Brawl in the Family

File:Bitflogo 176.jpg

Top row from left to right: Link, Jigglypuff, Kirby, Mario, Captain Falcon, and Diddy Kong. Bottom row from left to right: Adeleine, Meta Knight, and King Dedede. Expecting anyone else? TOO BAD. WALUIGI TIME.

Brawl in the Family is a gag-based Web Comics starring Kirby, and featuring various video game characters, mainly those that have appeared in the Super Smash Bros series, but most of the plots and running jokes are based on Kirby and King Dedede. It is written and drawn by Matthew Taranto, AKA TriforceBun from the Phoenix Wright Musical Project.

The comic uses a fairly simplistic art style most of the time, originating from bored-in-class sketches and doodles. There is more complex art on occasion, including homages and tributes to the styles of other artists.

It's also very funny and very cute. (That is, when it's not super disturbing.) If you are a Nintendo fan, this is a web-comic you must read.

Due to Matt's Crohn's disease acting up, the series went through a Series Hiatus for over a month and a half. However, on April 10th, it was announced that the series will be regularly updated again now that he's been taking medicine.

Tropes used in Brawl in the Family include:

• Accidental Murder: The sun does this to the entire planet; see the comic given in Creator Breakdown for the full story.
• Actually Pretty Funny: As seen here.
• Affectionate Parody: One of the better examples in webcomics.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: In-Universe examples:
  • Poor Crocomire.
  • Also, "Ode to Minions" about the heroes.
  • And here, we have one for the moon.
  • And with Snake, starting here.
  • Bosses being grounded and locked in rooms by the Big Bads. Also doubles as Villains Playing Solitaire.
• Alt Text: From 167 onward. Lampshaded:

"Hey! Stop looking at the mouseover text! Go enjoy the comic!"

• All There in the Manual: Dedede's teacher in Cocoon Academy is a Mr. Dragmire. Sound familiar? It shouldn't. This is the last name given to Ganondorf in the English manual of A Link to the Past, and hasn't been mentioned in canon since.
• And Knowing Is Half the Battle: Here.
• Ambition Is Evil: Where Ganondorf and Dedede's Start of Darkness came from.
• American Kirby Is Hardcore: Parodied, formerly used as the trope illustration.
• And the Fandom Rejoiced: In-universe example, also mimicking IGN's reactions at E3.
• Anti-Climactic Unmasking: Meta Knight in the Cocoon Academy arc.
• Anti-Villain: How Andross is interpreted.
• April Fools' Day: Waluigi In The Family.
  • In 2010's comic, Waluigi made a fake letter from Nintendo saying that he should cancel his comic.
  • And in 2011, Phillip's Box.
  • Come 2012, and Matt was still too sick to return to drawing. Instead Waluigi reminds everyone to keep the spirit of Waluigi alive in their hearts.
• Apocalypse How: Class 5, in the Mr. Sun comics.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: This comic is a visual representation of this.
• Art Evolution: After experimenting with a particular shading style for the monochrome comics, it ascended from a one-time visual effect to a distinct style.
• Art Shift: a few instances.
  • The last comic in "Waluigi Trilogi" has a striking resemblance to the art style of a certain comic about a homicidal maniac.
  • "Doppelgangers" has a far sketchier style than the other comics.
• Ascended Extra: Considering the original media of the characters, Adeline.
• Ascended Meme: Arguably coincidental, but "Waluigi time!" is one of Waluigi's "my turn" quotes in Mario Party 9.
• Ass Shove: No, seriously.
• Atop a Mountain of Corpses: Done by Mog in Ode to Minions.
• The Bad Guy Wins: In "A Mushroom Kingdom Carol," Bowser finally beats Mario basically by leaving the Mushroom Kingdom until old age catches up with the hero and then an adult Bowser Jr. comes back with a vengence.
• Bellisario's Maxim: Several comics explore strange what-ifs.
• Between My Legs: Snake's introduction in this story arc.
• Big Ball of Violence: Right here, between Link, Red Link, Blue Link and Purple Link.
• Bindle Stick: Seen here.
• Bittersweet Ending: Played for Laughs in "Snake in the Grass"
• Black Comedy: Shows up more often than one would think, with comics about the end of the world, and Mario accidentally committing murder.
• Blue and Orange Morality: Meta Knight Lampshades the fact that Kirby and Dedede have this here, except that Kirby's Chaotic Good and Dedede's Chaotic Evil.
• Brick Joke
  • It turns out Dedede really does do the Grinch routine on Christmas every year.
    • The first time he's shown doing the routine, the whole plot is the scheme.
    • Next year, it is called back to for four panels in A Mushroom Kingdom Carol.
    • In 2010, we get Jolly, Happy Jerk, in which he steals the presents from Whispy Woods while wearing the signature Grinch "crooked, jerky smirk"
  • For a literal brick joke, the dangers of invisible blocks are shown- with almost identical panels- in comics 71 (see Platform Hell) and 237's fourth comic.
  • Another literal brick joke in 348.
  • The Gooey Bomb.
  • Anyone else see the (possibly unintentional) brick joke between this comic and this one? Certainly helps explain why the Noddy felt the need to give Kirby his own revenge.
  • After a year, Tingle gives Ganondorf all he ever wanted for Christmas.
  • The bonus portion of strip 408 is this to strip 403.
  • There is now a World's Second-Best Hero mug.
• Buffy-Speak: In Ode to Minions, one of the fallen minions is "Weird Triangle Polygon Ship Thing."
• Bullying the Dragon: King Dedede throwing snowballs at Samus in "Phendrana".
• Butt Monkey: The few times Luigi shows up, he gets screwed over.
  • This webcomic might be one of the few examples where Mario takes just as much abuse as his brother if not more.
  • Meta Knight in his first few appearances.
  • King Dedede gets a good share of the abuse (sometimes he deserves it, sometimes it just seems to be baaad juju).
  • Lickitung seems to be one of these as well.
  • Eario might just take the cake, however. The man's job involves cleaning the floor under Thwomps and repairing automated Bullet Bill cannons.
  • Subverted with Luigi in Cloud Watching; Matthew originally intended for Luigi to get hurt, but he decided against it with a stern no and made Mario the victim.
• Call Back: Pretty much the entire joke of "Nasty" is totally subverting the earlier description of it via terrible visual puns.
  • Red doesn't like overly long jokes, apparently.
  • Peach's appearance in "If it Takes a Lifetime" is meant to imply that it takes place in the same continuity as The Captive Princess.
  • One that almost happened, but didn't (still brought up in the mouse-over text) - Link pays a gossip and she would've mentioned hearing about Moblins playing with dolls, which references an earlier strip where a Moblin was playing with dolls.
  • Dream Land Mix calls back to multiple unfortunate situations involving Kirby's eating habits.
• Calling Your Attacks: FALCON PUNCH! FALCON KICK! FALCON BLUFF! FALCON SNEAK! FALCON SLEEP!
  • FALCOOOOON....water please.
  • Falcon swoon...
  • Falcon Double Fault!
  • FALCON LUNCH!
  • FALCOOON PRAY!! FALCON APOLOGIZE! FALCON PENANCE!
• Cargo Ship: As of Comic 300, Ganondorf/Triforce in-universe.
• The Casanova: Would you believe me if I told you it was Ditto?
• Chained Heat: With Dedede, Meta Knight, and a Gooey Bomb.
• Cheshire Cat Grin: Dedede as the Grinch. Twice. Inexplicably followed up by a scheming Pichu.
• Christmas Special: How the King Stole Christmas for the 2008 holiday season, complete with a catchy Filk Song.
  • A Mushroom Kingdom Carol, for 2009, depicting Mario as Ebenezer Scrooge, Luigi as Bob Cratchett, Wario as Jacob Marley, Rosalina as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Kirby as the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Shadow Mario as the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come.
  • For 2010, we have 3 comics that turn Christmas songs into musical comics. The first, a spoof of Frosty the Snowman; the second, Waluigi's take on the Carol of the Bells; and the third, Ganondorf's version of All I Want For Christmas Is You... directed at the Triforce.
  • 2011 featured a whole string of Christmas-themed strips, including Tingle getting carried away with his "Secret Santa" gift to Ganondorf, Samus learning to avoid a "Falcon Kiss", King Dedede doing a good deed, and a parody of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" about the ever-annoying "ice levels".
• Cloudcuckoolander: Peppy is everywhere...
  • Waluigi. There's no telling what he'll do nex- WALUIGI TIME.
• Comforting Comforter: In Comic #387, where Dedede decides to do something that'll improve his usual Christmas karma (just a little) for once.
• Costume Copycat: Wario, here.
• Crack Pairing:
  • One In-Universe strip features one between Lakitu's Cloud and Mother Brain. And she got pregnant!? Matt admits that this is one of his sillier ones. And their baby? Kracko, thus making thisA Kracko pairing!
  • Another one has Ruto marrying Lord Jabu-Jabu. Their children are the River Zoras.
• Creator Breakdown: All of Matthew's data on his Wii got wiped due to having to have it repaired. He was so upset he made this.
• Creator Thumbprint: Though the comic is meant to give every Nintendo franchise the occasional spotlight, based on the prominence of characters, it seems pretty apparent which Nintendo franchise is Matthew's favorite.
  • Pit is starting to take on an ever-increasing presence in the comic. Matthew admits that it's become apparent how much he likes Kid Icarus: Uprising.
• Crossover Ship: Being a crossover-based webcomic, there are a few In-Universe examples:
  • Kirby/Jigglypuff.
  • And now Samus/Captain Falcon too.
  • If you look closely at #190, you can see Midna apparently flirting with Mr. Game & Watch.
  • And now Mother Brain/Lakitu's Cloud.
• Curse Cut Short: Ridley's "OH CRA-" People on the forums have made several phrases of what he actually might be saying, such as "OH HOW CRAZY."
  • Also in the Mushroom Kingdom Carol, when Daisy says it's too bad the Scrooge-like Mario has a wrench up his... where exactly, Daisy?
• Dada Comics: TOO BAD. WALUIGI TIME.
  • Exact Words: Everything is purple today. PURPLE IS A COLOR.
• Darker and Edgier: The Mushroom Kingdom Carol arc.
  • Comic 249 was foreshadowed in a previous April Fool's strip as containing "excess gore, racism, foul language, public indecency and frightening imagery." Subverted in that it's all told in completely work-safe Visual Puns (and a Persona 4 Shout-Out).
• Defictionalization: The Dededoll plush is now available for purchase.
  • As is the World's Best Hero coffee mug Link was using in one strip (bottom-middle panel).
• Deliberately Monochrome: While the comic is usually monochrome except for every 5th strip, A Mushroom Kingdom Carol made creative use of color. Christmas past is in color, red and green reappear once Mario regains his resolve, and once he saves the queen, full color returns.
• Discretion Shot: Used here.
  • Combined with Gilligan Cut and Brown Note here and here.
• Divergent Character Evolution: Brawl in the Family has developed Waluigi into his own unique character out of a Satellite Character of Luigi.
• Destructive Saviour: This strip.
• Dramatic Irony: In Cocoon Academy, Professor Dragmire tells his class that every one of them will be a hero someday. His class contains Dedede, Bowser, Jessie, Veran, Wario, and K. Rool.
• Dramatic Unmask: Subverted twice with Meta Knight.
  • We eventually see what his face looks like in the Cocoon Academy arc. It's not what you might think. Or exactly what you think, if you played any Kirby game with him as a boss.
• Dummied Out: Before the move to Keenspot, http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/media/ revealed some hidden files.
• Easter Egg: Some of the earlier strips have Mr. Saturns hidden in plain sight. Others have other Earthbound objects hidden, seeing as it is one of Matt's all-time favorite games.
• Eats Babies: Waluigi
• Embarrassing Nickname: "Pinky" is this for Meta Knight.
• Even Evil Has Standards: This exchange in strip 208, after Mario rescues Peach:

Mario: "Are-a you okay?" Peach: "Actually, I'm fine! He never laid a finger on me." Bowser Sr.: "Well, I'm not a monster."

• Everything's Better with Penguins: Dedede, of course, who was much, much more penguinish when he was a kid. His father was a photorealistic Emperor penguin, and his mother regurgitated chum for him to eat, despite them all living in a suburban house.
• Everything's Better with Plushies: Who'd have thunk that someone like King Dedede would make a super cute, ultra-huggable plushie as well? BitF, that's who.
  • Also functions as a Brick Joke and a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming from this comic.
• Everything's Better With Rainbow Roads: Well, kind of.
• Extreme Omnivore: Kirby has eaten a zombie, a Bob-omb, Miles Edgeworth, the universe, and... something.
  • Waluigi has eaten Baby Mario, a puppy, a philosophy book, and a caroling book.
• Eye Scream: A couple examples.
• Face Palm: Peach at the end of this comic.
• Faux Horrific: "Oh no! REAL Fake Kraid!"
• Foregone Conclusion: The conclusion of "Snake in the Grass".

Snake: But first, a drink. Waiter! Something light. Hm, water or punch? Yeah, punch sounds good. Punch. I'll take the PUNCH. NOW. (Samus nods at Captain Falcon. He grins and adjusts his tie) Captain Falcon: FALCOOOON....

• Four Philosophy Ensemble: In the Return to Dreamland comics, we have King Dedede as the Cynic, Kirby as the Optimist, Meta Knight as the Realist, and Waddle Dee as the Apathetic.
• Fridge Logic: A lot of the In-Universe humor comes from applying the funny stuff from Nintendo games, and seeing what happens.
• Furry Confusion: That'll cause a few nightmares.
  • Wait, who's the hedgehog?
• Futureshadowing: Strip 232 does this for strip 249.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: The "radar" is self-imposed, but that doesn't mean Matt will skip over the possibility of a good dirty joke. Case in point.
• Giant Hands of Doom: Isaac's Move vs. Master Hand, as well as Bongo Bongo vs. Andross.
• G-Rated Drug: In strip 226, Wario spikes a bowl of punch with a Fuzzy.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: Literally. This could also count.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: Spoofed here.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck: Exaggerated, as Matthew seems to think that a number of fans might be offended by any use of such words as "crap" and "suck".
• Gross Up Close-Up: Six times to date. Once Kirby, then Waluigi (Third Comic), Weezing (particularly disturbing with the concept of the comic), Mario (as Eario sees him), and Dedede (as Kirby sees him), and also Link.
• Guest Strip: To celebrate Matthew's birthday, he allowed his family and his fiancé to each draw a comic for the week (the only person who didn't contribute was his mother).
• Guilt Based Gaming: Animal Crossing's example thereof is made even more guilt-inducing.
• Here We Go Again: At the end of A Mushroom Kingdom Carol, Bowser says "Humbug", which elicits this reaction from the Ghosts.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Ness will willingly attack people's pets.
• Heroic Mime: Link, as always. It's been stated that, when necessary, he lets Navi do the talking for him. Subverted when the spirit of his CD-i self possesses him.
  • Subverted again in resolutions, Link's resolution is apparently "To speak his mind more." But before he can say it Navi shouts it out for him, drowning his voice.
• Hidden Depths: Peach proves to be more cunning than she seems in this comic.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: Played for laughs here. The idea is to look for Waluigi in the midst of a MASSIVE host of characters... but he's that easy to find because everyone in his immediate vicinity runs away from him.
• Hostile Show Takeover: TOO BAD. WALUIGI TIME.
  • Done by Dedede once.
• Hot Skitty-On-Wailord Action: Ruto and Jabu-Jabu, used to explain the rather ugly appearance of the "Zola" enemies in The Legend of Zelda.
• How King Dedede Stole Christmas
• I Ate What?: Given Kirby's habits, that's kind of inevitable.
  • Invoked also in the Kirby Super Star homage multi-comic, in the Spring Breeze strip. After Kirby sucks in one of the stars that come from Dedede's ground pound attack, he stops and thinks "What did I just eat...?'
• Identical Stranger: Kingsonnn Dededoo.
• Interface Screw: A rare non-gaming example. If you're going on an Archive Binge using the old version of the site, you'll hit the 2009 Waluigi April Fool's page. There's no "next" button, so the only way to continue is going to the archive page and clicking the next comic in line.
• It Is Pronounced Tro-PAY: "It's pronounced 'Crackin'..."
• Jerkass: Snake.
• Key Under the Doormat: When the Phantos is around, hiding a key anywhere is not a good idea.
• Klingon Promotion: Pichu is kicked out of Brawl for being (gameplay-wise) a clone of Pikachu, but evolves into one soon after. He then uses a Poké Ball on Melee's Pikachu, and takes over his position. See Cheshire Cat Grin above.
• Lampshade Hanging: They love doing this, mostly with Mario universe conventions.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Alluded to here.
• Laughably Evil: Waluigi, oh so much.
• Lint Value: In the strip where Bowser gets his own flying clown car.
• Loads and Loads of Characters: This strip.
  • Even Waldo is in the middle, if you look hard enough! (behind Bowser Jr.'s easel)
• Long Bus Trip: The spotlight seems to rotate from one series to the next, so naturally, there would be characters left out.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Samus Aran in the strip Ridley.
• Mad Libs Catchphrase: "I'm gonna get you, x."
• Mama Bear: A literal example in Strip 289. Of course, it depends on that bear being female (which is a reasonable assumption).
• Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Well it is based off Super Smash Bros, after all.
• Mayfly-December Romance: Implied with Ruto and Jabu-Jabu, but we don't know how long Zora or... big... whale... god... thing lifespans are.
• Milestone Celebration: Every 100th comic has been bigger than previous works (although #100 doesn't look quite as ambitious in hindsight). #200, #300,, and #400 were Musical Episodes. #400 in particular was a huge celebration of an entire Nintendo history.
• The 50th Comics also get smaller celebrations. There's #50 "Gooey Kablooie",#150 "Comic Strip", a tribute to various comic strips, #250 "Cartoons", another tribute to various cartoons, and #350 "If it Takes A Lifetime".
• Mood Whiplash: Poor Waluigi.
• Morton's Fork: If the waiter brings the soup that Waluigi hates, Waluigi will throw it in his face. If the waiter brings the soup that Waluigi likes, Waluigi will throw it in his face. If Waluigi brings the soup that Matt likes, Matt will throw it in his face.
• Musical Episode: A number of times. Most can be found on the comic's Youtube page.
  • The first as a tribute to How the Grinch Stole Christmas
  • The second as a tribute to common minions, sung by Bowser
  • Christmas 2010 featured parodies of Christmas songs, including Frosty the Snowman here, the Carol of the Bells here, and Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" here.
  • Christmas 2011 featured a tongue-in-cheek homage to the Slippy-Slidey Ice World, set to the tune of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas", here.
  • Comic 400, which also marked the comic's return after a long hiatus due to Matt's sickness.
• Musical Trigger: Zelda's Lullaby, as illustrated here.
• My Friends and Zoidberg:
  • Best of friends on an adventure! Also Meta Knight
• Never Say "Die": Lampshaded in strip #275: "Pidgey fainted."
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: At least the date ended well.
  • The Sun's song is not supposed to do that. Maybe the moon's song will... Oh...Well...
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Kirby may have shades of this, if the end of this comic is any indication
  • As someone else said, Waluigi's mind is... unsettling...
• No Cartoon Fish: Averted and deconstructed. See Furry Confusion above.
• No Indoor Voice: Captain Falcon is not very stealthy, not a very good poker player, blows out windows during silent prayer, and keeps roommates up at night.
• Not So Different: King Dedede and Kirby. Meta Knight even calls the former out on it.
• Oh Crap: See Curse Cut Short above.
  • Let's not forget the "Gooey Bomb" arc, as well as this Continuity Nod.
• Original Character: Eario, the janitor who cleans up after the Mario Bros. Kingsonnn Dededoo, as well.
• Overly Long Gag: The buildup to Comic #249 "Nasty", including a number of fakeouts and reminders that viewer discretion is advised.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Kirby in this strip.
  • Wario in strip 280.
  • Kingsonnn Dededoo is a subversion, turning out to be an Identical Stranger instead.
• Patter Song: The verses of The History of Nintendo have elements of this.
• Playing Tennis With the Boss: Link vs. Ganondorf, quite literally.
• Powerpuff Girl Hands: Kirby. He even Lampshades it in Gooey Kablooie

"This would be a lot easier if I had thumbs..."

• Punch Clock Villain: Ode to Minions
• Punctuated for Emphasis: THERE. WILL. BE. SPANKING.
• Reaction Shot: The Judge has a lovely reaction to seeing Meta Knight's scars.
• Record Needle Scratch: Followed by awkward silence...
• Redundant Rescue: Here.
• Remembered I Could Fly: Strip 384 has Kirby, Meta Knight, Dedede, and Waddle Dee preparing to launch themselves upward out of a cannon to get an item. When an accident sends them flying into a wall, Dedede points out that they should just fly up there instead.
• Rickroll: Part of the build-up to 249, but not in the way you'd expect.
• The Rival: Snake is this for both Captain Falcon (Romantically regarding Samus) and Olimar (In a contest of one-upsmanship in a vein similair to Spy vs. Spy.)
• Rip Van Winkle: The Lesson.
• Running Gag: Several, including Kirby's "Food!", and King Dedede's "We gotta get that Kirby!"
  • Don't forget Kirby eating Dedede and turning into a minature version of him.
• Rule of Funny: The Pokéwalker can only give 1 level up per transfer to the device, and 24601 EXP is not nearly enough to get a Pikachu to level 74. Doesn't stop this from being goddamn hilarious.
• Round Robin: Turns out the Zombie Apocalypse was this all along, started by Dedede, disappointingly followed up by Adeleine, and horrifyingly concluded by Kirby.
  • WALUIGI TIME
• Samus Is a Girl: Inverted here.
• Schedule Slip: Due to a horrible illness, the 400th comic had been delayed for an indefinite amount of time, but was finally released on April 12.
• Sealed Faces of Evil In a Can
• Self-Imposed Challenge: Comic #200 has led to Pacifist runs of games, where the goal is to kill no minions (except those who are used to kill bosses) and if any minions are to die, have it be due to anyone other than the player i.e. a Koopa walking into a lava pit.
• Shall I Repeat That?: Displayed here by Kaepora Gaebora.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: This entire strip.
• Shout-Out: In almost every comic; mostly Earthbound references.
  • One memorable strip actually had a comment saying that Matthew's nerdiness had reached new heights (even though the reference isn't that hard to grasp).
  • #50 is done nicely In the Style Of Bill Watterson, with Kirby as Calvin and Dedede as Hobbes.
  • The conclusion of the "Snake in the Grass" arc has Solid Snake assuming the same position as a certain unconscious, naked guard from the first Metal Gear Solid.
  • Teddie makes an appearance in strip 249.
  • #250 references four different comedic cartoons, plus the Kirby anime.
    • This has been done before, in #150, referencing five different comedic newspaper strips.
  • #300 has Ganondorf kicking over a chessboard in a very Gaston-like context and fashion.
  • In part 10 of "Cocoon Academy", when Pinky wakes up in the nurse's office after absorbing some of Dark Matter, the first thing he says is "Mirror...MIRROR!!!"
  • In 125, Baby Mario's prattling ends in the second panel with "now I know how a meatb..."
  • The washing machine in strip 235 makes the noise "Chugga chugga chugga". Chugga is the name of an LPer who's done two seperate Pokemon games.
  • The sound made when Peach falls into the grass outside Bowser's Castle in "The Captive Princess" is "POOMP", which is the same produced when you land a huge jump in Mario Kart 64.
  • For whatever reason, several of the "Waluigi in the Family" strips are named for levels in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtles in Time.
  • The strip, "Tired", has a tired Mario hallucinating about going to his bed, among various clouds, with the moon smiling at him, all while driving back home.
  • Amaterasu had a quick cameo in an alternate ending of Sun's song, part 3, fixing the mess Link had made.
• Similarly Named Works: Shares the name with an episode of The Simpsons.
• Skewed Priorities: The best way to deal with Romulans?

Waluigi: Change de channel. Spock: But Captain—— Waluigi (Punctuated for Emphasis) WALUIGI. WANTS. KATE PLUS ATE.

• Slasher Smile: Link finds the solution to both of his problems and looks damn creepy in the process.
• Slept Through the Apocalypse: Of course Kirby of all people was the one who would do this. Subverted, though.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: 2011's holiday comic is about one of these.
• Something Something Leonard Bernstein: Comic 400's list of Nintendo's games.
• Squee: Several comics, as well as the above image.
• Standard Fifties Father: "Your father" in comic 249.
• Start of Darkness: Parodied, see the Go-Karting with Bowser example.
  • Played literally in "Cocoon Academy": Meta Knight was originally pink, like Kirby. He gets a blue color after swallowing Dark Matter.
  • There's also this for Waluigi.
• Stealth Pun: On the cast page, Luigi's profile shows him playing a song, the score of which is labeled as "Violin II". Second fiddle, anyone?
• Stock Scream: "A Simple Request". You can hear the Wilhelm Scream during Veran's part.
• "Stop Having Fun!" Guys: Parodied in 276. Dedede goes on about how naive Kirby is for enjoying Brawl, but quickly joins in when he realizes you can make Mario and Sonic fight.
• Story Arc: Eight so far: "How the King Stole Christmas", "Gooey Bomb", "Turnabout Kirby", "A Mushroom Kingdom Carol", "Snake in the Grass", "Janitor of the Mushroom Kingdom", "Cocoon Academy", and "Sun's Song".
• Stupid Sexy Flanders: Solid Snake.
• Stylistic Suck: KIRBY, YOU ARE THE WORST.
  • EYE LASER!
• Sue Donym: Subverted with Kingsonnn Dededoo.
• Sweetie Graffiti: Played straight with Kirby and Jigglypuff, unfortunately for Whispy Woods.
• Take Our Word for It: Meta Knight's face is badly scarred after the Gooey Bomb incident... Or so we're told.
  • In "Zombie Finale", we don't get to see how Kirby finished the horror story... But judging by everyone else's reaction, well...
  • Sixteen extremely traumatic seconds later...
• Take That: A subtle one to CAD.
  • A friendly jab to Sonic the Hedgehog.
• That Cloud Looks Like...: ...A Lakitu throwing a Spiny into your face.
• The Good Guys Always Win: Provides the current page image.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Dedede demonstrates this in "Savior".
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Using a Level 100 Gyarados on a Level 2 Pidgey.
• Third Person Person: Waluigi who might have gotten it from his father, and Eario.
• Throwing the Distraction: "The Captive Princess" supplies the page image.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Luigi at the end of A Mushroom Kingdom Carol.
  • "I was going to have Luigi be the one to get the Spiny in the face...but you know what? No."
• Tomato Surprise: At the end of the "Cocoon Academy" arc, we learn that "Pinky" is actually Meta Knight. And Master Hand is Crazy Hand. Master Hand and Kirby were never actually in the strip at all.
• Too Dumb to Live: That is incorrect, Master Belch.
• Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: Step aside. Waluigi Time.
• Took a Level In Badass: Mario is shown to be a dork in Cocoon Academy, with Luigi of all people being the popular one. But when Dark Matter attacked, Mario gains admiration upon spinning Bowser around and using him as a living flamethrower.
• Traitor Shot: In the "Turnabout Kirby" arc, after Meta Knight gives the Judge evidence that Dedede may just be framing Kirby by showing his own flaws, Dedede angrily demands to know where Meta Knight got such evidence. He replies "Let's just say... I have an informant". Cut to the jury bench. The scene then zooms in on Waddle Dee as his eyes shift.
  • Also, when Meta Knight is "banned" (reflecting his real-life ban from Brawl tournaments): as Master Hand takes him away, he angrily raves about how he thinks it was Dedede who orchestrated this. It was actually Kirby, as the scene zooms in on him and he gives a barely noticeable smile.
• Unscrewed Salt Shaker: Revenge of Meta Knight
• Unsound Effect: "Boil, Boil"
• Unusual Euphemism: "Great mother o' Spain!" in 260: The Captive Princess.
• Urine Trouble: "Gyroid"
• Verbal Tic: Captain Falcon, to the point where it resembles Tourette's.

"FALCON PENANCE!"

• Video Game Cruelty Potential: Strip 200 makes you realize what a horrible, horrible person you are for playing the average Mario game the way the developers intended.
• Villain Song: "A Simple Request" is this. Also overlaps with Anti-Christmas Song.
• "The Villain Sucks" Song: "You're a Mean King, Dedede"
• Visual Pun: Comic #249 is advertised repeatedly as containing "excess gore, racism, foul language, public indecency, and frightening imagery". None of them are quite as severe as expected:
  • Excess gore: A number of televisions displaying Al Gore.
  • Racism: The starred Sneech in the upper left corner, and a Farfetch'd carrying a "no Psyduck" sign.
  • Foul language: Farfetch'd and Psyduck arguing. Okay, maybe that's fowl language.
  • Public indecency: The Sneech and the Pokémon are naked.
  • Frightening imagery: A particularly creepy image of Tingle. Teddie too if you're familiar with Persona 4.
• Wacky Marriage Proposal: Matt considered proposing to his girlfriend through the comic, complete with Waluigi Time joke... but ultimately ended up going with a more serious proposal. Still, in terms of What Could Have Been, it's pretty wacky. ("Expecting a ring? TOO BAD. WALUIGI TIME.")
• The Walls Have Eyes: Being that the Zelda series is so fond of this trope, Brawl in the Family brought it to its logical conclusion.
  • There's also the Mario side of this trope.
• Weaksauce Weakness: In the Christmas Carol arc, even after growing up Bowser Jr. never got over his fear of water.
• What Measure Is a Mook?: Here and here which is set to music. Awesome, awesome music.
• When I Was Your Age: And the cycle begins anew.
• White and Grey Morality: The villains usually have a soft side to them, the heroes can be honest but have some bad habits, and most of the trouble of the world-ending kind is usually unintended. The only truly evil character is Dark Matter.
• With Catlike Tread: FALCON SNEAK!!
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Played for laughs after Kirby swallows Princess Peach.
• Who Would Want To Read Us?: Used here and here.
• A Worldwide Punomenon: There are a couple.
  • Some are incredibly cute, albeit Incredibly Lame Puns. For example, Kirby eating a Gordo, which Meta Knight hates.
• Zombie Apocalypse: Kirby, what have they done to ya?

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Did you want more tropes? TOO BAD. WALUIGI TIME.