A few of the characters you'll meet at The Site With Everything, plus some from discontinued comics.
"I love entertaining others with this stuff. And I'm always trying to make it better based on their feedback and what they tell me. People need to sit down to whatever you draw for a living, and know—just know—that they're going to have a good time. I don't care if I particularly liked a certain story. What really matters to me is if YOU liked it."
— Peter Paltridge, in response to the FAQ "What's the ultimate advice an amateur cartoonist can get?"
The self-proclaimed "Site with EVERYTHING!", Platypus Comix
is home to six webcomics, not to mention countless one-offs, all courtesy of one Peter Paltridge. Each is updated one whole story (or at least several pages) at a time, instead of strip-by-strip like most webcomics.
As if that weren't enough, the site is also home to slapdash humor and nostalgia, including TV Guide ad archives, trivia on the Warner Bros.. Silver Age cartoons, and Strip Archives for Bloom County and U.S. Acres. Basically, it's just about anything and everything Peter likes, recapped in a slightly cynical, constantly entertaining fashion.
Comics With Their Own Pages
Flagship Series
- Mulberry (2004-)
- Electric Wonderland (2007-)
- Free Spirit (2014) (2014-)
- Princess Pi (2011-)
Variety Section
- Scrambled Eggs (1990-2010)
- Keiki (2002-2014)note
- True Believers (2008)
The site provides examples of:
open/close all folders
Entire Site
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The backgrounds of some comics. Lampshaded in the Scrambled Eggs comic "Wack Friday" when the store sells "Extremely Fake Trees".
- Accentuate the Negative: Peter Paltridge has admitted that some of the things he makes Take That! comics about, such as Channel Awesome, aren't really things he hates.
- All There in the Manual: Peter has written short bios in order to properly introduce new readers to the main characters of the flagship series. Also, sometimes he shares details about characters on his DeviantArt page before putting them into the comics.
- Alliterative Name: Peter Paltridge, Keiki Kikilaka, Marie Magnolia (also from Keiki), Aerynn Arlia (from Electric Wonderland), and Lululu Lopez (also from Electric Wonderland).
- Artifact Title: These days, the comics don't seem like as big a draw as do the articles.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Several characters have demonstrated this ability. The main characters of Mulberry and Scrambled Eggs in particular act as Animated Actors.
- Christmas Special:
- Peter made at least one every year until 2008, and now seems to do so on a sporadic basis. Most of them are archived in Kristmas Klassics.
- Also, he has a special section for reviews of the good, the bad and the obscure of animated Christmas specials, dubbed "The Island of Misfit Christmas Specials."
- Peter made at least one every year until 2008, and now seems to do so on a sporadic basis. Most of them are archived in Kristmas Klassics
- Cliffhanger: Most of the comics are released in at least two parts, then the parts are merged together in the archive (unless the parts come from different seasons, such as the chapters of "Keiki's Huge Christmas Epic").
- Kent Brockman News: Dan Blather has appeared since the mid-90s in various comics, and he's often reporting whatever bizarre issue the characters are causing/facing, or else he's busy hosting equally-strange Olympics coverage. He himself is relatively straight-laced, though.
- Internal Homage: In honor of Platypus Comix's 10th anniversary, accessing the site during the week of February 7, 2011 brought up a page which resembles the homepage used in 2001, and links to old comics and articles through the Wayback Machine.
- Invisible Parents: See each comic's individual page for more info. (Electric Wonderland does not have an entry for this since the main characters are older than than the other comics' characters. This could apply to Princess Pi as well.)
- Limited Wardrobe: The majority of recurring characters from each comic.
- "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: Some articles and comics have such disclaimers in their respective threads of the Platypus Comix forum.
- Rushmore Refacement: The 2014 version of the "CHOOSE YOUR CHARACTERS!" page gives the presidents of Mount Rushmore the same hairstyles as Mulberry, Trawn, Pi, and Winnie.
- Skintone Sclerae: Peter explained that adding white portions to his characters' eyes often takes too much time, and doesn't look good to him unless he manages to shape it into a perfect circle. (Although, characters drawn fairly recently sometimes have eyes with white or off-white portions, such as the stars of Electric Wonderland and Princess Pi.)
- Strip Archive: Most of the comics are archived in a pseudo-book form. The site also contains several archives of un-reprinted Bloom County strips and a large number of U.S. Acres strips.
- Stupid Boss: A recurring character: The Head Executive of Platypus Comix.
- The 'Verse: Many of the comics, even ones from before the site started (ie. Joan of Arc from Raiders of the Lost Arc showing up in a Mulberry story about a zombie Orville Redenbacher), have tended to crossover with each other- Electric Wonderland is exempt, as it takes place in the future. Princess Pi also seems to take place in a separate universe (eg, America has a dictator instead of a president), although it does contain some similarities to the main one (eg, Kesha pastiche TeBOINGss! still exists).
- Valentine's Day Episodes: Peter has produced a comic about love each February since 2012.
The Banner
As a Couch Gag, Peter Paltridge regularly changes the banner at the top of the Platypus Comix homepage to say something new and funny. Examples starring characters from a particular flagship comic appear on that series' page.
Banners include examples of:
- Celebrity Endorsement: Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th delivers one◊ after losing his mask.
- Crossover:
- Disney Owns This Trope: After Disney announced a purchase of 21st Century Fox, Peter wished his readers a Merry Christmas◊, but with a note that Disney trademarked the greeting.
- Doomsday Clock: A few days after Donald Trump won the 2016 Presidential Election, a Majora's Mask-esque countdown◊ to his inauguration appeared, along with a Weird Moon boasting a Trump-like hairstyle.
- Hype Aversion: The overexposure of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic increased Peter's desires not to watch the show, despite the involvement of Lauren Faust, so he decided to boast that Platypus Comix has been "Pony-free since 2001◊".
- Logo Joke: This banner◊ superimposes the Platypus Comix logo over that of Gracie Films.
- My Future Self and Me: This banner◊, an homage to Portal, gives the following advice to visitors:Remember! If a future you tries to warn you about this site, don't listen.
- "Reading Is Cool" Aesop: This banner◊ promotes it with a screenshot from one of the Hooray For Reading shorts.
- Take That!:
- Disney's announcement of plans to buy Marvel Comics led to the creation of a banner featuring a demonic Mickey Mouse telling Spider-Man, "I want...our marriage!◊"
Mary Jane Watson-Parker: I think I actually prefer Joe Q!- Aang punching◊ M. Night Shyamalan after the release of The Last Airbender.
- One banner proclaimed, "Click here to access a special optimized version for iPad owners!◊" Clicking it caused no changes except for Nelson appearing to taunt, "Ha ha! You paid $500 for something that can't even take a flash drive!◊"
- Octus from Sym-Bionic Titan once showed up to announce that he had taken over Cartoon Network, and had decided to renew Titan for "...approximately 107 more episodes! It is the only logical thing to do!◊"
- Disney's announcement of plans to buy Marvel Comics led to the creation of a banner featuring a demonic Mickey Mouse telling Spider-Man, "I want...our marriage!
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: "The 'X' [in 'Comix'] stands for XTREME!◊"
"Raiders Of The Lost Arc"
Peter Paltridge called "Raiders of the Lost Arc", a comic from a discontinued series titled, Guava Guava, his favorite Platypus Comix story. His website only includes the portion written in the year 2001. A recap summarizing the parts written in 1998 explains that Joan of Arc had become a Fish out of Temporal Water, risen from the dead, and fought Osama bin Laden. As this part begins, Joan's period away from battle has led people to doubt her accomplishments and complain that she's not really as tough as they thought. She decides to prove them wrong by confronting Bin Laden again, who had just recently performed his infamous September 11 attacks.
, a comic from a discontinued series titled, Guava Guava, his favorite Platypus Comix story. His website only includes the portion written in the year 2001. A recap summarizing the parts written in 1998 explains that Joan of Arc had become a Fish out of Temporal Water, risen from the dead, and fought Osama bin Laden. As this part begins, Joan's period away from battle has led people to doubt her accomplishments and complain that she's not really as tough as they thought. She decides to prove them wrong by confronting Bin Laden again, who had just recently performed his infamous September 11 attacks.This comic provides examples of:
- Cassandra Truth: Twenty-first century reporters who think
Joan appears too frequently in the media begin doubting her achievements. - Enemy Mine: Joan's companions in her fight against Bin Laden came from England, the country Joan saved France from.
- From Bad to Worse: As the media tries to expose Joan as a fraud, Ivy assures her, "Things will be a lot better in the morning!" The next day, Osama Bin Laden attacks the World Trade Center.
- Gone Horribly Right: Joan's defeat of Bin Laden proves so effective, all the terrorists cease their attacks, and the US Army dissolves.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Joan brings one with her to Afghanistan.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Bin Laden tries to exploit the fear of fire Joan developed after persecution by shoving her into a burning room. She makes it out alive, and proceeds to beat up several terrorists.
- That Was Not a Dream: Buzz expresses hope that the attacks on the World Trade Center turn out to be personal nightmares.
- Victory Is Boring: The comic ends with Joan unable to find any more terrorists to fight, and thus using her newfound free time to crochet doilies and organize her socks.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Joan has such moments when having to escape a burning room, and later, a burning building.
Miscellaneous Comics
- Affectionate Parody: "Schoolhouse Bootleg," of Schoolhouse Rock!.
- Celebrity Paradox: "The Phelps Olympics" has an instance where Free Spirit (2014) star Winnie Goodwin interrupts a commercial featuring Corinne Bohrer, who portrayed her in the original Free Spirit (1989) TV show.
- Clip Show: The Head Executive of Platypus Comix showed one during the first week of the "2008 Character Strike". This evolves into a Bizarro Episode as the "clips" gradually give way to pictures from random sources outside the website.
- Crisis Crossover: "Riot Act #2" features characters from various Platypus Comix series, although several of these series have since been removed from the website.
- Dolled-Up Installment: The second week of the Character Strike brought a story titled "Terminator: The Mulberry Sharona Chronicles", which actually featured artwork from Shadowgirls.
- Follow the Leader: In-Universe: During the third week of the Character Strike, the Head Executive tried to create his own comic, starring talking pigs who engage in offensive activities, random cutaways, and liberal lecturing.Head Executive: It seemed to test rather well among college males, and they're all that really counts these days! Next week we'll have something different, if I can find a non-union artist! If not, I'll probably just run this again and change a couple bits of dialogue. Those college boys don't really notice much.
- Fourth-Wall Mail Slot: The fifth and final installment of the 2008 Character Strike featured the Head Executive replying to emails readers sent to Peter Paltridge.
- Heart Beat-Down: The title character of "Awesome Blossom" exclaims "Heart Power!" every time she tries to solve a problem, with a giant heart appearing above her. It proves effective, but the second time she uses it angers others. Her adversaries play with this trope as they use "Liver Power!" and "Pancreas Power!" to get what they want.
- Hilarious in Flashback: "'Thompson': The Lost Smallville Episode" gives a painfully obvious example regarding Clark Kent and Lois Lane.
- Homage: "'Thompson': The Lost Smallville Episode" tries to perform one for Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
- Hostile Show Takeover: For April Fools' Day 2006, Peter faked the site's absorption by CNet and created a comic in which CNet representatives interfered with attempts to read the newest Mulberry comic by hawking the benefits of donation.
- How the Character Stole Christmas: Spoofed in "How The Kvetch Stole Hannukah!", an attempt to teach a lesson about expressing diversity instead of homogenization during the holiday season.
- Ludd Was Right: The Retraux, Fifties-influenced "Vess MacMeal Starring in: The More You Know!" introduces a new gadget called the "Kimwon" to the people of Shiny Valley. Gradually, this North Korean product develops so many features, it takes over all of the duties Americans previously served themselves, granting world domination to Dirty Communist Kim Jong-Il.
- Mood Whiplash: The Cruel Twist Ending of "Vess MacMeal Starring in: The More You Know!" is immediately followed by the Title Drop, which comes in a simple picture of the logo seen in 2000s PSAs using the phrase.
- Parody Commercial: "The Phelps Olympics" spoofs a 1988 Drugs Are Bad PSA with Mary Lou Retton, by replacing her with Michael Phelps, who discourages kids from smoking cigarettes, then adds, "Pot's OK!"
- Production Foreshadowing: The first issue of Peter's publication, BANG! Magazine, appeared in "Schoolhouse Bootleg" at least six months before it became available in stores.
- Send in the Clones: "The Phelps Olympics" has Mulberry try to make the 2016 Summer Olympics more interesting by replacing every competitor with Michael Phelps (with help from "Disney magic" in duplicating him), and prompting viewers to guess/discover which Phelps will win each match.
- Stylistic Suck: "Awesome Blossom," intended to feel like an unaired Filmation cartoon.Description: It's got everything: lame cutesy characters, Limited Animation, gaudy flourescent effects, idiotic plots and more!
- We Interrupt This Program: "The Phelps Olympics" gets frequently interrupted by a news story regarding Attention Whore Ryan Lochte, jealous of Michael Phelps after getting booted out of the Games in favor of his clones. Unfortunately, these often deprive viewers of seeing the winner.
Articles
Oh, and if you want to know the names of everyone in that picture:
Back Row: The Head Executive (from various comics), Nester (from "Nester and Wii-ner"), Rice Cub (from "Rice Cub"), and Lyman (from Garfield, not Platypus Comix).
Second Row: Jennifer (from Henry and Jennifer), Henry (from Henry and Jennifer), Lillian Muck/Ivy (from Guava Guava), Buzz (from Guava Guava), Lana Ying (from Guava Guava), and Dan Blather (from various comics).
Third Row: NJ (from Electric Wonderland), Princess Pi (from Princess Pi), Mary Jane Watson-Parker (from True Believers), Shroomy (from Electric Wonderland), and Beefer (from Keiki).
Front Row: Joan of Arc (sitting, from "Raiders of the Lost Arc"), Aerynn Arlia (from Electric Wonderland), Quint (from Scrambled Eggs), Tiff/Taffeta "Taffy" Sparks (from Mulberry), Tuan Nuaghen (from Scrambled Eggs), and Mulberry Sharona (from Mulberry).
