...HUH!? A DEAD WHAT?!
"Join Vesta and friends in their daily lives, and the Fennec Fox's dreams of becoming a famous internet personality in a story of attempting to balance school work and ambition, and everyone handling Vesta's well intentioned chaos!"
— Asura Kitsune, providing the comic's blurb.
A Slice of Life comic that takes itself... well, at a good pace! Fresh face and new college student Vesta Brulant has high dreams of being a popular YouTuber- if only real life wouldn't get in the way so much. Homework, a part-time cafe job, and questionable life choices all ensure that his adoptive guardian, campus counselor Basil D. Phox, will have his hands full trying to keep the young fennec fox from causing everybody he runs into no short amount of grief.
Started June 6th 2018, and currently hosted on WebToons!
Main Characters:
- Vesta Brulant, the new face in college who has aspirations of becoming a famous YouTuber. A fennec fox.
- Basil D. Phox, campus counselor and a reasonable adoptive parental figure to Vesta. Also a fennec.
- Eleanor Brenner, the campus librarian and a friend that Basil treats to coffee on occasion. Another fennec.
- Abel, Basil's most-assuredly 100% twin brother who runs a cafe. A stoat.
- Aclima, Abel's wife, a tough-love mom and no-nonsense officer who keeps getting called for small matters. An ermine.
- Bowie Ruban, an actual(ly popular) YouTuber and Vesta's kind-to-a-fault classmate. A bunny.
- Wooly, Bowie's shy and tear-prone boyfriend that drops by Basil's office quite often. A wolf.
- Neves Alopeke, fashionista and eager source of stress for Eleanor. An arctic fox.
Previous versions of many of these characters appeared in an interactive Pokémon fancomic called “Misadventure of Basil”, formerly hosted on Tumblr, now being reposted to Tapas.
This webcomic provides examples of:
- Big, Thin, Short Trio: Wooly, Vesta, and Bowie make up the three students of the story. They finally had an arc together as a trio... even if Wooly and Vesta aren't exactly fond of each other.
- Bland-Name Product: Mostly with any video game references. For example, there's been the Game Poy, the Fun Station, and Angel Souls.
- Blatant Lies: Basil and Abel are most definitely brothers!Eleanor: Wait... Are you two brothers?Basil: You didn't notice?Abel: We are practically twins!
- Brown Bag Mask: Eleanor attempts as much to avoid showing her face on a livestream with Neves, but, it doesn't stick around for long.
- …But He Sounds Handsome: Vesta is adamant that the fox crying and running away from a fake mummy in a trending video isn't him. Even if they're totally cool and cute.Vesta: I DIDN'T CRY AT ALL
- Calling Parents by Their Name: Vesta refers to Basil as such. Not entirely out of the ordinary, considering he's recently adopted.
- Comically Missing the Point: Vesta thinks about what Basil said about his future, and decides he does want to try going to college! To be a better YouTuber.
- Coordinated Clothes: Basil and Abel have T-shirts that read 'Best Uncle' and 'Best Dad', respectively.
- Cornered Rattlesnake: Vesta finds out the hard way that frightening a wolf twice his size is a painfully bad idea. While he certainly provoked the first incident, Wooly could also learn a little bit of restraint, if only to not accidentally floor an on-duty mall Santa. Er, "King Christmas".
- Cute Little Fangs: A lot of the cast gets this if they smile wide enough.
- Delayed Reaction: Basil cheerfully tells Vesta to take care on that whole 'find a dead body for a YouTube video' endeavor. It takes him a panel to realize something is amiss.
- Disappointed in You: When Vesta's slacking gets to the point that an exhausted Bowie winds up in Basil's office, the one thing that gets him to relent and admit he needs to work on his project is Basil's expressed disappointment in him. As much as other scoldings are played for laughs, this one seems to cut through Vesta immediately.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Bowie likes to check out Vesta's videos and leave encouraging comments on them. Vesta interpreted this as being condescending, however.
- Everyone Can See It: Vesta and Neves waste no time in asserting that any time Basil and Eleanor have spent together running errands or having lunch is, in fact, a date. Even Wilhelm seems pretty convinced their lunch was actually a date, too, with him just there as a chaperone.Basil: A D-Date?!Wilhelm: Everyone thinks so.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Bowie sports these after being left to do a group project by himself. He still has them by the next day, up until he passes out in front of Vesta.
- Failed a Spot Check: Vesta is conned into paying Croissant for the exclusive filming rights of a mummy. Said mummy turns out to be Mi San, very poorly wrapped in bandages, to the point that her skirt is sticking out. Vesta still winds up with a scare a moment later.
- Insistent Terminology: Vesta isn't 'Santa Claus' during his (brief) stint at the mall. He is 'King Christmas', and don't you forget, he's way better!
- Interspecies Adoption: Abel and his father are stoats, while Basil (a fennec fox) has been with them so long he calls Abel his twin brother.
- Makeover Montage: Eleanor gets to have one of these courtesy of Neves... which is fortunate, because a glance at her wardrobe reveals that she really DOES just have multiple copies of her usual librarian outfit.
- Morphic Resonance: An oddly meta example. Every major character of the AGP cast resembles their Pokémon-selves from the author's other comic, with their AGP version appearing as an animal that matches whatever that Pokémon was based on. As a nod to this, Vesta has a Braixen plushie from the start, eventually receives a Sylveon from Bowie himself, and Wooly is gifted a Midnight Lycanroc. All three are their actual respective selves in the alternate comic.
- Oblivious Adoption: Basil, the very tall fennec fox, doesn't seem to really question why his father and twin brother are tiny stoats. When Eleanor tries asking him about it early on (#34), and he doesn't catch on, Abel's tense reaction implies they genuinely haven't told him.
- Oh, Crap!: During the FunStation 5 stream, Vesta eagerly places himself behind the controller. Bowie reveals that they were going to play "Angel Souls".
- Also said directly a few arcs earlier, when a newly-determined Vesta discovers he doesn't know anything about the project he's about to work on.
- Only in It for the Money: Vesta's attempt at being a mall Santa comes from Basil promising him a Nintendo Switch if he does it. Although he's knocked out soon after by Wooly, he did wind up getting his Switch for the effort.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Eleanor has a tendency to give out too much information or say something she shouldn't have said when talking, only realizing her mistake immediately after the fact.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Juno, Vesta’s older brother and last known relative, prior to the start of the story, setting up Basil's adoptive relationship to Vesta.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: A couple of the comics were made during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a minor arc follows various characters through lockdown.
- Real Men Hate Sugar: Averted. Vesta demands 'a strong [coffee]' from Abel, because he's an adult now! One sip later...Vesta: YUCK!Abel: Don't worry. Here is your strawberry milk.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Vesta is astounded that nobody in his class recognizes him from the Youtube channel he'd only just started.
- Technicolor Eyes: It can be hard to tell in the comic itself since characters, by default, typically have plain black pupils. But in other artwork, they do have varying eye colors. Most easily seen in the "Thanks for your support!" image, where Vesta is sporting vibrantly red irises.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Eleanor repeatedly rebuffs Basil's attempts to ask her out despite her own reluctant attraction to him, bordering on Belligerent Sexual Tension. Then in the Konran arc Neves tricks them into going on a date and Eleanor accidentally admits her attraction as she's storming off.
- With a Friend and a Stranger: Played with. Vesta is actually the stranger here, to Bowie and Wooly's friendship. These three are the trio of college students we get to know through the story.
- Worthless Treasure Twist: There is no treasure at the end of Vincent's treasure map, his rival Bizcotti found it first and used it to build a resort and then Neves ties the "friends we made along the way" line to Vesta's annoyance.
