Meaty Yogurt is a webcomic
by Ro Salarian, who is also the author of YU+ME: dream and I Was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space!!!. The Pun-Based Title is a play on the word "mediocre." The story centers around Jackie Monroe, who lives in the painfully dull town of Middleville and suffers from a serious case of Small Town Boredom.
To make things worse, Middleville is under a curse as a result of being built on land stolen from an Indian tribe — anyone born there is destined to die there. Jackie hates the thought of being stuck in an ambition-less life and dying in her hometown, so she constantly attempts to make her life interesting, or as she puts it, "live a life someone would want to read a book about."
She's pretty lacking on follow-through, however. She is continually switching her college major, starting to write novels and screenplays, and creating bands and art projects that never go anywhere. Her idol is Moira, an out-of-town musician and girlfriend of Saffron, Jackie's best friend. Moira has been homeless, gotten stabbed in the face, traveled the country, and is a brilliant guitar player, plus she doesn't have to deal with the Middleville curse. Jackie swings between idolizing her and hating being near her because it makes her feel awkward and useless. Overall, the story focuses on Jackie's attempts to accomplish her wacky and frequently shifting life goals.
This webcomic provides examples of:
- A Good Name for a Rock Band: All the winners of the Punk Rock Triathilon fit this trope: Ninja Abortion, Black Sinus, Electric Merkin, Knifecake, The Majestic Dildos, and of course Sex Mime (almost named Boner Infection, but that's "a metal name, not punk.") Also Flash Paper Virgins, Moira's band. Plus the theoretical band Lobster Abortion.
- Battle of the Bands
- Brick Joke: Space aliens are credited first with eating library cards and later for blessing Moira with awesome guitar skills.
- Then much later they actually arrive long enough to apologise for not introducing themselves earlier, complement the blueness of our sky and promise to bring pizza next time.
- Curse: Almost an Indian Burial Ground one, but not quite, since the Middleville curse comes from driving Indians off their land rather than desecrating their graves.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?? This is used to great comic effect with hair gel.
- First Contact: See chapter The Day They Came.
- Flashback Effects: Scenes are redder tones of purple when set far back in time, and grow more bluish as they approach the present. Also serves as a subverted form of the Monochrome Past trope, since things are purple, not black and white.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: Used twice so far by Saffron when trying to motivate her best friend to follow through with ideas - though Jackie has gone by so many names that calling her by her "full name" is a matter of interpretation.Saffron: Jacqueline Henrietta Christopher Archibald Gaylord Monroe! YOU ARE GOING TO THIS PARTY!Saffron: Jacqueline Marie Lucifer Jameson Pinkey Conrad Monroe! You tell George right now that you will be there for as long as it takes to shoot!
- Fauxreigner: It turns out that Slogar has been faking an accent and associated foreign origin for years, but is in fact a Middleville native.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Moira's neat, subtle lip scar adds character to her face and establishes her as the cool, out-of-town badass. She apparently got it from being stabbed in the face by a junkie.
- Hot Librarian: Subverted, since Tom the librarian is both a guy and amazingly zitty, but Jackie thinks he's extremely cute and great in bed.
- How We Got Here: Jackie's memory of talking to her Uncle Max is the setup for her obsession with leaving her hometown.
- I Come in Peace: the Sxlzfyrk's offer of friendship and promise to return to Earth later with pizza and beer puts them pretty strongly in the "peaceful" category.
- Important Haircut: Somewhat mocked when Jackie attempts to go punk for a battle of the bands by getting a mohawk.
- Incompatible Orientation: Discussed at length
- Logic Bomb: Saffron promises to date a man if he first learns to respect her lesbianism. She later describes this as a relationship paradox.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Jackie's birth name is Marilyn Monroe.
- Nerds Are Virgins: Subverted when Jackie assumes that Tom is a virgin based on his nerdy appearance and messy room, but he isn't. She, however, totally is.
- Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: Jackie never seems to notice how many truly strange things happen in and around Middleville.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Jackie, except that she continually switches nicknames. She went by Zoozoobella at one point, then Carmen/Carmilla, then finally Jackie, which appears to be her new legal name.
- Orwellian Retcon: Moira's facial scar was originally located on her eye. It was moved to her lip because Gedris felt that a scarred eye was too reminiscent of Sadako (from Yu+Me:Dream). Artwork featuring Moira on already published pages was altered to reflect this change.
- Painted-On Pants: Slogar's outfit when he plays drums for Sex Mime.
- Power-Up Full Color Change: Used symbolically with Moira - when Jackie hears Flash Paper Virgins play and realizes how cool Moira is, her vision of Moira changes from purple (like the rest of the world) to a warm gold.
- Pun-Based Title
- Raised by Grandparents: Moira, briefly.
- Sensual Spandex: Referenced for laughs when Jackie and Saffron talk about a theoretical nipple showing through Batman's Batsuit.
- Small Town Boredom
- Splash of Color: Used to indicate people not from Middleville, specifically Moira, who appear yellow against the purple world. Also used on Jackie and Uncle Max's glasses, which are yellow-lensed to indicate their desire to escape the town curse.
- Talent Contest: The Punk Rock Triathilon.
- The Runaway: Moira.
- Training Montage: Subverted because it illustrates how bad Sex Mime is at playing punk music, or music at all.
