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Theater Hopper is a webcomic about movies written from creator Tom Brazelton's perspective. It is semi-autobiographical, combining characters based on Brazeltons real-life friends with fictional ones.

From August 5, 2002 until the comic finished its run on December 31, 2012, these characters satirically addressed what was current in the world of movies and celebrity culture.


Tropes appearing in this webcomic:

  • Brain Bleach: Tom's reaction to Clint Eastwood's sex scene in Blood Work.
  • Chew Toy/The Rival: Ben Affleck was this, being the object of irrational hate and attacks by Jared until Gone Baby Gone came out, and then he switched to Shia LaBeouf.
  • Chick Flick: This is Cami Brazelton's favorite kind of movie, both in the comic and in real-life, much to Comic Tom's frustration. Her favorite actress of all time is Julia Roberts. The comic specifically compares it to Tom's love of comic book movies, showing them as a female escapist fantasy just like superheroes are male escapist fantasies.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Tom builds an Iron Man armor out of cardboard for the premiere of the 2008 movie (despite having been given a realistic promotional one by Marvel earlier; he apparently sold that one to pay for movie merchandise). To simulate Iron Man's repulsor blasters, he stuffs the arms full of old sparklers... and the costume promptly catches fire.
  • Erotic Asphyxiation: In a discussion about apparent BDSM themes in the Star Wars films, it was assumed that Vader used his choking powers because of this trope.
  • Fan Boy: Tom is a gigantic fan boy for movies and comic books, and will often create elaborate costumes for movie premieres and even DVD releases.
  • Felony Misdemeanor: The Nerd Police busted Tom twice so far, first for "Failing to recognize The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", and again for "Spoilers While Tweeting". The first time cost him his "nerd license", preventing him from talking about movies online. He won it back by getting a huge Star Wars tattoo on his back.
  • Former Teen Rebel: The nerdy theater clerk Jimmy turns out to have been one of these when he was a teenager. In fact, he had inadvertenly been ripping off The Wild One without having ever seen the movie.
  • Geeky Turn-On: Charlie doesn't want to make it known that she is a nerd, as other nerds tend to go after her, proclaiming their love.
  • Ghost Ship: Invoked when Jared and Tom went to see Ghost Ship. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a movie version of The Love Boat instead. Featuring a guest appearance by actress and singer Charo.
    Jared: My god, it's even more terrifying than I imagined!
    Tom: CHARO?! NOOOO!!!
  • Grand Finale: The final storyline; Tom and Cami decide to start a family, Jimmy and Charley get back together and head to Chicago to start a new life after the theater burns down, and Victor, having accidently started the fire, hitchhikes back to Ukraine.
  • Heroic Dog: Truman on occasion, most notable when he once saved Cami from a rampaging pet monkey... by flying a little biplane like in King Kong (1933).
  • Life Embellished: While the comics cast is real and interact like in the comic (Tom and Cami are married, Tom is best friends with Jared, Tom and Cami own a beagle named Truman), the more fantastic and comedic elements obviously arent real.
  • No Name Given: The Fat, White Movie Producer and the two pitchmen.
  • With This Ring: One storyline reveals that Jimmy and Charlie were once engaged, until she caught him kissing another woman in the movie theater. The whole thing was Not What It Looks Like, but a combination of Jimmy's past womanizing, and Charlie's own doubts about getting married so young led to her flushing the ring down the toilet. To this day Jimmy, who took a job at the theater to remind himself of Charlie, cant bring himself to clean the womens bathroom.
  • Ridiculously Human Robots: The Ben Bots, robotic dopplegangers Ben Affleck uses as standins for work he doesnt want to do. The majority of them were destroyed in battle with Jared, but one survived and briefly took over the real Afflecks life.
  • Serious Business: The entire concept of the comic, movies and Hollywood culture being taken seriously to a comical extreme.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: One strip revolves around Tom telling Cami that they should finally do what the comics title say and go "theater hopping" (sneaking into more movies than you paid for). They run afoul of Victor and get put into the theaters holding cell.
  • Transformation Sequence: Tom attempts to copy the transformation from the infamous bomb The Master of Disguise, but only turns into "a pissed off movie goer who wants his money back".

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