Webcomic / Yours Trudy

From left to right: Sandra, Seth, and Trudy. Not pictured: Alix

Yours Trudy is a webcomic by dm29 of DeviantArt (also known as judacris on Tumblr). It follows the life of Trudy Lin Shu Feng, a mixed Chinese Singaporean college student living in the fictional town of Chewilissit in Ontario, Canada. It's available on DeviantArt and Tumblr.

Tropes present include:

• Acceptable Breaks from Reality: The comic debuted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and although masked workers are seen in the comic, Trudy is always maskless among them. It was explained in a side comic that this is because it's easier to emote Trudy without one, it dates the comic less, and it make the comic more of a distraction from real life.
• Ascended Extra: As of "M.I.S.T." Alix, the waitress during Trudy and Seth's first date, seems to have officially become part of Trudy's friend circle after the two meet on Trudy's college campus and simultaneously ask each other if they want to be friends.
• A-Cup Angst: Sandra seems to have this in one comic where Trudy starts to rage after the straps of her purse and her backpack both get caught in the space between her breasts, and Sandra comments "I'd sympathize with your predicament more if your problem wasn't so desirable."
• All There in the Manual: According to the tags in certain images on Tumblr and DeviantArt, Sandra's last name is Tang, Seth's is Herrington, and Alix's is Cooper.
• Big Eater: Trudy seems to be a bit of one:
  • In an early comic, she's seen pouring an entire packet of shrimp flavoring straight into her mouth.
  • In another, she orders a rice ball from a restaurant rather than getting a more authentic dumpling from the Asian market specifically because the one she got is stuffed with tempura prawns.
  • One comic shows her as a teenager putting every topping offered (and pretty much all that's being offered of the topping) in a bowl of fishball noodles.
  • She also is taking a Food Sciences course in college (and an affadavit from her teachers back home says she isn't allowed to taste the additives in her class raw).
  • At the same time, though, she does appear to be health conscious, and tries to get Sandra and Seth to cut down on their salty snack intake by giving them pears. Unfortunately, all three only find out after tasting them that the pears are sour.
  • A comic focused around her birthday has Trudy planning out her day with Sandra to get all the best deals on food from different places they go at the right times.
  • She also apparently has a hard time not swallowing the different kinds of flavored mouthwash she buys, and despite knowing that it's wrong to do so thinks to herself "One more" after swallowing it.
  • When helping Sandra search for a new job, her main motivation for pushing her towards a "pancake artist" job at a store in the mall seems to be that she can benefit from the "friends and family discounts on pancakes."
  • When eating a burger, she eats each ingredient separately, partly so she can manage taking a bite, but also so she can "extend (her) meal time and enjoyment by 75%."
  • She tries to order a simple peppermint mocha during the holidays, but by her own admission, her "weakness" is being offered all the extra toppings, like peppermint whip, chocolate drizzle, sprinkles, and candy canes.
• Bland-Name Product:
  • Sandra posts content on the website WhoaMeFans, a parody of OnlyFans.
  • Trudy has a poster in her room for Dean Grey, a parody of Green Day.
  • In one strip, Sandra wants to watch a Nordic crime movie, but it's on Fuvu and Trudy only has Netplex.
  • Sandra dresses up as "Solar Guardian Mercury" for Halloween.
• Bowdlerization: When "Craig, Kiosk Manager" was submitted to WebToons, the admins removed it for nudity due to the final panel showing Sandra squeezing pancake batter onto her breasts to spell out the name of one of her supporters on WhoaMeFans. As a result, the comic was later reuploaded with Sandra squeezing the batter onto her shirt instead (but still on the same area, just more covered now). The original version can still be seen on Twitter, Tumblr, and DeviantArt.
• Breather Episode:
  • In the midst of a storyline where Seth is left in a worrying state after being served a dessert with ginger in it causes him to bail on Trudy during their first date, there are some more lighthearted strips where Trudy tries to take her mind off the situation and is visited by the squirrel she met in an earlier comic. However, this later becomes more significant when it turns out Seth is the squirrel.
  • The two weeks of comics immediately following the aforementioned "Seth is the squirrel" reveal are filler strips depicting one-shot comedic situations before resuming the arc. This was done in part because the author was getting surgery in the hospital around this time and also needed a break at the time to figure out the details of the arc.
  • Another series of filler strips appeared shortly after Trudy's mother announced she'd be coming to visit.
• Distinguishing Mark: Trudy has a small scar on her left cheek. She got it when she was 11, after she walked in on her parents arguing, and her mother threw a book at the door, not seeing her in the dark, and ended up hitting her with it.
• Fantastic Comedy: Initially, the comic seems fairly realistic, but then Seth turns out to be a were-squirrel.
• First Kiss: Trudy and Seth share theirs on New Year's Eve.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Trudy and Sandra, who have been best friends ever since they attended Christian school together in Singapore.
• Hypocritical Humor: Sandra calls out Trudy for criticizing Seth's decision to pay eight dollars for egg fried rice when she feels she could make him it for less than half of that- only to yell at Seth herself over his subsequent decision to pay three dollars for a soda.
• Knight of Cerebus: When Trudy's mother announces that she's coming to visit, the strips get more serious.
• Literal-Minded: Sandra shows signs of this when she complains about a bag of nuts she bought not having any macadamias in it despite them being in the ingredient list, and yelling to Trudy ""3% macadamias" is a content count, not a probability! This isn't a lootbox!"
• Lost in Translation: Trudy isn't very good at Mandarin, so when trying to make a reservation over the phone for a Chinese restaurant, she ends up saying some things she doesn't mean to, such as the word for "book" when she means "reserve," and "two individuals" for "two people." Sandra has to correct her on every one of these and gets pretty frustrated that Trudy doesn't just let her make the reservation.
• Milestone Celebration: For the 100th comic, dm29 posted a video on YouTube alongside it showing the process of putting it together.
• Mood Whiplash: Trudy and Seth's first date goes from the usual comedic shenanigans to Seth abruptly ditching Trudy at the restaurant after accidentally being served a dessert with ginger in it, which he "reacts funny" to. It later turns out that the reaction is turning into a squirrel.
• Noodle Incident: Whatever it was that happened between Trudy and her ex-boyfriend Percy, who she dubbed "Perce the Worst."
• Not So Above It All:
  • Despite Trudy knowingly having a nut allergy, she still accepts one from a squirrel because it makes her feel like a fairy tale princess.
  • She also knows that you shouldn't swallow flavored mouthwash, but thinks to herself "One more" after doing so anyway.
• Not What It Looks Like: When Sandra lets herself into Trudy's apartment using a spare key after Trudy got worried about Seth after he had to bail on her during their first date, she finds Trudy with Seth, who's only wearing one of her oversized shirts. Trudy tries to pass it off as just pointing out to her that Seth finally showed up, but the full explanation is that he turned into a squirrel after eating ginger and changed back in Trudy's apartment, but didn't have any clothes, so Trudy lent him one of her oversized shirts. However, Sandra just interprets it as Seth and Trudy having recently made love and wanting to keep it a secret (with "Seth the squirrel" being a pet name for him in her mind).
• Parental Issues: Trudy apparently has a rocky relationship with her mother. In a Mother's Day comic, she's seen looking at her phone, almost calling her mother, but then deciding "Maybe next year... or maybe her birthday." This is eventually revealed to be because the night her mother (accidentally) gave her the scar on her left cheek, was also the night her parents separated.
• Periphery Demographic: In universe, Trudy, Sandra, and Alix are all fans of the "Creatures of the Cuddle Corral" franchise, which by Trudy's own admission to Seth is a "girly-girl kid's show."
• Real Life Writes the Plot: The storyline about Sandra giving up on WhoaMeFans and getting a job at a pancake restaurant was inspired by OnlyFans constant efforts to clamp down on sexual content.
• Shipper on Deck: Sandra's Aunt Elaine appears to be one for Trudy and Seth.
• Shirtless Scene. Seth's first appearance is when Trudy is looking out her window and sees him with his shirt off. When she first meets him up close, she blurts out that she's sorry she saw him nude (since his lower body was covered up by his window). Seth, after getting over the initial shock, confirms that he had his boxers on.
• Shout-Out: Sandra's "Solar Guardian Mercury" costume for Halloween is clearly a copyright-free reference to Sailor Moon. In the same comic, Trudy's costume is Wendy Corduroy from Gravity Falls.
• Sliding Scale of Realistic vs. Fantastic: Leans mostly on the realistic side until the sudden reveal that Seth is a were-squirrel.
• Suddenly Shouting: Seth in one comic, in order to get Trudy and Sandra to stop arguing about whether or not it's okay for Sandra to use her aunt's car to pick up a desk for Trudy (or perhaps because he wasn't fully there yet and just needed an energy boost) shouts "COFFEE, PLEASE!" to get their attention before mentioning that he drives and can help out with getting the desk.
• That Came Out Wrong:
  • When Trudy is getting to know Seth, he mentions that he earns money selling baked goods, and that he makes a pretty good cinnamon bun. Trudy replies "Yeah, I bet you got some sweet buns." Seth says "Pardon," and Trudy immediately tries to pin the comment on the currently drunk and passed out Sandra.
    • In a later strip where Trudy and Sandra visit Seth at his stand at the farmer's market, the creator continues the double entendre in the description by pointing out that "Trudy finally gets to taste Seth's buns."
  • After Seth turns back into a human after being stuck as a squirrel, he realizes he's naked and asks Trudy if she has something he can wear. Trudy's response is "I may have an oversized shaft-SHIRT somewhere!"
• Trademark Favorite Food: According to Trudy, the town of Chewilissit is known for their tomato soup since the settlers who founded it lived on it. They're so into it that a store offers a carbonated tomato soup flavored drink with caffeine in it.
  • For Trudy herself, she seems to really love noodles. The process of cooking them, on the other hand...
• Two Girls and a Guy: Trudy and Sandra are the two girls, and Seth is the guy.