Webcomic / Disney High School

What happens when you take as many of the Disney Princesses (and other characters) as possible and attempt a massive Bat Family Crossover in the setting of a modern-ish American High School?

An excellent story concept that has been bandied around for years, by Disney executives and fans alike, with little to no significant headway made on either front.

What happens when you make that concept into a webcomic, combine it with the brilliant idea of simply re-telling the classic plots of the Disney movies everyone loves a la Once Upon a Time, add in a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, a well-paced storyline, a considerable amount of Shout Outs, and the fairly neat artwork of a dedicated Disney fangirl?

The ongoing Web Comic entitled Disney High School, by Morloth88.

Set in a modernized Alternate Universe in which Mother Gothel and Claude Frollo fell in love and got married, the story follows protagonists Rapunzel and Quasimodo, who grew up as siblings and close friends. After being homeschooled for most of their early life, 'Punzel and Quasi are enrolled in a public high school... where they quickly get dragged into the weirdness that goes on in this particular institution.

Hilarity — plus the clever background re-imaginings of just about every single Disney Animated Canon movie involving humans of some sort — Ensues.

Not to be confused with Disney High, a fanfiction with the same basic premise, Descendants, a film featuring the high-school aged children of classic Disney Villains, or Twisted Wonderland, a game featuring high-school aged characters based off of Disney Villains.

---

Disney High School provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents:
  • Frollo and Mother Gothel, but so far they mostly just seem overly strict/protective rather than outright abusive. At least until this comic.
  • In the series, Hades (who isn't related to Hercules in any way) is portrayed as Meg's uncle/legal guardian, and he's been shown to be a less-than-kind guardian for the poor girl.
  • Ursula may be an emotional variant towards Vanessa. And Vanessa seems to be somewhat aware of this, given her reaction to seeing Ursula arriving to pick her up from school.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Hans is more openly dickish in this comic than he is in his source material and is Gaston's best bro. He was also apparently the ex-boyfriend who broke Meg's heart.
  • Downplayed with Hera, who's mostly nice, but shares her mythological counterpart's hatred of her husband's exes, making her a bit of an Adaptational Jerkass to One for Alcmene. Even then, she's not shown being directly hostile towards her, but still coldly calls her "that woman" behind her back and demands that Zeus not make her talk to her.
• Adaptation Species Change: Various characters are changed to humans—Ariel and her family, the trolls from Frozen (who still look pretty trollish), the "human" video game characters from Wreck-It Ralph, etc. However, the creator has indicated that we're less likely to see animal characters turned into humans.
• Aerith and Bob: Due to the source materials and their varying settings, the characters all being made citizens of the same town/city results in a rather eclectic mix of names.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Played with—Belle and Ariel walk up to Rapunzel and make her acquaintance in the very first strip, despite Rapunzel's new girl status. However, Vanessa can give Quasi some trouble—but that is quickly mitigated when first Hercules and later Esmeralda, Pocahontas and Tiana, stand up for him.
• Alpha Bitch: Vanessa.
• Ambiguously Bi: Jim is shown to have a close past with Hercules and the author has hinted that his thing for redheads may not be strictly exclusive to girls.
• Ambiguous Situation: Apparently, Quasimodo was originally the son of Frollo's housekeeper before she died...but how exactly did she die?
• Badass Bookworm/Cute Bookworm: Belle and Rapunzel are each a mixture of the two, with Belle being slightly more badass and Rapunzel leaning toward cute. Milo Thatch also counts, though, as a background character, he does not see much action at first.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Belle and Adam seem to be in the beginning stages. Adam, at least, recognizes it for what it is, but Belle has no idea what he feels for her...which only makes him even more frustrated.
• Beta Couple: In one strip, Kida casually (and quite effectively!) flirts with Milo as Adam and Meg, tied up in their own romantic drama, look on jealously. Also Aladdin and Jasmine who get together with no drama after Aladdin realizes she's not dating Kuzco.
• Big Brother Instinct: Quasi's very protective of Rapunzel (his sister). Fortunately, though, he's not a Knight Templar. Their parents, on the other hand...
• Big Man on Campus: Hercules' Establishing Character Moment is when he makes a point of befriending Quasi just after Vanessa and her friends tease him. He has also gathered quite a coterie of guys who are just as awesome as he is, who often take on this role themselves.
• Birds of a Feather: Platonically, Belle and Milo. Ironically Kida and Adam are another birds of a feather pair and worry Belle and Milo aren't so platonic.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead:
  • The main trio of Rapunzel, Belle, and Ariel.
  • Among the staff, we have Calhoun, Franny and Jessica.
• Brainy Brunette: Belle, Jane, Esmerelda, Jane and Tiana.
• Camp Straight: Kuzco—we think.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Ariel is so smitten with Eric that she can't even speak in his presence, much less sing.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Ariel walks around with forks in her hair. That is all.
• Composite Character: Visually, Adam is one with himself. Obviously, there was no way to include his Beast form in a High School AU, so the author took his post-transformation looks and simply made it a lot scruffier.
• Cool Teacher: While we haven't gotten to see them in action, Tadashi Hamada and Franny Robinson, who teach science and music respectively, are probably this trope.
• Covert Pervert: Charming, Kristoff, and Phillip are among the boys who find an excuse to visit Jessica Rabbit's office.
• Deadpan Snarker: Belle is the queen of this trope, with Quasi being a close second, Adam not far behind and everyone else having their moments.
• Decomposite Character: While the author was a little unsure about it, Ursula ultimately shows up as Vanessa's mom instead of them just being the same person like in the original movie—and Gothel appears to have some kind of rivalry with Ursula.
• Distracted by the Sexy:
  • In P.E., every girl gets this reaction when Shang goes through the obstacle course... Except for Merida, who just facepalms at the other girls' reactions.
  • Played for drama in "Wake Up"; Belle tries to wake up Adam to help her with helping out Ariel when the latter is at the police station, only to walk in on him naked (but covered). She finds herself struggling to speak and tries to pivot to the right topic, but all this accomplishes is making Adam feel like she's making fun of him and he yells at her to leave.
• Fanservice:
  • Acknowledged by Word of God with the strip "Changing Room," which (as its name suggests) takes place in the boys' locker room.
  • In "Move It," there's actually an arrow that says "Fanservice" pointing at Shang as he lifts his shirt to wipe sweat from his face.
  • "Wake Up" has Adam waking up shirtless and apparently pantsless. Belle's flustered reaction is well justified, though it ends up being played for drama, as when she tries to find her words, Adam thinks she's making fun of him and screams at her to get out. That, and the situation is distracting them from a more important issue.
• Friend to All Children: Adam plays with Lilo, Vanellope and Penny for a Pet the Dog moment.
• From Roommates to Romance: Adam and Belle's families are close friends, and Belle often stays at Adam's house when her dad's away on business trips. Their Belligerent Sexual Tension is off the charts.
• The Fundamentalist: Frollo, of course, to the point that he forbids Rapunzel from doing a ventriloquist act and Quasimodo from helping with magic tricks in the school talent show, claiming that it "promotes the devil's work."
• Funetik Aksent: Merida has her Scottish accent in this fanfiction.
• Funny Background Event:
  • Adam and Kida fighting in this strip.
  • Aladdin dope-slapping Eric over learning he dated Vanessa while Belle, Ariel and Rapunzel have a collective Heroic BSoD over this development.
• Girl Posse: Vanessa, with Cinderella's stepsisters, Anastasia and Drizella Tremaine, as her Beta Bitches.
• Given Name Reveal: It takes until the 49th strip for anyone In-Universe to call Adam by his name; Word of God says she was trying to avoid using it because of its questionable status.
• Green-Eyed Monster:
  • Like Ariel, Vanessa has a crush on Eric, but she tries scaring Ariel away from him by claiming that Eric doesn't like Cloudcuckoolanders.
  • Adam has a crush on Belle, and when Belle spends some time with Milo at a concert, it takes all of Kida's effort to keep him from killing the poor kid.
  • Aladdin is quietly jealous of Kuzco, because he thinks Kuzco is dating Jasmine. He is very relieved to learn that that is not the case
• Has a Type: Jim has a thing for redheads, apparently.
• Homeschooled Kids: Of the religious fundamentalist type most likely, given that Claude Frollo is one of the homeschooling parents in question. However, Rapunzel and Quasi are refreshing subversions to the stereotype—both are fairly intelligent and well-educated, and while Quasi is a card-carrying nerd and Rapunzel hits Flynn nearly every time he flirts with her, both quickly adapt to the new school conditions and make good friends.
• Honey Trap: Meg's Uncle Hades wants her to get close to Hercules to get insider information about his father's company, which is Hades' competitor.
• Hospital Hottie: One comic reveals that Jessica Rabbit, of all people, is the School Nurse! Of course, she's smart enough to know the effect she has on the boys and plans accordingly.
• Hot Librarian: The members of the book club (Belle, Esmeralda, Jane, Milo) all volunteer as library aides, though Esmeralda is the only one we've seen working there so far.
• Hypocrite: Word of God actually comments on the fact that Adam's two best/closest friends are both girls, despite how much he hates Milo for hanging out with Belle.
• Illegal Guardian: Gothel kidnapped Rapunzel and passed her off as her own daughter. Frollo adopted the son of his dead housekeeper, presumably out of guilt that the boy was alone...but there are no details on just how his housekeeper died.
• Imaginary Love Triangle: It takes Aladdin a while to realize that Kuzco's playful flirting with Jasmine doesn't actually indicate that the two of them are dating.
• Innocently Insensitive:
  • Kuzco and Quasi's first meeting:
    Kuzco: Wow, cool costume, that mask is amazing! Are you in the drama club?
    Quasimodo: No, it's my face... I look like this.
    Kuzco: Oh shit... I'm sorry! I didn't... man, I'm sorry!
    Quasimodo: It's okay, it's not the first time...
  • A thankfully less severe case: when Herc first meets Quasi, he bends down to his eye level. As the author herself noted, most short people just find this more embarrassing.
• Irony: The Stabbington Brothers appear very briefly as police officers.
• It's Quiet… Too Quiet: How Frollo and Gothel eventually figure out that Quasi and Rapunzel sneaked out of the house to go to a concert.
• Jerk Jock: Gaston, natch. Unfortunately for him, he tries to hit on Megara...who doesn't take kindly to such treatment.
• Knight Templar Parents: They are Gothel and Frollo, after all.
• Last-Second Word Swap: Yzma almost calls Kuzco a "brat" at one point, but switches to "charge" instead.
• "L" Is for "Dyslexia": Belle finds out Adam is dyslexic while working on an English assignment with him. She offers to read the book to him, as a carry over scene from when Belle teaches the Beast to read again in the film.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Gothel is trying her damnedest not to let her Hanging Judge of a husband know that their daughter is a kidnapping victim and that his wife is the kidnapper.
• Lovable Alpha Bitch: Jasmine and Charlotte. Kuzco is sort of a male example.
• Lovable Jock: Hercules, Aladdin, Phoebus and recently Quasi are all on the football team.
• Love Dodecahedron: It wouldn't be a High School Drama without one or two. Drumroll, please:
  • Quasi has a crush on Esmeralda, who is currently happily in a relationship with Phoebus, who is conveniently on the same football team as Quasi. Frollo's not in the picture this time, which is probably because his wife keeps him on a very tight leash (plus Esmeralda's technically a high school student in this AU).
  • Ariel and Vanessa both have a crush on Eric, with Vanessa doing her best to intimidate any and all competition for his affections. Eric has a crush on the mysterious girl he heard auditioning for the school choir, but he doesn't know what she looks like (and Ariel's too chicken to tell him it was her). And finally, Jim Hawkins has a crush on Ariel, but of course she's too oblivious to see.
  • Aladdin likes Jasmine, who takes some time to realize he exists. Meanwhile, Kuzco has a long-standing acquaintance with Jasmine due to their parents' business partnership, and he keeps calling her his girlfriend because it annoys her and he thinks that's funny. Eventually Aladdin and Jasmine get together.
  • Adam has a Childhood Friendship with Belle, and his feelings are starting to develop into love. However, Belle is completely clueless about his feelings. She has a friendly relationship with Milo Thatch, who is himself oblivious to the fact that Kida is in love with him (and that she's often preventing Adam from killing him). Not to mention Kida and Adam are Platonic Life-Partners who hang out together a lot.
• Malicious Slander: Gaston attempts to slander Adam by spreading rumors that he's a cyberbully. However, while some people do believe it, Belle (the main target), doesn't fall for it, since she knows Adam is dyslexic (helps that she also asked him and he had no idea what was going on).
• The Missus and the Ex: Herc's biological parents in this webcomic are Zeus and Alcmene (which is actually truer to the original mythology), but Herc's parents are divorced and both have since remarried to other people (Zeus got remarried to Hera while Alcmene got remarried to Amphitryon). One strip is about the awkwardness of Zeus and Hera ultimately having to sit next to Alcmene and Amphitryon at the talent show, after being unable to trade seats with someone else.
• My Beloved Smother: According to Word of God, Gothel did steal Rapunzel in this universe, so her motivation for keeping Rapunzel at home was probably much the same as it was in canon.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits:
  Quasi: Flynn! What are you doing sneaking around in our house, with my sister, no less?
  Flynn: It's nothing like that! [in an undertone] Sadly.
  [later, when Rapunzel is out of earshot]
  Quasi: [grabs Flynn's tie and pulls him down to eye level] By the way, Casanova, don't think I didn't hear your "sadly" just now. She's not the only one with a mean swing around here.
• Named by the Adaptation: Due to the setting, many of the characters have been given surnames. Most are meaningful and/or take from something associated with the character.
  • Belle and Maurice have the last name Marchand ("merchant" in French).
  • Adam's last name is Bête ("Beast").
  • Quasimodo and Rapunzel have the last name Frollo due to Claude Frollo being the adoptive father of the family.
  • Zeus and Hercules have the last name Fulmen (Latin for "lightning").
  • Ariel's last name is Tritonsdottir ("Triton's daughter").
  • Gaston's last name is LeGume (his surname in early drafts of the movie).
  • Aladdin's last name is Almas (Arabic for "diamond," as in "in the rough").
  • Meg's last name is Thebes (the main setting of ''Hercules).
  • Eric's last name is Andersen (as in Hans Christian Andersen).
• No Social Skills: Rapunzel has obviously been raised to think of sexuality (and anything associated with it) as a sin (we're lookin' at you, Frollo). Therefore, when she still barely knows Flynn, she interprets his mild flirtation as sexual harassment and smacks him in the face with a book. Eventually she grows out of this, but not before much fun has been had from Flynn's pain.
• Oblivious to Love: Belle is utterly unaware how much Adam likes her, and that his snarking is often a clumsy attempt at flirting and he's jealous of her friendship with Milo. Eric is also oblivious about Ariel's feelings. Jasmine starts out as this about Aladdin, but they get an offscreen Relationship Upgrade later on.
• Orphanage of Love: The Goob House for Lost Boys, run by Cornelius and Franny Robinson, seems to be pretty nice, considering.
• Parental Substitute: Frollo and Gothel toward Quasimodo and Rapunzel—Quasimodo's mother is dead and the author leaves it intentionally unclear as to how she died, while Rapunzel, like in canon, is an abductee.
  • Hades is another dark version, as Meg's uncle and legal guardian.
  • Other cases of this include Yzma (very grudgingly) for Kuzco, Clopin for Esmeralda, Grimsby for Eric, the family servants for Adam, and Franny and Cornelius Robinson for the boys at the orphanage. Word of God joked about there being a huge train accident to explain why so many of the parents aren't around.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Ursula partakes in this with Gothel in her debut appearance in the comic.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Adam, Kida and Meg; Belle and Milo; Jasmine and Kuzco.
• Pretentious Latin Motto: Somnia Fiat Vera, meaning "Dreams Come True."
• Reading Is Cool: Belle (obviously), Rapunzel, Ariel and the other members of the book club Jane, Milo and Esmeralda.
• Related in the Adaptation: Quasi and Rapunzel were raised together as stepsiblings/adopted siblings.
  • Hades is Meg's uncle and guardian. Inverted, however, in that he is unrelated to Zeus or Hercules.
  • Somewhat closer to mythology, Hercules is the son of Zeus and Alcmene, who in this AU are divorced and have gotten remarried to Hera and Amphitryon, respectively.
  • One bonus page reveals that Ariel and Hercules are cousins, which makes sense when you remember that her father, Triton, is based on a Greek god.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Subverted. Jasmine insists that Kuzco is not her boyfriend because Kuzco is not her boyfriend. Nor will he ever BE her boyfriend. Nor is he looking to be her boyfriend - he just likes annoying her For the Lulz. Naturally, Aladdin assumes that Kuzco is indeed Jasmine's boyfriend and they're just playing the trope straight.
• Shout-Out: A lot, to Disney properties that can't be adapted into a High School AU. Often they appear on characters clothes, posters on their walls, etc.
• Sleeps in the Nude: Implied with Adam in this comic. He's covered up by a Modesty Bedsheet, but his and Belle's mutually flustered responses suggest this trope.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Belle and Adam.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Tadashi Hamada is the school's science teacher.
• Splash of Color: In this strip, when Adam and Belle dance.
• Stage Mom: Ursula might be this to her daughter, Vanessa—in Ursula's much-awaited first appearance in the comic series, she sees Vanessa's copy of the talent show flier, and tries convincing Vanessa to compete in the school talent show, telling her daughter that"[you're] far too talented not to compete" in it. (Gothel then makes her kids compete, but they already wanted to.)
• Student Council President: Tiana and Kuzco both run, Tiana wins with 83% to his 17%^note the author had the readers vote to determine the results because—as everyone tells Kuzco—she'd actually do a good job at it.
• Throw the Book at Them: Whenever Rapunzel feels uncomfortable with Flynn's flirting, she smacks him with the nearest blunt object on hand...which is usually the latest book Belle has recommended.
• Token Good Teammate: Phoebus is friends with Hans and Gaston. Why is a good question, since even he seems to realize that they're both kind of dicks.
• Troubled, but Cute: Adam.
• Two Girls and a Guy: Megara, Kida, and Adam form such a trio of friends, as do Mulan, Merida, and Jim.
• The Ugly Woman's Hot Daughter: Ursula and Vanessa are this, respectively—just look at them together in Ursula's debut appearance in the comic series.
• Unholy Matrimony: It starts with Frollo and Mother Gothel getting married, making Quasiomodo and Rapunzel adopted/stepsiblings.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: Hades is not related to Zeus or Hercules in this comic.
• Useful Book: Rapunzel's books are certainly useful for clocking Flynn in the face.
• Visual Pun: There are few scattered throughout some parts, sometimes with the characters outfits making allusions to the films' lines and such.
• Villainous Friendship: Gaston and Hans are a pair of Jerk Jock bros.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Kuzco and Jasmine seem to have a bit of this—their families are very close friends and they do seem to genuinely care about each other, but she gets annoyed by Kuzco flirting with her and claiming that they're a couple (which seems to have greatly lessened after Aladdin becomes Jasmine's actual boyfriend).
• What Does He See in Her?: The reaction of every one of Eric's friends when they find out that he's seeing Vanessa.
• Wicked Stepparents:
  • A double-dose for poor Rapunzel and Quasi, given Gothel and Frollo's past history. Fortunately, both seem to be of the of the insanely overprotective evil rather than sadistic.
  • Presumably, Cinderella and Snow White have the more traditional versions at home. Lady Tremaine makes a cameo in one of the comics, seemingly confirming this.
  • Yzma appears to be one toward Kuzco, raising him in his parents' stead and evidently not being happy about it.
  • Subverted with Hera, who is Hercules' stepmother in this version. She loves Herc as if he were her own son and not just her stepson, but she really doesn't seem to like his biological mother, Alcmene—though this probably has more to do with Alcmene being Zeus's ex than anything else (doubles as a borderline literal Mythology Gag).
• You Must Be Cold: Herc with Meg, in this strip.

---