Line #5 Webcomic/Marooned


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marcover.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Kickstarter Cover, 2012]]
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4	A [[IdiotHero not-chosen-for-his-smarts]] astronaut, John Floyd, upon landing on Mars discovers he hasn't taken enough fuel to come back. Whoops. Fortunately, when he and his robot companion decide to explore, they find a very nice bunch of natives who readily take them in.
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6	Thus begins the funny, cute and touching story of attempting to come back home, of why is Mars a desert and how the Earth space program is not really what it seems, of friendship, responsibility and crazy stunts.
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8	[[http://maroonedcomic.com/ Marooned]] is drawn by [[http://pixelmech.com/ Tom Dell'Aringa]]. It was pulled offline for a while in an attempt to turn it into a print comic, but was restored to webcomic format in 2016, with a whole new storyline involving the mindstones and where they came from.
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10	----
11	!!Tropes found on the surface of Mars:
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13	* AfterTheEnd: [[OnceGreenMars The planet of Mars]] [[spoiler: brought on, or at least hastened, by its inhabitants' efforts to avert the catastrophe]].
14	* AllWorkVsAllPlay: John is a goof with SkewedPriorities and a VitriolicBestBuds relationship with his robot. [[spoiler: Lian Fisher]] is very professional, serious and angsty, and treats her [[RobotBuddy robot sidekick]] with nothing but kindness (which is reciprocated).
15	* BadassInDistress: [[spoiler: The rest of the cast has to rescue Lian in chapters five to seven.]]
16	* BatterUp: John prefers his laser gun, but when it gets fried... he did bring a baseball bat and is not afraid to use it.
17	* BrainInAJar: The Baro, with robotic life support units that are as badly designed as anything they built. But that's okay, dying is just returning to the Mother Brain (in an even bigger jar)!
18	* ConstantlyCurious: Ril has been called "a teenage question machine".
19	* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Possibly in case of the final bad guys, who may or may not have been sociopathic from the very start, but definitely had ''something'' cybernetically bad done to them.
20	* TheDarknessGazesBack: How we first encounter [[spoiler: the Volotrum, but they're nice, actually]].
21	* TheDitz: John, but he's still less ditzy than the Baro, whose hat must be hanging on a tree in {{Cloudcuckooland}} somewhere.
22	* ExposedExtraterrestrials: Ril wears a protective suit against duststorms, but otherwise the Martians seem not to bother.
23	* GlowingEyes: A Mindstone turns your eyes quite glowy. The Volotrum have naturally glowy eyes, though.
24	* AGodAmI: [[MadScientist Voon]] is very insistent on this. ''Very''.
25	* GrewBeyondTheirProgramming: Robots can do that, turns out, and they gain a lot of disdain for humans in the process. Sometimes to the point of TurnedAgainstTheirMasters.
26	* HigherTechSpecies: Out of the three martian races, the Geborga, enigmatic, scholarly and [[spoiler: {{The Atoner}}s for not preventing the catastrophy]]. Other than that, the Baro... probably count. Their tech is kind of [[MadScientist mad-sciencey]], though.
27	* IgnoredExpert: [[OmnidisciplinaryScientist Doctor Ugofandian]] in the backstory.
28	* LatexSpaceSuit: Apparently Earth standard issue. In flattering blue colour.
29	* LittleGreenMen: Ugo's people, although they're also red and pink.
30	* MadScientist: The Baro have it as their [[PlanetOfHats hat]]. Not evil, just ridiculously impractical and really enamoured with knowledge. They're also TotallyRadical, for some reason.
31	* ManChild: John starts like this, though he matures tremendously over the course of the story.
32	* MulticulturalAlienPlanet: Mars has three sentient races that we know of. Green Martians tend to be farmers, the Geborga are [[ProudScholarRace scientists, although not so proud these days]], and the Volotrum (or "the Dark Ones") who live in the caves are very, very mysterious and psychic.
33	* OurZombiesAreDifferent: [[spoiler: The evil Geborga Voon]] has some mouldy-green Anfalds (Green Martians) at his service, who are, if nothing else [[ImAHumanitarian hungry. And not picky eaters at all]].
34	* PlanetOfHats: The Baro's hat is being TooCleverByHalf. The [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} smartest race in the universe is the most moronic]].
35	* PowerCrystal: The Mindstones attach themselves to your forehead, granting you PsychicPowers along with a PowerMakeover.
36	* PowerGlows: Mindstone power is very blue and sparkly.
37	* PowerMakesYourHairGrow: [[spoiler: Lian's]] hair used to be brown and shortish, until she got a Mindstone and it became a veritable mane of a [[PowerDyesYourHair fetching bluish hue]].
38	* ProudScholarRace: The Volotrum are martian mystics - they deal with psychic stuff and generally keep to themselves [[spoiler: unless a Listener who's not a Volotrum needs training]].
39	* PsychicPowers: When a Mindstone attaches to you, congratulations - you can now find a Hearing One and become their [[TheApprentice Listener]]. Mostly you'll learn {{Telepathy}} and more than a bit of Zen.
40	* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: Asimov in personality, but [[spoiler: Ugo is a ridiculously martian robot]] in general.
41	* Really700YearsOld: [[spoiler: Ugo has been built when - and because - the martian civilisation was on the brink of collapse.]]
42	* RoboticReveal: [[spoiler: Ugo is a robot, built by doctor Ugofandian for the specific purpose of helping out the survivors AfterTheEnd]].
43	* SnarkyNonhumanSidekick: Asimov seems unable to communicate without snark.
44	* TinCanRobot: The robot companions used by Earth space program look like tin cans with expressive screens and bendy mechanical hands. And a single wheel.
45	* ThirdActStupidity: [[spoiler: Lian only gets captured because, when she gets contacted out of the blue by someone claiming to be Ril, she hurries to where "she" tells her to, without checking if Ril is where she's supposed to be.]]

Context Webcomic / Marooned