Atty has Richard Hammond at home waiting for him.
Moképon
is a witty Affectionate Parody webcomic of the Pokémon Red and Blue games, though it also frequently parodies and references the Pokémon anime, and one of the most popular comics on Smack Jeeves.
It begins the adventure of an unenthusiastic trainer named Atticus Brent being kicked out by his mother for being unwilling to partake in the wonderful world of Pokémon and is forced onto his journey by her. After being given his Charmander ('affectionately' nicknamed Dragonthing) by a worryingly senile Professor Oak, he finds himself slowly sucked into the world of Pokémon. Though he's all too aware that a lot of it doesn't make sense.
This comic has examples of the following tropes:
- Aerith and Bob: Atticus, Kahn, Thaddeus, Trixabelle and...George. Though George is quite an unusual name for her gender.
- Alt Text: Starting from the third page of chapter two.This is the start of a beautiful new era. These secret little messages that no one will know about except you.(Beat)
- Art Evolution: Happens within the first chapter due to
Schedule Slip. Also applies for the entire comic; compare chapter 1, page 2's sketchy art with chapter 6, page 94's stark black-and-white style. - Art Shift: The author likes to experiment with different drawing styles, sometimes even dabbling with colour.
- Audience Surrogate: George, while she's looking for Pikachu in Viridian Forest. Who hasn't done that at least once in their youth, ignoring the fact there's better Electric-types in the game?
- Bait-and-Switch: Inverted in the Alt Text of this strip (or not, depending on which version of English you use).What a soggy fag. ... And his cigarette's wet too.
- Black Humor:
- What does happen to the starter you don't choose? It goes to the waste disposal.
- The Pidgey incident.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall:
- When Prof. Oak starts reciting the speech from Pokémon Snap, Atticus points out its the 'wrong game'.
- Atticus tries to watch Top Gear in Pewter City's Pokémon Center and is surprised to learn that he's somehow missed about 3 1/2 years worth of episodes in the time since he left on his adventure.
- George threatens to "b button" Atticus if he evolves Dragonthing.
- Chekhov's Gunman: It's easy to miss, but Thaddeus and Trixabelle can be seen on a wanted poster way before they appear in Viridian Forest.
- Combat Pragmatist: Dragonthing attacks Ricardo's Caterpie while the guy is in the middle of boasting about the friendship between him and his Pokémon.
- Deathbringer the Adorable: Gutripper turns out to be a Diglett. Though, considering Atticus' team consists of a Charmander and a Pikachu, Gutripper is still a big threat.
- Deconstructed Trope: Part of the Deconstruction is having more realistic battles and attacks; take, for instance, how an Onix would actually win a fight with a Pikachu.
- Deconstruction: One of the comic's main sources of humour. Atticus doesn't want To Be a Master but is forced into doing so by his mother, there's a rather grisly explanation as to what happens to the remaining starter (as well as Pidgeys who don't get out of the way of lawnmowers), among many other examples. It pretty much showcases the
inherent flaws in logic and terrifying implications of a world of unbridled idealism built on the foundation of wild animals being dependent on their human masters. - Department of Redundancy Department: Elle calling out her Pokémon.Elle: Rip his guts out! Gutripper!!
- Easily Forgiven: Despite how incredibly pissed off she was after it happened, George was able to get over the whole "burning down Viridian Forest" thing with relative ease, mostly due to the fact that he saved her life when he quite easily could have left her there to die.
- Easter Egg: All of Atty's cigarette packets have a Malboro on them. The cigarette brand is Marlboro.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: In-universe.Trix: ...What's she doing?Trix: ...Why?Thad: I dunno, 'cuz every kid wants a Pikachu. Probably none of the damn things left.
- Expy:
- The masked person looks quite similar to Madara Uchiha.
- Elle has a lampshaded resemblance to Mello.
- Eye Scream: About half of the comments on this comic were something along the lines of "Ouch, tree in eye looks painful." note
- Flash Forward: More of an example for the world itself rather than specific characters. Judging by bits of dialogue and imagery in the beginning, and assuming that it takes place in 2009, then this comic takes place around 18 years after the anime, where it's implied that Ash is dead and stated that Gary Oak is missing and presumed dead.
- Gender-Blender Name: George, a female trainer who begins to follow Atticus.
- Heroic BSoD: Poor Professor Oak has pretty much gone insane since Gary went missing and was presumed dead.
- Hidden Depths: Atticus is actually very talented at drawing.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: Atticus' battle against the masked man was pretty obviously hopeless from the start.
- Imagine Spot: Twice in Chapter Three, when poor Dragonthing first imagines Atticus having the worst possible reaction to its Subverted Awesomeness and an extremely unrealistic outcome to it taking on Feraligatr.
- Jerkass:
- Kahn's friends, who express relief over him leaving behind his back.
- Atticus starts out as this, but the aftermath of his second battle shows he has a well hidden soft spot for Dragonthing.
- Knight of Cerebus: In a way, Atticus is this to the Pokémon universe. On his first day he burned down Viridian Forest. One can only imagine what will come next.
- Minor Injury Overreaction: During Atticus's first Gym battle, Elle's Sandslash sustains a small burn on its wrist/hand, prompting Elle to start bawling.
- Mythology Gag: Thaddeus and Trixabelle in a recent strip have been revealed to be members of Team Rocket, mirroring Jesse and James with the infamous Team Rocket mott.o Many fans rejoiced.
- Named After Somebody Famous: The alt text on Chpt 3 Pg 17 claims that Atty's mom named him after a lawyer who is most likely Atticus Finch. Out of universe, H0lyhandgrenade first heard the name Atticus from the book and liked it ever since. note
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Atticus' attempt to stop the bug swarm killing him, DT and George ends up burning Viridian Forest to the ground. George calls him out on it.
- No Sense of Personal Space: The Pewter City guide. and The Shady Pokémon Salesman.
- Oh, Crap!: Atticus and Dragonthing get a good one when they see the Beedrills and Butterfrees flying towards them.
- Poor, Predictable Rock: Lampshaded by Bug Catcher Ricardo, who wonders if it's the fact that he only uses Bug Pokémon that leads to him being defeated so many times.
- Retirony: Mentioned by one character when he jokes that a burned-down forest was 'just three weeks away from retirement'.
- Scatterbrained Senior: Professor Oak speaking solely in dialog from the games is due to a combination of senility and him going mad from grief at the possibility of his grandson being dead.
- Scenery Porn: For a webcomic it has very good art, with surprisingly detailed backgrounds.
- Single-Stroke Battle: Atticus pulls one against Kahn, taking out all of his pokémon with one hit each. Turns out they had already been weakened by Kahn's training, and that Atticus had pretty much (inadvertently) taken advantage of their weakness. He feels pretty bad about it.
- Shout-Out:
- When George starts following Atticus she stops every time he turns to face her. He asks her if she's a 'Boo or something'.
- Also, George notes that Atticus has sideburns that are like Naruto's.
- And of course, Atty would rather watch Top Gear (UK) than partake in a Pokémon adventure.
- Sociopathic Hero: Atticus. He does thankfully have a softspot, but for the most part he is selfish and apathetic towards everyone.
- To Be Continued: Much like the anime. The narrator is also just as idealistic, which makes the cynical tone of the rest of the comic all the more prominent.
- Vague Age: The drawing style of the comic makes it difficult to determine age. While Atticus' age was stated early on, other character ages were left ambiguous for a long time. Atticus and George are both fourteen and Thaddeus is nineteen. George states that she started her journey four years prior to the start of the story. When Atticus learns that she's fourteen, he is surprised by the fact.
- Waxing Lyrical: A few times; notably Atty's mother with the first Pokémon anime opening theme, and then George later with the first Johto arc opening theme.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: George spends ages in Viridian Forest, looking for Pikachu. When she finally finds one, Atticus casually strolls by and catches it, barely breaking stride. Luckily, she doesn't really seem to mind.
- Zerg Rush:
- The mass of Beedrills and Butterfrees set out into Viridian Forest by Thaddeus.
- Goddamn Zubats, Atty takes two steps into Mt. Moon. Mt. Moon◊ proceeds to kick Atty's ass.
