Webcomic / TENACITY

From left: Yuriah, Kinley, and Sydney

TENACITY is a Science Fiction Webcomic created by Paige Critchlow in 2020.

Far in the future, humans have created several new subspecies of human, some with powers, to combat an unspecified threat. Kinley, a Kyan, and her brother live paycheck-to-paycheck and took up bounty hunting to pay the bills, especially ever since they took in a ten-year-old named Willow. When Kinley thinks she saw her former best friend Sydney robbing a lab, she realizes that she may have bit off more than she can chew...

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TENACITY contains examples of:

• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance:
  • Yuriah has jet-black skin and black hair, fitting a person with shadow powers.
  • Downplayed with Kinley, who has red hair which goes with her fire powers, though her fire is blue. She also wears a blue jacket and has blue eyes.
  • Adrian has platinum blonde hair with a cyan streak, and she specializes in using ice and water conduits.
  • Sydney has yellowish-green eyes and wears a partially yellow mask, and uses electric conduits.
• Big Anime Eyes: A very young Kinley has them in TENACITY: Light and Shadow.
• Big Brother Instinct: Yuriah is really protective of his little sister Kinley.
• Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Female Kyan, a subspecies of human, have long antennae and fox-like ears. Male Kyan have horns and pointier human ears.
• Bounty Hunter: Kinley and Yuriah (and occasionally their friends) track down criminals and turn them in for cash to help make rent.
• Casting a Shadow: Yuriah can use shadows to attack, and he can also use them to travel quickly. His power is limited by the amount of shadow an area has, being nullified completely if he is in bright light.
• Cheeky Mouth: Kinley has an instance of this in Chapter 5: Episode 4.
• Cross-Popping Veins: Happens several times, though most prominently with Yuriah in Chapter 5: Episode 4.
• Elemental Personalities:
  • Kinley is fiery and impulsive, and wields fire.
  • Downplayed with Yuriah, who is reserved with strangers but emotional with those he knows well.
  • Averted with Adrian, who is one of the most open to emotions in the main cast, despite specializing in ice conduits.
• Elemental Powers: All of the powers seen so far are some variant of elemental powers, with some usual ones like fire and ice, and weirder ones like laser.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: One of the men that tried to torture Kinley because she's a Kyan, has ivory skin and dark brown hair. He's also the one who tried to hack her antennae off with a switchblade and he later tries to kill her with his gun.
• Face–Heel Turn: Sydney left several people to burn to death in a lab that she robbed, which is especially weird because it was her idea for Kinley and her friends to become bounty hunters in the first place.
• Fantastic Racism: Kyan are not treated well by humans.
• Go to Your Room!: A non-punishment variant of this trope. After Kinley nearly gets herself killed, Yuriah tells Willow to go to her room so that she can avoid the ensuing fallout.
• Horns of Villainy: Averted, as all male Kyan have horns and the only one we see, Yuriah, is heroic.
• Symbol Swearing:
  • Yuriah does a downplayed version of this with asterisks in Chapter 5: Episode 4.
    Kinley, I don't even think I have f***ing words for how-
  • Adrian also curses partially with asterisks in Chapter 6: Episode 24.
    F***ing coward!
  • In Chapter 1, the men Kinley fights are prone to cussing, and it's censored partially by asterisks.
• Playing with Fire: Kinley can summon bright blue flames.
• Prequel: TENACITY: Light and Shadow is a one-shot prequel to the main series, following Yuriah and Kinley as runaway children.
• Pointy Ears: Male Kyan have long ears that come to a point.
• Precision F-Strike: Even censored strong cursing is a rarity in this comic. When it appears, you know the characters are in some deep shit.
• Promotion to Parent: In TENACITY: Light and Shadow, Yuriah is shown to be basically raising Kinley even though he himself is a child.
• Psycho Electro: Sydney is an unhinged criminal who uses electric conduits. She literally leaves people to burn to death in a lab that she robbed. She also tries to electrocute a man who is flying, so if she hit him, he would have fell to his death. This really comes into play in the Season 2 Finale, where she blows holes into Noah's wings, leaving him falling to his death. She also electrocutes Yuriah out of spite.
• Promotion to Parent: Yuriah raised Kinley after their parents seemingly abandoned them.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: Kinley is a bounty hunter, isn't particularly feminine, and has a long ponytail that goes to her elbows.
• We Used to Be Friends: Sydney used to be Kinley's best friend before she became one of the criminals she once hunted.

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