Advert from the comic's 30th Anniversary back in 1996. note
Old Master Q note is a Chinese manhua created by Alfonso Wong note . The cartoon first appeared as comic strips in the newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong in 1962, and later serialised in 1964.
The series features Old Master Q and his friends - Big Potato note , Mr. Chin note , Mr. Chiu note , and Miss Chan note - in many different hilarious situations. They are usually portrayed in a variety of social statuses, professions and time periods, ranging from beggars and office workers to actors and ancient warriors, allowing a wide variety of settings and ideas. Some scenarios include aliens, monsters, ghost sightings, and the afterlife. The majority of the comic strips parodies those themes.
In the context of the strips, Old Master Q, Big Potato and Mr. Chin are close friends; Mr. Chiu often play an antagonistic role toward the trio; finally, Miss Chan is often portrayed as a love interest to Old Master Q.
Old Master Q provides examples of (Note: Most tropes are Played for Laughs):
- 360-Degree Swing Set Swing: In one short where Master Q is babysitting a kid in a playground, he gives the kid a hefty push that sends him spinning 360 degrees around the bar more than once... until the kid gets entangled horizontally on the swing's top bar. Cue Master Q's making an Oh, Crap! look.
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Often seen in ancient Chinese settings, in which Master Q's sword can cut down trees.
- Accidental Pun: In strip #2201
, a westerner asks Master Q about a picture on the wall: a bright sun and a beach. Master Q replies him, "Sun of a beach." The next panel shows Master Q with black eyes and the westerner angrily walking away. - The Alcoholic: Most of the male characters often consume alcoholic drinks and may end up with double vision, pouring the drink on one's head, passing out on the streets, etc.
- Alien Among Us: The plot of the animated film Old Master Q & "San-T" where an alien Master Q encounters the titular alien, who helps him fight the evil landlords who plan to tear down a lunapark.
- All Just a Dream: For better or for worse, the events taking place in some strips end with the character going through said events waking up with the realization that they had been dreaming all along. Here are some examples.
- Ambiguous Gender: Discussed. A person they encounter in this strip has Master Q and Big Potato discussing whether the foul language the stranger used makes them a man or if the hand on their hip while they were angry makes them a woman.
- Amusingly Awful Aim: This happens to Master Q in strip #2510 when he tries archery but never manages to even hit the stationary target post. It ends with him breaking the bow in anger and leaving in a huff.
- Aside Glance: Master Q, when the outcome of a certain event is too absurd for words, resorts to looking at the reader with a wide-eyed expression of sorts. One woman borrowed this trope here.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: When there are pretty girls around, Master Q will be distracted. Hilarity Ensues afterwards.
- One strip shows Master Q is flirting with Miss Chan. His speech to Miss Chan is roughly translated to: "You are my life. You are my soul." But when a girl passes by, he is cut in the middle of his speech. When the girl has gone, he asks Miss Chan, "What was I talking about earlier?"
- Sometimes Mr. Chin experiences this problem too.
- Baldness Angst: Some strips happen due to Master Q's desire to no longer be bald. See for yourself.
- Banana Peel: One of the myriad agents for Slippery Skid. In strip #1908, however, it's somehow responsible for a freak car accident that sends Master Q's car crashing into a building, with the car in question ending up FAR ABOVE GROUND.
- Beyond the Impossible: Most of the strips feature this. Includes Master Q eating bullets before shooting as if his fingers are real guns, pulling out a pistol in ancient Chinese settings during a fight, eating two microphones at once, etc.
- Billionaire Wristband: In one episode, Master Q and an unnamed rich man get into an argument over who's richer, showing off their wallet and credit cards, and finally culminating in Master Q boasting about his diamond-studded Rolex. Their argument is cut short when a robber suddenly shows up, holds them at gunpoint, and announces it's a robbery.
- Black Comedy: Many strips involve some pretty grim material, up to including the main characters dying, but all Played for Laughs. And thanks to Negative Continuity, death doesn't stick.
- Bodyguard Betrayal: In strip #1919, Master Q hires a man as his bodyguard at the rate of $10 a day, which the man claims is low, but he relents when Master Q threatens to find someone else. The hired guard accompanies him to a bank... and then has Master Q Bound and Gagged when no one is looking before leaving with the money Master Q takes out of the bank.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall:
- Sometimes Master Q is drawn to be looking at the readers while speaking.
- Happens in universe. Master Q is performing in the TV. Big Potato suddenly phones him with the phone in front of the said TV to tell him that his house is burning. Master Q reacts by getting out of the TV screen and asking Big Potato about the fire.
- Bruce Lee Clone:
- In-universe example and parodied. There's one strip where Master Q asks Big Potato not to leak out his secret: people are saying that he is like Bruce Lee.
- The first animated film had So-Totally-Not-Bruce Lee train Master Q and Potato, as they are on the run from criminals.
- Can't You Read the Sign?: Some strips involve someone doing whatever is noted as inadvisable by the nearby sign.
- In strip #252, Master Q spots a sign underneath a bench and takes it out by tilting the bench, only to discover that the sign reads "WET PAINT", by which point his right hand already has paint on it.
- Master Q takes a peek at a nude beach through the fence despite the nearby sign reading "MEMBERS ONLY" in strip #2149.
- In strip #252
- Celebrity Paradox: One of the comic strips have Master Q, Chin and Big Potato buying tickets for their own cartoon, Older Master Cute (1981). Cue the ticket seller making a sudden Double Take.
- Character Title
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Master Q. Most of the time.
- When Miss Chan tells him that two men are proposing her and she can't decide who she should go with, Master Q tells her to go with him instead.
- When Master Q's boss scolds him for a very long time, Master Q laughs at the boss, infuriating him so much.
- There is one strip where Master Q is a palmist. When a beggar asks for money by showing his palm, Master Q does a fortunetelling.
- Coconut Meets Cranium: Mr. Chin suffers from this fate in strip #1847 when a coconut drops onto his scalp while he sunbaths under a coconut tree.
- Combat Pragmatist: Ranges from spitting and biting the foe to taking off foe's shirt, which leads to a Defeat by Modesty.
- Comedic Spanking: Master Q in this strip ends up having to spank a fussy child to get him to behave for a hair cut.
- Crashing Dreams: Literally played straight in strip #146, in which Master Q dreams of driving a fast car that ends up crashing before he wakes up and finds his bed that was nowhere near the wall in front of him as he slept having struck said wall.
- Death Glare: This strip has Old Master Q being subjected to one such glare from a girl he takes a fancy to at the moment. Almost looks like a fiery Eye Laser.
- Disaster Dominoes: Played literally straight in strip #2488: Big Potato trips over the uneven ground, falls forward, and collides with (in sequential order) Old Master Q, Mr. Chin, and finally Mr. Chiu, who walk in the All in a Row formation in front of him, with the box Mr. Chin hoists over his head hitting Mr. Chiu for good measure.
- Disguised in Drag: Played with in strip #2340. Big Potato, in his normal clothing, bumps into a waiter holding a bowl of noodles, causing the noodles to fly out of the bowl and fall onto Big Potato's head, which, in turn, results in the waiter mistaking him for a woman, much to Big Potato's chagrin.Sorry, miss.
- Disney Death: Sometimes it's shown that Master Q is already dead, but turns out to be alive again. Also a case of Death Is Cheap.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Many examples, but one is particularly extreme: A man disposes of a bottle from his window, which nearly hits Master Q. In return, Master Q runs up to him and throws him into outer space.
- DIY Dentistry: In one episode, the title character helps his friend, Chin, remove a tooth with a closing door... only to remove Chin's entire head instead. Yes, it's Played for Laughs and Chin comes back the next issue in one piece because of the comic's Negative Continuity nature.
- Downer Ending: Quite a few strips end this way due to some unforeseen incidence turning an otherwise fine circumstance into a "Shaggy Dog" Story.
- Master Q manages to bypass his opponents, goalie included, in a soccer match in strip #899, and kicks the ball to score... only to end up kicking it over the goalpost and miss the shot, leaving him to beat himself up with fluent Symbol Swearing over his blunder.
- Master Q does his best to clean up his residence in strip #2335 in anticipation for the friends' arrival, but the place ends up looking less than ideal due to them showing up in rainy weather.
- Master Q manages to bypass his opponents, goalie included, in a soccer match in strip #899
- Droste Image: Invoked with Master Q's self portrait where he paints himself holding the canvas, then he paints himself holding the canvas in the smaller canvas, and so on. The last panel shows the real Master Q holding the painting the same way the painting of himself is holding it.
- Drunken Master: Sometimes Master Q can take out robbers while being drunk.
- Drunk on Milk: A strip had OMQ and Mr. Chin walk out of a bar drunk on wine. Big Potato, however, walks out drunk on a liter of soda.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Especially notable in the strips from the late 60s.
- The earlier strips are more "realistic" and grounded in reality, per se. Later strips contains more outlandish elements such as aliens, supernatural, time travel, giant monsters, and stuff which wouldn't occur in real life.
- Chin doesn't show up until the later installments, and even when he does, he's a Flat Character at best.
- Master Q's affection for his girlfriend, Miss Chan, isn't that obvious in the earlier strips.
- The most jarring element? Mr. Chiu actually debuts in a long story titled "Haunted House Adventure", involving Master Q, Potato Head and Chin travelling to a rural village to visit Master Q's grand-auntie, and in that story, not only is Mr. Chiu introduced as Master Q's distant cousin, but he's actually a friend and ally to the trio! Alphonse Wong only started portraying Mr. Chiu as an enemy maybe a decade later after his debut, to create an antagonist solely for the story, and his Face–Heel Turn is never explained.
- Engineered Heroics: Master Q pulls this when he fends off a mugger who turns out to have been paid to act as such in order for Master Q to impress a girl in strip #1939.
- Exact Words: Happens more than once.
- In strip #1891, Master Q kills a mosquito landing on Big Potato's head with a newspaper. Because Big Potato was napping at the time, however, he's not pleased that Master Q woke him up prematurely and tells him not to use a newspaper. When Master Q spots another mosquito landing on Big Potato's head, he kills it... with a fly swatter this time.
- Applied without texts in strip #2316. Miss Chan points to some heart-shaped declarations of love marks on a tree she and Master Q are passing by on their date, and so Master Q decides to do the same... except the heart shape he carves is the anatomically-correct version.
- Master Q invites a girl out on an expedition for their date in strip #2386 and remarks that their driver has arrived after a short walk. The girl assumes they're going in a car... but the last panel shows that the vehicle of choice is a bus.
- In strip #1891
- Fashion Dissonance: Exaggerated for comedy. The manhua started in the early 60s but the strips move on with the times as well and it is very noticeable through the random civilians' appearances (i.e. long-haired hippy-dippy men, flared trousers, shoulder pads, etc.) which causes Master Q to point out the more ridiculous looks that were considered trendy. Though he's not above trying to fit in as well.
- Flipping the Bird: Master Q in this strip (though it's difficult to tell) when a man wolf-whistles to a girl he's with, despite doing the same to random women a few panels ago.
- Flower-Pot Drop: Very common. Often happens as a result of Master Q singing to attract a woman. In strip #1918, a woman does this to Master Q twice: the first time by accident, and the second time on purpose.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: A lot.
- Master Q and Mr. Chiu quarrel this way: Master Q is in the TV. Mr. Chiu is watching the TV and sees Master Q, so he calls him, "Damn you, Master Q." Then Master Q looks at the camera and replies to his insult.
- There is a strip when Master Q is watching a cowboy show. The cowboy has drawn his gun and is shown to be aiming at Master Q on the TV. It ends with a panel showing Master Q lying limply on the couch.
- Another strip features two people fighting in the TV, which damages everything nearby (includes a vase above the TV), which leads to Master Q and Big Potato calling police.
- Strip #2498 has Master Q's cat reaching towards the TV screen when a fish appears there, before reaching into the TV itself. Master Q laughs at his cat... and the strip ends with his cat leaving with the fish that initially appeared on TV, shocking Master Q as a result.
- An inversion happens in strip #2198 when the TV show features a lady teaching how to apply lipstick. Then Master Q and Big Potato move the TV. The next panel shows that the lady's face and lips are messy with lipstick.
- The Gadfly:
- Sometimes Master Q annoys Mr. Chiu or the other way round for no reason. Often leads to the two of them fighting.
- Occasionally, Master Q annoys anybody else for no reason, such as when someone is reading a book, he takes it away.
- Gale-Force Sound: Sometimes downplayed and looks more like Sonic Stunner. It is chilling and literally hair-raising at times (especially when sung in high pitch).
- Ghost Ship: Master Q encounters one in strip #2073, with the ship in question being none other than the Titanic itself — not surprisingly, Master Q decides to get the Hell away from it the moment he discovers the identity of the ship. For bonus point, the strip itself is actually titled "Ghost Ship".
- Giant Medical Syringe: The 2002 spinoff, titled Master Q's Fantasy Zone Battle, introduces the sidekick, Chin, who works as a doctor, his first scene teasing a flu patient with a humongous syringe as large as himself. The terrified patient predictably bolts out of the clinic just as Chin pulls out a smaller syringe, says "Nah, just kidding!" before realizing the patient had left.
- Gone Horribly Right: Some strips run on this. Case in point is strip #2372: Master Q tries to woo a girl with a bundle of flowers, only to be turned down. He then shows her a large bag full of money, resulting in the girl in question doing a 180-degree change of attitude at once, proving herself to be a Gold Digger. The strip ends with Master Q running away from the girl while holding his bag, with the girl chasing him.
- Grievous Bottley Harm: Usually when Master Q is drunk.
- Deconstructed in a few strips. There is one where Master Q gets hit by a bottle on the head and ends up being submitted to a hospital. There, a pretty nurse serves him until he recovers. But after fully recovering, Master Q wants to return to the hospital so that he'll be served by the nurse again. So, he thinks of hitting his own head with a bottle. The next panel shows people carrying a coffin, where it ends.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: In strip #1933, it's a fish/whale instead of a human suffering this fate, as the result of the marine animal in question ramming the boat Master Q had fitted razor-sharp blades to head-on, causing the animal in question to be split cleanly in two halves.
- Hard Head: Big Potato often shows this. In one strip, a robber slashes his dagger at Potato's head, but the knife breaks instead.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Downplayed in strip #2200. Mr. Chiu manages to impress the audience with his balancing act despite sweating slightly, and then Master Q takes the props away... with a much more impressive balancing act of his own without breaking a sweat, unseen by the audience.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Right here. Yeesh! Thank God these comics are in black and white...
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Commonly shown by Master Q or is sometimes averted in the strips. Master Q can hit a fly by throwing an adhesive tape, pierce dragonflies with arrows, etc.
- Jump Rope Blunders: One strip had the comic's resident Fat Comic Relief, Big Potato, intending to exercise by jumping rope a hundred times, with his friend Chin do the counting for him. But due to Potato's short stature and clumsiness, he repeatedly gets the rope hitting his face instead.Chin: "One!" [cue Potato's jump-rope hitting his face]Potato: "That one doesn't count. Do it again."Chin: "One! [Potato's jump-rope hits his face again]... again?"Potato: "Yes, again!"Chin: "One! [fifteen minutes later]... one?"
- Language Barrier:
- In the strips which involve westerners, Master Q and his friends will speak English instead of Chinese, although they fail most of the time.
- In a strip where Big Potato is using a typewriter, he ends up typing random letters instead of Chinese characters.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- There are a few strips dedicated to Master Q getting his just desserts for attempting to take advantage of a random dope.
- Then there are some strips where Master Q gives the what-for to whomever that wronged him. One example is Strip #2301, where Master Q, after getting conked on the back of the head by a fellow restaurant customer sitting behind him across the booth when tilting his head backward too much, positions his fork from the back of his head, which gets the patron behind him pricked upon tilting his head backward too much again.
- Last-Name Basis: Mr. Chin, Mr. Chiu, and Miss Chan are always referred to by surname with their given names remaining unknown.
- Limited Wardrobe: In one strip, Master Q opens his cabinet, which is full of the yellow plaid shirt he always wears.
- Loud Sleeper Gag:
- Big Potato is known for his excessively loud snoring. Strip #829 has Potato taking an afternoon nap and snoring to the point of disturbing Master Q, who's trying to read the newspaper. Master Q then puts a plaster over Potato's mouth, only for Potato to snort instead. Cue Master Q pinching a plastic cloth-peg over Potato's nose, and Potato then starting to chime through his ears.
- Strip #12 illustrates Master Q as a loud sleeper instead of Big Potato.
- Big Potato is known for his excessively loud snoring. Strip #829
- Low Clearance:
- In strip #186, Big Potato gets knocked off the balance bicycle he's riding when he crosses paths with a wooden plank Master Q and Mr. Chin happen to hoist on their shoulder at the time.
- Master Q ejects himself out of a falling airplane in strip #481... and ends up slamming face-first into a tree that's growing horizontally off a cliff.
- In strip #186
- Mean Boss: Mr. Chiu is consistently portrayed as such to whatever job the trio is working at, yelling at them or mistreating them during work. He mostly butt heads with Master Q because of this.
- Mermaid in a Wheelchair: In one strip, Master Q sends a mermaid in labor to the hospital in a wheelchair.
- Mummy: In one strip, Master Q is depicted as an archeologist excavating an Egyptian tomb. Opening a sarcophagus, Master Q retrieves a scroll on a mummy, commenting, "Hmm, I can't read hieroglyphs..." cue the mummy suddenly sitting up, grabbing the scroll, and replying, "Well, I can!"
- Mundane Utility: Happens once in a while.
- As Master Q shows in strip #1061, boxing gloves are handy in helping their wearer avoid getting burned while handling hot food.
- Mr. Chin illustrates in strip #2480 that a fish's ribs are useful as a makeshift comb.
- As Master Q shows in strip #1061
- Negative Continuity: Nothing really sticks in this strip's universe. A character could be superhuman in one strip then a useless weakling the next or even dead then perfectly fine between installments with no explanation. It doesn't really matter, as long as it's funny.
- Never Bring a Knife to a Gun Fight: Master Q does this by pulling out a pistol in strip #2186. Doubles as Beyond the Impossible due to the strip in question being set in ancient China.
- New Job as the Plot Demands:
- While it's a given considering the comics' Negative Continuity, the movies also follow this trope with all the characters having new jobs depending on the story.
- Mr. Chiu is an inverted example in that he's always some sort of boss, but to a different business every time. up to eleven in Old Master Q & "San-T" where it seems that all the jobs the trio are trying to get are all run by Mr. Chiu.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Occasionally.
- Master Q buys a violin in a case in strip #2085, sees a stranger being mugged on the way home, beats the mugger with his violin case, gets the mugger arrested, returns home... and finds his violin severely damaged upon opening its case.
- Master Q feeds a tiger with a long chain of sausage links in strip #2506, with himself eating said sausage links from the opposite end from the tiger. They reach the point of a Spaghetti Kiss... and then the tiger devours Master Q.
- Master Q buys a violin in a case in strip #2085
- Non-Indicative Name: "Big" Potato is the shortest member of the main trio, and barely comes up past Old Master Q's waist. The animated movies usually shorten his name to just Potato, which is a blunt but apt description of his body shape.
- Oblivious to Love: More often than not, Master Q's attempts to woo his on-off girlfriend, Miss Chan, would end up like this instead. In the 2001 movie, Master Q managed to give Miss Chan a diamond ring, only for her to thank him for a wonderful wedding present... because she's getting married in a week, but NOT to him.
- Overly Generous Fool: Played for Laughs in one strip. Master Q is walking to his girlfriend's place on a date when he comes across an alley filled with beggars. He gives money to each and every one of them, until reaching the last beggar when Old Master Q realize he's out of cash. Cue the last panel depicting Master Q arriving at his girlfriend's place in boxers.
- Or Was It a Dream?: The strips in which Master Q dreamt of having done something wonderful or even impossible (from catching a huge fish to getting married) is then revealed to have inexplicably happened for real once he wakes up.
- Paperwork Punishment: Parodied in one strip. Master Q and Mr. Chiu - depicted as Q's boss - are playing Chinese Chess and Q wins three rounds in a row, gloating away each time. Mr. Chiu then retaliates by dumping a huge stack of paperwork as tall as a person on Q's desk as punishment.
- Paying in Coins: Master Q makes payment in this fashion in strip #1507 as his payback of choice toward the sales clerk who gets condescending at him while he states his intention of buying a TV. The strip ends with said sales clerk begrudgingly counting the pile of coins, looking agitated as he does so.
- Pets as a Present: Strip #2119 ends with Master Q giving Miss Chan a dog as her birthday present.
- Rescue Romance: Master Q rescues a drowning woman in strip #1077 and they proceed to get married... and then it turns out to be All Just a Dream.
- Rock–Paper–Scissors: Parodied in many ways. One of the jokes is Master Q winning in the game against Santa and takes away all his presents.
- One of them starts with a rule: who loses gets punished by the winner, such as if rock wins, the winner punches the loser; if paper wins, the winner slaps the loser. When Master Q beats Mr. Chiu's Paper with Scissors, he literally cuts Mr. Chiu's hand.
- Rubber Orifice: Big Potato, the comic's Fat Comic Relief and Big Eater, demonstrates the ability to expand his mouth to any size he wants in several strips to accommodate whatever food he's eating, from a Dagwood Sandwich taller than his head to a whole pizza which he chomps in two bites.
- Rule of Funny: A lot of nonsensical things happen for the sake of quick gags.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Many strips end with a character (often Master Q) getting the hell away from whatever circumstance said character finds too scary/dangerous/etc. to handle. Here are some examples.
- Seesaw Catapult: Strip #1746 has Big Potato doing this to Mr. Chin, resulting in Mr. Chin being launched into outer space from said seesaw and remaining no worse for wear the whole time.
- Serious Business: Some strips take place the way they do due to this trope.
- Master Q takes a stroll in a park in strip #806 and witnesses a group of people leaving a lot of mess behind at the picnic table, and so he forces them to stay and clean up the mess at knife point, letting them leave only after they finish the work to his satisfaction.
- Master Q tries to enjoy some peace and quiet in strip #866, but two strangers ruin his mood by showing up with a stereo blasting music loudly and refuse to turn it off when Master Q protests, resulting in Master Q beating the strangers up and destroying the stereo before walking away angrily.
- Master Q takes a stroll in a park in strip #806
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Quite a few strips end this way, with some of them concluding in a Downer Ending as a result.
- Master Q tries to escape prison in strip #1953 by digging his way out of his cell. He succeeds... and finds himself in an execution room where prison inmates are killed by hanging (luckily for him, it's empty), prompting him to get back in his cell at once.
- In strip #2487, Big Potato isn't happy about being part of the Tiny Guy, Huge Girl image when he's on a date and so buys a pair of high-heeled clogs in the hope of mitigating his Height Angst. This ends in a Downer Ending because the clogs aren't nearly enough to close the difference between his date's height and his own.
- Master Q tries to escape prison in strip #1953
- Slippery Skid: Often happens thanks to Banana Peel, roller skates, soap bars, toy cars, etc.
- Smurfette Principle: Miss Chan, Master Q's usual love interest, is the only recurring female character outside of the trio.
- Spaghetti Kiss: A non-romantic example of this takes place in strip #2506, where Master Q shares a series of long sausages with a tiger by eating from the opposite ends and working their way towards the center... and it concludes on a dark note with the tiger devouring Master Q.
- Spice Up the Subtitles. The animated movies that date from 1981-1983 had swear words in the burnt-in subtitles that range from everything but the F-word itself. Unusual in that it's official.
- Stepping Out to React: One strip has the titular character see his Mean Boss walk past. He then greets the boss, who ignores Master Q only to unexpectedly slip and fall down. Cue Master Q making a run to the washroom... to laugh his ass off.
- Suicide as Comedy:
- Right here, where he's about to shoot himself whilst inside a recently purchased coffin!
- This strip as well. A random stranger reacting to Master Q's self-inspiring words about making a name of himself by suggesting that he plan for a burial ground for himself instead — they're on a building balcony in this setting, and the only part of Master Q that's still visible in the last panel is his shoes when the stranger turns around.
- Right here,
- Superficial Suggestion Box: One comic strip has Big Potato dropping a suggestion form in a shop office's suggestion box. Just then, noticing an employee coming to collect the box, Big Potato decide to observe behind a corner... only to see the employee emptying the box into a trash can.
- Super Window Jump: Deconstructed. Master Q does this here, and emerges lacerated by the broken glass.
- Suspender Snag: One short plays this for Black Comedy, where Master Q, after an argument with his girlfriend, tried killing himself by jumping off a cliff, only for his suspenders to be snagged by a branch midway where he ends up dangling in mid-air in a comical fashion.
- Symbol Swearing: This is how profanity is presented in the strips. Case in point is this strip, where Master Q cusses at a man with "X@★#*", Flipping the Bird for good measure, for wolf-whistling at a girl he's with at the time.
- Ten Paces and Turn: Master Q does this with a westerner in strip #2236. It ends up with no one winning because their starting point is on the peak of a small hill that obscures the view of one another when they turn around.
- Time Travel: The second animated film had Master Q, Potato and Mr Chin traveling back to Water Margin, in the way of Mr Chiu's time machine.
- Toilet Humour: A few strips fall into this.
- In strip #1957, where Master Q claims to Big Potato that he's making a cake and invites the latter to share some, and Big Potato obliges... only to end up inside Master Q's bathroom, holding his nose due to the foul odor.Master Q: Would you like some tea?
- Master Q and Mr. Chin go scuba-diving in strip #2320 and come across a sunken ship, before Master Q gestures in a direction. Mr. Chin follows him... to the washroom of the ship.
- A westerner asks Master Q where he could buy a chair in strip #2453, but Master Q can't understand him due to Language Barrier, and so the westerner squats to imitating sitting down. Master Q leads him... to a men's toilet.
- In strip #1957
- Tongue-Out Insult: in one strip the titular character is a doctor, where he gets a tongue-out gesture in his direction by a neighbor's kid, a stray dog, a baby in his oblivious mother's arms and a patient, all in a single page as a Running Gag.
- Universal-Adaptor Cast: As the series description above states, the main characters are put in all sorts of roles.
- Use Your Head: Big Potato is often shown to be able to break through a stone wall or cripple someone with his head-butts.
- Vague Age: Master Q is Old. How old is never quite clear due to his varying levels of athleticism.
- Watch Out for That Tree!: More than once.
- Master Q calls his dog over to him in strip #164, but the dog runs into a tree on the way over.
- Master Q's attempts at getting edible fruits off a tree by repeatedly shaking it in strip #1920 ends with said tree falling on him.
- In strip #2478, Master Q drives a two-seat convertible... into a tree.
- Master Q calls his dog over to him in strip #164
- Weapons Breaking Weapons: In "The Old Village", Master Q, Big Potato, and Mr. Chin fight three bandit leaders. Master Q fights their main boss, a Warrior Monk who wields a "treasured ancestral sword made from the best steel in the Ming Dynasty"; however, Master Q is carrying a new sword made of modern-day stainless steel, and breaks his opponent's weapon in two hits.Master Q: I get it, you fools are all antiques from five centuries ago!
- What the Fu Are You Doing?: This can happen in strips that are set in ancient Chinese settings. For example: strip #2349 has Master Q dueling against an opponent wielding a long chain with metallic balls at each end, and the strip ends with said chained weapon entwining both of them together in a tight bind.
- Woman Scorned: Miss Chan isn't above giving payback to Master Q should he wrong her.
- Strip #2402, in which she reacts to Master Q laughing at her after a bee hidden in the bouquet of flowers he gives her stings her nose by yanking his nose to the point it elongates to the length of his entire skull, is one such example.
- Another example is strip #2439: Master Q gives Miss Chan the cake he bought for her birthday, but the one mistake on his part — addressing the recipient as "Miss LIN" on the cake — spells doom for the otherwise-happy occasion, as evidenced by Master Q leaving Miss Chan's residence with his cake covering his body from the shoulders up.
- Strip #2402
- Would Hit a Girl: In the comics, when a woman has hurt him (or wronged him in some way) Master Q has no qualms about giving them the what-for.
- Would Hurt a Child: Played for laughs. In this strip, a boy throws a ball at Master Q's head only for him to throw it back to his face.
