Our main cast of lovable misfitsnote .
"Somewhere, there is a place where all stories are real and all dreams are truth.
This is not that place.
This is not quite that place, but it's close."
This is not that place.
This is not quite that place, but it's close."
— Narration form "Roommates 61 - Lundi"
Welcome to the Buildingverse! This article is about the Weekly Web Comic (normally updated on Mondays) that started all in 2007: Roommates by AsheRhyder and the fans on DeviantArt. (Can be found here. And there are some "official" collected editions: Collection 1, Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On, Kings War Collector's Edition'')
It's mainly about Goblin King Jareth, The Phantom Erik, (ex-)Commodore James Norrington and (ex-)Inspector Javert, who all live together in the same apartment building. Also along for the ride (occasionally) are Crowley, Aziraphale and Legolas and the romantic interests Christine and Sarah and many MANY more as they try to survive each other, life outside of their normal existence and general weirdness.
This building, this town and possibly this whole world is a special place. Sure it looks quite normal on the surface (urban Present Day setting) but how sane can it be if Gandalf teaches science at the local university? All fiction exist as movies / books / etc. and as real places / past for the characters? And there isn't much of a fourth wall either...
The comic has ended as of 2019.
There are also Fan Translation projects for this comic:
- A Hungarian one titled "Lakótársak" (Has a mirror here) by Mali-chan (also known as Malitia).
- And a Spanish one titled "Compañeros De Casa" by Prinzessinumi.
Also for a more intuitive explanation of the series you could check The 5th Anniversary Video by EveryDayArtist.
If you were looking for the unrelated dating sim with the same name that's over here.
Tropes used in Roommates:
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Tropes A-F
- Added Alliterative Appeal: Sweet sustained sonatas, British Boyfriends Are Better etc..
- Alliterative Title: More like Alliterative Subtitles actually. The pages of some (mini)arcs have these, like the Erlkönig Arc (pages 135-140) Loom, Lurk, Lee, Loss, Lethe, Legacy; or the Kid!Jareth Arc (pages 130-133) Falling, Flying, Faery Tale, Forsaken. See also: Pun-Based Title.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Averted... most of the time. Most characters, due to being villains or side characters, don't get the girl in their own canon. In the comic they are either given girlfriends (or boyfriends), oneshot dates, or a chance with the canon love interest. But there's liberal doses of "He just never got over her..." for at least Erik.
- All There in the Manual: This series is Mind Screwy but less so if you read the author comments and journal (Such Stuff... explicitly had a FAQ entry). Also the comment section of the pages contains useful clarifications sometimes. (Ashe's Tumbler account is shaping up too.)
- Art Evolution: The early pages had a "chibi" style that gradually evolved into a more realistic (but still animesque) one. Compare this to this and then this.
- Art Shift: The more serious the mood the more realistic the art gets (but remains animesque) just to become Super-Deformed when something silly happens.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: This imagery is pretty standard part of the battle illustrations.
- Bittersweet Ending: Almost all the arcs with definite endings. The only thing the cast tends to win is the right to continue their life as it is now (with all its happiness, sadness, weirdness and relative freedom) and even that comes with a price.
- Bizarre Alien Reproduction: According to
this the procreation and family forming ways and habits of the Magical Community are based more on concepts, than "biology". No we don't know how they actually do it, but it probably only accidentally corresponds with what mortals would call sex or has anything to do with the apparent gender of the participants (except maybe if the being in question has a fetish for that).Ashe: I rather believe the magical community holds less significance with the messy organics of relations, given that in almost any given system, half of them are shape-shifters, mpreg, or otherwise unusual conceptions. Certainly, some of them are... more carnally inclined than others (*coughJadisandDarkness*), but this, at least, should help explain how and why various members of the magical community refer to each other as "aunt", "cousin", and so forth. - Bright Is Not Good: From the color illustrations The Fair Folk like bright colors a lot. For example: See the trope picture? The blond guy in the bright red-yellow clothing is the Monster Roommate.
- Building of Adventure: Subverted. Despite what the name of its 'verse suggests. It was actually played straight at the beginning of the series then Continuity Creep kicked in.
- Capital Letters Are Magic: King, Queen, Power, Conclave, etc..
- Cast From Hitpoints: Really strong magic takes a toll on the casters lifeforce, which mostly manifests as fatigue, but other things could happen too like involuntarily turning into your harmless animal form.
- Cast Full of Pretty Boys: A VERY large portion of the cast are Pretty Boys even if the series also has strong women who get panel time.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Several characters, many times. James and House in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Also "Odile" a lot.
- Celebrity Paradox: Completely averted. The characters mostly avoid it by not going to places with high enough muggle population or by abusing The Nth Doctor shapeshifting powers.
- Celestial Bureaucracy: This is how Heaven and Hell seem to operate in the 'verse. Azira and Crowley basically work as phone operators for it.
- Censor Box: For swearing and threats, nudity, violence and occasionally not even for the readers!
- Cerebus Rollercoaster: This is a highly Self-Aware, Comedy, Fanservice Web Comic with an some pretty dark arcs (maybe even overarching plot) about the nature of stories and fictional characters (Can you fight your own story? Can you change what happened? etc.). Wait. WHAT? This is Word of Ashe:Depending on how much patience you have for absurdity, it's either not about anything except having fun with implausible situations, or it's about the nature of stories and characters. The early parts are mostly just for fun, but they do establish some setting and ground rules that come back later on to get into the more complicated parts of the story.Technically, it's a bit of both, but some story arcs veer more to one side than the other.
- Cerebus Syndrome: It shifted from comedy to dramedy. Not that the themes responsible for this weren't there from the beginning (most related to the lack of fourth wall) but were subtext and played for Black Comedy and Surreal Humor, as time went by they became text pushed to their logical extremes and Played for Drama and occasionally even Surreal Horror more often. It still zigzags this like crazy so be prepared to hurt something from Mood Whiplash.
- Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: When you have a fight between Erik and Javert (French) and Commander Norrington and Jareth (British and... Um... "British"), this insult is obviously going to be used.
- Chekhov's Skill: The dramatic entrance techniques that James learned from Erik in Episode 68, posted in November 2008, show up again allowing James to save Sarah in Episode 176, posted in August 2011, over 32 months later.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Probably not the characters, more the readership / fandom / YOU before the monitor / US, our love and dedication keeps fiction alive, or we could say this world takes the You Cannot Kill An Idea trope VERY literally, and to quote:Erlkönig: Fight for the ending you want. Somewhere someone will feel the same and believe. Then even if you lose, even if you die... you will live. You will live on in dreams. ...
- This would also neatly explain the phenomenon of Fanservice in general.
- Also a "Clap if you believe" reader poll here to combat Disbelief.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: Pretty much standard. Characters will be modelled after actors who played them, or a mix of those people, or change into them, occasionally willingly.
- Color-Coded Eyes: The less human or older a character is the more inhuman their normal eyes get. Example: Monochromatic Eyes indicate pure blooded Fair Folk.
- Commonality Connection: The main cast's first connected over their past failings and tragic stories. And tequila.
- Also Arthur and Jamie seem to get along well through Token Good Teammate / Only Sane Man sympathy.
- Nathan and Todd. Ax-Crazy, Pscyho Knife Nuts, with medical background, family issues and daughters they would die to protect get along frighteningly well.
- Composite Character: Most characters who have more than one canonical story. This is an out of canon world where all have an impact... to date poor Morgan suffers the worst effect (this is why it's repeated in her trope listing).
- Compound Title: Again, with subtitles, actually... Ashe gave us: (pages 184-185) Challenge-Accepted and (pages 187-188) Reflexes-Checked.
- Continuity Creep: This series began basically as one of the Gag-per-Day Webcomics before it got arc based (with longer and longer arcs) and got on with the Cerebus Rollercoaster (and exploring the consequences of it's own premise)... it didn't reached the level of an ongoing plot yet (or did it?) and sometimes still switches back to the original format.
- Conversational Troping: Happens sometimes. Like this conversation about how Redemption Equals Death.
- Costume Porn: Ever so often. Like Erik's PJs, Shadow!Sarah's Battle Ballgown, the Erlkönig's and Jareth's fae armors, most outfits on the covers and extras etc..
- Credits Gag: The Rant has credits for all characters on the page and occasional oddities like I belong to me for Ashe's Author Avatar or any Goblin being credited as belonging to Jareth with their designs getting additional crediting.
- Crossover Cosmology: All stories exist as fiction and as real past for the charactersnote , myths and legends are stories too, if we make the connection: They also really exist... for someone somewhere. And can drop by to visit. Example when Jareth hosted The Wild Hunt both Odin, the Elkönig and King Arthur attended.
- Crossover Ship: In-universe, there's Erik and Blind Mag, Norrington and Eponine and The Erlkönig and Jadis the White Witch.
- Cross-Popping Veins: Many people but mostly Erik... he has a whole box full.
- The Dark Arts: Blood Magic, Casting a Shadow, Gag Necromancy etc. But, as Dark Is Not Evil is very much the rule in the 'verse, while not evil but these type of powers seem to require more control and experience than most. (The Erlkönig's magic is almost exclusively this type, but when Jareth tries it almost always backfires spectacularly... but it could be just his insane amount of karmic fail.)
- Dark Is Not Evil: Like the Erlkönig or Jareth aren't the worse fair ones around, and Crowley also quite affable for a minion of hell.
- Death by Origin Story: One of the two known ways to be Deader than Dead in this world. As poor Tallahassee can attest.
- December–December Romance: The Mr. King / Mrs. Norrington couple it's also Interspecies Romance, Mayfly–December Romance, Mindgame Ship and Parent with New Paramour.
- Deconstruction: In its later arcs mercilessly deconstructs Medium Awareness. You are fictional and part of a story what do you do with this? Or more specifically how do you cope with it. All your life is just a footnote, you are not the hero (usually) so your happy ending was never an option for the first place, even your free will is questionable. Let's just say: drama ensues.
- Divorce Assets Conflict: It's stated later that the Unholy Matrimony ended with Solomon Divorce but from Such Stuff... they still fight over their son just not that openly anymore. And when Kid!Jareth appeared they were right in the middle of it and yes they both counted him as asset (he basically fled to the future).
- Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: More or less a regular occurrence along with almost all Did You Just Index Cthulhu? tropes:
- They were hunting with The Wild Hunt, which ended with Javert Talking the Monster to Death / Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?.
- James got invited in the poker game of horrors.Ashe: "...a man should be able to wander his apartment in the middle of the night and not have to worry about whether eldritch horrors are going to comment on his choice of nightwear."
- Mrs. N. literally and routinely has tea with a Fair Folk which borders on Did You Just Romance Cthulhu? and got a Villain Over for Dinner reaction out of her son.
- Dream Land: The Lotus-Eater Machine example of Such Stuff... and Limbo. It's not know yet how these relate to the Magical Lands (at least Oz is this in some versions of the story and also the Underground isn't above this interpretation) or the general Transfictionality of the series.
- Dream Weaver: Seems to be pretty standard for the Fair Folk as both Jareth and the Erlkönig can do this with high proficiency, and even Jadis and "Odile" know enough to meddle. For a non-magical variant the Inception cast in general. And if we can take Saito's word Sarah's certain powers include this too, but she isn't trained or particularly conscious about it.
- Dysfunctional Family: Every character (presumably) has one except those stated otherwise (Like Erik is Conveniently an Orphan, and Jareth is... well beyond this trope).
- Dysfunction Junction: This comic has an entire cast from the more interesting fictional characters so this was inevitable.
- Ensemble Cast: The main four. If you really want to find a protagonist that would be Jareth, but probably mostly because his background here has the most storytelling possibilities. (It's a good question if Ashe knew what Pandora's box of stories (s)he opened with the Magic Family Tree.)
- Everything's Better with Sparkles: Several of magical people have a thing for sparkles. Jareth is the worst offender for the great annoyance of his roommate(s), but also the Erlkönig has this even if he isn't as bad as his son (but he can outsparkle him if he wants to), Jadis' ice theme is probably also sparkly and who knows who else.
- Expressive Ears: Several of the magical people. Including Jareth, "Odile" and Misto (well, he is a cat).
- Extranormal Institute: The St. Jude University where 3/4 of the main cast works. Plus others like Gandalf, Dr. Jones, Dr. House, and the tenth Doctor.
- Face Palm: Let's just say that it happens a lot... Even a triple one isn't an imposibility.
- Failure Is the Only Option: The series runs on this and the characters don't mind it particularly. Every world shattering event that reached them yet would have made their life worse anyway.
- The Fair Folk: To organize what we know about the fae:
- Thanks to Tangled Family Tree and Interspecies Romance (see these tropes on the list) are ALL related to Jareth (and each other in general), apparently.
- Seem to be the magical third option between Heaven and Hell (Az and Crowley pointed this out in the Second Vacation arc).
- Physically the pure-blooded ones tend to have Pointy Ears and Monochromatic Eyes.
- They also tend to possess some degree of Master of Illusion powers and Dream Weaver seems to be common too.
- Large Ham is in their job description. It's not good enough to make something work if they can't do it with style, maybe even bordering Complexity Addiction.
- And they are so protective and territorial about their "toys" it borders on possessive and obsessive.
- On the traditional weaknesses:
- Cold Iron: Seems to work... even if it isn't quite clear what that may be, but steel doesn't count that's for sure. This was established when Sarah referenced the trope as one of the reasons she doesn't believe that they managed to seriously injure Jareth with a steel sword. Her other reason was basically Media Classifications: "Nobody Can Die in our movie."
- Cannot Tell a Lie: Played With. They can and they will (like the Erlkönig telling Mrs. N. that the goblin is a child in a costume), but at least some of them (Like Jareth) possess a "Voice of Magic" that is also of Truth.
- Magically-Binding Contract: You can bet on this. Textbook case: How the Erlkönig and Jareth bargained out the price of a hunt. Seems to run on Equivalent Exchange too. The Erlkönig'snote breaking this custom is a big shock to his son and his ex alike. To continue the example how important that hunt must be to worth a magical blank check?
- Pride: Oh Boy. They tend to be this sin personified.
- True Name: To date Averted. But this belief could be related to that being on First-Name Basis with the more powerfull ones (who fall under Red Baron) can seem like this from a less initiated point of view.
- Must Be Invited: Averted again. The ones with teleportation abilities don't even think twice about just appearing from nowhere.
- Fanservice: shirtless scenes, shower scenes, PrettyBoys,
Ho Yay, beach episodes, the list goes on and on. And the cast knows this from the very beginning. One of the main powers of the world. - Fantastically Indifferent: After the characters go native.
- Like Erik not flinching at all when the Zombies knocked on the window... ok, in his case sleep deprivation was also a factor.
- Also common fan theory is that the "Bigger on the Inside" joke about the TARDIS wasn't used because for James this just meant "it's like Jareth's wardrobe".
- Fantastic Racism: There seems to be a fair ammount of prejudice against Original Characters around here, probably stemming from the fear of the dreaded
Mary Sue. So they are Sue until proven innocent. Also there seems to be The Fair Folk's trademark superiority complex against mortals (which doesn't stop them from romancing / procreating with mortals). - Fan Vid: See the Buildingverse page for a list.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: Averted. At least three female (and all quite old school so feminine) characters can be considered to be Lethal Chefs on some level. Also James and Jarethnote can cook.
- Filler Strips: Rare, because Ashe tends to keep 4-10 pages (1-2 months worth) of Strip Buffer, but exist.
- Finagle's Law: As named by Pika: The Fail Field. There it's more aligned with the Rule of Funny but here "the perversity of nature" is good friends with the Rule of Drama too ... but still has something against the Rule of Cool and the Rule of Romantic for that matter.
- Foreign-Looking Font: One of the Painting the Medium effects. Like the Erlkönig and Odin talk in a runic looking letters, Jareth can speak in it too (mostly when really really angry, so probably this is the visual representation of his accent slipping).
- The Four Loves: The primary motivation of most characters (not Jadis' but she is the exception not the rule). Best seen in the case of Jareth because he sucks in showing it but still tries exceptionally hard.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: The main cast.
- Sanguine: Jareth. Cheerful The Trickster who regularly suffers Aesop Amnesia and is a Dumb Blonde. Or not. Also Mr. Fanservice.
- Choleric: Javert. Downplayed on the temper, but is a cynical, overly serious By-the-Book Cop.
- Melancholic: Erik. Cannot Talk to Women, and a Workaholic Gadgeteer Genius, if a bit unstable. Still believes Murder Is the Best Solution, but, well.
- Phlegmatic: James. The Only Sane Man, and the only genuinely good character; complete with a Chronic Hero Syndrome. Even has the brown hair.
- Functional Magic: Magic exists. There are magical beings of every shape and form with assorted powers and "human" wizards. As for it's rules:
- Seems like the rules of magic depend on the original story the magic user comes from. So the most widespread ideas probably work for most but each and every one of them will have his/her own quirks.
- Theoretically you can do anything with magic, but different things are easier or harder depending on:
- the users talents/inherited abilities (Jareth can heal, but it's not his forte at all),
- source of power (mostly Inherent Gift & willpower, but contract wizardry is probably also possible as Sarah's certain powers border on it.)
- and even what the story wants (if the effect fits in the narrative it will probably be easier to achieve with less side-effects... except if the tale decides that it needs more dramatic tension).
- So yes, in the end we get back to the fact that as anything else in this world magic also seems to run on Belief/Will and Story bound by the characters' Canon. There wasn't much interaction between the magic users till this point, but they would probably perceive each other's powers as Wrong Context Magic.
Tropes G-R
- Goggles Do Something Unusual: If a high-tech or Schizo Tech character has eyewear that will probably do something unusual, most likely have Augmented Reality features or act as personal Holographic Terminals.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: Ashe tried to leave other languages alone several times, as to date (s)he failed every time. So This has the local equivalent of Once upon a time... in several languages.
- Gratuitous French: Sometimes. The french characters mostly for swearing.
- Gratuitous German: IN RUNES! Odin here. He says "Schattenjäger"/"shadowhunter". Or just so here.
- Gratuitous Latin: There is at least one Literary Allusion Title left in the original Latin.
- Halloween Episode: Usually the highlight story arc of the year.
- Hammerspace: Every character can produce his signature weapon out of nowhere (except maybe if someone explicitly takes it away but that's not tested), Jareth, being the Space Master, also anything else.
- Ham-to-Ham Combat: Almost always ensues when two of The Fair Folk meet.
- Happy Fun Ball: Each and every item by The Fair Folk ever no matter how innocent it looks. Be it a crystal or a slice of peach. The tech of Heaven and Hell is close too if it gets in the "wrong" hands, even Azira's work phone could cause considerable property damage.
- Harsh Word Impact: Not so harsh word impact. Even absolute trust and good faith can hit you hard.
- Heart Symbol: Every so often, like hearts used to dot exclamation points and a heart-shaped speech bubble with another little heart off to the side. Also in-universe according to Jensen some code segments of the software on Azira's cellphone is formated into hearts.
- Heir Club for Men: The Erlkönig declared his young son Jareth his heir on the first page he appeared (which was a glimpse to the past) despite having an older daughter... which also gives some heavy subtext to his later appearances. And is sort of weird as the magical community seems to be mostly equal opportunity with several women in leadership positions. May be slightly explained in that the role of Erlkönig translates in-universe to "goblin king", and is not a gender-neutral title—but then again, others have used the neutral "Goblin Monarch", and it's been explicitly said that Sarah has a claim on the kingdom, so it's probably more a matter of his daughter having no ambitions for the role and/or not being suited for it.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Some characters wear armor (almost always the fae and mostly the Scary Impractical type) but NO character wears a helmet (Cool Crowns are common though).
- Hero of Another Story: Most heroic characters do the occasional heroing offstage too. Except maybe James and Sarah.
- Holographic Terminal: Several high-tech and Schizo Tech characters, like: Tony Stark; Aziraphale and Crowley.
- Hope Spot: This comic is full with them. To name one longer episode: The time between the Second Vacation arc and the Dark!Jareth arc is this for Jareth despite getting several warnings from his father, Schmendrick and his own Genre Savvyness that no he didn't win.
- Hufflepuff House: This is the in-universe standing of the Goblin kingdom as far as the supernatural powers are concerned. Jareth successfully turns the tables on some of them in Such Stuff.... His subjects may be weaker, may be Unwanted but they always presist.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: This is the motivation of all characters. They are retired, their story ended, leave them alone, they might be badasses or monsters but they just want to live their lives peacefully... and god help you if you try to stop them.
- Impossible Hourglass Figure: Ashe's way to draw women tends to look like this a lot.
- Inherent in the System: Yeah. This is a story so you can't be just normal. Also a fanwork existing for fans wanting it so you can't thwart fanservice. But this is a different story, so a second chance? Maybe. If you are savvy and lucky enough.
- Inn Between the Worlds: The setting of the proto-strips. Also can be argued that the 'verse itself is this just really REALLY BIG.
- Instant Cosplay Surprise: Almost always happens when Jareth uses his instant clothes ability on the others.
- Instant Runes: Jareth's time magic has them. Also the Shadow!Main-Cast sometimes.
- Interspecies Romance: Invoked by The Fair Folk according to Jareth. Further proof: His dad flirts with James' mother and The Queen of the Night lampshaded some of the dangers of this practice. These also tend to be Mayfly December Romances.
- In Which a Trope Is Described: Each page is given two different summaries in this format in the author's notes.
- Kudzu Plot: Happens sometimes. The most glaring were the Second Vacation Arc and the Erlkönig arc both led to the Dark!Jareth arc that still left loose ends. Also the Zombie arc, the invasion was stopped but nothing else was resolved.
- Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Word of Ashe that this is the karaoke night for the main cast and nobody brought it up yet (but Jareth was shown to have pictures of it). Also the Amalthea incident for Lír. The third Pirates of the Caribbean movie and his canonical death for James.
- Light Is Not Good: Just think about the fact that the most "light" character is Jadis.
- Mage Species: Basically any Half-Human Hybrid or Heinz Hybrid produced by the Interspecies Romance practiced by The Fair Folk who is too human to qualify as The Fair Folk is this. So here, any magical talent implies that the character has such relatives. They also tend to look Ambiguously Human.
- Magical Land: The Underground, Oz, Narnia etc.. At the end of the Oz arc Jareth gives a bit of exposition about the rules of his magic effectively lampshading that Magical Lands are well... magic.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: All fiction seem to have a back door leading to the Buildingverse (and back). Taken together with the Recursive Reality of the series and the Clap Your Hands If You Believe rule... and this will even border on the idea of The World as Myth. Yes, Rule 50 is pretty much in effect too.
- Master of Illusion: Many of the fae. Like:
- Jareth casts a spell that the comic calls Glamour (actually not that trope) on Erik in the turned-into-children arc, so that he could spend an afternoon with Christine without her seeing his deformity. Awww.
- Der Erlkönig uses it too to disguise himself and keep the unsuspecting Mrs. Norrington that way. He is powerful enough with this and Dream Weaver to pull of a full-blown Lotus-Eater Machine for almost the whole comic.
- Meta Fic: Played with. Yes, Fictional characters have a life outside their original story BUT this doesn't make it any less real for them. Example: Maybe there is no reason to hate their enemies even here, but frogetting the past wrongs is not that easy. Not to mention that maybe this place is out of their original continuity but NOT out of the realm of stories.
- Metafictional Device: Occasionally. Like the vine border in Such Stuff Dreams are Made On is a lot more than just a flourish indicating "dreams". (Check the Nightmare Fuel page). Also Censor Boxes seem to be actual things the characters can interact with.
- Meta Guy: Everybody seems to be around this level of Medium Awareness. (Except stated otherwise)
- Mood Whiplash: This series is a Cerebus Rollercoaster but you can be sure that this works on a smaller scale too.
- Morality Kitchen Sink: Well, technically there are forces of good and evil but those are generally A) too busy stalling eachother. B) Not allowed to (dirctly)interfere with the free will of people. So most conflict stems from not so polar opposite moralities. From the Blue And Orange of the fair ones to almost every other imaginable morality spectrum.
- Mundane Utility: Magical beings tend to do almost everything this way (even bordering With Great Power Comes Great Perks at times). Jareth magicked lunch at least once on-panel, way to show power over time and space. He also gets stuff (even small things like a handkerchief), dresses and travels everywhere by magic routinely. Also this is "quite possibly the dumbest application of a sonic screwdriver ever". Valjean is known to use his different canon looks to get taller and reach the top shelves.
- National Stereotypes: Animosities played straight: The French hate the "British"note , Europeans the Americans, and vice versa. Others mostly subverted (Like: the sillier characters tend to be the "British" ones).
- Nature Versus Nurture: One of the questions Jareth's parents seem to disagree in. Jadis stands on the Nature side and is deeply annoyed by his ex's meddling. The Erlkönig disagrees and bets on Nurture. The comic seems to indicate that the true answer is both. See also Opposed Mentors.
- Nobody Can Die: At least nobody who isn't verse-native (if they have a story even they can be only Canonically Dead, but this means moving out of the comic) or Deader than Dead.
- No Fourth Wall: Most, if not all, of the characters are aware that they are fictional characters, many even see the Fourth Wall effects. This is lampshaded frequently. Word of Ashe that the series has a fourth wall made of sugar-glass so it's less dangerous to break it... And what can we say about a verse where the "get viewer sympathy" is a perfectly valid advice?
- Not Proven: Jareth's (and by extension his family's) involvement in any shenanigans and pranks ever can be summed up with this (except if he admits it).
- The Nth Doctor: When a different adaptation of the source material becomes more well known, or just the author feels like screwing with the cast, Author Powers / Fan-Fantasy and Actor Allusion changes the appearance of the characters, for their great dismay. Like Javert's and Valjean's here. It's generally not permanent, though, as they are Composite Characters and by definition encompass all their portrayals but according to this they are be able to switch between their canonical versions at will too.
- Odd Couple: Erik and Jareth. Legolas and Sweeney, but sadly, we don't see them so much. Dr. House and tenth Doctor. We could almost say that the comic has a cast of Odd Couples.
- Odd Name Out: The main cast. Javert, James, Jareth and Erik.
- Official Couple: The current tally is Erik with Blind Mag, Norrington with Eponine, Norrington's mother with Jareth's father and Jareth and Sarah are still very complicated. Javert is with Valjean officially as of page 302 in a relationship Ashe specifies as as being "demisexual" i.e. together due to shared connection, not physical stuff.
- Offstage Villainy: Many characters are villains, and did (or do) unspeakable evils... but never on panel, or not in this story.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. This comic has two James' (Norrington and Cobb), two Deaths and seems to have two Sherlock Holmes' and Doctor Watsons and let us not even think about how many people can be addressed as "Doctor". As for similar names we have a Toby and a Tony and just the main cast has three characters named by the pretty strict "Ja*e*" naming pattern etc.
- Only Six Faces: In the early pages Only Six Faces was pretty much the case, but it got subverted by Art Evolution later evolving into a Cast of Snowflakes (despite the general Pretty Boy tendencies)... at least in the case of the male cast members. The female ones on the other hand are still harder to distinguish (especially the ones with long, dark hair). Maybe a side effect of the rather strict definition of female beauty our culture has.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Generally if Jareth loses his cool, carefree and generally silly attitude or drops an F-bomb, or Crowley or Azira or even the Erlkönig look concerned, those are pretty sure signs that shit is getting real.
- Opposed Mentors: Jareth's parents and they still fight (one is Old Fashioned Evil and the other a Magnificent Bastard Trickster). This seems to be one of the reasons they divorced. Jareth chose neither.
- Opposites Attract: Outside the general cast of Odd Couples thing, this trope is the only reason the fandom could come up with how the Erlkönig could ever end up together with Jadis. They have some things in common like power and wickedness, but outside of these they are different like night and day, or summer and winter. As a subversion their relationship didn't last long, and at least the Erlkönig's current relationship seems to be more the Birds of a Feather kind, even if it's questionable how much he realizes this.
- Our Angels Are Different: As seen here this verse has some pretty old-school angels (and ex-angels).
- Our Goblins Are Different: Jareth holds the title of the Goblin King and his kingdom is that of the Unwanted so we are safe to assume that the goblins are literally all the creatures nobody else wants, from the most pathetic to the most dangerously unstable, and they are also Nigh-Invulnerable as their very concept is indestructible.
- It's also revealed that this wasn't always the case, because magical rulers are Fisher Kings. Under his predecessor the Goblins were basically Fair Folk just uglier, and under their first king little more than Always Chaotic Evil monsters.
- Our Souls Are Different: If we extrapolate from James' "adventure":
- At least Humans/Mortals (even the fictional ones, like most of the cast) have souls that are stealable and probably also sellable.
- The souls taken take the form of the preferred spell representation of the being who claimed them. So natural crystal in the Erlkönig's hand but Crystal Ball in Jareth's.
- The rarer types (like "the soul of a good man") worth a lot in the eyes of magical beings interested in these type of bargains.
- Soulless bodies seem to enter coma or a death like state that is reversed if the missing soul is returned. But this may be only the case for the stolen ones like those tricked by Your Mind Makes It Real death.
- Looks like some memory about things that happened to/around the soul remain after awakening. (James knew that Jareth went to save his)
- Painted-On Pants: Jareth, as canonically, is fond of these. The Erlkönig's fae outfits tend to include these too.
- Painting the Medium: Different characters' speech is written in different fonts, and various kinds of speech bubbles are used depending on the character's mood.
- Pair the Spares:
- Norrington and Eponine
- Erik and Blind Mag
- The Erlkonig and James' mother, much to their respective sons' horror.
- Paradox Person: The characters don't belong in the 'verse, even the thought of fictional characters played / written by real people existing in the same 'verse as the story they are from is mind boggling. Lampshaded by Scotty when he talked about Azira's work phone:Scotty: Ah'm pretty sure it's breaking several laws of time+space just to be here. Then again... so am ah.
- The Fair Folk are implied to be even more like this here:... the people who live in "if", those beautiful, terrible people who can be anything and everything as long as they are Nothing.
- They are also able to switch between their canonical appearences thanks to being Composite Characters and The Nth Doctor effect.
- The Fair Folk are implied to be even more like this here
- Parent with New Paramour: What can be more awkward than seeing your parent flirt/go out? If (s)he flirts/goes out with your friends parent! As James and Jareth can attest.
- Parodies for Dummies: The in world equivalent is "Wiki's _____ for Beginners" for example "Wiki's Astronomy for Beginners".
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat: One of the Erlkönig's favorite tactics mostly agains his son, be it his speech in The Erlkönig arc or his explanation about the hunt, he is a bit of a slow learner as it never worked and always pushed Jareth past his Rage Breaking Point pretty fast.
- Pastimes Prove Personality:
- All main characters read. A whole lot too, guessing from their background reading habit. In more detail we known:
- Jareth is fond of Mind Screws and stories about stories. He was even seen reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
- James seems to like mystery novels, for example the works of Agatha Christie.
- And this isn't even about the reeeeeeeeeeeally bibliophile characters like Azira or Darcy.
- The Erlkönig Hunts, plays Poker and also Chess (both the mundane and the Xanatos Speed variety).
- All main characters read. A whole lot too, guessing from their background reading habit. In more detail we known:
- Patron Saint: The local Extranormal Institute is named after St. Jude. Also Javert tells James to "Go St. George on" the dragon here.
- Pet-Peeve Trope:
- Inconsistent Dub. The inconsistencies in / between the Hungarian versions of the source material (because of retranslations / different ones according to medium / etc.) are Running Gags, Take Thats and Translator Filibusters (we could say she developed the Catchphrase "Compare/Keep notes, damn it!"). Examples:
- She calls Jareth "Koboldkirály" because she likes the alliteration of the new translation (and it's also easier to find) but lampshaded several times that she prefers the original theatrical dub where he was "Manókirály"note .
- "Kicsit a Tesseractra emlékeztet." "Vagy Kozmikus kockának hívták azt a vackot?" (here) retranslated "It reminds me of the Tesseract." "Or was that damn thing called a Cosmic Cube?" (According to The Rant she didn't even dare to check the comics and she would translate it as "Hiperkocka" (Hypercube) if it wasn't a Shout-Out... and she is a "kocka"note herself.)
- Personality Powers: Because writers love the trope. Like the Erlkönig the hunter and manipulator is darkness, Jareth is weird... most of his power manifests through glitter (also has some darkness, earth and air), though; Jadis the Evil Matriarch is ice, James water etc..
- Personal Raincloud: James here.
- Pet the Dog: Jareth does a lot of "dog petting" for his friends (organizes rescue missions when they are stuck in the elevator, uses peer pressure to make them more socially active etc.) the problem is that he gets them into trouble almost as often... and he also sucks at being good, so he tends to destroy the good he does by shear cluelessness. Like in THIS awfully misguided attempt to be nice.
- Politeness Judo: Or "Please" is a magic word too. This is a lesson Jareth just begins to learn.
- Postmodernism: Massive Multiplayer Crossover, Meta Fic with Medium Awareness bordering on No Fourth Wall where All Stories Are Real and also Fiction not to mention Recursive running on Clap Your Hands If You Believe (and to get that Pandering to the Base and general Fanservice) and the Theory of Narrative Causality with an Author Avatar and enough lampshades to make hard to see the sun where you are encouraged to think Everybody Is Jesus in Purgatory. Are you dizzy yet?
- Post-Modern Magik: In the days of old you communicated with powerful entities through elaborate rituals, nowadays you can have their phone number.
- Power Floats: Gravity is a suggestion not a law, for many of The Fair Folk and the Mage Species. Like "Odile", The Queen of the Night and Jareth (who in his own admission would be Gravity Master or even outright Reality Warper in his own Magical Land).
- Power Glows: Mostly the power of the Fae (Glowing Eyes of Doom, Battle Auras, Power Crystals, the Erlkönig's crown even has an star on it, etc.) but this seems to be more of a deliberate act of invoking the Rule of Cool and less something inherent in their magic (so yes. If it doesn't glow that doesn't mean it's not dangerous). Large Ham seems to be in their job description.
- Precision F-Strike: It devolves into Symbol Swearing but it's pretty sure that Jareth goes at least "Oh Shit..." here.note Crowley's way to tell people that they should hurry ("Get the F- in!") here and when he realizes that something important is missing here "Oh. (Censor Box)".
- The Rant: The Artist comments. These are the most common place for Word of God information. Always contains credits for all the characters on a given page and also tend to give a lot of additional information about the story, characters, Ashe's life, or rarely just poetic flavor text. See also In Which a Trope Is Described.
- Reality Warping Is Not a Toy: A highly meta example. The cast members are fictional characters; their reality is their (canon and fanon) story. If writers, authors and other assorted storytellers mess with it, the result won't be pretty. Poor Morgan.
- Reality-Writing Book:
- Type 1: All fiction is this for the characters from it despite also being fiction for almost everybody else. The characters' canonical fate is literally written (filmed etc.).
- Type 2: Also Glinda's book of records automatically records everything about everything and everybody... if it's canon. So it gives almost no advantage over living in the 'verse. This does imply that despite all the You Can't Fight Fate themes for the characters, the verse itself is Immune to Fate by virtue of being fanon.
- Rebus Bubble: 1+1 = ><> ; Legolas = Will Turner (Here.)
- Recursive Reality: Mostly the more Mind Screwy Transfictionality kind. The characters come from stories that where real for them but are fictional in the world of the comic (so all the responsible people too. James already placed Orlando Bloom as his problem with Legolas), that is fictional in ours, and they know this. This isn't even accounting for all the Dream Within A Dream Lands The Fair Folk can create from the inside or the possibility for things being Mutually Fictional. And don't let us get started on the word of Pika that it's possible to read the comic in the comic. Is there a true reality? Does the chain of fictionality ever end? We don't know. You reading this could be fictional in some other world/story too.
- Red Baron: It's common for the more powerful magical people to be better known by their titles, than their real names (being on First-Name Basis with them means a whole lot too... Jareth isn't that close to at least his father apparently), and not dreading somebody like this is a sure sign of the Too Dumb to Live or at least the Wrong Genre Savvy. Examples: The Erlkönig, The White Witch, The Queen of the Night, the Goblin King, the Erlking's daughter. Yes. It's related to the fact that having a title means a court or something similar and Rank Scales with Asskicking.
- Rule #1: "Always make an Entrance" - which was originally Erik's, but according to this it applies to the whole series.
- Running Gag:
- The dreaded fruit basket.
- Jareth's inabilitynote to do good.
- Jareth's friends and family.
- Eponine pouncing James.
- The English-French hostility.
- Erik's aversion to glitter.
- Making fun of Media Classifications.
- There is also the fainting and carrying stuff that Javert so doesn't want to turn into a running gag (which pops up again later on).
- Invoked Actor Allusion form Norrington misgivings to Legolas, why Erik gets younger and younger, to the entire Copies miniarc, or the Accidental Misnaming example on the recap page, or even the "Wacky adventures" Off Screen Moment Of Awesome.
- The
Tropes S-Z
- Schrödinger's Butterfly: See the Fridge page for elaboration but in a nutshell: Dreams within dreams, fiction within fiction ... and almost No Fourth Wall. What is real anyway?
- Sentient Cosmic Force: The Theory of Narrative Causality and Fanservicenote are referred to as such by Jareth and/or narration. Because they are basically the in-universe representation of Author Powers and Clap Your Hands If You Believe (of the fandom) respectively this may be very very literally true too.
- Show Within a Show: James is a fan of Devious Gingers non-existing BBC (42) show of insane metaness and Actor Allusion (almost all of its fictional cast also provides the looks of people actually living in the building). [[Token Minority: This fictional show has precisely one not ginger cast member]], "Dave".Ashe: For anyone curious, Devious Gingers is like a cross between Cabin Pressure and Coupling, without airplanes or sex.
- Silence Is Golden: We get several pages without any text mostly for dramatic effect. (There are also some with the bare minimum like the Love Confession example earlier.)
- Slasher Smile: Almost all characters can sport these if they have some devious plan (which may or may not work out), or are pulling Let's Get Dangerous!.
- Sliding Scale of Plot Versus Characters: It began as Less Plot Than Characters then slowly crawled up on the scale. It might didn't reach Equal Focus Between Plot and Characters yet, but it's damn close.
- Sliding Scale of Realistic vs. Fantastic: Somewhere between Fantastic and Surreal it's weird enough to be the later but it's internal consistency pushes it closer to the former.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: In a world of snark? Happens more or less regularly (like James vs. House in the Zombie arc). And a direct example ala Jareth and the Erlkönig:Erlkönig: Do you think this was wise?Jareth: You did not specify 'wise'.
- Solomon Divorce: How the Unholy Matrimony example ended. Jareth ends up with his mother, daddy dearest takes his sister (but it's implied that she wasn't from this marriage anyway).
- Sorting Algorithm of Deadness: To recap. This world runs mostly on the Theory of Narrative Causality (Story), and mostly the fans' Clap Your Hands If You Believe (belief) and generally has a Nobody Can Die rule The Fair Folk could still steal your soul, though. So you can be:
- "Alive": Even if the tale calls it differently. Which means you have both a narrative life and audience sympathy, by definition as long you have both you can't die.
- "Canonically Dead": So you died in your narrative you should be and are dead in it, but you also have enough fans to make you for all intents and purposes alive outside of it. Just know to avoid places which require your non-existence. Ashe playes with and lampshades this frequently ("Killed for canon" support group meetings; "Still Dead" checks; Confused undead etc.).
- "Canonically Dead In-Comic": If a liked OC who had a story dies (as this comic is their canon) they must go and try to find a place outside of it to live on.
- "Canonically Alive": You are alive in a story and pray for it to never end because the fans hate you. You also can't venture outside that narrative. This is the inverson of being "Canonically Dead" and is way worse for the character.
- "Deader than Dead":
- "Death by Origin Story": Your death is required for someone else's backstory characterization. Technically this is just being "Canonically Dead", but your options are so severely limited where you don't have a narrative compulsion to stay dead that you effectively are. See the Tear Jerker page
- "The fandom hates YOU": Yeah. What happens when you were just "Canonically Alive" and the story ends. Bye bye, you. This is as dead as it gets in this comic. This is why Mrs. Norrington is a widow.
- "Alive": Even if the tale calls it differently. Which means you have both a narrative life and audience sympathy, by definition as long you have both you
- Speed Echoes: Legolas can climb trees FAST!
- Spin-Off: Has many. Just check out the fan group or the 'verse page. This comic has a family tree of Recursive Fanfiction rivaling the magical people's.
- Splash of Color: Not counting covers and specials: Cristine's ''garment'' piece in the washing machine and its effect. The splatter in Mystery. When Javert met Valjean again. The ''green'' fairy. The full color page for Jareth's confession. The colored panel for James' speech. If a page/panel has any color it's there for a reason.
- Story Arc: Several. And longer and longer ones. See the Recap page for more info.
- Supernatural Angst: The recurring one is about the futility of fighting the story... which almost always ends up on the Tear Jerker page because it's basically the "Fate vs. Free Will" question almost everybody knows just reinterpreted for Living Dreams.
- Supernatural Elite: The magical people tend to organize themselves into more-or-less feudal courts where the leaders tend to be the most powerful of them. Also the courts' "Decadence", central themes and the connected Magical Land (if any) seem to be somehow connected to their rulers. It's said that magical Kings and Queens are exalted by blood. Which can mean two things: they inherit the title or they claim it by spilling the blood of their predecessor.
- Take That, Audience!: And not always played for laughs. This is a selfaware fandom work for fans by a fan. Yes, nobody thinks twice about making jokes about shipping, fans and their/our assorted antics... but the same time it doesn't shy away delivering punches against the "original" authors either (like pointing out that the resident Woobie's (originally side character's) tragic backstory wasn't made tragic by us).
- Talking the Monster to Death: Mentioned as Jareth's cause of defeat when the boys watch Labyrinth together.Javert: You were monologued to death?
- Later it's revealed in a heartbreaking (mini)arc that his father got banished by his mother with the very SAME monologue and appearently also works on Ringwraiths. So it's more Words Can Break My Bones despite what the characters might think.
- For a perfectly straight example see The Shadow Child and Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!.
- Later it's revealed in a heartbreaking (mini)arc that his father got banished by his mother with the very SAME monologue
- Tangled Family Tree: It has been established that in the continuity of the comic, pretty much the entire magical community of every fandom ever is related in one way or another.
- Even a few non-majic characters are somehow connected through the magic family tree. Case in point, Morgan is Jareth's Aunt and Javert's mother, which makes the two of them cousins. Jareth's father Der Erlkönig currently dates James' mother, if this lasts the two will become stepbrothers.
- On a more meta level: This comic has enough fanfics, Spin Offs, etc. dedicated to it to qualify as such.
- Theory of Narrative Causality: Played with, discussed, lampshaded, etc. for comedy and tragedy. Also seems to function as Wild Magic so borders on Semi-Sentient Cosmic Force.
- They Walk Among Us: Well, there isn't a Masquerade and at least in the Unnamed University Town Muggles are probably the rarest species. But some of the inhabitants (mostly older supernatural beings) still insist on keeping a Secret Identity, even if it actually doesn't fool anybodynote ... but sometimes it doesnote
- Translation Convention: Used sometimes. Like when the Erlkönig speaks to magical beings. Or expanded: When magical beings speak in the magical language and nobody else is around. See also: Wingdinglish.
- The Trickster: The resident one is Jareth but his whole family has shades of this.
- Tropaholics Anonymous: The "Killed for Canon" meeting. Also "Detectives Annoyed by Astronomy Meeting" but there was only one of those to date.
- Troperiffic: Is there any Metafiction trope this series doesn't use?note And half the Tropes of Legend with characters from half the Cult Classic list and some from even actual classics sprinkled in. Not to mention anything even remotely related to Mind Screw or Crossover or Fanservice.
- Truce Zone: The main cast's apartment is used like this by several powerful supernatural beings, not that they asked. This probably also extends to the building (and maybe even the 'verse).
- True Companions: The Erlkönig acknowledges that the main cast and Sarah are this for his son in Such Stuff, so they are.
- Underestimating Badassery: Happens quite often (World of Badass masquerading as Fantastic Comedy and all) even if it rarely escalates into physical violence. Like to James in their movie night (See the Funny moments subpage), or to Jareth a lot of times (as he is thought to be a Fearless Fool, Upper-Class Twit), or to Legolas (so his performance in the Zombie arc was quite the shock for many), to the girls ("Girls are scary" didn't become a Catchphrase for nothing).
- Understatement: From the Deadpan Snarkers naturally, but powerful supernatural beings tend to also do it because of their power level. So yes. The Wild Hunt is a Magical mens club, what did you expect mortal?
- Unholy Matrimony: In the comic's Backstory. The Erlkönig and Jadis were married once. How loving this relationship was is debatable because both are kinda clueless about the concept for some degree or another and Jadis sounds a lot like she was aiming for Evil Overlord Breeding Act.
- Unsound Effect: Dropping! Yeah. This is the very first page. It still happens.
- Vague Age: Age is a bit of a vague concept in this 'verse. As a general rule characters are the same age as they where in the canonical story but then Actor Allusion (like Erik's Merlin Sickness), the Theory of Narrative Causality (Sarah and Toby are 5 or so years older because plot says so) and the like hits. Not to mention the Mind Screw that the Medium Awareness of the series brings. So question: If your story "came out" in 1986 (you didn't exist before that), you were Really 700 Years Old in it and were played by a 39 years old actor then how old are you in 2012? Really 700 Years Old? 39? 26? 65? All of these?
- Vanity Is Feminine: Averted. Jareth is the poster boy but all four main cast members are guilty.
- The 'Verse: Roommates and its Spin Offs are the Buildingverse.
- In a narrow definition Building-verse is shared by Roommates and its largest and most popular Spin-Off Girls Next Door (even if some canon differences suggest Alternate Continuity).
- In a wide one it also encompasses (this is the definition of most fans and Ashe) the whole Expanded Universe around these main two so all other Spin Offs from Down the Street to anything in the fan group.
- Video Phone: Erik apparently keeps in touch with his internet friends through voice/video chat (Word of Ashe that he tends to shut off the camera though).
- Villainous Fashion Sense: The Fair Folk take the cake but Erik and to a lesser extent, Javert, are also guilty of this... or let's be fair, it's harder to find someone who isn't!
- Villains Out Shopping: Shopping, at work, doing laundry, having movie night... The series kind of runs off of Villains Out Shopping, if for no other reason than most of the characters are villains.
- Watsonian versus Doylist: This comic is so meta that many times the Watsonian explanations are in-universe wrong. Or maybe the Doylist explanations are actually Watsonian just on a different level of recurson.
- Webcomic Print Collection: Well, not print just downloadable pdf, and for free because such a Massive Multiplayer Crossover work is a legal nightmare, but there are/will be official collected editions.
- Collection 1 Roommates 2007-2012 - Roommates proper and Mystery (including a lost page) with some extra pages up to Such Stuff....
- Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made One - Which is a basic collection of the 42page arc complete with its cover.
- Kings War Collector's Edition - Collects the 107 page Such Stuff arc with the next page from Roommates proper (108). Also has extra content, including some yet unpublished sketches and background information related to the creation of the arc.
- Collection 1 Roommates 2007-2012
- Webcomic Time: It's a webcomic with story arcs so this isn't too surprising. Like the 30 something pages of the Dark!Jareth arc were the story of one day (posted 1 page/week) or Such Stuff... (with 3 pages/week) took 3 months to post but it chronicled the happenings of a single night. Between these the series seems to operate on Comicbook Time. The resulting anachronisms can almost always Hand Waved with: "Well, the characters are from their fictional times (80s, 1700s etc.) anyway."
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The unnamed (and hidden, Tony Stark used the place to test his improbable GPS) university town where the story takes place. We only know that you can watch the entire Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy on the plane from England (Mrs. N. did it), it's not in Kansas, far from any larger body of water (the duck pond is the biggest) and winter can begin pretty abruptly around it.
- Wingding Eyes: "Circles around pupils and nothing else" a lot. "Spirals" sometimes.
- Wingdinglish: The language of the magical people is represented by English written in runes. The Erlkönig spoke this way in his first real appearance (Word of Ashe that he never bothered learning any other languages), but Odin and Jareth speak it too (Jareth mostly just for cursing). See also: Translation Convention.
- A Wizard Did It: By the fans of this comic this is called A Fae Did It!note ... they are right most of the time... Even more so because magic seems to run on patterns, story and trope in the verse!
- Women Are Wiser: A bit. As the Catch Phrases of the main cast and their respective female counterparts state: "Girls are scary" - "Boys are silly". The girls tend to have the outsider perspective on whatever antics are going on so it's easier for them to play the Only Sane Woman (if not them, this task falls to Jamie), and also tend to be underestimated because of the guys old-school notions (like Females Are More Innocent).
- Words Can Break My Bones: A prevalent trope about the magicusers. Like the power of The Monologue (see Talking the Monster to Death) or knowing the Right Words can grant you access to Jareth's power and force him to do what you want (only Sarah won the right to do so, but it will work for others too). Sometimes even things he can't do under normal circumstances.
- World of Badass: With some Retired Monsters and their ilk for good measure. So don't let the Fantastic Comedy exterior fool you almost all characters are badass in some way, it's just that their story ended... and also for their (mis)fortune The Fail Field is not generous with the cool allowance, but almost everybody can pull a Let's Get Dangerous! if needed.
- Wunza Plot: The original concept for this series was: One's an irredeemable Fair Folk Trickster the other is an obsessive Mad Artist Gadgeteer Genius they are Drowning Their Sorrows (as both have Stalker with a Crush tendencies) together. Later: They share the same apartment.
- You All Meet in an Inn: Jareth and Erik definitely did (all of the proto-strips for this comic take place in a bar) and according to this also the others.Q: To all 4 guys: How in the world did you four meet?A: Tequila.
- If we accept that the 'verse is a BIG Inn Between the Worlds then this trope fits almost everybody. (How to Gather Characters -> Geographical Conveniencenote with some Debut Queuenote and Backstory Relationships sprinkled in.)
- You Can't Fight Fate: Recurring theme of the darker stories for some years. It reached its current peak in the Dark!Jareth arc. Magic doesn't make it easier, if not outright runs on the character's story tropes. Yes. This means this series is pretty much at least Fighting Fate Is Hard high on the fate side of the Sliding Scale of Free Will vs. Fate.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: According to Javert and some poetic flavor text in Such Stuff... injuries suffered in fae magic created Dream Lands are this way.
Tropes - For "Lakótársak"
- I Have Many Names: OK. There is that Pet-Peeve Trope of the translator, Inconsistent Dub, now she tends to add all possible versions of the characters' names, which ends up being this trope, even they get confused by this at times.
- Leet Lingo: Sometimes instead of Symbol Swearing (this and this) but this is also a Jareth exclusive phenomenon... for some reason.
- Lost in Translation: Some jokes and references do despite all efforts. If noticed there is a writen explanation about it in the artist comment.
- Sometimes this actually happens because the comic references something that doesn't have a Hungarian edition either because of No Export for You (Wicked the musical) or just delayed release (for example A Monster in Paris).
- Sometimes this actually happens because the comic references something that doesn't have a Hungarian edition either because of
- Overly Long Name: T(ündér) Király Vilmos Rémusz úr the Erl-king's Hungarian pseudonym. It's actually shorter than it could be if the translator would go all out and incorporate Shout-Out to all possible translations.
- Shown Their Work: The translator tends to do a lot of research for "just an unofficial localization" going so far to re-watch the referenced movies or listen to the soundtrack CD several times to get a song lyric right.
- The Song Remains the Same: Always. But almost always subtitled. And sometimes reversed.
- Totally Radical: The characters from the 80s in general and Jareth in particular. (It's unknown if this is intentional or the translators age is showing.)
- Translation Punctuation: She mostly uses <translation> under the untranslated text. She also inverts this with the Erlkönig as his normal Hungarian speech gets <Wingdinglish> subtitles.
- Uncanny Valley: Even the other characters notice that something is very wrong with Jareth when his dark side takes over. While his appearance doesn't change much (suddenly solid dark eyes; his ears get hidden; his fashion sense loses the Disco Dan) but his reactions and motivations jarringly (he is obviously very sanely mad). Also he basically has two faces in that state, the grimly amused and the serious with nothing much in-between.
- Valley Girl: Or at least the local equivalent of the accent (Plázacica). James sometimes when showing his more feminine side. This is mostly for making replacement jokes for untranslatable ones (also adds a bit more troll to the character).
