298]] reveals several names of the past heroes. This adds more meaning to [[spoiler: Assok, [=TOby=], Dial, Tinker, Tailor, Julienne and Melody's introductions.]]

* SceneryPorn: [[http://rgb.thecomicseries.com/comics/11 Lots and lots of it]].

** [[http://tpoh.smackjeeves.com/comics/1480104/rushes-page-23/ Chapter 2: Page 23]] introduces the Lie, a cute little thing that happens to be white in colour. In other words, it's a ''white lie''.

* TellHimImNotSpeakingToHim: Starting on [[http://rgb.thecomicseries.com/comics/120 this page]]. An interesting example, as the messenger is only ever able to speak when copying someone else's words (albeit imperfectly).

** In "Arret", after Treshold Guardian [[spoiler: takes the key off him, because it was stolen]], RGB throws a fit, thinks out loud about the possibilities he has left and comes to the following conclusion:

%%** [[http://thepropertyofhate.com/TPoH/Pitch/186 While she reflects on the story]].
%%** [[http://thepropertyofhate.com/TPoH/Target%20Audience/286 TOby later, while falling, prior to observing how boring it is]].

** During "Target Audience", Click finally has RGB and Hero cornered -with full intent on revenge against RGB-, he establishes his case by revealing that he has a good reason for wanting RGB dead.
-->'''Click''': Which is the greater crime - to destroy or to steal? \\

'''Click''': You may have your justice but let me first have mine: Upon the one who stole my life - the man who murdered [[ThatManIsDead "Me"]]

-->'''Hero''' (folded page): Another you.
-->'''RGB'''(folded page): The other me. The two used to be one. I am haunted myself.
-->'''Hero''' (folded page): ...........

** In Target Audience, it's stated that those who destroy the market will be destroyed in kind. [[spoiler: Guess what happened to Click during Ex Position?]] The chapter ended with his [[spoiler: remaining eye falling onto a counter, which set up the possibility that someone would pick it up... Later on, Ratfink stole Click's eye and wound up being forced to share his body with Click, who intended to find the rest of his body parts which is shown in later chapters such as Flood and Double Exposure.]]

* LiminalTime: The beings in the market place were inbetween times or existences -- they can't stay forever. (Hero compared it to a railway station.)

* RedSkyTakeWarning: During [[spoiler: Hate's apocalypse in "Casting", the sky turned red as stars fell from the sky and the seas rose.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The pictures of Hero's wall during Chapter 1 foreshadow the appearance of [[spoiler: the idea, the House of Paint and the tempers later on.]]
** The term 'Neutral' appears in the beginning of ''Chapter 14: Click.'' [[spoiler: Hero later uses that term to describe RGB when Click asks her if she thinks that RGB is evil.]]
** In ''Chapter 15: Target Audience'', it's stated that those who destroy the market will be destroyed in kind. [[spoiler: Guess what happens to Click during ''Chapter 16: Ex Position''?]]
** Page 295 has [[spoiler: Click's remaining eye falls onto a counter, setting up the possibility that someone will pick it up... Later on, Ratfink steals Click's eye and winds up being forced to share his body with Click, who intends to find the rest of his body parts.]]
** If you look carefully during one of the panels in Page 313, you notice that [[spoiler: RGB's reflection in the crystal has a wrist despite having no wrists in his current form. RGB's human form is seen during Chapter 18's bait and switch intro page and then again as part of a hallucination during his fight with The Butterfly.]]
** The Butterfly being [[spoiler: an antagonist who steals Hero's eyes after she decides to trust RGB]] is foreshadowed throughout the few interactions it has with Hero and when Time offhandedly mentions that [[spoiler:Hero loses her eyes]] later on during her first meeting in him in "Inbetweens". During Hero's second encounter with the Butterfly, it shows up right after Hero bores the Idea to death and during their third, it perches itself on Hero's back and leaves in a huff. In both cases, the Butterfly tries to erode Hero's trust in RGB under the guise of "being wise".
** Early on The Hero says that "heroes wear green", a description that fits Assok, Tinker, Dial, Toby, and [[spoiler: RGB in Chapter 25: Arret back when he first fought Hate.]]
** [[spoiler:During "Inbetweens", Time mentions that stories don't care who the hero is and that they simply need a protagonist to exist. Later on in "Casting", RGB mentions that he had been recruiting heroes to keep the story going so that the world doesn't end and that he'd been relying on how the story doesn't care about heroes to keep this plan afloat.]]
** During "Cut in", the Guardians decide to throw the Idea out with one of the citizens remarking that if it's a good Idea, it'll float. A few pages later, the Idea becomes a fish and [[spoiler:several chapters later during "Casting", the Idea has become a boat that floats above the water, which means it really [[StealthPun was a good idea]].]]
** When RGB and Hero make it to Elastic Valley, the former tries to explain to the latter about Tempers but is cut off by [[NightmareFace TG]] before he can explain what happens when they're not fixed. A few chapters later, [[spoiler: RGB explains about a previous hero, Click and how he left him to die. As it turned out Click [[{{Pun}} lost his temper]] and was killed by a Grief.]]
** [[spoiler: When Hero and RGB first see the world ending, there is a drawing of a figure riding a creature similar to the Idea. A few pages later, we see The Idea having turned into a boat riding over the sea.]]
** The phrase "We Split" is a phrase that shows up as early as [[https://jolleycomics.com/TPoH/Rushes/30 "Rushes"]] and again during [[https://jolleycomics.com/TPoH/Dolly_Zoom/ "Dolly Zoom"]]. If this [[https://modmad.tumblr.com/post/682137362132844544/just-to-let-you-know-the-tpoh-update-will official art]] of RGB and Negative is any indication, its likely that all of this may lead up to RGB and Negative splitting apart.
* FramingDevice: ''Chapter 9, Page 165'' introduces an ominous one via a pair of scissors. Their presence is nothing short of ParanoiaFuel for the audience.
* FlowerMotifs: [[spoiler: Negative RGB is associated with blue roses, which appear again when The Butterfly cuts RGB with it's wings during their fight in Elastic Valley.]]
* HallOfMirrors: The protagonists are surprised to discover one inside [[spoiler: the House of Lead, though it doesn't last very long once RGB accidently shatters the mirrors with his cane due to jumping back in surprise after Hero emerges from a trapdoor she found.]]
* HeWasRightThereAllAlong: [[spoiler: The scissors were already bad enough in the early chapters but become far creepier when it's revealed that they're weapons used by [[BigBad Hate]] to get rid of her enemies.]]

* ICallItVera: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] and [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed.]] Hero notices that a lot of the objects lying in the Sands of Regret are vehicles, to which RGB responds by explaining this trope, namely how people will give their vehicles names and "personalities", which causes the vehicles to manifest in the realm; however, since their owners still do not consider them living beings in their own right, they never possess the ''will'' needed to truly exist within the realm, and break down in the Sands. It is implied that the vehicles ''do'' want to be alive, but since their owners never saw them as such, they're unfortunately doomed to break down again upon the sands.

* InherentlyFunnyWords: During "POV", both Hero and RGB both burst out laughing after Assok combines the insults they've been flinging at each other into:

* JumpedAtTheCall: Hero. After saying goodbye to her mum.
* JustBeforeTheEnd: The setting. RGB's task is averting the apocalypse, but he's been, as of yet, unsuccessful.

* LiminalBeing: RGB, asked what "neutral" means, says it's when something is neither one thing nor another, or is between the two. [[note]] This is the literal meaning of Latin "neutrum" [[/note]]
* LiminalTime: The beings in the market place are inbetween times or existences -- they can't stay forever. (Hero compares it to a railway station.)
* LoopholeAbuse: [[spoiler:Hate's wager to RGB was to find a hero to prevent the end of the world so their "story" can end properly. After a time, RGB realized that her wording was vague enough that the story only ends and the wager fulfilled when he ''finds the hero'', and not that he saves the world.]]

* MundaneUtility: One can actually use RGB's head as a television, but he's asleep and cannot wake when used this way.
* NoNameGiven: The Hero. [[spoiler:Actually, she has IdentityAmnesia complete with NameAmnesia. She doesn't even realize it until she actually thinks about it]].
* NotAGame: The Hero and RGB bitterly accuse each other of treating it like a game in one fight.
* PaintingTheMedium: The comic tends to this on the occasion by having characters speak with different type of text boxes or various visual details.
** Characters like Melody or Click have unique nuances to their speech. The former speaks in music notes while the latter has extra tails added to his speech depending on how many of his mouths are speaking.
** Visual details tend to showcase how The World of Make Believe works or how it is affected by other characters. In "Double Exposure", the House of Lead's panels are formatted like a window, with the frame being smeared after RGB attempts to open the window and his [[OhCrap panicked realization]] that he needs to get the door.)
** [[spoiler: The House of Lead is hidden inside a folded page. Hero and [=RGB=] literally unfold it to find the house. Once they actually make in into the house, the pages tend to subtly affected by the presentation[[note]]i.e the comic being smudged after RGB tries to open the window, text bubbles fitting inside picture frames, a page with lines drawn to resemble a cracked mirror etc[[/note]]]].
* PerspectiveMagic: [[spoiler: The House of Paint can be, if you walk away a bit, folded and put in your pocket like a drawing]].

* {{Pun}}: The series has so many both obvious and hidden that it'd have it's own page if it were to list every single one. For example, most of the chapters are named after film terminology and camera tricks.
* RedSkyTakeWarning: During [[spoiler: Hate's apocalypse in "Casting", the sky turns red as stars fall from the sky and the seas rise.]]

** [[spoiler:The Butterfly]] serves as one for the Elastic Valley, though it seems they'll be back soon.

** [[spoiler: The House of Lead]] is rather bleak as well.

* HallOfMirrors: The protagonists are surprised to discover one inside [[spoiler: the House of Lead]].

** [[spoiler: The House of Lead is hidden inside a folded page. Hero and [=RGB=] literally unfold it to find the house]].

* RewatchBonus: Rereading the comic tends to reveal a lot of information that the reader won't notice the first time round.

** [[http://rgb.thecomicseries.com/comics/40/ A chair]] inside the House of Paint here. As we learn later, her name is Gladys and she's a SilentSnarker.